A couple weeks ago, my dad, Mike McCoy hosted a small, by invitation only, fly casting games/competition down at his house on the North Umpqua River.

About 20 people showed up which was perfect as this was a “test run” if you will for next year. This year there were 12 stations each with 3 different targets and all with their own challenges. Some stations were on dry land, others on water, some had long targets nearing 80 feet while others were short but studded with over hanging branches and grass or requiring curve casts to get around other obstacles. The longer targets were riddled with backcast obstacles such as steep hills with tall grass and berry bushes or for later competitors, there is always that lovely afternoon crosswind.

Now I consider myself a pretty good angler and caster but this course was tough. The winning score was a 98, meaning their fly touched the ground that many times on what would be a 36 par course if you hit every target on the first presentation. I didn’t win but did get my best score of 104 on my first time through. I think my cockiness helped that along because on later efforts, over-thought and impatience got the better of me! If you know me, this should surprise you.

Each participant was asked to donate to the whatever amount they were comfortable with, all donations were handed over to the Native Fish Society for their conservation efforts. Recycled Waders, Native Fish Society, Temple Fork Outfitters and the Caddis Fly Angling Shop in Eugene all donated raffle prizes so everyone went home with something. Dad gladly provided a BBQ lunch and beverages for everyone as well.

So for next year there will likely be some changes and the word will get out much sooner so reservations will likely be necessary. Here is what we are looking at changing/adding to the scenario:

Teams of 3 will be assembled and assigned “Tee Times” about 20 minutes apart with a shotgun start, teams starting at various different stations at same time.

Several Spey/Two Handed stations will be added.

5 presentations max at each station, if missed on 5th, score is 6 for that target.

Winner will have donation from event to conservation organization of their choice given in their name.

On Water targets, where applicable, if yarn goes in grass and can be dropped into target, credit for one stroke given and on last station, if you can raise a fish to your yarn in 5 casts, “hole in one” for the last target.

This an industry professional event and a great time to just hang out with each other and also give a ration of s–t to those who invariably will stumble along the way. Great opportunity to also raise some money for a good cause, have fun, leave the fish alone for a few moments and enjoy each others company.

Look forward to seeing some of you there next year. Please contact me or my dad with any questions.

Written by: Dave McCoy

Landed in Fairbanks on the 16th of July, drank beer and packed gear into dry bags, rod tubes, action packers, etc. Busted out of dodge the 17th NE of Fairbanks towards Circle, AK to put the FV Pike into the Yukon River and head downstream towards the Porcupine River. 3 guys, 1 labrador and gear stuffed into an 18ft John boat (see picture). Got blown off the river after 2 hours of wind & chop, set up camp and waited til morning.

Made it to the Pork and began fishing as far as 50 river miles up the Pork for 2 nights – pike were not where we expected but present in large pods.

Drank through 1.5 cases of beer (all the cooler could hold with food & ice) Motored back down to Fort Yukon where we paid $6/gal gasoline and $3/20oz Gatorade (liquor store was closed until 5pm) – headed to the Christian River without beer or ice! Came out after fishing the Christian River and set up camp on the Yukon (see sunset picture). Next day headed downstream towards some other Clearwater sloughs/creeks. All the pike were concentrated at the mouth or within the first ¼ mile of the mouth. Fished the tribs for 4 more nights. Using mostly Puglisi style flies, some poppers/sliders/gurglers; bonfires nightly; lived on 2 boxes of wine & 2 fifths of JD + s’mores. Saw great horned owls, gray owls, eagles, loons, wolf tracks, 1 lousy moose, 0 caribou, 1 black bear, lots of griz tracks, 1 fox, kingfishers, sandhill cranes, etc, etc, etc.

Caught sheefish – only carnivorous species of whitefish – at creek mouths too. Had to use 300gr sink tip with Puglisi or large clouser. Supposedly they are the tarpon of the north, but other than their looks the come right to the top and roll over is nothing like I imagine a tarpon of the south to be!

Came away with no cuts from pike teeth, no giardia from drinking filtered creek/slough water, 1 broken 6wt on a small 20” pike, and a few good fish pictures.

