- Pulaski, NY. Reports and Ramblings:
Sept. through April
I hope you find my reports and articles entertainingly informative and mildly educational
Phil Leonardi Bill Cody
Jeff Pierce Capt. Bill
Mustad US Sales Co-ordinator
The smile says it all. Nice colored up male Steelhead.
Steelhead Season 11/10 - 11/14
Due to technical difficulties I was unable to update this page in a timely fashion. Thanks for understanding!
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As the water temp. drop's, look for all of our holding Steelhead to drop into the deep slow water for the balance of the winter. We still have lot's of fish in a transitional stage that are in the normal transitional holding area's.
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For the first time in as long as I can remember, I'll be working around the upcoming Holidays. The fishing around these major holidays can be outstanding! The less anglers fishing, means more opportunity for you. That's why I enjoy and personally recommend fishing around Dec., Jan. and Feb. so much. It's one of the best times to wet a line. :) So, I have just opened up, Dec. 19-31 and the rest of Jan. (Including weekends!) During the month's of Jan. Feb. and the first two weeks of March will be the only weekends Ill be available to guide you. Not much fishing pressure during this super time and well worth the trip up here! No guess work on where the fish are hanging out at. Simple as spreading soft but'a on a warm muffin! :)
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Monday
We hit fish in 3 out of 6 spots, 1/2 doz. approx. played with. Learned a ton of new and exciting spots to return too. Where to park, how to access, the hole within the hole, current breaks (exactly where the fish hold), etc.. Pretty normal day for me. If becoming self sufficient on this river (Presentation, rigging and habitat) is your primary goal along with catching some trophy Steelhead and BIG browns. Ill happily do my part to work with you as a team, all striving for the same goals.
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Tues.
My guest's fished off the driftboat on the main river (S.R.) with limited success. We had a MAJOR presence of fish in every spot we fished, but with VERY limited result's by my clients, unfortunately. Habitat, rigging and most importantly, presentation were covered thoroughly thru out the entire day and we succeeded in increasing my guest's awareness of all of the opportunities available to them and also how to work at becoming self sufficient. As always, this info. will last them (as well as yourselves) a lifetime of future fishing enjoyment. Ye-Haa!
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Wed.
My guest's from Tues. joined me again today for another incredible fishing experience. At times we had a dozen 2-4 lb. Browns within a 10 by 10 foot area of the water. Sighted over 75 - 85 Browns over the course of the day with not another sole around. LOADED!! :) Incredible opportunity ALL day.
I hope you all have the chance to some day experience this truly magnificent fishery! Today we felt as though we were in Alaska, and NOT around one of the most popular fishing area's in the country! The fish we played with and landed were WAY to many to try to keep track off. Don't ya just hate when THAT happens? :)
ALL of these fish are just waiting here for YOUR, perfectly cast bait or fly. :)
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First Time posting of open Salmon dates for the 2009 Season. Get'm while they last!
09 Sept open dates:
14-15, 18, 25
09 Oct. open dates:
9, 16, 19-23, 26-30
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Exciting New Holiday openings.
Dec. 19-31 and early Jan. open
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I have some good Steelhead articles below if your a new viewer.
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I hope all of my complementary past, present and future reports, tips, articles, pictures and ramblings entertains and keeps you safe while helping you in your Steelhead quest!
Sharing this free info. with you has and always will be my personal pleasure.
As always, my (Our) prayers and hopes go out for a safe stay and return home for all of our service men and women who are fighting over sea's and who also visit my site on a regular basis.
Thanks also to all of you who have used my guide services in the past, present and to anyone who stops by here and spends their valuable internet fishing time here. :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
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Steelhead Season 11/3 - 10/7
09 Sept open dates:
14-15, 18, 25
09 Oct. open dates:
9, 16, 19-23, 26-30
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Exciting New Holiday openings.
Dec. 19-31 (with more) and the rest of Jan. open
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Monday:
I had 2 anglers from the Netherlands. 4 anglers in their group flew 1,000's of miles to fish here for the week. They were not disappointed with the fishing today. They had been playing with none to 3-4 per day so far on their trip but today, they went into the teen's for numbers of fish. Over a dozen Steelhead in an approx. 6 hour period. Wow!! By days end they had a rock solid understanding of habitat, rigging and presentation. Seeing more boats on the water and a few more anglers than last week. It's always nice to see all the anglers out enjoying themselves. Helping the local economy!
I saw numerous fish being played with from one end of the river to the other. Nice! Look's like we may see a repeat of last years amazing fishing. Last year was the best since the early 90's! I'd make plan's to get up sometime this year with the quality of fishing Im seeing. All presentation tec. are working, all with different success rates. The most popular presentation tec. Im seeing is running egg sack's off a spinning rod with a float. All color's of bags are producing.
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Tues.
Off
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Wed.
Dozen Chromer's played with!
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Thurs.
Another approx. Dozen Steelies played with!
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Friday
16 Steelhead played with!
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Sat. - Sunday
Scheduled days off
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Please see the below fishing report's and fishing tips. It may help you on your next trip up here. :)
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1880 House B and B, Salmon - Steelhead Season Available Dates
Linda's B and B provide all the "extra's" that include breakfast, home made soup, free commercial ice machine, use of washer and dryers, wader area to hang your waders, fly tying table, cable tv in all the bedrooms, most have a private bath and wireless internet service. Incredible dinners are available from Nov. until the end of April.
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If you would like a personally recommended place to rest your head after a long day of fighting King Salmon, Browns or Steelhead on the Salmon River, Pulaski NY on a year round basis. Linda, who owns and run's The "Very Popular" 1880 House B and B still has some rooms available.
http://www.1880house.com
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The Sporting Gentleman
The fine owners of the Sporting Gentleman are all stocked up and ready to supply you with all of your Steelhead, Trout, Bass, Tarpon, Bones, Etc.. needs.
If your in the neighborhood, please stop in and say HI to my good friend's at the "The Sporting Gentleman."
They will have all of your fishing supplies. Or, you can visit them by this link. :)
http://www.sportinggentleman.com/index.html
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Welcome aboard Fishage.com
Fish age is a young, highly innovative Italian fishing
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from hot to cold and from wet to dry.
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Cutting-edge raw materials and premium technologies
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our manufacturing process with a lot of fancy technical
jargon, but we'd rather let our gear prove itself where
it counts: in the field. We are confident that Fish Age
products will provide your best outdoor experience ever.
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New technologies, superior raw materials and a vibrant
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products. We leverage these to manufacture a new generation
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most challenging elements. Our products are designed for
the true believers in a new age of fishing gear: the Fish Age.
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You can view their product line in Italy by visiting
their website:
http://www.fishage.com
If the website does not come up then you will need to
install flashplayer. It is free and easily downloaded from
the net. Here is what I used:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash)
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Steelhead Season Official Opener 10/27 - 10/31
FYI - Steelhead are in the Transitional holding and normal holding water, including the HEAT. Look for the Browns to be in the same habitat but also add in some gravel with lil current for the rest of the month. Look for more steelhead entering and running the river. Fish top to bottom of river. All normal flies are working. Want to increase your catch rate over night? Simple - 80% of all this, maybe more is presentation, presentation, presentation :) Send me an email if your intrested.
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Monday:
Browns and more browns 3-4lb. average, nice looking Coho's.
To many fish played with and landed to be able to count and
keep track of. Dont ya just hate it when THAT happens? :)
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Tues.
Steelhead and more. In 2 hours one angler played with 2,
and the other was 1 for 4
An email from my Monday and Tuesday guest's who were with me both days.
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Hello Randy,I'm glad we left early, the ride home was "interesting".
Thanks again for showing us a great time, and paying
a little extra attention to my dad. He'll remember this trip forever.
Within the time frame of 48 hours you put us on Browns,
Salmon (Kings and Coho) , and Steelhead. It was a blast landing
that monster Coho
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Wed.
About a dozen (maybe a couple more?) chromers with 2
very experienced steel anglers. 4 for 4 on spots, ye-haa,
its hammer time! We found them in every spot we fished.
All week we fished a number of different spots and there might
have been only 1 or 2 places where we did not find any players.
Hot Dam! And in those couple of spot's we didnt even fish them
for more than 20 or so minutes. We found Trout in all area's of
the river. From Transitional Holding to Holding. Shallow, deep,
rocky, gravel, slow water, fast water. The one thing in common
for all of our fish were "current breaks."
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Thurs. - 3 spots, hit'm in all! Ye-haa! Brand new Steelhead
fisherman today. They made me proud to be their guide by
working hard to achieve that perfect 100% drift. They played
with 5-6 Steelies on their day. Those 5 or 6 never would have
come had they not achieved most of our common goal's. To run a
consistent, 100% drift, every drift, every spot, all day.
Preparing - helping them to become self-sufficient, so they wont
need me anymore. Thats one of my many, primary professional daily goal's.
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Friday:
Over a dozen steelies! Please see below email :)
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An email I sent to a client a few days ago:
Hi Pete,
I had 2 guys out today who have never fished the river before.
They used fly rods all day and played with over a dozen Steelhead. Ye-haa! (Biggest - 14 lb's!)
This season is off to a great start. It has started to remind me a lil of last years amazing season! (To soon to tell)
All week, my guest's played with approx. 6 to over a dozen chromers, per day, which are reeeel good numbers. (the 6 came on a day where they only fished for approx. 2 hours and these were brand new Salmon River Steelhead anglers to boot! :)
The average angler would be thrilled to play with just 1 or 2 steelhead.
