Salmon Slammin'

A gorgeous weekend day in November demands one thing: FISHING! This time of the year there are a number of options but high winds kept me from getting out on the lake for what I really wanted to get into. So instead I decided to get out to some tributaries and poke around a bit. Fortunately I found some fish willing to play with me on such short notice!

I kept hooking up with salmon but the hooks seemed to keep popping out of their mouths. Rather frustrating... I finally got into a very nice one (I estimate that it was pushing 30"). It tore off downstream. I managed to get it under one log but the second one it went around proved to be disastrous. It was a big log in very shallow water; I swear that fish looked me in the eye as it bolted and broke my tippet.

Eventually I found my groove. I put on a Princess fly (think Prince with a lot of pink) and that sealed the deal for me with my first fish. That one wasn't overly acrobatic. It was a very heavy bodied male of 26". I was definitely pleased. 

I moved around a bit looking for more activity. I was definitely seeing fish regularly. I really had hoped to find some steel but I guess I was looking in the wrong spots. I did have the right spots for salmon though. 

The October Prince brought my next fish to hand. This one lived up to the nickname "The Leaper"; it spent quite a bit of time in the air. I love watching the belly flops that they sometimes do. It did another classic landlocked maneuver- the roll. It rolled over the line a bunch of times. Definitely a way to test your knots for sure! That fish just would not tire. I would get it to the net, it would flop out (I need a bigger net- and I use a BIG net already), then it would be off the races again. 

That fish measured 25 1/2". Two great fish on a lovely day in Vermont!  How can you beat it?

A Good Week on the Water

Lots of fish moving around these days!  I have had a great week on the water. Somehow I managed to lose a bunch of pictures transferring from the camera to the computer so take my word on a couple of fish-  a 21" landlocked salmon that leaped like crazy and a similar steelhead of 19". Great for after work fishing!

But the real fun was having a chance to do what I love to do this time of year... big browns on the menu! Things really blew out yesterday... but before they did I put some serious time on the water and it paid off. Lots of big fish out there if you know where to look (and I do!). I started off the day with a couple of decent rainbows but it was the browns I was most interested in. 

 I found this big fella hanging out and he gladly took a well presented nymph. He tore around the stream, up and down. I managed to beach him. He taped out to 23". I got him in a similar location to a fish one of my students named "Steve" last year. He looks quite similar to that fish as well and happens to be 23" just like Steve was; I have named my new friend Steve II. 

Tossing streamers brought some other fish to hand too. Another 14" 'bow and a couple of nice browns of 18" and 17"! Nice to finish the day out!

Only just a little time left of trout season... One more weekend of it! I do have one day free next week if anyone wants to get out!

Kenny Comes Back Triumphantly!

It has been a while since I posted... I have been out a bit but with school starting back in session I have been a bit focused on other things... 

BUT, Kenny came back! And he did great!  I love having a client into a nice fish within 10 minutes of being on the water- that is exactly how things got kicked off! A nice rainbow came to hand quickly and another smashed at the fly shortly thereafter. Streamer fishing in the fall is a blast!

Sight fishing was great too. I love hiding in the bushes and putting an angler on fish that are in front of me. I enjoy explaining how and where to cast and then seeing my client hit the spot to get the right drift. It gets even better to see the fish take the fly and start into the fight! The only thing that makes it better is when I guide someone like Kenny! He is so very expressive when he is on the water. He handles a rod well and likes my feedback. It seems to pay off for him too!

Fall trout fishing is in full swing! I have some time in the next month to get folks out on the water. Big browns are on the menu and there are some nice rainbows and brookies in the right places. Opportunities are around for other species like pike and pickerel as well. Shoot me an email to muskyflies@gmail.com  if you want some more details!  Or ask Kenny... he seems to enjoy getting out with me!

You just have to love Kenny's new landing net!

Awesome July Fishing!!!!

