Staying Organized On The Water

Staying organized and comfortable on the water while fishing long days has been a personal battle of mine ever since I started fly fishing. Finding a comfortable balance between being able to carry the required gear while not being over burdened, being able to access everything easily and effectively, and being comfortable all the while is not always an easy task. I have spent hundreds of dollars on different products to try and make my angling experience more enjoyable and I will share with you all my journey to find a good balance.

The Vest

 

The first year that I started fly fishing I came across two vests while purchasing a bulk lot of materials and fly fishing gear. They were standard cloth style vests with an assortment of pockets, plastic o-rings to clip tools on to and made of a light weight material. Starting out I would carry much more gear then I needed on the water due to lack of experience and lack of confidence. I needed a vast assortment of flies, tools and lotions just in case the items were needed. Very quickly I found a lot of dislikes with the vest and after the first year using them I ended up selling both.

Dislikes:
- To many pockets available to fill full of things that are not required, and then finding were you put certain items among 45 pockets.
- Due to the length of most cheaper vests when wading deep they will get wet and start wicking water up onto your clothing
- The pockets that are oriented in the front of the chest bother me. It seems no matter what is placed in the pockets the weight and bulk of having items up front bother me while casting.
- Not enough room to carry a days supply of water, a lunch, snacks etc.


The Fanny Pack

The fanny pack was the second product I tried. I purchased a $60 pack from Amundson to give it a try. It connected around your waist, had a flip down pocket with a fly patch to keep an assortment of flies ready to go and a few other larger pockets for other tools and fly boxes. The waist pack was good in theory but quickly I realized it was not a good choice for me. Most of the times I am wading aggressively and deep ending up in the pack and its contents getting soaked. Another problem I had was the belt slipping or becoming loose and slipping down from my waist. I sold this pack within a week of buying it.



The Sling Pack








At the recommendation of a friend I went to a local hiking and outdoors store and purchased a simple black sling pack to give a try at a reasonable price of $28. I must say that 100% this is my favorite method of organizing gear and items on the water. Being able to have your fly boxes, tools, potions and lotions on hand stored away in a back pack worked well for me. The biggest draw was after finishing with my activities with my pack in front of me zipped open, I could just zip it closed, swing it around to my back, tighten up the closure and have everything out of my way and be ready to fish. My only complaint is to do with size. I purchased one of the larger packs and while it handled all my gear and then some what it does not handle is a 1L bottle of water and some snacks/lunch on the water. Another concern especially when steel heading is having a rain jacket or a spare pair of gloves/hat available. I am happy with the sling pack for very short fishing trips when I do not need water or a lunch, or perhaps am just fishing at a pond or easily accessible area. However when going into the woods for an hour or more to reach a fishing spot I want to make sure I have the items needed to make my day a comfortable one. I plan to keep my sling pack and perhaps keep an eye out for one of a larger size but for full day fishing trips or steelheading the pack just does not cut it.



The Fly Fishing Chest & Back Pack

I just purchased a Wright & Mcgill Madison Pod Pack to give a try hoping to find the best of both worlds, an organized well laid out chest pack, with a back pack able to carry all my gear and tools, as well as lunch, a rain jacket or whatever I may think that I need on that trip. I tried on the William Joseph Exodus back/chest pack and found the front vest style compartments to be bulky and know that it would drive me nuts casting all day. I also checked out the Amundson pack and found the back pack to be a little small.

As for the Madison pack, I took it apart and disassembled each individual part to have a look. I like the two pods they have with two pockets, one smaller and one larger. In the larger pocket they have adhesive strips with velcro to attach to your fly boxes to stick them to the inside of the pod. I like this idea and placed the strips on a few fly boxes to secure them inside the pods. They also have lots of o rings and places to attach tools, as well as slits to place your hemostats while not in use. The pods are bulky and would drive me nuts to have them hanging in the front as they are all day but I purchased this pack due to the versatility...or at least the implied versatility. The pods unclip from the pack and can be worn on the belt or attached elsewhere. I tried flipped the pods up over my shoulder to get them out of the way which would have been an amazing design but they do not sit comfortable.

