Thanks For Teaching Me To Fish Dad

These photos from the late 70's make me smile. There of my dad Rick on one of our many family camping trips. Dad was always taking us kids fishing. As I grew up it was something we both enjoyed doing together. I have many fond memories of camping, hiking and fishing with my dad. My passion for fly fishing and recreating is handed down from him. I love and miss you dad.

 

Help Save the Hawaiian Bonefish

Help Protect Hawaiian Bonefish We need your help to protect Hawaiian O’io from gill-netting, please take a minute to check out the following link. Also, please pass this on to anyone you know who might have interest! Even better, if you have a chance to make a Twitter or  Facebook post it would really help us get the word out. There is also a great website gadget at Change.org that you can add to your site and allow friends to sign the petition. Please help us preserve these magnificent sport fish in Hawaii.

Mahalo!

http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-stop-gill-netting-wild-hawaiian-bonefish

Oregon Fly Fishing Owyhee River

Day 2 of my solo fly fishing adventure landed me at the Owyhee river below the Owyhee Reservoir. This river is unique! I have heard good things about huge brown trout in this river. At first sight of the river I am disappointed. The water is green! I figured I'm pretty low in the canyon and it must clear up around the dam. I keep driving and the water color stays the same. I'm thinking to my self I wasted a few hours last night driving here. I get all the way to the Owyhee Reservoir and the lake is green too. I'm bummed! Thinking there's no way I'm going to catch any fish in this dingy water. I was a good 7 hours from home and paid the money for a daily fishing license so I figured I would at least give it a try. I found a good zone and tied on some nymphs. I fish my way up through the run  and no luck. When reaching the top of the run I figure I was almost done. I then decided to fish my way back to the truck and head out. I tied on my sink tip leader and a Platte River Spider (baby brown trout streamer). I make a few casts and then slam fish on. I'm suppressed! I strip back a 12" brown trout. I let him go and take a few steps down river and make a couple more cats. Slam again another fish. This guy was a beast. This is why I made the trip. He owned me and ended up getting away. I was blown away. I was about to quit. I repeat the process for the next couple hours. Catching fish all the way down the river. I was having a blast. Never have I had such success swinging a streamer. Around 1:30 I start to see fish slurping. There was some kind of hatch going on but I couldn't be bothered. I had a working set up and decided to stick to it. While walking down stream catching fish and watching fish go wild on the top of the water mad me a firm believer that this is truly a world class river. I fished until around 6:30 starting to get hungry and knowing I had a long drive ahead I decided to pack it up. I would recommend that everyone makes a trip here some day. River access is easy and also there's a lot of campsites next to the water. I think it would be a fun weekend trip.

Oregon Fly Fishing Deschutes River

While driving home from a work conference in Mt Hood Oregon I went on a solo fly fishing adventure. I knew the Salmon Fly hatch was moving up the Deschutes so I headed South to Warm Springs. I arrived to find plenty of bugs but also plenty of fly fisherman too. I wasn't the only one looking to get some big bug action. I didn't let the crowds get me down. I booted up and tied on a tan Chernobyl Ant and figured I would see if I could find me a fish. Right off the bat I got a few misses. This bummed me out. Then while swapping flies I saw a fish rise in less than a foot of water. While not expecting much I casted that way and within seconds fish on. It was  a 20" or so Red Side. It was a beast, he ran down stream almost to my backing. I did the best I could to not over play him but he was to much of a match for me and got away. Thinking this may be my only chance at a good fish all weekend I was upset. This meant beer time. While drinking a beer and going over how I blew it I decided to walk even further down stream and look for a new zone. I found a good looking run that I could wade out to and get a good back cast. I didn't see any surface action but figured I would go to work. After a few casts fish on. It was a little guy but still got the stink off me. I was back in the game. I fished this zone and ended up hooking 4 reds out of the one hole. The best fish was a 18" football. Each one of those fish were little firecrackers. They had some much power for their size. I had a lot of fun. I was getting hungry so I decided to head back to the truck for a snack. While walking back to the truck I notice all kinds of trucks showing up to camp and fish. I didn't want to leave but figured Saturday was going to be a junk show. I decided I would do some exploring. I headed South East towards the Owyhee River. To be continued...

Supermoon Flyfishing on Utah’s Weber River

May 5th was a special night in Utah, and across the globe, with a “Supermoon”  (the scientific term is a Perigee Moon) lighting up the night sky with a 30% increase in brightness over an average moon, topping out at brightest moon in the past 18 years.  A Perigee, or Supermoon occurs when a full or new moon’s timing lines up with a point when the moon is closest to earth on its imperfect, elliptical path around our planet.

The moon has a far greater influence on human, plant, and animal life than most would think, and as our society become more and more keyboard and pixel dependent, our disconnection to the elements of nature grows more and more.  The power of the moon is obvious, the effect of the moons gravity on earth is 2 and ½ times as powerful as that of the sun.  Tides over 53 feet occur in Nova Scotia, some scientists claim that the crust of the earth rises 4 – 12 inches as the moon rises above the horizon, and settles when the moon sets, and a similar effect is said to be had upon our atmosphere.  If the moon has such an effect on our planet, certainly it must have influence over every living thing on earth……

In the tropical rain forests of SE Asia and South America, hardwood trees are only harvested on waning moons. Why?  During a waxing or full moon the sap within the trees rises, and harvesting during this time would cause widespread sap bleeding, thus attracting millions of Deathwatch Beetles, which devastate crops and could cause millions of dollars in loss.

Humans are affected too.  Did you know that a study found that 82% of postoperative bleeding crises occurred nearer to the full moon then the new moon, even though most operations during this study were preformed during a new moon?  Murder, arson, drunk driving, and theft rates rise and fall with the moon, as a matter of science, but what did this mean for us?

It meant fishing.

Its also a known fact that trout will eat small mammals that venture into the river at night, thus with the aid of the brightest moon in 18 years, I set out with Parker Worthen and Brandon Colett to take advantage of some of the lowest flows the Weber River has ever seen.  Temps were low proving that summer still isn’t here, and it took less that 5 minutes for the guides on our rods to freeze, but that wasn’t stopping anybody, as the moon broke over the horizon, we tied up and headed for the river.  The fly of choice was the mouse.  Brandon and I both had commercially produced mouse patterns, but Parker stepped to the river with a few that he tied up himself, and ended up being the only guy to land a fish that night.  What a boss.

Flyfishing on any full moon is amazing but this night was even more raw.  If you are into fishing of any kind, you should absolutely plan something at your favorite fishing hole for the next full moon.

This Story and photos were submitted from our homie Sean Sullivan. Check out his website to see more of his photos and to learn more about the guy.  Website or Blog

Thanks Sean