I took my guest's for Brown trout last week on the S.R. and we SAW, yes SAW over 30 Browns. (3-4 lb. average) Also, good numbers of reeeeeeeel good shape Coho's and some old crusty Kings that we did not cast at. We did not see another angler ALL day, just a LOT of fun Browns. Reminded us of being out in the wilderness in Alaska :)
Today, as well as most others this week, we did not have anyone above, below or directly across from us fishing.
The best way to keep up on my guest's - clients fishing is to view my website from time to time.
Very VERY few anglers or boats out presently. Of course, it's also late mid-week and the season is young.
Thanks!
Randy
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Gift Certificate good for 2 people, complimentary day of fishing, either on Cape Cod or Salmon River. Good anytime. (Except weekends and Holidays - my day's off)
Come wade or drift boat the world-renowned Salmon River, NY, for hard fighting salmon and steelhead during the splendor of the fall, winter and spring seasons. This summer, if you feel you're up for the fun and challenge, master your technique of sight fishing! Wade fish the many crystal-clear flats teeming with bluefish and striped bass off Cape Cod (Chatham) beaches, bays and Monomoy Island.
Whether it's steelhead, salmon, blues or stripers that you're after, I am dedicated to introducing both new anglers and experienced anglers to the exciting world of freshwater and or saltwater fly/spin fishing. For novices, I place emphasis on fly-spin fishing skills and supplement the day with knots, fly-bait selection, fish habitats, and prey species. For the more experienced sportsman, I'll work with you to hone your skills. I guarantee a rewarding experience.
... we'll make it reel.
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Salmon Steelhead Season 10/20 - 10/24
Still a few good looking Salmon around. Lot's of old ones.
Trout top to bottom of the river.
Brown's making their way to their spawning habitat.
All Trout eating Salmon egg's (and the usual)
Most angler's are having to work for any trout that they find, but not all. :)
We have been playing with ALL species of fish that call the Salmon River home.
Water temp's dropping :)
Best of luck!
Randy
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Photo's complement's of my client, Karl A. Mueller, III (All fish released for you, your friends and or your children's future fishing pleasure!)
A BIG male King Salmon. Nice underwater head shot. Dont know if Ive ever seen one of these before. Unique view!
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For anyone who is wondering, I am taking reservations for 2009. Most of this years Salmon and Steelhead guest's are re-booking their same day for next year. Email if intrested. :)
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First Mate Matt, dad and myself out on my 16 foot heated driftboat, enjoying a Steelhead filled day during the Winter on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY. 35 minutes drive North of Syracuse off the Interstate. Approx. 5-1/2 hour drive from the Boston area, approx. 4-1/2 hour's from N.Y. City. Steelhead average 8 to 12 lb's. We fish for them from Nov. all Winter into the first week of May approx. My personal favorite time to fish for them in order of preference, April - May, Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. and Nov. I have a BIG propane heater on the drift boat that I use during the Winter to help take the chill off. :) Works great!
We also (wade only) fish for (10-20 lb. average) King Salmon (Coho Salmon too) that run from Mid-Sept. until the end of Oct. Then we have Brown trout that average 3-5 pounds with some reaching into the teens during Nov.
Very reasonable flight's into Syracuse, car rentals, very inexpensive lodging, food and guide rates. :)
I supply everything but the chest waders.
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Anyone with any heart problems will not be allowed to fish for steelhead w/ me :) With there acrobatic nature, speeding bullet runs, they have been know to stop and or jump start a few hearts, including mine on an almost daily basis. :) Randy
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Steelhead Nov. - May
Steelhead Open Dates:
Lots of openings for early, Mid, Late Winter and Spring.
Good stuff Les, Congrats again! Mustad Hooks, the best their is!
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Ron with a Reeel Steel Hum Dinger!-
I'm often asked, "What was your best day on the water?” After 20 plus years of guiding in Vermont, Cape Cod and the Salmon River in New York, many best days tend to flash across my mind. As I search deep for one of my best fish stories, it suddenly hit's me. It wasn't my fish, my day or even my story that gave me one of the most rewarding experiences!
Just look at that young man's smile! Congrats on that 16lb'r Tom!
Steve and Vinny had a "Day for Kings".
Biggest Steelhead was approx. 15lb's as it catapulted itself skyward toward the heavens, somersaulting several times before splash down! I could see angler heads turning as it sounded like a big brick being thrown into the water. Then a tail walk for about 20 feet. Dam..... I love this job.
Chris with a nice 10 lb'r. Final tally for the day was 9 total Steelhead, fly and spin rods. Congrats Gentleman!
Congrats everyone, on those fine "Holiday Cheer" Steelhead! I can't tell who is smiling more, the fish or my guest's.-
Mail Bag:Friday - My 1 guest had fished all day yesterday with a very experienced freind without a touch. What would today bring? 3 quick fish, on and off. Beats a sharp stick in the eye and knowing that you accomplished 80% presentation, 10% habitat and 10% rigging for you first time fishing the river is rewarding and very confidence building in itself. Intrested in some Slam'n Salmon River Fish?
Just to pump a little info from you with out paying,,,What do you think the best floro carbon line would be? I mean one that is strong and holds a good knot,,,thanks Mr. Jones
Hi Paul, Seaguar Fluorocarbon - http://www.seaguar.com/home.html Any time..... Best Holiday Fish's, Randy
Fishing Report:
Monday - Played with about 12-13 steelies. Good numbers all over the place. East to West, North to South. :)
Tuesday - Played with 7 or 8 Steelhead! Hit them in 2 out of 3 spots. Learned over 3 miles of some of the best chrome hold'n territory on the river
Wednesday - 5 Steelies with one guest. Ye-haa! It's hammer time.
Thursday - 6 Steelies with my one guest. Same as yesterday. Did one more fish today and cemented in presentation, presentation, presentation! :)
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Much of the week was about learning, studying, becoming the 10% that catch's 90% of the fish consistently. Listening to the fish. When we listened, we were rewarded. :) I know we succeeded in many more ways than to simply catch a fish. It's this knowledge (fishing a number of different good spots - habitat, changing your rigging, changing your drift according to the spot) that builds confidence and allows you to consistently return to this river, without a guide. And catch more fish than you have ever dreamt of before and for the rest of your life. It's this knowledge that helps you to pick up fish all day long.
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We moved around a lot and hit fish in almost all spot's fished. Transitional and holding.
Holding produced better, 100%, more consistent. Transitional produced about 50-50. Send me an email if your intrested in acquiring the skill's necessary to proficiently and consistently with confidence catch these fish.
Wow, so silver. Now you know why we call them the silver bullet. This one is almost translucent and you can't buy a fresher looking fish on this river. :) Congrats!
We've been targeting Salmon lately due to the incredible numbers around. We have been picking up the occasional Steelie almost everyday, sometimes 2 or 3, different area's, while fishing for salmon. :)
The above picture was the last spot of the day. Planned on making just a few cast's on our way back to the parking lot. I knew this spot had remained unfished for the last hour before we got there. The odds were very good that at least a couple of fish had moved into it, as they often do. First cast, fish on, it's a steelie! Then another Chromer, then a couple Salmon in just 20 minutes or so. Out of the 4 fish, this was the only one landed. How sweet it is! Congrats on that beautiful Silver Bullet!
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Time for a commercial break ;)
Randy,
Every time I go fishing, the optimist in me says "This might be the day." Athletes pray for days like this, hoping they play in "the zone." I think fishermen do too. Surely, this is what keeps many of us thrashing the water with a piece of string. I can count on one hand the number of days when this has happened. Two of them have been with you. The first was two years ago today, Oct. 8, when I hooked 40 or 50 fish, including a 35 lb male king that now sits above my fireplace as an reminder of that one remarkable day of fishing. The other was last Friday. Not only did I land a pair of nice Kings, I also caught my first Cohos, a beautiful male brown and three fall-run steelhead -- my first grand slam on the Salmon River. All told, I had maybe 20 hookups, while my buddy Myles had almost as many and landed cohos, a brown and several steelhead. It wasn't as if this was a great day on the river. I saw many long faces and shaking heads as other anglers came up empty, lost lead and flies to the river bottom and called it quits by midday. The credit for my experience is all yours. I know there are many fishermen who can work the Salmon River and catch plenty of fish, especially when a run is on. I can do it on my own sometimes. But putting it all together when the fishing is slow as you did is a testimony to your skill, knowledge and hard work. Looking forward to my next trip with you and the chance to yell "Fish On"!
Regards, Jim
The Silver Bullet, Chromer, Metal Head, are all names we use for the Steelhead we catch all Fall, Winter and Spring on the Salmon River in Pulaski, N.Y., 30 miles North of Syracuse. (Interested?)
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Randy, had another great fishing trip with you recently. Your knowledge, patience, and professional attitude gave us everything we had hoped for and more. We had a great time, and we are both still so impressed! We learn something new every time we fish with you. 4 years and 7 trips....and you still have the same drive and desire we saw the first time you took us out! You are a true professional, and you have customers for life.
