The Intern's in Canada!

For those of you who don't know, Harry Tomlin is whom we call the intern. Harry was a co-worker of mine at TCO, who became a fishing buddy, and now is just a good friend. Harry is a fish bum, he came out of retirement to work for a fly shop because he loves fishing. Since we began the blog he has been a huge supporter of it, so much so that we decided to give him an "unpaid internship." Which is ironic because we don't have any money to pay him anyway. Harry had a slow start to his intern duties but he has been earning his wings. 

This week the intern was in Canada catching Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass on the fly. Here is a little recap of his trip with an introduction from his son, Scott. Enjoy!

Hi guys,

Love the blog. My dad got me hooked on it. It is so impressive that you guys have something new on there every day. As you know the Intern had the week off to fish in Canada. While he did plenty of fishing himself, he still had to choose my flies and tie them on. Got to keep him busy. He also let me use the new Hatch 4 plus!!! It was amazing. Here is a picture of him performing his basic guiding duties. Notice the shirt and the Hatch reel on the old Sage 6 weight. There was an 18in (me) and a 17 in (Dad) bass on the end of that rod. Guess the Intern did it again! 

Thanks,
Scott Tomlin              

                                                                                                                                                                                             

Hey guys hope all is well,

I've been traveling a bit. My son Scott and I just back from annual trek to Northern Ontario. Lady Evelyn lake near New Liskard Ontario about six hours above Toronto. The place is called Island Ten and yes it is on an island in the middle of the lake. Remote but not exactly roughing it. Fishing was a little tough but we were only ones in camp using fly rods and fishing for pike and bass. Rest of camp was a bunch of Ohio and michigan walleye fisherman who did not react well when we told them to back off when they started all the Penn State Sandusky BS. We had a few bad days but found the fish and were productive and had lots of action. No huge pike mostly in mid 20's range missed a lot and the intern learned again the need for not using 5x tippet on pike. That did not work well at all. My son out-fished me as always. We had a secret bass spot in downed timber stumps just a quarter mile from the island camp. The spot was producing 17 inch and up smallmouth consistently on poppers just at dusk on calm nights. Everything had to be right which it was about four of the seven nights, it was wild. We moved so many big, aggressive bass it was unbelievable, Caught a few too.

Thanks and Peace,

The Intern
 

Little blurry but that is a fat smallmouth!

Proof that it was indeed on the fly!

Gotta love the effort to get the fly rod in there.

Logan Branch Update (08/06/2012)

The Logan Branch is arguably one of my favorite challenging streams to fish during the dog days of the summer.  The fisherman must take a completely stealthy approach to this river.  The high grass along most of the stream allows you to sneak along the bank but the trout still find a way to see you.  I think that is what I like most about this stream, it doesn't even seem like you are fishing in Central Pennsylvania.  Certain points of the stream are no wider then a rods length and other times it "opens up" to about 12 - 15 feet.  The tight cover, and precise casts necessary makes it feel like you are fishing a mountain stream.      

Another thing that I love about the Logan Branch is that it receives fairly low fishing pressure but it is enough that the fish have become very intelligent.  The combination of the challenge and the chance of hooking into a good fish is what makes this stream so fun to visit.  Below are a few pictures that I took on my recent trip to this gorgeous Central PA stream.    

"Treat" of the Week

I know it's been awhile and it's hard to really call this the "treat" of the week anymore... but I am going to do it anyway. 

This little "treat" is common sense for some, and for others a more difficult thing to master. It is however, basic guiding 101. 

What do I do when we aren't catching fish and everything gets quiet? You have to ask it because inevitably at one point or another whether it's a week long trip or a half a day at some point you run out of things to talk about and the fish get sparse. It happens, don't worry about it... I mean it rarely happened to me, but that's another story haha. 

Things to keep in mind.
1. Clients always can get better at casting, teach them something
2. Have a joke in your back pocket. Generally speaking keep the politically incorrect stuff for after you've got a good feel for your client. 
3. Share a story of some other fishing experience, pretend this day reminds you of that even if it doesn't. 
4. Pick out a really fishy looking rock, or "see" a fish rise. 
5. Talk to the fish "Here fishy fishy"

Definitely do not walk away and leave it in an awkward silence. The longer awkward silences go the harder it is to break them.

