January 2010

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Success and ice surfing…

January 31, 2010 in Fly Fishing | No comments

River: Pecos River, Pecos NM

Date: 2010-01-31

Conditions: Sunny but cold, still a lot of ice on the river with some small openings. Look for any slow moving water and deep pools.

Today I finally landed a fish on one of the flies I had tied. The fly was one I planned on using later in the year but since I was having luck with the San Juan Worms I figured I would give a go. The fly is a Green Rock Worm. This is a Caddis larva (Rhyacophila).

Green Rock Worm (Rhyacophila)

So the first rig of the day is Green Rock Worm with a small red San Juan Worm dropper. I did a bit of hiking from the Willow Creek day use area and found a really nice pool flowing up against a large boulder. It looked good, the best spot I had seen so far this winter given the limited access.

So I hiked down river a bit and made my approach upstream. First cast into the pool just at the trail of the riffle leading into it. I float it right through the heart of the pool and BAM! First cast and I had a fish on the line but not for long. He wiggled off fairly quickly.

After that I had a few more indications of bites but nothing then I hooked a really nice fish. He was a lot larger than any fish I had on my line all winter. I fought him for a few seconds and got him close to my legs right then he wiggled off. Damn, he was nice sized. I know it was a brown, I got him that close.

I figure I have spooked this pool now but I try a few more times and I got another on the line. This time I got him on the snow.

After that I hiked up the river hitting what slow water I came across but I would have no more action on this day, well, sort of. One thing about fishing this river this time of year is the ice along the sides. I was really careful the first few times walking out to the river but after a while I got a bit complacent. As I walked out to get to another section of the river I strolled on out towards the edge and planned on just jumping in.

Well, the ice almost took me down. The ice broke off before I expected it to. Luckily I have good reflexes.

I surfed ice for a second…

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It’s the worms…

January 30, 2010 in Fly Fishing | No comments

River: Pecos River, Pecos NM

Date: 2010-01-31

Conditions: Sunny but cold, still a lot of ice on the river with some small openings. Look for any slow moving water and deep pools.

Well, another day on the water.

I thought I would start a little earlier today. I don’t think it made that much of a difference.

I started out using your basic GR Hare’s Ear and a small black Midge dropper. I didn’t have a lot of luck with that so I just added another dropper off the midge. This was a small red San Juan Worm.

At least one fish seemed to like it:

He looks worried but he has nothing to fear from me. I like my eatin’ fish a bit larger and of the salt water variety. I am, for the most part, strictly a catch, scare the **** out of, and release dude when it comes to trout.

So he goes back home to the same slow moving section I took him from:

Another good day hunting La Gran Trucha…

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It’s not always about catching fish…

January 29, 2010 in Fly Fishing | No comments

I went out again today with some more newly tied flies. I didn’t get anything but can you beat being on the river with a box of flies you tied on a day like this?

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New spots, new tactics…

January 27, 2010 in Fly Fishing | 5 comments

Time for a new approach on the river. Remembering back to the last time when the fish were striking my orange thingamabobber I thought I would go with a large orange salmon egg and an orange San Juan Worm after a discussion with the gents at the Reel Life in Santa Fe.

I Honestly don’t know why I did not do this before but I was too focused on bugs and not bait. It makes sense now that I think about it. I would have never put on the worm in the Pecos but as you will see, it was the only thing that produced on this day.

I hit the usual hole first above the Tererro bridge:

I worked this area well. It took a long time playing around with depth. I started shallow and went lower. Once I got near the bottom I pulled a little guy out on the Worm.

After that I moved to a new section of river I had spied a while back but never hiked to.

There were a couple nice slow pools but I did not get any interest in the Worm or the Egg. This was a quick trip and that was all I brought with me so that ended this day on the Pecos…

If you have Google Earth this is the location of that bridge …

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A Turkey a day…

January 17, 2010 in Fly Fishing | No comments

It was time to hit the Pecos River again and try out my newly tied flies. The river had melted a lot since my venture out on the first of the year so that was good. I even saw a couple other fisherman on the water which is rare this time of year.

I intended to fish this stretch of water but I took a little while getting everything setup and by the time I walked over to get in those two guys I saw before had moved in. It was semi-Ninja like on their part, nice moves!

So I hit the pool above the old bridge.

With a large Beadhead Hares Ear and a smaller Hares Ear trailer I hit the pool. First cast, I saw a fish rise and strike my indicator! 2nd cast nothing. 3rd cast I felt it, Strike! I had him on for about 5 seconds then he shook loose. Oh well.

