Campbell Outdoors

Empty

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:37:00 +0000

This week I have just been empty. Mentally, physically, and spiritually empty. It rained a good bit last night, so I decided to hit my favorite brown trout stream that fishes well in the rain. When I got to the creek, the upper creek was empty. Really? I drove an hour and a half to cap my week off with a creek that is barely a trickle. That's just great.

Well, anyway, it was raining hard when I got to the creek and as I walked down there was more and more water to be found. Several smaller spring creeks dump into this particular small creek. Once I got below a couple of those spring feeders, things looked better. Not good, but better.

Since it was raining so hard, I decided to walk on down the creek and hope the rain continued. After an hour or so walk, I came to the main river that the creek dumps into. The larger river was on the rise. The water in the small creek was starting to stain as I got to the mouth of the creek.

While I enjoyed my walk in the rain, I really just wanted to fish. As I started making my way back up the creek, the conditions began to improve. I tied on a #8 olive bead-head woolly bugger and my 3wt rod laid out a nice cast in a fast stained run. BOOM! A beautiful 12" wild brown came to hand and my spirit began to lighten.

I casted a couple more holes and couple more small fish came to hand. I wondered, why I picked up my 3wt rod this morning. I normally use my 2wt rod on this stream. The 2wt is plenty of rod for anything I have ever caught here. A 1wt would be great.

As I approached a familiar pool, I was thinking the stain in this pool looks perfect. But, I have never caught anything in this pool that always looks perfect. I wonder why? The pool is long, with a nice bubbly riffle at the top and large boulders along each side. Surely something lives in this pool?

I had plenty of space behind me and overhead, so I stripped off some line and and made a long cast to the top of the foamy riffle. SPLASH! What the heck was that. It missed, but that splash was WAY to big for this creek. I sent the bugger sailing to the foamy riffle again. WHOOSH! It hit again as soon as the bugger landed on the surface of the water, but no hook-up. That was a big fish. Unfortunately, I rarely get a 3rd chance on this creek, but, I've got nothing but time to kill. I send the bugger on his way one more time. BANG! BZZZZZZZ! Music to my ears.

My 3wt rod is bent and the clicker on the old CFO is humming. A long golden streak is jetting back and forth across the pool. In my mind all I can think is, "Don't jump! Don't jump!" He didn't jump.... He pulled hard for a minute or 2 and safely found his way into my net.

The largest brown trout I had caught on this creek previously was 14" This bruiser was an 18" fatty. What a stunning healthy fish. Now I know why I have never caught anything in this pool. This big old fickle guy doesn't like roommates and didn't get big from being stupid. A true toad for this creek. Sure glad I had the 3wt!

I continued to make my way up the creek, bringing several more 10-12" browns to hand along the way. I decided it was time for my victory smoke. I pulled out a nice cigar and enjoyed to spicy smoke in the dampness of the rain. I figure the day can't get any better and there are only a couple of holes left to hit before I call it a day.

A couple of the pools in the upper creek are large and deep. I have turned a lot of fish in these pools. But, as with earlier in the day, I was approaching another pool that always looks great, but I just never catch a thing out of it. Again, this pool is long and somewhat narrow with several large boulders along the edges. There are many places for a big brown to snake out of. This pool too has a nice riffle at the upper end. I sent the bugger straight to the middle of the riffle. WHAM! BZZZZZZZ! Are you kidding me? I have another hog on my line. I kept the pressure on the fish and kept that rod tip down continuing to hope this big fellow doesn't jump. I finally teased him to the back of the pool and into my net.

A 17" fat hog of a brown trout. SURREAL! 2 toads on a dinky creek in one day. I have fished this creek for several years now and never seen anything like these 2 fish. What I did do to deserve these 2 guys in one day is unknown to me. I hope I can reproduce it again soon.

The creek was good to me today and I needed it. My mind and spirit are calming. My body, well, alright...that ain't getting any better.

A Great Ending!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:06:00 +0000

My long trout season is coming to a close. Now that the school year is nearly over, I'll be trading my fishing time for some time with my favorite little girls. When our girls were 1st born, I always stayed home one day during the week to be with them. But as they got older, they were off to school and I had to decide what to do with that day. I guess a reasonable man would have worked another day in the office, but I decided to push further into my fishing problem. So, for a couple of months, I'll soak up some time with my babies and fish a little less.

Greg and I decided to make one last trip over to PA for some wild trout. We had been aiming to further explore a watershed in Venago County for some time...but just never found the time. Yesterday was the day. And time was what we took. We were on the stream by 6:00am and didn't leave the water until 8:30pm. Yea, maybe I do have a problem.

The day didn't take long to get going. At 6:01am I had already enticed a nice little wild rainbow. The action was pretty steady from there. We spent the day hiking 3 different creeks catching tons of wild rainbows and brookies. The brown trout eluded both of us.

Early in the day, small streamers did the trick. I found the most success on a small #12 olive woolly bugger. I told Greg that I tie #12 woolly buggers so that I don't have to call it nymphing.

As the day progressed, I began throwing a stimulator and catching a few fish on top. But in the end, as always seems true this time of year on small wild trout streams, the Royal Wulff reigned supreme. I love the Royal Wulff hatch (that's a joke pretentious trout guys...). I wish that fly worked on all streams all of the time. I can see the Royal Wulff better than any other fly on the water.

Intense colors

The trout were fantastic yesterday. For some reason, the colors were spectacular. The brook trout almost appeared to have their spawning clothes on. Not sure what that was all about, but it was greatly appreciated.

Well, what a season! The steelhead ramped up in September and the wild PA trout were fantastic this Spring. The fact that I have yet to get out of bed today speaks volumes to needing a break. I have a couple of great trips planned this Summer, but I'll be scaling the rest of it back until September. Knowing my problem as well as I do...I'm sure I'll sneak out on the water here and there.

A Gem!

Broken red line

The Royal Wulff

I think it's a raccoon

PA native orchid Cypripedium acaule

Jammin'

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Fri, 25 May 2012 01:03:00 +0000

There are not many great internet forums out there. Most of them offer little helpful information because the forum has been overtaken by internet tough guys that mock anyone that is not a regular. Several years ago I ran across a forum called Pennsylvania Fly Fishing. This forum was much different that other internet fishing forums I had previously read. The forum was well run and organized. And, although there is a large core group of folks that interact on the site regularly, the folks on the site go out of their way to be helpful. What a concept!

I've been interacting with these folks for a while now. Over the years I have gotten to know several folks and fished with a few of them on the Erie tribs for steelhead. Every Spring the group has a large outing in central PA for some fellowship and to hit the world famous Green Drake hatch on Penns Creek. This year, a friend on the forum, Tim, encouraged me to cruise over to the State College area and join in the festivities.

I jumped in the truck at 3:30am on Friday and headed to central PA. I met up with Tim with the intention of fishing a small wild brown trout stream, but we decided it was a little too small. We headed off to the Little Juniata. There was some insect activity on the creek, so Tim tried casting dries and nymphs to no avail. I threw my usual streamers. I rolled several fish and even had a smallmouth follow the streamer right up to my leg, but didn't land a thing.

We headed over to Seven Mountains Campground after that and settled in for the weekend. Once camp was settled Tim and I decided to head north to Slate Run. Slate Run is a smaller feeder creek to Pine Creek. Slate Run is a creek known to hold fairly large brown trout for the size of the creek and that is what suits me best.

We stopped at the Slate Run Fly Shop and picked up a few appropriate flies and headed toward the creek. Tim wanted to fish the confluence of the Slate Run and Pine because he had a previous stellar experience at this spot. We no more than stepped in the creek and another guy landed a solid 20" brown right in front of us. That kind of gets your blood boiling.

We fished Pine for several hours with minimal success. We both hooked up and lost fish. As the sun began to set, there was a dark cloud hovering over the creek. Most of the other folks began to disappear as darkness set in, but we decided to wait and see what was going to happen.

In the dark, we began to hear fish hitting the surface. We switched on our lamps and the water was covered with millions of brown Drakes. The next thing I hear is Tim yelling, "FISH ON!"

He was determined to land this one. He played the fish wisely. His patience paid off with a really nice 19" brown trout on a Drake in the dark. It doesn't get much better than that.

We casted for a while longer, but there were so many brown Drakes on the water that our flies were going unnoticed. We crawled off of the creek after 10:00pm and piled in the truck for the 2 hour trip back to camp.

The ride home was an adventure in itself. Not more than 10 minutes down the winding road, a doe ran out in front of us and I bumper her right off the road. I little further down, there was a strange looking raccoon on the road. It was actually a porcupine. We also narrowly missed hitting 2 different grey fox. Mind you, I was not aiming for any of them.

I was still exhausted the next morning and slept much later than I intended. Around noon we decided we would hit a couple of the local fly shops with the intention of fishing Spring Creek. We found some great locally tied flies.

Tim, Geoff, and I headed off to Spring Creek mid-afternoon with hopes of getting into more fish than the day before. Geoff and I decided to stick with streamers and Tim was back to his usual nymph and dry patterns.

It didn't take long and I was rolling fish. The 1st wild brown trout came to hand pretty quickly. Most of the rest of the afternoon was fairly quiet. I put on a larger articulated streamer and rolled several really large browns, but they were just not taking.

Early evening we started noticing some sulfurs coming off and Tim quickly caught the 1st brown of the evening on a dry fly. Little by little the hatch increased and more and more trout started to feed.

