News, events and updates - late summer/autumn 2012

"The Pearl" (Kelson), tied for Mike Radencich's new book

There has been a lot going on lately, though very little of it fishing related, unfortunately. My wife and I sold our home and moved into a new one. With all the hassle of moving, I've only tied a couple of flies in the past month or two. Our new house has a pretty sweet tying room though, so I hope to be back in action as soon as the last of the major projects have been completed.

In between moves, I had high hopes of making a quick salmon fishing trip to Quebec, but low water, high temperatures and a general lack of time made it impossible for me. It turns out I didn't miss much during the time I had hoped to go, so I don't feel so badly. If conditions look good, I really want to make a quick trip to either the Cains River or the Margaree or River Phillip over Columbus Day weekend. My wife is not sold on the idea, to say the least! After a big move, and with our first child expected in January, another salmon trip is a tough sell. If any of you "old pros" have any tips (short of expensive pieces of jewelry), please let me know! 

I recently updated the news and events page of my website. I am pleased to be back at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum's "Arts of the Angler" show this fall. The show is November 10 and 11 and is at the Ethan Allen Inn in Danbury, CT. Also, I have a couple of presentations scheduled on fishing for broodstock Atlantic salmon in Connecticut. Despite the crazy weather and high water last fall, I had a great season on the Naugatuck River. I was able to experiment with some different flies and techniques and it really paid off. I'm planning on passing on some of this info at the presentations in October and November. 

Last year, I tied up some fly assortments for the Connecticut broodstock salmon season. It was a few of my favorite and most productive flies. I think most intermediate tyers could replicate the flies in the assortment at least well enough to catch fish. With that in mind, I'm considering offering a tube fly assortment this year instead. I know many local anglers aren't set up for tubes and, at least for me, there was a lot of costly trial and error that went into learning which materials to use, where to get them at a good price, non-North American tying techniques, etc. I can't imagine many local anglers want to spend their time and money learning how to tie tube flies like Temple Dogs and Shumakov-style tubes so, if there's enough interest, I might make up an assortment of a half dozen of my favorite tube flies. Please let me know if a tube fly assortment is something you might be interested in and I will get to work. 

If there is interest in learning how to get started tying various tube flies, please let me know and maybe we can schedule lessons or classes this fall/winter. 

Looking forward to cooler temps and fall fishing! 

Wings for an Angler - Lee Wulff

This video is incredible. Imagine learning how to fly and land a seaplane in under three weeks, then flying up to remote areas of Newfoundland for some dry fly salmon and sea trout fishing...

Crazy!!

I get the impression that Lee Wulff was one of those rare talents who had the ability to be really good at whatever he decided to do.

My all-time favorite movie is Bruce Brown's classic surf film "The Endless Summer." To me, "Wings for an Angler" has that same sense of adventure. It really struck a chord with me when I watched last night. These guys had no fear of the unknown. They just went for it. I'm sure they struck out now and then but they certainly hit quite a few grand slams as well.

This is well worth twenty minutes of your time

Product Review: Cabela's Utility Binder

Not fancy looking, but it works

Though my fly tying materials would say otherwise, I really do try to stay as organized as possible. In an effort to efficiently store spare shooting heads, running lines, tippet spools and other miscellany, I came across this review for the Simms Headwaters Tackle Wallet. Now, I think very highly of Simms' products. I usually look to them first when it comes to waders, clothing and accessories. However, I just don't feel like paying Simms prices for everything, especially when there are reasonable (and less expensive) alternatives.

Enter Cabela's Utility Binder...at $19.99, the large size is half the price of the equivalent Simms product. They do the same thing. The only difference I can see is that the Simms wallet uses velcro to hold the pages, while Cabela's binder uses two binder-type rings. Since I live relatively near a Cabela's retail store, I figured I'd go check it out.

It just works...'nuff said

I don't recall how many pages came with the binder. I think it was 10-12. However many it came with, it was more than enough for my use. The whole package was very sturdy and seems to do its job well enough. At half the price of the equivalent Simms product, the Cabela's was a no-brainer. 

