Summer Update

Not much to report out....just the dog days of summer, get chores done before hunting season and spending time with the twins.  Caught some monster wild trout and bass...haha..Very much looking forward to the fall.

Tricos on Mossy Creek, Virginia

Mossy Creek is a very special stream.  Picture a pristine gin clear stream in a lush meadow of wild flowers and the smell of fresh mint.  With the rolling hills and the Blue Ridge mountains hanging in the backdrop, I feel like I'm fishing in the Shire.  It's probably good I didn't discover fly fishing until my last year at JMU because with streams like this in the area, I may not have graduated.

 

Mossy is by far one of the toughest limestone streams I've ever fished.  Right up there with the Letort, Big Spring, and DePuys.  Tough back cast, thick underwater vegetation, gin clear water, hundreds of micro currents and not to mention highly pressured public water and very discriminating trout.  If you actually hook a trout on a dry and keep him out of the stream bed moss on 6X, that's a good day in my book. 

I ventured to this stream early for arguably the most famous hatch - the morning tricos.  After a long sleepless night with the twins and a two hour drive, I arrived later than I wanted.  When I got onto the stream around 9:30 am - the tricos were pretty much done.  I was a little bummed, but I made my way up the stream head hunting for the last few rising fish.  Without any rise forms, you'll never see a fish on this stream.  They just seem to materialize out of the moss and go right back.  But I did eventually find one really good fish working the surface intermittently and he was my guy.  I watched him at the tail out of this pool for about 10 minutes before thinking about making a cast.


I wasn't sure what he was taking, but I figured after eating trico spinners all morning, he wouldn't pass up my CDC spent wing.  After getting my game plan together, I slowly crawled into a downstream position and prepared my upstream cast.  The key was making the cast right into the exact micro current the trout was lying in, but not too far upstream as to line the trout with my fly line.  With a 12' leader, that meant putting it 4-6' above the fish.  I made a couple casts to the side of the trout and on the third cast put the fly only a foot above the fish.  As it passed over his head, he slowly tipped up on his tail and inhaled the fly!  Wow!  My heart was about to beat through my chest.  So cool.  After keeping him out of the grasses, I was able to do the limbo under the electric cow fence and land this 17" wild spring creek brown. 



I continued fishing, but never saw another fish rise.  It was a little early for hoppers, beetles, etc and I just didn't feel like nymphing.  I ended up hiking more and exploring with my day already being made on that first and only fish. 

Awesome wild brown with red dipped tail and adipose fin...wearing a size 24 Trico spinner



I took this underwater pic of that trout resting under the mossy bank with my iPhone

 

Yough Tailrace float

Spence, Cooper and I hit an afternoon float on the upper tailrace section of the Yough.  We had been hit by some heavy rains and I knew even if the CFS was good, the middle would be chocolate milk.  I was excited to see the dam release at 1200 CFS when I checked in the morning, but they abruptly turned it down to 600 CFS and every wade fisherman in the tri-county area was there.  Needless to say we avoided the main runs and hit some new ones.  The fishing was pretty slow, but we managed to boat some cookie cutter  12" bows.  No middle Yough fatties, but a good option to fish when everything else wasn't fishing.

Cooper staying cool with some water retrieves

Clear Yough water meets the muddy Cassleman below Confluence while a train rolls on

Browns on the Yough


Spencer's sister, Meg, was in town and we decided to do a Yough River float while Grandma watched the twins for the day.  Meg had fished with us before in Montana,...but was she ready for the Madison of the East ...the famed Yough??

Meg on a foggy Yough morning

We put in at the dam and the release was at 600 CFS and 750 CFS at Confluence which = low and skinny and going to be a bumpy ride.  We didn't spend too much time up top and made our way into the long middle Yough float on this 85 degree day in June.   Most of the day was spent just cruising and enjoying the sun.  Somehow these girls possess the innate ability to sit back, relax and not be casting and fishing the entire length of the float.  I cant comprehend it, but I can appreciate it. 



