Dan Harrison working hard

Midcurrent expert Phillip Monohan responded to a question about the do’s and don’ts of hiring a guide on this week’s column. I can’t argue with much of what he says. His essential point of view is that you’ve hired a guide based upon his experience, so listen to him. Sound counsel.

I hire guides a couple of times a year. Mostly to fish water that’s new to me while on vacation. I generally get only a brief period on family vacations to fish so I like to make the most of them. I do hire the Harrison Brothers a few times a year to fish the Deerfield River but I think I enjoy their company as much as the fishing.

So here’s my thoughts on getting the most out of a guide:

• Before you hire one, ask around. Internet discussion forums, Facebook, etc. Find someone who’s fished with a guide in the locale you’re looking to fish. Find one they like. Interrogate them on why they liked the guide. Make sure the things they liked are the things you would like. I once hired Rachel Finn out of the Hungry Trout in Wilmington, NY. She got us on fish. That said, she has a drill instructor personality. We marched a whole bunch and she forced (or shamed) you to make casts that you thought you couldn’t but actually could. It was a great day. I’d hire her again; but she might not be for everyone.
• Find out if you’re fishing with the guy you’re talking to or someone else. Once, someone whose opinion I highly value gave me a tip on a Delaware River guide. I called the guy and we eventually set a date to fish together. When I got there, I was fishing with one of his guides, not him. The guide I got was okay but was not a great fit personality-wise.  I’d still like to fish with this guy but felt a little bait and switched if you’ll pardon the pun. Maybe someday.
• Have a chat with the guide to set expectations. This is more of a two way street that Phillip lets on in his article. Tell the guide what you’d like from the day. Are you after a trophy — one monster would make you happy? Do you want to fish natives? If I’m fishing with the boys my goal is fish to the net. I’d rather fish a small creek knowing we’re going to get fish to the net with enough frequency to keep everyone interested that to get trophies. Then let the guide manage your expectations. He will recommend water and tactics. Go with them.
• In that chat, find out what sort of personality the guide has. I’ve fished with three types: Confident Professional, Intense Angler, Laid Back Rower. Confident Professional is my pick. He’s a guy or gal who has good interpersonal skills, talks about his craft without seeming too arrogant and, most importantly, listens. The Intense Angler can be good if you like serious Type A personalities. He’s talkative; in fact you don’t get to talk. He lets you know when you’ve missed an opportunity. He may take it personally if you’re not catching fish. Some of these guys I can take; most are going in the “jerk” category. Laid Back Rower never seems to work hard enough even though he’s doing as much as the other guys. I fished with one of these on the Delaware. We got on fish though I always felt the decisions were mine to make. That said, he did a nice job rowing the boat.
• Call your guide  a week or so before the trip. Guides work with hundreds of people during the season. He’s not going to remember your expectation setting discussion from four months ago. Find out the conditions and how those conditions might require a different play. Adapt.
• When you meet your guide on the day of the trip, go over these expectations again. Get his read on things. Again, adapt. Even once you’re on the water, adapt. I can remember one day when I was after trout we had the opportunity to get into a mess of bass and shad. I wasn’t particularly interested but I gave it a try. WHAT A BLAST! Be ready for unexpected opportunities and seize them. Nothing mixes up a day of catching thirteen inch trout like a twenty-two inch shad horsing line from the reel.
• While the selfish part of your brain will tell you that you’ve paid
  someone to help you catch fish, that’s not what’s going on here. You’ve
  paid someone to take you fishing. The catching may well be as fickle as
  if you’d gone yourself. That’s the reality of the situation. I’ve never been skunked with a guide but I’ve had one fish days. Of course, that one fish was twenty-one inches long.
• Most importantly, relax. You’re going to feel pressured to meet the guide’s expectations of setting the hook at the right time, seeing every dip in the indicator, spotting the fish finning in the cushion in front of every boulder. But you’re paying him. So, chill. It’s not about meeting the guides expectations. It’s about fishing some great water, learning a bit of the craft (ask tons of questions), and perhaps sharing the experience with a buddy.

Who would I fish with again? These folks.

Tom and Dan Harrison, Harrison Anglers, Deerfield River, Massachusetts

Brown Hobson, Brown Trout Fly Fishing, South Fork of the Pigeon, North Carolina

Jimmi Morales, Sierra Fly Fisher, Secret Yosemite Creeks, California

Rachel Finn, Hungry Trout Fly Shop, Ausable River, New York

Folks I wouldn’t fish with again? Well, I’m not that kind of sport.

