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All posts for the month April, 2012

Stoneflies On The Move

Posted by thosnut on April 30, 2012
Posted in: Trout. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 comments

Yesterday was the last day of the early catch and release season in Wisconsin. All inland trout streams will now be closed for one week before they reopen for the regular season. Also yesterday, I had the rare occasion of fishing with a friend. We were headed to new water for him, and also I was hoping to use some big flies with a new 7:3 Yamame rod that I had purchased.

I purchased the Yamame in preparation of fishing some of the warm water lakes and ponds and maybe even rivers for crappies, bluegills, and bass. I knew it could handle larger flies and larger fish, so it was a good pick to go where I thought we might find some larger trout.

A stonefly shuck and a tied fly

Last year, in the early part of May, the stonefly shucks started to appear on the rock in this river, so I made sure to have some large #6 stonefly nymphs and dries. I was hoping to hit some of these deep secluded holes with the heavier flies.

After a hike in and setting up, we worked upstream hitting these big fishable holes. There were a few hits in the initial pool where we started, but the trout got off almost immediately. We worked our way to one pool that I knew we would have success. This pool was the perfect place. It was far from the road and had good casting room and a shallow area near the end of the pool which was great for landing fish.

A fat brown trout

The rocks were clear of stoneflies and there was no surface activity, so we used my stonefly nymphs and indicator. My friend and I took turns using the Yamame rod in this area. It was his turn first and with a subtle take, he had a monster on. The giant fought and shook to get off, but before we could get it near the net, it got off. Then it was my turn. I made some similar casts and soon had my own beast on. These trout were fat and I was loving every minute of it.

The Yamame rod had worked well on these fat fish. It had exceeded my expectations by casting more delicately than I had hoped. Even later with much smaller flies it had worked well.

We caught several more, but no more of the giants before moving on. We hiked  back closer to our cars and kept fishing some of the smaller holes. We continued to catch trout, but on smaller flies and in shallower water.

It had been a good day for trout fishing and sharing water and even new rods. With the inland trout season closed for a week, those fat trout can rest up before I go back and hit them in a week, and maybe by then, the stoneflies will be starting to show up on the rocks.

Breaking Down My Iwana

Posted by thosnut on April 28, 2012
Posted in: Trout. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

My Iwana

As you can see in the picture, my 12’ 6:4 Iwana rod can be taken completely apart, so I thought it may be a good idea to break down the Iwana rod for you.

The name Iwana means “fish of the rocks” or char. A char is a species of fish that is very close but not the same as a trout. In the US, the most common char is the brook trout. In Japan there is a similar char species that is called the Iwana, so it is this fish that the Tenkara USA rod must be named after.

The Iwana rod like other Tenkara USA rods is made of high quality carbon fiber material. It is broken down into sections as seen in my photo. When put all together in its normal form, the rod is capable of telescoping to a length over 11’. I have measured mine fully extended, and it measures to about 139 ½ inches from the end to where the attached lilian bends. The lilian is a piece of (red on my rod) braided line that is attached to the end of the last rod piece. It is here that you can attach a braided or level line. I have used both and prefer the gentle casting of the braided line.

The hitch knot

To attach the braided line, a hitch knot is formed on the end of the braided line and looped to the lilian- as seen in the photo. Always leave your rod tips in the handle section when attaching a line to help protect from breaking the delicate last section of your rod. After you have pulled the hitch knot tight, you may start to extend your rod. Pull them out gently near the lilian and a bit harder as you work your way down the rod. To undo the hitch knot, gently pull all the sections back in the rod handle, and while securing the lilian, pull the tag end of the hitch knot and it comes undone.

It’s a good idea to clean your Tenkara rod after every few uses. To do this, unscrew the cap at the back of the handle and take out all the sections. I use a well diluted dish soap and cotton rag to clean each section. Wait for the sections to be completely dry before putting everything back together.

In the case of a 6:4 rod, the 6 refers to the rod having 6 stiff sections and 4 flex sections. Some rods are built to be more delicate like a 5:5, and some are designed to be stiffer like a 7:3. A 7:3 would be for larger fish and a 5:5 would be for smaller trout. The Iwana 6:4 as stated on the Tenkara USA website states that “If you are going to streams where 12 inch trout are trophies this is the rod”. I have caught fish up to 18” on my Iwana, but you have to be prepared for a good challenge in tight water.

I would say that my 12’ Iwana suits me for the streams that I fish. With a 10 1/2’ braided line and tippet, it is delicate enough and it allows me to reach far enough to catch plenty of weary fish.

Here are some final tips that should be mentioned. When you are first setting up your rod, you must remove a little plug to allow your rod to extend. Always put this in a safe spot, so you don’t lose it. A net is a very helpful tool in landing fish with a Tenkara rod. Never use any tippet greater than 5x to help protect from rod tip breakage.

