Evolution Anglers

Team Jergens Stickers!

2012-02-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Got in a batch of limited run Team Jergens stickers from build-a-sign last week, which feature our logo as well as some of my finest clip-art skills. The sticker is the graphic you see above, set on a black background in a 4x4" square. If you are not familiar with what Team Jergens is, here is a definition that was put together by one of the founding members. I've got about 20 of them to give away, drop me an email to joe@evoanglers.com I'll get one headed your way!

The cone of anger

2012-01-31T07:32:00.000-07:00

Angry Cone!

Running around on one of our many blow out days last winter season I stumbled upon an awesome fly that I had read about on the Idylwilde Blog; The Hoser by Jason Hartwick. Overall it is a pretty simple and very fishy tube, but I was particularly drawn to one part of the fly that I had never seen before. The part that caught my eye was an inverted cone tucked behind the marabou. This technique adds weight to the fly and provides a "bump" for flaring materials. I began using this technique of some PD's and other bugs, and really dug what an easy and effective technique it was.

After catching a couple fish on flies that had the inverted cone, we gave this tying technique the nickname of "the cone of anger." Thanks to Jason for a great fly and really cool technique that adapts to all sorts of other flies.

Pink/orange hoser, fun to tie!

Bloodknot Magazine: Blogger Issue

2012-01-27T09:01:00.001-07:00

Check out the new 2nd annual blogger issue of BloodKnot Magazine. Thanks to a prompt from OBN I submitted an article and was very fortunate to be a part of this issue. My article "Copper and Steel" is one I wrote a while ago, but is definitely a favorite story of mine, and I feel very lucky to be included in this issue with some very good writers, photographers, artists and bloggers. Also, be sure to check out the article and video by good friend Sharp cheddar in the blogger issue. Big thanks to BloodKnot for this great opportunity!

If you don't chew Big Red...

2012-01-26T15:08:00.002-07:00

Been tweaking my PD's, and ended up with something probably closer to the Flash Taco than a PD (underbody is the only difference as far as I know). Either way, after last years EWU national championship flies I still have a bunch of red materials and have been tying with it more. I think red's a cool color that is in-between what I would consider a "dark" or "light" pattern, and definitely a color that I don't fish enough.

Non-traditional fishing dog: Doc

2012-01-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Lisa and Doc

From Lisa: "Andrew and I rescued, Doc, on Oct 31st, 2011. We think he is a lab mixed with Chow and Australian Shepard. He immediately bonded with us and within weeks, he became a natural fishing companion- either in a boat or wading on the river. He has changed our lives completely in all ways positive and exciting."

Designer Merkins: More Tying Material Shortages?

2012-01-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Del Brown Merkin, permit beware.

It seems like the feather hair extension craze started by Steven Tyler that gobbled up all of the size 16 adams hackle from here to china just ended (I've seen them in Montana, which means the trend must be on the way out) and we are already facing a new dilemma as fly tiers: designer merkins. To most fly fisherman the name Merkin makes one think about the famous Del Brown permit fly. Those in the know are aware of the dirtier and slightly less fishy origin of the merkin name, a pubic wig for low-class prostitutes. Leave it to none other than a reality T.V. star (?) to bring about this highly ridiculous use of fly tying materials.

Designer merkins, vaginas beware.

It was reported on TMZ (source of all reliable news) that Real Housewives of NY ~~rich bitch~~ star Cindy Barshop has a new business of creating designer merkins, out of popular fly tying materials arctic fox and hen hackles. The cost of a designer merkin starts at $200 and lasts for about 4 days.

Hopefully this trend doesn't reach the popularity of feather hair extensions, because the tying world can't stand to see the same thing happen to arctic fox that happened to hackle. Arctic Fox is one of my favorite tying materials for steelhead bugs, and it would be a disappointment to see it go to the luxury merkin market instead of your favorite tying material.

Fortunately for fly tiers, it's hard to believe that many women that will shell out $200 to have their lady parts decked out with glued on fox hair. And more importantly, thank god this trend wasn't started by Steven Tyler.

Getting Ready.

2012-01-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

John, getting ready.

Braz just shot me this picture of our good friend John from New York checking for leaks in his waders, getting ready for winter steelhead season. When John's not testing the waterproofness of his waders in the hot tub his is tying some very innovative flies. I only have the Beaverhead behind the house, which is currently the consistency of a slurpee, so I'm going to take my chances that the Simms will be leak free for one more winter season.

Pink/Orange Lane Bryant

Oh yeah I've been wrapping a ton too, lots of flash, lots of synthetics as always.

New EvoAngler Video: 2011 Best Of

2012-01-17T08:33:00.002-07:00

Check out our new video (best viewed in HD!), a collection of my favorite shots from last summer. We had an unbelievable season around Twin Bridges last year, and I was lucky to catch a tiny bit of it on the GoPro while guiding and fishing. This clip includes a lot of my close friends and favorite people to fish with, and putting it together brought back a lot of the great memories from last summer. The last two fish were two of the bigger fish I saw last season as well, and was amazed that the curse of the camera didn't knock them off the end of the line. Big thanks to The Stonefly Inn and all of the great people who come out fishing with us every summer!

Detonation Studios New Clip: Tribute

2012-01-12T13:44:00.001-07:00

New clip from my buddy Ian at Detonation Studios. Very good stuff, and there has definitely been some talk of us getting together for some work in the future.

New from BOP and J.Mac

2012-01-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Check out this new short video from good friend Joey Macomber with Beattie Outdoor Productions. Very cool footage of some jumpers and just what you need to watch on a dark winter day. Sharp Cheddar and I will be collaborating on some video again this winter (him videoing, me rowing), already looking forward to it! Don't let up!

Help with your stuck pole

2012-01-04T08:11:00.001-07:00

This video from the guys at Pacific Fly Fishers is hilarious (check out Michael's cash!), and also my personal favorite way for getting a stuck rod section unstuck. If you find yourself in the Mill Creek/Lynnwood area go check out their shop, they have a great selection of spey materials and great guys behind the counter.

New tying desk

2012-01-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

Just in time for wrapping season

Finally got my new tying desk built by my good friend Nick at Konsept Designs in SLC put together yesterday. It's barren now, but will be decked out shortly, and is going to be much nicer for winter wrapping than my old card table bench. If you have any interest in a new desk, I'd highly recommend Nick. Oh yeah, and he fishes a ton, check him out with the chromer below.

Nick crushing.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew can write down 2011 as the year he got addicted to Montana!

Happy New Year from Montana! We capped off the end of 2011 in grand fashion at The Old Hotel last night, and the likelihood of today being productive is diminishing quickly. 2011 was a great year of fishing both here and back home in Washington for steelhead. Hopefully 2012 will be as great a fishing year as 2011!

"Pimp My Boat": Creating a bow loop on a raft.

2011-12-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Ordering mission blue is an easy way to pimp your boat!

This is the start of a new series I am going to do here at EvoAnglers: Pimp My Boat. As a boat owner you develop tricks and tools that help you get the most performance, comfort and use out of your craft. Getting to hang out with a bunch of other ~~mendicants~~ fishing guides I have learned a ton of cool tricks that help make driftboats, rafts and trailers better, so I will do my best to share these tricks.

This first series of "pimp my boat" is for my buddy Keith in Portland who asked about setting a safety line on a raft. The technique I am showing here puts a safety line around the raft, but also gives you a loop of line to winch your boat on to your trailer with. This seems like a simple concept, but I can't tell you how many guys I know who either don't even have a safety rope, or don't have it rigged for winching their boat up. Along with the lack of a rope, I have seen many rafts that are missing the front handle or d-ring because they were being used to winch the raft up and ripped out. The ability to easily winch a raft onto a trailer by yourself is the benefit of this simple technique, and if you have tried to do this before you understand.

Note the rope hanging off of the bow. This will be threaded through to create your bow loop.

Boat being pimped: 13' Aire Tributary self-bailing raft with NRS frame.

Step 1: Get a piece of good quality rope that is long enough to go around your raft, through every d-ring and then wrap through the bow of your raft, doubled over (for my raft it was the circumference of the raft plus 6', see above). Most pre packaged rope you would get at a hardware store that is high enough quality for this will come long enough.

So simple, so good!

Step 2: Take your new rope, fold it in half and slide the bend you just created in the middle of the rope through the stitched floor in the front of your raft. Tie an overhand knot to create a loop for your winch, as pictured above. This location below your tube allows the raft to go up on the trailer with ease, and stays out of the way when your rowing. I have an Aire Tributary 13' that has the stitched floor and makes this very easy. If you have a raft where the floor is welded in (Saturn's, Otter's many others) go to a raft repair place and have them cut a hole in the fabric between your floor and tube (I highly recommend NOT cutting your raft yourself).

As seen in the first picture, the rope loop is sitting below the floor.

Step 3: Pull the rope up the inside of your raft and thread it into the top d-ring.

Rope is threaded through the d-ring

Step 4: Now that the loop is tied on the underside of your raft, and the rope is threaded through your front d-ring as pictured above, thread the rope through all of the other d-rings to the back of your boat. Because you used the middle of the rope to make your front loop, use one side of the rope for one side of the boat. The two ends will meet in the back at the rear d-ring. As you are threading the d-rings, remove all slack, even if tied very tight the rope with stretch and loosen overtime (slack is evil, as always).

