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- Written by: Rich
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Every once in a while a documentary comes out that makes you think about things in a different light. Patagonia has just released one that does precisely just that; make you think about the ramifications of mankinds actions in regards to sustaining fish and the effects on wild fish. I strongly recommend you all watch this video and donate to Change.org to help defend wild salmon and orcas. You can do so very easily by texting PROTECT to 40649. The theme here has much greater reach than the effects of farm raised salmon, you could apply much of the same to the stocking of trout and other species as well.
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- Written by: Rich
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In the quest to try and simplify my life, I have come to a few conclusions; conclusions that will hopefully allow me to be a better husband, father and person. Many of these conclusions revolve around eliminating the unnecessary things in life and focusing on what truly is most important. Eliminating or minimizing these distractions has allowed me to creatively think more efficiently, and stop and think more clearly. One of the largest distractions in our modern times is the advent of Social Media. I will take it a step further and say that the invention of the smart phone has been the single most societal changing distraction I have seen in my lifetime. A majority of us including myself have been sucked into a virtual world where we are constantly swiping, typing or pecking away at some bit of information that we feel is just ever so much more important than everything else that is going on around us. Just take a second each day and look around you and you will see for yourself that we have become a society dependent upon on these tiny little computers.
One of my favorite things to do when I am stuck at the airport or killing time between periods at my two daughters soccer or hockey games is watching people. We as a human race are rather interesting creatures, there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t get a laugh at someone else's expense, let alone my own for that matter. What I have noticed over the last decade is you see less people actually interacting with one another, and more people staring into the screens of their smartphones or tablets. We as a society are now tethered to these mini computers everywhere, all the time. So much to the point that we are missing out on many wonderful things in nature and our surroundings. One could argue we are multitasking and maximizing our time, but I would argue that we are so fixated on replying to posts, liking other peoples pictures, checking out the latest gossip, or what happened on that last episode of “not reality tv”. The electronic juggernauts have created an obsessive compulsive society where humans have become so fixated and dependent on these devices and “whats going on in the world” that we all at times just can’t seem to put the damn things down.
In this digital aged created drama, the concept of real genuine human interaction and awareness of our surroundings has been thrown out the window and replaced only by a world where people have difficulty interacting with one another face to face, yet have all the courage in the world once behind that mini screen or keyboard.
Some use these devices and platforms to say whatever comes to mind without recourse. There is a counter culture that has been created as a result of social media where many have engineered a persona on false pretense. All one needs is an email account and a smart phone that takes a decent photograph and one can create the perception that they are something they truly are not, never mind having the platform to voice one’s opinions with little to no respect or recourse. Have at it, I’ll be on the water where the only thing scrutinizing my actions will be the species of fish that I am targeting.
I’m not going to lie, I desperately hope that social media is just another fad that will eventually fade off in time. I know the smart phone and other devices are cemented into culture, but you can choose to put it down. This is something that I have consciously been making a concerted effort to do more of; it’s simply not that important.
As a child, I grew up in a world without the smart phone, now we lose our mind and can’t leave the house without them. Almost as if we are being suffocated and can’t breathe if we can’t find our phones. Trust me when I say this, you can live without it, humans did for thousands of years before us. We now live in a society where these devices are commonplace. and our children know no different. Look around the next time your out there, more people are fixated on their screens rather than just completing a menial task such as grocery shopping (people in the grocery store are the biggest offenders).
Now, more often than not I make a conscious effort to leave my phone in the car when ever I go somewhere. Instead of leaving it on all day and being distracted by that next vibrating text or email, I simply shut it off. I used to leave my phone next to my bed at night as my alarm clock, but I found myself having difficulty putting it down. Instead of going to bed when I should have, I was fixated on all sorts of things that really weren’t that important as I scrolled my social media “feeds”, only to wake up the next morning exhausted after I finally went to bed. Simply put I began to realize a pattern, one which was making my attitude toxic as this device was changing my attitude. You can’t argue that electronics can alter behavior, I see it in my children when they get too much screen time, and I don’t think it is healthy.
My revelation occurred during our summer vacation to the Adirondacks. Once I realized what was going on, I immediately deleted my Facebook account. I sat there at the dinner table that morning sipping coffee scrolling through my feed rather than spending time interacting with my wife and kids. I am in the process of writing a new chapter in my life and I feel I could do much better job at it by eliminating the unnecessary distractions.
If people need to contact me, you all know how to, I will still maintain a small social media presence for the business through Instagram and a parent Facebook page (at least for now); but the personal pages are gone.
So in closing, If you are looking to purchase my flies, you know how to reach me, and in the spring you can book my services once again as a guide. And if you see me at one of the regional flyfishing shows, take a moment and say hello as I’d much rather speak with you in person and see how you’re doing than send an email or text.
One of the last things I posted to my wall on Facebook before I deleted my account was a rather compelling speech by Matthew McConaughey titled Absolute Motivation. This video resonated with me and was probably the catalyst to my aforementioned decision to disconnect a bit. I’ve posted this below and I hope that it resonates with you too. Have a great day and good luck on the water.