Until the next fish bites, Garry
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Where the land ends LIFE beginsArchives from Winter, Spring - 2008
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May devoted anglers read these words and relive the simple pleasures of finding
and landing - the big one.(The fisherman's book of wisdom )
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A Sampling of fishing reports from some of last month's Steelhead trips
One of my better trips recently:
My 2 guest's experienced their first time Steelhead fishing. They came back amazed at the numbers of fish we played with but most importantly, the knowledge they gained. For them, the fish were second to achieving a rock solid Steelhead fishing foundation on which to build. That was their main goal, to which we succeeded! I think we played with about 10-11 Steelies for the day. Just icing on the cake. :)
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Hit Steelhead in 3 out of 5 spots today. Played with about 8 total for the day. The 2 spots we didnt hit any fish in were only fished for about 5-10 minutes. Im sure there were fish there, and we would have found some if we had stayed longer, but we were only looking for some McDonald's fish. (Fast and easy:)
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My guest today had 4-5 goals that we wanted to achieve. A better, complete, expert analysis and understanding of flies, tying flies, reading water, presentation, Steelhead strategies, rigging, how does the lower and higher water effect the fish, were do the fish lay in all the holes, high water current breaks, where to stand in every hole, how to access each hole, advanced rigging and presentation, stream etiquette, where to cross the river safely, how to rig and present a fly-bait while sight fishing to the Bucks in the Spring, Spring strategies, Winter strategies, where to find the Bucks in the Spring and lastly and least important were fish.
Ken only had 4-5 goals but I covered all of the above and much more. This is a normal day for me. We hit some fish while completely and thoroughly achieving all of Kens goals plus some! :)
We spent time in each and every hole over a 3 mile distance. Approx. 40 or more spot's.
We saw fish with the help of todays sun. Saw a fair number of fish that were in a transitional state, moving up the river and briefly holding in the transitional lyes. Presently, all of the fish in the river are starting to feel their biological clock ticking, making them think and behave a lil differently. Care to learn any of the above while catching a few fish? :) I still have a few dates still open.
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A Sampling of fishing reports from some of last month's Steelhead trips
1. My guest's hammered them today! I was very surprised at the large numbers they tangled with. Amazing! I think we set a record for this year. Which means we fought less than 30, but more than 20. Last year at this time my same two guest's had two incredible Steelhead days where they did numbers around 19 fish one day and another in the upper 20'ish Steelhead.
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2. We hit 5-6 fish in a full day with one fly angler. :) Nice day out with warm temp's. Lil slower than expected, but, you never know. We found fish in every location my guest fished off the drift boat. We were 100% on all 3 spot's fish'd. Noticed a few other anglers in other places playing with Steelhead also. There are fish in EVERY Winter spot. Guaranteed! If for some reason you are fishing in a good spot and not hooking up then the fish are telling you to make a change. Guaranteed. This change could be 1 of a vast number of things which would be related to either Presentation, baitology, taking 3 steps down, entomology or Rigging. :)
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4. "Fish ON" were the first words Al shouted after his first cast of the morning. Then another and another. Long story short, Al by himself played with 14 Steelhead today. We got lucky and found a pod of mostly dime bright Steelhead that fought as hard as any Nov. Fish. Whewww!
Al told me he had been fishing the river since 78 and that he had never - ever played with so many Steelhead in one day!
Last time Al fished with me he brought a note pad and pen. With the average being that most folks (including myself) retain 20-30% of what they hear or read, he wanted to make sure he did not forget a single chrome hold'n spot over the entire 3 miles of river I stopped at and explained in great detail. (One of the biggest complaints that I get from my clients is information overload when it comes to all of the many many places there are to fish. Where to park, how to get there, where to cross the river safely, where to stand, where to cast, where the fish normally lay, (many times it is exact as fitting a key into a lock) and anything that might be of a safety concern. :) All was written down with an exciting, feverish, exactness. One of the highest compliment's was paid to me by AL as he stated, Randy, you know that spot you showed (did not fish) me by such a such a tree. You said stand here, cast there, the fish sit there and you can expect one to bite anywhere from 10 to 25 feet off the bank in a 30 foot length? (This was a hole within the hole spot)
I went back to both of those spots and every time I go there I get into some fish.
One day alone I hit six fish in that one spot using a spin rod, floats and egg sacks. And I was the only one there. I've never seen a single drift boat or person stop and fish it.
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Fishing Report
As we were launching the drift boat my guest's were not very enthusiastic about fishing today.
Can you catch fish in 2,000 cfs Randy? Where do you fish in 2,000 cfs Randy? Dont you think it's really going to be tuff fishing in 2,000 cfs Randy? You can't really fish when the water is this high, can you Randy? :)
This is a very normal (and understandable) feeling if your not used to fishing higher flows. My guest's were delighted to learn and experience first hand that there concern's were highly unwarranted.
We went 6 for 12 on steelhead! We could have easily played with more Steelies if we had stayed in any of the 4 places we found them in a lil longer. My guest's really wanted to learn even more new and exciting water to fish in this higher flow, so we left fish to find more. :) My guest commented that with 30 years of Steelhead experience that this was one of his best days ever. No matter your experience level, we always learn and experience new and exciting Steelhead tactic's, etc... No longer do my guest's feel uncomfortable with higher flows. They will now simply adjust, as I do. Thus, opening up an entirely new window of opportunity for them. It's nice to have options and not allow mother nature to control your hobbies and interest's! :)
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Guest Testimonial and Fishing Report:
Thanks again for taking the time and putting in the awesome effort with Chris and I these past 2 days. I learned more about Steelheading in a day and a half than I had in prior years. I'm convinced what happened 10 minutes after you left would have never happened if it weren't for you. In the spot you left me in I hooked and fought a 12 lb hen. Fought her all the way down the rapids. Headed back to my spot. First cast, fish on!! Back to my spot again, second cast, fish on. Short fight. By now you can imagine the talk around the area. I'm not their favorite angler. Only to get worse when next cast, another fish on. Other anglers could not believe their eyes. Randy I basically fought 4 fish for forty straight minutes. Hearing people talk about me was very strange. I'm usually wondering and wishing "how come I'm not that guy". What a special place and thanks again for all your help and knowledge. I called Chris at the airport and he couldn't believe it. I think you might be seeing us again before golf season. Take care, Kevin
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Thanks again, to all of you for your valuable internet fishing time, interest, continued support, referrals, Kind Words and business :)
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As always, we pray and hope for all of our service men and women's safe return home. We will leave you all a few fish in the Oceans and Rivers to catch and enjoy upon your safe return home :) I hope my fishing reports have helped you to forget about work, for just a lil :)
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I sincerely hope that what Ive been able to share with
you over these past many many years has helped you along
the road to becoming a better, more informed, safe,
knowledgeable and experienced angler.
Best Fish's,
Randy
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Mustad Hooks, the BEST their is! :)
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The Author, Guide, Outfitter:Thank you Jeff Pierce and Mustad for the below Fly Tying links!!
Randy Jones is a full-time professional fly/spin fishing guide with over 24 years of
experience. He has represented the Orvis Corporation as a guide and chief instructor
of their 2 1/2 day Saltwater Fly fishing schools.
During the summer, Randy can be found wade guiding the S.E. (and beyond) Cape Cod
area's, where sight casting on the flats to trophy Striped Bass is his specialty.
During the Fall, Winter, and Spring Randy runs drift boat and wade trips on the world
class Salmon River, Pulaski N.Y. for Steelhead, Coho, Browns, Atlantic's and Kings.
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http://www.mustad.no/
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To read this amazing story that I was apart of:
http://www.mustad.no/action/field_reports/nyfishst.htm
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To read the rest of the story and tying instructions, please go to
http://www.mustad.no/action/flyofthemonth/archive/glo_bug.html
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For more flies and tying instructions.
http://www.mustad.no/action/flyofthemonth/archive/jeffscohocandy.htm -
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Habitat - Reading Water - Current Breaks
One of the most important aspects of Habitat is to figure out the relationship between all of the different water levels and all of the individual and different current break's. How each current break effect's the water movement and then how the fish relate to each current break. By having a clear and precise understanding of this allows the knowledgeable angler to understand our quarries weakness and then exploit them. Basically, where do they hold at during all of the different water levels on this river to help you catch them. They change and so should you. :)
The reason a current break is so important to the fish is that it decreases the amount of energy they need to expend to maintain it's position in the river, creek or stream. If they have to expend to much energy they will die. You can see how these current breaks can be the difference between life or death for a fish and why it is critical for them to use them and for us, the angler, to understand this relationship.
The fish change their lies every time there is a major change in water flow in most holes. Due to the effects that the current break has or does not have on this new flow of water. They will also change their preferences due to time of year, fishing pressure, temperature of water and their biological clock to name just a few. Their change could be as little as moving from the head of the hole (heads of holes are current breaks) to the middle of the hole where the current is not as strong. Or from the tail (higher water flows - the tail is a current break) to the middle of the pool when the water drop's. During real high water sometimes the hole (current break) itself provides little to no protection from the current and you will find the fish moving to the seam of the hole. A seam - where the faster water meets the slower water. Seam's are another current break that the fish love to use. During extreme water flows they could even position themselves directly along the bank of the river.
We have low water current breaks and high water current breaks. Many times a current break is not large enough to effect the high water and the fish's relationship to it becomes useless. Just the opposite can be said for larger current breaks during low water. A prime example of this would be Snaggers hole. During low water this large hole is normally not used by the fish because the water moves so slowly above it that there is no current for the fish to need it. But, during high water when the current is really moving, this spot is used by the fish because it provides shelter (a current break) for the fish to conserve their energy as they move up or down the river. So, we have high water spots (current breaks) that we only fish during high water and low water spot's that we only fish during low water.