I decided to put my streamers away and take a stab at catching a wild brown on a dry. I tied on a #16 sulfur and started watching for a feeding fish. I finally identified the fish I wanted and started casting. He ignored the 1st couple of presentations and the boiled under my next pass. I made a well placed cast above the area of the feeding fish and WAM, my sulfur disappeared into bite of a brown trout.

He gave me a nice little tussle and I finally brought my first wild brown on a dry fly to hand. It was pretty exciting, but I'm not sure I'm quite ready to give up my streamers for dries and nymphs.

Saturday evening at the PA Fly Fish Spring Jam is kind of the highlight of the event. There was a chili cook-off and plenty of other noshes. Forum member Shakey put on a great acoustic guitar concert. A forum moderator, Fishidiot, happens to be a fantastic artist. He spent the evening painting a wild brown trout for the Saturday evening raffle. The raffle is held to help cover the cost of renting the campground and pavilion. There were many fly rods from Allen donated for the raffle and 2 handmade tying benches. One gentleman donated a hand-made fly reel (that was super sweet).

My eye was on the brown trout painting. I bought some raffle tickets and enjoyed some chili, but this old man wears out pretty early these day. By 11:30pm I had the nods. I handed my tickets to Tim and told him I wanted that painting. I retreated to the hammock for a well deserved nap. About an hour later, Tim came yelling to my hammock that I had won the painting. That was worth being awoken for!

After some coffee and breakfast on Sunday, a group of us decided to find a small stream to chase some brookies. I had identified a stream a few miles from camp that I wanted to hit. We headed off to make a few more casts before we departed the Jam.

I led us to the upper stream that was heavily wooded and pretty small. I decided to stick with a small olive #12 woolly bugger and turned a nice fish in the 1st hole. The other guys quickly spread out and covered the creek.

I had brought a couple of small brookies to hand in the 1st few pools. The other fellows emerged after about 20 minutes and said they had covered the upper stream and wanted to move on. They decided they wanted to fish the lower creek that was a little larger. I told them I was going to stay put on the upper and maybe I would catch up with them later.

I caught a few more brookies and then came across a deep hole with half of a small downed tree in it. I slipped the little bugger up under the small tree trunk and BOOM, something pretty large was moving my line about the pool. I thought maybe I had hit into a pretty nice brookie, but when the fish finally came to hand it was a nice 13" wild brown trout. That capped my weekend off pretty nicely!

It was great catching up with the guys from PA Fly Fishing. I learned a lot about bugs, hatches, and dry fly fishing. It was nice putting faces to names I run across on the forum daily. I commend all of you for your commitment to the forum, fly fishing, and good fellowship. I look forward to catching up with you folks again in the future and I'm always looking forward to enjoying Pennsylvania's wonderful wild trout fishery.

Something New

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:19:00 +0000

Brandon is a podiatry student who happens to be a steelhead guide as well. Needless to say, we have a lot in common. He touched base with me a few weeks ago about his future career, but in the end...we mostly talked about fishing.

Interestingly, in his vast fishing experience, he had not spent any time fishing small streams with light weight fly gear. So, when his final exams were finished for the semester, I figured we better get him out to try something new.

We hit a nice mountain brook trout stream to start the day. Brandon took right too casting the 2wt rod. He quickly found out that there is much more to small stream fishing than beautiful casts on light weight gear. As he said, "There's a lot to think about when you are fishing a small stream."

Yep, a whole lot. You constantly have to be aware of the next pool so as not to spook the fish. You have to know what is above you and behind you. As soon as you get fixated on a fish in a pool and forget what's above and behind you...you catch a tree.

And then, there's the stream itself. The pools are small. The front end of your line might be in the slower water of the pool, but the back end of the line might be in a fast riffle. Line management on small streams is more difficult that one might think. Maintaining a natural drift is really pretty difficult. And, the sticks and larger rocks in the stream seem to have a vendetta against you. Without exception, if there is a small twig in the pool you are fishing, your line will find it. So, yea, there really is a lot to think about when you fish a small stream.

We fished the first stream for several hours, but the brookies were not cooperating. We threw everything in the box and could not get a fish to hand. I have never tasted the skunk on this stream previously, so today ended up being something new for me as well.

We jumped in the truck, had a sandwich and headed to the next creek. This creek held the promise of wild rainbows. We fared much better on this creek.

Within no time I had a couple of nice wild PA rainbows in hand. Brandon was moving fish, but the hook-ups were eluding him at this point. I could see the frustration on his face. Here's a guy that can put 10lb steelhead in his hands all day, but these little squirts were making it tough on him. He obviously needed a confidence fish.

As we moved up stream, I was fishing a larger deep hole. I did not move any rainbows. I was standing on a large boulder. As I finished stripping the streamer a HUGE brown trout shot out from under the boulder and grabbed my streamer. My eyes were as big as salad plates when I saw the fish. He took a short run and decided a jump was necessary. With a violent shake of his massive head....my streamer went sailing across the pool. Brandon was walking up to the pool as the fish jumped. We just stared at each other. That was a 20 inch fish on a tiny stream and he bested me. My heart was pounding.

We pushed on. I was watching a pool as Brandon was working his way up stream. I told him that I had seen some fish rising in this particular pool and he needed to make a few casts. He made a nice cast and stripped his bugger across a rock shelf and BANG. It was on! This was a nice fish. The 2wt in Brandon's hand was bent and it was obvious this was a strong fish. He fought the fish like the pro he is and I struggled to net the thing in my typical fashion (that's for my buddy Greg).

When the fish finally hit the net, Brandon had landed a 14 inch PA wild brown trout. Now that is how you kick off your small stream career! A big beautiful fish indeed. Brandon was all smiles the rest of the day.

On the ride home we talked about our fishing addiction. Brandon was telling me how he finds himself constantly checking the USGS gauges. He said he still struggles to sleep the night before a fishing trip. And he sentimented how as much as he loves to catch fish, sometimes when he is stressed-out, just being immersed in the scenery of a great stream is enough. All I can say is...I'm glad it's not just me!

I Love a Rainy Night

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:29:00 +0000

Monday night it rained cats & dogs. I had Tuesday scheduled out of the office for a day of fishing. I really wanted to chase lake run smallmouth bass, but the rains blew out all of the tribs. The good news is that regardless of the conditions, I live within about 2 hours of something that will fish in just about every situation.

So, instead of heading North, I headed East to chase wild brown trout. While most streams and rivers are blown out by the kind of rains we had, many small mountain streams will be elevated, but only moderately stained. These were the conditions that greeted me and they were better than perfect (if that is possible).

These conditions are made for streamers. The brown trout loose all inhibition in the stained water. They move out into the flow and chase down about anything that looks like food. I was more than happy to take advantage.

I've been itching to try out my new small stream custom 6'6" 2oz 2wt rod. I had intended to hold out using the rod for a brook trout expedition, but I could not wait any longer. This day ended up being the perfect break-in for the new rod and she performed above and beyond my expectations.

On these small mountain streams, a heavy weight rod is not needed. Most of the fish average 8-12". There are a handful of larger fish, but even if you find an 18" brown trout, it will not be a heavy bodied fish. Another important issue to consider is the tight overhanging tree canopy. A shorter rod makes casting in tight cover much easier. Longer casts will only be 30' or so. A light compact rod is ideal.

I was on the stream at day light and within a few short minutes, I had the 1st brown trout of the day in hand. The little rod handled the trout wonderfully. I requested a rod with medium/fast action (a lot of folks prefer slow action for small finesse rods). It shot long lengths of line nicely. The rod was stiff enough to handle the strong active trout well in the small pool.

The morning fished a little slower than I expected initially. The rain pounded me for the first 3 or 4 hours, but the creek conditions remained prime. As mid morning hit, the fish seemed to awaken and the action was on.

I was casting size 8 bead-headed olive and black woolly buggers. The trout were turning on the buggers like they had not eaten in weeks. Little gold flashes on seemingly every cast.

The browns were as beautiful as ever. They ranged from 10" - 16" on this fine day. Some of them were chunky and powerful and others were sky rockets. By the end my hike along the creek nearly 20 trout had come to hand.

The new rod performed flawlessly. The rod is very light weight and casts long and smooth. The rod was designed and built by David Hoening.

David and I crossed paths a few years when he was learning to steelhead fish. David was struggling to get steelhead to hand and I told him we would get it done for him that season. We did and we've fished together a few times each year since.

David has been building his own rods for a while now. All of his rods are nicely constructed. He has now come to the place where he would like to start putting some of his quality fly rods in the hands of other folks. I can tell you one thing from personal experience with David, he is insanely particular about detail. He plans things out well and is not satisfied until his builds are perfect. You cannot ask for much more than that from someone whom is building you a custom rod. If you are interested in talking to David about building a custom fly rod, shoot him an email at dhoening@gmail.com . I have no doubt you will enjoy the build!

Wild Thing...I think I love You

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:48:00 +0000

Like I said, practice on the stockers so you can be ready when the time comes to fish for the good stuff.

I did not go to bed last night or get up this morning thinking I would be going fishing today. As a fishing addict, it is a necessity to be an amateur meteorologist. As I viewed the flows of all of my favorite haunts and watched the weather radar, I realized that my favorite PA wild brown trout stream was going to become prime by mid afternoon.

Well, what's a guy supposed to do? I jumped in the truck and headed East.

This stream is small and it runs clear most of the time. The brownies in this creek are spooky. The best time to hit the creek is in the rain with some stain. Today was the day. I didn't want to miss it.

Wild: Red Spots & Adipose Fin. Blues Spot Behind the Eye.