At the moment the second pod I have set aside, it comes with a "leader" management system that allow you to place two spools of tippet material inside the smaller pocket and feed it up through two holes for easy dispensing on the river, as well as a larger pocket for fly boxes etc.

The first pod that I am keeping I have attached to the strap on the side meant to tighten and secure rod tubes. I figure this way its out of the way in front of me while fishing but still easily accessible. I refrained from hanging my tools (hook sharpener, nippers, forceps) from the pack as I think I am most comfortable attaching them to the D ring on my waders. The back pack is massive and includes a pocket in the front for gear or a water bladder, and a larger pocket behind that could easily store a rain coat, reels, extra fly boxes, lunch, water, a knife or survival kit etc.

I am hoping this pack works out for me as I would hate to have to sell it and look for another alternative. I am very picky about how I store and organize my gear on the water but rightfully so I think, a well organized well balanced thought out product creates an easier more laid back day on the water...at least for myself. I will be putting this pack to the test tomorrow and will report back with a review.

What We Can Learn From Competitive Fly Fishing

I wanted to share this clip here with everyone just to pass along the idea that there is much to be learned from competition anglers. I purchased a book entitled Tactical Fly Fishing long ago to try to gleam some information and techniques from the competition angler and am I ever glad that I did. For most anglers catching as many fish as possible in the fastest time is not enjoyable, but I think we can all agree that catching more fish when we do get a chance to get on the water is very enjoyable.

SBS - San Juan Bomb

This is a pattern I saw somewhere...cannot remember exactly where or exactly how it was tied but basically it was a San Juan worm pattern with added weight and an egg as an all around attractor nymph. I in no way am trying to take credit for creating this pattern and if I ever come across the name or creator of this fly I will certainly change its title and call it a variation, but until that time, the San Juan Bomb!

Recipe

Hook: Size 8-14 Egg or Scud Hook

Thread: Red

Body: Glo Bug Yarn and ultra chenille

Weight: 1/8th Tungsten bead

Step 1: Place the bead on your hook and secure in the vise. Here I am using Allen's Egg hook in size 10 as these flies are meant for steelhead. If you are fishing trout you can go with a less robust hook.

Step 2: Attach your thread behind the bead and run back to the end of the hook. Here I am using 10/0 veevus thread in red. Once at the end of the hook tie in some ultra chenille with the tag end hanging as long as you want your tail.

Step 3: Next cut an inch or so of glo bug yarn from the hank and fluff it apart in your fingers so the fibers all separate. Use this as dubbing to form a dubbing noodle on your thread and create an egg shaped ball ahead of the tie in point of the chenille.

 

Step 4: Bring your thread over to in front of the bead and secure the chenille down over top of the glo bug yarn egg and bead. Cut the tag end of the chenille to your desired length and whip finish the fly behind the eye of the hook. To finish the fly singe the ends of the chenille with a lighter to create a small taper.

This pattern I think offers a little bit of everything, a super attractor pattern that has the weight to get down fast. The proof is in the pudding, this beast was caught nymphing a San Juan Bomb through a run. If you look closely you can see the fly hanging out of the top of her mouth.

Spring Browns 2014

Yesterday I was glad to be able to get out and meet up with a few friends on a river for some spring brown trout fishing. The weather was beautiful, warm, sunny and there was lots of insect activity. I showed up earlier then my friends and after getting in the river upstream I worked my way down. I targeted a few shallow runs that had produced for me in the past and managed a few tugs but no hook ups. At this time I was using a bead head mirage back scud which has been a great producer in the past for me on this river. I had it rigged without an indicator and was just sort of tight line nymphing and swinging the fly at the end through runs and different pockets.

