Hammonasset Trout 1 - Little Guy 0

My future netsman

This little fella has been going more and more places lately, so I figured why not fishing? I thought I had this all figured out. We'd go to the Hammonasset River, a mere 20 minutes from home. Worst case scenario, his great aunt is only a mile away, tops. I put on my hippers before leaving home. My rod was already rigged up with a Golden Olive Dabbler and a small Silver Invicta. I figured today was the day to introduce the little guy to his first trout and I figured I had about ninety minutes of fishing time to get the job done. 

I should have taken the dirty diaper upon arrival as a sort of foreshadowing. Fortunately, the back of my Mazda Tribute is the perfect baby changing station. We took care of the stinky mess and were on our way. It was a short walk downhill to a pool where, according to my friend Pete, the trout "rise with blatant impunity."

We made it to the pool and found some small risers. Unfortunately, they were chubs. After bringing two to hand, I spotted a decent sized trout rising in the tail of the pool. Because of the nature of the pool, I had to work downstream to cover the bulk of the deeper water. I hadn't thrown close to enough line to cover that far down the pool before an unexpected thirty minute meltdown began. 

I knew we were done for the day. He wanted out of the car seat and wanted to be held. I tried to calm him down so I could get that one elusive trout and we could be on our way, but it wasn't meant to be. It was time to head home. 

I wish I could give some kind of helpful fishing report to the locals, but we weren't there long enough to see much happen. Plus, my attention was mainly focused on the bank, not the water. On the drive home, I told his mom about my shortest fishing trip ever. She replied, "30 minutes? That's a pretty good amount of time outdoors for him!" Was our trip a success? I didn't think so, but maybe I was wrong. 

I'll give him another month or two before we attempt this again. I know of a stream filled with wild trout and decent enough stroller access. In the meantime, I'll have to phone the Duke of Roxburghe and tell him to postpone our trip to the Alta River until further notice...

The Ever-Maddening Quest for ONE Fly Box

Works for now, I guess

I wish I could be one of those guys who carries a small fly box with just the essentials. As an avid fly tyer, that's just not me. That said, I hate carrying a bunch of boxes. I want one box that does everything, even if it's big. I'm not talking Cliff Bugger Beast big. As long as it fits in the pocket of my wading jacket I'm happy.

I tried a Wheatley swing leaf box. It was ok, but the clips flatten the wings on Butterflies and I find the layout somewhat limiting. I tried one of those C&F style waterproof boxes. It was OK, but the foam notches distorted when I used really heavy irons. The tiny doubles seemed to get lost in that box's streamer-sized foam. The swing leaf soon lost its adhesive properties and fell out. Overall, it was not that durable.

I use a run-of-the-mill large Nubby Tack box for big doubles. So far I really like it. I decided to buy another to house the contents of the old C&F knockoff box. Fly size doesn't seem to matter. The little nubs seem to do a great job with small and large irons alike. Also, I like how I can put a fly anywhere, not just where a slot or clip exists.

Here's my gripe...there aren't many options. There are just three styles of double-sided boxes with Nubby Tack...the one pictured above is the largest size. I have two ideas...one simple and one elaborate. Both are probably outside the realm of reality, but please humor me regardless...

Solution #1

I want to buy sheets of Nubby Tack material and make custom boxes. I think I could make a sweet box. It might look sort of crude, but it would function well. The only hitch in this plan is that no one can buy sheets of Nubby Tack. It's a proprietary material used only in Mill Stream fly boxes. There goes idea #1, the simple solution...if someone knows of some Asian-made Nubby Tack knock-off available in bulk, please let me know!

Solution #2

I want Mill Stream to let me design a box primarily for North American salmon anglers. Here's what it would be:

Left side: A few rows of slightly elevated nubby tack w/spaces in between the rows. This would be the section for dry flies (Bombers, large Wulffs, Carters Bugs, etc.)

Swing leaf: Both sides fully covered in Nubby Tack- One side for Buck Bugs, Butterflies and small flies; the other side for workhorse, medium sized wets, doubles and singles

Right side: fully covered in Nubby Tack- used for large flies; streamers, Muddlers, shrimp patterns, large wets, etc...single and double.

Also, where space is available, I would put some of my more commonly used tube flies (w/hooks). I'd still carry a dedicated tube fly wallet, but I wouldn't necessarily need it on me at all times. I could put just the essentials in this box (mainly Sunrays). The beauty of the Nubby Tack is that it can handle singles, doubles and trebles equally well and not suffer any damage.

The box would be offered in two sizes, the current medium and large. It's a very simple design and it would hold all sizes of flies securely. I think it would be a winner. I think I could even make due with the medium sized box a lot of the time.