Some more info:

Closed length: 20 ½”

Weight of closed rod: 79g or 2.8oz with cap in end

If you are thinking about getting a Tenkara rod, a 12’ 6:4 Iwana is a good place to start. This rod is easy to learn to cast, and it allows you to catch some nice fish.

Pretty brown trout

A special thanks and credit should go out to:

The Book “Tenkara: Radically Simple, Ultra Fly Fishing” by Kevin C. Kelleher, MD with Misako Ishimura,

Tenkara USA,

and many other websites with information that helped me learn to fish Tenkara.

Waiting For A Hatch

Posted by thosnut on April 24, 2012
Posted in: Trout. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 comment

I had that feeling that today was going to be a nice day. My kids were both in good moods, I navigated the grocery store without the usual people causing traffic jams, and I saw four turtles on a log on my drive to the river. It all added up to a nice day.

I even expected some surface activity. I had taken my daughter (who just turned nine) fishing a few days ago. After my last story, she felt like she needed to experience what standing in a river fly fishing was all about. In the short time that we were on the river together, caddis had been rising and we took several with our little elk hair caddis imitations. My daughter was more interested in letting the fish go than casting, so while I hooked them, she danced and sang in the river. I was hoping for more caddis flies in the air today.

At the river I casually fished upstream with no activity in sight. The water was clearer than it had been all season. I managed to catch a few small ones in places that I normally don’t catch fish. I worked my way slowly trying to stall to get to the water that I really wanted to fish. In a deep bend, I took several more trout- including a 12” brown. After releasing the fish I could see a large pod of trout near the bottom of the bend. I cast a few more times and caught another one. In the distance, I could hear both turkeys and sand hill cranes.

I moved upstream a bit and snagged some plants along the shore. As I released my hook from the branches, another fisherman came upon me. He saw that I was fishing a Tenkara rod and asked me all sorts of questions about it. I let him try my 12” Iwana after showing him how it‘s telescopic and how it was set up. He had great interest, and we talked for a long time. The long conversation helped me stall some more time for a hatch to begin. We split up, and I continued working my way upstream. On my slow moving path, I missed some very nice fish.

That’s how my day went. I stalled and fished and stalled and fished- waiting for a hatch. None came, and I was well past where I was hoping to fish. Most of the fish I caught today were in deep pools, and I saw way more fish than I caught. It was still a good day.

When it was time to go home, I had caught 19 browns and one rainbow trout in about three hours. I was waiting for a hatch to bring better fishing, but looking back, I see that good fishing had been there the whole time.

Seeing Through His Eyes

Posted by thosnut on April 20, 2012
Posted in: Life. Tagged: , , , , , , . 8 comments

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I am not sure if I should write this story or how I should write it or what I should write it about, but I decided to just put it out there. So here goes…

I saw an interview on television with an older woman named Maya Angelou and she had a great quote that describes beliefs that I have. She said “If you learn, teach and when you get, give”. So it should be no surprise that last year I started teaching my son how to fly fish.

He has a lot going on in his life with school and friends and having type 1 diabetes. He’s almost 11 now, but when he was six and a half, he caught a normal cold and it attacked his pancreas. This changed his life forever. Now his pancreas no longer works and he is completely insulin dependent to stay alive. He is a survivor, but he doesn’t survive, he lives. Things haven’t always been easy for him. Other parents are sometimes afraid to have him over for play or for parties because of his diabetes, but that doesn’t stop him from having a big heart.

It’s not always easy to get out to some of the places to fly fish, but we try. We need to have extra food and extra devices that don’t mix to well with getting wet, but he has fly fished a few times since last year.

His first time out, he wore a pair of my waders and boots with extra socks. He was drowning in those waders, but they got the job done. There was such amazement in his face when he first walked out into the river. We turned over rocks and I showed him a whole new world that was alive and moving in this fast moving stream. He was so happy when he caught that first trout.

I have given him the first fly fishing rod that I had to start with, and I bought him a pair of waders. Since I have started Tenkara fishing, he has expressed wanting his own Tenkara rod, but I’m not quite ready for that on the tight streams we fish. Besides, I have a surplus of old western rods collecting dust from lack of use.

Some of the first flies my son tied for me

I also bought him a small fly tying kit and he opened his own Fly Shop. He used everything he could find in his flies- a piece of a pine tree and you name it. He ties flies and sell them to everyone in the family. Even his little sister has a collection of some of his flies that she paid him for.

I love my son and he is a great kid, and nothing is better than seeing him in the river with a BIG smile on his face. When I see that smile, it always rekindles the love I have for rivers and nature and fly fishing.