I will try to write more about how great the fishing has been on the lake lately, but for now I will let pictures speak for me! I have been really busy lately and things are looking good for the next few weeks. If you want to get into carp, gar, bowfin, or drum on the fly the time is now!  Email me for more details! 

 

Carp In The Surf

It is on! Carp are on fire on Lake Champlain right now! I found a nice pod in a place I have never even seen a carp before. I went 5 for 9 hook ups!  Awesome day on the water. The coolest part is that I had my boots on the ground the whole time!  

Now is the time to get out after Yankee bonefish! I am booking up pretty quickly for the next few weeks. Carp, bowfin, gar, drum- this is the best time of the year for these guys! Bass and other fish are doing well too!  Email me at muskyflies@gmail.com to set things up!

As for today- I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

On the line

The Yankee Bonefish Whisperer pose

Pleased with Sweet Sixteen

18 lbs of hoover!

FUMBLE! Perhaps my favorite pic from today- Thank you to the good guys who came to see the fish and helped with the pics!

Zack on the Water

I have been working with a student all year. He loves to fish. I mean he LOVES to fish! We clicked right off the bat thanks to our mutual love. Over the year we have shared stories about fishing, I have taught him a few things here and there, but we have never been out on the water. Zack also watches my blog religiously. He claims he is my biggest fan and is probably right. I have enjoyed working with him.

Earlier this week we took all the students that we work with to a state park on the lake. Fishing was one of the activities that were suggested and some kids brought their gear with them. I knew Zack would be among those that did. I brought along some gear too, figuring I might get a spot of fishing in while helping the kids out with their fishing exploits.

The place that we initially hit the water wasn't ideal. I made a decision to move and Zack and a few other kids came along. My hunch was right about the spot to move to. We weren't there more than 5 minutes when the cry came out "MR. PRICE!!! I have a huge fish on!!!" I looked over and didn't expect it to be as big as it was but from the bend in his spinning rod I could tell it was a nice fish, whatever it was. The fish ran through some weeds and I had to wade out and help him get it free of the weeds so it didn't break off. I got a look at what he had on and it was a really nice carp! The fish put up a great fight and Zack did a great job of landing it.

Shortly after that I got into a nice bowfin which really got the kids excited. It was very cool to see all these kids psyched about fish in the lake. I helped a couple of kids catch their first fish too. Panfish are perfect for this! It was cool. I got into a few other fish too. A decent largemouth followed by a nice little drum and I finished up with a very nice carp that absolutely drilled my bugger on the second strip after landing. They were very aggressive!

As we started walking back through some cattails Zack yelled out "A HUGE bowfin!!!" Sure enough there it was sitting right there in less than a foot of water. Zack dropped his jig in front of it. It took some coaxing but the fish hammered that thing and the race was on. He landed the fish pretty quickly and as we walked a bit to a spot where we could get a better picture there were more bowfin and bigger ones too! I could not resist... I dropped my fly in front of one and it was rapidly inhaled. We had a bowfin double, Zack and I did!

 It was an awesome day on the water. Zack showed me his prowess as an angler and he really shows a lot of potential in becoming a great fisherman! Hopefully one day we will get a fly rod in his hands and incorporate him into the "Brotherhood of the Long Rod"!

Pesky Little Suckers

When I was out guiding the other day with my client John, I spotted some circular depressions in the streambed in faster water. I knew immediately what they were so I started looking around for the culprits. It did not take long for me to find them- sea lamprey (Pteromyzon marinus). I pointed them out to John then proceeded to catch one for him to see. He then insisted on getting video of me doing it again. I also thought it would be cool to get some underwater video of them spawning. 

As damaging as these fish can be to game fish populations, they do have a very cool life cycle and I am fascinated by them. One of these days I will write about them more in depth. But for now enjoy the videos I have of these pesky little suckers!

 

DP

 

Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

That was an awesome weekend! Started off with a trip to the Orvis Flagship Store in Manchester, Vermont. What a great place to spend a day! If you haven't been there yet you really should go- it is VERY cool. I tied flies, presented a Warmwater 101 talk, and helped out with a Fly Fishing 101 class. I worked with an 8 year old boy helping him learn how to cast and then "hook" velcro trout... he had a lot of fun! 