I have yet to see a prettier river



Picking a line

 

With summer flows, the fishing seemed to be better early in the day and later in the evenings.  There weren't many bugs out today and nymphing was the ticket.  This time last year, the dry fly fishing was just nuts on this river and this year, its been rather slow comparatively.  Of course you'll see the killer whales rising to no-see-ums in a Henry's Fork style flat pool, but those fish are TOUGH!  I want the trout that explodes for an Elk Hair Caddis or sucks down a big Slate Drake just for the hell of it.  Where are those dumb Yough trout??









Watch that spikey dorsal fin!




















I will say, these southern gals can fish!  Everyone caught fish on this trip ... everyone, but me.  haha.  Granted, I did the rowing, but I did fish a few runs when we anchored up and I still threw a goose egg.  But I was so super stoked that both Meg and Spence caught fish, that I didn't even care.  Meg even caught Mr. Bronzeback which left her with a puncture in her hand from his spikey top fin.  Hey, at least it wasn't a hook in her head this time (still sorry bout that one.)

We finished out the day with a couple cold beers after the trip (and out of the park.)   We could have used a bit more turkey on the lunch sandwiches, but we survived.  It was a great day and super fun float.

South Branch of the Raritan River

 

The last place on earth you might think to find such an awesome looking limestone fed river....the armpit of America...New Jersey.  But the South Branch of the Raritan is a Garden State gem.  I did a little research and found this stream right near where I was working, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  The most impressive thing about the whole trip was that I fit waders, vest, boots, and gear into my carry-on.  I just had to make cuts on work pants, socks and underwear.  Priorities people.  I had the whole day planned and was super pumped to go and not even torrential thunderstorms stopped me from getting out.  The fish weren't rising, but the stream was a nymphers delight and I tight lined about 8-10 fish in an evening and felt my stress level go from an 8 to a 1.  I love fishing. 



He are the Vladi!



Nympher's paradise

Yough Baptism for the Twins

Cooper thinking we're completely crazy

Spencer and I took the twins out for their first fly fishing adventure / baptism on the Yough.  Now, I know what you might be thinking,...that I've lost my mind taking a couple 8 month olds and my dog out on the river fly fishing, but all I can say is my wife thought it was a good idea at the time too (and one of the many reasons why I love her!)

Clara quickly grabbed an oar....future river rat!

  I cant claim it went exactly as I envisioned it, but I'm glad we gave it a whirl.  The trout were rising as they always do and Spencer was doing her best to occupy both babies.  But there is just something not very relaxing about casting to rising trout when twin babies are having mini meltdowns in the middle of a river. 

 



Clara famously waving in all of her pics! 

I think we could have handled just one meltdown, but not two.  I did get enough casts off to realize that the fish were not taking the big obvious yellow sz 14 cahills, but I didn't stick around too much longer.  There were a couple guys fishing below us and I felt terrible about the screaming babies.  Its one thing to have to accept screaming babies on an airplane, ....but on a river, you should NOT have to listen to other people's screaming babies. 

So we paddled upstream as we sang, "Row, Row, Row your boat"  and I just put the rod down and floated merrily, merrily back down the river. 




Dad with the best catch of the evening....a 22" wild Clara!



The nice thing was the twins aren't moving yet, so when that day comes (which will be soon,) we wont be able to take them out in the boat until they're a little older.  So I am so glad we got this float in now.




But it wont be long until ol Jack is rowing his old man down the river and I cant wait for the day!

 

Jack told me the fish were midging, but I didn't listen to him and kept casting that cahill dry fly.

 

Fishing Turks and Caicos

I recently went to an destination wedding for one of my best friends in Turks and Caicos Islands.  It was an unbelievable wedding with ridiculous times at the Beaches resort.  The weekend was epic, but for purposes of this blog, we'll stick with the fishing.

