First Time on the Water

I was asked by Dale at the Orvis Flagship store if I would be willing to provide a Fly Fishing 301 course for new fly anglers and I jumped at the chance! Nothing better for folks just getting into fly fishing than our fantastic smallmouth bass run! So we set it up and a couple took me up on it this past weekend. Allan and Linda are brand new to fly fishing and this was the first time that they would be on the water as a couple. I didn't know that until they got to our location and I could not have been happier!

I started off by showing them some important knots to know but I could tell that they were excited to head to the water so we got down there quickly. I helped them dial in their casts really well. By the end of the day they were both casting weighted flies really well. 

I showed them how to see bass in the water. Learning how to spot and fish to a visible fish is a great skill to learn. Linda was on it! She hooked the first fish and while she was a bit nervous about it (she told me that she had never caught a fish before ever!) she did great! A nice healthy smallmouth bass. After her second fish Linda was bragging about how big they are. I still get a good laugh when I think about what she said after releasing her second fish "You tell your friends that a woman caught you!"

Allan followed suit shortly afterwards and caught another great bass. By the end of the outing each of them had cast to and landed two smallies! They are great folks that have just started down the fly fishing road! If this experience is any indication they are going to have a whole lot of fun with it!

Pick Pickin' with the Pike Picker

My good buddy Ken Capsey and I both love to fish for chain pickerel. These lil guys have a whole lot of heart, put up a great fight and are a blast on the fly. And they are a pretty good looking fish too. So when Ken suggested that we get out and fish one of his favorite ponds I jumped at the chance to do that! It was early on Satuday morning that we headed out, armed with a bunch of freshly tied flies using Deer Creek Gliss-n-Glint and the heads were coated in Deer Creek Diamond Fine. Ken and I are both Pro Team tyers for Deer Creek and love the stuff that they make. 

The pond was in great shape and quickly started to produce fish. The pickerel were on. I spotted a fish sitting near the surface and made a cast near it. The fly barely had a chance to hit the water when it got smacked hard by a jolt of green lightning! That was how it was most of the day. There were a few slow minutes but for the most part the action was hot and heavy. Not all of the fish were large but the vast majority of pickerel were in the 16-20 inch range. Ken got the corker of the day with a 22" pick. He assures me that there are pickerel up to 30" kicking around in there... 

There were two bonus fish too. Within the first hour we were there I got a 13" crappie- big enough to qualify for the Vermont Master Angler program! I also got a really nice and fat 19" smallmouth, another Master Class fish! 

To round out the Master Class fish for me this weekend, I got out yesterday after having some clients out and got a really nice 10" rock bass. I was working a larger one than that but it wasn't playing... but I know where he lives!