Fundamentals of Successful Nymphing Seminar at Portland Orvis 4/28/12 10AM

This Saturday April 28th at 10am I will be doing a seminar at the Portland Orvis Store on Fundamentals for Successful Nymphing. 

The seminar will be part of the Spring Orvis Days 2012, and there will be lots of other things going on as well. 

Golden Stonefly Nymph caught the attention of this fine rainbow trout....

 My seminar will cover how to cover a variety of nymphing situations to enable you to fly fish subsurface more successfully. I will have nymph rigs to show, and also I will explain the types of water to be fishing them in. This is mainly a seminar on techniques that "I use" for nymphing on rivers and stillwater for fish species. There are many forms of nymphing people use, but I am going to show the techniques that I have experience in. I do not want to preach about the success of something if I have no experience ever doing it. An example of this would be that I have no experience on Czech Nymphing; so I will not be talking about it. Nor will I be covering wind drifting chironomids in lakes for trout, because I have no experience doing it ever. On the flip-side, I will be talking about nymphing a river like the McKenzie for trout, and then how to nymph fish the Crooked river when the trout holding water may be under 14" deep. Something else would be to discuss how to nymph for a species like smallmouth bass; since most people think of stripping streamers for them, but they do require a different form of nymphing compared to trout fishing in most situations. I hope to see people looking to learn about how to improve their "Nymphing Game" here on the Oregon local waters. 

Come by and check out the Portland Orvis Store this weekend for some great events!

Portland Area Carp Fishing Report - Sunday 4/22/12 Fishing Was Good Out There!

Yesterday, I was able to get out for my first carp flats fishing of the 2012 calendar year. The weather was perfect, the wind was calm, the sun was beaming, and the fish were out and about. I ran into probably the best carp fly fisherman in the state of Oregon, John Montana and another friend Mark out there. John maintains an awesome blog called Carp on the Fly that anyone who is wanting to be serious about carp should bookmark. Both John and Mark had reported good fishing, and they were winding down their session; while Nikki and I were just getting out there. They suggested a flat that they fished at, and had caught a bunch of fish at between the two of them; so Nikki and I opted to check it out.



The spot was loaded with fish, but most of them were spawning and really churning up the water. They were thrashing around and causing a serous commotion in the pond like grassy flat. The key was to find the dormant fish laid up sunning themselves or the ultra slow cruisers that had mouths looking like food was the most important thing on their mind, and not spawning. All of this while hoping that no spawners would thrash through your area you were focusing on; scaring your targeted quarry away. Lots of grass too; so short casts or literally only the leader and a foot of line was what it took to not hook your fly onto a blade or some other floating vegetation. Fun times though and fighting big fish on a bright sunny warm day is always a bonus!

Carp Time Now That We Have Some Nice Weather

Carp time is here now that the weather is predicted to heat up over the next few days. Overhead sunshine is the best; so you can see the fish cruising around seeking out food. Be quiet, and walk super slowly and carefully; for these fish let you realize how important it is to not make a peep out there. Be slow and stealthy....

Nice Portland Area Carp Caught on a Fly

When you think you are fishing and walking slow enough, then slow down even more......

Smaller flies resembling crustaceans and bugs work well....

Pick out individual fish, and don't get caught up with the sheer numbers around you. When that fish refuses you, then pick another fish, but fish to one fish at a time.....

Smaller carp like this are really fun on a 4-6wt fly rod....

Cast as close to the fish as you can, and let the fly drop through the water column. You man see a reaction right then, and if you do then wait for the fish to eat your fly. Otherwise, when the fly lands below the fish, give it a few short strips. If nothing happens, then re-cast to the fish and repeat the presentation a few more times. Change the retrieval rate a bit, and maybe change your fly. 

Flooded fields like this often hold numbers of carp....

When they take your fly, hold on!!!

Filbert My Favorite Fishing Partner is Resting In Peace

Recently, my dog Filbert has been battling with an awful illness that was tough to diagnose. After three bouts with the mystery ailment, a specialist was able to diagnose it as Myeloid Leukemia. Unfortunately, it was too far along in its progress, and there was no treatment. On the afternoon of April 18, 2012, Filbert was pronounced dead after a treatment of euthanasia was practiced upon him. The evening before he was acting like a young champ again, but only to be followed with the most awful night Filbert could ever have. He moaned and groaned in pain and agony, and he was obviously very uncomfortable.  I decided then that I could not put him through another night like that again. He had a very nice and comfortable last day during the hours leading up to his procedure luckily, but unfortunately the cancer has taken its toll too far.