So the trick is to know when each spot (or part of the spot) is productive (when the fish will use them) and only fish these area's during the correct water flow. Similar to saltwater tides, fish each spot when it is fishing at it's maximum productivity level. We have different current breaks that the Steelhead use in the Fall (more aerated moving water) compared to the Winter (less aerated moving water). We have different current breaks that the fish use while they are moving up or down (in transition) the river that are different than where they would want to stay for an extended period of time. You have heard me talk about these spots as transitional holding and holding. During their spawn their current breaks change again.
The small island you stand on to fish the hole in low water is now the current break for the fish in much higher water flows. The small boulder on the bottom of the river holds fish behind it in low water flows but becomes almost useless during high water.
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Transitional water is where the fish keep swimming up river and do not stop.
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Transitional holding water is structure or current breaks that the fish use while in a transitional mode while moving up river to rest for awhile. The length of time any species of fish will hold on these current breaks is determined by the quality of the current break and what the fish had to go through to get to it. (There are other factors also) Fish normally use the depth of water and the current to navigate. So any current break that is on this path is normally used. Whenever we have fish that are in transition then these locations should always be fished.
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Holding Water:
They have reached a place in the river where all of their survival instincts are satisfied.
We need the same things they do to survive.
A prime lye consists of:
1. Depth of water for safety from predators.
2. A good enough current break to decrease the amount of energy they need to expand to maintain this position.
3. Enough food.
These "happy fish" will not move from these positions unless one of a number of things happen.
Any type of holding water (that i know of) is caused by current breaks.
As predators, we need to study and decipher current breaks (Habitat). There is a lot of empty water out there. Our predatory instinct's are to find our quarries weaknesses and then exploit them. Having an intimate understanding of Current breaks and when and where to fish them according to the water flow will allow you to achieve this.
Randy :)
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Fish Fighting Techniques for Steelhead:
Yes, that's me with the stupid looking hat and the spinning rod.
The first thing I did upon hooking up was to immediately get even or below the fish. This tires the fish out sooner by knocking it off balance and causing it to work harder to stay upright. (An exception to this would be if there was very fast water (drop in the river), deep hole that you can not get around, snags or anything below you that might cause the fish to break you off. Then I would stay a little above the fish)
I see 95% of the angler's on this river never really load their rod properly when fighting a fish. This is totally understandable (as with everything else :) because if you've never been told or learned much of this, then it's all new. I certainly didnt know much of this when I was new and I still don't know it all. :) Most angler's only pull back 1/4 to 1/2 way back. In the above photo I am about 3/4 of the way back with the rod. Before I stop pulling back, the rod is pointed directly behind me with the rod horizontal and next to my ear. The butt (very bottom) of the rod is pointed at the far bank. It's hammer time!
By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish will normally, slowly and quietly come in without much fuss. By keeping it's head under the water the fish feel's much more comfortable and tends not to freak out. This at times can also be used as a stalling tactic. You will notice some of the more experienced Salmon River anglers inverting their rod shortly after the hook up. This greatly increases the odds for the fish to remain in the hole-pool and not speed off down river. It also helps by hopefully controlling the fish's attitude. Keeping it from thrashing around and breaking off.
The above is an example on how many Steelhead are lost with the rod tip up. (If snag's or strong current's are around you then this would be the correct way) Notice the splash? Miss Steelhead did not like it when I pulled her head out of the water. Many fish are lost-broken off at this point.
If you listen to the fish it will pretty much tell you at what angle to hold your rod. If the fish is on the other side of the river I always hold my tip high. If I held it low then the full amount of the rivers current would put an awful lot of additional pressure on my line and tippet as it bow's. Many times resulting in breaking the fish off. If the fish is approx. from the middle of the river towards me then I always hold my rod tip just off the surface of the water down low. (Providing I dont have any real fast currents or snags.)
The funniest thing about this picture and the above photo was as I was playing the fish. Anytime I had my rod tip up I lost total control over the fish. It pretty much went anywhere it wanted to. It also took much longer to tire it out. But, as soon as I put the tip low (down and dirty) or in the water. It came straight in at me. This lower rod position combined with standing below the fish will put approx. 3 times more pressure on the fish when it is within 60 feet or so. Tiring it out sooner and gaining much more control over the fish.
When reeling in the fish with the tip up:
There are 2 things wrong with the previous sentence.
#1. I will sometimes hold my rod upside down with tip in water when bringing in a steelhead. Fish don't breath air and with tip up it feel's as if (which you are) trying to pull it's head out of the water. This creates a havoc, wrecking ball of nerves that sometimes ends with fish off. I breathe air, so if you put my head under the water you can be assured I would not be happy. (Same with the fish) By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish normally will slowly and quietly (within reason) come in without much fuss.
#2 Whenever targeting large species of fish the rod becomes a flexible lever. We never reel the fish in; we PULL the fish in. The reel is only used to recover slack line. Pull-up, reel-down. Now combine #1 with #2 and by George, you've got it!
Nice lil 7lb Female Steelhead along with my Elmer Fud Hat. Whirrs that cwazy wabbit!
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Stay tuned for more entertainingly informative and mildly educational reports and articles on this never-ending virtual fishing trip with your host Randy "The Yankee Angler" and friends.
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The Author, Guide, Outfitter:
Randy Jones is a full-time professional fly/spin fishing guide with over 24 years of experience. He has represented the Orvis Corporation as a guide and chief instructor of their 2 1/2 day Saltwater Fly fishing schools.
During the summer, Randy can be found wade guiding the S.E. (and beyond) Cape Cod area's, where sight casting on the flats to trophy Striped Bass is his specialty. During the Fall, Winter, and Spring Randy runs drift boat and wade trips on the world class Salmon River, Pulaski N.Y. for Steelhead, Coho, Browns, Atlantic's and Kings.
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Thank you all for your words of encouragement, kind words and continued support. Ill continue to do my best in sharing what I've learned through, experience, experimentation, borrowed ideas and taught techniques.
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I sincerely hope that what little I've been able to share with you will help you along the path to more enjoyable, safe, knowledgeable fishing. Randy
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Cape Cod's Chatham, Monomoy Island, Flats and Beyond
Inshore Wade Saltwater
Fly/Spin Fishing Report's and Ramblings:
Wade Cape Cod - World Class Destination Flats Fishery -Here on the Cape, we have miles and miles of light colored sand flats and crystal clear water that makes sight casting to 5-25 pound stripers the order of the day. This is probably the most exciting type of fly/spin fishing you will ever do. They're cruising the flats eating crabs, shrimp, silversides and sand lances, and just waiting for your perfectly cast fly or bait. Sometimes you need to burn up the water with a fast retrieve and at other times using a dead drift with the current is all that is needed. All methods will require distance, speed and accuracy in your casting. We have some of the finest destination flats fishing in the world right here on Cape Cod. Seeing 100s or more fish in a tide is the norm when sunny. Test your skills and let's work together to help you along the path to hooking up in paradise.
May through August
-The following fishing reports will consist of Inshore Saltwater (Fly/Spin) Fishing. It will include Tips, techniques, Habitat, Presentation, Baitology, Flies-Hooks, Moon Fazes, Flats, and even some highlights from year’s past fishing reports. Some of the material will come straight from my past experience as chief instructor of the Orvis 2 ½ day saltwater fly fishing schools. Additional material will come from first hand knowledge, gained from my many years of eating, breathing, living and loving the New England - Cape Cod Inshore Saltwater environment. So, sit back, relax and enjoy this Truly World Class Destination Fishery!
Blending in and stalking our prey while wading the Flats.
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5 fish, 2 O'Clock, 75 feet, moving left, throw it 50 feet, 12 O'Clock, leave it, leave it, ok now, strip it, faster, strip it, their on it, there on it...
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He ate it! Ye-haa! :)
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Late July Fishing Report:
This weeks fishing report from Monomoy.
(Photo John Halnon)
Nice picture of the reeeeel deal. Notice the clarity of the water, lightness of the sand, knee deep water. Pretty neat stuff!
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Ton's and I mean TON's of Blues around. Mostly 3-6 lb'rs with the occasional 10 lb. Blue or schoolies to keeper sized Bass. When wade, fly/spin, flats, sight fishing, we have been either casting at schools of 100 or less Blues or many - many single 15-20LB. Bass in 1-2 feet of crystal clear water with an almost white bottom and turquoise colored water. Just like the Caribbean, except $1,000's of dollar's less. :)
I expect things to remain the same until the slower tides arrive Aug. 8. Until then, LOOK OUT!
Fishing has been fishing. Most anglers (except my guest's) are having a VERY difficult time unless intimately familiar with the water they are fishing and are VERY adapt and changing according to what the fish are telling them. Monomoy is VERY slow fishing of late for the unfamiliar angler. Fish have gone into there very normal late summer life style. Very challenging fishing for some, but not all. :) (he-he)
I have a couple of pool's out there that are presently holding 500 to 1,000 Blues and 3-400 Bass. :)
Best wade blind fly/spin fishing on the cape is normally around an out-flow w/ current, w/ a hole combined with cold water - bait and no predator's. Best sight fishing has been on any of the late summer, current, bait, producing flats while wade fly/spin fishing. :)
Happy Hook'n to all,
Randy
http://www.yankeeangler.com - Fishing reports page for many more additional tips, articles, pictures, etc.. on sight fishing the flats and blind around all of the Cape Cod wade fly/spin inshore water fishery.