Cheers

Written by: Pat Jenkins

Holy cow, this has been in the works for along time and I am mixed with emotions from scared to excited and frightened to elated, sort of the same I know but that is it, they are all running through me.

This is intended to be informal dialogue amongst good friends whom are making their living in this industry we love so much. Our special guest in this episode is Greg Thomas, author, dad and photographer who also happens to be a great guy and friend.

Along the way, beer, other people and sensative issues come up so I will reitterate what Dylan, my co-host said, DO NOT WATCH if you are taking or plan to take fly fishing too seriously, don’t enjoy drunk fly fishing guides and some slight profanity or spoofs on those who DO take fishing too seriously.

Click here or the image above and enjoy!

Written by: Dave McCoy

Let the record show that I began this post by saying the following:  I think Cutthroats are awesome.  The rich, golden hue and the transitioning spotting pattern from sparse to full of the Westslope make it my favorite trout in appearance, and roll-casting to Coastals remind me of my favorite days in North Carolina doing the same for Brook trout.  Being an Eastern transplant and having cut my teeth on the trout rivers of the Southeast however, I often find myself missing the aerial acrobatics of the Rainbow and the ticked off runs of the paddle-tailed Browns trying to snap your reel from the reel seat.  Yes, both of these exist in Washington, but Cutts make up a hefty percentage of the fish on the small mountain creeks of the Western Cascades where I spend a large chunk of my Summer fishing.  Which is why days like yesterday deserve their own blog post.

A fellow North Carolinian and friend from college who just moved to Washington and I headed out to the _____________  River, a tributary of the ______________ in search of my friend’s first trout.  This river is a river in name only since I’d estimate the flow at 100 cfs or less, but it proved fishy the few casts I put out on a backpacking trip the weekend before.  More than that, it seemed very Coastal Cutthroat-y being such a small flow tucked away in the Cascades.  Three casts into the day however, my friend was hooked up to a 12 inch fish that had not only come out of the water to inhale the fly, but had also done its best Olympic gymnast impression before coming to the net.  Rainbow. 

Over the next 6 hours of pool after pool teeming with Rainbows many different sizes came to the net, but every one put together an impressive assortment of powerful bursts and leaping flips.  What I found interesting was that every time I set the hook I was shocked at the burst of speed that took my rod tip from almost perpendicular in one direction to almost perpendicular in the other.  More than that, I laughed every time the fish burst from the water to obliterate the fly only to miss it, flip over, and nail it on the way back into the water (that happened at least 3 times by the way).   That combination proved to be enough to enjoy even the <6 inch variety of fish.

Needless to say, I think my friend will gladly hit the water anytime I can take him, but in some ways I worry that he might be slightly ruined in the expectation department.  Having your first fish be the biggest of the day, and probably in the conversation for biggest in the river, plus 6 hours of hard charging dives and X Game worthy flips will make for a difficult mountain creek encore.  Like I said, I think Cutthroat are awesome fish.  But let’s also say that I don’t mind too much when the first fish on a new creek has the red slash down its side instead of under the gills.

Written by: Alex Collier

So there is no lack of whining about steelhead fishing in our community for a mulitude of reasons; weather, poor management, dams, destroyed habitat for spawning, netting and so on.

Well a vineyard in California is doing some wine-ing of their own and working to improve habitat for steelhead in their region. Here is a short note from their website:

Our Steelhead wines come from the world-renowned Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma, California and are a tribute to Quivira’s restoration of the Steelhead habitat in Wine Creek – a tributary of the Dry Creek River – that runs through its estate. Steelhead are an important part of California´s ecosystem and are a good indicator of water health because they require cool, clean water in order to thrive. Working with Trout Unlimited and state and university organizations, our extensive restoration of the spawning grounds within the creek bed have led to the return of the Steelhead each spring. Now neighboring landowners inspired by Quivira’s example are doing the same.

So for the more sophisticated palettes out their among you chrome chasers, savor some of this fantastic wine and help steelhead in the process. Support their effort by asking your local wine shop or grocery store to bring it in and tell everyone you know to pick up a bottle. Two varietals available and both are awesome!

