Brook Trout Take 3

Brook Trout and Low Brow Comedy

I had all of these high hopes for National Fishing and Boating Week.  A reasonable work schedule.  Lovely summer weather.  Flats fishing carp and smallmouth on Lake Michigan, paddling inland lakes for bass and bluegills and pike, a quiet evening on a pothole lake for rainbows, brookies and smallmouth, throwing dries for browns.

Instead, I had an arduous work schedule, and it was a cold rainy week.  I knew that the topwater bite would be dead on the lakes, and forget about flats fishing.  The most productive thing to do was go back for brook trout.

So I ventured out with my friend Coyote Luke of the Most Things Custom blog.  It will take me some time to get into video editing, so please bear with me.  I tried to keep each clip short. Here's the intro.

It was quite chilly with temps in the 50's, and we didn't expect much to happen, but wouldn't you know, some BWO's started coming off, and even some sulfurs.  Here's our first take on it.

We finally decided to match the hatch, and here's what happened.

Here's Luke's second fish of the day.  My apologies to The Fiberglass Manifesto.

I messed around and switched flies a couple times, but finally came up with a fish myself.

As the day wore on, the temperature started to drop.  Bug and fish activity all but ceased.  It was a great outing for exploring water I used to know intimately.  A lot of beaver activity has been eliminated, entire holes are gone, and new ones formed.  You can see the effects of extreme high water everywhere.  We walked back through the woods in the general direction of the truck.  Here's what happened next.

OK, so it's low brow comedy.  Luke is one of the most hilarious people you can spend a day with on the water.  Get him and my brother (his best buddy) together and it goes downhill from there.  Part of what I tried to capture in this post is the camaraderie that develops when you spend time outdoors.  It can be hard at first to be "yourself" on camera, but with enough time you relax and have fun.  I hope everyone had this much fun getting out on the water this week.

A Big Fish for Fontinalis

In my continued quest for fish for TakeMeFishing.org and National Fishing and Boating Week, I did not move on to the next water or the next fish.  No, I went right back to where I was the other night for more brook trout.  I had gotten off work a little earlier and wanted to see if I could actually catch one on camera.  To be honest, I haven't fished there in awhile and had forgotten how addictive small stream brook trout are.

Here's the intro I filmed with the Flipcam.

We had severe thunderstorms all day, and so I didn't expect much to happen.  I started out using a stimulator fly, but later switched over to a Chernobyl pattern that has worked well in the past.  On days like this you won't move a lot of fish, but the ones that do are usually pretty nice.  Here's a video of me yakking and casting.  Not much action, but the framing was nice, and it might be worth a look.  If you're pressed for time maybe skip this one.  If your name is Robert Vaughan, please don't weep at my casting.  I'm sorry.  You did your best.

After a couple more moves and takes I set up the Flipcam and did my usual spiel.  What happened next really floored me.  Check it out.

This is the first week I have ever taken a video camera with me fishing.  To actually have the largest brook trout of my life hit, on camera, and successfully land it, was amazing. But to have the camera batteries die at that moment? Priceless. Perhaps it's for the better that you don't get to see me ranting and waving this big fish around.  Either way it doesn't matter- it was one of the most sublime moments of my life.  I would have taken more still photos, but I had already spent a bunch of time talking to a dead camera and wanted to get him back into the river.  Here's some photo's, of my BEST fontinalis ever.

just a gorgeous fish

If you're new to fishing or haven't fished for brook trout, a 16 inch brook trout is a big deal.  It may not sound big, but the average brookie, especially in small streams, is about 6-8 inches.  Ten is a nice fish, 12" is big, 14" rare and makes your season- 16 inches, in a small stream?  Lifetime.  It's roughly equivalent to a 24 inch brown.  There's bigger fish out there, but not many, and there's only a handful of areas, usually remote, such as Labrador, northern Quebec and Ontario that regularly produce fish bigger than that.  Thus my excitement.  I'm very happy to share with you, TakeMeFishing.org, and the blogging underbelly ; ) what was for me a very exciting moment, one that may take years to repeat here.

It's still National Fishing and Boating Week, free fishing days are coming up this weekend in a lot of states including Michigan, so get out there.  As you can see, you never know what will happen.