Too bad it's even more far fetched than solution #1.

And the search continues...any ideas? Please post 'em

Portfolio Book

Front Cover

The text from the recently published FrankenFly blog post comes from the introduction page of a salmon fly portfolio book I created in Apple's iPhoto program. I decided to bring the book to tying shows and presentations so I wouldn't clutter up my table with a bunch of flies (except for what I was tying at the time). Besides flies, there are plenty of fishing images and scenery shots from various salmon rivers. I'm very happy with how it turned out and it will be easy to add pages and print another, should I decide to do so. A few people have asked about purchasing the book. For its size, it costs too much to print to justify the price I would have to charge to recoup what I spent, so I'll just be using it as a personal portfolio for the time being.

The book has been very well received, but I'm not sure anyone actually read the introduction, which I wrote as a way to establish the overall theme of the book. Without it, the book is just a collection of random fly pictures, which wasn't my intention. Here is the introduction, as well as a few samples:

Click images to enlarge

Introduction

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3

Sample #4

Sample #5

Introduction

     Toward the end of the twentieth century, we began to see a disconnect between the art of Atlantic salmon fly tying and the sport of Atlantic salmon fishing. In the right hands, a workhorse fly pattern like the Jock Scott became a large, immaculately crafted object, suitable for framing and hanging on one’s wall. Though many like it have hooked thousands of salmon over the last century and a half, this particular fly will never see water, much less the business end of a dime bright Atlantic salmon. Creative fly tyers soon pushed past the boundaries of the old “recipe books” and designed vanguard works of art in a previously underutilized medium. 

     Meanwhile, equally imaginative salmon fishermen used elements of classic salmon fly design as templates for bold new fish-catching patterns. The iconic mixed wing of the classic salmon fly took shape in more mobile forms. Lustrous exotic feathers were replaced by synthetic materials, which have a glow even more powerful than their predecessors. In some countries, large hooks were replaced with plastic and metal tubes. Armed with small double or treble hooks, these tube flies have become a more efficient fish fighting tool. Outside influences, such as trout and saltwater fishing and fly tying techniques, made their presence known to the salmon fishing community.

     As a professional musician friend of mine passionately states, “Innovation does not exist in a vacuum.” As in jazz music, fly tying innovation does not exist in a vacuum.  The well-worn patterns and techniques of great fly tyers past are constantly tweaked to make more effective salmon-catching implements. Though modern materials may replace rare feathers and delicate silks, the classic flies of the Victorian era live on in new forms. Salmon fishers and fly tyers from North America, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Russia and Iceland all have something unique to offer. Embracing this diversity and learning from one another will help take the sport of salmon fishing, as well as the art of salmon fly tying, to the next level.

     I began tying classic Atlantic salmon flies shortly after my first salmon fishing trip in autumn 2007. Tying the classics was a way to “stay connected” to the sport when I was unable to participate in it. Though the history of Atlantic salmon flies and fishing initially drew me in, it is the evolution of the sport that truly excites me. Whether I tie a classic salmon fly, a Scandinavian-style tube fly or an original piece of “feather art,” I try to remain aware of the complete breadth of the sport of Atlantic salmon fishing, as opposed to smaller parts of it.

FrankenFly Blog Feature

FrankenFly! 

I'm happy to be featured today on Paul Beel's terrific FrankenFly blog. Paul has done a great job of highlighting a diverse group of fly tyers and their patterns. The blog is definitely worth a look, so head over to FrankenFly!

*Paul even spelled my name correctly, which almost never happens in my career as a jazz musician...Thanks, Paul!

Product Review: Lee Wulff Master Collection DVDs

Just another day at the office...

Late at night, while I rock a reluctantly swaddled newborn to sleep, I watch fishing videos on my iPad. I must say, it's incredible how well Henrik Mortensen's DVDs put the little guy to sleep. I don't know if it's the sound of running water or a Danish accent that he finds particularly soothing, but I'll take whatever I can get. Even mommy is getting in on the act and she has absolutely no interest in fly fishing. During the daytime, we read and sing to him, but it's salmon fishing time at night, most likely to help preserve my own sanity. 

After seeing these videos for the thousandth time each, some of the subtleties are finally starting to sink in and I'm ready to try out some techniques that are relatively new to me (i.e., hitched tubes, fly selection in multiple passes through a pool, etc.). Despite these newly acquired lessons, there are only so many times I can watch the same few videos in a short period of time. As a result, I've searched out a few others to add to the rotation. The first of which, the Lee Wulff Master Collection, has been a most welcome addition to my iPad's video app. 

