"Treat" of the Week

I have been thinking about the right forum to present the back story on how why I don't have any pictures to show for my last trip into the everglades and I figured "Treat" of the Week has to be my best venue. 

I already shared the majority of that day with you, including showing you the fly I was throwing "Hunting Season." But, if you need a refresher you can always hop back to the blog "Baby Tarpon in Flamingo." 

So it was nearing the end of our morning and we decided it would be best if we tried to get up in one of these creeks that was pumping water out. Figuring if tarpon were around they would be chowing on the baitfish flooding back out into the bight. Well we were correct only it was super tight in there. We are talking 12 feet of creek and a 4 foot wide boat with overhanging mangroves and other nonsense. I was stuck roll casting for rolling tarpon, it just wasn't a successful plan. So I gave Chris the bow of the boat to go after them with a spinning rod and weedless tube pattern. I sat back and watched as he jumped off one more good sized tarpon and missed a big snook. We were on our way back out into the mouth when I decided it would be a good idea to stand up on the poling platform and start casting (it wasn't). Well I'm up there for a couple minutes and I think I said something to the effect of "I could get used to casting from this high up." It was right about that time where the boat went from a meager 2 miles per hour to a dead stop and I was in mid cast on the edge of the platform.. 

The next thing I know I am waist deep in everglades muck, my crocs are buried and my phone is vibrating in my pocket.. Not good. I jumped back in the boat careful as I can be about the fly rod, which never got wet by the way, and rip my phone out of my pocket to see the flash... flashing. Welp. There goes that phone... 

The topper. I got out of the water and look to my left and there is about a 6 foot shark cruising on the same flat as us.. I guessed six feet because there was about a 4 foot gap between its dorsal fin and it's tail. That makes it about 6 feet long right? Right. 

Trout Panoramas

This post was created when I was cropping a variety of the trout pictures that I have in my library on my computer.  There is something about a trouts coloring that almost leaves you in awe of just how unique each trout can be.  I know everyone has had that moment when they have bent over to release a trout, and upon further inspection, it leaves a lasting impression of its astonishing patterns.  

Below are a few examples of those specific moments that I've had on the stream!  Enjoy!

Fly Spotlight

Hunting Season

This little fellow got its name from the bright orange color it has on the body of the hook. I came up with it one day while I was bored at work. I had the tying material in front of me and thought, it might be nice to throw a pattern I can see from a long way off in the water. Turns out baby tarpon want to eat the hell out of it.. So in my mind that's a win win. 

Also it looks like some of the crayfish patterns from back in PA so throw it on a smaller hook and I bet you can crush a couple of smallies on it as well! Good luck!

Recipe:

Hook: TMC 811S 1/0

Thread: Uni Orange 6/0

Body: Orange Estaz

Eyes: Plastic Bead Chain Medium

Tail: Tan Marabou, Orange Buck Tail, and Red Kystal Flash

It's simply, light, and it works. Next time you see it will be (ideally) be in a tarpons mouth! 

Recent Central PA Big Fish

Below is a compilation of fish that I have caught around Central PA recently!

Enjoy!

Need We Say More?

Special thanks to the guys at buster wants to fish for pointing this out to us

Baby Tarpon in Flamingo

There are a couple of things in life I will rarely pass up on.. One of those is an opportunity to chase big fish with a fly rod. So when Captain Chris White asked me if I wanted to head to Flamingo to try to catch some baby tarpon I was more than willing.

Flamingo is a small little "town" inside the Everglades National Park. The town consists of a couple boat ramps, a little boat rental place, and a food trailer that is only open sometimes... So town may be a large over statement.

Regardless, the fishing there is pretty unreal. It's the opposite of the Atlantic side. The water is murky, sometimes muddy. There are huge, expansive channels bordered by thin, widespread flats. Here you can find snook, redfish, lady fish, sea trout, tarpon, and tons of other cool fish. I was specifically here this day in hopes of feeling a tarpon on the end of my life for the first time, but I would, as always, settle for anything eating my fly. 

The day started off slowly and I found myself switching flies pretty regularly until I settled on this bright orange, krystal flash looking fella I tied up myself shortly after arriving in Florida. (I'll show you all what it looks like sometime...) I don't know if it was the fly (I think it was) or if it was the tide (Chris thinks it was) but all of a sudden we started seeing a little more activity and before I knew it I had a split second hook up with a 10 pounder. He exploded out of nowhere crushed the fly and I trout set him out of sheer surprise... Chalk 1 up for the tarpon. Several more flashes later I was still blanked on these little guys. My next and final hookup was on a pretty solid tarpon that just inhaled the fly I strip set the hell out of him and he bolted straight at me! I caught up to him just in time for a little bit of tail walking, but that was all I got. He smiled, gave me the middle fin, and swam away. Now I took some pictures of this trip but I no longer have that piece of technology... But that's another story for another day. 

http://fishingtheworldover.com/

Post Central PA Rainfall Updates

Here is a brief update on a few of the streams around Central PA, Spring Creek, Bald Eagle, Penns Creek and the Little Juniata.  Most of the streams (minus Penns Creek) should be operating under fishable conditions.  

I personally enjoy the challenge of catching fish on difficult stream conditions, just make sure that you wade carefully.  The weather was beautiful yesterday so hopefully you got a chance to go out and fish!  