Tangles – essential to the road to enlightenment

Posted by thosnut on April 18, 2012
Posted in: Life. Tagged: , , , , . 1 comment

A mass of fishing line that I found creek side

From the moment we were kids trying to undue a tough knot in our shoelaces, we have encountered tangles. Tangles can build slowly or sometimes happen suddenly. Some sneak up on us and some are never visible until it is too late. I’m not just talking about fishing line or tippet here.

We have all had work place tangles and relationship tangles and maybe even tangles with death. Nietzsche said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”. I’m not suggesting that next time your fishing and you get a massive wind knot that death will be knocking at the door. No, I mean to overcome or outlast an event (or tangle) will make you better in some way.

At the moment of clarity when you can see the tangle and are saying, “What a mess I’ve gotten myself into”, this is a pivotal moment of karma, fate, or just plan dumb luck. What will happen next? Will the problem resolve itself? Is it time to give up and walk away? Or do you hunker down and go into one on one combat of mind and matter with your tangle. At these moments, I have slowed down enough to catch some very large fish following these moments of chaos. I want to believe that I have won most of these battles, but I remember at least one where I gave up and moved on.

The beauty of a Tenkara knot is that muscle will not resolve your tangle. Only two things can solve your problem. One is a clippers and new tippet and the other is unworldly patience. So in my book a Tangle with a fly rod or Tenkara rod or even in life is an event that comes straight from the old TV show Kung Fu with David Carradine.

Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

A quote from Kung Fu (1972) TV Show.

In life it is often a good thing to slow down and face your tangle for enlightenment is not far away.

Turn those Old Leaky Waders into…

Posted by thosnut on April 14, 2012
Posted in: Create. Tagged: , , , . 4 comments

Bag made from old leaky waders.

I didn’t get to the stream today, but instead I made use of an old leaky pair of waders. Last year I picked up a fishing bag from the company Recycled Waders after seeing their ad in a fly fishing magazine. They turn old waders into useful items like wallets, bags and fanny packs. I received a Nook sack from them, and I have to say that I love the bag and the idea behind it. So enter my old leaky waders that are just taking up garage space.

I bought these waders last year and fished hard in them. The seam where the sock meets the wader portion went bad, and after numerous attempts to patch them up, I decided to reuse them.

I grabbed the scissors and went to work on them on some plastic on the kitchen table. I made my first cut and said that “there is no going back now”. I arranged all the pieces the way that I wanted and move to the sewing machine with my wife’s permission. For the project, I also used an old wading belt for the strap and other items from other broken or discarded gear. The bag is just slightly larger than my other bags, so it will be ideal for when my son and I get out on the stream.

So not only did I make something useful, but I also scored points by getting rid of something in the garage too.

 

 

2/25/13 Update

Here are some more things that I made with worn out waders.

Cloth Lined Camera Bags

Cloth Lined Camera Bags

A Rod Tube

A Rod Tube

A belt pouch

A belt pouch

A shoulder bag

A shoulder bag

The Pursuit of Brook Trout- Part 3

Posted by thosnut on April 11, 2012
Posted in: Trout. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Today, I had about two hours to play with. I was going to hike a little creek that was suppose to contain Brook Trout, but I got a little side tracked.  Instead, I went to another area where there was maybe a hundred yards with a few places to casts for Brookies. This turned out to be a disappointment. There was really only one spot and I spooked it. Several trout fled upstream to unfishable water. I headed back to the car and I took the creeks picture as I drove away to another site.

From my car window

The next site was very promising. A beautiful little spring creek near it origin. This is one of the main feeders to my home river. It’s a tiny little stream and I have fished this stretch before with success. It’s mostly open, but the water is so clear that everything spooks very easily. Even with snow all around it in winter, this little creek will be blooming watercress all year round. It truly is a gem to behold.

Tiny Spring Creek

It was warmer today and no wind. I crawled up near the creek. I was hoping for some midges or caddis, but none. I tied on a little green scud and cast down. On the first cast, a tiny little brown of maybe 3 inches. The next 30 minutes was a repeat of this at just about every hole. I would crawl into position. Then, I would cast and a little brown would strike almost immediately. I landed five fish and all were Browns- several more got away. I reached the end of fishable water and my hope for a Brook Trout faded away.

Small little Brown Trout

A trophy in this tiny stream

This is a special little creek, and I do love catching Brown Trout, but Brown Trout defiantly dominated here. It was fun, but it left me wondering where else I could try nearby for my Brookies.

The Pursuit of Brook Trout- part two

Posted by thosnut on April 11, 2012
Posted in: Trout. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I decided to switch back to Brook Trout hunting, so I switched to a nearby freestone stream that has a stretch where Brookies use to be. I fished this stretch last year and was unable to catch any. The only brook trout that I saw there last year was a dead one of about 12 inches. It was freshly dead and belly up in some slack water. I knew by the white fin marking, but I had to get a closer look. It was sad for me. Here I had been trying to find the only native trout in my area where they once flourished, and there beached in in the rocks was a nice sized dead one.