A Fish for Fontinalis

Cofisher made me do it.  'Good luck with that schedule', was the gist of his comment.   A long hot day at work, then rain, just enough to keep me from accomplishing all that I needed to, and still I got home late, dirty and tired.  Did I make dinner and go to bed? No- Cofisher's comment burned in my mind- "You can't do it" was what he, in effect, said.  Howard- you're right- I can't do it.  I didn't fish Saturday, I didn't fish today.  But yesterday I had to do it, push myself, however foolishly to get out there.

Now let me tell you the pitfalls of video.  You see, in times past I would have already had my gear in the truck and would have just gone.  But I was covered in dust and stain and a three day scruff, none of which look good on video, and so I went home and showered and shaved, gathered my gear and cameras, and headed out.  If you look close you'll see how tired I am.  The lack of coherence.  The disorganized gear.  (Today's tip- I wore the raincoat, not for rain, but so that I wouldn't have to put on much insect repellent.) But I gave a pledge to the fine people at TakeMeFishing.org and to you my readers, and Cofisher double-dog dared me. Or something like that.

So I went.  I had one hour.  I bushwhacked through a miserable little tag alder jungle gym.  I screwed around with the video camera, and I must say- my Joby tripod saved the day in spades, as brook trout streams in tag alder swamps are almost completely devoid of flat hard surfaces.  To be honest, doing the video was what made it fun.  Oh yeah, and this fish.

a fontinalis for Fontinalis

This next photo is a shout-out for both Take Me Fishing and National Fishing and Boating Week and Joby- thanks guys- for the cam, and to Joby for making such a great tripod.

I pythoned this thing to the bush-cool

I think in that hour of fishing I got four fish to rise.  The mosquitoes were fierce.  The thunderstorms that rolled through had put a damper on fish activity, and the beavers had changed what was once a familiar stretch into the dark side of the moon, piscatorially speaking.  But I'm glad I went.  I forgot my hunger, the heat, the fatigue, my bills, and all the reasons I won't say no to jobs right now, even though I've only had two days off in the last month, I forgot about all the personal things that plague me, the things I kick myself for each day.  I forgot about it all when I first got a whiff and then a glimpse of trout water, when that first fish rose, just a boil, the first rise to my fly, my first brook trout of the year.  I was again, there, in the moment, in my natural environment, where I needed, desperately, to be.  I caught a fish.  I clowned for the camera.  I had a great time.

By the way, I didn't catch a fish on camera, but I did lose one- here's the video.  You may have to turn the volume up to hear all of my ridiculous gems, or turn it off depending on your valuation of verbal  gemology.  It was a pretty cool strike- typical of the frantic fight that brook trout give, and why they can be a worthy challenge.  Check it out.

So again my thanks to the people at TakeMeFishing.org for letting me participate as a blogger in National Fishing and Boating Week.  Get out there folks and enjoy it- the outdoors is waiting for you.  Remember- here in Michigan, the free fishing days will be this coming weekend, June 11, 12, so take your family fishing and have a great time.  More posts to come.

Monday Morning Coffee- June 6, Truck Payment Edition

That's right, the sixth of each month is when my truck payment is due, so what a great reminder.  Except I'm not going to pay it today.  I'll wait til Wednesday or Friday, sometime within the grace period.  I only have a year left to pay on it, but if the rest of the summer goes well I'll pay it off so I don't get bled monthly all winter.  That gets old.  It's been a great truck, but It's starting to show its age, kind of like its owner.  It started leaking fluid (I'm not leaking fluid) last week; I got it fixed and it's already leaking fluid again (I'm still not leaking fluid).  I'm torn between putting it down and keeping it alive indefinitely sans payment.

It's just too heavy for this kind of thing.

things you can load in a truck

Truth be told, it's an awful outdoors truck.  True, you can stack a lot of deer in the bed, but it doesn't get around that well off road.  It's too big for a lot of access trails to rivers, and is too long to turn around handily in the woods while hunting.  I've had some bad experiences with this truck.  Still, I do love it.  Horsepower wins out in the end I guess.  That, and it's fulfilled its purpose to haul large loads of equipment and material to jobs.  It's also very comfortable.  I'll keep it as long as practical.  Which is to say until gas hits $5 this summer.

another story for another time

Yawn, stretch, scratch, sniff... I mean repeat. It's Monday.  Today's coffee is again the Colombian Supremo from Woolly Bugger, but I'll have to go into town and buy more today, or it will be a sad Tuesday indeed.  Today's mug is again courtesy of Sanders over at Up the Poudre.  Lovin' those Fontinalis colors.  Speaking of which, I think it's time for Fontinalis Rising to go chase some fontinalis.  I haven't even tried for brook trout yet this year.  I mean, cummon.  So, after work, and Take Me Fishing Flipcam in hand, I'm going to find some Known Brook Trout Water and see what I can do.  I guarantee I'll catch at least a couple.  Guarantee.  Up goes the pressure, but I'm good for it.
I'm working on a couple of little pieces, but with this weeks work schedule, not to mention my pledge to the National Fishing and Boating Week, we'll see what gets posted.  Of course, if I live up to the challenge then I'll have lots to post.  I'd better get into fish, because I know you can't take too much more of my maundering into the camera.  So here's hoping for all of us.

