roughfisher.com

The Air Cav

2012-05-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

Bring in the Air Cav!

Introducing Colonel Kilgore and his cavalrymen. Decked out in Vietnam era olive drab and yellow cavalry accouterments. Airmobile!

The smell, that gasoline smell... I love the smell of rabbit strip in the morning. Reminds me of...victory.
-- Dan Frasier

the Carp-pocalypse

2012-05-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

From Adam McNamara, Portland, Oregon Orvis Store Fishing Manager and co-owner of Castaway Guide Service:

CARPIN’ FOR A CAUSE
Last fall I started working on a little side project. I had an idea to throw a fly fishing tournament for Carp that would be a great chance for a bunch of people to get together catch some big fish, drink some awesome beer, eat some BBQ, and help the Native fish we all love. After some hard work and lots of help from from some awesome people at the Native Fish Society, Orvis, Ninkasi Brewing, Idylwilde Flies, John Montana, and others I am proud to say it has finally come together.

Today I am proud to announce the first annual Carp-pocalypse Tournament at Banks Lake in Washington. Clear water, shallow flats, lots of fish, and plenty of sun make this a perfect place for everyone to get together and have some fun while helping our native fish. This is a two day tournament with a tailgate party on Saturday night so come prepared to impress with your tailgating abilities as well as your mad flats fishing skills. All it takes to join is a minimum donation of $25.00 to the Native Fish Society. To sign up or get more information come see me at the Portland Orvis store or give me a call at 503-598-7680.

So here's your chance to meet and fish with legendary carpers like John Montana and Jim Pankiewicz and support a good cause like the Native Fish Society. Hogan Brown and Patrick Kilby will be representing Team Idylwilde, with rumors of a scruffy looking nerfherder making the voyage west to join the ranks. More details on that to be announced at a later date. Save the dates, August 11 and 12, 2012 at Banks Lake in Washington.

Ride of the Valkyries

2012-05-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

Everything you need for Beaver Island and then some. Mustache Rides and Landing Strips.

Carp beware! Charlie don't surf.

stoned

2012-04-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

The beauty of working in streams most of the summer is that I get an in depth look at the diversity of macroinvertebrate life and streamside ecology. Performing stream restoration and habitat improvement projects allow me to witness insect hatches alongside excavators, loaders, and ASVs moving rock and placing in rock riffles, weirs, and coarse woody habitat. This knowledge helps me place when and where I'll find certain insects and where they'll emerge. Know where the bugs are, and you'll find the fish.

Turning over stones will give you an indicator of what bugs are present and where. Kick seining is also a useful tool, though sometimes you may catch drifters from a reach upstream that may not be entirely indicative of the assemblage under foot. Regardless, getting this involved in investigating what's going on in the stream bed is a hell of a lot more useful than approaching a reach blind, especially when there is no apparent hatch going on. Even more so when approaching new waters, and not knowing whether or not that section of stream possesses the water quality necessary for many species of mayflies and stoneflies, as well as other macroinvertebrates.

I found a treasure trove of stonefly nymphs the other day, ranging in size from microstones to golden stoneflies and brown willow flies. Plecoptera provide some of the biggest meals for many fish, especially those that prefer invertebrates without claws. They are also an excellent indicator species, intolerant of water pollution. Seems that Skwalas are the buzzword lately, especially among folks in the PNW. Whether or not it's the hip fly for you to fish or not, stoneflies are big meaty morsels and fish do eat them.

There are a ton of different patterns you can fish as stonefly nymphs, ranging from attractor patterns like yellow sallies and prince nymphs to skwala skaters. I typically rely on my Fresh Pimp Nymphs to get the job done when fishing stonefly waters. This is probably my most fished pattern in the spring, next to the Thunderbird. They both are great attractor patterns worthy of fooling fish feeding on stonefly nymphs, hellgrammites, or large mayfly drakes.

Tough to beat big meat.

Monday Fly Porn

2012-04-23T10:34:00.002-05:00

My bi-tone version of a Ruffian. Oddly enough, the rabbit hair throat appears so coarse in this photo it almost looks like elk hair. I bet you could fish this as a sinking hopper pattern in a pinch. I'll probably be working a few different color variations to see what the carp prefer but this one looks like a winner.

