It's Pickin' Up!

My first of the season!

The season is getting going- better late than never. After record flooding and fairly high water levels in many Vermont streams and rivers things are finally pulling back together. More importantly- the fish are on!

I headed down to "the Creek" and found it surprisingly uncrowded. Very nice to see but indeed unusual for the past year or so. I did see one guy and quickly realized it was Tyler from Classic Outfitters. Just before I went over to talk to him I hooked up with my first smallmouth of the season- a spunky 18" hen with a round belly full of eggs. Pretty sweet!

Tyler "swinging" for gar

As I walked down to see what Tyler was up to, he said "Do you have any gar flies?" and pointed to a 3 foot fish in shallow water. He had it slash at a Zonker a couple of times but it stopped responding to it. I set him up with a Clouser I had that I thought might get the fish interested. I should know better and carry gar flies with me- this isn't the first time I have seen these critters around in May.  Despite my help the gar wouldn't eat. 

My first MC smallmouth this year (not the last!)

I got another nice fish- this one 19.5", a Master Class smallie! Just what I was after! After a couple of photos she went back in. My guess is that she was about 3 lbs or so. This fish is what a lot of guys will tell you is a "5 pounder". Five pound fish can be found but they are a rarity to be honest and they are usually at least 22" or 23" long.

I got into another fish close to where the first one came from. Another gorgeous fish at 17" and it jumped quite a bit. Not two minutes after releasing that fish I had a bump... I thought it was a small fish when it first showed until it tail walked over a branch... this was a good one! It went in the air a couple of times and I brought it in. Another fat female but this one was a bit longer- 20.5"! This fish was pushing 4 lbs too. Very pleased about that!

That is a piggy! (I do mean the fish)

I told Tyler what I was doing and showed him the technique I was using to get their attention but for whatever reason they weren't responding for him. He did get a couple of nice bass on Sunday but sometimes these early fish can be fickle with color and presentation. The first fish that show up are female and they can be a bit more difficult than the males. They have a preference for different flies than the later fish do. If you want to find out what those flies are you will just have to hire me to take you out!

And so it begins....

The Toad Puppy

Olive Toad Puppy

Last year I was toying around with a new streamer pattern. I wanted something big and juicy that larger browns would hammer. I had some specific goals in mind when I started designing this thing: it had to be big, have a big profile that would move some water, and it had to have a trailing hook. Ultimately I wanted something that was going to get those big browns really mad. They have a tendency to bite at things that invade their territory.

I took some inspiration from some of Kelly Galloup’s patterns I put together a 5” long streamer out of rabbit strip with a head from Hareline Dubbin’s Sculpin Wool. I used a nice big hook for the front- my favorite streamer hook the TMC 9394 in size 2 and I used some beading wire with a size 4 TMC 105 as the trailing hook (turned up). This combination with some copper flash and and rubber legs to help fill out the space under the wire worked out really well. I put in bead chain eyes and lead wire to weight it. 

Toad Puppy variety pack

Kevin and I put it to the test in late April of last year. It was a week after the trout opener and it had just rained. The rivers which had been fairly low and clear because of an early snow melt were on the rise and discolored from some rain. Perfect streamer weather. We put on our rain gear and headed out. We armed ourselves with 6 wt rods and put on Rio’s sinking Versi-leaders on the end of our lines. Those leaders are the bomb for getting flies down. I have a trick I use with them to make it a bit easier to work with huge streamers. I tie off about a foot or so of heavy tippet (15-20 lb) to the Versi-leader, tie a small swivel onto that, and then finish out with a couple of feet of 12 lb Mirage tippet. I use a non-slip mono loop knot to put the fly on the end of this rig.

Spot with Toad Puppy hanging from his jaws

We hit the river fairly early in the morning. The water was cold- about 40 degrees F- and stained grey with about a two foot visibility. Basically, it was great conditions for what we were trying to do. We headed to a place I knew a big brown was hanging out. I had caught him there the year before. Sure enough as I swung that fly through the hole he had been hanging out in I had a hard take. A few minutes later Spot was in my net and after a couple of pictures he swam away once again. Kevin had a hard take at the tail out of a pool a couple of hours later but a dulled hook spoiled his hookset.

The following day I headed back out to work the river again. I ended up landing two more fish- both browns- in a matter of 45 minutes of one another. I thought the second was a rainbow at first because of how it jumped. I would not have hooked that fish if it weren’t for that trailing hook too. Shortly after that I had another fish on.