I'm trying to decide where my next getaway will be to.  Probably somewhere into the Upper Peninsula, but there's other options.  Some day I want to explore the Algoma District of Ontario outside Sault Ste. Marie for brook trout.  There's monsters up there in that back country, but it's something you'd have to find on your own. Nipigon and Colorado are both on the table for an August trip, but I'll have to choose.

In my continual efforts to improve this blog I've ordered a camera lens and related equipment, which I can't wait to get and put to work.  It should be here within a couple of days.

Well, I'm still waiting for the caffeine to kick in, so I'm going to wander off and make breakfast.  Have a great week.  I'll go find you some fish.  Keep an eye out for more video from the Take Me Fishing Flipcam.  Let's get after it.

gratuitous fish picture

It's Here! National Fishing & Boating Week

I'm a day late and so forth, but I have indeed gotten out on the water this morning.  I live on the water, a river that's very popular with boaters and anglers.  My point this morning was that there's so much opportunity around us that we often overlook.  All we have to do is take notice and get out there, make time for it.  My plan for National Fishing and Boating Week, sponsored by Take Me Fishing, was to fish every day in as many places and settings for as many species as possible, even if for a short while.  It appears that my work load this week will keep all my sessions short, but I think my foray this morning proves my point- I caught no fish, but I had a great time.  It was beautiful, refreshing, and I felt a lot better just being out there.  If you have kids, get them out there.  Video games and the internet are firmly embedded in our culture and world- they're not going away, nor do I want them to, but they need to be balanced with some outdoor activity. (Incidentally, the June issue of Outside magazine had a great article outlining our need to get outdoors, read it here.)

The following video is me monologuing- some live, on-the-water philosophizing if you will, and my intro into National Fishing and Boating Week.  I'll have to find some fish for you somehow this week. 

Here's some things to know about National Fishing and Boating Week-

• Take Me Fishing has coordinated this event to coincide with Free Fishing days in 37 of the 50 states.  This includes Michigan, which will have free fishing on June 11 and 12, click here for information.

•  Take Me Fishing has launched a "Memories On the Water" video contest that runs through July 1 2011 with lots of prizes including a grand prize of a fishing trip for 4 to one of four destinations.  Take your video cam with you this month and share it- you could end up in Yellowstone.

• Take Me Fishing reminds us that a portion of the money we spend on boating and fishing- everything from boats, to tackle, to bait, to licenses- even fuel- goes towards conservation, so getting out and enjoying the outdoors is good for you, good for your kids AND good for the environment.

So, I highly encourage you to take a little time to check out Take Me Fishing's website, "Like" their Facebook page, check and see if your state has free fishing this week.  Then get out there, take your kids, have fun.  Take your video camera and enter the contest.  The weather is gorgeous and it's all waiting for you.  I'll be posting some more of my mini adventures as the week goes on.

The Angler's Year- June

June in Northern Michigan begins lilac scented, a perfume so heady it will make you think you're in love, even if you're not.  On the outs with your dearly beloved?  Fill the house with fresh-cut lilacs and see what happens.  Everywhere I go right now it's all I smell, and so I drive around, love-drunk and irritable, trying to figure out why I'm so giddily happy.

If you're an angler you should be happy and in love- it's June.  When I started this series it was February, a month in which my best advice might be "stay in and watch TV" or "go to Florida", a month in which any comfortable notion of fly angling is laughable at best.  I think I gave some sort of "there, there" advice, we always do.  "Tie flies" we intone, "spend time with the wife", "get caught up on your reading".  Thin comfort to the fly angler whose bamboo 4 weight stands mouldering in a closet. 

nice June rainbow caught while waiting on the hexes in the Cascades

But now- now it's June.  Diametrically opposite in nature to that time, now it all lies spread before you, a great angling feast, a gluttony of piscatorial pursuit, a surfeit of opportunity.  It's not just that the bugs are hatching and the trout are looking up.  It's not just the perfect river temps, the Hex hatches, the verdant green.  It's not just that the bass and bluegills are bedding and feeding, the pike are still up shallow and aggressive, and the carp are on the flats.  It's that the days are so long, the sunlight so seemingly interminable- June is the month of the summer solstice and here the daylight will last 18 hours give or take.  You suffer Seasonal Affective Disorder in a good way now, or at least you'd better, after all that grousing you did in January.