Turns out, not so dumb.

Now it turns out that I’ve always done this right. And it’s not because I’m some sort of genius, it’s just that I’ve always paid particular attention to how the connection forms so that it looks correct — basically it looks like a square knot looks.

However, there’s an overview of the proper technique highlighted over on Midcurrent that shows how to do it correctly. Short story: pass the leader loop over the butt section loop and pull through.

Enjoy.

Of course, there’s a whole other class of knots that we have to deal with which are usually due to casting mistakes or tangling in stream side foliage. When I first started fly fishing I spent a weekend with a very patient instructor who told me that they key to knots was “making them bigger”. Instead of tucking on the ends — like the fly — start in the middle and try and spread the knot out so one can begin to see the structure.

Like most fly fishers I also learned that most simple knots become frustratingly complex knots because of our own actions. Often that’s because we waggle the rod tip or tug on the line and just make the problem worse.

The best advice I have when facing or suspecting a knot situation is to be very careful with what you do with the rod and to move slowly. The first step is not to make the situation worse.

Midcurrent.com recently dealt with this situation with some advice from writer Phil Monahan. He has written a great article on strategies for untangling pesky knots.

First, a disclaimer. Try this stuff at your own risk.

I’ve never hooked myself good enough to need any method other than the “pull if out” method of hook removal. However, I have seen articles in fly fishing magazines that describe the “string” method of hook removal. I never really understood how to do it and, frankly, doubted whether it could actually work. Gary sent me a very cool video of a guy who hooked himself good (in the nose with a large streamer hook) and was assisted by a friend who successfully used the “string” method.

The video is below and I’ve also included a description of the method as well. Amazingly, it works.

The Simple Survival Website describes the method as follows:

When using the string yank or pull method I believe you will find much less pain for the injured party. Also, this technique keeps the wound size down and decreases the risk for additional infection when compare to push through and cut method. It is a good procedure to use when you may not have a pair of wire cutters along as well. Once again, as in call cases where you are removing a hook, clean the wound and your hands well with soap and water prior to starting.

Tie a long length of fishing line or strong string to the bend in the hook. At the other end of the line, I usually tie it to a small piece of green wood or a pocket knife handle (closed) to give me additional leverage (handle) when I pull the line.

• Push the hook shank down parallel to the injured tissue to disengage the barb on the hook (on the inside).

• While the hook shank is down, give the line a hard and sharp jerk in the direction the hook entered the tissue. The hook will usually come right out of the entry hole with very little pain.

• Clean the injury well with soap and water and apply an antibiotic ointment if you have it available, just like the push through method.

• Use a band-aide to protect the wound from foreign matter and remember to the injury should be kept dry and clean.

]]> http://cvtu.org/2010/09/im-hooked-easy-painless-hook-removal/feed/ 0 http://cvtu.org/2010/08/how-do-you-keep-flies-floating/ http://cvtu.org/2010/08/how-do-you-keep-flies-floating/#comments Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:31:53 +0000 Steve Zakur http://cvtu.org/?p=272 I've been fly fishing for about six years now and like most folks started keeping flies afloat with generous applications of gel floatant. I moved from Orvis' brand to Gink and Aquel which I pretty much use interchangeably based upon what's... more

I’ve been fly fishing for about six years now and like most folks started keeping flies afloat with generous applications of gel floatant. I moved from Orvis’ brand to Gink and Aquel which I pretty much use interchangeably based upon what’s available at the fly shop when I run out. Gel is still the foundation of my floating system.

The key to gel-based floatants is not putting too much on the fly. Too much goop causes the hackle to bunch up and defeat the purpose of the floatant — to aid the hackle’s natural water defying magic with a boost of repellency. If the hackle is clumped it won’t have the right qualities to ride on the water’s meniscus. Also, too much floatant will cause a small “oil slick” to form around the fly which sure doesn’t look natural.

The method I use is to squirt a small amount on my forefinger, rub my forefinger and thumb together to warm and thin the gel and then apply sparingly to the fly. If you put too much on your finger to begin with you can either wipe it on your waders (for that cool, I’ve got waders stained from overuse look) or start with your leader (see below) and then grease up the fly when the amount is more manageable.

But floatant isn’t just for flies. I use floatant on my tippet and leaders as well. More often than not the thing that causes my flies to sink is not a sloppy cast that splats it on the water or the slow absorption of water over time, it’s the fly line and leader dragging the fly under at some point. So, I always give the tip of the fly line and the leader a quick wipe of floatant as well.