Pike like the Puppy too!

Big trout like that are often called toads by anglers and I had told Kevin that we were going toadin’.  With that in mind my fiancée Beth came up with a name for the fly- the Toad Puppy. This fly has proven its worth on big browns (nothing under 20” so far!) and on pike. I haven’t tried it on bass yet, but I suspect it will be a killer.  If you are interested, I have them for sale on my website.  Time to get out toadin’ is just around the corner!

GASS BAG- the Primitive Post

Well, yes, sometimes that is exactly what I am (especially after certain meals).... but what I am referring to are the Gar Anglers Sporting Society and the Bowfin Anglers Group. Yes, it is true that there are indeed websites catering to those of us who have an unnatural inclination toward the primitive fishes swimming in our local waters! Lake Champlain is the easternmost natural distribution for both the longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) and the bowfin (Amia calva) and has impressive populations of both species. 

A nice gar during the spawn

The longnose gar is a fun fish to target. They get big, are easy to see in the water, and will readily take a well presented fly. I fish for them from May until September using rope flies on 8 to 10 wt outfits. A few years back Lawrence Pyne asked me to take him out to fish gar and film it for Vermont Public Television. We got a few nice fish in some tough conditions and the show was a hit (and I will put up a link as soon as VPT has the show back on their website). I don't want to give away all my gar secrets, but it does take some practice to be successful. A gar fly is semi-hookless (here in VT there has to be a hook point so I use size 20 dry fly hooks in the body of the fly) and if you set the hook, you lose the fish! 

Close up of the gar's mouth

The longnose gar is a Mississippi drainage fish that likely entered Lake Champlain via the Great Lakes then the St. Lawrence after the last glacial period. The environs of Champlain were very conducive to this primitive fish- providing many shallow, weedy backwater bays and slow moving rivers that these fish love. The gar was well known to the Abnaki who used its scales as arrowheads. Samuel de Champlain definitely saw them and wrote in his journal (this has been taken as early evidence of "Champ"):
"... there is one [fish] called by the natives 'Chaousarou', which is of various lengths; but the largest of them, as these tribes have told me, are from eight to ten feet long. I have seen some five feet long, which were as big as my thigh, and had a head as large as my two fists, with a snout two feet and a half long, and a double row of very sharp, dangerous teeth. Its body has a good deal the shape of the pike; but it is protected by scales of a silvery gray colour and so strong that a dagger could not pierce them."Just awesome fish. 

Master Class bowfin on Lake Champlain

The bowfin is the last of its kind. The family Amiiade  is well represented in the fossil record from all around the world from as early as the Jurassic Period. Just think, at one point there was a bowfin species that reached 8 feet long. If there were a fish like that in Champlain, I don't think I would be fishing out of a canoe let alone wet wade! Eastern North America is the last holdout for this primitive family of fishes. Characterized by a gular plate (throat plate), slightly heterocercal tail (similar to a shark, but less pronounced), and its namesake long dorsal fin. These predators love shallow weedy wetlands and feed on pretty much anything that gets in its way, although they seem to have a preference for aquatic crustaceans.

Look at the teeth on that puppy!

Angling for the bowfin on Lake Champlain is a relatively simple afair. They take a variety of flies, are easily sight fished, and put up a great fight. The weedy environment that they live in often requires a fairly heavy tippet on an 8 wt rod. There are times however that a 6 wt rod and lighter tippet can make this angling a whole lot more fun. It is not too difficult to get a take, but getting a good hookset in their bony mouth can be tough. A really good hook makes all the difference in this regard. I put many anglers on Master Class bowfin this year. As a matter of fact the bowfin is the most numerous fish species in the Master Angler Program largely because of me.

Great fish on a 6wt!

To my knowledge I am the only successful fly fising gar guide in Vermont. (another guide service does advertize gar as a target but no one in that guide service has yet to catch one- truth in advertizing???). Along with the gar, I brought guiding for bowfin on the fly on Lake Champlain to Vermont. I know I am not the only guide who does this, but in all honesty I taught most of the other guides how to do it. I will have gar and bowfin flies for sale on my website shortly for those of you who might be interested and I will definitely be guiding for them in this upcoming season. Please get in touch with me if you are interested- I would love to help you chase down some primitive fish!

Drew’s Top 10 Dream Fly Fishing Freshwater Destinations Part 2

And now, what you have all been waiting for, my top 5 dream destinations for freshwater fly fishing…. (and there was much rejoicing)… 

Yikes!

