The Drought is Over

Swinging flies for lake run fish is rarely a numbers game.  That being said over the years, I've had more successful days than not.  This pattern held true until the fall of 2015.  I think I've fished 7 or 8 days since then with a couple of tugs but no hookups.  It all started in the summer of 2015 when I visited my sister and brother in law in Oregon.  I met up with a virtual online friend and fished for steelhead in mid August for one day.  Neither one of us had even a tug. I recall saying to  my friend that I almost always get a fish back home.  Well from that point onward its been scarce, so much for bragging.  I hadn't changed what I'd been doing and I know I wasn't alone.  The drop in returns of Lake Ontario fish to tributaries, has been well documented.

So the other day my friend Matt and I head to the river and hope for the best.  We fished hard and had a great time.  The few other anglers we talked to said it was slow also.  We only got one fish but it was the largest brown I've swung up on the Salmon.

 

Surveying the river, eager to get going

Two hands needed to get a good grip

 Oh yeah!

Deep sides on this fish

The tub fly free from the hook

Freeze dried fish

 

 

Spey Nation 2016

Spey Nation took place on the 25th of June.  Here are some of the images that I like best from the days events. 

 

  Nick Conklin explaining variations in tackle.

 Nick touting the benefits of rod socks for ease of travel between spots on the river.  

 Folks chatting between presentations.

 Chris O'Donnell espousing the benefits of a light grip whenever one holds a two handed rod as it frees up one's range of motion. 

Chris holding court on the bank.

 Travis Johnson gave a talk on advanced casting.

 Travis told the secret of how he got to be such a good caster.  He learned the single and double spey, the snake roll and snap T from river left, left and right handed.  Then learned them cack-handed. then mastered them all while facing the bank casting off his backcast.  He then mastered all the casts on river right forwards backwards, right and left handed, regular grasp and cackhanded.  Anyone who puts in the time to learn all those variations  will be an outstanding caster.

 Nick Pionessa spoke about how to present the fly in various situations.  His points about positioning him self as the caster above slots was particularly good.

 Nick casting under the trees to set up his presentation well downstream.

 Various folks working on their strokes

 Andrew Moy proves the show must go on no matter what happens. 

 Andrew always stresses on the importance of having constant contact with the line and smooth acceleration during ones casting.

 The raffle table.

Can't wait till next year, the tenth anniversary of Spey Nation.

Bacon

 A dozen eggs, 2 pounds of bacon an 4 hungry anglers does a streamside brunch make.  Bacon cooked to perfection streamside, well my linguistic skills fail to adequately describe that. The fishing was tough but enough fish were had to make it a stellar day. 

The arsenal

 
 Oh yeah! Photo courtesy of Mike at the Rusty Spinner Blog.  Check out his excellent writing.

 

 Working the wood

 Found a brookie!

Just a little deep

 

Need more bacon

Getting Ready

Sitting around the house due to the frigid weather and came across these pictures from this past summer.  They all involve some aspect of getting ready for some fishing.  I am of the same mindset. 

Getting ready to swing

 Getting ready to eat

 Getting ready to cast

 

Time well Spent

Every year a group of friends reunites on the banks of New York's Salmon River.  As we get older and hopefully a little wiser these trips become more about our time together and less about how many fish were or were not caught.  This year I'm glad that was the case as fish were hard to come by.  In years past one could pretty much count on 1-3 pulls for 10 hours on the river.  This year it was more like 1-3 pulls for 24 hours on the river.

Instead of being discouraged I found myself doing the only thing I could, enjoying the time with my friends and fishing each run as carefully as I could.

That being said I didn't land a fish, although I did encounter a couple, but I got my ass handed to me, which was fun in and of itself.  The nymphers in our crew fared a little better, but not much.  Unfortunately I wasn't with them when they hooked fish so I didn't get any chrome pics.  Despite the slow fishing many laughs were shared, tales were told, we caught up on each others lives and shared some great meals.

Looking back at our time on the water I can't imagine a better way to spend some quality time with friends. 

Working the run

Cheese

Post lunch riverside siesta

Heading out at first light

It's Called Fishing for a Reason

My last two outings have been unusual in that it has been more fishing than catching, a lot more.  While fishing is much more than about catching, I for one love to photograph the the beautiful creatures that I'm after.  Lately, things haven't worked out in that regard, but it has provided other opportunities.  Here are a few of those opportunities from my last two outings.

 

 A good D loop

 Ready to launch

 

 Gaining wisdom from an elder

 Fish on but no pics, it broke the leader before we could get a picture

 Technically it's a fish, but not what I was after.