The Lizzard Lounge and the Kamikaze Shrimp

As I speed up the highway north toward salmon country, my mind slips to images of standing knee deep in the cool fall water. The water was just raised by rainfall graciously received a few days prior. As the wind parts around my helmet, thoughts of school leave my mind. The cold fall winds cut through my motorcycle jacket and bring me back to reality; a 2 hour drive from Fredericton to Sunny Corner, New Brunswick has just started. Making my way off of the wide highway into narrow two lane curves where once thriving communitiey still stand ; McGivney, Astle and Boisetown to name a few. I arrive at Doaktown , where I am to meet with Kyle Price for a lend of some waders (mine are still in transit from Montana, for the second time). I pull into Tim Horton's, get the waders, have a quick say with Kyle and order a large double double to warm me up.

Journey to the Lizzard Lounge

After about 6 dollars in gas, I cross the Doaktown Bridge and the urge to toss a line is peaking. As I roll into Blackville, I decide to make a stop to see my friend Cathy Colford-Mehiltz at Curtis Miramichi Outfitters for another visit almost two weeks after my first. A half hour visit ends with a new hat, some killer flies and a friendly farewell. It is always so nice to meet up with Facebook friends throughout my travels, a personal connection is much more enjoyable than some words exchanged over the internet.

 I hop on my bike again and continue North, taking the Warwick Settlement exit past the Renous-Plaster Rock highway. A few more corners, turn offs and a bridge or two and I land at the Lizzard Lounge (Paul and Steph's home away from home), to end my journey. Paul and Stephanie are there to greet me, it's been much too long since I have had the honour to see them both. I get inside just long enough to warm up in front of the wood fire and unload what little I could take with me. Paul was ready to go fishing, a quick fish before dark couldn't hurt!

We drove up the road, and walked to the banks of the Northwest Miramichi. Crossing the river a gorgeous looking pool lies downstream of a swift run. The pool was dotted with holding rocks, perfect for fish coming up after the bump of rain. Paul like a great host offers me first pass at the fish. Wading out into the pool wielding my 7wt 11ft switch with my yet to be named shrimp pattern tied the night before "turle knotted" to the end of my line.  I felt confident in the swing I was presenting, but the usual swing was not getting the job done. As I worked near the bottom of the flat pool, the swing slowed and I decided a well bowed line may speed the fly up just enough to get a fish to take.

Kamikaze Shrimp

A few bowed lines later and a weight was on the end of my line I lifted my rod and the fight was on. The fish was not big, but a fish just the same. During the fight the species changed from chub to brook trout, then finally with a jump at the end of the fight. A grilse Atlantic was the culprit of the less than exciting battle. The leader entered the eye a few feet, and with a few head-shakes the fly was in the air, and fish back to his lie. Paul comes over to shake my hand, laughing as the kamikaze grilse was just caught. I sat on the round river rock and let it all sink in. It was so rewarding after a long journey to hook up on a fly for an instance like this. Needless to say, the fly had named itself and the Kamikaze Shrimp was born. After a few more passes before dark to no avail, we left the river and ended up back in front of the fire for a beer and some grub. An early night was in order; but the alarm came early.

Saturday morning rolls around with a bang on the door,  a quick cup of tea and some french toast whipped up by the lovely Steph! The cold waders and boots go on, and we are on our way. We roll up river to fish an amazing pool with a jagged bedrock cliff over looking the holding water. We emerge from the trail to see two salmon anglers are just about to give up with their attempt at a tight line. They hinted at some fish in the pool, so we were quite confident that we may have some luck. Stephanie went down through the pool with a small Pompier, and a few casts in a rising fish caught our attention as the sun burned the fog from the water.  As she worked to where the fish rose, the fish took with unexpected force. The rod was bent and with a few head shakes the fish was gone. We joked that she "ruined" the pool, but all jokes aside we didn't see anything else move except for a few trout Paul had enticed out of the shadow of the rock face. The kamikaze grilse struck again...

