Another Awesome Day!

16.5" of native cyprinid goodness!

Fishing as of late has been fantastic! Don't listen to the B.S. that the media has put out there about Lake Champlain. It fishes great when it is high, you just need to be careful flying around in a boat because of debris. Debris is not a consideration when you are in a canoe however. (Seriously, try me out and you will see!)

I started off the day hunting down a Master Class fallfish. I knew right where to head to and I started slamming lots of fallfish, mostly in the 12-14" range. I needed 15. I hooked a big fish and thought for sure it was the one, but it ended up being a lucky take from a 20" pike. Not long after that I got into a 16.5" fallfish. That was the one I was looking for. Since it was raining, I was wet wading, and I have been getting over a cold (brilliant Drew) I decided to head to other waters.

Check out the colors on this fallfish's face!

When I got to this spot, I looked down and saw a big carp working the edge of the river. I ran back to my truck, grabbed my rod and headed down to get it. It was right where I had seen it last and it was mudding hard!  I knew I was going to get this fish. As I looked at it I realized that it was a mirror carp. Mirror carp are a variation of common carp that have larger, mirror like scales. More importantly, I haven't caught one yet. My first cast got his attention but he missed the take. The second cast he took it solidly and the race was on. It headed up around a log so I had to run out into the river waist deep to get to a rock pile. Then the fish went up through a log jam. I had to run up there and thread my rod through the jam to keep it on. The fish went deep and it felt like it was on some obstruction on the bottom. 

Trying to get the fish to hand

I was a bit worried but it pulled out of whatever it was in. Then it decided to come back through the log jam again. So I had to run to the other side of the channel to get it out. It took about 25 minutes fighting this fish to get it to hand. I was pretty psyched. I got a bunch of great pictures and watched it swim off. The carp was 31" and I estimate the weight somewhere between 12 and 15 lbs. Now for the bad news.... as I started up the bank I heard a crack. Looking down I noticed my leader was caught up on my pliers. I pulled the rod up and there was the tip to my old faithful Orvis TLS 9' 6wt MidFlex dangling. Goodbye old friend. You go back to Orvis Land today.

My first mirror carp

Almost scaleless on this side.

Check out the skin and scale patterns

One big scale with little ones behind it

On the caudal penduncle

Hoover!

I quickly raced to my next spot where I was meeting up with someone I hadn't fished with yet, but I was pretty excited to get out with him. Pat Berry is the new Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner and really wants to promote some of the great fishing on Lake Champlain. So after he got done work in Waterbury he came out to join me. He worked as a fly fishing guide in Montana for 10 years and was dying to get into some carp and bowfin. The weather was less than pleasant- a constant drizzle/light shower with low clouds overhead. Not ideal sight fishing conditions. 

VT F&W Commissioner Pat Berry with his first Champlain Carp

At first we didn't see any fish then the carp started to show. There were mudding fish around and Pat had a take. He didn't get a hook set on that one. The next fish he got a hook set on but it popped out during the fight. I was pretty happy that he was getting into fish. He took to this new (to him) style of fishing like a duck to water. We saw a fish coming through the trees parallel to the boat. He got a great cast in front of the fish and the fish jumped it hard. The Commissioner was using my 8wt bowfin outfit which had 18.5lb tippet. He put the hammer down on that fish and never even put it on the reel. That was the fastest I have ever seen a carp landed... very impressive! It was a nice fish of 9 lbs which is a pretty typical fish. 

We tried for bowfin after that and had one take but it got off. We also saw a Master Class bowfin but she was having nothing to do with the fly. It was really difficult conditions to sight fish and we ended up getting off the water shortly after that. I was pretty happy with the day, but I was drenched and shivering. Like I said, it was brilliant of me to wet wade on a day like that. 

Awesome day on the water!  I am really excited to have caught my first mirror carp and to have Commissioner Pat Berry put some time the water with me. I don't think it will be the last time either!

Musky Opener 2011

Musky ninja rockin' the Saber!

Kevin was concerned about the weather. “Are these fronts coming in going to screw up the fishing?” I wasn’t worried. Musky fishing is musky fishing weather be damned. Sometimes it messes with you, sometimes it works in your favor, but either way, the only way you are going to catch a musky is to be on the river with your fly in the water.