You want to pull here (green) not here (red).

Rear d-ring

Step 5: Take the two ends of the rope and thread them through the d-ring. As you can see above, I wrapped it around the d-ring with each side of the rope. Once threaded through tie the ends of the rope together, I chose to overhand not it twice. Ideally you want it putting stress on the rope and the d-ring, not the raft fabric.

I hope this is useful for some of you out there, especially Keith. If you have any questions like Keith did feel free to ask, of if you have any cool boat tricks that you have done, let me know! joe@evoanglers.com

GoPro Pics

2011-12-29T11:04:00.002-07:00

Got the new LCD screen for the GoPro and have messed around with it a little. So far the best shot was this one of Ruby chilling in front of the Christmas tree. The GoPro is interesting as a still camera, but if you get the right amount of light it can take some really cool pictures. Check out this review from the headhunter crew about taking pics with the new GoPro 2.

Roderick Hawg-Brown

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you out there on the Twitter, make sure you check out the angry, nasty brown ~~who lives in the Beaverhead~~ @rodrickhawgbrwn. The pic above is just one of many good ones, and more to come I'm sure. Also, give us a follow @evoanglers. Been on Twitter for a month or so, and still not sure I "get it".

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:05:00.002-07:00

I know him!

Merry Christmas from Evolution Anglers, hopefully Santa brings you a nice steelhead like the one above he got out of the Hoh last year!

Fish MT in 2012

2011-12-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

Check out our spring deal that Rooster just released for The Stonefly Inn. This is an awesome time to be fishing out here, with the Beaverhead and Missouri (both tailwaters) nearby we never get blown out, and the odds of seeing other anglers is incredibly low. Oh yeah, did I mention Skwala's and Caddis and March Browns and streamer fishing? Here are a couple links to fishing during this time last year.

May 7, Fishing
May 13, Fishing
May 27, Fishing

Good stuff from up north

2011-12-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Check out this greatest hits vid from Yos and the crew at Chromer Sport Fishing. As you can see in the video, CSF offers trips from saltwater king fishing to swinging steelhead and lots in between. One of these days I will get up north to fish with Yos and the boys.

New from Greenfish

2011-12-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Booyah!

Check out the new trucker hats from Greenfish. I love the look of this hat, and when you buy from Greenfish, you get to chose from 4 fishing conservation groups that a portion of the proceeds are donated to! Treat yourself to an early christmas present!

December

2011-12-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

It's almost the shortest day of the year. Sunsets like this one from last night are a reward for the overall lack of light right now.

People of fly-fishing interview

2011-12-19T07:14:00.001-07:00

My favorite part of fresh steelhead

A big thanks to the crew at Chi Wulff for including me in their People of Fly Fishing interview series. Check out the first part of the interview here, and the second part here. The chi wullf guys bounce between Austin, TX and Bozeman, and will hopefully be finding their way into my blue skiff sometime this spring.

Steelhead Christmas Cards

2011-12-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

Unless Kirk is fishing, then you should add an extra 9.

Check out the new Christmas cards that my good friend Kirk Werner is now producing. He has made a series of three different cards, and gives recommendations on when to send them (with his usual high dose of humor) in this blog post. If Kirk's cartoons look familiar, it's because he is the author of the Olive the Wooly Bugger children's books. The Olive series is an awesome collection of books, and a great christmas present for any kid in your life.

Fly Fishing Forum Math

2011-12-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Winter! Time to fish on the internet!

Along with it being blog season it is officially Forum season. WFF is a forum I've been a long time member of, and it is an amazing resource for information, and home to some of the funnest people I have ever fished with, so don't take this as a knock on forums. I just feel that there are certain mathematical formulas that can be applied to fishing forums (and loosely translated to all internet forums). Here's a little forum math to keep you up to grade:

First, a quick warm up equation that everyone knows:
High number of forum posts = little to no time fishing

On to the advanced math:

Your rod for sale + my opinion ≠ sales price

RiverAddicts archives of posts on speypages > 90% of internet fishing forum posts

Pictures with rod in mouth = # of rods in mouth

Starting Nymphing vs. Swinging thread = # of steelhead you should catch/100 (regardless of your side of the argument)

Posts about deals at Cabelas*2.5=volume of alcohol consumed by local flyshop owners and employees when reading said posts (rightfully so!)

Talking about steelhead ≠ catching steelhead

Sharing conservation issues = # of fish you should catch + 5

Links to random internet articles and wikipedia ≠ your point proven

# of times one says they are a guide in posts + their profile/10 = # of days that "guide" was "guiding" last year

fake username credibility = real username credibility/22

Length of your post on a subject ≠ knowledge

how cool you are for posting on a fly fishing forum = 0(n) where n is your number of posts.

Have some forum math of your own? feel free to share, joe@evoanglers.com

Winter wrapping: Squidro

2011-12-14T22:49:00.005-07:00

Tying's been on hold lately, but will resume shortly because I just got an unbelievably awesome new tying desk(info next week). The last time I wrapped, I tied the bassmaster steelhead bug the Squidro. I haven't got to fish them yet, but Scott Howell made them, so I'll assume they crush like everything else he ties. The durability of the rubber makes sense, and I like the color combo's it give you. I tied them in a couple different colors, but this white and orange definitely turned out the best.

Hooked up

2011-12-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

Picture of a picture

Got an email a few weeks ago from a someone at easy canvas prints, a company that makes sick canvas prints, asking about my blog. At first read I thought it was the typical spam, but it was clear that the writer actually read the blog and fly fished. I then decided to do some business with them after I saw this link from the work they did with veterans.

I have a bunch of canvas prints from my wedding a little over a year ago, so was very familiar with the product, and pumped to get another one. This time instead of my beautiful wife and I in the picture I ordered one that will be for the tying room. It got here quick, and was high quality for a low price. Definitely would be a cool xmas gift (or a cool xmas gift for yourself, like the one above).

Non-traditional fishing dogs: Tater

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Nose to nose, Tater the bass dog.

Got an email this week from Justin at Fire Fly Fisherman with a link to his awesome non-traditional fishing dog, Tater. I spend a good amount of time fishing with my buddy Tom and his pitbull mix, Monty, and they are great boat dogs and will fetch the biggest log you can throw for them. Here's what Justin had to say about Tater, and a link to some of their bassin from this past summer:

" My dog Tater is the best fishing dog I've ever had (and at times he is an amazing net though I have told him numerous times that we practice catch and release). I think that he may somehow enjoy fishing more than I do. I felt that I had to send you a link with pictures of some of our summer fly fishing for bass. Hope you enjoy."

"Just a little lower!"

We definitely do enjoy seeing a great fishing dog like Tater, thanks for the submission Justin! If you would like your non-traditional fishing dog featured on Evoanglers, and some free swag, send me and email at joe@evoanglers.com

Getting ready to fish time lapse

2011-12-09T15:16:00.001-07:00

Got to screwing around with the time lapse function of the GoPro and shot this quick clip getting ready to fish this fall with Mills. Check out how much running around murphy dog does, and definitely would not recommend pausing and accidentally seeing Mills in his boxers.

Silver and Gold from YGF

2011-12-06T07:40:00.001-07:00

I've actually been teaching a lot the last couple weeks, thus the continuation of vimeo posts and lack of original content. That being said, I would have thrown this one up regardless. Ivan is a buddy of mine, and this is definitely my favorite piece of work he has done yet. And, if you got to FlyFishlicious you can win a flip camera from watching the video!

Winter in Craig, MT

2011-12-05T15:49:00.001-07:00

Check out the headhunter crew doing a little drift boat sleigh riding around Craig. Sarah gets some serious style points for her boat surfing skills. If you don't read their blog, check it out here.

Goldfish

2011-12-03T10:26:00.001-07:00

For those of you who are lucky like me today and get to spend Saturday wrapping bugs and watching NC/Kentucky followed by Gonzaga and then some football, here's a little fishing related break. This film was shot by Ian over at Detonation Studios and features Rick Matney and Laura Jenkins putting the smack-down on some hopper eating carp.

Non-traditional fishing dogs: steelhead edition

2011-11-28T09:21:00.001-07:00

Cold steel

Check out this weeks non-traditional fishing dog, Annie. That's her over Keven's right shoulder, just behind that big-ass Central Washington steelhead. Keven swung this fish up a little over a week ago, and clearly Annie brings some serious fish mojo with her, helping Keven find this steelhead that's as fine as any fish you'll find outside of B.C.

Summer steelhead short

2011-11-25T10:33:00.001-07:00

Check out this short teaser from T. Mitchell featuring Jim Kerr during this past summer. Hopefully some more to come, because just this short segment looks sweet, and if can include some of Jim's comedy even better!

Winter Wrapping: Intruder

2011-11-23T11:40:00.001-07:00

I'm currently in the process of wrapping bugs for this winter season, and I ran across this post by Mojo over at skagitmaster and figured I'd tie something a little more challenging than flash on a hook. I rarely fish intruders, but love tying them because of the attention to detail required to make them look good and they are a great way to hone the skills after tying chubbies all summer. Can't wait to dunk this thing on the coast in a couple of months.