Stocker: Blah

So, what's the fascination with wild PA brown trout? What's the difference between wild and a stocker? There is a huge difference. First and foremost, these trout are beautiful. No washed out colors here. These fish were hand painted by God and it shows. Second, they are crazy. These little brown trout hit and fight like it matters (because to them, it does).

The color differences between wild fish and stockers are pretty unmistakeable. Wild fish are gold with brown and red spots. Most PA wild brown trout have red on the adipose fin. The anal and ventral fins are usually yellow with a perfectly painted white line on the leading edge. And last, but not least, wild trout tend to have a distinct blue spot behind the eye. Most stockers do not have these characteristics, although it is not unusual to find a stocker with some of them.

Wild fish tend to be more aggressive than stockers. In small streams like I fished today, these fish really have to work to make their living. They are under constant duress to find food. These small creeks are not like the large nutrient rich rivers. So, these fish take advantage of whatever comes their way. That does not mean they are stupid. They are pretty discriminating and leery of predation, which is why they are so tough to catch in low clear water conditions. But, when something resembling food comes their way, they pounce. And when they find themselves on the wrong end of fly gear, they fight like none other.

Fishing in the rain is not so bad when you get to spend the day with these guys. The 1st fish I caught today was a great reminder of what I love about them. He was a little squirt. He was twice the size of the bugger I was using. He didn't care. He was hungry and he was going to eat.

The best fish of the day was an absolute nut. He hit hard in the riffle at the top of a pool and then began a series of hard runs intermingled with several tail-walks. These fish are easy to loose because they jump so much. I was pleased to bring him to hand.

I can't wait to get out and commune with my wild friends again soon!

Trifecta

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:29:00 +0000

I wanted to try out my new 2wt and 3wt rods yesterday. I decided to start the morning on a creek that is reported to have wild reproduction of brook trout, but is also stocked with brook trout and brown trout. I had seen the creek briefly one other time. I thought I could exercise the 3wt on this stream for the morning and then hit my favorite wild brook trout stream with the 2wt for the afternoon.

The air was worm for early morning. The day started at 60 degrees. It was nice to start out in a short sleeved shirt. The creek was beautiful. I found myself lost in the scenery and continuing to push down stream further than I had planned to go.

I was being pig-headed about wanting to swing and strip bead headed woolly buggers. I love the way trout hit streamers. I knew I could catch more fish high sticking nymphs through the runs, but the aggressive fish will hit the streamer. That was the ride I wanted.

The first fish of the morning came out of a classic brook trout hold. I sung the streamer around a bend under an overhanging log and saw the flash I was looking for. The brookie missed it on the 1st pass, so I casted below the hole and stripped the bugger up through the run. BANG! The little fellow hit the bugger with some anger and ran around like a mad man. A nice little 12" brookie is a great way to start the morning.

As I moved on down the creek, the holes and runs became better and better. A large boulder was in the middle of the stream and there was a deep short run along one side. "There has to be a fish in that run." Yes, I talk to myself on the stream. Don't even act like you don't!

I let the 1st cast swing through, but something else had caught my attention during the swing and I was looking away from the hole when I felt the SMACK. This fish was a little strong and gave my 3wt a little bend. Another brookie. Not bad.

I decided to take another run through the hole. This time I casted past the hole and stripped the stream through from the bottom up. I was actually paying attention this time and saw what I likely missed the last time. About 5 fish took a swing at that streamer before the hook bit into one. I guess I was not the only one that thought this would make for a nice brookie hang out.

I caught several more fish out of the hole, but the last fish was a bit of a surprise. This creek is stocked with brook trout and brown trout. The last fish was a little rainbow. He must have caught the wrong bus. I suppose he could be a cross-dressing brookie with an identity crisis.

I was on the road to a Pennsylvania trifecta, but the brown trout were eluding me. The trout are not too difficult to determine in the stream. The behavior of brook trout and brown trout are just different. The brown trout in this creek were hanging back in slower holes. The tails are darker and they almost look like little bass in the stream. The brown trout were driving me nuts. They follow the streamer and just pick at it. Wusses. Just take the freaking' thing. All right, I appreciate that they are tougher to fool, but I have never had as much problem getting a wild browns to hit as I did these stockies.

I came across are really large boulder (like the size of a house) with a deep slow hole around it. I flung the bugger past the hole and stripped it quickly up through and BANG. Finally, a nice brown. He pulled hard, made a nice run, jumped...and threw the hook. Grrrrrr.

I made another cast and 2 trout took a swing and missed. The next cast and finally, the hook set. FISH ON! I was landing this one. The little 3wt and the classic CFO handled him just fine. And the trifecta was complete.

I was able to catch another brown out of that hole and moved on. I ran across another hole that had at least 40 fish in it. There were a couple of larger fish so I decided to to take a couple of passes to see if they were players. They were not. They barely even acknowledged the bugger.

So, yes, I tied on a nymph and sticked it through. Boring! But, yes, a lazy little brownie did take. There I did it. I nymphed one run. I'm a real trout fisherman now.

I decided to head back up the creek. I hit a few more fish along the way. By the time I made it off the creek it was after 2:00pm. I was pooped. I'll have to exercise the new 2wt another day.

I wouldn't want to make a career out of chasing stocker trout. But in retrospect, it's wasn't a waste of time. Every cast matters. Getting experience with your gear. Working the flies. And, landing fish on fly gear is all important preparation for when you can get on the wild waters. On the day you can get out, if stockers are what you have...go catch them. Prepare. The time you put in will have you better prepared for the day you find yourself in Montana.

Get out and fish!

Fly Gal

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:26:00 +0000

Of course April Vokey is one of the prettiest things on the water. But, the prettiest thing on the water lives at my house!

Today Chelsea learned to manage her line and watch that indicator.

She worked on her netting skills.

She landed her first rainbow trout on the fly rod.

And another.

And she made the stream that much more beautiful!

A Paine Full Day

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:51:00 +0000

As the sun rose over the Chagrin River a hot chrome hen tail-walked in the mist across the river. It's gonna be a good day Tater!

It's always nice to start the day on familiar waters. The Chag didn't let me down yesterday. I fished her for a couple of hours and moved on to the Grand River.

The Grand's flow was finally coming down, but when I arrived on the scene, the visibility was still pretty poor. What to do?

A friend recently told me to consider Paine Creek sometime when the major tribs are blown. I had already seen a couple other Grand River feeder creeks and they were low and clear (even less ideal). But Paine Creek is supposed to be very scenic and boasts a well known waterfall. So, I thought I would waste some time surveying the creek and just enjoy the hike. Any fish would be a bonus. My hope was that the Grand would continue to improve and I could get back to her later.

Upon arriving at the creek, I noticed there were several Lake Metroparks trucks in the area with numerous rangers trolling up and down the creek on all-terrain vehicles with large tanks on them. I stopped and talked to the rangers. They were stocking rainbow trout in the creek.

This is not my style of fishing, but I had time to burn. I joked to one of the rangers that had I known this situation was going to arise today, I would have brought my 3wt rod. He immediately responded, "You better stick to that heavy rod. We've stocked some really large rainbows and some extra steelhead from the hatchery are mixed in as well."

So, I started my hike up the creek. All I can say is that this is a stunning creek. The hike alone was worth the day.

I tied on a single egg pattern and a small beadhead Prince nymph. The flow in the creek was pretty low, so I decided a tiny strike indicator might be helpful. I made a drift across a deep hole and quickly caught a feisty little bow.

I continued to make my way up this majestic creek enjoying my Friday smoke and catching rainbows left and right. And yes, I was routinely catching fish in the 20" range...which is what I thought the ranger meant by "steelhead size."

I fished that creek from about 11:00am until 5:00pm and had a ball. I endured a couple of thunderstorms. I suspect I caught 30-40 rainbows along the way. All the while I was thinking how great would it be to have my kids with me?

I wanted to head back down to the main river and make a few swings for some fresh chrome. As I walked down the creek, I noticed a couple of large shadows in a pool. I was not sure if they were steelhead or maybe even carp. I made a drift through the pool and a huge rainbow came up and hit my strike indicator. Pellet-head! I made a 2nd drift and he hit the indicator again. Strangely, I don't carry any dry flies or strike indicators with hooks in them in my steelhead box. I made a third drift and this time my indicator stopped cold and something HUGE came out of the water with my CopperJohn in it's mouth. It was on!

This thing was powerful and energized. Man did it have shoulders on it. I knew it was big, but sometimes it's just hard to tell how big until it hits the net. I had the fish near the net for a moment and it shot off again. In that moment I saw the girthiest rainbow of my life. This thing had king salmon shoulders on it.

The fish and I went back and forth several times and finally I got it in the net. HEAVY! This fish had to weigh 15lbs. I measured the fish and it was 30" long and 20 inches in girth. WHAT? I'll tell you what. We call that a Pellet-Hog. It was a steelhead, but it had to be a stocker from the hatchery. No steelhead out of the lake hits your strike indicator.

As I was leaving the creek, I ran into the rangers again. They were coming in to do a little fishing themselves. I mentioned the fish I had just caught. The ranger just laughed and said, "I told you that heavy rod would be fine. Those fish are from the Castalia Hatchery and they threw in a few of their big steelhead stock as well."

Kudos to the Lake Metroparks for putting together such a nice stocking program on their creeks. As I thought about it through the day, I remembered, the point of this blog is to help folks with limited time maximize there time in the outdoors. So yea, across the board, I really don't like to chase stockies. But, when your time is limited, I have to tell you...you can't beat this little Paine Creek for a good time. It may not be Montana, but when you see the beauty of the creek and bring a few nice rainbows to hand, you'll be glad you took a few hours out of your week to be there. I liked it so much, I'm going to take one of my daughters back today. I can't wait to share it with her!