#5 Zambezi River, Central Africa. Big fish with gigantic teeth. Hard to hook. Acrobatic fighters. The African Tigerfish. Those teeth can take down small Nile crocodiles (and do). Oh yea, big Nile crocs make this a no wade fishery for sure. Well, not unless you coat yourself in ketchup and mustard before you head in (crocs appreciate condiments). Boga Grips are a must for these fish and it probably goes without saying that wire leaders are in use. 8-9wt rods with shooting heads for 20+ lb fish. The Congo River sports a Goliath Tigerfish that tops out around 100 lbs…. hmmmm… maybe the Congo instead of the Zambezi…. Let’s not forget all the other fish there too- Clarias catfish, barbell, tilapia, Haplochromine cichlids, Cornish Jack, mormyrid fish (literally shocking fish!)… This is an oddball specialist’s African dream indeed!

Now that is a trout!

 #4 Mongolia- Alright salmonid fans, here you go: Taimen!!! A trout (well technically char) that you use can use musky flies and gear for. Just what I am looking for. This fish is the largest salmonid in the world- the biggest on record was about 230 lbs, but on hook and line it is closer to 100 lbs. Get your Mongol herdsman guide to climb a tree and spot one in the river for you to cast at. As long as he doesn’t throw out a prairie dog on a treble hook with a rope for a line to catch it for dinner…. Of course this is not the only fish in town. 

A pike I would love to catch....

 The spotted pike (Esox reichertii- the only member of the Esox family not found in North America) can be found in slower waters in the same river systems. Throw in lenok and Amur trout (both trout in the genus Brachymystax), grayling and the asp (a large cyprinid- minnow for you less Latin minded folks), you have a pretty interesting fishery to play around in. Couple that all with a largely roadless area, dangerous terrain, migratory habits of the taimen and the chance encounter with the Almas (the Mongolian sasquatch) and you have one hell of an adventurous trip ahead of you. 

Tarpon? Carp? nope... mahseer!

 #3 Indian Himalayas. The majesty of the highest mountain chain in the world holds a fish that has fascinated me for years- the mahseer. The steep, fast moving mountain rivers here hold this carp-like cyprinid which can reach up to 100lbs. With scales like a tarpon, Fu Manchu mustache, a trapdoor mouth, a brilliant gold coloration and a super cool streamer coming off their dorsal fin these are wicked looking fish! Totally tattoo worthy! (if I catch one I will get ink to celebrate it). This is a fish that definitely has the potential to get you down to the last bit of your backing and chasing one down a steep, boulder strewn river is just asking for a broken neck. Sounds like fun to me! Of course, this is not the only fish I want to target here either.

That's a nice cat!

How about that for a set of choppers?

How about a fish that gets over 6 feet long, 150 pounds, has recurved teeth like a shark, and has possibly consumed people? To make it even more cool, it is a catfish! The Goonch Cat. After seeing this fish on River Monsters and seeing how it hangs at the tail out of pools (clear water for sight fishing!) I want to get one- really badly. The shot of those fish right at the tail out had me thinking about a 9 wt spey rod with a fast sink tip and a big bunny fly…. Think how awesome that is, a big cat on the fly and one you have to use a wire leader for! BRILLIANT! There are also snow trout (really a cyprinid) and some brown trout left over from the British Empire days to toy around with. Anyone else for some homemade curry and some bloody big fish?

Such a classic picture..

#2 East Texas- As a kid I spent a lot of time looking at this great book my dad had called Fish and Fishing. There was a picture in there of this guy wearing a pith helmet with a steel rod doubled over with a cable for a line dragging this humungous fish up onto the bank and his buddy has it gaffed. My brother and I always wondered just what it was- it looked like it could be an alligator not a fish. Now I know that fish is the alligator gar. This is the fish that I have to say claims my most desired fish to catch spot right now. 

Now that is a lot of fish! Thanks Mustad for the pic!