Tying the Prom Dress

2011-11-21T10:50:00.001-07:00

Cool video courtesy of Fly Fish USA on tying the prom dress. There are definitely a couple different techniques in there than how I tie them. Always good to learn new tricks.

EvoAnglers New Steelhead Video: "Home"

2011-11-16T07:30:00.001-07:00

This video footage comes from the trip I chronicled last week here. As stated in the writeup, a great trip spent swinging flies and an awesome time hanging with a bunch of my buddies I don't get to see near enough. Although not in the video, I want to say thanks to Keven S. and "The Theory" who floated my ass around so that I didn't have to tow my raft out. I've always liked the snowboard type videos that focus on one rider, rather than a location, and thought I would try to incorporate a little bit of that into this video.

As I wrote in the video description, any fish that is completely out of the water is a hatchery fish that was dispatched of either before or after their cameo, per the state law for the water we were fishing. Any fish that remains in the water (the last one that I am holding and the last one Shawn is holding) were wild fish, and were quickly released unharmed.

Steelhead Flies at Skagitmaster

2011-11-15T07:39:00.001-07:00

Tying session.

Check out this awesome article by Jeff Mishler at Skagitmaster. All sorts of good info and pictures, and tons of good thoughts about confidence, fly selection and color.

Non-traditional fishing dog: Dexter

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dexter and his owner looking for risers.

So I threw up an article "Non-traditional fishing dogs" last winter some time, and asked for submissions, and Kate in B.C. was nice enough to submit, and I completely forgot about it until this fall. Here is here husband and dog Dexter, a pitbull mix who I'm assuming is pretty pumped to see the river in the above picture. Thanks for the submission Kate, sorry about the delay, your stickers are on the way, and if you have a non-traditional fishing dog (pretty much anything aside from a Lab, Golden or GSP) shoot me an email at joe@evoanglers.com, and I'll get you some stickers and throw your fishing buddy on the blog within one year (likely sooner, sorry again Kate)!

Life is good.

Friday Fishing Report: No Guiding Edition

2011-11-10T18:24:00.001-07:00

Fishing my namesake run on the Ronde. Photo by Mills.

After trout season, I typically head back to Eastern Washington and guide a couple more weeks for fall steelhead before calling it a year. This year I mixed it up, and decided that going back and catching them myself would be more fun than guiding, so loaded up the toyota and headed east a week after guide season was over. This trip was going to be great not just in the fact that I was going to be able to spend a week throwing the spey pole and relaxing, but it worked out that my bff Shawn was going to be home from Maui and staying at his cabin. A cabin in the true sense of things (not a 5,000 square foot log cabin) this would be the perfect location for a week of fishing and chaos.

Keven swinging. Pounce on it.

The first day we launched the boat with our good friend Keven and outside temps hovering just below 20 degrees. After a couple quick hookups that weren't expected (while smashing ice out of the guides, really?) we spent the day practice casting and wondering when it was going to get above freezing. Still a success because the three of us hadn't seen each other for well over a year.

The next three days led to a more consistent fishing. Shawn struck first on day 2, landing a nice hatchery fish, watching me lose one, then walking right back in to the run and sticking a 2nd. Finding 4 fish in one run on the swing was pretty exceptional, and we found one more towards the very end of our float to cap off the day. Day 3 we had a more relaxed approach than the two prior, swung one fish in a run I have caught a fish out of every year for as long as I can remember, and made it to the Twisp River Pub before sunset to sample brew and enjoy their exceptional grub (try the oglio y olio).

Shawn whapping

Day 4 found me and Brazda in a raft swinging flies together on our annual day of fishing. Braz and I work together the entire year, and only get to fish together about 2-3 times a year if that. Having already caught a ton of steelhead this fall, Jeff let lead through the first run, which resulted in a nearly instant fish on the beach. As Jeff swung through, we noticed a couple of steelhead sitting about a rod length in front of us, apparently sunning them selves. A few casts later and one of the spotted fish was hooked up then spitting my fly right back at me. We swung about 4 more runs, half of which produced a couple more fish, and ended up going 4-5 on the day, including swinging up some fish in new spots for both of us.

"I think it's a snag"

After a stop by my parents house for dinner I made my way to Spokane and casa Mills. After changing his mind about 10 times as to where we should fish on the Ronde the next day, we headed for the bottom, and spent the day swinging both big and small water, with success on both. Josh was even nice enough to let me pick his pocket for my last fish of the trip, in the last run we were fishing. He is very generous like that!

Thanks Josh!

A week of steelhead fishing and seeing old friends was absolutely as great as it sounds, and I can't wait to do it again next year. When you are guiding all of the time it is easy to forget how much fun it is to just fish, and sit on the bank and bullshit and not care if you catch anything. Being able to do all of this as well as share time with great friends is about as good as it gets.

Winter Steelhead Video

2011-11-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

Check out the short video that Joey Macomber shot this past winter steelhead season. Joey hosts a trip with us every winter, and if you are interested shoot me an email, or follow this link.

Casting pictures

2011-11-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Keven casting. Some spey days are better for casting photos than fish catching.

Got back from Whapfest '11 which was an absolute blast. Great to see old friends, throw spey rods and relax after a long guide season. More to come this week.

Movember

2011-11-03T20:08:00.002-06:00

Movember 2011 Craft and Pride Series Episode 01 from Urchin Associates on Vimeo.

why aren't their videos like this done with people that know what they are doing, rather then "blake who likes to fly fish."

Seriously though it is Movember. If you start your 'stache now you'll only be three days behind everyone else. Benefits of growing a mustache include: A. supporting prostate cancer research. B. catching more fish.

New Video: Big Hole Hopper Fishing

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

With a little more time on my hands these days it's been easier to sit down at the computer and edit some video. I also just upgraded the computer to a new-to-me macbook pro courtesy of Seng. Although a couple years old it is still a substantial upgrade from the old cracked macbook that survived grad school.

The angler in the new vid, David, was a great guy to fish with, and was cool with me screwing around with the camera while landing his fish. All of the footage was from one day on the Big Hole, throwing the home brewed Chubby Chernobyl, and less than half of the fish landed were thrown on camera. It was great working on it now that it's cold out and to remember how insane out summer was.

Friday Fishing Report: 2 for 1 edition

2011-10-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

Greg with an awesome streamer eating rainbow

This past week was transition week for me, the official end of trout season as of Sunday, and the start of fall steelhead fishing as of Wednesday. Trout fishing on the Hole and Beav this past week was good for this time of year, and more than anything we really lucked out on the weather. Most days t-shirts made an appearance, which for Montana in October is a good thing. Streamer fishing on the Beaverhead continues to be solid, and the spaghetti and meatball is still the go-to rig on the Hole. We also got to finish out the season with some great guests who have been coming to The Stonefly for a while (see Greg above), as well as some new guests who I'm sure will be back. Overall this was an incredible trout season, and a big thanks goes out to all of the great guests who made it out to Twin Bridges.

David learning that two hands are better than one.

After a two day break, one of which included my first day back to substitute teaching, Garey, David and rolled through the upper Big Hole, past every boat launch, and dropped down into the Salmon River in Idaho. A short drive away, it is still fascinating to me that steelhead make it to within 3 hours of Twin Bridges, MT.

Garey with the best fish of the day, and his first steeelhead on the two-hander.

David is new to the steelhead game, and was great to watch get better with the two hander as the day progressed. Garey used to spend his winters in TDF chasing sea run browns, and so two handers were not new to him at all, but chasing steelhead with them was. After a quick demo on presenting the fly Garey and David talked me into going through the second run first. About five casts in to working out my line, with about 1' of running line outside the tip, I had that great feeling of a fish plucking my leech. A snappy hookset and soon a 4lb native Salmon River steelhead was on the beach. Not a bad start. After letting the boys go through the run I came through batting cleanup and found a small hatchery fish that is about to enter into the smoker this afternoon. I found one more in the next run, and then we stopped on a short little bucket, and Garey came tight to the beautiful native hen pictured above. After guiding trout for the last 6 months together, seeing the smile on Garey's face was worth a million bucks, and clearly said "this ain't no trout!"

Good start to my fall steelhead season

The afternoon was nice and warm, and we ran into good friend and Salmon River master Modobi and some of his friends in the Lunch hole. Tactics were discussed along with the celebration of the change of pace from trout fishing. The rest of the afternoon I spent watching David and Garey fish, batting cleanup to no avail, and shooting pictures in what is a truly beautiful canyon. As a crew we went 4-4, a great start to the fall season. Tuesday is when it really begins though, as I am heading back home to chase some steelhead around Eastern Washington, and see some great friends that I haven't seen in way too long.

New Hats

2011-10-24T11:42:00.002-06:00

Real foam dome trucker hats, as modeled by professional guide/model/dancer Brett Seng.

Had a request from Mike Schultz for a foam dome like Seng is wearing up above, so I figured before I ordered some more I would offer up some on here. Hats are going to be $20 to your door ($15/hat, $5 shipping, I'm not making any $ doing this). The two color choices are below, email me at joe@evoanglers.com if you're interested.

This will be just like the one on Seng's dome.

These will be bright red, not dumb ass longhorn orange as pictured.

Friday Fishing Report

2011-10-21T07:58:00.002-06:00

Wyman doing the grip and the grin.