UPDATE: 4/3/11 - I received word from another local fisheries biologist concerning the big TOAD this morning. He said he was stocking some of their streams yesterday and they use the same supplier as Lake MetroParks. The same gentleman supplied the fish for Paine Creek last Friday. He said he did NOT put any 10lb+ fish in Paine Creek and that slab has to be from the Lake Erie. Interesting. I have seen steelhead surface and I read reports every year about them being caught on dry flies. I have never had one repeatedly hit a strike indicator. I guess that's what happens when steelhead don't read the books we write about them ;)

Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:45:00 +0000

She was a jumper!

About once a month I take a day out of the office midweek to fish. Sometimes you just need the creek to yourself. There is nothing better than being able to fish at your own pace without worry about whom is above or below you in the stream. It's nice to see a long stretch of unspoiled stream ahead of you without worry of it being disturbed before you get there.

Last week I fished the far upper reaches of a small steelhead stream and had the time of my life.

A thunderstorm rolled through the area about 5:00am and dumped rain for about half an hour. By the time I reached the stream, she was slightly elevated and stained silty green. PERFECT!

Perched

The water temperature was 47F. This means there will be fish moving. Some will be moving in to spawn and some will be dropping back. Hitting the water with the specific conditions this day presented put fish just about everywhere.

I started the day in a familiar run to shake off the skunk. On the 3rd drift...SHAKE she did. This girl was on fire. She hit a small stonefly and didn't like it's sharp taste. She jumped like she was on a trampoline. She was a welcome change to how the fish were fighting just a short time ago.

Bucky

After landing 3 fish out of the familiar run I decided to take a long hike to new waters. I had been wanting to explore the upper waters of this creek for some time, but just never found the right moment. So on this day, I put a few sandwiches and a sports drink in my pack, toted along my Katadyn water purifier bottle, and planned to hike the entire day.

As I rounded the 1st new corner I looked ahead at the "virgin" stream and a beautiful red tail hawk was perched on a boulder in the middle of the stream. I watched the hawk from afar and tried to shoot a few pics. At one point the hawk jumped down off of the boulder into the stream and wrestled with something for a time. There was no fish in the hawk's talons when he perched again. Hmmmm. I wonder what it was messing with. I crept closer and shot a few more pics. Eventually, the hawk grew weary of my presence and flew away.

Ouch

There was a fast deep riffle below the boulder perch. I drifted through the riffle a few times and caught 2 fish rather quickly. I moved up to the boulder and there was a nice deep run along side the bolder where the hawk jumped into the water. I made a few drifts along the boulder run and WHAM. My reel was screaming. The fish jumped a few times and began dropping back. I teased the fish over to some skinny water. As I landed the fish, I noticed a large wound in it's left side. This was not a lamprey wound. This was a deep gouge. There were no talon marks on the fish, but something other than a lamprey caused this wound. I thought it was ironic I caught the fish right out from under the hawks perch.

As I worked my way up stream there were fish everywhere. Every pocket. Every riffle. Every deep slot. There were large areas of redds as well. There were rough riffles behind most of the areas of redds with hungry munchers everywhere.

Seeing Redd

The day was like a dream. Everywhere you anticipated there should be a fish...there was. About 3:00 in the afternoon, I just stopped. I had walked about 4 miles by that time. I took a slow look around me and took in all of natures beauty. For once, I could honestly say, I'd had enough. I broke down my rod, took a final drink of the streams water from my Katadyn bottle, lit a nice cigar, and made the hour and 45 minute hike back to my truck. Rarely has my fishing appetite been satiated, but on this day I was gratefully fulfilled.

31" of rod shaking fun!

Crimson buck

I think his mom was messing around with a brook trout???

Just one of those days...

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:58:00 +0000

Chomp

Yesterday was just one of those days. Nothing went as planned. I expected the flows to be a little higher and the stain to be a little deeper. I expected the fish to continue to be in their winter pattern. I expected the fish to still be fighting like dishrags. I expected a reasonably good day of catching.

The flows were low and clear. Some fish were in winter holding water, but there were fish on redds and fish behind them actively feeding in faster water. The fish had a little moxie on the end of my line. I did not have a reasonable day of catching...I had a stellar day of catching.

Had my lunch here.

The air was warm and fresh on the creek yesterday. I was able to shed the heavy winter gear and breathe. I could move. I was able to comfortably set by the stream many times and just take it all in. What a day!

The stream temperatures are hovering around 40ish degrees on most of the tribs now. This has the winter run fish itching to spawn. The gravel is starting to become a dance floor. This is always another great sign of spring.

Underbite

The winter fish will finish their spawning and start dropping back. And, they will be hungry. Start paying attention to runs behind the gravel. These fish are ready to play. And at the same time, the Manistee strain of steelhead are starting to make their way into the tribs. The next several weeks is a fun time to fish because you have a nice mix of winter drops backs and fresh chrome...and all of them want to eat.

Stoned

This is a time of the season that allows for a good variance in what you can offer fish. Fresh fish are still dialed in on minnows down low. Dropbacks and fresher fish (higher up in the system) will be happy to chomp egg patterns and stonefly nymph imitations. Don't hesitate to to significantly downsize your offerings in low and clear water. I spent the day yesterday catching fish on stonefly nymphs and single egg patterns. Big fish are happy to chomp a single egg.

Get out and enjoy it. Shake off that cabin fever.

When it all comes together: The fish, the gear, and the scenery.

Stoney

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:29:00 +0000

I posted a picture of a recently hatched black stonefly a few days ago. Although it is not that important to "match the hatch" to catch steelhead on Steelhead Alley, being sensitive to what they eat and what is available is obviously a key to catching fish. Tiny (or Small) Winter Stoneflies (Family, Plecoptera: Species, Capniidae: many different genera) begin to hatch on warm sunny afternoons in the late Winter and early Spring across the Lake Erie tribs. Don't forget to keep this in mind when fishing for steelhead during this time.

I was enjoying a warm afternoon on the tribs yesterday when the thought hit me, "These are pretty ideal conditions for some stoneflies to hatch." I had not had much success on minnow imitating streamers or egg patterns. The flow on the stream was great, but the stain was still significant from recent rains. Nothing was working for me, so I dropped the egg pattern trailing my white woolly bugger and added a #16 black stonefly nymph.

I was concerned that the stain was dark enough that the stonefly nymph would drift by unnoticed, but then, these fish must be eating something. Certainly they do find these nymphs in cloudy water...right?

3 drifts later...WHAM! Mr. Big Buck inhaled the stonefly nymph. He was fighting really well for a winter fish. I actually though he might have been foul hooked because I was struggling to get his head up. He was just a bruiser and my hemostats had to make a deep plunge to remove the hook from the back of his mouth. The Tiny Winter Stonefly nymph saved the day, even with poor visibility. Don't forget 'em the next time you go out!

A Broader View

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:24:00 +0000

February has presented some rare opportunities to chase steelhead. She has also provided some great scenery. As I fished this month, I had some great photo ops of the rest of the inhabitants of the stream. There are days when the fish are simply the icing on the cake.

Reminds me of a quote from Airplane.

A sure sign of Spring

Pectoral fin

Zonker

A frog prefers water that is knee deep....

A frog's eye view ain't half bad

These colors are surreal

No excuses. Get out there and fish!

Cold Attitude

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:11:00 +0000

This has been the best winter of steelhead fishing across the Alley in years. The temperatures have been moderate. There has been rain nearly every week. And, there has been very little ice.

With all of the rain we have had since September, the fish have pushed far up into all of the river and creek systems. The distribution of the fish has been great. And that is nice, because the fisherman can distribute out as well and not be fishing elbow to elbow.

Over the past week we have had snow and then some significant rain. Most of the tribs across Steelhead Alley have swollen out of their banks. That forced me to head to the small creeks East of Erie. The Mile Creeks were running fast and green. PERFECTION!

Chasing steelhead on the fly in the Winter is much more frustrating than in warmer temperatures. Steelhead are less active in cool water. There are times after a high water event that you can find them actively feeding and moving in faster flows, but in general they like to lounge around in deeper slower pools.

Steelhead are much less likely to chase down food in cold water. They like to sit and wait for an insect, egg, or minnow to practically drift right into their mouths. And really, can you blame them? I can't say I like to do much milling around in cold dreary weather either. Of course their cold-blooded physiology leads them to this pattern and laziness leads to mine :)

So, what does all this mean for the fly fisherman chasing steelhead in cold water? It means you have to perfect presenting your offering. You have to present a drag free drift that looks natural. You have to know where Winter fish hold in the systems you fish. And, you have to drift your offering right too them.

Most of the time, this results in fewer catches of steelhead in the winter. Steelhead like to chill in those jade green runs around some cover. You generally can't see them, you just have to know they are there. You have to cover the runs inch by inch in a consistent manner that allows you to know you have thoroughly covered the run. It takes time and if the offering does not nearly bounce off the Steelheads nose, he is not likely to move to grab the fly. I say "not likely," because there are exceptions to all rules and there are times when Winter steelhead do move significant distances for an offering.

I think the other key to winter steelhead on the fly is the individual fisherman being very comfortable and confident in their preferred method. The more dialed-in you are to your technique, the more likely you are to be successful in cold water. The cold water forces you to approach perfection.