I can not say enough times that as catch and release fisherman that we must treat the fish well. Don’t throw them in the water. Don’t hold them by their mouth and hang them. If you are going to let it go, treat it with the greatest care that you can.

Back to the hunt. It was the first day in a week where the wind wouldn’t have the upper hand over me, but it was cold. When I stopped to water a bush on my hike in, steam rose from my stream. I had to wear gloves or my hands wouldn’t be useful. I started at an old bridge that I knew would likely hold a few trout.

Between the cold and the wind lately, there has not been much in the way of emerging bugs. Most of the water in this river at this spot was about 6-8” deep, but under this bridge the water was at least two and half feet deep- a hole. I tied on one of my own mayfly patterns- the Golden Ear, and I went to work. I landed four brown trout out of that hole, but still no Brookies. I moved on and worked my way to anywhere the water was slightly deeper than the norm. It was rough fly fishing past the bridge. A half cast to maybe one cast type of fishing. Half meaning that there was a good holding spot, but it would be impossible to cast there without scaring the fish. Maybe the famous Tenkara bow arrow cast would work, but it would still take lots of luck too. In other words the trees owned the water. I did a lot of wading in-between fishable water. I ended up netting about eight brown trout and missing a bunch more. At the end this long stretch of water is a dam and I knew that there could be a brookie there. I quickly hooked several browns in the tail water of the dam, but landed none. Then no more hits.

I tied on the heaviest nymph and cast my line into the dam churn- holding my rod tip up with the line taut. The canopy of trees in my area made any maneuver difficult. The water forced my fly down and not long after I had a larger fish on. It was soon off because of my inability to move my rod in the trees. I tried again with a little more mental organization. One minute past. Then five minutes past. I was ready to pack it up and then my line went down. Another larger fish on. He pulled and I pulled. He turned and I counter turned. I was going to land this one. I was prepared for him both mentally and physically. I could tell he was well hooked. I was not going to give an inch, but it seemed that he wasn’t going to either. I could not get him to surface. He fought and fought- never showing me much of him. I finally had him under control, but he still would not surface.

His dark shape was at my feet in the foot and a half deep water. I tried moving the net in while keep the rod away from the trees, and that’s all he needed. He shot between my legs and got off and disappeared- never showing my what he was.

The hike back to the car was beautiful. It was warmer now and I didn’t need my gloves anymore. I kept wondering about that fish and hoping that he would still be there if I ever came back this way. Maybe he was a brook trout, but I’ll never know.

To date I have caught one Brook Trout, 9 Rainbow Trout, and 110 Brown trout in the 2012 season

Water Tidbits

Posted by thosnut on April 8, 2012
Posted in: Life. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Of the water on earth, about 2.75 percent is fresh water. Broken down further 2.05 percent is frozen in glaciers, 0.68 percent is beneath the ground as groundwater and 0.011 percent is on the surface in lakes and rivers.

Water has an amazing characteristic in that it breaks the norm of temperature densities. Most everything on earth gets more dense or heavier the cold it gets and less dense and lighter the warmer it gets. Water breaks this mold. As water gets colder, it does get more dense until it reaches about 39.16 degrees Fahrenheit. Once reaching and going below this temperature it then starts to become less dense. This is why ice floats on water.

This water density change has an important value to do with lakes. Depending on what climate a lake is in, this function of water causes a lake to mix from top to bottom. This is called lake turnover and it allows oxygen to reach all the way to the bottom of some lakes. Lakes in really warm climates don’t have turnover and carbon dioxide builds in the bottom reaches. In some rare occasions when temperatures have dropped in these areas, these lakes have turned over and sent all the carbon dioxide into the nearby land area in an event called a Limnic eruption. These deadly events have caused mass death like in villages around Lake Nyos, Africa. In most cases lake turnover is good. It redistributes nutrients and oxygen so fish can live at all levels. It allows them to survive being under the ice all winter.

Another important temperature related characteristic of water has to do with oxygen. The colder the water the more oxygen it can hold, and the warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold. This is an important determiner in what organisms can live within it. A healthy river has plenty of dissolved oxygen to sustain the aerobic organisms that live in and clean the water. In late summer when the temperature of water increases and it holds less oxygen, the warmer temperatures also increase the metabolic rate of fish and other organisms living there. This increase in metabolic rate causes the living creatures to use more oxygen than needed in cooler water temperatures. Oxygen levels can be further depleted by outside nitrates and phosphates and fertilizers reaching the water. Oxygen levels in water help keep it clean, so it’s important to have cold oxygen rich water for everyone- not just the fish.

This might be to much science for most of you, but to me it just equates that water is very special and needs to be protected.