Great work and congrats on your efforts Quivira!

For more info, check out their site: www.steelheadwine.com

Written by: emeraldw

Here’s a nice fish landed yesterday.

Now for the story.

The day before I was supposed to fish with this guy (Takashi) and got a flat tire towing my boat in Waikiki. I mean right in Waikiki on Kuhio. I drug it off the road a couple blocks later in front of his hotel. Later Lex Brodie tires found an f–king screwdriver in my tire, typical Hawaiian roads.

So as you know Dodge wheels have a tendancy to seal and with some rust, couldn’t get the thing off for 5 hours, even had insurance company send out a wrecker with a breaking bar and he couldn’t. I ended up lying on my back in the street with a viking berserker who just drank 4 cups of shroom tea in a rage and mule kicking it off.

So my client was f–ked and lost the whole day. I like this guy alot and on day two we needed to get him a fish. He hooked this fish tailing with a money presentation right on the edge and immediately threw slack and turned off the Hatch drag which I’ve taught him to do. The fish still ran straight down and the area he hooked it in is 11 feet deep off the flat. The backing got caught on the bottom and we were gonna lose this baby so I ripped off my chest pack and Oakleys off handed them to Takashi, and jumped in. I swam to the bottom, unf–ked the line and backing which was wrapped around coral heads, and as it freed the fish ran up in the water column and while under free spool came tight. I swam up to the surface, crawled to the edge and we landed the bitch. I looked like a drowned rat and we were both high fiving and screaming BANZAI!

Takashi was PUMPED. He now calls me Kamakazie Coach.

Hey, when a guy sits with you for 5 hours on the side of the road and misses his fishing day due to a an evil devil worshipping flat tire and buys YOU lunch and beers goddamnit you net that fish for him by any means. One of my favorite 5 landed bonefish ever. Thought you’d get a laugh at this one. Hope everyone’s lines are tighter than a mosquitos ass on a rain barrell. Aloha and A hui ho!!!!!

Duffer

Written by: Capt. Duff

As a fly fishing guide, and one taking this profession seriously, I love nothing more than clients new to the sport. Whether it be those preparing to dive in head first and buy their first rod and reel blind to what they are getting into or those who have already had a few thrills and are now marching their way through the progression we all have taken, or will inevitably.

For me, I don’t really care if I catch a fish or “the” fish in a particular place anymore. It is all about the process of actually getting a or “the” fish to take a fly in a certain situation.

This past week I had the incredible privilege to fish with a great guy and also a guide on a small spring like creek and was myself reminded of what clients hopefully feel on our trips, complete elation on every level this sport has to offer.

This brief but idyllic jaunt included a long hike in, off trail for a portion of the time to a creek tough to find on most maps, for native species of trout with no signs of other anglers. Challenging but rewarding conditions and size of trout, who cares as that is why God has handed mankind the ingenuity to make such wonderful little sticks as 000wts or in this case a Winston WT and LTX 2wt. Personally, my perfect recipe for a day on the water.

That said, this was just a small portion of it. While some of the water was simply irresistable to gaze upon, I found myself unable to pass up fishing the more difficult water. Over hangning grass and branches a mere foot from the waters surface, prime seam several feet back from the tips of the afore mentioned vegetation. And with virtually no backcast space to even attempt the feat I sauntered to the plate anyway.

First couple casts catch the trees and grass behind and a slight upward finish to my forward stroke leave my fly hanging desirably an inch or so above the water where certain inhalation awaits. Some gentle coaching from Steve and finesse of the rod tip frees it to drift back. So close yet so far away. Next cast is in and the fish takes with wreckless abandon, my 40 year old reflexes so off my fly ends up 15 feet in a tree behind me! Deep breath, tie another one on, watch Steve immitate me perfectly, then dig in again.

I just don’t give up that easy and I never have. I am stubborn as hell and now have to prove a point to no one other than myself that I can do this!

All of this could have been circumvented by simply stepping up to the head of these miniscule runs, why? Why do it and take all of the fun and challenge out of it?

