Cross One New Years Resolution Off the List!

Each year, I have a recurring New Years Resolution to take a new species of fish on a fly rod.  Last year it happened to be a chain pickerel, taken late (October) purely by accident.  The year before that, it was an 18-20" flounder, my first ever salt water fish (despite many vacation evenings spend in the surf with squid and blood worms...and two separate charters...all with spin gear).  That fish was the result of a great deal of pre-trip research, tying, map-reading, and deliberate decision making as an angler.

This year, I've already got my new species...similar to last year, it was more dumb luck than anything else, but it was last year's research and exploration that allowed me to put myself in a position for dumb luck to take effect.

Yesterday afternoon I bought my 2012 license (probably the latest I've waited to get it in the past 5 years) and hit a tailwater that I'd explored for the first time last year at the peak of summer heat.  It's not the classic image of tailwater...last summer it was barely 20 feet wide at its head, easily wadeable at any point, with the only real holding water being the first 100 yards from the outflow.  Still, it was a source of cold water in late July, and in January, ironically, these sorts of places are among those that resist freezing (as any good angler with access to these flows should know).  Even though we've been blessed so far here in PA with a winter that has thus far declined to bare its teeth, I was interested to see how this small area might fish later in the winter, assuming that it will eventually assert itself and lock up more popular water.

As I made my way to the water, I noted that it was definitely higher than when I'd last visited in the summer...and moving.  While it was certainly still well within the realm of 'fishable', One would be wise to give careful thought to if and where they would cross this flow.  Indeed, I made the decision not to attempt a crossing at all after giving the current a quick evaluation.  This left me limited, obviously, to the side from which I'd approached, and while I had originally intended to fish the stream down, using streamers to probe likely water, I decided to check out the area right up at the outflow first.  As it turned out, I never left that area.

As I approached the outflow, I noted that the area between the main and secondary outflows (aligned along the main outflow about 50 feet down, as opposed to parallel), which had been little more than a near-stagnant pool of shin-deep bath water in July was now a deep blue green, churning with the confusion of several different currents, pulling water in every direction.  This would be a tricky flow to fish properly...especially with my guess that any fish present would be holding near the bottom.  Undeterred, I peeled some line off, and sent my streamer...at the end of a short, heavy, fast-sinking streamer leader...into the churning water.

For a few minutes, I went without a bite, trying various tactics to get my fly down and still allow for a slow retrieve.  Eventually, I figured out the best way to get my streamer down in the various portions of the pool, usually with two or three mends immediately after the cast, that let my fly sink a good ten or fifteen seconds before I had to begin my retrieve, or surrender the fly to depth-robbing drag.  As soon as I figured this out, I felt a weight on the line.  Not sure if it was a fish, a snag, or the effects of some strong undertow, I slowly tightened the line.  

I felt a sluggish head shake, then my line went slack.  I'd missed my first fish of the year.

This was repeated a few more times, and while I tried striking harder, each time, the fish was able to get off the hook.  I was starting to think that either the fish were short-striking...somewhat odd for trout to do so consistently...or that I'd found a group of small fish that were just not big enough for the 2 1/2" streamer I'd been throwing.  I changed to a smaller minnow pattern, tied on a longer hook, to try to account for both possibilities.

I was concerned that the smaller fly would have trouble sinking, but it turned out not to be a problem, as a few casts later, I again felt a little heaviness on the line.  I waited about two second, then raised my rod and strip set hard.