Kevin started off the day tossing a 9 weight rod with an unweighted streamer. Beautiful fly tied by Pike Master Dave Lindsay that got Kevin into his first musky last year. Here is the re-cap of that event: Kevin had been working hard to get into a fish. He had been having a lot of trouble with putting the fly into trees and snags. We got to this big log jam that had a lot of debris on it and a perfect cast put the fly right at the edge of the debris. Kevin promptly announces “$%@& I am snagged” as I watch the line move through the water. He then realizes he has a fish and starts getting excited. After a good fight, Kevin gets up on the bank to land the fish. He is visibly shaking. It is a big fish- over 40”. As soon as he removes tension from the line the fly drops out of the fish’s mouth and takes off. No picture. For Kevin it means no musky (even though it is all on video). He has a truly stunned look on his face. This event has haunted him for the past year.

Musky fodder.

I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling the unweighted fly. The water was in the mid 60’s and I had a feeling the fish would not be super aggressive with streamers. We switched to my Pike Saber with a heavy streamer. Kevin got a follow, right up to the boat. The whole canoe was shaking from Kevin’s excitement. It was a nice fish. We went to the edge to give Kevin a minute to calm down and I got out the Redington Predator rod that was rigged with a diver to see if that would interest this fish (which seemed interested, but non committal). That was indeed the case. It came out looking at the fly but would not take. But Kevin stuck with that fly and set up.


We got to a stretch which looks fishy, I have seen the occasional fish in, but never caught anything there. Kevin has a good cast under some overhanging brush and he exclaims “A fish!”. A good fish is after the fly. I coached him on- “pop it, let it sit, pop it, let it sit- POP IT POP IT!!!” She was following and opening her mouth, very interested, but not ready yet. Those last two fast pops were too much for the fish and she hammered the fly. Very impressive to see a big fish hit topwater 15 feet from the boat. 

Congrats Kevin! Gorgeous fish- and relief from your nightmare!

Kevin initially was more concerned about getting the line on the reel than playing the fish but I got that changed quickly. The Predator worked great as a fish fighting tool. She jumped a bunch and made some good runs. I had to lock down the drag for Kevin. I had a 16 lb leader on there and I knew he could put plenty of pressure on the fish. The last part of the fight took place out of the canoe. When she started to roll on her back I knew it was over. I had never used a Boga on a musky before, but I had a good feeling about making it a lot easier to handle them. Kevin was very pleased about that. It was a gorgeous fish. We didn’t tape it, but I think it went easily 42” or so. After a few pictures the fish swam away. Kevin wore a look of awe and relief. The nightmare he lived for the past year was over.

Like a kid in a candy store...

The business end

Tossing a streamer. I need to lose some weight...

Saber caught musky!

I took the deck. I took the deck for a long time too. Kevin wanted me to get a fish before switching out again. I had a slashing strike on my streamer from a smaller fish, then a non-committal follow, and another non-committal, and another and another… I was losing faith. I saw a musky in the midst of a school of suckers and tossed into them. I had a take but no hook set. That made me feel better, but I wanted a fish. Then I put the fly in front of a branch hanging in the water and the game was on. The Pike Saber was tossing this big streamer beautifully and I knew it was more than up to the task of landing this fish. Big weighted streamers had always been a good choice on this water and this proved it once again. The fish came to hand pretty quickly. It was a nice fish in the low 30” range. It went back after a quick photo shoot. Kevin on deck again.

Kevin breaks 40"- look at the pride in his face!

The wind started to pick up and it was getting tough to paddle. Keeping the boat in a place a fly caster can put the fly in spots they need to go in tight quarters can be tough at the best of times but when you add 20 mph winds it gets to be a real bear. Kevin was doing his best to get the fly where it needed to be and I was doing all I could to keep him on track to do it. Tight, tight quarters made it difficult. There are times that there is a channel only 20 feet wide between the trees to get a cast into. I was busy fighting the wind as he fished.

Then Kevin did it!  Finally, he broke the 40” mark! Under 40” that is. And he did it in spectacular fashion. That next fish was a one hander. Maybe 20”. All that mattered to me is that I got to fish again.