The short films are a bit campy at times, but they are definitely entertaining. I'm sure many older anglers have seen this footage before, but it was entirely new to me. As I've stated before, I'm a big fan of surf filmmaker Bruce Brown. These videos remind me a bit of Brown's work, though they're not as polished as Brown's work.

Of course, the salmon fishing is fantastic. There is footage of Lee and Joan Wulff catching salmon in Nova Scotia, Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador. I bought the DVDs primarily for the salmon fishing footage. However, I was surprised by how interested I was in the non-salmon films. I knew I'd be into the brook trout and tarpon footage, but I found the Wulffs gear fishing for bluefin tuna and billfish equally engaging.

Four #4 Wulffs (top to bottom)
Ausable, Grey, White and Royal

There are some very informative sequences within each vignette. The Wulffs land plenty of salmon on their ultra light, 6' fly rods. It's a lesson in fish fighting from a true master. Lee and Joan demonstrate Newfoundland's biggest contribution to salmon angling...the riffling hitch. They show how deadly a technique it is by catching a ton of salmon on hitched flies. We also get a good insight into his fly selection. In the video entitled "The Brook Trout of Minipi," Wulff ties a gigantic bucktail skater which stirs up a really large brookie. The fly is so big, it can't fit into any fly box, but the trout goes wild for it, ultimately leaping out of the water and catching it in his mouth upon reentry. It's definitely one fly I am going to test out this season.

It's Lee Wulff we're talking about, so seemingly superhuman feats of angling prowess abound in these five hours of angling gold. How about the one where he lands a 20+ pound salmon on a size 16 dry fly? Or the one where he lands three enormous brook trout (collectively totaling 17 pounds) on one cast of three flies? Or how about the one where he lands a 148 pound marlin on 12# tippet? It goes on and on...enough to give you a sore neck from shaking your head in disbelief so many times.

I give the Lee Wulff Master collection two thumbs up. I've already watched a few of the episodes multiple times. Soon I'll be onto my next DVD, but I'm sure I'll revisit these films plenty in the future.

Ausable Wulff and Bomber: Enlarged Trout Flies for Atlantic Salmon

Ausable Wulff #4 and Ausable Bomber #6

I believe it was early July 2010 when I brought my friend and fishing partner, Mark, for his first taste of   Rhode Island trout fishing. Our destination, the Wood River, holds a special place in my fly fishing memories. I hooked my trout on a fly from the banks of the Wood when I was thirteen years old. I don't get back there often enough, but I look forward to making a few trips a year. 

Nowadays, almost all of my trips to the Wood happen during a magical time of early summer. The hot and muggy New England weather triggers the Wood's mega hatch of Hexegenia Limbata mayflies. The Hex is North America's largest species of mayfly. The hatch occurs after dark, sometimes coming and going in the blink of an eye. A good Hex hatch is about as exciting as trout fishing gets for me. I love casting big, bushy dries to the sounds of rising trout. Who needs to see rises when you can hear them so clearly?

I hate to drive all the way to the Wood for what could potentially be as little as a half hour of Hex fishing. To maximize my time and gas money, I like to spend the afternoon chasing the Wood's other attraction, the native brook trout. I love small stream trout fishing and the Wood (and its tributaries) has enough brookies to keep an angler busy until darkness falls, the Hex begins to emerge, and the stream's larger inhabitants come out of hiding.

A well-camouflaged Wood River brook trout

Mark is a brook trout junkie and my usual routine sounded good to him. I was going to share the Wood and its residents with Mark, but little did I know Mark had something to share with me. He gave me one of his favorite brook trout flies, a #12 Ausable Bomber. Created by the late Fran Betters, this Adirondack dry fly has become a staple of the small stream trout fisherman's arsenal. It did not take me long to catch several brookies on Mark's Bomber. Since that day, I never leave home without several Ausable Bombers, as well as its sister pattern, the Ausable Wulff. Both have proven equally effective for me, so I can't say I prefer one or the other.

A beautiful native New England brook trout

The Ausable Wulff is tied on the tried and true Wulff template. It's not a new fly to salmon fishermen. I recall seeing it in my all time favorite book on the subject of Atlantic salmon fishing, Fishing Atlantic Salmon: The Flies and the Patterns (Bates and Bates Richards, 1996). Though it's currently out of print and it sells for a relatively hefty sum, it's worth every penny. Anyhow, a small Ausable Wulff (tied by Betters) makes an appearance on page 182. 

A wild Connecticut tiger trout & #12 Ausable Wulff

I've never heard anyone mention that they've hooked an Atlantic salmon on an Ausable Wulff, however, it looks like it has a lot of potential for Atlantic salmon in rivers with tannin colored water. The same goes for the Ausable Bomber. I decided to tie the two in what would be considered very large sizes for these particular flies. If the planets and stars align just right for me, I really hope to try these out in Newfoundland this summer. I think they'd be a pair of killer flies for the surface oriented salmon of "The Rock."

