Browns and Clowns

Ty here checking in with some October action. My first round of midterms finished up in the beginning of October so I' planned to get as much fishing in as possible on the weekends. Here is a little run down of the last couple trips us clowns have been on.

First trip, Evan from Sideling Hill Hackle and I set out to NY for a guided trip with Charlie Limpert, out of Cross Current Guide Service. We told him we wanted to chuck streamers the whole time and were looking for big browns; Well we did just that. The water was up and slighty colored which made for some great meat slangin'. Charlie put us on some awesome fish, and we had a blast! Talk about a full day of shenanigans on the river. Charlie, if you're reading, we will see you again in the near future! Hopefully not in room 6.

Next, Moose and I headed up to Central PA to meet up with our buddy Jon. We stayed at his cabin, and had the same plan in mind: chuck streamers for browns. Things started off slow but picked up as the water came down. We proceeded to crush browns on streamers for a good portion of the weekend. Moose definitely schooled us all, catching brown after brown all bigger than the last. With the amount of butter he landed, he's fixin for a heart attack. It was great to see Moose tear it up because the last two trips, Central PA was stubborn to him. This trip was definitely one for the books. Tons of laughs, memories, and as Jon would say...."fuckery". What more can you ask for?

Last, we set out on some really kickass wooden driftboats in search of pretty much anything that wanted to eat. This was another trip of exploring new water which turned out pretty successful. I will start by saying that I could fish a river with no fish in it all damn day if I was floating in one of these boats. The craftsmanship is unmatched and the vibes are nothing but great...I think I may have to build one this winter. Like all fly fishing trips, we came back home with endless stories, sayings, and a couple killer fish pictures. I would try to explain it all, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. All I have to say is: when Musky fishing...you have to give em more than just the tip. That's the story on the video below. After a few great stripsets and what looked like a well hooked fish, this mid 40's pure somehow came unbottoned. I managed to get the tail end of the fight on the Go Pro, as well as Dave throwing a little Musky fit. Can't say I blame him, as he just watched his personal best Musky swim away and his cast counter reset to zero. Like the honey badger, Musky don't give a shit! I managed to boat a 21" brownie early in the day and a decent smallie right before dark. Despite the wind, it was an awesome day on the water. I learned a ton of info about wooden drift boats, photography, and amateur 90s lesbian porno found in the crevasse of a tree. Like I said, I don't even know where to begin with the stories. Below are the pictures Dave got of the fish...absolutely stunning! Normally I wouldn't post so many pictures of the same fish but when they look this good it's hard not to. You can check out his flickr page for some insane fish pics. The dude know how to work the glass.

Overall, one of the best Octobers I have had in my whole life. Tons of memories and friendships made with some great people. Now we wait for November. Second round of Midterms will be over in a couple weeks and we will be back on the water giving them hell. May the Musky never sleep! Stay tuned folks and thanks for reading.

Ty

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Streamer Fishing

With the recent rain storms we’ve been having, there’s no better time to talk about everyone’s favorite thing (or soon to be)...chuckin’ meat for big wild trout. With all the new materials on the market and the fly tying scene growing rapidly, more elaborate streamer patterns are coming out every week, and everyone is jonesin’ to get out there and give it a try. Streamer fishing, when executed properly, can be a very effective way of catching not only numerous trout, but big trout too. Here are a few tips to get your streamer game up to par.

1.    Think like a baitfish

As cliché as it sounds, this is something that has increased my productivity with streamers tenfold.  When you’re chuckin’ meat, fish your streamer in ways that a baitfish (minnow, chub, sculpin, baby brown trout) would react in the water. My first impression of streamer fishing was that I needed to swing my fly downstream, then strip it against the current. While this can pick up a fish here and there, baitfish are almost never going to be evading a predator by swimming against the current; it is just inefficient and they will die by the wrath of a brown trout 9 times out of 10. So first things first, don’t be afraid to fish it downstream like you would a nymph, but with more action. When that trout sees your sculpin looking distressed, it’s going to be more willing to tear out from its hole and blow your shit up!

2.    Fish Everything

For whatever reason, the instinctive thing to do when you first start streamer fishing is to fish every big hole. While this will most likely produce some fish, you are missing out on some serious action by walking by those little undercuts and seams that are harder to fish. Big fish are still alive and growing for a reason! They’re not going to sit in a big hole just asking to get taken out by a predator. They’re going to be stashed deep in undercuts or log jams just waiting to ambush your fly. This is my favorite part about streamer fishing. Fishing these tiny seams and hard to reach areas will make you a much better caster, and fisherman all around. Learning to bow and arrow cast will greatly improve your chances to get that meat to the toads. Don’t be afraid to try anything, chances are it will pay off.

3.    Choose your conditions wisely

Streamer fishing isn’t always the best approach to catching fish. Most of the time, as much as it hurts me to say, nymphing is flat out more productive. There are times, however, where this is not true. My absolute favorite time to fish streamers is during a nice spring rain when the water is flowing and off colored. In times like this, the fish let their guard down from other predators and go on feeding frenzies. It seems like they can’t see nymphs and other bugs as well, so they are more likely to go after a sculpin or something else a streamer would be mimicking. This past week, myself and a few of my buddies were all fishing different water across the state during a summer rainstorm, and everyone caught beautiful fish on streamers. @rcase and I got into some great fish on sculpins, and Clark (@chasingbrowns on Instagram) absolutely destroyed it with Freshly Johnson (@christopherbfreshly). They caught more hammer browns than any day of Czech nymphing could produce. So the moral of the story when it’s raining…drop what you’re doing, quit your job, break up with your girlfriend and get your ass to the stream! These slobby browns aren’t going to catch themselves after all.

4.    Size Matters

Fishing the biggest streamer your 4wt can throw is NOT the most effective way to catch these fish. While big streamers can produce, slinging a 6” meat for a trout every time you fish is absurd, Fish a pattern that mimics the baitfish you know the fish are seeing on a daily basis. Turn over some rocks and figure out what’s good. Similarly, you don’t need to tie these patterns with size 2 saltwater hooks. Be mindful of the trout. They took a while to get this big and you want to conserve that. Most of my streamer patterns are tied with a single Gamakatsu B10S and a gamechanger shank. It gets the job done more than enough once you learn how to be patient with your hooksets. And people…don’t forget to pinch your barbs! I can’t stress this enough. There’s just no need for barbs.

Here are some of my favorite streamer patterns for PA

Ok enough talking, time to look at pictures of some PA meat eaters.

Shoutout to streamer junkies Clark (@chasingbrowns) and Chris (@christopherbfreshly) for the GoPro shots and the insight on Streamer Fishing 

Happy Hunting

Ty

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