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Wade Fly Blind Monomoy Island Wed. 8/6
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We had an enjoyable day out on the island today. First spot,
thru the fly in and my guest came up with a nice Bass. Out of
the next 5 cast's with fly he was hooked up to 4 more bass.
My other client was enjoying useing surface stuff and watching
4-5 Bass explode on it on a single retrieve - 50 feet. As soon
as I retied him to fish subsurface both of my guest's were
doubled up on a couple more nice bass in the mid - twenty inch
range taken on a fly.
That was one the many highlight's of the day while blind wade
fly. We worked (so whats new in August?) for the rest of our
fish. We enjoyed fishing several different spot's and found
more Bass, no Blues.
White and olive clouser's - clear Int. line, white pencil
poppers - floating line.
Best Fish's,
Randy
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Outermost Harbor Marine Shuttle Boat to Monomoy island
I ride the Outermost Harbor Marine Shuttle boat almost daily.
They operate Full - time: 7 days a week, 3 boats,
8am until 4:30pm, 6 Capt.'s., never (rarely) a wait,
no # of people restrictions, fresh water hose to rinse
all of your gear, 100 foot walk to the docked boat,
small general store (shack) for any last minute items,
$20 to Monomoy round trip, free parking in the marina's
secure lot with a parking attendant.)
http://www.outermostharbor.com
They have a web cam set up on their roof, so you can
see the Tub and South beach on their home page.Neat!
Check the weather reel - time before you fish!
Happy hook'n,
Randy
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I'm a proud sponsor of http://reel-time.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3
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This fish was taken at the high in 12 inch's of water, 1 foot off the dry sand to your right in photo! It was the smaller of the five. :) I was standing 30 feet back from the waters edge on the sand. (Believe it or not :)FYI - 3 other anglers were standing waist deep in the water 200 feet out in front of me fly casting to water void of anything swimming. Very normal, I used to do it too!
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July Wade Saltwater Cape Cod Chatham Monomoy Island Fly/Spin Fishing Report, Pictures, Articles, Humor, Tips and much more:
I hope you find my reports and articles entertainingly informative and mildly educational from a fly/spin wade angler's perspective here on Cape Cod.
Over view:
I've been fishing in a number of different habitat's from all around the entire Cape Cod area, depending on several factors or variables.
Just like my last overview, the fishing has been just that. Fishing! Everyday is different and you never know exactly what you will find. Whether we are blindcasting or sight fishing. Some days have been sloooow, some days have been ok but most of our days have been OUTSTANDING! These fast tides that we are having now 7/4 have improved the fishing from last week in my opinion. Very normal.
Look for your flats fish to become much more spooky and fussy. Time for your stealth presentations, flies, etc... The balance of our resident population of migratory Bass will finish arriving this first week of July (Approx.) Best time to catch a keeper before they get a phd in whats real or not. :)
Best places to fish here on the Cape will be places that have a cold water influence off the Ocean along with moving water over a hole, hump or some type of structure while wading. Find these things and I'll bet you will find some fish.
Normally, the only reason's the fish wont be in these locations is if they are threaten by predators, water is to warm or there is not enough food for them.
Good luck everyone and go get'm!
Happy Hook'n,
Randy
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Holy Cow-a-Bunga! We absolutely hammered the fish today. Bass and Blues. Blindcasting and sight fishing. We started off blindcasting and within a few cast's were tight. Then another and another. Boring :) (just kidding:) While sight fishing we first came across some singles, doubles and schools of 10-20 Bass (One school had no less than 150 Bass in it) with only an approx. 20-30 foot visual window due to being fogged in. Once the skies cleared we found a school of approx. 500 Bass, all having what I call a jacuzzi party. They had no place to go and just hung out with us in 2 feet of water or less (for an entire 2 hours) and allowed us to constantly - consistently hook them up while sight fishing. We stayed 80 feet away and used the wind at our back to help place the fly on the button. We used the edge of the flat to hide from them and had to duck down several times to help keep from being seen by them as they swam within 30 feet. Another fish ON! Then, we waded after them and or stood still and allowed them to come back to us time after time. After they finally left the flat they hung out in another location allowing us to see them easily and continue catching them. We saw over 800 fish today, with most of these being the 500 Bass that just hung around with us for a loooong time. Simply AMAZING. I hope you all get the chance sometime in your life to experience this endless, all you can eat, smorgasbord while wade sightfishing with the fly rod.
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We sight/fly/wade fished all day. We started off with a school of 100 Bass all Keeper's just sitting there not moving while they rested. We hooked some up. :) Then it was keeper Bass in schools of 1,2, 20, 30, 50 for the next hour steady (approx. 300). But, no schoolies. Then we hit a lull and all we could find were those nice fighting 10 lb. Blues on the flats while sightfishing in 1,2's, 7-8's and 10's (approx. 40), but no schoolies. We had to force ourselves to put on the wire and play with these darn Bluefish in 1 foot of water. :) Then as we moved along the flat looking over the edges, we finally found some schoolies in 1,2's and 3's, (approx. 30 of them in total.) They were off the main flat and seemed to be in hiding. Then as we progressed along the flats to another section all hell broke lose. School's of 3lb. to 10 lb. Blues in singles, doubles, 10's, 20's 30's, 40's all the way up to school's of 100. (Saw easily over 1,000 Blues in less than 2 hour's. AMAZING!! :)
In total we sightfished while wading and useing fly rods to approx. 1,400 fish in a 5 hour time period. (Most of which came within easy casting range of a fly rod in less than a 2 hour period.) Almost steady fish all day with sometimes only seconds inbetween them. At times they surrounded us and Ray Charles could have sight fished to them. :)
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Started off slow on the flats. Saw a school of approx. 7 Bass in the first 1/2 hour. Then we left for greener pastures and again, found nothing for the next 1/2 hour. Left again for another flat and as soon as our ankles touched the edge it was fish, 12 O'Clock, moving right. Fish ON! As we fought this fish we saw more pass'n us by. As we proceeded to walk along this edge we saw more and more fish, had lots of opportunity, caught zip.
I always jokingly tell folks that if you want to improve your odds, then blindcast. You don't have to be fast or accurate, you just have to get it out there. If you want to TRY to catch fish, then sight cast. :)
As we approached the main flat for the day we began to see BIG Bass, more and then some more. Then, as expected, we began to see those schools of blues and more Blues. Amazing numbers. The Bass sighting's slooowed down so we switched to Blue fish rigging and proceeded to hook them up. Along with these BIG numbers of blues, we also began to see these keeper Bass again. Combination of very good numbers of both species consistently on the flats. If you can imagine seeing several pods of blues in schools of 20 to 100 ( in 1 foot of water) and also at the same time seeing 2-3 keeper bass all around you, then you have the picture! Turquoise water, almost matching the color of the sky and looking exactly like the Caribbean. The only difference is that you didnt have to spend $1,000's of dollar's for the experience. :) A good sized Bluefish will give you almost the same run - fight as a bonefish in my opinion. The only difference is about $1,000 per fish. :)
Another amazing day while sight fishing with a fly rod in these crystal clear waters LOADED with Bass and blues. Ended the day with another Blue attacking our lil Sand Lance fly pattern with another one of many spectacular speeding bullet runs ending at the rod while landing with the normal bite off. :)Darn, and that was my favorite fly. :) Amazing, simply amazing. I hope you all get a chance to experience this fishery.
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My one day off to go fishing with a freind
First flat of the morning had a school of 100 Fish in 1-1/2 feet of water just hang'n around that we sight cast too. Hooked a couple, in 2 cast's. They moved into another area that had a couple more schools hanging around. Played with these for awhile. Then off to another area flat complex and found some more here and there to cast at. We then moved to the honey hole. This hole has had approx. 1,000 to 500 fish in it lately. It was LOADED today. Every single cast replied with numerous Blues crashing our surface lures. We had a competition on who could retrieve it the fastest and make the most cast's without hooking up. We tied with each of us unable to keep the plugs away from them by our second cast. Incredible jump's, somersault's, speeding bullet runs. Ye-haa! My buddy tried fishing bait on the bottom and in 4 cast's caught 4 Bass. Blues on top and Bass underneath them. Tremendous amount of bait spraying. I even had fun taking the hook off :0 the lure and letting the blues hammer the plug time and time again. :) Wrist's and arms sore, no more challenge, tooo easy, left.
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Sunday morning caught myself surfing the Saltwater Web sites, sipping coffee, day dreaming of surf, blue bird skies, crystal clear water over light colored sand flats, girls in bikinis - errrr, I mean, cruising blues and bass on the shallow flat's.
5 fish - 2 o'clock! , throw it 12 O'clock, 50 feet ! O.K. , let it sit there, dont move it, stay low, here they come, get ready, Now strip it, strip it faster, 2 fish just broke from the school, strip it - strip it, their nose is on it, there on it, keep stripping, their on it,
He ate it! The pictures above were actually a single 15 or above pound Bass in 12 inch's of water while wade fly fishing the flats. Saw it about 160 feet away. Head shot. Big'n, Cast 70, Adrenaline, leave it, don't move it, wait, Adrenaline, he flashed! Set it!
Ye-haa!! What a honk'a!!! Sometimes setting by sight is the answer.