Count Muskula

The wind was still howling and I had a solid take but it disappeared as quickly as I felt it. We hit this big log jam that always looks great but has never produced anything beyond bass. This time was different. A good fish followed out from the front of it. Then Kevin and I were talking about how the logs in the back were the same as last year. This is where I tried to sit down on a log, it dumped me, ripped my shirt open, scratched my back up nicely, and put me under the water. Just after saying “That is where it happened” BAM, a fish takes the fly hard. Two muskies in the jam this year!  

This fish was better than my first and it was a digger. It keep digging straight down and fighting hard. It did come up for a jump or two. Then it rolled the leader around itself. Then it was ready to come to hand. A little CPR (Catch, Photo, and Release) and the fish was off. A fast turnaround time- I was fishing less than 15 minutes and Kevin was back on deck. And I was fighting that wind again. Oh Joy. The rest of the day was uneventful, except of course for the bloody wind. I had to paddle directly into it for much of the last part of the day.

Last fish of the day. Great colors.

We got to our take out point and I managed to swamp Kevin in the back of the boat which lead to some laughter. It was a great day overall, even with the wind. Kevin’s concern about the front coming through never materialized. The fish weren’t hot and heavy, but there were a few players around. Not a bad start to musky season 2011.

 Post script- I had video rolling for much of this so expect some cool musky vids soon!

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....

Weird Day

Trophy brookies in that?  Yessir!

It was a strange day on the water and by the end of the day all I could think of was a quote from Ghostbusters adding in my own quotes to it:

"Huge brookies in ditches, suckers taking Clousers, largemouth in fast water, cats and dogs living together..... mass hysteria!"

That about sums it up. Kevin and I did a float and ran into some exceptionally large brook trout in a place they really should not have been. Very cool to see, but weird, very weird.

Suckers eating minnows?

Then we hit a Lake Champlain trib in Northern Vermont. Kevin put on a big ol' chartreuse and white Clouser minnow and I had on a big olive cone head zonker. He was at the head of a pool and hooked up within 5 minutes. Awesome!  As I ran over to it to see what it was it didn't look at all like the bass we were looking for. Sure enough, it wasn't. It was a big ol' white sucker that latched onto his Clouser. Cool catch, but a sucker on a Clouser..... weird...  The fish was 18", had warty protuberances on it, and was spilling milt. A spawning male. 

Where did this come from?

Not long after that I was standing in the same spot slowly working back my fly and something hits it. I got a look pretty early on and it looked very bass like and it was..... but not a smallie- a largemouth in fast water. Good sized fish, 18", but not what I expected.... weird.....

Kevin got a 12" fallfish then walked down to water I had been fishing and hooked up again with that Clouser. This time it was a smallie- a fat 17" lady.  Females come in first so things are just starting. 

This makes sense!

I managed to hook into and lose something and that was pretty much then end of getting into fish. Seeing how high up the lake was on this trib..... weird....   seeing how high the lake is..... weird..... Kevin outfished me 3 to 1.... weird (not really, but had to say it!)

And I should have some big news this week- a pending state record!  More about that when it goes through!

Apparently I was fishing with a pregnant man too!

Wire

Gotta love them tooths....

I like to fish for fish that have serious teeth. Predators with bite as it were.  To be able to successfully fish for these fish you need to do something to protect your tippet from their teeth. There are several options:

1-    Use wire bite tippet.
2-    Use hard nylon bite tippet
3-    Use fluorocarbon bite tippet
4-    Don’t do anything and hope for the best.

See the wire?  Use the wire.... jackass...

Now, unless you are a complete moron, you will opt for 1-3. I know of one jackass who almost always opts for number 4. He lands about 50% of the pike he hooks which means that he potentially kills 50% of the pike he puts a fly into. Yea, the fish might be able to get the hook out or it could rot away, but why take the risk? No question it is unavoidable to leave flies in fish from time to time. They fight hard and will occasionally break off. It happens. But to start off with no protection from bite offs when intentionally targeting toothy fish like pike is just not good practice or ethics. The best part about this guy?  He guides. Tells you all you need to know about him doesn’t it?

Well, what do I use to prevent bite offs? I have used wire for years and it works. I have tried hard nylon and had some success, but I will take wire over it. I have heard a lot of good things about fluoro and I intend on trying it this year. I guess it is the price that has kept me from trying it out until now. I have used a variety of wire over the years, from single strand to plastic coated and the new multi-strand knotable wire. I definitely have my preferences! I liked the single strand stuff in it’s simplicity but it kinks pretty easily and the large loops that it need to be stored in makes it less practical for a wading or canoe bound angler. And it isn’t as easily available. I have used mostly the latter two for the past few years.