It is certainly a bad time of year to be a 2-4" long fish. Streamer fishing on the Beav and Hole has been exceptional over the last couple weeks, particularly on cloudy days (big surprise, right?). The Trad Olive has been the Beav fly of choice, and the christmas tree ornament has been the go too on the Hole. Guide season is almost over for the year, in fact ends this Sunday. I'll be doing some sort of summer wrap-up in the near future, and have a pile of video to start sorting through.

Non Traditional Fishing Dogs: Renny

2011-10-18T07:05:00.001-06:00

Here is a submission for non-traditional fishing dogs from Bob and Molly out of Oregon. Renny, a Portuguese Water Dog(named after a boat launch on the Mckenzie), got to join us for a day of hopper fishing on the Big Hole. A great size and well behaved, Renny was an easy addition to the boat.

If you have a non-traditional fishing dog, shoot me an email at joe@evoanglers.com

Friday Fishing Report- Classmate edition

2011-10-13T22:40:00.004-06:00

My good friend and classmate has this to say about his nice CW fish.

Last Sunday, my fiancé Lisa and I decided to take a “stretch break” during our drive back to Pullman. It happened to near one of our favorite runs on the Clearwater. An angler was fishing finishing up toward the bottom of the run, so we jumped in behind him. Lisa had hooked two fish here last weekend and wanted to repeat the performance. She was swinging the top half while I plied the waters below. We typically fish this run with 85-90 foot casts and hook fish from mid-river to the hang down. About 30 minutes in I hooked up near the hang down, it jumped twice then spit the hook. Knowing we had to get back on the road soon, I figured I blew my only chance at a fish. Four casts later in mid-swing I felt a pluck, followed by 3 seconds of agony, waiting for the fish to comeback. The loop slipped through my finger, line snapped tight, and my reel started spinning. I leaned heavily into the fish and the “sulk-fest” began. This fish subscribed to the tractor-trailer versus sports car mentality. He made two short runs, slashed at the surface a couple of times, then sounded and anchored himself out in the current. After enough side-pressure this beast relented and allowed Lisa tail him. What a brute, measuring out to 36 inches. Amazingly, the size 6 “Near nuff,” a pattern my friend Dave Clark invented this year for the Clearwater, remained firmly pinned in the buck’s nose. I unhooked him and held him in the current, shortly after he kicked free and returned to the shadowy depths. Unquestionably, the best pit stop of my life.

Into the backing

2011-10-13T07:18:00.000-06:00

Found this awesome sign in the crapper of Tim Tollett's Frontier Anglers. Any of you who have been to the Beaverhead know that Tollett's is an institution in Dillon, and is the place to go for Beaverhead bugs, shuttles and any other local Dillon knowledge.

Mustaches = More Fish

2011-10-12T08:05:00.000-06:00

The fish didn't know what was coming for them

On the eve of Movember, I had one of the best mustaches to ever grace the blue skiff. One would think that it would be adorned by a 60 year old man, but not so much, it was Tom K, a 20 something Ad man from NYC. If you remember this post (one of the most popular posts in the short evoanglers history) Bubba and I rock the 'stache for a month every summer, and had Tom showed up and the mustache trifecta aligned, who knows what would have happened to local trout populations. As things were, Tom (a semi-annual fly fisherman) spent two days in my boat chucking meat to the bank of the Beav, and going into vacuum mode on any brown trout that got in his way. More proof of the direct relationship between mustaches and big fish.

Friday Fishing Report

2011-10-07T08:07:00.000-06:00

Chris with a great hopper eater

Only a couple more of these left for the year, and then back to the backyard flow, and random river photos instead of fishing reports.

SUmmer officially ended three days ago. From last friday till today I spent 4 days throwing hoppers and droppers, wearing shorts, and cracking cold ones at the end of the day and followed it up with streamers, bobbers, fleece and coffee. We were certainly lucky to have a hell of an indian summer this year, and any day I can wear shorts in October is a bonus.

John with one out of the THICK foam.

The end of last week I got to spend three days with John VanLeeuwen and his wife Chris. John is the creator of the Depth Skru bobber, which I was fortunate enough to test for him over the last 6 months. After holding his own on the first day, John watched Chris put on an absolute clinic on the lower Big Hole, catching enough that she decided to boat ride shortly after lunch. Chris followed that performance up by teaching the upper beav fish a thing or two about her husbands outstanding products. John's products (which I will do a better review of shortly) are going to be available from Idylwilde this spring, and guarantee will revolutionize the type of bobber you see being fished on your local river.

BIG bug time!

I also got to see some ridiculous streamer fishing the last couple days, more to come on that this week.

No New Hatchery on the Klickitat

2011-10-06T06:43:00.000-06:00

Brett with an awesome Klickitat fish, certainly worth protecting this beauties.

Yakama Klickitat Fisheries Project and the Bonneville Power Administration are currently seeking comments on a new hatchery project on the Klick, and now is your chance to tell them that it is bull shit! Click this link to got to the Native Fish Society for a letter to comment against the new hatchery, and do your part to help wild fish. If you haven't fished the Klickitat it is an incredible river in south central Washington. I have a special connection to the Klick because it is where I caught my first steelhead, guided my first steelhead guide trip (along with many more) and just fell in love with everything about steelhead fishing. The the 5 minutes to send in your letter, and help protect a fine river. And if you are looking to experience the klick first hand, call the boys at Troutwater or The Evening Hatch, and they'll take good care of you.

New Video: June on the Big Hole

2011-10-04T08:07:00.001-06:00

It's been a few months, but I finally got the time finish this project. The footage is from two days on the Big Hole in June, when it was supposedly blownout but was in fact fishing outstanding. We bobber fished the whole time, and the fish in the film are ones we connected with and had slow enough water in to run the camera. A great couple of days for sure. I threw it up on Vimeo last week with the intention of launching it here this week, and the Orvis Blog picked it up in the meantime for their Friday Filmfest, which is awesome!

I've been running the GoPro more as well, and as my season winds to an end there will be more video coming out (assuming my computer doesn't die from the abuse).

Off The Grid

2011-10-02T07:28:00.001-06:00

Famous camera man, fly fisherman, comedian and Stonefly Inn Pig Roast Alumni R.A. Beattie's film Off the Grid is dropping this week. R.A. runs one of the leading fly fishing film crews, and has been ahead of the pack of fly fishing films for quite some time now. Check out the films website here where you'll be able to order the film on the 7th. Here's the trailer for the new film below.

Friday Fishing Report: Endless Summer

2011-09-30T08:01:00.000-06:00

Dad with a nice hopper eating brown.

Although it showed up just a little late, summer is not going away easy. Temps have stayed in the 80's and the fish are still looking up for hoppers, although not quite with the same vigor they once were. A well placed cast on 4x with a small hopper is the name of the game now, but if you can put those pieces together followed up by a drag free drift, you can still keep your bobbers stored away for a few more days. This is looking to be the second year in a row of catching fish on hoppers in October, which is a nice change of pace from the year before when it snowed 6" September 28th. A home tie is still outfishing the shop bugs, so cross you fingers that your guide has been at the vice more than the bar lately, because it definitely makes a difference this time of year.

Mom with a back eddy hopper crusher.

I also got to spend two days fishing with my parents last week, which was a lot of fun as always. They lucked out and spent a day fishing with Brazda, drove to SD, perfectly missing a storm, then arriving back in Twin for more warm weather.

Look, some moose.

Seeds of the Past

2011-09-29T06:18:00.001-06:00

Check out this essay below that my good friend Jim Kerr wrote about the current happenings on the Elwah. If you haven't been following, the dam on the Elwah is getting torn down, and Washington State and the tribes want to put hatcheries on the river. Salmon and Steelhead conservation groups have already began the process of suing the state over it. Oh yeah, if you want a great steelhead guide in Forks (when I'm not out there), give Jim a call, Raincoast Guides.

SEEDS OF THE PAST
Jim Kerr

You have all ready heard, and read, that the Elwah dam is coming down for real now, bit by bit, and that although everyone is happy the dam is going, most folks who give a shit about native fish are some where between seriously pissed, and very disappointed that the Elwah tribe plans to start a major hatchery program to (and I am using quotations to indicate sarcasm) "restore" salmon and steelhead runs.
Here is my take.

This is the guy. Upper river (above both dams) Elwah river rainhead, or steelbow, or what have you. If you walk way up the Elwah there are about a jillion of these guys and they are, according to the geeks, genetically identical to the Elwah summer steelhead. That is to say, in a world where native summer steelhead are pretty much extinct, a healthy, hell, robust population has escaped exploitation and has been hiding away in a sanctuary high in the Olympics. Now the Dams are coming out, and these fish will once again have access to the ocean. It's like a chance to go back in time.

If these fish go to sea, and are able to return in strong numbers it will be the greatest triumph in northwest fisheries ever, for real, no shit. If they go to sea and don't return it could be a huge step in understanding why the native Puget sound steelhead populations have collapsed. If we dump a bazillion hatchery smolt in on top of them the hatchery fish will damage and mutate the genetics, interfere with native rearing and basically destroy all chances of discovering anything of use or merit.