Once a fly is soggy — whether from a fish or from too much casting and drifting — I use a fairly common routine to get the fly back on top. First, if the fly has been in a fish’s mouth I cast off the slime. This is done with a few sloppy casts which splat the fly on the water (to douse it good) and then false cast the slime/water off.

Next, dry the fly manually — blow on it, then press it in your shirt/amadou/whatever. I use what is a small patch of fake amadou. It’s marketed  as Samadou. I’ve also seen small pieces of “shammy” cloth serve the same function.

Now the dry-to-the-touch fly can get the final piece of treatment which is a desiccant. There are two ways to apply it, either the shake method or the brush on method.

The shake method is used with products like Shimazaki or Top Ride whereby you drop your fly (still on the leader) into the bottle, secure the cap and shake. You then remove your fly and cast. This is the most popular method of using desiccant though I think the brush method is more effective.

The brush on method really isn’t brushing, it’s more like poking. I use Frog’s Fanny. You take the fly between your fingers and then with the other hand load up the brush with powder and poke it into the fly. This method works very well though it requires good dexterity and no wind. Otherwise, you’re just scattering your desiccant to the winds.

More info can be found over on Mid-current

]]>

Gary Whipple forwarded me this excellent article from over on midcurrent.com that talks about fighting fish. The roots of this article are based upon salt water technique, but they’re equally applicable to fighting fish in fresh water. The whole notion of keeping a fish off balance and putting pressure on the fish using the rod as a lever and pulling against the direction the fish is going are techniques that I’ve used on rivers like the Housy.

Enjoy. And good luck getting your big fish.

Link: Fighting Big Fish

One of the things I learned that day was about surveying the water before you wade in. Now, I didn’t learn it when the guide held me back a bit to actually watch the water. He was watching the water. I was thinking about all the fish I would be catching.

I also did not learn it a little later in the day when we were actually catching some fish in water that I would have thought too skinny to catch fish in. I thought the fish were on the far bank (aren’t the always). We were catching fish on the near bank. We were catching where I would have been standing. But I was happy to be catching so I didn’t consider why we were actually fishing there.

No, it didn’t all click for me until late in the day when the guide nodded downstream and said, “That guy’s standing in water he should be fishing”

Then I put it all together. Watch the water. See the fish. And even if you don’t see the fish, cast to a few of those places you don’t think will hold fish just in case they do. Don’t overdue it. But a few casts can’t hurt.

Today, I always wade in to the spot I want to fish preceded by a few casts to the places I will walk through and a few casts to the spot where I will soon be standing just in case they hold some fish. I’m rarely rewarded with a tug on the line using this technique but I am often enough that it’s become a nice habit.

Phillip Monahan has a nice article on this subject over on Midcurrent, The Inside Scoop.

First, what is a reach cast? According to Tom Rosenbauer in the Orvis Fly Fishing Guide, a reach cast “is merely an aerial mend”. So, it’s a way of mending, helping you manage your line so that you get better drag free drifts as your fly approaches a fish.

Why a reach cast and not just a normal mend? Well, if you’re a “on the water” mender you know that one of the tricks that’s difficult to master is to mend the line without moving the fly. One of the tricks is to make sure you give the line some slack as  you mend to help limit the movement of the fly. The reach cast is useful to master because you mend before the whole rig (line, leader, fly) hits the water. So, you get the correct mend without moving the fly.

So, how’s it done?

Rosenbauer continues, “Just before the line hits the water on a forward cast, you move the rod upstream of where it would have ended up on a standard forward cast.”

So, easier said than done. To see how it all comes together, check out this video over on midcurrent.com that shows Joan Wulff demonstrating the reach cast.

For freshly stocked fish, use big, bright flies, such as a San Juan Worm in hot pink or red, or an egg pattern, such as a Jighead GloBall in ‘clown’ colors.

You can check out the complete article at midcurrent: http://midcurrent.com/flyfishing/stocked_trout.aspx

I’ve fished with a few guides during the past couple of years and the ones that I liked the best were the ones who focused most on what I enjoyed versus getting all uptight about what they thought I wanted. This really came down to focusing on the client as an individual and not as “Generic Sport desiring to catch lots of big fish”. All these guys (and one gal) had skills on the water but the ones I’ve fished with more than once made it all about me. So guiding isn’t all about fishing.

Phil Monahan over at Mid Current posted the article below on what being a guide is all about and how to get a start in the business.

http://www.midcurrent.com/flyfishing/fishingguide.aspx