New Job + After Hours Snook Fishing = Great Success

I started my new job this week. It's a pretty fantastic new job. I will be working as the first mate/deckhand on a 64 foot Spencer Yacht custom sport fish. I work directly under Chris White who has been working in this industry since he was 12, well getting paid since he was 12.. The boat the "Sweet Release" is an immaculately maintained yacht and my first day we got to put it in the water and give her a test run. Followed by a serious cleaning, that is a lot of boat to clean.. I look forward to learning a ton of information from this job as well as getting a couple days a week on the water catching fish learning the trade and just becoming a more well rounded fisherman. 

The best part about the new job.. Chris likes to fish as much as I do. So after a full day of running, washing, and drying the boat it was time to chase some snook. And chase some snook we did... 

SUCCESS - suc·cess/səkˈses/

Noun: 1. The accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
           2. The attainment of popularity or profit.

Archery Elk Hunt

For those of you that are curious we did in fact kill a bull elk on our hunting trip out west. We were high up in the Eagles Nest Wilderness area in Summit County Colorado when Brad Grgurich shot his 5 by 5 bull. Believe it or not it was night one when the shooting occurred.

We had just finished a three hour long horseback ride, seven miles up into the mountains, got our tents laid out when we decided to scout some territory. We all broke up into groups of two and went our own ways, scouting different drainages to hunt on. 

Brad described his bull encounter as this (I'm paraphrasing): It was about 5 minutes until being too dark to see and I heard a crack I didn't think much of it because there were so many squirrels around I just figured it was another one. I glanced over just in time to see a bull walking straight towards me. Now my dad had been calling sporadically all night and he was about 70 yards away from me up the hill so it was probably looking for him, but it was coming right at me. I came to full draw and it looked straight at me and thankfully kept walking it turned broadside at about 25 yards and I tried to time the shot because he was moving... Pretty standard Brad. An underwhelming story for what would have had my adrenaline up and had me shaking. He made a fantastic double lung shot on a 700 pound animal, with that shot in mind this elk still ran 1,000 yards across a steep creek bed up the other side and buried itself in some thick pine trees.

The result - 

For the rest of the pictures from the trip accompanied by some background music check out the videos tab on the blog or the website here.

Colorado Elk Hunt

Bald Eagle (09/16/2012)...Beautiful Day on the Stream

Sunday September 16th, 2012 marked a perfect day for fishing.  I had never fished the Bald Eagle, but after driving to a few sections of Spring Creek and seeing that it was extremely low with excessive vegetation, I dedicated the day to finding a new place that I've never fished.  I drove through Milesburg, and found a place off the beaten path that offered a series of deep runs and riffles that looked promising.  I still wasn't certain I was going to fish it, but after taking a stream temperature that recorded 58 degrees, I was on board.  

The entire afternoon was devoted to nymphing.  In all I caught a lot of fish and I thoroughly enjoyed the aggressive hits that I got due to the cooler stream temperatures.  The final fish of the day (pictured in the last three photos) hit so hard that I had to grip the handle tight because it almost took the rod out of my hands!

If you've never fished the Bald Eagle, I would give it a try.  I plan to explore this stream as frequently as possible over the next week or so to see if I can catch a few more beautiful brown trout like the ones pictured below.  

Enjoy!

Field and Stream: Top 25 Greatest Flies of All Time

One of the great things about the internet is that it offers a fly-fisherman an unlimited ability to research new fly patterns or styles of fishing techniques.  While I was searching the internet for innovative patterns I came across an article from Field and Stream magazine from 2009 that categorized the top 25 fly patterns of all time.  Each pattern is linked to a brief description and additional info about each fly.  If there is a pattern that peeks your interest, check out the link!  

Enjoy!

25. Blue Winged Olive
24. Dahlberg Diver

23. Deer Hair Bass Bug
22. Sponge Spider
21. Lefty's Deceiver
20. Egg Fly
19. Dave's Hopper
18. Fur Ant
17. Prince Nymph
16. Copper John
15. Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear
14. March Brown Spider

13. RS - 2
12. Rusty Spinner
11. Sparkle Dun
10. Stimulator
9. Muddler Minnow
8. Griffith's Gnat
7. Royal Wulff
6. Adams
5. Elk Hair Caddis
4. Zonker
3. Black Ghost
2. Wooly Bugger
1. Clouser Deep Minnow

"Treat" of the Week

This week I bring to you another installment of... More memorable moments. These moments are "firsts." These past years have been full of firsts, and these are just a couple of pictures that captured some of my "first" moments.

First Barracuda On the Fly

First Peacock Bass On the Fly

First Sunrise in Alaska

First Condor Sighting in Chile

First Brown Trout in Chile

Alpine Fishing: Slate Creek

As some of you may know by now I was away in Colorado for the past week and a half chasing elk around the Eagles Nest Wilderness of Summit County. While the elk hunting wasn't a complete success it did allow me to spend some time chasing another illusive species that I had been craving, wild mountain trout. The watershed we fished was approximately 8,500- 9,000 feet above sea level. A small difference from the 16 feet of elevation I currently live at.. Slate Creek gets legs from Upper Slate Lake (12,000 Feet above sea level) and flows through the Slate Creek Valley, which happened to be within walking distance (3 miles) from our hunting camp. 

We decided after one of our longer, more excruciating excursions into the wilderness that it was time for a break and to see if we couldn't catch a couple fish. It was exactly what we needed, the fishing was excellent the weather broke, and you couldn't imagine a more pristine backdrop. The three mile hike in seems like nothing when I finally was able to break my troutless streak. 

Lucky for the photographs the Brooke Trout were beginning their spawning cycle and boy were the colors vibrant. Bright sunrise orange bellies with dark black mouths brought me back to Alaska and their cousins Dolly Varden. It truly was a trip to remember and this little fishing trip in the middle of it was just the tip of the iceberg.