The resulting head shake dispelled any thoughts of puny fish, as the weight and pull that came from the hookset put a bend well past the middle of my 4wt.  Knowing that I was into a good fish, I quickly began reeling in slack to get the fish 'on the spool'.  Once I had this accomplished, the fish started to fight a bit more enthusiastically, still too deep in the pool to see what sort of fish I was into.  It was definitely the sleepy, slow fight of a winter fish, as opposed to the quick runs and thrashing of warmer months, but the fight was distinctly different from most trout I've caught, even in the winter.  After the first head shake, I didn't get any more, and rather than a frantic back and forth, the fish seemed to prefer hanging deep and pulling steadily, with the occasional three or four short but strong dives even deeper.  I had just about decided that I was into a winter smallmouth, when my leader broke the surface, as the fish rose.  Just before my tippet came out of the water the fish turned and dove again, leaving me with only a glimpse of a long greenish side, easily in the 18"+ range.  No matter what it was, it was a good fish, though the reflection seemed too long and lean for a smallmouth.

As it came to the surface again, clearly tiring, it turned again, and the bright orb of one of its eyes shined up at me and I knew what I had: my first walleye on the fly.

Now, a lot of things made more sense: the bumps at the line, the odd fight, the reflection.

As the fish came to hand, I was careful to avoid both the spiny fin, held high at attention, as well as the mouth, which I knew would be full of pretty wicked teeth for a PA fish...bested only by pike and musky in this state.

After the fish was very cooperative in coming to hand, allowing me to dislodge the fly and take a quick photo, he went back in the water.  Though it may be just my perception, it seems like time spent out of the water is more taxing on a fish in the winter than it is in warmer times, and fish take longer to revive themselves.  This held true for the walleye, as I had to hold it in a bit of still water for a good twenty or thirty seconds before it caught its second wind and swam away powerfully.

And just like that, my first fish of 2012 was a new species for me to take on a fly.

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Looking Ahead

So of course, I owe you guys a typical new year post.

I don't (or I try not to) do the 'resolution' thing.  For me, its too confining, too all-or-nothing...which makes it somewhat counterproductive, as the whole point is to better yourself.  When you set a resolution, it's usually either too harsh (tomorrow, I'm done smoking!) or too soft (over the next year I'm going to try to cut back slightly on junk food).  In the first situation, the moment you break it, you're done.  And in the second, it's so lax that there's really no self-betterment.

No, for my new year, I just try to set a few well-defined goals that will require effort to accomplish, yet are realistically within my reach.

For this year, I have five goals for myself as far as my recreational activities go:

• For my fly fishing, like last year (and the year before), I want to catch at least one new species on the fly.  I don't care about how it was accomplished, only that I got a fish to take a fly.  Last year, by dumb luck, I caught a chain pickerel.  In 2010, I added a flounder, my first saltwater catch on any tackle.  This year, I'm hoping to add one or more of pike, carp, gar, catfish, or, if I make it back to the salt, another species from the ocean.  One of my best friends lives minutes from the Chesapeake bay, so we're hoping to get together to fish some of the estuaries from kayaks.
• For my tying, I'd like to explore one specific area that I've been avoiding ever since my first attempt at it: spinning and stacking hair.  I tried to tie a few muddlers when I first started tying a few years ago, and they simply looked horrible.  This year I'd like to improve on that, and get some nice flies tied with spun or stacked hair.  This will coincide nicely with my goal of catching a pike on the fly.
• In October, a friend of mine invited me to do some waterfowl hunting, and I loved it.  To that end, I've been making a good effort at finding some good hunting around here, but so far, I've been unsuccessful.  While I did manage to take one bird on that first outing with my friend, I'd really like to get a few 'on my own' in 2012.
• For my photography, I'd like to continue to learn, specifically in terms of landscape shooting, as well as macro work.  Of course, there's a wishlist of lenses, gadgets, and other good stuff I'd like to get, but the main thing for me is to make time to get out there, and to push myself.  Sure, this one is fairly nebulous, but it's probably the one that will mean the most to me on December 31st, 2012.
• Finally, and most difficult, I want to get my work out there.  Ideally, I'd get published by a magazine or some other publication, but I don't want to limit my options.  While this will take some work (and I may be kidding myself with optimism at this point), I believe this is a goal that I might be able to achieve in the next year.  Hopefully, with the right combination of hard work, inspiration, and luck, I'll be able to see my name, words, or photos in print.