Why would the Elwah tribe do this? Their biologists know better, they are not idiots. Well here are some thoughts. Fisheries are big business for the tribes, bigger than you think and becoming more lucrative as they gain control over an ever increasing portion of the west coast sea food market. The northwest tribes as a whole, have in the past expressed a fear that damn removal could become a precedent for hatchery closure. Federally subsidized hatcheries create, in effect, federally subsidized fisheries. Tax payers pay to produce the fish at enormous cost, and commercial fishermen harvest them and sell them back to the tax payers for a profit.

And the Elwah tribe want a fishery, why not? They used to have one. The thing is the subsistence fisheries of the past just didn't operate like the tribal commercial fisheries of today. I mean if you are just catching fish to eat it doesn't matter if they are salmon, steelhead, jacks, smolt, or even bull heads. It's all protein. But it matters to the commercial market. That market needs big bright salmon and steelhead and it needs a large and constant supply to thrive.

In this day an age tribal commercial fisheries in Washington often try to harvest 25% or more of a rivers entire salmon or steelhead run. This type of harvest might work for a few years, but it will inevitably lead to fisheries collapses. It is not sustainable without hatcheries, and fisheries biologists from Alaska to California are in agreement that large scale hatchery programs will always harm native runs.

So this is in effect a line in the sand. Do we let the river recover on its own? It's my guess that it will, and much faster than we think, but it will probably never support a large scale commercial fishery. It will teach us lessons about recovery, about how salmon and steelhead and cutthroat and bull heads and sturgeon and smelt and whitefish and bull trout all recolonize habitat, who comes first, who dominates where, who impacts whom and how.
And it may in time provide a sport fishery and enough salmon to allow the tribe to sell some.
Or do we turn it into a fish factory, like we have so many other rivers, pour money into hatcheries that squash the native runs so we can take out as many fish as possible?

Summer steelhead water on the upper Elwah?

The Wild Steelhead Coalition, The Native Fish Society and others are now suing the national Park for letting the tribes run this hatchery. It is their hope that the Park can stop the tribes. You can find out more at the Wild Steelhead coalition web site wildsteelheadcoalition.org

I would like to see this river recover, or try to, on its own. At least for 8 or 10 years. If the tribes want to run a very small brood stock operation as insurance that they can keep their genetics alive well, that would be a bummer, but much better than the "jump start" idea they are going with now. If they need a big check every year to make up for lost fisheries or hatchery revenue, I say we give them that too.
The thing about the hatchery is, it will not be too late to start one ten years from now, but we will NEVER get this chance to go back in time again.

Jim Kerr
Rain Coast guides

Ch-Ch-Changes

2011-09-28T08:28:00.000-06:00

I finally ponied up for a real web address, so those of you who are kind enough to link to me, please change link to www.evoanglers.com. And if you're lazy, like I am, don't worry, the blogspot site will still get you here. And, if you don't link to me, but run a blog, throw me in your blog roll and post in the comment box on this thread or email me at joe@evoanglers.com, and I'll send you some Evolution Anglers stickers, as well as some stickers from The Greenfish Movement, which include a 20% coupon.

Friday Fishing Report

2011-09-23T08:19:00.000-06:00

Ke'lah enjoying the foam hatch.

Been a while since I pumped one of these bad boys out, largely because I have been too busy watching inch long pieces of foam get chewed on by relentless hopper eating trout until the legs fall off. As expected, the huge snowpack of last winter has led to an amazing September. Always my favorite month of the year (dry flies, steelhead pouring in, warm weather), this September has certainly been a memorable one. I haven't tied on a bobber in well over a month, unless I'm on the Beaverhead, and if you're willing to get creative with your fly selection, there are plenty of fish eating hoppers still.

Jim Snyder proving that the big ones do eat in the
morning as well as trusting in the guides selected fly pattern.

September is also great because we have a solid return of guests for their same weeks every year. This year the Himmelman Group and Ralph and Kim were back right on schedule, and the Jim Snyder made their long awaited Stonefly Inn Reunion Tour. Fishing with guests that are more like friends than clients is certainly one of the perks of the job. Based on the weather forecast this is going to be the last week of summer, so get out there while you can. Because if you live out here year round, you know that the 9 months of cold is just around the corner.

Tobie getting it done Ishii style, big fish and no lost flies!

The start of spawning colors

friday fishing report-a day early edition

2011-09-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

One of the best things about living in Pullman is the close proximity to Lewiston and the Clearwater. This means that after taking a test and sitting through 4 hours of lectures I can sneak out of town, make my way through the palouse and get to the river in time to spend the evening fishing.

This was the story of Tuesday evening. Andrew and I made it to the CW while the sun was still a couple hours from dipping behind horizon. We started working a run and about half way through I hooked up, only to lose the fish, as the hook had broke off on a poorly executed cast that ended in the fly crashing into the rocks behind me. Evidently I didn't remember my first time spey casting.

We finished out the run, the sun had disappeared already and we were running out of light. We made the quick decision to head up river to try one last spot for the last remaining time we had until the sun disappeared.

This was a great decision. within a dozen casts I was into my first steelhead on the swing. Redemption! finally!

Friday Fishing Report- Steelhead edition

2011-09-02T18:27:00.000-06:00

Quick report for you guys.

Tuesday, my new classmate Andrew and I, along with his fiancé Lisa made a quick evening trip to the Clearwater. This was my first time on the Clearwater, and fortunately it was not Andrews first time so he was showing me the ropes. We got to the river around 5:30 and met up with a friend of Andrew's who gave us some beta, and we quickly got ready and headed to the river.

The three of us spread out along the long run and started working down. We were fishing traditional style flies with intermediate tips. Within 30 minutes Andrew caught and landed the first/ only landed fish of the outing. An hour or so later I got a promising bump but was unable to connect. And a time after that Lisa had one on but was unable to land it.

All in all it was a good trip, that reminded of the importance of taking a break from a busy and stressed schedule to get a line wet.

Next time your fishing as the sun is setting point your lens at the sun and snap away. You might like how things turn out.

Andrew attributes his catch to his new Evolution Anglers cap.

A much needed break from the anxiety and stress of medical school

How to celebrate a year

2011-09-01T07:01:00.000-06:00

Good way to start the weekend.

One year and a couple of days ago my wife and I got married in a beautiful church overlooking the Big Hole river. This year we had a weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and decided to head up to Craig, MT and hit the Mo. We took a leisurely pace getting to Craig, including a stop at the farmers market in Helena, which is awesome. We got checked in to our cabin, Ben at Headhunters hooked us up with the right bugs and we headed up to the dam. Once we found the right water, fishing was automatic. When she wasn't wrestling with our over-caffeinated rat terrier, Ke'lah was able to hook a pile of fish. A fine dinner at Izaak's capped off the evening and set us up for fishing on Sunday.

Madi surveying the situation.

Sunday we floated from Craig down to Deerborn with success relative to the amount of effort put forth. B the end of the float we just floated down the middle with the rest of the crowds and enjoyed the warm weather and great scenery. Craig might become the annual anniversary trip for a while, what a great place to celebrate a first year of marriage.

What's in there? What's in there? What's in there?

Oh a brown trout, yum!

Perfect end to a great day.

Mustache month

2011-08-30T06:47:00.000-06:00

We'll be your guides today!

Every summer Bubba and I do a little throwback month and rock the mustache. This year because of a lack of preparation we had to push it back to august from July. This was good in that the mustaches seemed to kick off hopper season. The down side of August mustaches is Fair weekend, which brought in a substantial amount of new talent for Bubba (who is single ladies!) but had to play handicapped with the 'stache. Overall mustache power won out, and the last week of 'stache month produced some giant browns, like the one bubba found pictured below.

Mustache power prevails!

Friday fishing report: They are finally here!

2011-08-26T06:12:00.001-06:00

Dick gets rewarded for hitting the spots.

My clients today and I laughed about how every fishing report in the west for the last month starts with "They're Finally..." as in "The salmonflies are finally here!" or "The yellowstone is finally dropping" or "It's finally hopper time". And now that "It's finally here" it feels like it's almost over. Mornings are starting to get cold, days are getting shorter, and the September regulars are just around the corner. This past week gave up some interesting fishing, with fish looking up for hoppers all over the place, and some of the most consistent nymphing all year. Apparently the big ones are moving around as well, because the Mel and Bob group got three browns over 22" within 2 days.

23" of hopper destruction.

After waking up this morning and seeing overcast skies and warm temps, we all thought today was going to be the day of days, but apparently the trout forgot what shade was, because the sunny days have been better. Oh well, couple more weeks of what should continue to be solid dry fly fishing, and then time to chase steel!

Life is good.

What day is it again? fishing report.

2011-08-22T07:28:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah, there are spruce moths in the upper Big Hole.

It's getting to be that time of year where everything starts to blur. After having two days off in the last 50 or so days, life becomes a blur of fish, bobbers, hoppers, beer, caffeine, rodeo, water, sun, wind and fun. Last week saw me out with two of my favorite clients, Brett who was pictured earlier this week and Paul and his son Owen. Three days with each was enough for them to truly understand how good fishing is when we have a summer of high water. Any day that I've seen enough fish caught about lunch time that I don't care if we catch another one is a good thing. Travis from The Tailout stopped by this week as well and got some local intel from the shop, as well as a sticker for the back of the trusty 4-runner. On another note, you might want to tie up some chubbies and foamies if your headed this way soon, having the big bugs in a color other than what your local shop deals is a good thing. Hopefully I can catch enough trout the next few weeks to keep my mind off of the steelhead reports I start to get. Thankfully fishing has been good enough it shouldn't be too hard.