I modified the dressings a tiny bit from the originals, but will make note of what Betters' used to tie these two flies. I'd be curious to know if anyone has had success with either of these on a salmon river, so please let me know. If you have a chance, check out my friend Mark's fantastic blog, Fishing Small Streams. While I have been up to my ears in dirty diapers lately, Mark has been knocking them dead on local streams!

Ausable Wulff (salmon)

Hook: Mustad 3399a #4-#10

Thread: Fluorescent orange 6/0

Wing: Calf Tail

Tail: Woodchuck 

Body: Hot orange seal fur (original calls for rusty orange Australian opossum)

Hackle: Brown and grizzly, mixed

Ausable Bomber (salmon)

Hook: 4XL Bomber hook #2-#10 (pictured is a #6 W.W. Doak Bomber hook)

Thread: Fluorescent orange 6/0

Split Wing: Calf Tail (original calls for a single wing)

Tail: Woodchuck
Underbody: Orange closed cell foam (for enhanced float-ability...not found in the original pattern)

Body: Hot orange seal fur (original calls for rusty orange Australian opossum)

Body Hackle: Brown and grizzly, mixed; ribbed with thread

Front Hackle: Brown and grizzly, mixed

A view from above

Butterflies - Part II

The Leaper, doing what she does best

A couple summers ago, my friend Marc and I were invited to fish a small river (unnamed) in Atlantic Canada (parts unknown). Our friend and gracious host, Bob, brought us to stretch of river a few hundred yards long. Though this was not my first time fishing a tidal pool, it was my first time fishing the mouth of a salmon river. Walking along a sandy beach on the way to fish for Atlantic salmon was a bit surreal to me. If anything, this spot evoked memories of fishing for striped bass in my hometown of Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Before fishing on our second morning, I combed through Marc's amply stocked fly chest. Marc suggested that I try a #6 Blue Butterfly he tied. Marc mentioned how salmon are particularly sensitive to the color blue the closer they are to the sea and that was the fly for me. We weren't just close to the sea, we were right at it! I had never seen a Butterfly tied in that color scheme before but, being a Butterfly fan, I had no qualms about tying it on before we walked the beach to our fishing destination.

It's easy to get distracted watching salmon roll out in the bay, but eventually I went to the end of the lineup and began fishing the Blue Butterfly through the pool. The tide was dropping and conditions were about prime for fishing wet flies. The hotspot of the pool was near a large, gnarly, barnacle-encrusted rock. I cast my fly and swung it through the streamy water of an inside bend. Next thing I knew, I was tight to a fish. It took a little while before she knew she was hooked. When she finally got pissed off enough, she took off like a bolt of lightening. This was the freshest salmon I have ever hooked, literally a stone's throw from the sea.

Please get away from those submerged rocks...

To make a long and painful story short, that salmon cleaned my clock. After a couple of powerful runs, she started jumping. We estimated her in the 12#-14# range, which was pretty good considering the large percentage of grilse around at that time of the season. She kept hovering dangerously close to that gnarly rock. I thought I could guide her downstream and take the fight into the open water of the bay. She had other ideas and ultimately finished me off by running me around the gnarly rock, tightening the fly line, jumping and breaking me off. I was wrecked...she was solidly hooked and I really thought I was going to land her. Shaking his head, Bob said, "That's the kind of fish you want your picture taken with." I have lost bigger salmon but this was and continues to be my heartbreak fish. The fight has been burned into my memory, though possibly because I didn't land her.

"Screw this, I'm going back to Greenland!"

As soon as we got back to the car, I raided Marc's chest and took two more Blue Butterflies, one for fishing and one for reference. A year or so later, I bought Art Lee's book Tying and Fishing the Riffling Hitch. Little did I know I had found the origins of my old friend, the Blue Butterfly.

I have fished that fly a couple of times since that trip, but it has always seemed out of place. I tied some last week and added a green butt (the original has no butt). Blue, Green and peacock herl seems like a winning combo to me. Until I can get back to this magical place, I'll fish the green butt variation at points inland and save the pure blue Butterfly for only the saltiest of salmon.

Everything's better with a green butt, right?

Blue Butterfly w/Green Butt

Hook: Mustad 3399a #4-#8
Wing: Light/medium blue goat or polar bear hair
Tail: Light/medium blue hackle fibers
Butt: Chartreuse Uni-Yarn (omit for original pattern)
Body: Peacock herl wound with dark blue Krystal Flash
Hackle: Light/medium blue rooster hackle