Moving downstream into a busy pool with active fish, the water seemed to be producing well for other anglers. A few passes couldn't hurt we thought, so Stephanie went through and hooked a beauty buttery female on a Cutty Sark tied by Mr. Gary Tanner. We found some more love when Paul went through and hooked a gem of a fish on a modified hair wing- too sacred to even grace the text of this blog. What an amazing pool, fish and day- one not to be forgotten. I'll save the photo posting for their respective owners.  Needless to say we had to go back to that pool before the weekend was out.

We then went back to the Lizzard Lounge for lunch. I met Paul's good friend Brandon over a few drinks, and some very delicious food. All four of us headed to find new water; we passed by the Little Southwest as anglers tried their luck along it's banks. But the water was much too low for our liking. We continued on to the Renous, the water was low but we thought it was worth a flick. I love fishing new water, even if it is unsuccessful. At least Brandon and I both caught a good buzz, Paul and Steph didn't have the luck we had. Again we had a few more drinks at the Lizzard Lounge and went to bed, a bit big headed..

The beautiful Renous River

The bang on the door came again around 7 am, another quick tea and we donned our cold waders and boots in the almost-freezing temperatures.It was last morning on the Miramichi watershed chasing salmon for the weekend, and I was determined to hook up. We went back to the successful pool of yesterday, and were greeted by and empty bank. This gives us first crack at any new fish entering the pool over night. Brandon offered the pool to me first as he'd be there for the rest of the week. Like a good Canadian I didn't take it without remorse, and I fished down through in front of him. A few rotations had passed and still no sign of company; fish or other anglers. Paul had just started down through the pool and a nice fish came up to look at his offering... But to no avail.

A few fish had been moving around the pool, and we all tried various flies over them. Large fall patterns to small summer patterns and no tugs.. I walked out of the bottom of the pool and sat on the chair watching my friends work the water. Meanwhile I was thinking like a fish, I changed my setup and grabbed the fly I thought would get the job done. I start down through the top, and within a few casts and strips I was into a big fish. My rod doubled as the fish ran down deep in the pool, and before Paul could get his line out of the water, it was jumping over it. My J.W. Young Beaudex was screaming, and the fish was making his rounds through the pool. My knees were buckling and with a big smile I fought my biggest salmon in my career. After about a 10 minute fight the fish was tailed by Mr. Elson, I was so happy to have hooked and landed such a fish with my good friend to tail it. Thanks Paul, you're the man... Paul is rocking the nsflyguy.ca hat, which is a nostalgic token from a lot of work and effort put in by all, especially my man, Mr. Mark Willigar...

Still shaking over this girl

Stephanie's artsy fartsy photo

We continued fishing after I came out of the pool, and after a few more turns through by Paul, Brandon and Steph, I step in and go through the pool again. This time with a large down-eyed glasso infused spey fly. I got to the bottom and hooked, and lost a wee grilse at hand and burned another fish. No more love from any of our offerings sent us home for lunch. Some more friends had been awaiting our arrival, awaiting fish stories from the morning. I finished off my weekend by talking fishing, fly tying and beer drinking with my good friends Howie, Bill and Mr. Gary Tanner himself- our first time meeting. I wanted to stay but I had to come back to the real world of books and studying. A not so cold drive back to Fredericton capped off a great weekend with some amazing fisher people!

A fall coloured dry offering...

I wish I could return, but school is just too busy... I really appreciate the accommodations and food, and especially the fishing. I was meaning to do this for a long time, and it was so worth the wait..

Thanks again... and Taylor if you are reading this, clean up your mess haha ;)

Tight lines.

The Do's and Don't's of Fly Fishing in Low Water Conditions

As many of you, I am a hardcore angler who loves to be on the water. No matter the weather, season or time of day, you can find me somewhere chasing fish. But what happens when the water get so low, even the most thoughtful fisherman don't fish? Well, that is a very good question; the answer lies in the ethics of what you are doing. 