This is why nearly every president in our country has embraced this sport. Complete and utter loss of all other worldly issues, including time, when the mind is fully engaged.

Much of this water is exactly what we would walk most clients right past as the skill set to get a fly even close isn’t in their posession, yet. And while we did manage a few fish, more was gained from Steve and I by simply being able to get a fly into these tight quarters and watch it drift seemingly unattached to either of us whether a fish hit or not.

Every now and again we need a day like this to remind us of a few things. One, how our clients feel when on a trip and we are aching to take the rod from their hand and make the “easy” presentation for them so they can get the fish.

What we have to remember is even though most new anglers feel as though the fish is the prize, it is our job is to help them realize that the real reward is in having done everything just right to trick them into choosing your fly. When done well the fish isn’t that hard to achieve, it is everything leading up to it.

Good fishing everyone.

Written by: Dave McCoy

So it isn’t as though this is new but I get the feeling many have been sitting around, waiting to see if the fad of “switch” rods was going to go as fast as it came. Unfortunately I just don’t see that happening.

Pushed by recent interest in trying these new light weight switches by some clients, we have gone ahead and picked up a number of them to see if there was something relevant in our area where we could see using them, and we have.

Puget Sound is the perfect fishery for swinging or stripping baitfish patterns for aggressive sea run cutthroat. When our steelhead rivers are all blown and dedicated spey sport is still wanting to partake, game on! Locations in the Sound have enough current that is appears to be a river in front of you and allows for a natural lift, place, sweep and cast for spey casters and then the fly can work across current very naturally and does indeed get picked up by the marauding trout in the area.

Not that these couldn’t work on trout rivers all over, in fact I bought my first “switch” rod from Scott in 1997, the 11′9″ Arc seen above to use on the Gunnison where I was guiding at the time. Back then there weren’t really any lines that worked well on it and most wondered what on earth I would own one for and many more wondered why Scott even made it.

Well those days are WAY behind us and now we have lines and heads that work exceptionally well on these rods from Rio, S/A, Airflo and others. The other option here is to use appropriate grain weighted standard Weight Forward floating lines, this is actually a great option if the over head cast is going to be your prime use.

For us, our new found love for them is actually on Puget Sound for sea run cutthroat. It is a fun and exciting way to fish the beaches as well as gives the opportunity for other anglers to learn some new casting skills that will make them better anglers in the long run.

While nymphing with one in a river could be one application, we prefer to use them with Compact Scandi heads and utilize a variety of casts from 2 hand over-head casts to pokes, single speys and snaps to change direction on moving fish.

Some of these slightly heavier rods are going to be wonderful summer steelhead sticks on rivers where and when wind isn’t an issue and others will make sweet streamer trout sticks on larger water. Some will cover what is left in between.

Are we just getting bored with same old single hand casting or is there a genuine need/niche for rods like these? Good question. I believe there are some legit reasons for why someone would benefit from these and learning how to spey/underhand cast.

One is the age old reason that a roll cast is ever brought up to beginners learning to fly fish. No room for back casting. I believe a single spey and even the snap T and double spey are more dynamic casts that allow anglers to be more accurate, cover more water and do so in a more calculated fashion.

Secondly is that learning these casts will make ALL fly anglers a better angler period as these casts are all achievable with your single handed rod, clear down to your 000wt from Sage. Yep, that rod can come alive with these casts and these longer rods make learning how to do it, very easy.

Thirdly, as we begin to fish longer distances in the same watersheds, line management is a key factor in realizing success. These longer rods will allow even semi novice anglers a much easier time with mending than a more common 9ft 5wt will.

The lightest switch we are using is the Echo SR 4wt and are waiting for the 240 grain Compact Scandi head to make its way to the public so we can really give it its fair shake.

Probably one of the toughest aspects of figuring out which rod to buy is a side by side test. Actions are all over the board from company to company as are the lengths from 10′6 5wt Redington to 12′6″ Echo by Dec Hogan.