Personally, I catch the majority of my steelhead on egg and nymph patterns. Why? Because in my hands (and mind) it works. All salmonids are wired to eat eggs. And, all salmonids are wired to grab bugs in the drift. I want to take advantage of the "opportunist" part of their psyche. And in the Winter cold water, this (in my opinion) is their dominant mindset. They don't want to hunt in the cold, they just want to slurp up anything in the drift that looks like something they are supposed to eat.

I have learned over the years to drift these things naturally. I know my creeks well. And I am patient in the cold water to cover every run well. Sometimes these things all come together and lead to a great day in cold water.

There is something special about fishing when big gloppy white snow is falling. The sound of the light breeze rustling though the branches of the trees is calming. The crisp air is refreshing to the lungs. Yesterday was just one of those days.

I hit a small creek at daylight. I don't normally hit the water early in the winter, because there is generally too much slush in the water to make an effective drift. The overnight temps were above freezing, so I was out early. And the rewards started early. On the 3rd drift of the morning, BANG! A nice fresh chrome hen came to hand and kicked off one of the best winter days of steelhead I have ever had.

The fish in the morning made me work for them, but the reward was consistent catches. Green eggs (no ham) were on the menu. I have no good explanation, but I find green to be the color of choice in the shale Mile Creeks East of Erie when there is good flow and stain to the water. This was one of those days.

By then end of my morning hike along the creek I had brought 7 steelhead to hand. 4 of them were dime bright and fresh. This not common in the Winter, because the mouths of the tribs on the South Lake Erie shoreline are usually dammed up with ice by late January.

After my typical fisherman's lunch of PB&J and a PowerAid, I moved on East to 20 Mile. I was concerned that she would be flowing a little too fast, but apparently the East side of Erie received less rain than further West. All of the Western tribs were still blown, but the Eastern tribs were in great shape.

I was surprised to find few fresh chrome in the lower 20. Although the flows were good, the water level had already dropped significantly. Luckily, I found out later, the fresh fish had already moved on up.

As I moved further up the system, the fish started coming to hand. And then, I hit the run.

I was actually starting to get cold and tired. I was kicking around the idea of calling it a day. I was at a good exit point from the creek, but there is a nice run just above it. I figured I would make a drift or 2 and then call it a day.

There is a large rock in the run with some smaller rocks below it that tends to hold some Winter fish. On the 1st drift, SMACK, and a nice fresh buck was landed. A second drift, BOOM from chrome hen. The 3rd drift, WHACK, a colored up buck. The 4th drift, CRUNCH from yet another fresh buck. And the 5th drift, CRASH from a beautifully spotted hen. All of these fish were surprisingly strong and active in their fights. And that my friends is why you cover a Winter run thoroughly!

Most of the time when I fish on a blustery snowy day, I hope to catch a fish or 2. On this day, 14 steelhead came to hand. I tell you that not because I care so much about the number, but to show that you can have great days in the cold. But, you have to get out there and get on it. So, get out there. You can't catch them from the couch.

'bout time!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:21:00 +0000

I was starting to think Buff had never even caught a fish before. He ties up some fantastic flies. He likes all that fancy schmancy two-handed casting. He knows the lingo. He's even a trained wilderness guide. But, in all the times I've fished with him over the past 2 years...nada.

We got on the Ash early Friday morning and headed straight for a nice steelhead Winter holding area. Within no time Buff hit his 1st steelhead in 2 years on the dead drift. A collective sigh of relief and we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day on the water.

Not only did he get the skunk off, but he was able to land one of the nicest looking steelhead I've seen this season.

We moved on to the Elk in the afternoon. The melt-off was in full effect on this fine 50 degree day in January. As the water rose and the stream color deepened, Buff picked up a few more fish on the swing.

As the sun started to set, I looked over at Buff and said, "It's been a long time since I have tasted the skunk when chasing steelhead." I knew if that happened, Buff would repay me with some much deserved abuse. As fate would have it, I finally hit a fish of my own on the next cast.

It's always good to get out with Buff. I promise to let him off the hook now. He deserves it :)

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:26:00 +0000

Greg and I have made new Years Day an annual fishing event to get the yearly skunk off on day one. We had hoped to chase brown trout this year, but the recent rains made conditions pretty tough. So, we decided the tribs on the Alley were going to be a better option. By 8:00am we both had steelhead in hand and the skunk was off. We were able to spend the rest of the day enjoying the scenery and catching some fantastic steelhead.

Happy New Year! Make 2012 you best year on the water and in the field yet!

Who cares if we catch any fish?

#1 for 2012 is out of the way.

My 2012 wake-up call

As Greg would say, "Spectacular!"

The 1st true PIG of 2012. It's gonna be a good year!

Flow

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Let it flow. Let it flow. Let it flow. We're not going to have a white Christmas here on Steelhead Alley, but we sure are getting plenty of rain. And while everyone around me cranks about the rain, I just get happy. If I haven't said this before, steelhead fishing is PRIMO in high flows and stained water. And, we've had plenty of that recently.

Some of my fishing compadres have been confined to a specific geographical area and the water levels have remained too high to safely hit the creeks. I keep my wife working to keep me in gas money to support my fishing habit ;-) She's a gem!

The rains were heavy again across the Alley this week and the Ohio tribs have been blown to say the least. There has been enough rain that I was concerned that the smaller PA tribs might just be unfishable as well. This week I decided to try a new small trib that I thought might be just perfect for such a situation.

I arrived at 4 Mile Creek at daylight and she was humming. She had deep stain. The problem was, I have never been on this creek before and I was not real sure how deep the holes and runs were. Luckily, she's a small creek and I was able to stay out of trouble.

As I said, 4 Mile Creek is a small creek. She won't hold a lot of fish, but she comes into fishable conditions very quickly after a heavy rain event. When you are an addict such as myself, even a small hit helps. The lower part of 4 Mile Creek runs through a private golf club, but recent additions of fish ladders to the lower creek have allowed an improved run of fish up to the public waters. And again, it's not a creek I would fish regularly, but under these conditions, she fit the bill perfectly.

I spent several hours on 4 mile creek and found the fish to be in the expected types of run. I enjoyed the aggressive slams of several fresh chrome steelhead. I found one mean ugly buck that apparently lost a fight and half his nose. And the best experience of the morning was watching a nice steelhead appear out of nowhere and crush my fly on the swing at the end of a drift.

I dragged my feet on 4 Mile as long as I could, hoping that my old friend 20 Mile Creek was coming down to safe levels. I had several reports through the morning that 20 Mile was moving too fast and was too stained up, but I have learned over the years, that one man's trash is another man's treasure. So, I had a sandwich and a cup of coffee in the truck and moseyed on over to 20.

As reported, the lower 20 was moving and more stained than when I had fished her last week. And once again, no one was fishing down low. Now, I'll admit that she was flowing a little faster than when I normally fish her, but believe me, it was still nothing like the flows I waded in good old Alaska.

I worked my way down to the mouth and picked up 3 chrome skippers pretty quickly. The flow was really strong and I had to walk across a couple of areas of waist deep water to get to the prime holding areas.

On the way back up the creek I drifted through a deep narrow run along the bank and finally got smacked by some thing solid. As I lifted the rod to set the hook a super nice platinum hen shot straight out of the water. She was fresh and she was mad. She dropped back with violent head shakes for a moment and then decided to shoot up stream. I was not following her too quickly due to the water conditions and for a moment I thought she was going to get to my backing, but at that moment, she did a 180 and started screaming my way. Now I was reeling like mad trying to keep pressure on her. She shot right past me and I was able to walk down stream with her a little more easily. She immediately zipped over to a far riffle and slipped into some deep water and sat for a moment. After her brief rest, we battled a little longer and I was able to ease her over to some skinny water. My kind of girl.

After releasing that pretty girl, I went back to the same run and made another drift and BANG...her sister wanted to dance with me too. Second verse same as the first. Those were some hot lades and admittedly, they gave me the best fights I had since the warm weather of early fall. I love fresh fish!

I could only take the beating from the high flows on the lower creek for an hour and a half or so and then retreated to the upper creek for some tamer conditions. I picked up a few more fish up high and headed home.

There are times when all of the tribs on the Alley are locked up by mid December. I am thankful to continue to be fishing this late in the year with no end in sight at this time. But I know it's coming.

Merry Christmas! Now, get out there and fish while you can and keep those lines tight!

A Bang-Up Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:04:00 +0000

The sun, moon, and stars aligned for Greg and I this week. We had heavy rains on Tuesday into Wednesday. We have been planning to fish together on Friday for several weeks. We had to do some traveling to find fishable water, but when we got there, IT WAS PERFECT.

There are a wide variety of tribs across Steelhead Alley. Some of the rivers flow through farm land and stay blown and muddy for weeks. Some of the creeks are small and shale bottomed and run off to fishable levels within a few hours.

Greg and I are particularly enamored with high flows and stain that allows for a foot or so of visibility when it comes to steelhead fishing. These conditions help us by allowing our aging and less graceful bodies to be a hint less stealthy on the creeks. The conditions put the fish in "move and feed" mode and the stain helps the fish be a hint less choosy about what they bite at in the flow.

Most importantly, stained water makes us better fisherman. It puts us in a situation where we have to predict where steelhead will be moving and feeding. We can't see the fish, we just have to know where they will be. All of the homework we do scouting the streams during the summer months gives us a pretty good idea of the bottom features of the tribs and helps us to estimate the depths of the runs we are fishing. A day like yesterday is the final exam for our years of preparation. WE ACED IT!