Don't forget the skinny

2011-08-17T22:37:00.000-06:00

Don't forget the skinny water this summer. The brown that Brett is holding above came out of about a foot of water to eat a homebrew chubby. Plus, shallow water takes are the best, as long as you can wait long enough to let it happen.

Friday Fishing Report: Saturday Style

2011-08-13T07:45:00.000-06:00

Jeffery Lee, Cowboy, with the first fish of the day.

Yesterday found me with an unexpected day off, so the wife and bubba and I went for an afternoon hopper run on the Big Hole. It was a nice change to not even put the bobber rods in the truck and watch various colored chubbies get swallowed. This week I got to spend 3 days with two boys from the Bronx, a father son combo who know how to fish and have fun. Each day the bobber is on less and less, with foam and fast water being the name of the game. I'm back to work today with the half dozen custom chubbies that just popped out of the vise, and a brain that is going to melt if much time is spent watching a pink bobber.

Pete getting it done, Chapman style.

I've got nipples Gaylord, can you milk me?

2011-08-11T06:46:00.000-06:00

Like a marathon runner!

Just in case your looking at fishing shirts in the near future and are going to save a couple bucks by not buying a Simms or Patagonia think about this, nipple chaffing. The angler above chose an inferior shirt brand, and had to deal with casting arm nipple chaffing all day. Fortunately I was able to put my first aid kit to work for the second time in it's life (the other a JMills sensitive-computer-hands booboo). In exchange for the band-aid a picture had to be taken, and good laughs were had by all.

WDFW, Thank you very little

2011-08-10T07:13:00.000-06:00

Native Steelhead are going to cost a little more to be guided for this year, to bad they are protected more.

So I just got a letter from WDFW stating that commercial guide licenses were getting a price hike this year, a 12% increase for non-residents, and a 25% increase for residents. I don't even care about the price increases, especially if the money goes to something worthwhile, but what gets to me about this is the underfunding of the WDFW. As a non resident guide license purchaser (after 25 years as a WA resident) I am also amazed that the state would have the balls to increase the fee at a higher rate for residents over non-residents. On top of that, Washington has to have the highest non-resident guide fee in the country, and one of the lowest non-resident fishing license rates. Aside from the WA/OR border, out of state fishing guides are few and far between.

I have floated in Washington waters well over 1,000 times, commercially and non, and have been checked by enforcement 4 times. 4 TIMES! This is not because the WDFW agents are lazy, they bust their asses covering huge territories. I ran into the local enforcement officer in Forks this year, and after he showed me the poached wild steelhead filets he had confiscated, we chatted a bit and I was stunned to see how large of an area he had to cover. It was clear that there was very little funding going to his area, and although he didn't say it, I can't imagine another officer wouldn't help.

In Montana, where I spend the rest of the year, guide license fees are the same for resident and non-resident, out of state fishing licenses are expensive but not over the top, and enforcement is funded. I get checked on a weekly basis while working, and several times a week if I go to the popular spots. MT also has an outfitter system implemented that creates more responsible outfitters. Unlike WA where once you buy a guide license you can guide as much as you want wherever you want, in MT an outfitter must have guided for a licensed outfitter for 100 days, take a test, pay fee's, and maintain his/her certification. This creates a better product for guests by weeding out many sketchy or unqualified guides. You certainly don't see the "outfitters" who were real estate agents last year and just started guiding because they live within an hour of a river. On top of that, with your WA "guide license" you can guide for endangered species, some of the finest rivers on earth, as much as you want! Montana trout don't even belong here and they receive better protection!

So thank you WA state for taxing us more and giving us less. But at least I get emails about every 6 months about the new fucking hatcheries you want to build on some of the worlds finest steelhead streams.

Slacking

2011-08-08T22:59:00.001-06:00

Been slacking on the blogging, which is pretty much typical for this time of year. Been fishing everywhere still which is a good thing. Cloudy days the hopper fishing has been rocking, and they are taking a little note of them on sunny days, as pictured above. The brown that Scott from Wenatchee is holding defintely came from a Scott Wilson inspired fly. Oh yeah, yesterday was my first day off since the middle of June, last one till September, and I spent the day picking out a new washing machine with the wife, had a nice little sunday planned.

Friday Fishing Report: Two For One

2011-07-29T06:40:00.000-06:00

Todd with a really big one, Montana style.

So haven't been blogging lately for the usual reasons (I'm not a desk jockey, and fishing is > blogging), but have a couple minutes this morning for an update. Things are still dropping and clearing, but still much bigger than usual, which is a good thing. I've floated everywhere but the way upper big hole in the past two weeks, and after a couple of ass kickings down around twin, found some good fishing nearby, as well as on the upper beav. If you haven't been to the upper Beav, now's a good time to try. The fish are giant this year because of good water, and the pmd's are popping and making for some cool dry fly fishing. Starting to get some fish looking for hoppers, but I'd keep them in the box just a little longer before really giving them the a throw.

Bubba with a good one

Todd doing the Montana Pterodactyl.

Todd with another beauty.

Good people

2011-07-28T07:11:00.000-06:00

Got to spend 6 days last week with some of my favorite clients, who are actually very close friends of mine. We fished all over the place, but here's a nice one that Todd W. got in a place that is a little less traveled. More to come in tomorrow's FFR, which should be a good one because I got to wrap up two week in to one.

Flash Back

2011-07-18T06:57:00.000-06:00

Hill's Discount Flies Pulsating Caddis Pupa (There's some glass beads in there)

Sitting on the exercise bike at the PT office the other day, I was doing my normal daydreaming, thinking about my guide trip for later that day on the Big Hole, and caddis pupa. For some reason, I had a flash back to a pattern that we used to fish all of the time on the Yakima, The Pulsating Caddis. Tied by hills discount flies that was based out of the city of Yakima at the time, the pulsating caddis was a crusher, and accounted for a lot of fish. That same day I had the flash back I was working with Brazda, and knew that he would have some because we both used to fish that pattern a lot. Sure enough he did, and was generous enough to let me have a few. I wish this ended with the PC-pupa hammering 30 fish, but not the case, however we did catch a few on it, and it's another one that I'm going to keep in the box on a regular basis.

Friday Fishing Report

2011-07-15T20:59:00.001-06:00

The past week took me to some new places and returned me to some spots i've been fondly thinking about. After a couple of outrageous days on the Big Hole a push of rain peeled me off of it for a day, which sent us up to the dam on the Beav. If you are in to throwing little dries, now would be a great time to get your ass up there, because the PMD's haven't gone crazy yet, but there are enough around and the fish are certainly up looking at them. After some good reports I ran over to the Madison today and floated a stretch that I have never done, looking for some salmonfly eaters. Fishing was good, and we watched a pile of fish eat the dry, first dry fly day in a LONG time. The Alabama Boys were out as well, along with Single Angler Steve, which made for alot of laughs along with alot of fish.

Friday Fishing Report: Monday Edition

2011-07-11T06:24:00.000-06:00

Rory's first fish on a fly rod. Thanks for coming out bro!

So this week since I have been spending more time on water than land, you'll get last weeks fishing report today, and a new one this Friday. Finally feels like summer, and boy is it nice. Temps nearing 100 degrees and alot of happy trout to see some consitent hatches. I have been everywhere in the valley lately that is in shape, from the upper Big Hole to the upper Beav, and lots of places in between. Everywhere is fishing well and there are a ton of different bugs out from sallies and late goldens to pmd's, caddis and drakes. Still spending most of the time watching the bobber, but the bite is good enough to keep it interesting. Remember too that even though the flows are big, it's July and those food sources are changing.

Ke'lah enjoying the sun on the 4th of July.

Dad with a good one.

Some 509 in the 406

2011-07-06T22:22:00.000-06:00

Two Joe's one trophy whitey

It's been Eastern Washington week at The Stonefly, with groups from the 509 leaving last week and more showing up today. It's always fun guiding guys from the same general area I grew up, and definitely unique since flyfishing isn't the fishing method of choice in Eastern Washington. Last week we had a bunch of farmboys from Colfax who had never fly fished before, and Bubba and I were assigned to ~~crush them~~ teach them. We had a great time fishing with them, and after a couple minutes of instruction they figured it out. Many laughs were had, and after a day of ribbing they quickly figured out how to have fun, and started jabbing back after 1.5 days of ridicule. The quote of the two days in my boat was "This is just like the water ride at Silverwood theme park, except that is more fun, because there is no guide." I'm still laughing about that comment along with some of the great whitey pics.

Zach ending the day with a big brown with an audience at the takeout.

Monday Escape Series

2011-07-04T08:01:00.000-06:00

Ok I promise I'll be more consistent with weekly updates. Today's Escape photo is from last summer on the Yakima River. Troy landed this nice rainbow just down from Bristol Flats.

