Michael Gracie

For the highly productive worker, obviously concentrating on the latter…

Now I’ll say it again…get back to work.

PS: If you get busted reading this, just tell your boss corporate fly fishing still sucks!

If you can’t cast a fly and/or can’t tie it to the line, you are going to have a hard time fly fishing. It’s that simple.

Fortunately, learning how to do both of these veddy, veddy important angling tasks is just about as easy.

A book I originally thought would help with lazy guide syndrome (i.e. guides refusing to pole close enough to the bones so I could just net them) turned out to be a pretty darn good book on generally casting and practice technique. Longer Fly Casting has plenty of pics to follow - it lingered in my library for a while, and has since been passed on. And since that time it’s been updated too!

The other “must have” for getting the fly in the water is Practical Fishing Knots. I’ve mentioned this one before, and it too was given to someone after I finished up with it. It’s a great guide that will leave you with a stable of go-to knots. Sadly, it’s been a while since I chased big game, and if I’m ever asked to tie a bimini twist I’ll probably have to buy it again!

Experienced fly fishing folk won’t be surprised that both recommendations are written (or co-written) by the infamous Lefty Kreh. That wasn’t the intention, but I’ve heard Mr. Kreh is one fine photographer too. Maybe he’ll put out a how-to book on that as well.

I could certainly use the help.

After walking this fish downstream through a heavy flow, a fellow fisherman was nice enough to grab my camera and take this shot…

Thankfully, the angler turned cameraman was quick with their shutter finger, because moments later…

We all laughed after realizing the second pic existed. Still, I’d caught a break.

But when I asked Mother Goose to pose, she turned her back on me…

I took no offense, as she had a family to take care of…

Adieu.

By ignoring all the disclaimers

It could be truth, or just plain voodoo, but understanding the times that the sun and moon rises can help you figure out when’s the best time to fish. I’ve never quite understood it myself (at least as it relates to non-tidal waters) but certainly fishing seems best when the moon is new (like today). It’s dark at night, freshwater fish generally feed by sight, so it makes sense the fish would feed more during the day. The opposite goes for full moons.

Alas, I’m too lazy to figure it all out on my own (or pick up a paper), so I bought a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx to do it for me. No, I don’t get lost (and I don’t ask for directions either ). I bought this puppy way back when because a) it’s easy to patch into the Mac, and b) it comes embedded with a handy little fishing predictor.

Today is supposed to be an excellent day…

…with the best times between 12:03pm and 2:03pm, at least on the Dream Stream. Nifty. And I never actually marked that waypoint in order to get those best times either. Instead, I cranked up Google Earth, found the spots I frequent using the satellite imagery (with roads showing), and set a bunch of pinpoints. Then I uploaded those points into the Garmin using GPS Babel+. Note: Google Earth and GPS Babel+ are free (although you can donate to support development of the GPS Babel project).

Now…not everyone is going to bother jumping through these kind of technological hoops just to catch more fish, but all is not lost. Here are some links to help you determine moonphase and sunrise/sunset etc…

• Moon phases, compliments of www.calculatorcat.com (and there’s software you can buy there too)

and

• Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day, compliments of the U.S. Naval Observatory

Finally…

There’s an old saying that goes “The worst day of fishing is still better than the best day at work.” Don’t get me wrong - I think work is fun - still, this adage is the only part of this post I can assure you is correct.

So get back to work!

I’d been in Colorado for a few years before I took my first trip to the “Dream Stream” but had heard plenty about it. The vista is stunning. Hurricane force winds can and will appear out of nowhere. That section of the South Platte River is full of huge, wary fish. And the folks I talked to were right. The scenery is wildly breathtaking - the river winds through a valley surrounded by perpetually snowcapped peaks, most of which you don’t notice until you pass the herds of grazing antelope, dodge moose-sized elk in the roads, share a few quiet pools with curious, resident muskrats and the occasional pair of geese, or have a standoff with a jack-rabbit. Then there’s the wind - it whips up after noon and can and will cause your flies to smack you in the back of the head. As for the fish…

Until now I hadn’t had a lot of experience with them. My first couple of trips had produced little to talk about (with the exception of one feisty brown that pounded a streamer minutes before quitting time). I chalked it up to getting the water “dialed in” and my lack thereof. Yesterday made me feel lucky.

We hooked up on more than a dozen sizable fish, and size seemed to be the only thing biting (no complaint here). There were no dinks this day, but there were plenty of cutbows (and a lone rainbow) that looked guilty of eating them. We were run downsteam on several occasions, including two mad scrambles through sections of split stream full of rocks, and one fish that took me around two bends and through two human occupied pools (apologies were sincere, if frenetic) after swallowing the trailing fly and snagging the lead on her underbelly.

The Australian, fresh off his first catch ever, shook a few more bad habits and picked up an even worse one - stepping into holes just vacated by other fishermen and hooking up immediately. As if his head couldn’t get any bigger, we wound up impressing the authorities to boot. A park ranger ambled by, checking licenses - out of the ten or so anglers within eyeshot, for some reason he picked us last. As it turned out, his conversations with the others produced a consistent response…“We’re not having much luck, but those guys over there are on fire.” After the license request, he quizzed us on fly selection - he was also donning waders, which made us think he was soon headed back to his vehicle for a rod .

Last but certainly not least, we ran into a father and son team who were friendly as could be. They noted some success, which made me quite happy. Reason: I figured they must be good folks because they had two of the most adorable dogs in tow. These twin pups seemed to be having the time of their lives, bounding through the stream with their owners, and taking intermittent breaks lying in the tall grass. As much as I love the sight of fish in my net and good friends with fish in their hands, watching those dogs frolic really made my day.

The real South Park - sportsman and best friends

For charter boat captains in South Florida, they’re having a big effect (h/t Moldy Chum). I wonder if captains guiding from flats skiffs in the Keys are seeing a similar drop - running boats with 10 inch drafts just a few miles out, and then polling, is certainly more cost conscious - but that presumes the customer can cast a line 80 feet (or at least handle landing speedy fish on lightweight spinning gear).  Or maybe the guides will just get less picky about their clientele?

On the ride-then-wade side, the Underground has run successive polls on the issue. Note the change in opinion just a few months of rising prices (and rising media attention) gets you.

I for one check the flows and the moonphase first. Then I rally three other folks to split the travel costs with, insist on spending the night out, and then show up on my bike .

I tried it a few times, and found we burned an inordinate amount of gas in relation to the number of marlin we ran into. Nonetheless, it was the craze (and as good an excuse as any to buy 12wt rods and reels capable of holding 500 yards of backing).

Now, you need a helicopter to fish for marlin.