Well, that about sums it up for me.  What are some of your goals for the new year?

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International Fly Tying Symposium 2011

This year, just like in 2010, I attended the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ in mid-November.  This trip meant a little more to me than the trip last year because I had planned on going since mid-summer, but then I lost my job in September, and I really couldn't justify the expenses of a hotel room, food, and gas at a time where I really had to stretch my limited funds to make ends meet.

Then, at the very end of October, just a few weeks before the show, I got a new job.

As it turned out, I got my first paycheck from my new job they day before the Symposium.  I could justify the expense again, and it seems like a bit of a karmic reward.

The show was fairly similar to last years show, and while I'd highly recommend that any fly tyer go at least once, there wasn't enough different to make me immediately say that I want to go again next year.  For the cost of the trip, I could easily add a rod, reel, or new piece of photo equipment to my arsenal, and now that I've seen what there is to see, I'll likely go that route instead.

That being said, I did have a great time at the show, and had a lot of fun in New Brunswick Saturday night.

I'm not sure how much I talked about it here last year, but when I went in 2010, I had only just bought my SLR, and at that point, I had no lens to use on it, which limited me to taking my compact camera to the symposium.  This year I got to take my SLR and get some pretty decent shots.  Hopefully you'll enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed taking the shots.

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My Fall (Part 2)

Aside from my now job, there were a few other really notable positives in the fall, the most relevant one to my readers is that I caught my largest trout to this point.

I didn't have a tape at the time, but comparing it to the rod beside it, I estimate it to be a 22-24" tiger trout.  This is my third tiger, and it was an intense fight on my 4wt!

As usual, I took a break from the small streams and wild brookies when they decided it was time to spawn...

As I said, I made it to Erie to do some steelhead fishing...

And for the first time in my life, I went duck hunting.  A friend of mine invited me to do a few days of hunting with him, and now I'm hooked, and on a mission to get a few ducks around here on my own.  My first duck hunting trip was successful...

But subsequent trips have been a bit less so.  In any event, it's a new venture for me, and just like fly fishing, I don't expect lots of early success.  I'll be out again early tomorrow morning to try to get a few, but even if I don't get any, every trip out is one closer to the trip where it all finally clicks.  For now, I'm just enjoying learning something new.

A few weeks after my first duck hunting outing, I started my new job, and focused on adjusting to it for a few weeks after that.  Still, it couldn't have come at a better time, as it meant I could afford the gas and hotel room to make the drive up to Somerset, NJ for the 2011 International Fly Tying Symposium.  While I was there, I made sure to take plenty of photos...

...which you will all get to see in my next update!

That's all for now.  Merry Christmas to all my readers, and when I post again after the holiday, you'll have lots of fly pictures!

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It's Been One Heck of a Fall

Hello again to all of my readers.

No, I'm not gone for good, but I had a lot of changes in my life over the past few months, and while I wasn't busy the entire time, usually when I had the time to post, I just wasn't inspired to do so.  While I'm not exactly inspired now, I wanted to pop in to let everyone know what's up.  My readers have been great ever since I got Dharma of the Drift started, so I wanted to let you know where I've been as well as where I intend to be in the future, with regard to the blog here.

When I last posted, it was early September.  summer fishing was winding to a close and my thoughts were rapidly turning north with thoughts of Lake Erie steelhead.  Then the unexpected happened, and I lost my job.

In retrospect, getting laid off hit me much harder than I ever thought it might.  Sure, there's the financial hardship, and the daunting task of finding a new job in this economy, but the hardest thing for me was the blow to my self-confidence.  It wasn't that I'd failed to perform or done anything wrong at work...just that, even after holding my position for four years, I was still low man on the totem pole in my department.  Business had been slow for a long time, everyone knew this, and my employers had done what they could to avoid layoffs, but as time went on and prospects remained bleak, they were forced to make difficult decisions, and while I wasn't pleased with the outcome, I don't take it personally.