Canon 40D

17-40 F4L

B+W Circular Polarizer

17 mm

F 4.0

1/160

ISO 100

Post processing in Aperature. Contrast bump. Vignette. Selective Dodging on the face and the fish.

Monday Escape Series

2011-06-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Today's escape photo was shot at an unknown location in the summer of 2009. Shawn landed this brute of a brown trout on a VW hopper, and we then called it a day. This photo always makes me thankful of the fact that places like this still exist and that I am fortunate enough to know of its existence.

Canon 40D

17-40 F4L

17 mm

F 4.0

1/500

ISO 640

Post processing: Ok this photo took a serious amount of work. I took the original image which was under exposed and cranked the exposure up, which blew out the sky. To fix this, I used some Topaz product demo to do a single shot HDR which gave me the sky and reflection exactly how I wanted it. I then used photoshop CS5 to make a composite image with the sky and rive from the HDR photo merged with the bumped exposure version with the angler and fish. This gave me a final merged image that was just about where I wanted it to be, except there was too much noise. I used noise ninja in Aperture to fix that problem and used a little bit of the clone tool in PS CS5 to fix some problematic areas.

It took a bit of tinkering but I really like the way this photo came out.

Salmonfly video from Detonation Studios.

2011-06-27T07:19:00.000-06:00

Montana Salmon Fly part 1 from Detonation Studios on Vimeo.

New short from Ian at Detonation Studios about salmonflies, check him out here: Link.

Friday Fishing Report: Liftoff

2011-06-23T07:56:00.000-06:00

Do I really need to write anything else?

As seen above, we have liftoff on the Big Hole, and they are spread through out the system. I spent most of the last week over there, and although haven't had much dry fly fishing yet, it is time. Took a break from the Hole on Monday and had a blast with some new guests from Missouri over on the Beaverhead. What was supposed to be a fathers day trip got pushed to Monday, but the father continued the mojo with some awesome fishing out of the back of the bus, and some trout a little bigger than those in the Ruby Deux. I'm off to the Hole again with Modobi and Bubba in about an hour, hopefully they're looking up.

Pat and Allison know how to finish the day, a double within site of the ramp.

WIld Steelhead

2011-06-21T11:41:00.000-06:00

My buddy Will tipped me off on this and was slow to post it, click this link and do some research about the Snider Creek Hatchery on the Sol Duc. It is a unique hatchery project, but hatchery fish of any kind don't compare to the real thing and the native fish society is supporting it's removal.
http://alerts.nativefishsociety.org/campaign/4-snider-creek

Sol Duc fish, as fresh as they get

Monday Escape Series

2011-06-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

OK OK I promise I'll be more consistent with this column. So here we go . . .

This photo of JMills comes from the Beaverhead during his last venture East. Doesn't this just make you want to be meandering through the high desert as if you're on an amusement park boat ride, throwing heavy-duty nymph rigs to hungry brown trout.

Canon 40D

17-40 F4L

B+W circular polarizer

blahblahblah

No PP

Happy Fathers Day

2011-06-19T10:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's out there!

Friday Fishing Report

2011-06-17T08:43:00.000-06:00

This past week has been a good one including birthdays, guests at the house, lots of fishing, as well as a pig roast and awesome party down at The Roost. The Mills crew came out for a few days which was a blast and I got to school Josh on bobber fishing the upper Beav, and he got to school a crowded room of fishing guides on the finer points of beer chugging (you have to see it to believe it). C-squad also came out, and him and I got to fish together a few days around here and one on the Missouri. Cliff of Cliff's Fly Boxes joined us on the Mo, and although fishing was slow by Mo standards, we still found a handful of nice trout, and a little stronger appreciation for what we have in our backyard. The last day that c-squad and I got out and fished we brought along my b-day gift, a new GoPro video camera. These little guys shoot in a super wide angle, and come with a waterproof housing so ideal for fly fishing. I'm still learning how to operate it, along with editing using my imovie '08 model, but so far so good. Here's a clip from the other day.

Beaverhead River Fly Fishing from Evolution Anglers on Vimeo.

Friday Fishing Report

2011-06-10T08:02:00.000-06:00

"All sorts of bad things were happening" before this trout was landed

All sorts of variety for this weeks fishing report. My good friend, T.Craig (aka Mr. Seahawks Hat) flew in thursday for a long weekend (if you can call Friday-Tuesday that) of fishing. Instead of listening to his friend in Seattle who thought he was nuts for coming out here this time of year, Tom arrived for the best 5 days of fishing I have seen so far this season.

This spot look familiar?

Celebrating the end of her school year and a small break from students, Ke'lah joined us Fri-Sunday to mop up the leftovers out of the back of the boat, and did a hell of a job at that. We began with a late start on the Beav friday, and aside from meeting a blog reader out of the SLC and a strong streamer finish, it was rather ho-hum. The weekend couldn't be more opposite. After a cold week the Hole dropped into shape, and with the warm weather predicted for the weekend we new that we had to "strike like cobra" while we had the chance. This decision worked out incredibly well, and each day provided non-stop action under the bobber, including enough bobber eaters to make us throw the big dry for a while. A mule at the hitching post followed up by some home made pizza back at the casa-de-willauer and Ke'lah was ready to go back to work, and T and I were off to the Mo.

The rod that you can't see above the frame, is bent to shit.

Early Monday morning found us saying bye to Ke'lah and meeting up with Greg Bricker in Whitehall for the trip up to Craig. If you haven't been to Craig, it is a great scene this time of year. Every guide in SWMT that doesn't have access to Beav tags is up there, and because it is such a big river it can easily handle the pressure. The crew at Headhunters hooked us up with the goods as usual, but rather than just some flies, a shuttle and a little prefishing chill time at the shop we got ahold of one of their cabins for the night. If you're staying in Craig, check them out, they are cozy, affordable and stumbling distance from Isaac's. A quick gear drop off and we had the boat in the water. Greg started out with two at the take out, and this trend pretty much continued for 1.5 days (T flew out at 3:30, otherwise it would have been 2 days of crushing). If you've been to the Mo this time of year, you know how remarkable it can be, and if you haven't, get ahold of me.

It's all about the hat! Great brown for T.Craig.

There were many highlights to the trip, but the couple that stood out were one grande brown so that Tom can maintain the legend of the Seahawks hat, Greg's anchor bracket technique and eating a next level dinner at Izaak's. Definitely a great end to the weekend shared with good friends.

Average. Thanks to Silvey's Pupa

Anchor bracket technique perfected!

Flushed

2011-06-09T11:15:00.000-06:00

Ke'lah holding the first double of the day, damn near in sight of the launch.

Last weekends hot weather combined with a nice series of rainstorms is currently flushing the Big Hole, which is now around 10k, but boy was it rocking while it was in shape. Looking like it's going to be another tailwater weekend.

Roadtrip to the Mo

2011-06-08T12:54:00.001-06:00

Bricker with a hot one!

Just got in yesterday afternoon from a short 1.5 day roadtrip to the Missouri with T.Craig and Grag Bricker. Turns out this was a great idea because the weather is crushing outside right now, and a better day for fly tying than fly fishing. The fish above is one of many on the short trip, including a big brown that will show up in friday's fishing report. Check back then for more info.

YGF Video

2011-06-06T07:00:00.001-06:00

I got together and fished with Ivan (Ee-von) from YGF this past wednesday on the upper Beav. If you follow Ivan's blog, you'll notice he has a bunch of sweet clips from his various adventures around Montana, and his trip over the hill to fish with me was no different. His videos are awesome, and show a great taste of what goes on out here. Check it out!

YGF X Evolution Anglers: BOOM GOES THE BROWNOMITE from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

Friday Fishing Report

2011-06-03T08:56:00.002-06:00

Larry pulling on one.

This past week was a Beav week until about Thursday. I got up there last Friday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday, each day fishing a little different. We're super lucky to have such a good tailwater 30 minutes from home while we wait for snow to melt everywhere else. After Saturday the traffic wasn't bad either which was nice.

I started out last Friday guiding my buddy Derek Brown and his dad Larry. Derek and his wife are both veterinarians in Dillon and have an awesome dog boarding setup as well, so if your ever out here with fido and need to board him or have an emergency, check them out. As for the fishing it started out a little rough, but finished strong.

Bubba got back to the north country from Texas last week and we were able to get him in the boat most of last week which was a blast. Saturday was particularly good because we floated through the resident only zone, and Bubba as a non resident had to row the whole time which was a nice treat, but he did get his licks in above and below the non-resident zone.

Baja Rooster Vid

2011-06-02T10:14:00.000-06:00

Baja 2011 from marty sheppard on Vimeo.

Check out this sweet video shot by Marty and Mia Sheppard and the Little Creek Outfitters crew including good friends Brian and Dawn Chou. B.Seng was down there as well and some of his photos from the trip will be popping up here soon.

The start of something good

2011-06-01T09:52:00.001-06:00

More of these swimming up the Elwah in the near future

The powerplant on the Elwah is getting shut down today, which is a big step in the process of the long awaited dam removal, and is going to be great for it's native fish. Here's the story, link.

Thank you

2011-05-31T07:30:00.000-06:00

Got out for an afternoon on the Beav yesterday for a cold memorial day celebration. Thanks to those who served and allow for us to enjoy life the way we do!