Targhee Fest & Fly Fishing Vacation Sweepstakes

2012-04-20T09:07:00.001-05:00

MOUNTAIN KHAKIS® Grand Targhee Resort Present the “Targhee Fest & Fly Fishing Vacation” Sweepstakes

Winner: (1) Grand Prize Winner plus (1) Guest
Promotion Period: April 3 – April 24, 2012! * Winner will be announced April 25, 2012
Prize Package Date: July 12-16, 2012
Prize Package Value: est $4658
Prize Package Details:

• Grand Targhee Resort: (1) room for (4) nights based on double occupancy, July 12-16, 2012; (2) 3-Day “Targhee Fest” Festival
passes; (2) 5-Day Lift Passes; (2) 1-Day Mountain Bike Rentals
• Mountain Khakis®: (4) MK Pants or Shorts of Choice, (2) MK!Shirts of Choice, (2) MK Belts of Choice, (2) MK Hat or Visor of Choice & (2) MK T-Shirts of Choice
• WorldCast Anglers: (2) Private 2-Hour Casting Lessons, (2) Private Full-Day Guided Float Trip & Fly Fishing, (2) Orvis® Equipment Rentals, (2) Shore-Side Lunch
• KEEN® Footwear: (2) Pairs “Targhee II” Shoes of Choice
• Slumberjack®: (2) “Lone Pine” Sleeping Bags, (2) “Trail Tent 2”
• Osprey® Packs: (1) “Stratos 24” Pack, (1) “Sirrus 24” Pack
• Smartwool®: (2) “Head-to-Toe” Outfits
• YETI® Coolers: (1) “Tundra 45” Cooler
• Klean Kanteen®: (1) 27 oz "Reflect" Kanteen, (1) 20 oz "Insulated Kanteen" (1) 4-pack "Steel Pints"

*Winner & Guest responsible for all travel-related expenses and make their own arrangements

Full Rules and Regulations.

Sweepstakes ends at 11:59PM EST on April 24, 2012. Enter now!

The Dirty Hobo

2012-04-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

The scaled down, dirty drifter version, based off of the Ruffian. No need carrying around a beard and trench coat when you can crash in a boxcar. Simplify man.

Ruff and Ready

2012-04-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

Some more tweaking with my Ruffian pattern. I played up on the two tone look with the pheasant hackle and dubbed the body in peacock instead of the same color of the body. I also added a couple more strands of midge flash to the tail section and added dark tipped rabbit to the throat instead of the single hued fur. Looks pretty tantalizing if you ask me. Let's see if the carp and smallies agree too.

I'd hit that.

Roughfisher's Ruffians

2012-04-17T15:19:00.000-05:00

Triple the hackle for triple the pleasure: grizzly marabou tail, hen pheasant and ruffed grouse double thorax.

Carp, beware of brass knuckles hiding beneath their trenchcoat and fists underneath their beard. These are the toughest flies I know.

More Fan Mail

2012-04-12T17:14:00.000-05:00

Dear Roughfisher,

Here's a picture of an admirer of your carp crack! I hooked the fish for her and then let her fight it! She could barely hold the thing!!!!

Image courtesy of Bennett Muraski

The fish was caught on a size 8 orange carp crack, the fish was 32"L and 19"G. no scale though...

-- Bennett Muraski

Thanks for the note and photo Bennett. Well done! I love seeing photos from my readers with fish they've caught on my patterns. Even better when a kid is involved! If you've got any fish porn to share that was caught on one of the roughfisher's patterns, send them my way. Use the contact me form and send me a note.

Flats of the Third Coast

2012-04-10T14:00:00.001-05:00

Flats of the Third Coast from FP Media on Vimeo.

Check out the new Beaver Island video from Caleb of fishpornfix.com. You might even catch my ugly mug if you look close. Makes me want to go back and cruise the flats again.

Changeup

2012-04-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Continuing on with the odd weather as of late. One day, seventy degree plus temps, the next, barely breaking fifty. The ice is gone, the snow has been long gone for over a month. Water temperatures in the main river systems are still fairly cold, with barely a sign of walleye spawning activity. Soon after the walleyes spawn, do the suckers. Places where you'd think you'd see fish are devoid of any life. Went up to the carp flats at mid day and nothing. Then the sun came out and fish were jumping, spawning, everywhere. Weird.

I decided that it was time to give a few Critter Gitters their first taste of action. I wasn't gonna throw them into the shit right away, but give them a few exercises in less of a hot zone. First few casts into some rocky pocket water and picked off a few smallies. Not that I doubted their potential, smallmouth are simple greedy pigs, quite stupid really, fun to torment with rubber, fur, feather and steel. Time to move on to some real targets.