The Ohio tribs off of Lake Erie were blown. We had hoped to stay closer to home, but that did not work out. We found ourselves on the road at 5:00am speeding toward the PA and NY borders. The tribs east of Erie PA don't have flow gauges, but they predictably run off after major rain events within 1 to 1 1/2 days.

We knew based on the flows of some of the other PA tribs that we were going to have to progress through several small tribs as the day went by. We started on 12 Mile Creek at daylight and conditions were perfect!

12 Mile Creek is a small trib and only takes a couple of hours to fish. Within about a 1/4mile of the mouth of the creek there is an impassable waterfall. The trib changed a lot from the floods last Spring and there are fewer good holding areas for steelhead, but the fun thing about days like yesterday...there is a ton of temporary pocket water to fish. And, that is some fun fishing.

When you hook a fresh steelhead on a small creek in pocket water, there is no predicting what will happen. They can travel throughout the skinny water between the pockets. There is nothing as unnerving as a 10 pound steelhead at the end of your fly line screaming straight at you trying to swim between your legs. You have to do some quick thinking to keep the fish on and land them

We caught a handful of fish on 12 Mile and moved on to 16 Mile Creek. This is a larger creek and takes a few hours longer to run off to safe wading levels. When we arrived at the creek mid morning, again, the conditions were perfect. And even better, no one was there.

16 Mile Creek is picturesque and full of narrow runs, small waterfalls, and plunge pools. When the flows are up, this creek actually fishes like a wild trout stream. And that was certainly the case yesterday.

We fished 16 Mile from mid morning to mid afternoon and the action was nonstop. With there only being one or 2 other folks on the creek, we were able to take our time and fish every run and pocket. It was just bang bang bang the entire time from the moment we started until we walked off of the creek. We could have stopped there and been perfectly satisfied with our day, but there were a few hours of light left ahead of us and we wanted to move to the next stream to finish the day.

We ended our adventure on 20 Mile Creek. 20 Mile is the largest of the tribs east of Erie. This trib can take up to 1 1/2 days to run off to safe wadable levels, so we knew we really needed to hit the creek later in the afternoon. As great of shape the last 2 tribs were in, 20 Mile was the example of prime steelhead conditions. She was humming with about 8-12" of visibility. We have fished 20 Mile Creek many times and we knew exactly where to spend our last 2 hours of the day.

I have heard a lot of banter lately about how Steelhead in December retreat to their winter holds and are difficult to catch. Many years that is true. This year we have had unusually warm weather in November and December. We actually heard a lot of grumbling from the few folks we ran into yesterday that there were no fish. The reality is, most of those folks were poking around in deep slow water, because most years in December, that's were the fish are. But one thing you have to learn to be successful as a fisherman...you have to go with the flow. The fish are quite predictable if you learn what they do in different situations. If you try to pigeon hole them into seasons or months and that is your only criteria, you will be disappointed. If you just fish the given conditions and leave any other preconceived notions behind, you'll find the fish exactly where they are supposed to be on any given day whether it is December or May. But, this takes work and a lot of it. So, study up folks. Learn the characteristic of the fish, the water, and the weather for the species you like to chase and you will be rewarded most of the time that you hit the water.

Bobcats, bucks, & does...oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:40:00 +0000

The weekend after Thanksgiving marks our annual pilgrimage to the farm in Hocking County to thin the whitetail population with our shotguns. This year was no exception.

As I have shared previously, our family (the Oldfields) have been in Hocking County Ohio since the mid 1830s. Long before there was a Hocking Hills, Old Man's Caves, or even State Route 664, the Oldfields were farming, hunting, and trapping the lands of southern Hocking County. Many whitetail deer have fallen on our property through the years.

This year my brother Bobby, Bobcat, and myself convened at the farm on the Sunday afternoon before gun season with visions of venison dancing in our heads. Our guns were sighted in and our anticipation was high. Unfortunately, Ohio does not allow for deer hunting out of vehicles, including boats. And the weather we had called for an ark. Yes, it was raining. It was raining hard. We got an inch of rain on Sunday alone...hard.

I arrived early to start a camp fire for Bobby. He planned to make a venison stew in our great grandfather's iron Dutch oven over the fire. I used every survival technique I new to get a nice bed of coals going for Bobby. Thank God for kerosene. I wasn't in a survival situation anyway.

Bobby and his college buddy Bobcat arrived late in the afternoon right as the coals were perfect for cooking over...even in the rain. The stew was started and we had some time to kill. So, we planned out our morning hunt while dodging rain drops.

Bobcat is an interesting character. This young fellow is a native of West-by-God-Virginia. He grew up on 800 acres of farmland in the Appalachians that were also prime hunting grounds themselves. Bobcat was no stranger to deer hunting.

As we were engaging in serious BS under a fancy tarp we bungied onto the side of the camper, Bobcat pulls out a Vlasic pickle jar with a swatch of masking tape that was labeled "Blackberry" and asked me if I like a drink.

Now, I don't know about you, but I generally refrain from drinking anything from a Vlasic pickle jar and whatever this stuff was, it didn't look like pickle juice. I inquired about the liquid in the jar and all I got was that there is a guy that makes it on some space that he "rents" on Bobcat's family farm. Hmmmm. Of course my next question was whether it was made from their kitchen table or any other wood furniture from the farm? All he said was, "corn." Then he handed me a Bertoli pasta sauce jar that was labeled "peach" and said if I didn't like blackberries, I might like peach. The good news is that I have not yet went blind.

But I digress. Anyway, it was seriously raining, but the venison stew was very good. We planned to get up early and get in the woods before daylight. We all know the property well and had each selected an area we wanted to hunt in the morning. We were somewhat concerned about the rain, but our hope was that it had been raining long enough that the deer would move fairly normally in the morning and maybe we would push them a little in the afternoon when they were likely to be hunkered down pretty tightly due too the rain.

I made my way through the darkness to the east side of the farm. There is a great valley with a small creek and densely wooded hillsides to the east and west. There is a nice flat area on the east side of the creek in the valley that has 5 converging game trails and numerous scrapes and rubs. I have a tree stand about 20 yards east of the creek on the hillside that I bow hunt from. I decided to skip the stand for the morning due to the rain and the recent onset of a hernia (that makes climbing a ladder miserable). So, I found a nice tree about 20 yards above the tree stand and settled down behind some brush. Luckily the damp conditions made it quite easy to stay quiet in the woods and the moisture holds my human scent down pretty nicely. The wind was blowing in my face. This was making for a nice morning.

At 7:00am, the valley was just starting to lighten and a dark shadow was meandering south to north along the far side of the stream. There was just not enough light to see well through the scope. But I was happy to see some deer movement. The rain was persistent, but under the forest canopy it was not too bad. It felt like a sprinkle in the woods compared to the downpour we experienced out in the open.

By 7:30am there was enough light down in the valley to take a shot when the time came. I had already counted 30 some odd shots I had heard in the distance. Opening day of gun season in Ohio often sounds like gorilla warfare. This day was no exception.

Sometime between 8 & 9 am I saw some movement on the far western hillside. Two does were making there way across the hill on their morning forage. They were taking their time and grazing along the way as they moved from south to north along the hillside.

The doe in front looked to be the larger of the two, but across the distance, I just could not determine how large the deer were. I quietly raised my gun barrel and found the 2 deer in my scope under low power. I zoomed in on the larger lead doe and placed the crosshairs behind her right shoulder. BOOM.

She did not fall, but ran a short ways north along the stream and then dropped down, crossed the stream, and stopped 25 yards to my right looking in my direction. She didn't drop? I moved my barrel around swiftly and found her in the scope again. She was again broadside to me. I placed the crosshairs in the same spot again. BOOM. She disappeared. I did not see her drop and she did not run forward that I saw. Huh....

I decided to wait for a while and then go check things out. Was my gun no longer sighted-in? How did that deer not drop after the first shot? DOES THAT DEER NOT KNOW WHO I AM?

After about 20 minutes, I walked directly across the little valley and up the hillside to the location where she was when I took the 1st shot. No blood...nothing. So, I walked down the course I anticipated she took across the creek and up to where I took the 2nd shot. No blood...nothing. I walked around the area several times looking for any blood or hair. NOTHING? You have got to be kidding me. Do I need some training wheels for my shotgun? What is going on here?

I went back to the spot I was before and sat down. At this point there were shots ringing all around me, so normal deer movement was now out. I might as well stay put and see if any deer get pushed my way by other hunters in the area.

About an hour later, Bobby texted me and said he and Bobcat were at the northeast corner of the farm and were going to push through the woods along the creek and see if any deer come my way. About 3 or 4 minutes later, I heard a single shot in the woods just north of me. A minute later I heard something running my way. I lifted the gun in anticipation and along came a buck in a dead sprint. I found him in my scope at about 30 yards and peeled off a shot. Pump and in my crosshairs again, peel off a shot, pump, and repeat. I was able to take 3 shots at him, but he was hauling. That's a tough shot through a scope. I wish I had my open sights at that moment. After the the 3rd shot he was at the crest of the hillside and I could not tell if he just moved on or tumbled. Obviously, the best thing to do was just wait.

About a minute later Bobby called me and asked me if I got the deer he sent my way. I was not sure. He says, "Well I got his buddy. We're just up the creek a ways from you." I told him I would come up there and then we could come back down and look for the other buck in a while.

