Well...I'm off

Heading to Sacramento for a wedding in a few hours. Good news is that I have a rental car, all day Saturday to fish, and I'm bring my 6 weight and my switch rod.

I'm going to start off trying to get a steelhead on the swing in the American River, and then I'm going to head north to the Yuba to search for some trout. I can't freaking wait to hit the water, especially after seeing this pic of the Yuba.


I'm sure I'll get a blog post or two up when I'm out there. Wish me luck. I think I'm gonna need it.

Broadcasting LIVE RIGHT NOW!

9-11pm EST on www.drumandbasslounge.com

If you like drum and bass, you'll dig it. If not, you'll probably hate it. :)

Either way, it's good music to tie flies to!

Quite a Sunday, and a big THANK YOU!

I'm sitting here, introducing my three year old to Harry Potter, and banging away at the laptop. I posted earlier asking for donations towards the Diabetes walk that I'm doing next month and I'm very surprised and extremely thankful for all the generosity already!

Thanks to Mike S., Frank A., and my good buddy Howard for their donations. Please let me know what bugs you want off the site, and email me your mailing address. I'll get to them at some point soon.

I also received a hefty donation from Dave over at Strip'n Flywear. Thanks Dave! I took some time to check out the website today and they have some great t-shirts available. I think I definitely need the "James Brown Trout"!


There's still plenty of time to donate, and my offer still stands on the free flies. Make sure you check out the Strip'n Flywear site by clicking on the banner over there --->

In other news, I did get some fishing time in today. It's definitely the 7th inning stretch of summer. Wet wading in sandals didn't cool me off, it made me chilly. The fish were starting to get sluggish. The wildflowers were starting to wilt.


I was mowing the lawn this afternoon and help this guy with his narrow escape from the Troy-Bilt blades.


I took it as a sign to tie on a Hopper Juan and hit the local creek.


After two long releases with some fiesty smallmouth, I finally found a big pod of gills that wanted to play. I pulled in about half a dozen of these guys before my feet were freezing. Yeah the fish weren't huge, but any action is good action as far as I'm concerned.



Time to hit the vise to twist up a few for my upcoming trip to Sacramento this week. I'm going to try to hit the American River. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it!

I could use your help. Support a good cause, and get some free flies.

So here's the deal....I'm doing the Walk for Diabetes Awareness next month in Philadelphia and I'm running a little short on donations. I'm going to throw this out there to my readers.

If you donate $10, and I'll hand tie and mail you two of any (single-hooked) fly I've posted on this site in the last two years.

For a donation of $20, I'll send you two flies, in addition to any articulated streamer I've posted on here. I'll also include a small banner ad in the top right corner of my page if you've got a company or blog you want advertised.

It's a win/win. Support a good cause, get some free flies.

Here is the link to donate:
Click Here

Please feel free to share/tweet/pin reblog this and spread the word. I have a long way to go to reach my goal and I do love tying flies for people.

Thanks in advance for any donations you can provide. They would be greatly appreciated.

It happens every year

It's 10:30pm on the island, just as high tide is starting to recede. Parties are raging around me as I stand under a dim street light, stringing up my six weight while listening to bait balls getting sawed up by small bluefish right around the fishing pier.

Drunks are starting to wander as I start casting the small epoxy streamer. Enter token drunk casino employee.

"You won't catch shit with a fly rod. I live down here and you tourists don't know what you're doing."

"I'll bet you that un-opened can of beer in your hand I'll catch one in five casts".

He starts off with maniacal laughter and says "you've got a deal, asshole!"

It only took two casts.

It was a Yuengling lager and wasn't very cold, but it kept me company while I caught half a dozen more. My friend didn't stick around after losing his beer.

Happy Memorial Day.

Now that summer is over...

Expect more posts. Don't remove me from your blog roll just yet. I have a ton of new flies to tie and share. I've just been to busy spending time with the kids to get some posts up. More soon. Now enjoy these tiny fish from Sunday.

Sacramento, Senkos, and HOLY SH*T

My car is in the shop, along with my 5/6 weight rod and fly boxes. Forgot to take them out. My 4 weight has a broken tip and will be heading back to TFO headquarters for a fix up.