First drift through a promising run and I hook up. All I saw was a dorsal fin break the surface and I couldn't tell if it was a carp or a buffalo. After a couple large pulls upstream and then down, I scrambled to get my freshly stripped line back onto the spool. As I pulled the fish against the current I manage to bring it to the surface, a decent sized bigmouth buffalo. Had a brand new net with me and even remembered to use my digital scale. I put the netted fish on the hook, something I have rarely done in the past, scaling out at 10.5#.

Hopefully next time I'll get the carp to play. I only had an hour window between when the sun came out and when I had to leave. Foul hooked a few tailers in the mud, visibility worse than that of chocolate milk. Saw a couple of nice spawners, but mostly small little punks. Hopefully the weather will become more consistent. Until then I'll keep dreaming of chasing tails...

Live Más

2012-04-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

More fly porn: the Critter Gitter in my Super Squirrel brown spectral dubbing blend.

Between, my hot orange, olive, peacock, and squirrel brown variations, the carp should be on a feeding frenzy this season.

Let's roll!

Carp Fritters

2012-03-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

More fried goodness from the carp fly chef...

Carp Fritter anyone?

Pimpin' Ain't Easy

2012-03-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

I love it when goodies arrive in the mail. Check out the new tee from Musky Hustler, courtesy of Geoff Samples. Like it on Facebook!

It's even better when Geoff tosses in a few "extras"!

Hell yeah! I'm sexy and I know it! Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle yeah!

Spring Sucker Nymphing Tactics

2012-03-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Fly selection when working the spring spawning run can be critical. Hatches are very sporadic and light when they do occur and the pickings are slim, as there just isn't the diversity of emerging insects during early spring as you find later on in the season. Caddis and midge nymphs are always a safe bet to fish through out the year as they are always present. With early spring, however, I often think of the other March Madness, the stonefly hatch.

Staging fish aren't always interested in feeding, as they have one thing on their minds, spawning. And rarely do I find suckers feeding on the surface due to their subterminal mouths. So I fish low and slow. I like fishing tungsten weighted stonefly and drake nymph patterns like my Thunderbird, Boreal Bomber, and Fresh Pimp nymphs and bounce them along the bottom. Every so often a fish may take an emerging fly on the rise, at the end of the drift, but this is not typical during the prespawn phase. If you need more weight to reach bottom, throw on some extra lead. Suckers will hold tight to the bottom and will only feed if a fly is easy pickings. I like to utilize tightline nymphing during this time of year, as I can better detect the subtle takes. Bouncing the fly on the bottom using your rod tip will also add to the detection as well as help give your fly the appearance of a dislodged nymph tumbling along the bottom of the stream bed.

This isn't bobber fishing or fishing for stockers, this is a numbers game. Getting your fly in the zone is crucial, as are the repeated runs and drifts of your nymph. Fish may spook and get lined, but they'll quickly roll back into their hold in the current seam, jockeying for precious spawning gravel real estate. It is to your advantage that you can keep drifting your fly through the zone in the hopes of an eventual hook up.

Your ROI (return on investment) may be low but if your put your time in, you will rack up the numbers of caught fish.

Sprung

2012-03-26T16:30:00.000-05:00

Spring is running well ahead of schedule here in the Great White North, with the second earliest ice out on Big Detroit Lake, just barely missing the earliest ice out ever recorder in 1910 by one day. For a little perspective, the average ice out date for Big Detroit Lakes is April 19. To say that spring came a little early this year is an understatement.

The arrival of warm temps and early ice out threw a little curve in my game. The key to spring fishing is water temperature, though the photo period does play a role in fish activity and spawning. Water temps have of coursed risen earlier than the normal and so begins the chase of running fish. A few early scouting runs didn't produce any results, though I was only off by a couple of days. Diligence this time of year pays off as a single day can bring in hordes of fish staging for the spawn. As is the case around here, seasonal stream closures in a few areas that are designed to protect vulnerable spawning game fish throw a wrench in my fishing hot spots, as these spots are sanctuaries for many sucker species in addition to northern pike and walleye. That's where being adept at using a Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer, Google maps and aerial photos can make the difference between being on fish and being shut out.