Like I said, the biggest impact, for me, was the blow to my confidence.  While a part of me knew it had nothing to do with me as a person or a worker, it's hard to avoid the nagging feeling that somehow you didn't measure up or you weren't good enough.  I'm sure anyone who's been laid off before can understand.

While I immediately got to work getting my resumee into shape, I wasn't really optimistic about hunting for a job, interviewing, or even doing the things I enjoyed, like fishing, tying, and taking pictures.  My family was really great at that time, keeping me moving and encouraging me, while at the same time giving me the space I needed to sort things out on my own.

Over the next several weeks, I got my resumee up to date and submitted it to at least a dozen places, in person, online, you name it.  Eventually, keeping myself busy with the job hunt got me thinking about fishing again, and I realized, finally, that without a job, I was uniquely available for making a trip or two to Erie to fish during the less crowded weekdays in the early season.  This also got me back to tying, and before long I had dozens of eggs and buggers in boxes, and was driving north on I-79.  Through late September and early October, I managed to spend 7-8 days steelhead fishing, having some of my best days since starting to fish for steelhead.  Through this same time, I started to get a few calls about my resumees.  Finally, in early October, I got my first interview.

Things went well and through a bit of fate or karma or divine providence, the job I applied for (which wasn't in my field) was already filled, buuuuuuut they were considering adding a position that was exactly in my field.  At this point, a lot of my optimism and confidence returned, even though I still didn't have a job.  I think it was just the idea that yes, my skills were still useful, and yes, I had a chance at what seemed like a nice job.  I think my confidence must have shown through a bit, and they said they'd be in touch to schedule another interview.

Turns out that they called while I was up in Erie, fishing for steelhead.  After my trip, I returned, and did another interview, and a few days later, I got the call: I'd gotten the job.

I started my new job on Halloween, and while I do understand that I was fortunate, and very much in the right place at the right time, it gives me a little hope for our ailing economy.  I don't wish to use the site here as some sort of soapbox for my political views, but suffice to say that while there are certainly people that are in the position I was in for two months that abuse the system and don't try, I like to believe that there are lots more good, honest people that are trying, and that their right place and right time just haven't come yet.

In any event, that covers my life in September and October. I'm getting tired, and I have a cold, so I'm going to stop here for now, and finish bringing everyone up to speed in another post.  That'll likely be tomorrow.

Hopefully, my return finds my readers in good health and high spirits!

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Introducing: Iso Hatch Exposures

No big, meaty blog post today, just a question and an announcement for my readers.

First the question:

About a year ago, I wrote the five part Erie steelhead guide that has become, easily, the most viewed, linked to, talked about, and shared pages that I've ever produced.  It's clear that this is something that people really enjoyed, whether you (the readers) were the novice steelheaders that the articles were aimed toward, experienced steelhead anglers that were nonetheless interested, or even folks with no interest or inclination to go steelhead fishing that simply wanted to see what it was all about.

This year, I got started in my steelhead season preparation a bit later, having a trip to upstate New York to prepare for (and go on, naturally) at the beginning of August.  From the day I got back, however, to the present, it's been Operation: Steelhead at my vise.

That said, I'd like to write another piece on some aspect of the Erie steelhead experience, and I'm hoping my readers will let me know what they want.

I've been leaning toward a multi-piece article focusing on the tying aspect of things, covering everything from hooks and materials to tutorials and applications for all of the popular steelhead flies, from eggs and nymphs to buggers, hairwings, and specialty flies such as modern spey and intruders.

If this is something that my readers would be interested in, the comments section is the place to let me know.  If you have a different idea, that's the place to sound off as well.