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When I talk about perfect sight fishing conditions and mother nature being kind to you, this is the type of stuff you can hopefully expect. Obviously, I've also had just the opposite of these days too, which Im sure some of you can relate to. :)
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Had a slooow day on the flats while sight fishing. Only saw approx. 450 Bass all day. Most of these were all Migratory keepers. The rest were migratory Blues and resident Bass.
The morning started off unexpectedly reeel slow. The fish must have over slept. :) Around 11 we started to see them in small numbers. Then unexpectedly, at the BEST part of the tide where we normally see a crescendo of fish, it died. We left for greener pastures and found a few more. Still not enough to make me happy so we left for another flat. Before we even got there all hell broke lose. Would you believe that in the last 25 minutes of sight fishing today, that over 300 Bass (mostly keepers) came by us within fly casting range in schools of 20 to 50? WOW!
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Sight fished to approx. 750 Bass in 2 feet of water or less, the ENTIRE tide while wade w/fly. Ye-hha! Randy
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Same guest's for these two days. We had a blast fishing around Monomoy Island and picked up fish in every spot. The next day due to the wind we stayed inshore and played with Bass, Flounder and Shad useing the fly rods. Ye-haa!
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Last Week's Daily Fishing Log:
Ton's and tons of Baby Sand Lances. Incredible size of pods. Birds working feverishly. Lot's of fish underneath them out in 20-30 feet of water off hardings beach.
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Massive amounts of tooth pick sized Sand Lances covering the flats today. Slooow sight fishing, but we still had a blast trying our hand at seeing and then casting to a moving target. Schoolies, Blues and a number of keeper sized bass. Saw 1 school of over 100 Bass that looked to be all Keepers. Other school's in 10, 20, 30 along with the usual 1,2 and 3's. Good number of snapper blues that we donated a few flies too. :) Did a lil blindcasting with success also. Another fun and exciting day! Can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow.
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Very dangerous and frequent lightning Thunderstorms, hail, rain and very high gusting winds (40 knots) was our forecast for today as of last night. It always pays to have a lot of very good inshore spots that produce at their optimum at different stages of the tide that are out of any wind direction.
Wouldn't you know it, that the weatherman was 100% wrong again today? It was a beautiful day of light to medium winds with 100% sun ALL day! Ye-haa. Another Bonus day. We sight fished almost all day and were rewarded with a good number of opportunities. Short's to a nice number of resident 20 lb. Bass! Saw very very few migratory Bass. The largest school of migratories had approx. 100 Keeper sized bass in it.
As we approached a particular section of the flat, I explained to my client that sometimes the migratory Bass will just sit on the other side, off the edge. Just relaxing, taking a break, having a lil Jacuzzi party is what I call it. Wouldn't you know it. As we approached the edge I suddenly asked my guest to stop walking. 100 feet in front of us was one of those school's of approx. 100 Keeper sized Bass. Just hang'n around, not moving. I've had Bass sit in this location and others for hours on end. But, not today. My guest made one cast into the school, hooked up immediatly and then they all got spooked by his fly line slashing thru the school with his fish on it. This sent them on their way. Besides all of the other fish that we saw that was the most memorable part of the day for me. I love it when what you hope for materializes and I get to share this incredible world of sight fishing the flats while wading with a new fly/spin rod angler. Needless to say it was another amazing, memorable day in many of late. :)
Happy hook'n,
Randy
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(Photo by John Halnon)
When I die, I hope I end up on a flat with sunny skies, (You need the sun to be able to see them) a 5-6 knot wind (this is the preferred speed of wind we like when sight fishing for many reason's) and big Bass doing head stands. (tailing)
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John Knight and myself, hard at work. Trying to stay
out of the fish's window.
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Back in the good'ol ladder days :)
I think this was one of the pictures that appeared in "On The Water" magazine.
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Another Sighted Fly Fish while wading the Flats.
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My good freind Bill O'Mally caught this 40 inch Bass while useing his 15 foot spey rod, 10 feet off the dry sand in the surf off ANY outer Cape beach. He was sight fishing to 100's and 100's of migratory Bass and Blues during the migration at this time of the year. Pretty simple stuff if you hit it just right!
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Archives
Wind and casting aid's while fly fishing tips:-
1. When fly fishing and the wind is blow'n hard on your casting arm:-
All we do is turn around and cast on our back cast when the wind is honk'n on our casting arm. Whether in a boat, wade, blind or sight fishing. This casting technique should be practiced until you become proficient at it. It's as simple as spreading soft but'a on a warm muff'n. Before long you will throw it as far or close to it as you presently are on your forward cast. All your doing is letting it go on your back cast instead of your forward. Your arm makes the exact same motion going forward as it does back. The trick is to train your forearm to make that "power stroke" quick and fast (when going back) enough to load the rod and keep a tight loop while fly fishing and letting it go on your back cast.
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2. The "Double Haul" is another valuable casting aid I would try to learn over the summer if you enjoy fly fishing the saltwater. Once learned it's easy stuff. You can do it with your eyes closed and you'll catch more fish. It helps you in all aspect's of casting. With out getting to deeply into the D.H. I start my haul at the beginning of my power stroke, on both my forward and back. Or another way to say it is at the exact moment and time that you initiate your power stroke, haul 6-10 inch's (fast) on both the forward and back. There is a lot more to this casting aid, but that's another article all together.
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3. Next time your fly fishing, got the wind at your back, let the wind make the cast for you . I've taken folks through the Orvis Fly School who in NO wind could cast it 40-60 feet, then put them with a strong wind at there back. Helped teach them how to throw it UP into the sky. And let the wind take it out 80 feet. Amazing!
I swear many fly fishing anglers are amazed at the distance they can achieve once this sky writing technique is learned. Lefty Krey said something about stabbing-jabbing the sky with the tip of your rod during the power stroke. You accomplish 2 things.
A tight loop and the line always goes in the direction you excelerate and stop the rod tip. So with a quick stabbing motion upwards, you maintain a tight loop. Also you are throwing the line up, towards the heavens. Leaving it for the wind to take it along for a looooooong ride. It's fun to teach and watch the reaction of my guest's when they get it.
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4. Another tip would be to use a 2 handed fly rod or spey rod. These are longer fly rods that you use 2 hand's to cast that are normally 12 to 15 feet in length. The longer rod is what I personally use in any and all saltwater fly fishing. The longer rod has soooooo many advantages that someday I'll write an article on it.
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5. Obviously, tight loop's (3-4 feet) are your goal on both your forward and back cast for over all casting. Look at your back cast once in a while to make sure your loop's are tight. Many angler's only perfect their forward cast and sometimes forget about the importance of the back. The back cast set's up the forward and is more important. I used to practice a tight loop by standing on the grass, floating line so I could see it real good and make sure I have a strong wind at my back. With a strong wind at your back, you are forced to throw a tight loop on the back or it fall's apart and with the bright floating line it should make it easy to see. Your goal is to train your arm. Remember - The distance the rod tip travel's during the power stroke is solely responsible for the size of your loop. Nothing else. The shorter the distance the rod tip travels during the power stroke, the tighter the loop. With wind at your back, you will have to make this speed up and stop (power stroke), fast and with power to keep, maintain, consistently throw a tight loop into the wind on your back cast. And have the fly line completely straighten out into the wind. Perfecting this with a strong wind will only make you a stronger caster.
The above are all tip's, techniques, things that we all use while fly fishing the salt. Hope it helps a lil.
Randy Jones
http://www.yankeeangler.com )
Mail Bag:
What kind of FFing strategies do you guys implement when stripers on the flats seem to be in lockjaw mode? Any particular go-to flies?
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All great suggestions. Without giving the farm away. :)
The very first thing I do at this time of year to determine my fly choice is.
1. Are these migratory fish? I determine this by one factor. If they are they want a a specific fly presented in a very specific manner, In my opinion. Most of these dont like to travel further than 20 feet or so from the safety of the pack and or their leaders to their summer grounds. A lil luck and well placement of fly usually does the trick but not always. Food is not always the most important issue when dealing with these guys.
2. Are these resident Bass? I determine this again by one factor. If they are resident's then the next determining factor on what fly I use is solely determined by the size of these residents. Smaller like one thing and larger prefer something entirely different.
That's the first step, in my opinion to start to determine your fly choice. After that then there are about 4-5 other things I would consider if they are being fussy. Presentation as in most any type of fishing scenario is normally always the most important.
I also always try to pattern these fish before whittling it down to one thing or another. I never know exactly what Ill see on any given day, meaning what will be the most abundant Bass present (at this time of year, Re-read #1 and #2) until Ive had a look see. Sometimes I use 1 fly but fish it in two entirely different presentational styles, depending on type of Bass, (Migratory, Resident, size, etc....)
Hope this helps a lil,
Randy
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Guest testimonial for today:
Well, it has been on my mind for a while to try the Monomoy flats. It became impossible to resist after Maine got off to such a slow start this year. I decided to jump in with both feet by hiring Guide Randy Jones to show me the ropes. He was super good company, patient (as he had to be, given my casting ability) and oh, could he find fish. We estimated that in that in our one day of wading (just this past Thursday) we saw around 700 fish. If I were reading this, I wouldn't believe it, but I was there, and I saw most of them. Coming at us from all directions. In ones, twos, threes, schools of 30 and 50. Makes it kind of hard to focus on casting well with all of that activity. And these were not just schoolies. There were a lot of BIG fish, some swimming within a rods length of me before being spooked. I went out the next day by myself and saw a bit less than half as many fish, but then again, I didn't have Randy's expert eyes helping out and showing me all of the fish that I was missing. I can't wait to get back down there!