"I thought it was a frog.... seriously..."

Most brands of both the coated wire and multi-strand are fairly similar to one another. I really like the new low diameter knotable wire. Great stuff to work with. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive. $1 foot is a bit steep. I love to use it for topwater flies though. I like the reduced weight in those situations. What is on my leader most of the time now is Climax wire. I have used this stuff a great deal over the past 15 years and it has not let me down. It is inexpensive, widely available and easy to use. If I have to clip off the wire I have on because of kinks or twists I don’t feel like it has cost me a ton of money by the end of the day. And I am more likely to change the wire when it needs to be changed.

Another material I found last year that I really like is called Beadalon. I found it in a craft store. Yea, I am one of those guys that frequent craft stores for tying materials. It paid off. For about $7 I can get 80 feet of 20lb wire. It accepts knots well and I haven’t had any break offs with it yet either. Good stuff. Works great for other applications too- like fly tying...

Ken Capsey- the other reason to use wire....

The system I use most is pretty simple. I tie my leader directly to a small swivel, then the wire and either directly to the fly or to a duo-lock snap. The knot I use for both ends of the system is the non-slip mono loop knot. It is not difficult to tie and it holds well in the wire. The leader system is nothing too special. I suspect that a few people might ask why I use the barrel swivel. Well, two reasons for this. First noticed a lot of line twist when fishing bigger flies and the swivel helps out with it. Second, it is a lot easier to tie onto the swivel instead of tying the Albright knot. Nothing against the Albright- it is a great knot that I use frequently in some situations- but it is nice to tie a simple knot quickly sometimes.

I won't be surprised to get a bunch of feedback from folks about what they use and that hard nylon/mono is much much better than wire for this and that reason. I know that folks say that pike can be leader shy. Well, I have not found that to be the case around here. I think that if a pike or musky wants to smash something they are far more focused on their victim than the bit of line in front of it. Here is my biggest dislike of hard mono, especially larger diameter (80-100 lb). It floats. Plain and simple, it is buoyant. I use a lot of sinking flies and leaders. Why the hell would I put something buoyant on a sinking fly?  That just does not make sense to me. With a fly you want close to the surface, sure... 

The final reason to use wire is that it helps you get your flies out of trees. Take this last photo of Marty... without wire on the leader he never would have been able to climb up into this tree to get his fly back.....

Yes, he is in there and yes he did get it back...

Headin' South

Marty with his personal best musky!

A very good friend of mine is heading south this April. Marty and I have been fishing together for about 10 years now and I probably have to take credit (or blame) for the fly fishing addiction that I started in him. We met through a work situation and quickly became good friends thanks to our mutual passion for death with fins, the freshwater cuda, the water werewolf (it is a bit more than just a water wolf..), yes folks, I am talking about the muskellunge! I was even fortunate enough to have been paddling the canoe when Marty got his personal best musky. We have fished together a lot, but not as much as either of us would like. Marty and I have had some of the best days on the water together (our two best days of musky together were a total of 7 fish landed each day and each of those days had some rapid fire action) and some pretty sketchy days (we got trapped on an island on the rapidly rising Salmon River in March) but we have always had a really great time on the water.

Cordell in his natural habitat

This April Marty is heading down to the Bonefish Bootcamp with Cordell Baum Jr aka the Bonefish Whisperer. If you don't know about Cordell yet, you really need to look him up. This guy is a master of the flats in the Miami area. He fishes out of a canoe for bones, tarpon, reds, permit and even sharks! I guide out of a canoe on Lake Champlain so I have mad admiration for someone willing to take on saltwater bruisers like that. And he has figured out how to catch the exotics and native fishes found in the canal systems around Miami too.  I fully intend on spending some time with him myself as soon as I can. If you are heading to South Florida and want some challenging and exciting fishing you need to hit up the Whisperer! 