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- Written by: Rich
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To go hand in hand with our discussions on fishing nymphs, I felt I would be remiss in not discussing the finer nuances of fishing with a dry dropper rig. Now, there are some rather controversial methods involving the use of a very thin diameter running line which has become very popular amongst many diehard nymph fisherman; a method of which really isn’t new mind you as Joe Humphreys popularized nymph fishing with a very thin diameter line decades ago, not to burst your bubbles there all you “progressive” nymphers. For many traditional flyfishermen and women, using a strict mono-rig as opposed to a fly line is considered sacrilege and not fly fishing. I won’t open the floor to debate, the decision on how and with what means to fish with in my eyes is left to the person holding the cork end of the fly rod, I have fished with both and I have my own opinions on the matter that are not important. So now that we have that pushed aside, lets discuss the options the angler has when it comes to fishing with a dry dropper rig.
Many might ask why would I want to fish a two fly system in this manner? Well, for one it gives the angler a very easy way to cover two very distinct levels of the water column; the surface and anywhere below the surface to the stream bottom based upon the depth of water and length of your dropper. For some it seems rather easy to comprehend and should be relatively easy to configure. But there are some finer points that will help to ensure you have a day spent catching fish and not untangling birds nests of tippet all day. If you try out these five tips it will lead to a much more enjoyable day on the water, and most often more fish in the net.
How You Tie Your Dropper Matters
To some it may sound ridiculous, but for years I always tied my dropper off the bend of my dry fly. Seems like the most logical thing to do until you start to recognize that you will have days when you drop more fish than you land. The reason being is your tippet is impeding your dry flies ability to penetrate the mouths of the fish you just fooled. There is nothing that bothers me more than losing fish on the take, and if the action is slow, it could be the difference in catching something or nothing. I realize that many people still subscribe to this style of tying on a dropper, and that is entirely fine, but there is in fact a better way and one that I started about twelve years ago as a result of my interest in competitive angling.
By affixing your dropper tippet to the eye of the dry fly you utilize will drastically increase the number of fish you hook and bring to net. The reason being is when you tie the tippet to the bend of your hook, the tippet has the propensity to slide to the barb or beak of the dry flies hook as it inherently gets pulled downward while it drifts in the water column. This can often impede the penetration of the hook beak as the tippet will prevent the beak of the hook from fully penetrating into the trouts jaw creating that scenario of a fooled trout on the dry fly lost on the hook set.
Mind Your Tippet Size
A good rule of thumb is try not to step your tippet size down on your dropper more than 2 sizes from the tippet you have affixed to your dry fly. From experience, if I ever tried to go more than two sizes down I would inevitably find that I would be forcing more tangles in my system. I think this is the case primarily because it helps aid in turn over of the rig during the cast and a drastic deviation from this can create a serious hinge in your set up which in turn can result in more tangles with anything other than a perfect cast. The cast is equally as important, but I will touch base on that later. To go hand in hand with the tippet diameter, the length of the tippet can play a huge role as well in your ability to efficiently cast the rig. From experience I try to keep my dropper rigs shorter than 3 feet as anything longer than that although doable becomes rather cumbersome to cast effectively. If I need to go deeper in the water column then I will scrap the dry dropper system and transition back to a straight nymph rig.
Keep Your Leader Shorter
Sounds pretty simple, but often is overlooked as we as humans are inherently creatures of habit and complacency. I have found myself doing the same, you know, transition to a dry dropper while fishing a 15 foot or longer leader tapered down to some micro hair fine 7x tippet and then attempt to cast this difficult and clunky rig. In short order I quickly realize that I need to unearth my head from the sand and fix my problem otherwise I will be making wind knots down the length of my leader like a line of strung pearls. Keep it simple, and in this case shorter. I often will fish a leader of 7 feet in length to the dry fly as it just casts the system well. If the fish are a bit more finicky, then I will lengthen the leader out to 9 feet and step the tippet down one more size if need be. A good rule of thumb in any form of dry fly fishing is don’t rely on lighter tippet to aid in your ability to fool the fish you chase, focus on making that first cast count and placing that fly into the trouts feeding lane accordingly. I subscribe to the mentality that presentation trumps everything else, make that cast count.
Learn The Tuck Cast
Joe Humphreys and George Harvey advocated this cast, and once you’ve done the same you will understand why. The tuck or steeple cast as we’ve also heard it termed is a great cast that when done properly has your nymphs entering the water first before anything else. If you aren’t familiar with it the simplest description is to stop your forward presentation high so that the bottom most fly jettisons forward and enters the water before everything else in the rig. This will also help get your nymph into the zone quicker and anchor your two fly system in the drift. There is also a lesser chance that you will tangle your system when cast in this manner. The nymph when cast in this manner will also be set up and in the zone almost immediately which can often lead to more detected strikes. The beauty of this cast is it works well when cast and fished either up or down stream.
Tungsten Isn’t Always The Answer
You read that right, I know many are going to scream blasphemy as tungsten in their world is king but often it is overkill fished in this system. Why? For the simple fact you won’t need that much weight to get your nymph into the zone. Now don’t take this as an absolute, there will definitely be times when you will want a tungsten beaded nymph albeit a smaller one, but lets take the current flow of less than 100 cfs on our local waters combined with very window clear clarity; you simply will not need the additional weight. I often hear other local anglers complaining that due to the water being so low this time of year they are losing a lot of flies to snags as they routinely are hanging up. This is a situation where you simply just do not need the faster sinking tungsten, often a small brass beaded nymph will be all that you need, and in some cases a nymph with a lightly wrapped underbody of lead or lead free wire will do the trick. I am an advocate of having a very wide array of nymphs in all different weights in my selection to cover most of the situations that I may encounter in a season. You will find that the smaller your dry fly, the lighter your nymph will need to be to keep that dry fly afloat.