The Main Southwest Miramichi at drought level

Low grassy section of the St. Mary's River

Let's start by saying this is not fact, or true for all instances... It all comes down to ethics and education. Is catch and releasing this fish going to be successful, is the water much too warm, are they near spawning? The list goes on. Low water brings unusually warm water conditions for streams; holding pools become the other refuge for large fish, making them easy targets. But during these low water conditions these large pools only have one real source of dissolved oxygen (D.O.) : the riffle or run coming in. This source is depleted of oxygen due to water temperature and reduced flow from upstream. Many of the fish within the pool will be resting close to the inflow.  How ethical is it to fight a fish in slow water when the required water quality is not adequate for non-stressed survival? 

Rocky Brook during low summer flow

It all comes down to where the water source is coming from, how high you are in the system, how long you fight the fish, and what you do with it after it's in the net. Let's start with the don'ts...

Don't fish in streams with a shallow slope. This leads to low oxygen water from lack of flow and oxygen added through rapids and falls.

Don't fish for fish who are resting in cold water refuges, as their last resort at survival.

Don't fish during mid-day to afternoon hours, this is when the water temperature is the highest and D.O. at it's lowest.

Don't fish lower in the river system as water temperatures are usually much higher; than their headwaters.

Don't fish in streams with tea-stained water, these streams are quite warm due to the sun absorbing into the dark surface.

Dark, slow moving tea stained water late August

Don't fight fish for extended periods of time, use your rod and get the fish in quickly. Depleting its energy in low-oxygenated waters is a big no, no.

Don't take the fish out of the water for an extended length of time.

Don't take six or seven photos of the fish, four or five feet from the water..

Don't fish large, gaudy flies, you'll not have much luck during the day.

Okay, now that I've made you feel bad if you've done these things. We all have done them in one way shape or form. Either that, or I've angered you enough that you have left the page in distaste. On to the Do's; again this is my opinion, feel free to disagree. #troutlivesmatter though... 

Do practice proper catch and release methods, wet hands and barbless hooks.

Do revive the fish properly, facing upstream in flowing water.

Low Water on the West Branch St. Mary's River

Do your honest and best effort to ensure the fishes survival after it's left your hands.

Do exercise thought into where, how and what species you are fishing.

Do use a net if you want to take photos, leaving the fish in the net (in the water) while you set up the camera is best.

Large Minipi Brook Trout

Do know your limit, when you've caught 10 fish in one area; maybe it is time to move on to the next spot. Give that pod a break.

Do use small hooks, this will not only improve your fishing success, but will also increase survival in released fish.

Do fish streams that are fed by springs and do not have a lot of standing water in their headwaters (i.e. lakes, swamps and bogs).

Do fish in tidal water, you never know what will be lurking in your favourite river's estuary.

Do fish in the evening, but preferably morning; you'll have your most success and the fish have the highest rate of survival. D.O. goes up as water cools down through the night.

Do the fish a favour, and when conditions are just not favourable for survival; leave them well alone.

Stream of high slope in high water vs. low water conditions

There are some more that I could add, but those are some of the most important ones many anglers should know before they get their fishing fix during low water conditions. I hope you enjoyed, learned something or at least had some kind of reaction to my words. If you agree, protest or are neutral feel free to leave a comment and share with you friends.

Thanks for reading, 

Cutting Rabbit Strips for Dummies....

What starts out as a good idea, with good intentions and positive vibes turned out to not be so true. After reading GlobalFlyFisher's article "Cutting and buying zonker strips" about cutting your own zonker strips had my confidence high in replicating this. Martin Joergensen would have more experience in doing this if he felt confident enough to create a how to post about it. Me however, am one of those people who write a blog post about how things didn't go as planned. This is what I used for my zonker cutting experiment.