June is the month of sulfurs and drakes and March browns here, but really, when it comes down to it we're just piffling with those flies, amusing ourselves, catching little plippers and hoping that nice rise at the tailout is an 18 inch brown.  We're all waiting now, our anticipation close to boiling, like kids trying to sleep on Christmas Eve, keyed up about one event- the Hex hatch.  Hexagenia Limbata.  Words that roll off the tongue of every fly angler with a satisfying smack, the one Latin name everyone has memorized.  If most of us had our way, June would be renamed Hexagenia.  This goliath mayfly haunts the dreams of many a fly fisher, that annual event perhaps your sole opportunity to land a truly large brown trout on a dry fly.  There's a price of admission- they don't usually show until well after dark and dark doesn't arrive until after 11.  Some nights you stand out there and wait, and wait and wait until you realize nothing is going to happen.  Other times you go out there, and the bugs come, and the fish mysteriously won't feed- yes, this has happened to me.  But every year it does happen.  You stand in a spot you think most likely to hold good fish and hope that the bugs come off, waiting while the mosquitoes drone in your ears and bounce off your face.  Then you see them, one, then two, lifting from the water like angels ascending, silent and pale.  Trout feed here and there intermittently and still you stand on your sandy flat, patient for what's to come.  Then, just as the darkness descends it happens, a whirring of wings like static on the radio, and the river comes alive, the surface boiling with feeding fish.  Every fish in the river comes out, from two-incher to two-footer, and for awhile all you can hear is the continual smack, slurp and gulp of feeding trout.  If you focus on one fish you can time him and usually come up good, but the smart angler waits, he waits for the activity to die.  The hatch after all, will last into the wee hours of the morning, and you're not there to catch foot long fish.  Bide your time, catch a couple, wait for the noise and frenzy to subside, then listen, listen for one sound. "Sip.... shlipp.... shlurp... ship".  It's the sound of a fish too big to fill up in that initial madness, the sound of a truly large trout, still feeding long after lesser fish have sank to the bottom to rub their swollen bellies and moan in feted pleasure.  Those big fish feed differently, they feed in measured cadence, setting their own rhythm, unhurried as the river conveys bug after bug to their jaws.  This is your moment, but it's not just about timing.  You can hear the fish, can tell that he's right there, but you can't see anything, and so you must learn to gauge the distance and cast by sound and just hope that your fly drifts over him at the moment that he's ready to feed again.  They're not going to move two feet right or left when the river is delivering a flowing feast right overhead.  Then you have to time, by sound, the sound of the feed with where you think your fly is.  If it all comes together, then the real fun begins, as you battle a giant trout in a small stream in the pitch dark, not wanting to turn your light on and spook the rest of the river.  This night, and all the nocturnal aggravation and an annum of waiting is yours, your shot at holding a truly large brown.

The hex hatch lasts ten days or more, tapering off typically by July 4.  Towards the end most of the fish are so full that they fail to feed, no doubt suffering an annual case of Hexagenia indigestion. So all of you dry fly snobs- rejoice.  This is your month.  You've earned it.

Having said all that, it seems anti-climactic to mention June's other pleasures, but if you're not the nocturnal type and hate the annual conclave-and-pig-roast that the Hex hatch has become, then June is still your month.  Get out your 8 or 9 weight and chase carp on the flats-  this is the peak month, there's no mosquitoes typically on Lake Michigan, and you can find all the solitude you want.  Large- and smallmouth bass feed greedily in June, and will smash frogs and poppers with abandon.  Pike and musky are still up shallow and will scare the bejeezus out of you if you take the time to throw some giant minnow patterns (note: wear eye protection please). Get out the 3 weight, take some foam spiders and a kid with you to the bluegill pond- it's easy work, and you'll hook a kid for life.

So, my fellow fly anglers, June is your month, your time.  The days are long, the nights are crazy and love is in the air.  Pick your quarry and choose your fly, it's all happening right now, in June.