I brought it to Russia...it held plenty of heads, tippet spools, spare cleats, spare running line, etc. I probably overstuffed it, but the zipper held just fine. I don't need to carry as much stuff with me when fishing in the U.S. or Canada, so it's definitely big enough. I probably could get by with the medium, but it's only a few dollars less, so I'll opt for the expandability of the large. It's probably a pretty tough item to screw up, but I was happy to save a few bucks considering I was originally going to buy the Simms. 

I probably could written this review in four or five sentences and still conveyed my message well enough, but it has been a good way to delay some necessary housework. In summary, if you're looking to get a little more organized and save a little bit of money in the process, I highly recommend the Cabela's Utility Binder. 

Kola Salmon Video #2

Here's another video of my Kola trip, this one shorter, less dramatic, lower resolution (iPhone 4) and a smaller fish, but I'm not complaining.

This was around 1:30am. This was as dark as it ever got at night. This fish was the first caught of a good run of fish which came through that day. I think there were about six anglers fishing this pool and everyone hooked fish, though it seemed like there was just one sweet spot. This was a killer pool above a HUGE set of rapids. In warmer weather, the bottom end of this pool would make for excellent dry fly fishing. 

My friend hooked three and landed one in a matter of a few hours. I landed this one and lost one about 18lbs later that day. This fish never ran up or downstream. It made several blistering runs straight across stream, directly into the heavy flow. It was bizarre. I've never had one do that before. 

It was a relatively cold night. The air temperature was about 44ºF and the water temperature 54ºF. This was the only fish I hooked on something other than a Sugerman Shrimp and floating line/leader combo. It took a small German Snaelda, tied on a 1/2" brass tube, fished on a floating Airflo Compact Scandi head with a 5.6ips Rio Versileader.

Kola Salmon Video

I would have been happy with pics, but a video is even better! The "film crew" arrived about halfway into the fight. The fish had already made two good runs, despite 25# test Maxima and a drag cranked to about 85-90%. There were a couple of tense moments, especially when he got too close to the rock. The tippet was totally chewed up when I checked it afterwards. I thought the locals were using unnecessarily heavy gear, but now I understand the need for it. I was proud that my little 13', $20 spey rod held its own!

Watch it on YouTube in HiDef...

Next stop, home!

Waiting...waiting...waiting...in Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. It was a fun trip, but I am ready to head home.

This trip to the Kola River was a case of "be careful what you wish for." For the ease of wading and casting, I was hoping for low water. Well, we got low water alright...too low! It was a mild winter and early spring in Murmansk. The vast majority of the big brutes ran at the very beginning of their season. I didn't realize that low water meant no big salmon! The temps were good, very pleasant for fishing, but a more traditional spring would have been better fishing.

We caught the tail end of a run when we first arrived, then it was almost a week of no fish and low water. The water came up a bit and we got another brief spurt of fish. On my last day, I actually saw grilse, which is totally unexpected this early on.

My final tally was 5 hooked and 3 landed...about 10, 15 and 20lbs. The large fish was the most powerful fight I have gotten from a salmon. The smallest was the weakest fight I've ever had from a searun fish! I've had a couple 'Naugy salmon who fought harder, believe it or not. I also dropped one that went about 18-20lbs. I could stop it from shaking its head and that was the end of that.

Curiously, all my fish but one took a #2 Sugerman Shrimp (double) fished on a floating line/leader. I tried plenty of other flies, but they seemed to like that one the most. I gave one to my friend Sergey who hooked five fish on it in one afternoon! The 15lb. fish took a small German Snaelda, fished on a floating line and a 5.6ips Versileader. I took that fish around 1am. He had some bistering runs, but never ran upstream or down, just perpendicular to the current several times. I've never had that happen before.

In summary, we didn't get what I think of as "Russian numbers," but it was a good trip anyhow. I fished with several terrific Russian anglers, swapped flies and made some great new friends. Also, I Ianded my largest salmon to date, despite almost losing him "Nova Scotia Style" (wink wink, Marc) and then having him almost leave the pool. All's well that ends well, however. I have some pics and videos I'll post once I do some editing and get some sleep.

I'm not looking forward to a 10 hour flight and a 3+ hour drive, but I a looking forward to being home!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Международное ш.,,Russia

Next stop, Russia...

We're waiting to board our flight to Moscow. The plane leaves in about an hour. Hopefully there will be a lot of big salmon pics to share in my next post!

Good luck to all my friends headed to Quebec for early June fishing!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Kennedy International Airport