 

 

Friday we had a guys outing (all the girls went to the spa) and we hooked up with Grand Slam Charters and they took us on their Wahooooo boat. T&C islands are setup nicely because within 10 minutes you can be fishing for blue marlin and the big boys if you want.  In the States its an hour trip to the Gulf.   We had a great trip and though we didn't catch a ton, the most important thing was the groom-to-be landed a fish: a Spanish mackerel.



 

Robbie with a Spanish mackerel

 

 

We found plenty of bait balls and bombing birds, and I really thought we were going to get into the fish, but it just didn't happen today.  With the trolling bite a little slow, we decided to anchor up and do some bottom fishing...but the only problem was Captain didn't have his @#$@'n anchor.  Someone must have taken it out and not returned it.  Seriously WTF.  Fortunately, we had a laid back group, so we just rolled with it and went back to trolling.  It was a great day to be out, so most of the team rested up, while some of us pounded Turks Head beer and ate Cheetos.

 

Trouble brewing at sea

 

As we were approaching the end of the 6 hr trip (which went really fast) the rod bent and Captain yelled 'Fish on!'  Scott, who we thought was temporarily paralyzed, sprung to his feet in a cat-like motion and quickly laid the wood to a 10 lb Mahi Mahi.

 

We ended up boating these two fish and the nice thing was we had the resort cook up the mackerel and Mahi for the rehearsal dinner Friday night.  The food on the menu was great, but nothing trumped that fresh fish.

 

 

 Though I had an awesome day on the boat deep sea fishing, I couldn't stop thinking about the endless miles of pristine bonefish flats surrounding Provo Island, Turks and Caicos. 

 

 

 

I also spent hours tying up bonefish flies in the winter for this trip and brought all my stuff.  I was so pumped to go, I skipped the late night partying and instead got a good night sleep.  Nothing trumps fishing.

 

As luck would have it, our concierge at the Beaches resort knew just the local bonefish guru that fishes every day and I ended up getting an invitation to get out for a few hours in the morning.  He was an old timer that grew up on the island (also known locally as a Belonger) and name was Lam which was short for Lambert.  He took me out to one of his money flats (sorry DIY bonefishers...not to be named) where we waded for a few hours hunting for these ghosts.  I've said it before, but I think I could easily wander these miles of flats hunting for bones / permit forever.  Time just doesn't exist here.  Nothing but wading, searching and peacefulness.  True heaven.

 

After a few hours of searching and not one single cast, I spotted the first two bones flanking in at 45 feet.  I was up first and Lam told me to make the cast.  I had seconds to get it off...and as I started my false cast, my fly line kinked in the rod guide  and they were gone just like that.  I blew it.  I was sick.  And they were big - so big I didn't even ask Lam how big.  But about 20 silent minutes later, he said, 'you know they wuz bout 12 pounders.'  The biggest bonefish I ever caught was maybe 6 lbs and a 10 pounder was a fish of a lifetime.  I wanted to puke.  But I was pretty stoked I spotted the first fish before Lam did, so we waded on, huntin... searching. 

 

I continued to look down wind hoping my next fish would present an easy cast, but Lam found the next fish and the bonefish was dead nuts into the wind.  'There he is.  Make the cast.'  With one false cast, I made the best cast I've ever made into the stiff flat's wind.  At 35 feet, that single bone cruised the mud flats in 10 inches of water and I put the fly 5 feet in front of his nose between him and me.  He instantly turned.  I made a strip and he swam, but didn't commit.  He was close to me..now maybe 25 feet and my heart was about to come through my chest.  I crouched as low as I could and on the third short strip of a small tan shrimp fly, he ate it.  Game on!  3 trips into my backing and what felt like an hour later, the fish was to hand - a solid 8 pounder and biggest bonefish to date.  It was epic.  I'll never forget that.  It was the last fish we saw and then I had to hustle back to get ready for a wedding!  What a day.

 

 

 

 

 Hours later, it was back to the pool side bar and prep for Robbie and Clare's wedding (which was the real reason we were all there :)  Then onto the celebration!  I've been to a lot of weddings, but none with a view like this.  All weddings should be in bonefish heaven.