Bobby had his buck about cleaned out when I got there and he was just pulling out the heart. I have to give the kid credit where credit is due. The left side of the heart was completely blown out from a perfect shot. That explained why it didn't run far. Unfortunately, it tumbled down a steep hillside right into the creek. It took all 3 of us to pull it up out of there to the field above the woods.

We had to go get the truck, so I suggested we follow the creek back down to where I was sitting and see if we could find any evidence that I had actually hit the other buck. We were all pretty excited for Bobby as we walked along the creek.

I was pointing out to the boys where I had been sitting and where I thought I had shot at the doe and where I thought I took the shots at the buck. Bobby was walking along the east side of the creek and he says, "Whose deer is this in the creek?" Of course I stopped immediately and looked back. It could not have been the buck, he had moved on in the other direction. There lay the doe I had shot that disappeared.

We pulled her out of the creek and the story came together. She had 2 shots in her. A low belly shot and a solid shot directly behind the right shoulder.

When I took the 1st shot, she was broadside too me about 70 yards away. I underestimated how far away she was and did not aim a little high...resulting in the low shot that did not drop her. When she ran across the creek, she was a little further up stream than I recalled. When I shot at her the 2nd time, I remembered she was right behind a downed tree that was laying on the hillside from east to west. There were 2 trees like that on the hillside parallel to each other about 10 yards apart. I had crossed the creek too soon and was looking for blood and hair at the wrong downed tree. When I hit her right through the lungs on the 2nd shot, she stumbled about 10 steps backwards, fell in the creek, and died right there.

My gun was sighted-in, but my internal range finder has much to be desired. My actual range finder was in my truck. Dumb guy!

All 3 of us scoured the western hillside for some time looking for sign of the 2nd buck, but we found no blood, no hair, and no deer. That was a tough shot on a fast moving deer. I am satisfied I missed that old boy.

We collected up our deer, put them on ice, and took a break for lunch.

We hunted out the rest of the day and the rain persisted. We saw a few more deer, but no more shots were taken. We enjoyed another venison stew that evening. We agreed that the rain was less than ideal for deer hunting, but nothing can damper the memorable experience of 2 brothers living out their heritage on the old family farm!

We're gonna need a bigger net.....

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:21:00 +0000

I've been wanting to chase king salmon in Michigan. I scheduled the trip back in May, with no understanding of what I was getting into. As I researched the fly fishing techniques for kings, I found that the chuck 'n duck is the method of choice.

I guess in retrospect, I would hardly call chuck 'n duck "fly" fishing, but it certainly results in fly gear landing. Chuck 'n duck is useful on waters with deep runs and fast flows. The method allows you to get the fly down to the fish's strike zone quickly.

King or Coho?

The set-up is pretty simple. We ran 4-5' of Maxima Chameleon from the fly line to a barrel swivel (a lot of folks like Amnesia line because it is easier to see as a strike indicator). Before tying on to the barrel swivel, place a snap swivel and a small bead on the line. You can place varying weight on the snap swivel. The bead keeps the 2 swivels from getting tangled. From the other end of the barrel swivel, we used either 20lb or 15lb fluorcarbon leader (3'). We tied the 1st fly directly to that leader and then tied a trailer fly with 2x fluoro tippet.

Chucking is what you do in place of casting. There is so much weight on the line, that finesse casting is simply out of the question. Ducking is what you do when you dislodge the line from a snag in the stream. Chuck 'n duck!

Greg and I started our trip on the Pere Marquette river. The upper Pere Marquette has good flow and an excellent run of salmon and steelhead, but is wadable. Since Greg and I are creek crawlers, wadable is what we were looking for.

We had no real notion of what to expect for the day. With unfamiliar fishing techniques and a species of fish we had never chased, we were both concerned that we were going to get goose-egged. On the up-side, the MI salmon run was reported to be the best in 10 years and the size of the fish was reported to be up as well. Our hope was to get into a few 15-20lb fish and just enjoy the day.

It took us a half hour or so to get comfortable with chuckin' and duckin'. One we started getting comfortable with it, we began moving up stream to the runs we anticipated would hold fish. The creek was up and stained nicely, so from our steelhead experience, we thought things could not be any better...and man were we right!

I hooked into the 1st salmon of the day. This was a different beast. The fish was active initially, but then it just stopped and tried to wait me out. After 10 minutes or so, I had landed my 1st king salmon and I was thrilled. This fish was a solid 17 lbs and fairly fresh. Kings are a different kind of beautiful than steelhead. It's golden skin was covered with dark navy blue spots. The fish was reasonably fresh and thus not too beat up from spawning. I figured at that point that my day was made.

A few minutes later Greg got in on the action and landed a smaller salmon that we are still not sure whether to call a king or a coho. But really, who cares...the skunk was off. Now we could both leave the jitters behind and get down to hunting more fish.

Late morning I was drifting a black stone fly with a cerise Glo Bug trailer across a shallow gravel bed that dumped into a deep hole. As the Glo Bug drifted across the gravel towards the deep, a nice fish moved up out of the hole and smashed the egg. FISH ON!

This fish was bigger than the 1st fish I caught, but the water was stained and deep and I could not make much out about her. She made one quick run and a nice jump and then dropped back into the hole and sat. I kept pressure on the fish, hoping to wear her out quickly. She kept pressure on me...hoping to wear me out quickly. Neither of us budged for about 40 minutes. Once in a while she would move up or over in the water column, but that was it. I could not move her head with my 8wt rod.

After about 40 minutes she started to move. She was getting tired. Finally, her head came up and she turned and headed down stream...300 yards down stream. Greg and I were moving down the stream as fast as we could. I was trying to keep from getting spooled and Greg was trying to stay in front of her with the net. I finally caught up with her and Greg tried to net her....but she wouldn't fit in the net. We were just staring at each other trying to figure out what to do. She was tired and we just moved her over to the bank and put the net over her head so we had some control over her.

She was HUGE! FAT! FRESH! She measured 36" in length and 26" in girth. She weighed in at 30lbs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What a TOAD!

I spent another 20 minutes getting her revived to swim off strong, while Greg made the trek back up stream to find the rod he had laid down when the fish took off. As Greg arrived back at the scene, the pretty girl was swimming off strong and swift. We looked at each other...exhausted. Let's go get some lunch and hope that we have the energy to hold up a sandwich.

After checking in to our hotel, having a sandwich, and rehydrating with some gator juice, we headed back down to the stream. As we walked down, I said to Greg, "My day is complete. I can't top this morning's catch. Whatever I catch the rest of the day will be icing on the cake."

It didn't take long and Greg got into a nice king of his own. As we moved up I found a brown trout to mix things up a little. There were plenty of fish around and the hook-ups were steady throughout the afternoon.

As evening approached a familiar scene began to play out. I was again drifting over some shallow gravel that dropped into a deep hole. Again, a nice fish moved up out of the hole and hammered my Glo Bug. This fellow was active. For 10 minutes he raced up and down the creek in front of me and jumped like mad. I can't believe he never threw that hook. Initially, Greg had grabbed the net and was ready for a landing, but again this fish dropped into the deep hole and just stopped. And again, I could not budge him.

Greg looked at me and said, "I'm not waiting this guy out...I'm going back to fishing." 10 or 15 minutes later, Greg hooked into an active fish as well. But this fish was different. Again, it was not as big as the kings and it was red. Greg definitely had on a crazy coho. It was running him all over. And best of all, we had on a DOUBLE!

PROBLEM, how in the heck are we going to land this double? So, here's how it played out. Shortly after Greg hooked into the coho, my king got a moment of life and dropped by down stream about 50 yards (without getting tangled into Greg's rig). Greg continued to fight the coho and it wore out within 10 minutes or so. Greg tried to land the coho in the net by himself several times, but the wiley fish kept finding it's way out of the net. As the fish tired, it started dropping back towards me. The fish was just small enough that Greg could horse it a little with out the line breaking. So, I slipped the landing glove on to my right hand and held my rod high in my left hand. As Greg's coho backed down towards me, I reached down and tailed him! So, here I stand with a coho in one hand and a rod with an huge king in the other. Now if only we had a picture of that!

Anyway, my king was still sitting quietly in a deep hole, so I snapped a couple of pics of Greg and the ho with my right hand and then we were back to the fight.

After an hour, the big king did the same as the last. He put his head up and dropped about 100 yards down stream. Again, Greg tried to net the thing...and again, we needed a bigger net. I encouraged the big fellow over into some skinny slack water and grabbed his tail with the landing glove. At this point, I believe every muscle in my body was twitching. I stuck the beasts head in the net and measured him. 38" long buck that again weighed out at 30lbs. SURREAL! A big fresh buck with tons of attitude.

And yes, that did bring an end to my day. Greg landed one more king and I was more than happy to just follow him with the net. My arms were absolute rubber bands.

As if our day on the Pere Marquette were not enough, the next day we were meeting up with Matt Zudweg of Feenstra Guide Service to drift down the Muskegon for kings. Believe me, the next morning came entirely to early. Thank God for Naprosyn, or I suspect I would not have been able to walk or hold a rod in my hand.

Where the Pere Marquette was a couple of weeks past the peak of the king salmon run, the Muskegon was in it's peak. There were kings everywhere.

We were in the boat at daylight and quickly back at landing big kings again. We spent the morning chuckin' and duckin' and hitting into some nice fish. The occasional rainbow came to hand as well.

After an awesome shore lunch of grilled chicken and grilled pineapple, Matt asked us if we were interested in switching things up a little? We got out the spey rods and spent the rest of the day swinging flies and looking for early steelhead. While we did not land any early chrome, Greg did actually swing up 2 kings. That was pretty exciting to see. And, you know when any fish smashes a big streamer on the swing...he's looking for a fight. Greg got some good rides out of those fish!