Tools of the trade

• Rabbit Hide (Tanned)
• Craft Blade 
• Gold Marker
• Push pins
• Ruler

Buying and Selecting your hide
 I'll start from the start. I had hoped to sell my product to some friends for a modest price just enough to make some cash at it. I had expected the hides to be around $10-$15 CDN, when I arrived at the store they were double than what I expected. A full tanned rabbit/hare hide was $30 CDN and natural hare hide ranged from $15-$20 CDN. Now this is likely much cheaper in your area as I am currently in Goose Bay, Labrador and inflation rates are higher up here. I had intended on buying a few to try out, but I was side tracked by a very nice black fox tail that screamed hairwing salmon flies. I left the store with a black tanned hide of rabbit, and the fox tail. The key in having the best quality and most movement in your zonker strip, you must select a quality tanned hide. This means a hide with little scrap skin, thinnest leather, and thickest fur. A thick hide will not only make it harder to cut, but significantly decrease the movement of the strip when your fly is in the water. Scrap skin is considered to be loose, dangly pieces of skin on the underside of the hide, showing poor workmanship. It gets in the way, and is just a pain when marking lines and cutting your strips.

Guidelines
Back to the rabbit, first I took a large ruler and made lines the full length of the hide about 1/4 in apart. The width of the strip is completely up to you, and really is a great benefit to cutting your own strips. Normally black marker is used to draw the lines, but it wasn't visible on a black hide; I used a gold marker instead.  It really doesn't matter to me if I have gold colour on the bottom of my strips. Some may not like that and should use a colour that matches the hide colour. It is key to draw your lines lengthwise, rather than sideways to ensure you cut zonker strips, feel free do it sideways for crosscut strips. Note: the hair on the sides of the skin grows in that direction, it isn't great for small zonker strips, and should be used for crosscut strips, magnum strips on large flies or shaved for dubbing. You've also probably noticed that I have left quite a bit of room above my perpendicular line, that area of the hide was very thick with fur and skin. This can be used in the same way as the sides.

Scraps and Dubbing ready to be mixed

Take out the Knife..
Cutting with the hair creates a nice rear-ward facing strip of hair the makes perfect leech or baitfish patterns when lashed to a hook. When cutting you want to leave a good portion of skin attached at the "top" of the hide to keep everything tight. the key in cutting zonker strips, or any fur patch really is to not cut the hair itself, just the hide. Cutting with nothing to bear on, suspended is the best way to achieve a clean cut. Unlike using Joergensen's vise technique, I used push pins to hold the skin down to a wooden working surface. While pulling back I tightened the hide making it easy to cut, and holding it up off of the wood. This worked somewhat well, I found it hard to keep a straight line. Also, as I neared the bottom of the hide I found myself cutting toward me, and off of the guidelines. Thus narrowing the continuing strips, leading to diagonal cuts and hair coming off the strip on an angle rather then back over the hide. Some fly tyers leave the hide connected at the bottom, but I found that cutting the bottom of the strip clean from the hide keeps the work area clean. The now cut strips can be moved off to the side and out of the way. I think that creating a wooden jig to hold the hide on the top and the bottom tightly, and with no flat surface to bear a knife on underneath would work quite well. Maybe even better than Joergensen's technique. Continue to cut your strips across the hide, until you reach the side where the hair starts to grow off to the side. Again, like the first you can discard these for dubbing, make cross cuts or magnum strips.

Looking good!

Continue cutting your hide until you have cut as many strips as desired, or capable of doing without going crosseyed. Feel free to hang up outside for a few minutes to let the wind blow off the stray hairs. To store cut the tabs free and package your material in medium sized sandwich bags.


Thanks for reading,
Happy Tying!

A Crooks Lake Story

As the sun shines through my fly repellant caked windows, I am greeted with the lakes reflection of black spruce which dot the thick moss of the boreal forest in Southern Labrador. The day starts with making a fire in the main lodge, then the guide shack; followed by a hot cup of black tea. The suns heat warms the dew from the walkway and Labrador Tea surrounding it. A thick layer of fog lies low across the lake; like a blanket for the cool night’s air against the sun’s high UV rays. The sky is expansive, bordered by the matchstick spruce and fir near, and far the mountains jut out of the horizon in rounded rolling swellings of solid rock. Breakfast starts to sizzle on the frying pan, usually a combination of eggs, processed meat and twice cooked bread. Clients emerge from their rooms with stomachs empty and minds full of expectations of slow rises by dark backed trout that frequent the deep runs draining Crooks Lake on the Upper Eagle River. 