My timing was perfect; schools of suckers and no crowds. The advantage to being on the ball when scouting is beating the crowds to the punch. By the time the local brigade arrives, I've already had my fun playing out these staging suckers. The bonus of these stream closures is that since the suckers spawn after the walleyes, the closed areas provide a haven for these spawning suckers until the fishing opener arrives. A little relief from the spear chuckers and bowfishing crowd never hurt anything.

Trying not to foul hook a sucker when they are stacked up like cordwood can be a challenge. Every once in a while, even while I'm trying to be careful, you hook up with a trash fish... the bottom-feeding walleye.

Tommy Two-Tone

2012-03-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Experimenting a little with some two tone body coloration. Perhaps the changes are too subtle, but they still look deadly.

the buff

2012-03-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Shadow dancers of the prairies, you intrigue me. You captivate me. You move me.

I'll be back for more.

Shag Carpeting

2012-03-15T23:00:00.000-05:00

Some more experimenting with the shag dubbing, even a little tweakage with the venerable Carp Crack. Only one way to see if the fish like them....

Disco Biscuit

2012-03-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Introducing the Disco Biscuit, decked out with with some shagtastic dubbing. All that's missing is the Naugahyde leisure suit, platform shoes, and disco ball.

Scruffy Looking Nerfherders

2012-03-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

More tweaks of the original Critter Gritter. I found these mini centipede legs from MFC the other day and figured they would add the perfect complement to the marabou tail section. While the medium sized centipede legs looked great and proved successful on the water, the mini legs may be a bit more understated.

So far I'm digging the Hot Craw orange and olive the best. This may just be the final tinkering that this fly needs...

Party With Sluts

2012-03-12T15:45:00.001-05:00

Winter seemingly lasted only a couple weeks around here this year, an odd departure from last year's season of doom and gloom and record snowfall. I'll take it.

I'll take anything I can get, in fact. I am a whore. A fly fishing whore to be exact. I love spending countless hours down at the river brothel, diddling away my time and getting my flies wet. I like to make sure I have enough lead in the pencil to get my flies down and dirty. I like riding them deep. That's where all the fun is.

I spent some time the previous weekend concocting up a wicked brew of dubbing batches, Hot Craw and Pumpkin. Similar to my burnt orange dubbing variety, I used a base of squirrel, hare and rabbit. I added some Finn raccoon to the base fibers as well. Along with a medley of antron, floss/rayon, and other polyamide fiber goodies, I added a few extra trade secret ingredients. I also mixed up some of the highlight colors to lend to two complements that I hadn't previously utilized, hot orange to the Hot Craw dub, and highlander green and chartreuse to the pumpkin dub. As per the usual, the true essence of a spectral blend of translucent fiber based dubbing is difficult to capture on film. You'll have to trust my judgement and my word for it when I say that it is awesome.

I can tell you that black crappies know how to party. This playah loved him some Critter Gitter. I hope the carp come to party too. Looks like I'll need to make a booty call and pay a visit to their crib.

2012 F3T Minneapolis - They came, they saw, they partied

2012-03-10T16:30:00.000-06:00

The 2012 F3T show in Minneapolis played to a sold out crowd. Folks were waiting at the door in hopes of extra tickets, there was even a criagslist ad asking for any miracles. Standing room only and the folks were loving it. Plenty of yipping and hollering at all the high definition fish porn showing on the big screen. This year's show was far and away the best event since the film tour starting coming to the Twin Cities 4 years ago.

There was plenty of swag to go around, and a few big winners. Plenty of goodies doled from show sponsor Scientific Anglers; glad I was there to represent!

SA stepped up huge with their VIP after party. Their impromptu tickets were baller, embossed even! Some good eats from Pepitos satisfied all of our appetites. And after a few Nordeasts brews and a shot of Makers, this was the perfect cap to an awesome evening.

It's always great recconecting with old friends, guide buddys, industry folks, and meeting new faces. Had a great time befriending the show hosts, even if one of them needed a hemorrhoid pillow haha. Already looking forward to next year's show. Bigger and better!

2012 F3T Minneapolis Almost Here!

2012-03-07T13:30:00.000-06:00

Just a friendly reminder to check out the Fly Fishing Film Tour show in Minneapolis at the Parkway Theater at 700 PM this Friday, March 9.

Don't forget, there will plenty of giveaways and free swag to be handed out by the show sponsors! I've also got a few goodies from Mountain Khakis to give away after the show, including a bunch of gift cards and swag. See you there!