 This is one of the largest fish in freshwater in North America. They can get up to about 9 feet long, over 200 lbs. They are brutes! Huge scales, huge teeth, tremendously ugly and fight like hell. Custom made for the ol’ DP indeed! East Texas is the place to find this beast. There are still good numbers of ‘gator gar in the Trinity River and other river complexes in the forested eastern part of the Lone Star State. Using some huge streamers on 10 to 12 wt rods with heavy tippet and a wire leader might bring one of these behemoths to the boat. Get it in the boat and watch out- its thrashing could break your leg like a toothpick. Like the other locations this is not the only fish to be caught- longnose gar, bass, drum and others are also available and it is all in the heart of Texas sasquatch territory (seriously). I certainly would not hesitate to cast at one of the big longnose gar- the current world record of 50lb 5 oz came from the Trinity in the 50’s. Things ARE bigger in Texas….

And now, for the final, most thrilling dream location for me:

Major league watershed!

Gorgeous male peacock with a small nuchal hump

#1 The Amazon. The center of freshwater fish diversity in the world. 3000 fish species described so far and it is estimated that there could be another 3000 left to discover. One of the biggest draws for anglers here is the peacock bass. This is a diverse group of fish in the genus Cichla- some of the largest cichlids in the world. Beautiful colors, crazy rod breaking fights, and the males sport a weird nuchal hump on their heads during the spawn. These things are so gorgeous that I might even mimic Jimmy Houston and give one a kiss. Then there is the arowana- the monkey fish- a popular aquarium fish that readily jumps out of the water for insects or other meals. And its larger cousin the arapaima- one of the largest primary division freshwater fish in the world (that means it lives exclusively in freshwater). This is a true giant capable of reaching lengths of over 10 feet and 400 lbs. Also called the pirarucu, it surfaces to breathe air from time to time. They will take flies.

Arapaima- an average fish!

So will some of the large catfish there. When I say large, I mean 4-8 foot fish. Yea, f-ing big. Don’t know if the electric eel will take a fly, but I am willing to give it a try as long as I have a native guide to gaff it just like Larry Dahlberg did. So many other fish to catch too: multiple species of piranha, cichlids of all shapes and sizes, lots of different cyprinids, smaller catfishes, and on and on. A few other fish that are possible are freshwater drum (different than the North American version), pacu, freshwater stingrays, pike characins, and the toothy traíra. I almost forgot the payara- the vampire fish. This thing sports huge lower canines that fit into sheaths in their upper mouth. Getting up to 30 lbs, in fast water and fighting hard, they are a fish made for me! With all these fish to fish for it seems like I might have to spend at least a month there… two would be better.

There is one fish I don’t want to encounter though…. The candiru. This tiny little catfish will follow a urine stream put to its source- definitely not a good thing for a wading angler! Perhaps the sheath that I got from the New Guinea natives would help out……

Guess where this came from?

So that is my list of my top 10 destinations worldwide for freshwater fly fishing. If I ever hit the lottery I will be visiting them all. There are a few that are easily within reach- Minnesota and Texas-and I hope it won’t be too long before I get to them. This is by no means a comprehensive list either… there are plenty of other places I would love to fish- Central America for a variety of cichlids found there, the Orinoco Basin in South America (very similar to the Amazon but with a large endemic crocodile!), the Nile River for Nile Perch, Austria for Hucho hucho and wild browns, Wels catfish somewhere in Europe, Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika in East Africa for the diversity of cichlids there, on and on and on. Basically anywhere there are fish I will fish for them.

Drew’s Top 10 Dream Fly Fishing Freshwater Destinations

I am sure that I am not the only fly fisherman out there who has a dream list of places they would like to fish. I have been a fish geek for a really long time and have done a lot of thinking about this and had many conversations with friends. Those conversations usually start with “If I ever hit the lottery I would go fishing in…..”

Well I am putting those down in writing and I hope to be able to cross a few of them off my list before I die in some “weird fish accident” (thank you Todd G. for that epitaph from many years ago).

But first, let me get into my reasoning for these choices. To be a dream destination for me the location must provide species not available to me locally and species that I have not caught before. This eliminates a lot of places right off the bat. Yea I would love to fish giant pike in Manitoba or muskies in Wisconsin or even head way down to Patagonia for sea run browns, but none of those fits my criteria for a “dream” trip. I want to catch something I cannot get nearby.

The second criterion is that the species I am targeting is a native to the area.  If I am going to travel to fish for something I want to catch a fish that was meant to be there. Big browns in Patagonia- love to do it, but they aren’t a native South American fish. I know at some point I will fish down in South Florida for peacock bass, but I want to get them where they live naturally.
One thing that you might notice is that salmonids are not high priority for me with this list. Trout and salmon are definitely cool but I like weird fish that get to gigantic proportions. I also like to do things that most other folks don’t. So while I definitely would love to get a bull trout sometime and cutthroat trout are awesome, they just won’t cut it for my top 10.

