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Enjoy this Vimeo On Demand video from Tight Loops. You won’t be disappointed!

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A story about passion for fishing and sharing it with others.

The Journey from HOOKÉ on Vimeo.

The post The Journey first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

There are several steelhead rivers in the Baldwin area but this year, aside from one group of two fishing the Muskegon River for a day and another group fishing the White River for a day, all our fishing was done on the Pere Marquette River.

The portion of the Pere Marquette we fished has both National Wild and Scenic River and Blue Ribbon fishery designations. It’s fisheries population includes resident brown and rainbow trout as well as migratory king salmon and steelhead.

It was the later that were the focus of our attention. Prime time for the the spring steelhead run is during March and April so we were full of anticipation. And while it may technically be a spring run, that doesn’t necessarily translate into sunshine and budding trees. This year the spring has been cool and we were greeted with a certain chill to the start of our trip.

As it turned out, the Saturday forecast for the coming week provided accurate for Sunday but somewhat optimistic for the rest of the week. The forecast snow for Sunday began shortly after we launched and continued through the day. But it didn’t seem to deter the fish and so, neither us.

Monday began with a blanket of snow, clear skies and sun which melted much of the snow through the course of the day but unfortunately, also pushed the steelhead to depths were they could not be seen until later in the day when the sun moved from overhead.

Tuesday began with clouds and the promise of rain but that was ok. The previous two days my fishing had been on the fly fishing section but today we were going to the middle section of the Pere Marquette – new water for me. The conditions proved acceptable to the fish and we in turn had consistent hook ups throughout the day. Fish to the boat, perhaps less consistent.

Wednesday was our last day on the water. Again the forecast called for rain but it held off until early in the afternoon. Through the afternoon showers and claps of thunder were only a minor deterrent as the fish proved generally cooperative.

Our four days of fishing came to an end way too soon.

The post Steelhead on the Pere Marquette first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

It turns out my friend Bob, how has fished the local trout lakes more than anyone I know has fished this particular lake numerous times. After one of his recent trips we agreed to fish it together some time.

The time has come. Its been a hot summer – more sustained than normal I think. But an early start promised a good morning of fishing before the day’s heat built up. So we agreed to meet at the lake for an early start – not sunrise early mind you but early enough to beat the heat. Our plan was to fish until about noon.

Things look promising right off the launch.

Based on a recent trip Bob felt the warm weather had driven the fish to deeper water so I rigged a clear intermediate line to start the day.  The fly of choice was a gold and brown bead head streamer that was my idea of a minnow imitation.

The lake is long and narrow with the launch at the north end. We were fishing with float tubes and it was unlikely we would make it to the far end in the time we had but I was assured we would have enough action to keep us occupied. And the fish didn’t disappoint. Bob had a fish on before I had time to launch but I had a hit within minutes of launch. The energetic smallmouth surfaced, gave a head shake and was off. An encouraging start.

The action continued although the hits were relatively subtle. In many cases a slight tension on the line was the only indication a fish was showing interest.

Bob motioned to an upcoming rock point indicating based on past experience it was work putting in a bit of extra effort around it. His advice proved to be correct. He had a solid hit from what seemed to be a largemouth but after a few minutes of dogged fight, about a 24 inch pike surfaced. I was informed that the lake also had a population of pike and walleye just for variety.

Another subtle tug first seemed like a snag on the subsurface rocks but it started moving suggesting that might not be the case. Moving this fish from the deep with my 5wt rod was taking some effort but eventually I was able to bring a hefty largemouth.

We continued down the far side of the lake catching fish here and there with enough regularity to keep us engaged. The land along this shore is crown land and cottage free. Later in the morning we decided it was time to return to the launch and crossed over to the other side of the lake. Along the way back we fished around the cottage docks, attracting both large and smallmouth base as we worked our way back. None were extremely large but there were lots in the 1-2 pound range and on 5wt rods we had to pay attention to what we were doing.

Its nice to fish a new lake and have success. This doesn’t always happen but fishing with someone who has been there before definitely increases the odds. Note to self, take more time to explore new fishing spots.

The post A New Bass Lake first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

So anyway, I was curious enough to add it to my Christmas list. I came away with at 200 grain OPST Commando Head that I intended to use with a nine foot 5 weight TFO Axiom rod I like use for smallmouth bass.

