J.C.
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Where to start? First, happy Easter everyone! Next, thanks for post, Jimbo. Every since I joined GRTU Lease Access, your annual mecca post is one that I’ve always looked forward to reading. Now moving on, I’ve seen that Frisbee in the back of the Escape a few times, seems a bit incongruous. Is it a paper plate holder or do you actually toss the disk around in the evenings with some of the old Taos hippies? If so, I suspect there should be a hacky sack hiding in there somewhere.
Finally, you know how much Alex loves to nymph, couldn’t you at least tie a small dropper off the bend of a stimulator and take one gratuitous picture? Just kidding, thanks again, looking forward to this years trip report, and if history is any judge, this is only part one of several more to come.
JC
I intentionally threw in the cigar reference for you, Alex. And yes, I’ve seen all of George’s videos many of them multiple times. I agree with Trey’s comments about NZ wool indicator. I find that indicator extremely sensitive, especially effective on small PA creeks. I often contemplated tying a hook to that indicator as fish would hit it with regularity.
Jimbo, once the “New Fly Fisher” moved from PBS to YouTube and Amazon Prime, it’s popularity and reach has really soared. If you have a little extra time, check out the podcast on the Itinerant Angler with the founder of the show Colin McKeown. Podcast with Colin McKeown
JC
Darn sweet box, Drew. I’m envious of your tying desk as well. -JC
Good eyes, Jimbo. The Orvis is leaning up against the left-hand side of the sign. I’m holding a 10ft 2 wt Sage ESN that I borrowed for the day in order to give it a test run. I really liked it, and based on the narrow confines of my first beat and with more practice would probably have rather fished it than my 10.5ft. But, I am more comfortable/accurate right now with the Orvis casting a 15ft straight 4x leader with a 5ft 6x tippet section. My second beat was larger and slower water that required a bit more stealth and reach. I also brought an 8.5 ft 4wt Radian that I rigged for dry flies but never had significant hatch / rising trout to warrant setting aside the nymph rig. And in case of catastrophe, I also had a 10.5ft 3wt Cortland Competition nymph rod as backup. I agree there’s no wrong answer when it comes to fly fishing but the “why” sure makes me wonder.
Jimbo,
It’s what make you happy, nuff said! If numbers were the goal, we’d fish with dynamite or at least be electrofishing. Sorry to hear about your rod, hope it wasn’t the Radian.
JC
Thanks, Jimbo. The Orvis is back in action, and after the second broken tip, they sent me an entirely new rod not just a replacement section. So far so good, just hope it doesn’t break again close to Nationals.
JC
Drew,
Scott and Trice showed up. We exchanged leader construction ideas, approaches to different water types, and flies. On the water, demo’d different casting methods, varying leader angle to achieve appropriate depth and we caught fish. Overall it was a great morning and I look forward to doing it again. Scott started an email chain. If you want to ping him or me with your email we will add you to the list.
Hope to see you on the water,
JC
Alright, let’s do this. I propose we meet at River Rose Tavern at 0800 on Saturday 01 FEB. For those that want to, I thought we could start by explaining our setup, leader formula, fly selection, number of flies used, how you attach them to the tippet and anything else we think appropriate. Then make our way to river for demos, different casting methods and ideas for different types of water.
Hope to see you there,
JC
Thanks for all the responses. It seems we have a quorum. I would like to suggest 01 Feb or 02 Feb (perhaps the first Saturday or Sunday of each month). Also, I think River Rose Tavern would be a good initial meeting point, plenty of parking and there is a lot of water both above and below the bridge that showcases some of the advantages and different applications of euro-nymphing. Thoughts, other ideas?
JC
Earlier in the season, I saw a couple on kayaks cleaning a trout above Potts (old 6b site). With the head already removed, difficult to judge size. Although, I think I may be more bothered by bait fishermen that release trout with little chance of surviving after ripping out a swallowed hook.
JC
Alex, nice reference to the old Badger Hackle himself. The Quill Gordon will always be a favorite. -jc
Alex,
I, too, was out yesterday and found your mind. Unfortunately, at my advanced age, I can’t remember where I placed it.
JC
Bloomer,
I’ll take a stab at an explanation as I have witnessed and participated in electrofishing while stationed in PA. Biologist/scientists/fishery management, etc. use electricity to temporarily stun fish so that they can be collected, counted, measured, and weighed in order to survey the fish population. For some reason, trout (and many other species of fish) are galvanotaxis, which causes them to move towards electrical impulses. Although this may sound strange, there are other corollaries in nature, such as sunflowers being phototaxis, whereby they follow the movement of the sun.
Nonetheless, the electricity temporarily paralyzes the fish so that someone with a net can scoop up the fish and place them in a bucket or barrel. The fish are typed, measured and weighed. After collecting the data, the fish are returned to the river. The overall consensus is that little harm is inflicted on the fish and the data provide valuable information about the health of the targeted fish population.
JC
johnnyleettu,
No, 7x tippet is in my opinion quite unnecessary and probably ill-advised on the Guad. However, I routinely use 5x, 5.5x and 6x tippet but I am generally fishing a 10.5 ft 3wt that affords me a lot of tippet protection with a soft rod tip. The steelhead pictured above were caught on 3x tippet, which if you let them straighten your rod or you pinch your line, they have no trouble snapping your tippet (and I snapped a few off). The key to landing large fish is to keep a nice c-shape bend in the rod to protect the tippet, play them on the reel with an appropriately set drag, and be prepared to move if necessary. Of course, these are my opinions and with free advice… well you know.
Alex and I have had a few discussion surrounding tippet size and he can weigh in as well. But I find the thinner tippet isn’t as much about leader shy fish as it is about sink rate. In competition, I often have small buckets that I need my flies to sink into quickly and without the ability to add split-shot or weight I have to rely on the weight built into the fly. Therefore, less resistance from the tippet is a variable that I can control. But if you can add weight then 4x vs 5x probably won’t make that much of a difference and it will provide a little more breaking strength, which may also lead to landing a fish quicker and that’s better for the fish. Occasionally, I suppose fish do become wary of fly line, especially as the season wears on and in those cases thinner tippet might be an advantage but as stated many times before, I believe that presentation trumps fly selection and tippet size.
Wow, I thought this was going to be a short post and probably wrote more than you cared to read.
JC
Alex, At 70 cfs, I thought the wading would be easier. Turns out, you’re right, the last 1300 miles really takes its toll.
Scott, they are strain of steelhead and lake trout that run from Lake Erie. The surrounding States release 100Ks fingerlings into the rivers each year in an attempt to imprint the little ones to the streams. Generally, after 3-5 years of great lake living, the trout return to spawn.
JC