After working down there was a fair bit of shallow broken water with boulders leading to the next run which usually I would walk over. Since having a taste of competition fishing I have been forcing myself to fish odd and unlikely holding water to see if I could get a fish or two and hone my skills. About half way down the run I sent my nymph right beside a boulder and hooked a really nice fish that had been holding in the skinny water. After a brief fight I brought him to net, grabbed a few pictures and released him...apparently he was camera shy.

I then got into a nice run with lots of active feeding fish and started to get a few smaller guys nymphing through with the same pattern. Around this time my friends showed up and started fishing down...I usually do not get stuck in one place but for the next few hours I did not move more then 20 feet around this pool. It is a bit of a trough that holds lots of boulders and stone and ranges in depth from about 2-4ft along its length. At the end of this pool I could catch glimpses of larger fish at the bottom and while some looked like sucker I caught the occasional flash of what looked to be monster brown trout. At this time I put an indicator on, a technique I am not overly comfortable with in order to pick apart the water and hopefully coax a big brown to take an offering.

 

In the deeper parts of the pool mixed in with the browns were some decent sized suckers. This was not the fish I was targeting but I could not keep them off my line. I must have hooked and landed around 30 suckers trying to nymph out the browns in this pool. I eventually gave up and moved to dry flies to avoid hooking any more. The fish were rising all around and the surface action was intense but I had a hard time putting out what they were keying into. It seemed that later in the day it was crane flies and earlier small white duns. I would get a few blow ups on an offering, size 18 white parachute, griffiths gnats, elk and CDC etc and then they would get wise and follow it and reject. I have had great days on this river on the dry but today was not one of them.

I finished the day off down river at a deeper pool that runs for maybe 10-15 feet before a set of riffles. I could see monster fish in the 18-22" range rising and eating insects off the top but yet again after trying to match the hatch on dries I was defeated with refusals and no interest. I switched back over to an indicator rig with a bead head mirage back scud and picked apart the water for maybe half an hour without any success. I switched over to a caddis pupa pattern from the book Tail Water Flies and BOOM first drift through I hooked up with a fish larger then my first. I had him buttoned up for maybe 25 seconds before the small size 18 hook came loose for a long distance release...that was maddening to say the least.

All and all it was a great day and I learned and observed a lot. I flipped over some rocks to look at what was in the stream and noticed as always lots of sow bugs in sizes 12 to about 18, with the majority being around 14-16. Also saw lots of small dark nymphs and noted size and color for this time of year for later reference.


Tail Water Flies & The Caddis Pupa

Spring Pan Fish 2014 - Heating Up

As the spring chill has turned into more hot and humid days I have been thankful to see the rise in pan fish activity and spawning. Yesterday I spent a few hours in the afternoon fishing a local pond for blue gill, pumpkin seed and crappie. I met a friend and his family while on the water and enjoyed a nice laid back day of catching scrappy fish and light conversation.

The bite was on and within a few hours plenty of fish were brought to shore. Of course I started out with my blue gill slaying pattern the bead head mirage back scud and had plenty of decent fish on in no time. My buddy who was using spinning tackle put one of my patterns on under a float and had great success as well, dare I say more then I had partially I believe due to being able to suspend the fly above the weeds and right in the zone.

I left the pond to go have dinner at my parents and on the way home stopped back in for more action. As the night progressed the crappie bite started and I was able to land plenty of feisty average size fish. They keyed in on the retrieve more then the pattern, as long as the fly was retrieved with long strips and a pause they were all over it. I switched over to an epoxy minnow towards the end of the evening and had a fish on almost every cast. At 9:45 when I was having trouble seeing and the bugs started to feast upon my flesh I choose to call it a night. I took a few pictures just to share here, at this point I have caught so many thousands of pan fish that I normally only take pictures of ones that are larger then normal, or that have interesting markings.

Hot Patterns Today

Bead Head Mirage Back Scud

Bead Head PheasantTail Soft Hackle

Parachute Dry Flies

Epoxy Minnow - This pattern and the picture below is that of Ian Collin James, you can find a step by step tying guide here:  http://www3.sympatico.ca/ianjames/fly-tying.html