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| Sep 28, 2006 |
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My One Fly or My Four Flies
My One Fly or My Four Flies,
So a couple of weeks ago the Jackson area hosted the 20th something Jackson Hole One Fly. Its a get together and competition that does a great job raising money for the local trout. A team of four members fish, each fishing a different section with another guy from another team. They pick one fly for that day, if lost they are done. I have guided in this event four or five years. Some of the people take it too serious while others don't. The guide gets his or her stretch first come, first serve. I have more excuses than most and I never get the section I want, but its my fault..
I ended up with the Pacific Creek to Deadmans stretch. This year it had fished well, just not with the big ones to win. If you catch 6 16-17" and a bunch of dinks you will score well. I had the fisherman to do well. The first day we actually did good, the local fisherman who will remain nameless missed the good ones and caught all the little ones. The other caster caught the big ones and missed the little ones, but at the end of the day we had some laughs and as far as the boat goes we landed 9 big ones and 40-50
little ones. The second day was a complete disaster. I can't remember
names but the one guy had a bad day the first and the other guy did well.
The second says the competition really is only against one other team (his
buddies) and he was looking good. Driving up to the park, the first screwed up deal is driving over the Buffalo Fork, it is chocolate milk from a heavy rain storm the night before. The second really bad thing is before putting in the boat, I drove over the leader of one of the rods in the rod holder and shattered a 5 wt Sage XP, at least into 6 pieces. I will say and of course, the Gloomis 5wt Maxline next to it bent over like a hooked tarpon and came out like a pro. At least we had a 12 pack of beer to enjoy the float. Its then we, the boat, discuss our options. The river is clear down on the next section. 8-10 boats are jockeying into place. We decide to hit the spring creeks coming into the main Snake to find fishable water while most boats stay and work the 1/2 mile clear stretch before the Buffalo. The third strike of the day, the guys look to grab a beer and find that I had brought Busch NA, the NA being non alcoholic beer. This day had to be the most grief a guide had to ever take, at least it was all good natured, I
think. By 1 pm we were already at the take out with 6 fish. One 19", two
other measurable fish and three dinks. We decided to do the section again and fish the water that had already been fished that morning and hope for the best. We drove up, put the boat in again. I think the second time through, they caught one measurable fish and 4 dinks. So whats that, 3 measurable fish, 7 dinks, and 26 miles of water, well the fishing sucked but we did better than all but one boat. For the two days, the four guys scored more on that stretch than the other boats. I really would like to thank the guide Ed, he passed on a 6 pack earlier in the day and I had had a few extra real ones from the day before. The moral of the babble is, donπt row 26 miles with 10 real beers, it isn't worth it.
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| Aug 30, 2006 |
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Fly Fishing Retailer
Sorry folks, the fishing or rowing is getting way in the way of writing. I wanted to say a few things about the Fly Fishing Retailer this year in Denver last week. First if you go from Jackson, fly, don't drive, chances are you'll tear a u-joint, have to rent a truck, drive to Jackson, guide a few days, and drive back to Laramie with a new rental just to drive back in the same day with a beat up Ford to guide the next day. First a lot of people were excited about Cloudveils new wading pant. For you skiers, it fits just like a pair of rpk pants, of course gore-tex waterproof. I can't wait to get a pair of those. The competitors had a cool wader out as well, alittle expensive, but a lot of bells and whistles, and it zips down the front. As far as techie rods and reels, Ross has a sick new reel, the drag system incorporates carbon from Kestrel, you bike geeks now what I'm talking about. Anyway looked super smooth. I'm a Gloomis guy so I got to talk about the new Maxline Streamdance rods in 4 and 6 weights. The 5 wt has been out for a year and is one of my boat rods, and does just about anything but set the hook. I'm definitely putting one of those on the Christmas list as well as the 3 weight Stremdance 8'3, a perfect Flat Creek rod. Sage was the big talk with the XP replacement, the Z-Axis, pretty nice casting rod especially if you liked the XPs. Jerry really knows his stuff about materials and has done a good job with this new rod. As always the show is about seeing the cool new stuff, but it is also a chance to catch up with your buddies in the industry. New this year was the First Annual Movie Awards sponsored by Cloudveil, The Drake and others, but that is definitely the party of the show. Great new footage of fish getting caught. It set the bar for cool 5 minute fishing shows for the future. Congratulations to the Trout Bum boys for great fishing clips from their always great shows.
The last thing to say is to thank my wife and baby for letting me take a few days away from family and fishing to talk about my family and fishing.
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| Jul 19, 2006 |
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The Rise
Do you remember the last fish you caught that didn't get away, you know the big one that rises, you catch and the show lasts longer than a movie? I'm guiding a dude on the South Fork several days ago in the canyon. The big bugs are still working, but not necessarily seeing many or any. The weather has taken a turn for the worse. No wind, No clouds and low 90's. The day is ok, fishing in the riffles on pmds has been outstanding, but usually doesn't start until the early afternoon and it was before noon or so. My guys are good casters and better yet, good students. We had been fishing a medium size big bug and a dropper with some success, kinda waiting to get into a good riffle. I'm looking into a deep slow trough under one of the cliff walls and say, "Look into the deep water in the shade under the wall and look for a rise". As the guy looks and picks up for his backcast, this big old cutthroat sips a little pmd. Of course, this cutt takes a big slurp and is making a good long slow descent just as I see the dry/dropper slide on the tip of this fishes head. A couple of inches in front with a 25 ft cast and not even a plop with the fly. I'm scared the fish is going to spook and my guy is probably stunned from the perfect cast he had just done.