I am only going to consider freshwater locations too.
 
So, without further ado….

A lovely Roughfished buffalo

#10 Minnesota- Buffalo. WHAT???? DP has lost his mind and wants to chase a mammal with a fly?  Nope. I want a damned big sucker instead. I read about these fish in “Fishing for Buffalo: A Guide to the Pursuit and Cuisine of Carp, Suckers, Eelpout, Gar, and Other Rough Fish” by Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson. (a book to own if you like oddball fish)A sucker that can get up to 70 pounds, will eat a size 12 hare’s ear and fights like the dickens? Hell yea! I am on that for sure. These fish are found all over the Mississippi drainage, so why Minnesota? To visit the Michael Corleone of brownlining himself- the one, the only, the Roughfisher, Jean Paul Lipton. This legendary (in his own mind) fly angler would be able to put me on the buffalo species in his area and could identify what kind it was at a glance (I would do my homework ahead of time, but it always helps to have someone that knows the business to help). I am sure Major Brownstain would be willing to help me find a few other fish to expand my life list of fish too. Mooneye, quillback and other sucker species would be cool.  Yes folks, I am putting a bunch of suckers down as target species for my dream destinations. Deal with it suckas!

That's not a fish, THIS is a fish!

#9 Northern Australia. Remember the movie Crocodile Dundee and the scene where he is explaining why there are shells in the bottom of his boat and he says “Well, barramundi is a bloody big fish”? That says it all. Barramundi are a close relative of the snook and get to gigantic sizes. World record is 83 pounds. They better be big since they have to deal with saltwater crocodiles (an added bonus to fishing the freshwater rivers in Queensland- crocs are animals that both terrify and amaze me). Alongside these tacklebusters are other fish like tarpon, Australian arrowana, jungle perch, and others that would be fun to catch. How could you go wrong fish fishing for a variety of large gamefish, dodge man-eating crocs, and wind down at the end of the day with a barby and a couple of Fosters in their native land?  Crikey, you would be madder than a two bob watch to not give that a fair crack of the whip mate! I'll be there faster than a lizard drinkin'!

Massive fish, huge teeth, great colors- what more could you ask for?

#8 The Pantanal. – Just like Pizarro and Oranella seeking out the lost city of El Dorado, I want to travel to this vast wetland complex to find gold. In this case it is the dorado. These golden fish are just amazing! The colors, the teeth, the fight!!! A 10 weight is a necessity. Combine that with a wide variety of other fish species like piranha, pacu, arowana, cichlids, cyprinids… lots and lots of fish to catch. The dorado is the big prize here though. Need to have a wire leader. Love that. Up to 30 lbs. Love that too. Let’s not forget all the cool wildlife like caimen (another crocodilian showing up? Do you sense a trend?), taipir, anaconda, capyabara, birds galore…. Yea, this is up to my standards for the trip for sure!

Look at the colors! Look at the teeth! I want one!

#7 Thailand. Lots of folks know Thailand as a great vacation spot. Beautiful beaches, great food, friendly people…. How about a huge, toothy, freshwater fish that has been known to bite people when guarding its nest? A fish species I used to keep in an aquarium at one point- the giant snakehead! These things are just plain nasty! Like a bowfin on steroids, crack and angel dust! And there are a few other snakehead species there as well. The clown knifefish would be fun to catch too. And let us not forget all the other native cyprinids- some damned big carp there. Catfish as well. Soak up the sun, eat some great food, catch some huge fish that I need the Boga-grips for? Hell yea….. and maybe I would get a shot at seeing a wild Siamese crocodile at the same time- highly unlikely but hey, who knows, right?

Nice fish mate!

#6 Papua New Guinea- How about a species that Lefty Kreh says is one of the hardest fish to land on any tackle?  The New Guinea black bass is it! Up to 20 kg, in the depths of fast moving jungle rivers hiding in dense logjams and crocodile infested water, this is one bad ass fish.  It is not unusual for a smaller fish to break 20 or 30 pound line. Similar in shape to a smallmouth, but a lot bigger and with some serious canine teeth in its mouth, the two black bass species are tough customers indeed. Smash and grab is their tactic and that sounds fun to me! Maybe I can even get a custom fitted gourd from the indigenous people…..

That is number 6-10 folks. Stay tuned for the top 5 coming soon!