The hardest part about guiding is reading clients. Some like to talk more than others, some like to have their ego patted, some like to absorb as much knowledge as you have, others think they already know it all. It's essential that you can figure out how they want to be treated and handle it that way. If you can't read people and handle people well you shouldn't be a fishing guide, I don't care how good you are at it. If people don't like you, you will not go far in that business. 

Fly Spotlight

Taylor's Fat Albert

http://flycurrents.blogspot.com/

This fly was originally turned on to me in Chile as a massive attractor fly that could bring fish up from the depths. It can be fished on the dead drift, skated like a mouse, or stripped like a popper. All of the methods are effective and it seems to catch fish everywhere I go. Right now in PA I'd be throwing one of these at first light up underneath the willows and thick overhangs to try to get that big brown to feed on what he thinks is either a large beetle or a small mouse. 

Recipe:

Hook: TMC100 sz 2-10 (8 is probably good in PA)

Thread: Uni 6/0; Black

Body: 2mm foam;Black 

Wing: Calf Hair; White

Wing Case/ Indicator: 2mm foam; Red

Legs: Round rubber legs; small black

Afternoon Kayak Trip

Yesterday I took the kayak out after work in search of something.. It had been a few days since I wet a fly line and I was seriously getting the itch. I decided I was going to head out after work, I packed my bag, threw in an extra water bottle, and made sure my camera was charged. 

First, let me be clear that I am in no way an Olympic kayaker. It takes me quite a bit of time and sweat to navigate long distances in these little plastic boats. 

I spent the majority of the first hour chasing around a couple of larger barracuda just trying to get the skunk off. No luck. 

I finally took off up a creek in search of something, a bonefish, a tarpon, a crab? I didn't care I just needed to feel a pull on the end of my line. It took me about 45 minutes of straight rowing until I got to where I thought I needed to go (I went to the wrong spot). I paddled in slowly, tons of bait fish swimming all around me. I was starting to get excited. I was easing in deep into these mangroves and deep into the creek when I spotted a tail. I unhooked the fly, stripped out enough line to make the presentation, shot the cast, landed it softly, waited, waited, strip, strip, strip, strip.... Nothing. Repeat. Nothing. Switch flies, readjust kayak, repeat. Nothing. 


2 minutes later a 4 foot nurse shark cruises right up my kayak in about 10 inches of water. Looks right at me smiles and gives me the middle fin. 

The only thing I ended up hooking that day was a rather large blue crab that was very aggressively into my 1/0 chartreuse deceiver. 

Back to the drawing board. I got a new hot spot I'll check out sometime next week I'm sure. 

Spring Creek Update (08/02/2012)

Spring Creek has been fishing pretty well during the early morning hours. I've only been fishing when the water temperatures are below 64 - 66 degrees Fahrenheit. From the reading that I've done, the trout will begin to lose weight when the temperatures reach 70 degrees. Even when the water is between 64 - 66 degrees, I release a fish as quickly as possible and do not spend a lot of time documenting the trout.

I've been using mostly inch worms, scuds and a variety of Czech and caddis nymphs. If I want to catch a fish on top I will fish an ant or some type of terrestrial pattern or a combination of any of those flies. Below are a few fish pictures that I've snapped quickly before releasing the fish as fast as possible to ensure a healthy return back to the water.

Also, I would like to give a special thanks to the guys from Nomad nets for sending us a pair of nets. My Nomad Hand Net has done an outstanding job netting a lot of fish while offering an extremely light weight, durable option to securing a fish. Oh and it floats! Check it out in some of the pictures below from the most recent trip to Spring Creek.  I had a great time on the water with Patrick Williams!

Enjoy!

This Time Last Year at Cusack's

Last year in Alaska I had an opportunity to break in one of my good friends into the guiding industry and give him a last hoorah before he enlisted into the army. Doug Suhey had always been an outdoorsman and a fisherman but he quickly picked up a passion for fly fishing when I mentioned we might need a strong, motivated individual to do a little guiding as well. Doug jumped on the opportunity and had one hell of a summer. Topped off by his father Larry coming up to visit in July for Larry's birthday. Here are some of Larry's favorite pictures from his time spent up there. Larry told me his trip to Alaska was so much more than just fishing, but it appears he caught some nice fish along the way as well. 

Brian and Kirk,

I was up with Doug the second week of July 2011, so pretty close to this time last year. The sockeye were just starting their run up the Copper River. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the time spent with Doug up there.

Keep the faith,


Larry

"In a 30 min span I caught over 25 fish with a nymph. The location was Bobs brothers cabin on the mountain."