I'm still watching the big cutt's tail angle down when that big slow rise of the cutt's head sips the big bug. At that microsecond all you can see is the white mouth and orange slash on the fishes jaw eating the fly. The perfect set to a perfect rise and a 20 inch fish a moment later in the net.
That rise doesn't leave the memory all to soon.
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| Jun 22, 2006 |
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The best part is being surprised
As a guide, husband, and father I've pretty much reduced my fishing to watching "bubba" shows Saturday morning, a trip a year, and getting to go out with boys a few days a summer. I'm sorta living the dream. On the river, I can kind of guess what river to fish, what might happen, and how to fish it, and what flies to use with absolutely no consistency whatsoever, but at least I try year after year. So doesn't that make me an expert? The other day I'm fishing with my buddies Dirk and Mike, we aren't allowed to fish together usually, but we went out anyway. We thought the river would be too cold, too high, but at least it was clear, so what the heck. Knowing surely, it was going to be nypmhing and maybe some streamers. Well, within minutes of the put in we had already landed several rainbows and needed to rerig flies lost. As we sit in the boat, cracking beers, we start seeing the big bug, the salmonfly. First on the banks, then in the air. We decide its been a long spring of watching the indictor, so lets dry fly fish and see what happens. The greatest part of fishing for me is guessing, trying and for once, being right. We had caught one on the first days of the hatch and the fish were hot. Its best to be on the river the day it happens, by the time the rumors are heard and you go, its never is good as the first few days. Throughout our day, many fish are landed and lost, but the best part was being surprised at what had taken place. Expecting one thing, and being absolutely surprised. You try time and time again, sometimes you hit it right, most times you don't. It'll always keep me coming back to the river.
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| Jun 9, 2006 |
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Someday...
So I'm fishing with my buddies the other day on the South Fork and had a thought: I'm not as good a fisherman as I should be. When I was in Crooked Island, Bahamas seeing my buddy Carter we had a great time fishing, hardly any of it fly fishing. I spent four days mostly reef or offshore fishing for snappers or tuna, or even hopefully a marlin, all on bait or lures with spinning or bait tackle. I hadn't cast either in forever and felt like an idiot. Carter said I looked like one too.
I'm pretty much a fly fishing snob. I'd rather catch fish on the fly, but I'm changing my ways. Like in saltwater, freshwater fish eat other fish. That¹s one reason we streamer fish. I'm seeing other friends doing the same thing. Nothing like fishing with a bait casting rod, some of the time. I'm going to call my G'Loomis friend and get a bait caster right now. On the same lines, my friends laugh when I nymnph fish: the indicator with at least two flies, but three works better.
If it's a sunny day, the water is high and the big stoneflies aren't up on the sides of the banks - you know streamer fishing is going to suck, why not nymph? Some day I'll the be the fisherman I should be.
The Cloudveil Hatch
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| Apr 28, 2006 |
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For a great change, I'm writing on my front deck, looking at a great morning of weather. I'm going to have to do the chores I couldn't do before my trip to the Bahamas and Florida. At least while I'm raking the yard of vole mounds, I can think about all the freaking tarpon I screwed up in the Keys with Don. First, it was the trout set, then it was lining the guys, then it was leading them to much, then it was casting to "the one" and not seeing "the BIG BOY" right in front of him. But in the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, two outs, full count, you know the story, the stars all aligned, and I stuck the bastard. Six or seven unimaginable jumps, gills flapping, and the golden sun reflection from its scales and 10 minutes later I had landed my first tarpon. 70 lbs. A good first one. Of course within the next 10 minutes, I hooked another only to set it just like a trout. I guess I need to screw up a few more to learn my lesson. Anyway, welcome back from your trips, I hear we missed some decent fishing on the Snake, looks like it’s blown for awhile. I'll try to find something, somewhere...and report back soon.
The Cloudveil Hatch
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| Mar 31, 2006 |
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The waiting is almost over...
Looking at another snowy/rainy night in the Jackson Hole area and I'm over it. I hate to complain about the end of Jackson’s 2nd best season at close to 500", but it’s getting old. Waking up early to do control routes at the village or waking up early to tape explosives. I'm way over it. I maybe worked 2 spring skiing days this year, you know the visor and glasses day.
I'm so way over it. One more tram day, and the very last tram, will be exciting anyway; lots of snowballs, beers and whatnots; everybody wondering "What happens next? No more Tram". Then the clean-up Monday and Tuesday. A couple of more parties on the pro drinking tour and I'm outta here.
Thursday, headed down to fish in Crooked Island with my buddy Carter and then back to Key West to fish with my buddy Don, and family vaca in Marco Island. Maybe a day or two fishing there as well, let’s see what the wife says. A couple of new Gloomis rods, some new Kaenons and some new Cloudveil shirts and shorts. The waiting is over, almost, FISHING season is upon us!
I know all you other people out there are doing the same thing: waiting all winter, planning the spring fishing trip. Guess what? IT'S HERE! Looking forward to hearing how yours went, I'm sure I'll tell you all about mine.
See you on the river,
The Cloudveil Hatch
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| Mar 17, 2006 |
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Welcome
We are very excited to announce the launch of our new collection of Inspired Angling Apparel. We've been working on this project for over three years now and couldn't be more pleased with the results of our labor. With a large majority of the internal staff being avid fly-fishermen (and women), and being based in one of the finest fly fishing areas in the world, we’ve always harbored a serious interest in expanding our offering to include world class angling apparel. Browse through our products and let us know what you think, you can always email us at cloud@cloudveil.com or give us a ring at 877.255.8345.
The purpose of this area of the site is to keep you up to date on the goings on around our headquarters here in Jackson, the latest events in the valley, and other random thoughts. So, check back often and enjoy the new collection.
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