There are a few we don’t have yet but will by end of the summer to round this out and going in everyone should know there are some that are great as small spey rods and others that are going to perform much better as an overhead casting rod, even though they will obviously do both. As with nearly everything in this sport, final judgement is quite subjective from angler to angler.

Any questions, let us know, happy to answer them. Happy 4th of July to everyone.

Written by: emeraldw

P-Line has been on the market for quite a while and hordes of gear fishermen can attest to the incredible performance of their copolymer CX and CXX fishing lines.  They are known for their low memory, abrasion resistance and superior breaking strength.  Relatively new on the market however is their CFX fluorocarbon leader material.  After listening to gear fishermen rave about it all season and watching it fly off of our shelves at work, I decided it was time to put it to test in some fly fishing applications.  While the line is too thick for use as tippet, it is ideal for use as a level leader for fishing larger bugs such as streamers and winter steelhead flies.

At $13.99 for a 25 yd spool it is cheaper than most other fluorocarbon materials, but what what about the quality?  Out of the box it is surprisingly supple.  Keep in mind that is comparing it to other fluoros… not tippet!  I’d rate it around the same as Maxima Ultragreen on memory and overall flexibility.  No breakthroughs here but better than some for sure.

Where this stuff really shines though is in its durability, knot strength and overall breaking strength.  Some fluoros are brittle and hard to tie knots with.  The friction from the material tightening on itself leaves your leader kinked and vulnerable to breakage.  Not P-Line!  I put it to the test on an all day streamer expedition and it performed admirably.

Fishing with a 7 foot tungsten versi-leader, the low visibility nature of the fluorocarbon allowed me to cut my tippet down to a mere 18″ of 10lb CFX.  Swinging through a shallow run my sculpin looked as if it was swimming all by itself!  I connected the versi-leader to my fluoro tippet with a perfection loop and attached the fly with a uni-knot with a 1/4″ sliding loop for more movement in the water.  I had no problems with the knots at all, in fact they tied butter smooth with no kinks or frays.

Breaking strength?  At one point I snagged up on a log and had to walk backwards up the bank with my rod pointed at the fly, pulling with all my might to break free.  My fly popped back into my face… the pressure had bent an extra heavy #2 streamer hook completely straight.  Did it say 10lb test on the package?

Needless to say that little test gave me the confidence to put the pressure on every big fish that I hooked in and around the same logjams.  I didn’t give a trout an inch, and my leader saved me more than once when an angry lunker drove head on for a big rootball or tangle of limbs in heavy current.

All in all I am very pleased with the way this stuff performed.  At the end of the day I had caught several very nice fish and didn’t break off once despite getting in some pretty hairy situations.  As for applications, i’d say CFX is perfect for anything where big flies, big fish, heavy cover and clear water are involved.

Thanks P-Line for a great day in the river and some wonderful memories of the ones that didn’t get away

P-Line CFX helped me land large fish like this cut-bow quickly to ensure a healthy release, even in heavy current and snaggy structure!

Written by: Charlie Robinton

Recycled Beadheads

While tying nymphs for an upcoming trip I ran out of beadheads.  Why I procrastinate and wait until midnight the night before I go fishing to tie all the flies I will need is beyond me.  All I know is that in this particular circumstance I was in a bit of a pickle.  Faced with the terrifying thought of having no flies for the trip I began frantically searching through old boxes hoping to find something, anything that might work.  I found out that I have a habit of keeping lots of junky, useless flies!  Unwinding threadwraps, missing legs, tattered ribbing, dull, rusted and broken hooks.  None of them could be put to use, unless….  Of course!  They all had perfectly good beadheads.  I took a pair of pliers and started ripping flies apart.  Before long I had several dozen beads in all different sizes, and from flies I was never going to use!  Now I never throw away old, worn out or otherwise useless beadhead flies.  I even find myself picking rusty flies out of bushes on the river.  Why not?  Beads are expensive and seeing as how I go through flies nearly as fast as I tie them it is nice to get some re-use out of them.  If you like to tie a lot of flies like I do then recycling your old beadheads is a great way conserve your resources.  Happy tying!

Put your old junky nymphs to use!

Written by: Charlie Robinton