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As soon as we approached our first flats of the day while wading with fly rods, it was FISH, 50 feet, moving left, 40 fish. Then it was FISH, 60 feet, head shot, get it out there fast. Then, well, I wont bore you, same ol same hole for the next hour. Steady fish on the flats with in easy casting range with the fly rod in 2 feet of water. Moved to 2 different flats close by and it was 1 here 1 there, slow. Moved to another location close by and we started to get into'm! Did a lil walking to check out a coupl'a other holes and on the 3rd one we hit it. Fish on and on!
That was our day in a nut shell. Another one of many great days to be out on the flats sight fishing and forgetting about work!
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First 2 holes nothing. I bet the seal that was patrolling this area made the fish feel like bit'n. NOT! :) 3rd hole was like magic. Could see 30-40 keepers patrolling these waters and flashing. Caught one with a few short's. Beautiful day to be out sight fishing these crystal clear waters on an almost sugar colored flats bottom. Ye-haa!
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Sightfishing today. Saw one fish in a guzzler, saw another 6-7 at the low in a low tide spot, stood around for an hour and 1/2 nothing? And this is in one of the best low tide to incoming spots. Then, in the last 1/2 hour all hell broke lose, School of 40 migratories, another school of 30, 20, 10, 20, another 10, 1, 20, 1, etc.. Over 100 fish on the flats in a 1/2 hour! Wow!! Overall a very slow day.
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June Wade Saltwater Cape Cod Chatham Monomoy Island Fly/Spin and Beyond Fishing Report, Pictures, Articles, Humor, Tips and much more:
Coming this month. What you can expect. To a S.E. and Beyond beach near you. :)
Look for the balance of our resident Bass to finish arriving here during the first week of July. Look for those resident flats Bass to become more fussy as the month progress's. Be ready to re-rig up your fly/spin rods with fussy Bass stuff. Get ready for even bigger Bass. Make sure your knots are good. :) Look for the Blues to search out colder water off shore and further North shortly. Instead of seeing 1,000's of Migratory Bass in a tide on their travel Rt's, expect to see 100's of those resident Bass in a tide traveling their normal feeding - travel Rt's. Expect not as many fish around as during the migration. You can look forwards to bigger resident quality fish. You will normally but not always see lot's of bass on our faster tides and normally less on our slower tides. Fog will become your worst nightmare so be prepared. Now is the time to prepare for getting lost, turned around, trapped by the incoming tide, on these extremely large flat's, where is that compass, cell phone, GPS at. (Ton's of helpful life saving tips below) Expect more tourist's, old people and in general driver's going 20 miles an hour under the posted speed limit when your in a hurry to catch the first shuttle boat out at 8am. to hit those flats! :)
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Over view - June
Over this last week we fly fished from Barnstable all the way up to P-Town and then back down and around the other side of the Cape to the Bass River. (And many spots in between.) All spot's were hold'n, some LOADED (A fish on almost every cast) and some you had to work for them(slooow.) All wading, during the day, Surface and Sub, blind and Sightfishing on flat's, surf, marsh, channels, Bays, etc...etc..w/all fly. (I dont discriminate, I do spin also.)
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The entire Cape Cod area inside and out are with Blues and Bass of all sizes in our Spring fishing locations. Bring your wire for the blues if fishing anytime soon.
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I have found the fishing this last week to be just that. Fishing :) Every place had fish, it was just a matter of how many Mother Nature was going to give us. Some days we had incredible number's of migratory fish all around us, while a couple of days Mother Nature gave us a lull or low numbers of Migratory fish. With Migratory fish you either are in a peak or a valley it seams (high numbers to low numbers - very normal)
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Easiest time of the year to catch a keeper while wading, Experience helps! Fish in all the normal Spring spots. Same ol same hole.
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Two days were reeeeel slow (still caught some fish), while the rest were epic, whether we were blindcasting or sight fishing. Those faster tides certainly helped. We have had some sight and blind casting days with the fly rods that were fish on almost every cast. We even saw some 20 lb. Bass in 12 inch's of water. Schools of 100 Bass in each school. Schools of schoolies to schools of all keepers (20-30) in a school. The sight fishing around the Cape has normally been amazing! But, we have also had our slow periods thrown in too, which is very normal. That's fishing. Things look to be getting better and better each day. More resident Bass showing up daily. Blues around also as an optional treat.
Top water flies and lures working great if you like your fish on the surface! We had a LOT of fish slurping bait on the surface in 2 feet of water or less recently. For fly fishing Im rigging with a 9 foot tapered leader down to a 12-14 lb. test tippet (leader).
Flies:
Ive been useing with great success whether sight or blind casting are a all white clouser, white and olive clouser or a white squid on the surface. Big white Deceivers to thin sparse white and olive sand lance imitations. If you have large schools of migratory fish around then a simple white and chartreuse clouser will do the trick. Larger Bass go with a more natural looking fly to match the dominant bait that is around in your area for this time of year.
Spin lures:
I like the white Mr. Twister tails on a jig head, sluggos - weighted and unweighted, storm lures, fin-s on a jig head and white 4-6 inch rubber squid on the surface. For Blues I like all the normal top water and subsurface ones. Im running Braid from 10 lb. test up to 20 lb. test, depending on the lures Im throwing, inshore.
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Dangerous Tides:
Please be extra careful with these exaggerated tides. Please remember to carry a whistle, GPS and a compass should the fog roll in fast and make seeing more than 10 feet away impossible. It is soooo easy to get turned totally around in a heavy fog (I have) on those flats. Thats why they call them a flat, there is normally no up or down to help you navigate your way back to safety. Please remember, their is only one right way back (and that will probably zig - zag) and about a thousand wrong ways to walk back to the safety of shallow water or dry sand when we have pea soup fog and the tide is coming in. I like to take a compass reading once Ive reached my fishing location. Even if the weather is bright and sunny and their is no forecast for fog. It can roll in heavy and fast. Be safe as always, they are not worth it.
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June - Last Week's Daily Fishing Log:
Wow! Amazing? Super! The fishing today was nothing short of spectacular! As we sloooowly approached the hole this morning I asked my clients to walk slowly and to keep their eyes open. It was a dark drizzly morning and this means we might have fish on the surface. Sure enough, we had about 100 bass in 1-2 feet of water sipping, rolling, slurping Bait on the surface. We stayed 40 feet away from the waters edge so we would not spook these fish. We cast approx. 30 feet into the water at the boil's. Fish on! Ye-haa! Each of my guest's hooked up. My guest's got a lil overly excited and then started to blind cast into the water. This made waaaay to much noise and put the fish down fast. Darn! I explained to them that casting at these boil's was exactly like sight fishing. Dont cast until you see the boil and then only cast at the boil. They apologized and we all laughed! They said that they were very excited and kind'a forgot. Ha!
John wondered off by himself and continued sight casting to fish that were in 1 foot of water. (both of my guest's are very experienced sight fly) We stopped at a hole and it was a fish on almost every cast. Waaaay toooo easyyyyy. This kept up for over an hour. Next hole was the same way except the fish were bigger! We had big school's of Adult Sand Lances. (Hint:)That was our day in a nut shell. If you can make it to the Cape, I'd recommend coming.
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Found 3, 100 fish school's as soon as our feet touched the edge of the flat while sight fishing. Moved to another location and were rewarded with a fish on almost every cast. Around the high it slowed so we went to another productive flats area, slow, until we got closer to the normal hot spot. Sighted fish galore, mostly schools of all keepers in 10's to 30's. Probably a couple hundred in 1/2 hour of looking and fishing. O'what a day! :)
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Special Cape Flats loaded. Sightfishing wade, fly/spin. I rarely see these types of numbers of fish on the flats, and I do this daily. We had 1 day last year on a flat where myself and some of you saw around 3,000 Bass in 2 feet of water swim by us within casting range on a very popular flats area that many of you fish, nope not Monomoy. :) We were on top of one of those peaks I have been talking about. Mother Nature gave us the mother load. Normal for this time of year, also just the opposite is true, as you just read above. We had easily over 1,500 migratory Bass with a few blues and an ok number of resident Bass for this time of year. We had the normal residents swimming on their normal routes on the flats. The migratories were doing what we all like to see. They were all having a flats Jacuzzi party. Not in any hurry, not feeding all that much and just hanging around by the 100's.
We stayed 80 feet away from them and made our fly cast's from their. Any closer and they would leave. Those and others would filter by us, with many of them stopping to party with us. :) Some stayed with us for over 3 hours! It was fun to visually see them, cast, watch them chase down our flies with reckless abandonment and then watch them open their mouth and eat it. Visually seeing the run all the way to the finish was astounding. Don't get much better!
Normal flies and rigging for this time of year. Presentation was critical. If we didnt present it properly, no go. If we didnt have the correct fly, no go. If we didnt imitate the exact fleeing reaction of the bait we were trying to imitate, yup, you guessed it, no go. Put it all together with consistency and it was almost toooo easy. :)
All fish were in 12 inch's of water to 2-1/2 feet. We could see them easily at times over 100 yards away over these crystal clear water flats and almost sugar colored sand. They were schoolie - keeper sized up to 20 lb'rs.