I already tied up a bunch of flies for peacock bass to send down to South Florida with the Pikin' Redneck Ken Capsey so I definitely can't send Marty down empty handed. Over the next couple of months I will put up some photos of the flies I am putting together for Marty to nail some fish with. I want to make sure he has the right ammo to take down everything from peacocks to bones to sharks and tarpon..... A lot of fun for him and just as much fun for me to tie that kind of variety! I do have to admit that I feel a bit bad for sending Marty down there with a bunch of my flies since Cordell has some sweet patterns he has developed for the fishing he does but I can't resist the variety of flies it lets me wrap up! So check these out:

 I am loving these epoxy minnows I have come up with. The epoxy minnow is not a new fly by any means but I think my materials and construction method are a bit different than anything else I have seen. I can't wait to see them in action!

Yea, Clouser minnows. I know, big surprise right? There are few places in the world where these flies don't work so I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't send a variety with Marty to go down there. And chartreuse and white is the classic color. Plenty more of these coming in a wide variety of colors and materials too!

Some nice rabbit strip tarpon flies. I saw this pattern in a magazine a couple of years ago. It was rabbit strip in the back and wool in the front. I love the Hareline Sculpin Wool- great stuff to work with and it looks great in the water. It catches fish too! So I tied up these tarpon bunnies on some 3/0 Gamakatsu  Live Bait hooks. It is a stout hook and wickedly sharp. Hopefully that will penetrate the mouth of those brutes fairly easily! The weight of the hook combined with the materials should make for a cool neutrally boyant fly.... Let's see what the field tester says about that!

5/0 Crease flies

I have been having a lot of fun with Crease Flies too. I did them in a couple of different sizes thinking that they could be used for peacocks, snook, reds, small tarpon... lots of things. When I tie them I get to play with epoxy too! I think before too long I will post up how I do epoxy and maybe some instructions for making your own epoxy wheel pretty inexpensively. If anyone is interested that is....

More stuff coming soon!

2/0 Creasers

Steel

Gorgeous shot from Kurt Budliger

I got pretty excited on Saturday about heading over to the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY to do some steelhead fishing. A good friend had been over there earlier in the week and he and his buddies had hooked a lot of fish and landed quite a few too. Then the rain hit on Wednesday and blew the river out which was going to bring in a whole lot of new fish. That got me thinking.... 

The Rusty Spinner and my old friend Ben have been trying to get me to go steelheading with them for a while now. I met Ben back in college when we were both sculpture students. I was in my fly fishing infancy then but already horribly addicted. Ben was using spinning gear and had no desire to try the long rod. Somehow it worked. I think the beer might have helped. Ben and Mr Spinner have known each other a long time and somehow Ben had a fly rod epiphany a few years ago thanks to Rusty's encouragement.  


Well the long and the short of it was that Ben got a call last minute that he had to work on Sunday and could not go fishing. Rusty and I had an interesting chat about Ben on Facebook, realizing that we could not break his thumbs because the opposable thumbs that Ben has are the only thing that keeps him from being an ape. And we might try again this coming weekend (if it isn't bone chilling cold).  


I was all ready to steelhead and fired up for it. I started making some calls to friends. I suspected that the rain we got might have brought a few fish into a local river. Fortunately my buddy and photographer extrordinaire Kurt Budliger was able to get out with me. We were on the river the next morning. I am not going to mention the name of the river. There are already plenty of people who are touting how great this fishery is when the reality is that it is doing alright but would do a whole lot better if it weren't getting a ton of pressure. Sometimes the most important thing you can do for a resource is to not say a lot about it instead of promote it to death. But some people will never understand that...

Perfect conditions!

We got there and looked at the river. It was steelhead green with about 18-24 inches of visibility. Perfect! Just the right flow, great color, great visibility, so I thought we might be in for a good time. I was right. I had a fish on within the first 45 minutes or so. Not a bad fish, definitely under 20 inches, but respectable for a Vermont steelhead. We walked, talked and fished. The river was nice. 


We decided to head in the opposite direction after a while and later in the afternoon fishing a similar spot to where I got into my first fish, I found another player. Similar size too. The fish had my 6 weight doubled nicely. My guides were iced up pretty well though. I was a bit concerned with that. Kurt and I took turns breaking ice from my tip top and first few guides. I had on 3X Orvis Mirage tippet so I wasn't freaking out, but a good quick surge from the fish could have lost it. It tuckered out and I got it with my net. Beautiful 19" steelie. We got a few pics and sent him back on his way.

Just starting to get colored up

We didn't get any more bumps or see anything else for the rest of the day. It didn't matter though. It was a great day to be out on the water with a friend.

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!