That was a few months ago and aside from fooling around with the line in the yard – which is not a good way to evaluate these lines, a couple nights ago was the first time I had was able to get the line out on the water.

In preparation they configuration I used included backing and running line to which the Commando Head was attached. To the business end, I attached a sinking polyleader and a short section of flourocarbon tippet. OPST sells a variety of tips which I think I will look into as an alternative to the polyleader (including floating tips). However this was the setup I had so off we went.

We have been having extremely hot temperatures with high humidity so it was great to get into the water for more reason than one.

There is good wading at this point in the river with lots of places for bass to hide among the rocks.

It didn’t take long to get the basic idea of how the line cast on a single hand rod. I was quite impressed with how the line flew from the rod. While not an expert two handed caster, I was able to experiment with a variety of two hand casts that proved to work well with the line.

All told, first impressions were positive. No question practice will be beneficial – must make a point of doing so this summer.

The post OPST Skagit Commando Head for Single Hand Rods first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

Chase and Aimee Bartee of Tight Loops Fly are working on just such an adventure and have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help offset the cost of their trip.  Have a look at their campaign information and see if it can help fuel your own curiosity.

The post Labrador Brook Trout Adventure first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

Late Sunday I headed down to the river to check out one of my evening fishing spots.  Its close and usually makes for an entertaining couple hours of fishing.  

Last year was a challenge – the river was high all season long making wading difficult.  I think I fished here a total of three times last near, never reaching many of the spots I like to fish.  So a question was – what would this spot look this year?

As it turned out, river conditions were dramatically different, meaning more wadeable.  But a lot had changed over the year.  The previous season’s high water and winter runoff had changed the shape of the river reshaping and moving gravel bars significantly. 

Tonight was not the time to fully explore the new river.  But it was good to see that it was back. 

The post Bass - Season Opener first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

The destination was Kenauk Nature’s Lac Taunton.   With ice off so recent, anticipation was high.

The Taunton chalet is first class.  It is one of the new and larger ones with plenty of comfortable space for our crew.  

It didn’t take long to stow their gear and head down to the lake.

And out onto the lake, hopefully for some productive late afternoon fishing.

As it turned out, the fish either weren’t all that hungry or we couldn’t figure out what they wanted.  It took a while but as the sun began to set, the fish turned on.

The lake is stocked with colourful rainbow trout including some very nice sized ones!  We hooked into several energetic fish in the 17-19 inch range.  Even after the long winter their bodies were thick and powerful.  My personal success came fishing a clear intermediate line using a black micro zonker.  The day ended with promise.

While conditions looked good for the following day, fishing proved tough and again it wasn’t until later in the day before people began to catch numbers of fish. Maddenly, I was skunked for the day despite trying almost everything I could imagine.  At least others were more successful so there was hope.

Last morning before heading home, out on the water by 6 for a few hours of fishing before breakfast.  The one thing I had not tried the previous day was dropping down to a narrower tippet size.  So this morning out came the 4x, something I can’t remember using on this lakes in the past.

Gearing up and getting the float tube in the water was done in short order.  My plan was to begin fishing off part of the shoreline where there was lots of deadwood fallen into the water.  From a distance I had seen rises there the previous morning.  One of the limitations of the float tube is that it takes a while to move around so shifting locations is no accomplished without a bit of work. 

Whether it was the tippet or just a new day, things started off much better.  Within 30 minutes I had hooked and landed three nice rainbows, casting a small minnow imitation towards the wood and dragging it back to deeper water.  

Things slowed a bit for me after the first hour but clearly the fish weren’t done.

Kenauk Nature offers great fishing and can accommodate a wide range of fishers.

A sometimes challenging but nonetheless excellent start to the season!

The post Early Season Kenauk Trout first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.

The guys at Fly Fish Food are located a long ways from where I do most of my fishing but I appreciate their fly tying videos and often find something that I want to try to replicate for my own purposes.  

Next weekend’s trip is to Kenauk Nature for rainbow trout and hopefully a repeat of a great weekend last October.  Before that trip I tied a few of Fly Fish Food’s Complex Twist Bugger 2 and they proved very effective on some of the larger rainbows hanging in deeper water.  They will be along for the ride again this year.

But a recent repost of Big Ben’s Brown Bugger got my attention.  Here is my poor imitation of their fine pattern.  We’ll see how it works next weekend.

Big Ben’s Brown Bugger

The post Trip Preparations first appeared on Leader to Tippet to Fly.