I wanted to fish tonight and I didnt' want to string up an 8 weight or a switch rod, so out came the St. Croix Ultralight and some Senkos.

It amazes me how well Senkos work. There is something about these things that just drive bass nuts. I caught about five 10-12 inch smallmouth in 20 minutes, and this monster fat rock bass.


I've tried to mimic Senkos through fly patterns, and these bugskin wigglers have been doing great, although not quite as great as a real Yamamoto one.


In other news, I just booked my flight out to Sacramento for a wedding from 9/13 through 9/16. I've heard about a Salmon run in the Sacramento River. Luckily, the wedding reception is right on the river and yes, I'm not beyond swinging a spey rod in a tuxedo for a chance at a real anadromous salmon. Anyone have some suggestions? Looking for places to fish, patterns, and hell, even a fishing partner to show me around.

Before I go, I was browsing the Chive today and I came across this. HOLY SH*T.

Flows are up

After some much needed rain, I gave the local stream a few days to clear and headed out for two hours. It's been so dry that the stream didn't even get that muddy and with all the rain, water levels are higher, temps are cooler, and the fish are way more active.

I landed about 20 fish in two hours on hoppers and streamers. A mixed bag of smaller panfish and bass. It was so much fun that I'm heading out again today.

I only get a half hour for lunch....

But I can still manage to sting a few.

Return to the trout, and something to scratch off my bucket list

It was back to work this week after 9 days at the beach. 45 hours of work, about 20 meetings, and 1500 emails later, I was in need of some relaxation again. I haven't actually fished for actual wild trout since the end of April and I felt I was due for some trico action.

I sat up Friday night and tied half a dozen trico spinners, 3 females and 3 males. I was on the water by 6:45am. I forgot how beautiful a limestone stream is in the morning.



There is something zen-like and soul cleansing with early morning trico fishing. The fog starts to lift off the water, the birds start swooping down inches from the water picking up the spinners before they drop, and then you see the first dimple from a rising fish. I missed trout fishing. It's a far cry from throwing straight 10 lb leader with big flies to bruiser smallmouth in my backyard.

To say the fish were smart would be an understatement. They've been doing this dance a thousand times this summer; easily snubbing your fly for the 200 naturals around it. This stretch of water gets hammered with anglers. They've been stung way too many times, and know the difference. They are so accustomed to people fishing while they gorge that they aren't even afraid anymore and will sip flies 5 feet in front of you but almost always will just stop even examining your fly after 5 casts.

I had to work really hard, but I did come up with a couple of rainbows in an hour.



I was going to pack it in, and then a saw a flash of orange downstream from me. Turns out a nice fat Palomino decided to come to the party. I've been trout fishing a long time, and I've never seen one rise. Not only was he rising, but he was rising every few seconds and was at one point, less than a foot in front of me. Even though these are mutant stocked fish that are bred for nothing more than being a stuffed trophy over the fireplace in a house that watches way too much Nascar, I still thought it could be cool to take one on a size 24 trico.



I worked him for about half an hour, and finally got him to take a spinner. The fight was boring. He had been caught quite a few times before and knew the drill. I picked him up, snapped a pic, and send him on his way.

With that, I called it a day. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.

When you come home after an awful day of work...

And your three year old asks you to go fishing, it instantly makes everything better again. He set the hook and landed it.

It's been a while

I feel like it's been ages since I actually posted something. The truth is, I've just been busy with life. Been working a lot, and spending a lot of time with the kids. I haven't even sat down at the vise in about two weeks. I've also been busting my ass with the exercise and I've managed to take off 43 lbs since March. I've even got my 5K time down to 33 minutes (I know that still sucks, but I'm trying!)

That's not to say I haven't been fishing. The smallmouth fishing in the creek behind my house has pretty much been spectacular. I've pulled in quite a few hogs in the past few weeks, almost all of them on big foam dry flies, which makes it more fun. I haven't gone to an actual trout stream in over a month, and to be honest, I don't really miss it. Smallmouths and big panfish have been more than enough fun for me.

So yeah, maybe I did miss some nice hatches, but I don't mind. I'm heading out for father's day to try and hit a sulphur hatch, and maybe I'll bring along my new Go Pro which hasn't even made it out of the box. I'll try to get a post-trip report together Sunday night.

Until then, feel free to jam out on this.