Wow! Wish everyday was this easy. I guess thats why they call these the salad days.
I've seen thousands of fish on these flats and the next day Ive seen 2 or 3 total for the day this early in the season. You never know and thats why they call it fishing. :) I think even Ray Charles could have sight cast on these magical flats today and caught one. :)
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Sight fishing heaven! Slooow for the first couple of hours around the high - dropping. Then we moved and all heck broke loose. Residents, from schoolie size to a few 20lb'rs. Some in as lil as 12 inch's of water. Also saw some blues. Enjoyed the company of 4-5 schools of migratory Bass from 20 to 40 fish in each school. Also did some blind casting in a hole with current and for 1/2 hour straight my client caught a fish every 1-3 cast's. :)
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Near death experience out on Monomoy yesterday! (by an experienced wade angler?) Dont let this be you. I see stuff like this happen several times each summer!
Is your life worth reading this? Making a copy of this and reading it each time before you go to the Island? Sharing it with friends? Ive compiled my own and other's post's from http://reel-time.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3
of helpful tips that could save your life.
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If this can happen to someone who has experience out here, then what about those of you who are new or have a few years under your belt? I could sadly go on and on and on. I hope you ALL can learn something from this.
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The main mistake among MANY that this wade angler (not my client's) made yesterday was he waded blindly into an area he was not "intimately" familiar with on an "incoming" tide.
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Got trapped on all sides by the incoming strong current tide. I yelled, do you know where to cross? He said yes, and pointed to an area that was 12 feet deep at this stage of the tide. He tried to wade back across the channel (after I yelled at him and told him where the shallowest part of the channel was to cross and he might have to swim) and got up to his chest with water and current poring into and filling up his chest waders. Barely making it back to his almost isolated trapped casket. (I was the only one around who knew he was in deep trouble, talked him thru it, called for the rescue) Still trapped, panic stricken?, tide rising all around him. He did not have the shuttle boat's number pre- programed into his cell phone and did not know it to call for a rescue. His cell phone probably got soaked and was not working. He did not know where the high ground was to wait out the high tide or wait for rescue. He did NOT even know where he was at when asked twice by me so he could give proper directions to the rescue boat. (Maybe he was panic stricken?) Originally he had crossed a creek channel (did he even know this?) and did not know the proper spot to re-cross. He probably didnt even know he had crossed over a creek channel that was filling up fast on this oncoming tide. He did not know when he HAD to be back across this channel. As he tried to reach the high ground (after I yelled to him where it was at) he kept pushing hard against the current which kept getting deeper and deeper almost reaching his chest again. He may have been panic stricken at this point. I yelled "dont panic" you'll be ok. Walk to your right, its shallower. I called the shuttle service and they were there within 5 minutes to save his life. He said later that if he had too, he would have dumped all of his gear and swam to a certain beach. Only problem was with the current he never would have made the 1/4 mile swim to his beach. And may have died of a heart attack trying. He should have know to swim with the current to another beach, down current. He would of had to swim across the boat channel. Not safe. He may have gotten hypothermia being in the water that long and we all know what happens next.
I was very happy to have helped and very happy that it was me that was there watching his every move while I was working, even when he first crossed the channel when it was "safe", even before he realized he was in trouble. But VERY angry that all of this could have been soooooo easily avoided and that I almost watched someone who has the same love and passion for the sport as all of you and myself, almost die in front of my eyes.
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I'd like to thank "Outermost Harbor and Marine" - http://www.outermostharbor.com
They were there in 3-1/2 minuets. I couldn't believe how fast they got there to rescue him!
They provide a shuttle service to Monomoy Island, South Beach (2 stops on S.B.- across from Monomoy and all the way out to the South Way - (Bird watching, fishing and beach goo's) and Seal watching tours. They have 3 boats and run all day. Its open for the general public, on site parking, etc... I ride their shuttle boats almost daily.
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Another invaluable tip for your safety would be to go to Google Earth and look at this area. Print it out and take it with you. Any white sand you see would be the driest sand. This might be your high ground. Visually confirm this on your walk out. It would help you to get more familiar with the lay of the land and all of those dangerous creeks that fill in. Also, when you are there, most of the grass that is growing off the main island on the flats is normally some of your high spots where you could wait out the tide in most cases.Also, the whitest sand you see is normally the driest and can sometimes be your high spot.
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Another invaluable tip that has been mentioned numerous times on this and other sites is Cape Cod Bay. This area has 8 to 11 foot tides. Presently we are having exaggerated tides. (higher high's and lower lows) These are the tides that most wade anglers get into trouble with. If you are waist deep on Cape Cod Bay and you are 1/2 mile out on a flat (in some cases a 1/4 mile out), on an incoming tide, you CANT out run it. You WILL end up swimming. A lot of the time its the last 200 feet closest to the shore where there is a depression that gets ya. I know anglers that grew up here that are very experienced that have had to swim back from the Brewster flats.
Best Safe Fish's,
Randy
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Archives:
Flats 101- Safety first while wading or kayaking: This COULD save your life!
Here on Cape Cod, fog can become your worst nightmare when 1/8-2 miles out on a flat. Some of us have had close calls on the flats, so I would like to share some of the things I do to remain safe.
Number one rule is do not wonder into an area you are not familiar with. When I say familiar, I mean having an intimate understanding of all of the following.
2- Before I even walk out onto a flat I have already checked several weather related wind internet sites. I know direction and if its going to swing and at what time. As I walk out I pay attention to what direction I feel the wind on my face. This helps should I have to guess ta mate my return.
3- I know exactly in what stage in the tide I'm walking out and when it will change. I'm very familiar with tidal current direction at every phase of the tide for the flat I am on. Knowing current direction also helps with navigation when seeing land is not an option.
4- Over the years the sand becomes like a road map, every trough, sluice, creek, river, depression is memorized over and over each year. Even if you can not see 10 feet you will come across these things that will help you navigate your way back. I plan my return as Im walking out in the morning. Taking notice and studying everything Ive written here, should I need it.
5-Knowing exactly at what stage in the tide I can cross and (most importantly) re-cross (to safety) channels that surround the entire island. This knowledge is invaluable and requires your time and energy to figure each individual depression out. Crossing any channels out here is an advanced move and should not be taken lightly or done unitl you are intimately familiar with the area. By crossing, it allows me access to certain flats and a safe return. But, by no means do you have to cross any of these many depressions or channels to catch fish out here.
6-Taking in all audible clues as I walk out. (Cars, Fog horns, Bells, Motor boat engine noise coming from the main channel.)
7- I take a compass reading when I reach my destination. I carry a compass on my watchband for easy access. I carry a back-up.
8-Know the height of your tides. Worse case scenario is to seek higher ground and sit it out. Knowing were this area is at, is crucial.
9-A cell phone is invaluable should you happen to hurt yourself and walking back is not an option. Pre-program the shuttle boats number in it. Tell your buddies where its at in case something happens to you. Also the coast guard and harbor master's numbers.
10-Go with a friend or someone who knows the area as good as the inside of their pocket.
11- Know your moon fazes. There are certain tides in certain areas that will not allow you to out run them. No high ground to sit it out and the current is so swift you can not walk against it. Put yourself on the edge of a flat with a drop off and this current can at times run like a ragging river, as water drains off it. Someone lost their life a few year's ago under this same scenario.
12- An inflatable vest of some sort makes a lot of sense.
13- Look for the way water drains off the flat. If it drains to your right, then the high ground is to your left. If you can find the area where it drains off left and over to your right, you have just found you exit off the flat when faced with high water. Knowing this direct route will save you valuable time when faced with a fast incoming tide that you can not out run.
14- A good pair of polarized glasses are not only an invaluable tool for seeing fish but also for safety.
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Con't. from above
15 - GPS
Having to feel your way back in by following the edge of the flat with your feet is not an enjoyable feeling, especially when the tide has turned and the fog is overwhelming. This happened to me once (Nauset - Chatham Cut - Pleasant Bay) when I was much younger, STUPID and did not know the above. It well never happen again! I could have easily lost my life!! So be safe, be smart don't fool around with Mother Nature. She always has the winning hand.
In closing, Monomoy is not a play ground and someone could die. If you post a report on it, you should also be responsible enough to point out the obvious safety issues.
Randy Jones
(Photo John Halnon)
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Ray, who is a moderator of a site adds a few of his own safety tips:
There is no question that safety is the biggest concern. Most flats are alluring. You "wander" around in knee deep water casting to fish, what fun.
What do most people do wrong?
1. Don't "know" the area in detail
2. Don't know the tide and how it acts
3. Don't carry basic safety gear like a compass and cell phone (please leave it off)
4. Don't USE their compass (their real good for telling just how lost you are)
5. This is a big one for me, they cross channels that may be 6 feet deep later that day!!!
6. Don't know about fog and how it can really get you crossed up
7. Don't carry enough water and food for a full day.
I have been fishing the NM flats for about 6 years. I do it about 30 times per year. Before each season I go out and wander around to see what changed over the winter.
If you ever find yourself in a place you feel the slightest bit unsure of, get out of there. It's just not worth it.
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Another angler adds;
Great topic. Not to digress or self indulge too much, but something to think about for people like me only fish there a handful of times each year.
I have fished this area for several years now and have hired Randy to show me how to fish the flats once or twice per season. With him I am in capable hands. Additionally, Ray has helped too with line advice, depth and speed (as a PM). Thanks for the help guys, a