Second, the announcement:

Over the weekend, I took advantage of some free time to finally launch a second Blogger site, focusing on my photography.  Over the past two or three years, photography, for me, has grown from taking a few pictures a month with a ten year old basic Kodak digital, to a hobby that occupies nearly as much of my time and energies as my fly fishing and tying.  While you've seen a significant portion of that work here, there's plenty of other pictures that never make it to the blog, simply because there's no reason for these photos to show up in a blog about fly fishing and tying.  Additionally, I tend to feel bad, like I've somehow 'cheaped out' if I post pictures with little or no text.  This sometimes keeps me from posting when I otherwise might.

I wanted to share these photos and avoid that stigma by starting a dedicated photoblog where I could post photos of anything and everything, without much text at all to distract from the images.

This desire helped bring about my new photoblog, and although it's in its very early stages and still undergoing many tweaks and adjustments, I'm eager to share it with my readers here.

Please take a look at it and let me know what you think, as well as any suggestions either here OR there...

Iso Hatch Exposures

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A Good Day

I had a good day on the water.  Seems like the first in a long, long time.

Granted, I haven't been making it easy on myself, using most of my fishing time to scout streams that may or may not hold wild trout, and once I find them, finding access, parking, and a lack of "No Trespassing" signs.  It's a thankless endavour, but finding just one or two streams on your own in a season is extremely rewarding.  This year, so far, I've found one, which I wrote about in a previous entry, but since then, I've encountered nothing but dried up streambeds, slow streams of water over 3 feet of mud, frogwater that conatined nothing but 2" bluegill, sewage drainage, and my personal favorite, the cruel tease of a beautiful little mountain stream, chock full of crawfish and huge cased caddis...but for some reason...no fish.  No trout, no minnows, no nothing.  I suspect it's because the streambed occasionally gets extremely low mid-summer, but it's a horrible thing to do to a blue-liner.

Today, I took the dSLR out to photograph a very specific location, with the intent of fishing a well-known stream after I was done.  I got some good shots (not as many as I'd have liked, but the location was secured better than I was led to believe), then headed for the stream.

As I geared up, I grabbed my photo backpack, intending to log my fishing in photos.  Usually, I take my compact, but I figured since I have my SLR with me, why not bring it.  As I assembled my rod, I wondered if taking along my camera might be bad luck...a sort of arrogant confidence in my producing something worthy of a picture...

I always used to leave the camera in the car when visiting a place for the first time, considering that first trip to be just between me and the stream...and that photographing it was sort of like kissing and telling.  After that first trip, photograph whatever you like, but leave that first one just for your memory.

Obviously from the content here, I'd gotten over that superstition some time ago, but something in the back of my mind said to stick to my hunch, and leave it in the car.  As a typical superstitious angler, I put the camera backpack back in the trunk of my car, and even removed my waterproof compact from it's pocket in my fishing pack.

As I walked to the water, I briefly considered going back for it, but I never did.  Instead, I tied on a streamer and headed for a promising riffle.

Three casts into things, I landed a fat wild brown trout...about 14" long, on my 000wt.

Three casts after that, I landed a wild rainbow of similar proportions.

And this is why anglers remain a superstitious lot.

Over the remainder of the afternoon, I only took one more trout, another rainbow, but this one slightly larger and up top on a stimulator.  I missed two more in that manner, but it was my fault for allowing too much slack line.

Also, I got bombed.  No, for real.  I was fishing under a few trees and heard something crashing through the branches overhead. Moments later, just upstream there was a big splash in some shallow water.  After I calmed down, I walked out from under the trees and looked up.  High in the sky, a huge bald eagle soared overhead, circling.  A beautiful sight.  Putting two and two together, I walked back over to where the splash was and saw a big rainbow trout, very dead, with three big talon wounds in its side.

Well, dead was dead, I decided, and there was no point in the fish going to waste, so I picked it up and placed it on the shore out in the open, where (hopefully) the eagle would see it and come retrieve his dinner. If not, at least it would be accessible for a raccoon or some other animal, rather than rotting on the stream bottom.

All in all, it was a great trip.  No photos, though. The sights I saw today were just for me.

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