New Steelhead Book

/in , /by

Had the chance to work with Rick Kustich and have a couple images in his new book, Advanced Fly Fishing for Great Lakes Steelhead.   The book includes Tactics for Great Lakes steelhead, including new two-handed and switch rod techniques and Spey and Tube flies.  Specifics on key rivers and streams in each of the Great Lake states, including the Big Manistee!  Understanding steelhead behavior, choosing where to fish, and reading the water.

Check out Rick’s website for additional information and visit your local fly shop and purchase yourself a copy.  I highly recommend it!

Great lakes steelhead book

Muskegon River – Film by Andy Maser

/in , , /by

Good friend Kevin Feenstra in a short video by Andy Maser about the Muskegon River. Great video very well done!

Michigan Hydropower Success Story from Andy Maser on Vimeo.

Hard time with words

/in , , /by

This video shows what is so hard to describe sometimes.  How it feels, and what you need to do!  Having a blog and working on being a better videographer, some of the hardest emotions to portray are fishing emotions.  Here is a video clip that makes even more confusing, and I love it.

 

LOW & CLEAR Official Trailer from Finback Films on Vimeo.

Created process has started – Picture of the Day

/in /by

What does one do when it’s single digits out?  Well let’s break out the camera and start working with a new fly rod.  As I mentioned in previous post, I have a new 1108 T3H Scott and it needed to get wet.  Can’t share the video yet, need a couple more hours behind the lens with Erik, but a jpeg below shows the created juices have started to flow, not a video below!T3H scott fly rod

New App Lets you Check Health of your Waterways in the USA

/in /by

Just found a new site that let’s you check the health of your lakes and rivers. http://watersgeo.epa.gov/mywaterway/ , is the link and I found out that a lake near my house was deemed polluted with mercery, good information to know.  Check out your local area to make sure that your stream or lake are clean.

New Scott T3H just arrived

/in /by

scott t3h fly rod

New rod just arrived and can’t wait to go play.  Had the chance to fish the 12’8″ 8wt T3H for a couple weeks and all I had to say was WOW!  So went to www.scottflyrods.com to see what other rods they made in the same graphite, and found myself a new switch rod,  1108 T3H.  As winter transitions into spring, I love to start swing smaller minnow patterns and I think this rod is going to be perfect .  Rod matches up with about 440 grains, perfect grain weight for throwing small 1-2″ salmon parr that steelhead love to gorge on in early spring time. If you have not wiggled the new T3H, you need to find your local dealer and check these great new rods from Scott Fly Rods.  They are pretty sweet.  A little personal catch phrase for this rod is, “just add water” it will catch fish.  Certain rods when you pick them up you know will just cast they just feel fishy, they feel right. This rod makes you shake with that feeling.

With a little more free time than I like, going to photo and video up some cool stuff with this stick, so come back soon to see what we have come up with.  Or give me a call and join me and be part of the footage.

Handcrafted in the USA – Built from beginning to end in Montrose, Colorado.

T3H scott fly rods

A Tight Loop – January

/in /by

Have a couple pictures on page 127, did some work with Jon “Chewy” Stefanciw for a ice fly fishing article for the online magazine A Tight Loop.  Some new step-by-step fly patterns and some interesting other stuff to read, other than Jon’s article.  Check it out

Mi based film in the Fly Fish Film Tour

/in /by

Great work by Third Year Fly Fisher with his film about brothers that love to fish, and love to chase trout with big streamers.  Film will be on tour in the Fly Fish Film Tour, coming to a town near you.  Here is a sneak peak of the trailer.  Good job guys!

 

The Brothers Brown trailer from RT on Vimeo.

Skagit Extreme With Integrated Tip

/in /by

Had a chance to fish a new line yesterday.  A float line Skagit with an Integrated Tip.  SA developed this line to eliminate the loop between the Skagit and your sinking line.  This Skagit line comes with a 12 foot section of T-12 seemlessly blended (no loops).  In addition the running line is integrated as well, no more loops getting caught in the guides of the rod. This line is one of the finest casting lines in the Skagit format that I’ve had a chance to play with.  But how does it fish?

While most of you know I love the Intermediate Skagit Extreme Head from SA.  The Intermediate line truly changed the game on the Manistee River when it comes to swinging flies for steelhead.  (and yes I have run the other companies lines, and no they don’t compare)  So I was a little hesitant to change back to a floating line.  But as I could quickly see, if you want to catch more fish you need to have the ability to adjust your flies speed and depth for each run’s current conditions.  The SA Integrated line is perfect for those slower pools, the same pools that winter steelhead love to sit in.  The floating section of the line allows your fly to swing through the pool, the integrated sink-tip is a smooth transition giving your fly more life as it swings through the pool.  As I mentioned before this line is a casters dream.  With no hinges and no loops, the line just bombes out there.

As is true with any other type of fishing, there is no perfect lure for every situation.  And for a fly angler there is no one line (let’s just talk spey here) that is perfect for every run that you can possible fish in a days time.  Now I know that you just can’t go buy multiple set up’s, but if the budget allows for a new line, this SA Integrated Line is another step forward in better spey lines by SA, and this line is fishy to say the least.  As winter clogs along, steelhead move into slower pools the floating line with the Integrated tip is the line for me. Still my favorite is the Intermediate Extreme, but having the ability to change as conditions call for it is nice.  If you want to cast this line before you buy it, just let me know.  I’ll be carrying it in my boat the rest of this steelhead season.

JR

Phil C. with a winter buck caught on the Skagit Extreme w/ Integrated Tip

 

Mother Nature still has mysteries for us to solve

/in /by

photo courtesy of Outdoor Blog

Check out this mystery fish caught in Hawaii, say this post this morning and love it that Mother Nature still has fish underneath her sleeve that we have no idea what they are.

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/50584/
giant+headless+fish+at+center+of+intriguing+mystery+off+kona+hawaii/