Friday Fishing Report

2011-05-27T07:39:00.000-06:00

Had a mixed bag of conditions this past week around Twin Bridges, and ended up with a couple rocking days of fishing, and one where we had to work harder to get em.

The weekend continued out the average weather we have been having, which kept the freestones in shape and fishing super consistent. Sunday, just as you could see the rain building in the distance I started to see the caddis that can lead to amazing May dry fly fishing. Unfortunately the fish weren't ready to eat them on top, and the rain caught up to us late sunday night, sending a flush of water that hasn't subsided yet. Fortunately we have the Beav, and now that the upper is open it's a great option when there is too much water.

I spent two days up below the dam this week, and it was busy as expected, but as usuall people were friendly and showed good etiquette. Clark Canyon Creek was a little muddy, but we fished to henne one day, and certainly could have the second had we wanted to. The first day fishing was a little rough, but we had a great time, and hooked a couple of the crankers that enjoyed the high water through the winter months. Wednesday we threw in at 1:00 thinking everyone would be through the top, which was not the case, but caught some good fish regardless, and welcomed Bubba back to Montana, trout style.

High water nymphing

2011-05-26T07:55:00.002-06:00

We've been having a sweet combination of warm days and rainy days, a perfect combination for runoff, which has bumped everything up pretty good. Check out this great video from the boys at Headhunters. If there are some guys that know how to fish big water it is them, since there homewater is the confluence of everything we fish this time of year (plus the gallatin). Even though as a giant tailwater the Mo is rather unique, and I don't often nymph that deep, this inside out type of fishing is a great technique anywhere when you're dealing with big flows. Also, take note to what Mark says about his leader setup, this makes a huge difference and although I tune mine slightly different, the 2x from the bobber down is huge. Check out that hookset too, booyah!

Stop Eating Wild Steelhead

2011-05-25T07:36:00.000-06:00

For those who haven't noticed, on the bottom right corner of the blog is a banner link that says "stop eating wild steelhead" and if you haven't clicked it yet, get on it! If you don't already know, wild steelhead are ESA listed in many parts of the Northwest, or on the way to being ESA listed. There are many different factors that have led to the rapid decline of steelhead, one of which is the netting and sale of steelhead at restaurants and markets. After a successful campaign last winter that stopped pikes place market from selling wild steelhead, Evan Burck has formed a more unified group for outing those restaurants and markets selling wild steelhead, and notifying them about the peril of the fish they are selling.

See that adipose fin? That means it's the real-deal and not meant for eating.

Evan and I have been friends since we were about 5 years old, grew up fishing together, and after different paths out of school, have both ended up being very passionate about the conservation and protection of steelhead. Here is what evan had to say about the cause:

"I mainly want it to be a place of info for things dealing with steelhead harvest, management, ethics, etc. "Eating" steelhead is both a literal and metaphorical thing in this case... We don't have to eat them to be doing damage to them. I think that if we are users of a resource, we should be doing something to give back to it. I'm trying to get people informed and passionate about making sure this resource lasts. With the general apathy of the situation within the angling community, and the general public's ignorance, something needs to be done to bring these topics to people's attention."

Beginning of the end of the world fishing

2011-05-24T07:54:00.000-06:00

No brown trout were lost by crazy predictions either.

Everybody knows that this past saturday was the day that nut job Harold Camping predicted for the beginning of the end of the world. After waking up and finding out that as expected nothing happened, we decided to head over and hit the big hole, because if the end of the world was going to start in Montana, might as well take advantage of a few less anglers on a great piece of water.

Friday Fishing Report: Tailwater Tour

2011-05-20T07:00:00.001-06:00

Tying on ANOTHER fly for Brett (not really). All photos by Brett Seng.

May and June is an interesting time in Southwest Montana. There is always a small amount of risk involved with coming to Montana this time of year as the rivers can be big and brown, but one of the benefits to fishing around Twin Bridges is the amount of tailwaters nearby. When the freestones are fishing they typically are on fire this time of year, but when they blow out you fill up the tank and head for the bottom of a dam. B.Seng and I got to guide together for my first couple of trips after the ACL, and we spent a day on the Beav, a day on the Madi, and then a day in the same boat for a tag team guide trip with one angler on the Mo.

All three rivers fished well, and although they are all tailwaters they all fish very differently. The Madi, which fishes and acts like a freestone, was definitely the most difficult of the three days. The Ron Burgundy was definitely the hot fly in all three locations, and a bobber with the appropriate amount of lead were key.

Thunk is the noise this trout is about to make

Anyone that gets suckered in to riding along with two guides is in for some ~~pain~~ fun. Mark was a great sport dealing with Brett and I busting on each other through out the day, especially when I thought I left the chips for our lunch in the truck, only to find it was in the boat the whole time. The folks at Headhunters hooked us up with the goods as usual, and unfortunately we had to get back in a time frame or we would have been back for dinner at Isaak's. Fishing wise, it was definitely worth the drive, and if you like nymphing out of a boat it's a great time to be up there. The flows are huge, but it's a fun challenge to nymph with 10' between your bobber and lead.

Check out the worms flying out of there.

America's Most Endangered Rivers

2011-05-17T07:16:00.000-06:00

As stated above, American Rivers released their annual list of our 10 most endangered rivers. The list highlights rivers that are in imminent danger, and that your help can impact immediately. Here is the link to this years list.

Monday: Escape Series

2011-05-16T08:00:00.003-06:00

Since we have a temporary hiatus on Backyard flow, I thought I would take this opportunity to create a new weekly segment. The Escape Series will feature photos that take you away from wherever you may find your self on a Monday morning. I often find my self framing hero shots in this similar fashion, with the angler taking up the majority of the side third and showcasing the scenery of where the fish was caught. This brings a lot more to a typical hero shot, showing not just the beauty of the fish but also the beauty of the areas we fish.

Canon 40D

17-40 F4L

17 mm

F 4.0

1/1000

ISO 100

Post processing done with Aperture 2.0. Selective dodging on shadowed areas, primarily on the face. Luminance of blue hues dialed down. Small bump to contrast and black point.

Friday Fishing Report: Getting Guided on the Madison

2011-05-13T17:19:00.003-06:00

So for the summer I am switching things up and rather than the Backyard Flow we have tried to do most fridays, we will throw up a Friday fishing report. Most of the content will be about SW Montana, but if c-squad does something in Central Washington he'll be sure to post it. Most of them will be nowhere near as long as todays, but there was a ton of funny things that happened yesterday, so I have to share.

Yesterday while drinking my morning coffee and debating on tying more worms or mowing the lawn, B.Seng, fellow guide at The Stonefly Inn, called me and reminded me that because of my knee surgery he was guiding a single angler, and that if I wanted to go fishing he'd swing by on his way out of town and let my gimp ass sit in the back of the boat. After a couple minutes of lawn mowing thoughts I did my usual mind trick and erased all notions of responsibility and got my gear together. After picking up his truck from the shop for a brake job, Brett and his guest Ryan picked me up and we did something I rarely do, drove past the flashing light in the middle of Twin Bridges and went to the Madison.

We dropped down through Ennis, and as we pulled into Varney Bridge, Brett's truck starting making a weird rattle from the front left brake. After stopping and checking it out, Brett declared it good to go, and he backed in to launch his boat. At this point we all realized something was really wrong with the brake as it made a loud groan and stopped working, smack in the middle of the varney boat launch. In order to launch the boat we pulled the trailer off of the truck, slid it down the ramp, launched, then hauled it up by hand. Brett made a call to the mechanic who did the brake job the day before, and he agreed to drive over and fix his truck at the boat launch, which was very nice for saving our fishing day, but forced us to change our shuttle time, a change that the shuttle driver could apparently not comprehend.

After finally getting into the water, Ryan hooked up in the first decent piece of water, and we all thought it was going to be game on. This of course would not be the case, and it was several hours before we finally put a couple of trout in the boat. About 2:30 a nice string of clouds rolled over and fishing got somewhat consistent, but still left us scratching our heads. There was not a full blown mothers day hatch, but there was certainly enough caddis around that our pupa's should have produced better than they did. Although we didn't break any records, the fish that hooked were really good ones, including a cranker that handed Ryan his ass just below the 8 mile take out. This was defintely one of those fish that you want to at least see if you can't land it.

As mentioned above, changing shuttle plans because of the brake situation was a little much for yesterday, so when we arrived at valley garden Brett's truck had not be moved. Fortunatley a couple of guides on a day off were able to give Brett a ride up to Varney while Ryan and I kicked back and drank a beer at the take out. Every guide season we all have days like yesterday, and lucky for Brett he got his out fo the way early this year. It was definitely a great time, and really nice to sit in the back of the boat and tell Brett where to row, what flies to tie on, and complain when we were not catching very many. I am sure that he appreciated my constructive criticism.

Dats a big buggah: Maui Bone!

2011-05-13T12:44:00.003-06:00

From Shawn:

"Maui doesn't really have any good flats to speak of but I have been able to fine a few small shallows or "flats" in Kihei. After several outings and attempts, today I was finally able to connect with a nice bonefish and some tourists walking on the beach collecting shells were willing to take some photos with my iPhone (hence the poor quality). The fish had almost all of my backing within seconds and it was defiantly my most exciting fight on a fly rod to date."