Wednesday Morning Coffee June 1

Yeah, that’s right, Wednesday morning coffee.  You all were out having fun this weekend anyway so what did you care?  Let’s see, Kirk Werner was fishing Yellowstone, my buddy Tim went and fished the Payson area in Arizona,  The River Damsel fished various lakes all weekend, Kirk Deeter, Third Coast Fly, the Roughfisher guy and several others were just 25 miles from my house on Beaver Island (sort of like Treasure Island) fishing for carp and bass.  Even Cameron Mortenson of The Fiberglass Manifesto snuck out the  back door and caught a couple bass.  Where was I?  Did I go on my camping trip exploring for carp and brook trout on the Garden Peninsula? No, I stayed home and worked all weekend.  So I hope you all enjoyed your long holiday weekend.  I hope you had fun.  Stupid work.

Ok, so I did fish a little.  I took my kayak with me when I finished my

Walloon job Saturday and tried for smallmouth again- no love, but then Sunday night after chores I drove to a local lake with Coyote Luke of Most Things Custom and fished foam spiders for bluegills and caught some beasts.  I also caught a couple largemouth bass and a rock bass.  It was great fun, until lightning chased us off.  I mostly fish trout and salmon, but at least once a year I have to make the pilgrimage for bluegills.  Have you ever played an easy video game, one that lets you win?  That’s what it’s like fly fishing for ‘gills.  For some reason I never anchored the other night, and these fish would actually pull my kayak around.  And catching largemouth bass on a 3 weight?  That’s some action.  This lake is so lousy with them, they’re practically a pain.  I would like to get out in a good boat and throw some bona fide bass and pike flies- pike in the mid thirty inch range are common here as well.  The scenery is pretty cool too, with lots of loons, ducks and eagles to round out the picture, and the cedars and spruce lining the banks make you think you’re far to the north in Canada, which you practically are eh?

I’m still on a full court press with work, so I don’t know how much posting I’ll do.  I’m getting a little worried about the Take Me Fishing National Boating and Fishing Week deal I signed myself up for- I’m still not sure how to post a video, much less edit one, but I’ll do what I can.  Also, I have a face made for telegraph, so I think I’ll keep the camera pointed the other way.  At least I know which lake to hit for some species.  I’ve been experiencing technical difficulties with this computer- I think it may be time to order a laptop soon.  Next paycheck.  This computer is an ’02 model, I’ve made several upgrades to it and it’s still not bad, but it’s showing increasing signs of wear and I think it may be time to p-u-t h-e-r d-o-w-n.  Don’t tell.  Due to the tech troubles, the June installment of my Angler's Year series will be a few days late also.

Largemouth on a bluegill spider?

Usually I start out by talking about the coffee- yes it is good, and starting with this week I’ll be featuring local and regional coffee roasters.  What better way to start, than with coffee from the Woolly Bugger here in Harbor Springs?  It’s a great little local shop that roasts their own, and with that fly fishing theme it fits with this blog.  Today I’m drinking their Colombian Supremo, and truth be told Colombian is not my fav, I’m a Sumatra kind of guy, but this is very good, and I’m told that Woolly Bugger will have some Sumatra in soon, so I can’t wait to try it.  You can visit them at their locations in Harbor Springs or Charlevoix, of visit them online at http://www.wbcoffee.com/. (psssst- this Colombian is excellent, with hints of chocolate and caramel in the flavor, and wonderful aroma.)

Also, check out the mug, sent to me by Sanders of Up the Poudre fame.  Sanders, in a fit of gratitude after last weeks Blog Love, packaged it up and mailed it out.  He'll get over it.  Thanks Sanders, very cool.  A brook trout mug for a brook trout blog. (Bob- I love the cow mug, it will still make regular appearances.)

solid!

I increasingly find Fontinalis Rising listed on blogrolls- thank you all- and so I'm working on putting together a blogroll page.  There's so many great blogs out there, ones that I regularly enjoy now, and I think my blog list will get too cumbersome if I keep adding to it.  I've promised to add a couple of people to my blog list and haven't gotten to it, so look for that to come soon.

All right, I must run off to work.  I'm working on this beautiful lake right now.  It's big, 17,000 acres, and holds most of the Great Lakes species.  It's tough some days to stare out there at all that water- so close, so far away.  Have a great week, I'll see you Monday.

French Farm Sunset