I got to meet some great folks down there too. I connected with one of their casting instructors, Peter Kutzer, and spent some time tossing a couple of rods out on the casting pond. I was very impressed with the 10 foot 7 weight Access... definitely a great carp rod in the making... I am also checking out a prototype fly line... so far the thing is really impressive. It will be something that you big fly chuckers (like me) will appreciate a great deal!


Sunday I guided Kenny for the second time this year. We were out after trout and definitely found them. The bluebird skies didn't help our cause much though. Wild browns are pretty spooky to begin with and low, clear water with a lot of sun doesn't help. We did get a couple to play. The big story of the day was the fallfish. Kenny was pretty psyched to get into some bruiser fallies! The first big one was 16"! That was a corker of a fallfish. He got a few smaller ones but also got into two more Master Class fish- both 15" fallfish. 

The absolute best part of the day was when he got one of those 15" fish on- I watched the take. I had him fishing a bugger/Eggi Juan Kenobi combo (we were working a pod of big suckers). I watched big fallfish come up and slam the EJK  and another similar sized fish started chasing the bugger then grabbed it. He had on two Master Class fallfish at the same time. I got down there ready to land the pair but the two struggling against one another caused the bugger to pop out of the second fish's mouth. Pretty funny!

Yesterday I met up with an old friend and got out after some warm water critters. There were all sorts of everything around. I don't know if I have ever seen as many big panfish as I saw yesterday. There were 8-10" pumpkinseeds everywhere. It was pretty incredible. We both started out with a Master Class pumpkinseed each. Awesome fish! A 9" sunnie is nothing to laugh at. I will be heading back out there this week with my 2 weight to really get into them!

I saw this big bass and I had to have it. It was a big pig of a bucketmouth. I am not normally all that excited about LMB (largemouth bass) but this one was huge! I really worked it and worked it. Finally I got it angry enough that it grabbed the fly. It took off and was actually dragging the canoe around. When I got it to hand it measured 24". My fist fit in its mouth with room to spare. Definitely my personal best LMB. My only regret is that I didn't weigh it but using charts online it is likely that the fish was around 8 pounds. It definitely felt about 8.


 
I got into a decent gar there too- 42". Got to show Frank what a gar was all about. It was definitely a male in spawning condition. Had the evidence in the boat to prove it. Yuck is the word that sums that up best. Frank was pretty psyched to get into his first pike on the fly! It really hammered the fly!


We hunted for a bowfin all day for Frank. We had a lot of shots at fish. They were acting a bit funky. There was a front coming through and that may have had something to do with it. The water temps are still a bit low in this area so that could have been part of the problem too. We hunted and hunted. He was hooking fish (after I taught him that a dry fly hookset would not cut the mustard) and losing them (holding the line or the reel handle is not recommended if you want to land big fish). There was a lot of just plain bad luck too. A really nice fish turned into a long distance release. I was getting worried. I haven't had anyone blank on bowfin before. 

It was getting to the 11th hour... starting to get dark. The fish were in shallow and seemed to be on the feed. Frank spotted one and dropped the fly in front of it and WHAM! The race was on. It fought really well and burned through the weeds and dragged the canoe around. I hopped out of the canoe and netted the fish. I am very persistent when it comes to getting folks onto bowfin. I will work really hard for it! It was a beauty too! 29" and 9 pounds! A Master Class bowfin for Frank!


All in all a great few days! More coming soon!


Things are on fire now! Come out and get into it! Email me at muskyflies@gmail.com or visit my website for other contact information www.masterclassangling.com

Another Great After School Special!

John came back for another After School Special this week. I will let the pictures (and the smiles) speak for themselves. The hot weather has the smallies almost done their spawning run. Tons of rock bass around. John graciously allowed me to fish for a while with him. I got my personal best rocky on the fly- 11"!