Now, for all of you who know him and have experienced his greatness, I am putting some pictures up of him, and also a video I made of his last big fishing adventure with Nikki and I. It was just two weekends ago that we took him to the Owyhee before he had his last bout with the disease. It was great that he got to have his last EPIC fly fishing trip.

Enjoy! I know Mr. Filbert would want all of us who knew him to enjoy him in the form of fond memories.....

Filbert in on the brown trout action

Every brown trout needed a thorough brown trout inspection...

Filbert was admiring the Deschutes riparian area....

Filbert was feeling relaxed on the Deschutes River.....

Filbert loved the smell of the sage laden air on the Deschutes River

Big winter steelhead really got Filbert fired up....

Filbert felt that this hatchery chromer needed to be harvested for the wild fish gene pool...

Filbert and Nikki had to take a relax break from fishing....

Filbert loved his smallmouth bass trips....

He was way into camping.....

He sure knew how to keep warm and bundled up....

This is a video of Filbert's last awesome weekend. He got to experience the big brown trout that swim in the Owyhee River. Enjoy! I know Filbert had his last epic fishing trip here! (The video has the music you are able to download on YouTube; so it fits the length of the song)

Some Photos From Last Few Day Guided Fly Fishing in Oregon

Sorry for the lack of postings in the recent days. I have been really tied up guiding, and also dealing with some "life" things, but I wanted to put up a quick posting of some pictures from recent outing. Here are a few to enjoy......

Springtime Wilson River Winter Steelhead Caught April 13, 2012

Swinging flies on the Wilson River

Angler working a run for steelhead on Oregon's Wilson River

Mega Prince pinned into the grill of this "McKenzie Redside"

McKenzie Rainbow Trout ready for release....

High Water Flows in Western Oregon - Fishing Retreat for Lots of Brown Trout

This past weekend, I was feeling "spur of the moment" after having to cancel several trout trips I had booked due to super high water conditions from the last storm. I asked Nikki if she would be into taking a drive east in search of dryness, sunshine, and low water. She was into the idea also, especially since we got back from Florida, the sun has been lacking and the rains have been overly plentiful. We both decided after we both got off of work, we would bolt out of town eastward to the Owyhee River. I had not fished it ever, nor had she, but I knew it has been fishing well from recent reports. Midges, blue winged olives, and skawala stones were all hatching, and the fishing was going to be better than sitting at home waiting for river levels to drop in the swollen west-side rivers.

We got to the river, and it was full of big brown trout. It was also full of anglers, but we were prepared for the traffic and "human hatch" we had been warned about. It is true too that Boise people are the the most plentiful angling force out there. It is about an hour from Boise, and really far from anywhere else that is a major metropolitan area; so it flocks the anglers from there more so than Oregonian. It seemed like there were angler/s in about every decent looking spot, but the weather was sunny and warm on the first day. The fishing was great, and we caught a lot of fish on a variety of fly fishing techniques.

The second day had cooler but sunny weather, and the "human hatch" was way mellower than on Saturday. The fish were more interested in subsurface offering as well, but we caught way more fish than we did on the first day. It was really fun out there fishing with my sweetheart, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her yard in large brown trout. We caught fish on everything from skawala stone dry flies, midge dry flies, and the best fly was a weightless nymph called a bubble top fished from the surface film to a few inches under water.  It was really neat to see how well we did fishing a pattern that was not on the surface, nor on the bottom, but right under the surface.

Below are a bunch of photos from our trip, and I hope you enjoy them.....

Checking out a nice long brown trout

The "Bubble Top
was the hot fly

Fish On ! Brown trout fishing in Oregon

Filbert is Admiring this fine Oregon Brown Trout

Nice Dots on this Brown Trout - Eastern Oregon

#22 Black Midge Dry Fly took this brown trout

This brown trout fell to a Skwala Stone surface fly pattern

One of the many large browns that reside in Oregon's Owyhee River

Filbert really likes brown trout fishing

Bubble Top fly pattern pinned in this brown trout

gorgeous spots on this brown trout

Nice jaws on this long lean brown trout

April Fool's Day was all about fooling brown trout

Brown trout acting feisty on Owyhee River

"Bubble Top" fly stuck in this brown trout's grill

Beautiful specimen of Oregon brown trout

Displaying a brown trout

Working the water for brown trout - Owyhee River

The Classic Photo - Orvis Superfine Touch Rod With CFO Reel & Brown Trout