Seeing as that hole was pretty much spooked after that I moved up river to another section. As I made my way to the river I kept seeing small piles of black fluffy feathers and as I rounded a small group of trees I found the source.

Seems a wildcat or dog had a Turkey lunch

I ended collecting a really nice bundle of Turkey feather. I don’t know if I could use all of this in a lifetime.

After gathering and stashing I kicked through the ice and worked this small stretch of river. I was working the stream from one side to the next but no action. Then, I got my rig to run right along the ice shelf on the side, and damn it if another fish didn’t shoot out from under the ice and strike at my indicator.

Well if they want big orange bugs I will help them out. I re rig using the largest attractor pattern I got that is the same color as the indicator. I tie a small Hares Ear dropper and go to work. Not another bite the whole time. So I moved back to the original hole I started in above the old bridge with this same plan. No takers on the attractor but I got another fish on the hares ear but failed to land this one as well.

Well, my flies got bites and I got enough turkey feathers to last a lifetime. So, all in all, not a bad day for me!

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Making sweet bug…

January 16, 2010 in Uncategorized | No comments

Tying Flies…

This is not a necessary skill to fly fish successfully but it is one that adds much more enjoyment to landing a beautiful fish. It might also save you some money in the long run if you can keep yourself from impulse buying too much material and gadgets. To create something realistic enough to fool a fish then have the ability to tie it on to the end of a fly rod and be able to present in a fashion that mimics nature.

First attempt at the Elk Hair Caddis...

It all adds up in the end and gives you a unique feeling. As I began fishing more since moving back West fly tying had been on my mind. I knew I had a fly tying kit somewhere. I had toted this kit around with me for that last 16 years and I finally was about to put it to some use. After a month or two of searching it finally appeared, as if out of nowhere. I had given up on the search at one point and posted on a fly fishing message board that I wished to buy some used equipment, if available. That same day I thought I would make one run at finding this kit and as I walked in the Garage, like a miracle, there it was. It was as if someone had placed it right in plain view for me. It was quite odd as I knew I had been through this garage a number of times.

Well, anyway, divine intervention or not, I was glad to have found it.

After fumbling through the contents and getting things setup I proceeded to jump right back in. As I awkwardly funmble with the tools things started coming back to me, certain movements and what materials were used for what. I thought that bit was quite amazing considering finding my car keys is usually a daily challenge.  So, for such small things to be coming back to me after so many years was exciting. It must mean something, right? It was meant to be.

Getting better...

It is easy for me to see my mistakes while tying and also in the finished product. There are tools I did not have to make things work for me. The pictures you see in this post might look somewhat similar but trust me there are huge differences.

Take the first photo you see above. The hackle (that is the spiky hair you see that makes up the body of the fly) is way too long for this particular fly; The Elk Hair Caddis. The Elk hair that makes the upper wing is also too long and the ends are not even. This step requires a hair stacker, at least for me it did. Apparently some people can get them to even up with their hands but not this guy.

Progress is being made. I have added about 5 flies to my stable that will all function well on my local river. I will be out there soon, trying to fool La Gran Trucha with my creations.

Hopefully I will be successful because a lot of time and effort has gone into this. I know I will be though because I know that even though Trout are touted to be sneaky and smart, they are also impulsive and opportunistic and will eat things that just look “buggy” to them.

Winter is harder fishing so I won’t get discouraged too easily. Now if I don’t catch anything at least I have an excuse….

New Years on the Pecos

January 1, 2010 in Uncategorized | No comments

On the first day of the new year I thought I would go try my luck on the Pecos River in Pecos NM. I live in the town of Pecos and this river flows through the town. It originates in the canyon north of town in the Sangre De Cristo Mountain range. Most of the river is frozen over this time of the year but if you go up the canyon 10 or so miles there are some spots exposed to the sun and you have a few small sections that are fishable.

I started my day at the old mining town of Tererro. I didn’t have much luck but managed to hook a really small rainbow that wiggled off my line as I was reaching for it. After that it was slow. I moved up the river a ways between Tererro and Cowles(another old mining town) and hit a section of river there. I managed to get one small Brown landed.

No one really fishes this river in the winter for obvious reasons seeing that most of it is frozen over and there is not a lot of activity. I just went with the go to flies; the Stonefly and Hares Ear.

I will have to play around a bit more with size and color and see if I can generate more interest from the fish. But, at least I am off on a decent start for this years season, I didn’t skunked anyway…