After breakfast, the smell of gasoline then enters my nose, filling of the fuel tanks for a long day on the water. The bailing of the aluminum boats lining the shore, which were sprinkled with the light rain of last evening is up next. As the last scoop of water empties the stern of the boat, the sports emerge from the lodge donned from head to toe in name brand fly fishing apparel. Each carrying multiple rods in hand, and their dozens of fly boxes tucked into every nook and cranny in their jackets, packs and bags.

With a couple hauls the motor stars and I pull the boat up to the wharf and the sports hop in. The fifteen horsepower hums down the lake to the outlet of the 10+ km in length basin named Crooks Lake. The shoreline is dotted with sand beaches, rocky outcrops and twisted driftwood from years past. Large boulders lie just beneath the dark waters surface ready to strike if not paid attention to. As the outlet nears, rocks become more frequent and navigating the channel can be tricky. The boat glides down through the deep water and constant throttle on an outstretched hand is needed to stay in the rocky slanting channel. I drop anchor in the shallows of the river to sit and wait for a fish to rise. The rushing of the river and calls of the birds set the tone for a great day on the water.

The mayflies are coming off the bushes in a large spinner fall; clear wings, dark bodies and three tails land on the surface after completing their life cycle... A trout picks out the spinners from the bright background of the sun, continuing to feed in slow sips on the edge of the current about 30 ft from us. We have found our target fish; I suggest a #14 dark dun parachute mayfly pattern to my client, a fly thats worked for me many times over.

The trout continues to rise, and with a tight knot and a strong leader the fly is cast a few feet upstream of its lie with a soft fall to the water. The fly rides in the film of the slow current with a drag-free drift; a perfect cast I think aloud. With a familiar slow sip the fish rises to our presentation showing us its head, back and tail.

A heavy fish comes tight on the hook-set and runs down river, ripping line from the deck of the boat and onto the reel. The classic sound of a Hardy reel sings across the open floodplain, a sound that is familiar to the trees and animals of the wilderness here. The client turns to me with wide eyes and a toothed smile as he plays the fish in the current.

The fish dogs down with big head-shakes in the deep water of the run. A strong arm with a quick change of rod position and the fish moves out of its holding spot. A few turns on the reel and the fish comes upstream quickly, turns of the handle keep the line tight- stopping the fish from shaking the hook free. A few minutes pass and eventually the fish comes to the surface, head shaking and showing its sides; almost ready to admit defeat.

More line enters the reel, the rod bending almost double. I grab the net as the fish nears the gunnel of the boat, the client brings the fish back to the surface and turns its head downstream to the gaping net. I lift the net to the waters surface and the fish is in the basket. Kept underwater the fish flops around and settles facing upstream into the current. Water filled with dissolved oxygen flows through its gills, reviving the fish after a furious bout.

A fish of a lifetime is in the net, I reach down and pull the barbless hook from the jaws of a monster. I pass the net to the eager sport as he wets his hands and lifts the fish up for a quick photo. A photo taken with water dripping off the smily skin ensures the fish doesn't dry out and maintains healthy. The trout is placed back into the net to be weighed. I attach a scale to the rubber mesh and lift reading the scale at 9 3/4 pounds, sans 2 1/2 for the net. A brook trout weighing 7 1/4 pounds is absolutely incredible, on a dry fly it is something from a dream. Placing the fish back in the water for release it swims off in within a few kicks. The excitement on my client's face, followed by a great handshake ends off an amazing catch. As he sits there to take in the whole experience, I scan the water for another player and enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze of a big land summer.