What a trip! We already booked our room for next fall during the peak king salmon run on the Pere Marquette. But, 2 things will be different. We'll be taking 10wt rods and we will have a bigger net!

Something to build on.

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:43:00 +0000

Early steelhead season on the Alley has been pretty eventful. There has been a few good rains and of course, this has resulted in a couple of good pushes of fish on the PA tribs. Getting the skunk off of the season in mid-September always bodes well for things to come.

Walnut Creek is generally the first of the tribs to get an initial push of fish. Walnut Creek has a small marina and thus the creek remains open to the lake throughout the year. Nearly any early September rain brings at least a few fish into the creek. The big problem in fishing Walnut Creek early is that the flows only remain high for a few hours and the water quickly drops back to gin clear in no time.

I was able to get to Walnut Creek about 2 days after a rain in September in hopes of getting that 1st early season chromer. There were a number of fish in the lower slow pools, but fishing those holes holds little appeal to me. I want active fish in faster water. As I moved up into the chutes, I found what I was looking for.

The conditions up in the shoots were still tough. Because the flows were dropping rapidly and it is so early in the season, the fish were holding in very narrow deep slots. There was only a few inches of water on the shelves above the slots. I saw many fish down in the slots, but these were some tough drifts. The water was clear and really moving in the narrows. I decided to put on a simple beadhead Prince nymph and high stick it down through the narrow trough.

On my second drift my line stopped cold. I lifted the rod tip and one angry hen came shooting like a rocket up out of the slot. Unfortunately for her, she missed landing back int he slot and landed right at my feet. I reached down and positioned her for a picture and sent her back on her way. Although the battle was hardly epic...the skunk was off!

Another week went by and we got yet another nice rain. I decided that the Nut is ok, but I wanted less company and a better chance at a fall lake run brown trout. So, I headed east to the Mile Creeks. All of the creeks finally opened up and had a little flow and all of the had a few fish.

Due to the temperatures and the limited rain, the creeks again dropped quickly. I stayed with the pattern of nymphs and small eggs. These patterns continued to reward me with early season steelhead.

As another couple of rounds of rain showers came through, David was finishing up a new Sage 7wt rod build and he was chomping at the bit to get out on the creeks and break-in the rod and the new season. By the time David was able to get up here...again the creeks had dropped to gin clear and the air temperature had lofted up into the upper 70s and lower 80s. Before David came up, I warned him that we might want to rescheduling to another time. But, with a baby on the way, David was concerned his time was limited and pushed that we give it a try. It ended up being a good call.

We arrived on the creek at daylight early on a Sunday morning. I had been on the creek several times that week and found that the fishable window in the poor conditions was the 1st two hours of the day.

David rigged up with a black stone fly. And, I stuck with my trusty Prince nymphs. In no time David had popped the top off of his season and Christened his new rod build. A nice fat 24" hen hammered the stone fly and David did an excellent job of keeping the very powerful girl in the line.

As we moved up, I drifted through a fast riffle and my line was shooting through the air with a silver bullet. This hen are pretty and chrome and in no mood to play. She shot all over the pool testing my landing skills, but before she was able to drop back in to a large deep pool I coaxed her over and netted. her.

David noted there were a few dark shadows in the foamy white riffle and decided to take a drift himself. And again, his black stone fly paid dividends. David got a great ride from his biggest steelhead to date. This big fatty measured in at 29 inches and was a pudgy 12 pounds.

The final fish of the day was sitting in a fast run between a rock and a stone wall. Once again, the drift was tough and it took me a few casts above the run to figure out how to get the drift right. Once I corrected the drift, SMACK...an angry bird came straight up out of the water, did a complete 180 and shot down stream towards David. The mad fish jumped like a sailfish all the way down the run. As the fish approached David, it put on the breaks and flopped into a skinny water pool right at Davids feet. He reached down with his landing glove and she promptly soaked him as he tried to pick her up. He quickly passed the fish off to me and she immediately beats her way out of my hands. I bent down to get her and she smacked me in the face and shared David's soaking with me. That fish was INSANE. David snapped a pic and I encouraged her back into the stream....before she really hurt one of us. I guess turn about is fair play.

Charred

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:58:00 +0000

I guess one of my shortcomings in medicine is that I internalize many of my patients problems. Over the past week I have had just such a patient. Upon my return from Alaska I was consulted on a case in which a 50 year old lady had a severe foot infection that ultimately led to my having to partially amputate her foot. That in and of itself is sad, but the circumstances leading to her health demise is a truly sad story. Unfortunately, it's a story I have seen too many times over the past decade.

Ironically this particular patient is a nurse. She spent her career helping others in the ER. Over time her own health issues led to her ending up on disability. Now this is where the downward spiral begins in this tragic story. In our great nation, if you are found to be eligible for medical disability benefit, you can no longer work and immediately receive disability benefits...except for one very important benefit. HEALTH INSURANCE. For God knows what reason, in our great nation, once you are found eligible for disability, you are not eligible for Medicare health benefits for 2 years after the date you are deemed medically disabled.

So, what does that mean? Well, it means you cannot work, or you loose your disability benefit. For most folks, their disability benefit is just enough that they are not eligible for Medicaid insurance benefits. DING DING...you guessed it, that means these unfortunate folks are unable to work due to a medical disability and end up not having any health insurance benefits for 2 full years. I ask you, does that make an ounce of sense?

Well, anyway, although I helped this lady get well, I hate her circumstance. I hate that our system is this way. I really hate the "deer in the headlights" look I get when I have to share the kind of news with a patient that I had to share with this lady. And I hate most that she ended up this way because she felt backed into a corner. And the clincher...she will be eligible for her Medicare health insurance benefits in 16 days.

I'm burned. I decided I needed to get charred. Wednesday was the perfect day to get lost in the middle of nowhere and commune with my wild brook trout friends.

This was not a day about catching record fish. This was a day about getting lost. I just needed to soak it all in. For me, a great place to do that is a deep valley in western PA.

There is something settling about cool water on my feet and the smell of hemlocks. Watching small wild brook trout explode on dry flies is calming to my soul. I can't explain it, but bringing these little char to hand seems to melt away the concerns of the modern world.

After landing a dozen or so of my blazing orange friends, I sat on a moss covered bolder that hangs out over the stream. I sipped cold purified water from the run and enjoyed the pleasant aroma from my favorite cigar. My cares wisped away with the smoke rings and I had regained the peace I desperately needed.

Alaska 2011: All the Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:02:00 +0000

My final post on the 2011 Alaskan experience will be filled with all of the stuff that didn't fit into the other posts. I just needed a place to post miscellaneous and sundry pictures of folks, fish, wildlife, a few airplanes, and some snippets of video footage.

I would be remiss not to mention my bunkies during the stay. I shared a cabin with Jim and Wink Lewis. The Lewis brothers are 2 ornery brothers from Texas. One thing is for sure, if you believe everything in Texas is big...that would certainly apply to these two jokers' personalities. It was a good choice placing me in a cabin with these old boys. We got along well and all 3 of us subscribed to the theory of "early to bed, early to rise." The only real problem with these 2 is that they both snore like grizzly bears. Luckily I had some ear plugs. But in reality, I was so tired at the end of each day, I doubt I would have even noticed the snoring. I look forward to hanging with these 2 southern gentleman again in the future. And since they make a trip to Steelhead Alley every Fall, I should be able to get on the water with them again soon.

One of the nicer pieces of footage I got this week was of Mike Schmidt landing his 1st chum (dog) salmon on Contact Creek. Again, the video depicts classic Mike with the cigar and all.

The scenery was spectacular. Had we caught no fish at all, just getting to walk on the Alaskan tundra and seeing the mountains would have made the trip.

Contact Creek

Margot Creek

Moraine Creek

The tundra above the Moraine

I personally enjoyed all of the airplanes. I grew up flying, so seeing all of the different planes used for the various fly-out trips was fascinating to me.

de Havilland Otter at Moraine Creek

Cessna 206 headed for Moraine

de Havilland Beaver departing from Contact Creek

de Havilland Otter at Margot Creek

I plan to live here some day!

And some compiled footage and a few more pics of the bears.

Some miscellaneous pictures:

Crowberries on the tundra

Ptarmigan

Sockeye

Arctic Char

Contact Creek Rainbow

It was a great trip to Alaska. I look forward to returning. I look forward to new adventures in the last American frontier!

Alaska 2011: Salmon

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:18:00 +0000

My 1st sockeye

Of course, the first fish you think of when planning a trip to Alaska is salmon. And, as expected, there were plenty of salmon. We encountered sockeyes, chum (dog), pink, silver (coho), and kings (Chinook) on our adventure.

During the week we were in Alaska, the sockeyes and kings where actively spawning. The silvers were running. And, there were a few scattered pinks and chum salmon around.

Big Moraine sockeye

The prime time for king salmon and sockeyes is in July. The season on kings closes July 31st. Although there are a plethora of sockeyes around, once they are in spawning mode and turn deep red, they are no long desirable as table fare. Sockeyes are considered the most delectable of the salmon when caught during their early run. The silvers really ramp up their run in August and are excellent table fare during that time.

Everyone on the trip caught their fill of sockeyes. Sockeyes were everywhere in the systems we fished. They were in large dense red schools. Once sockeyes enter the rivers to spawn, they stop feeding. However, the big humped-up males are quite aggressive to defend their territories and will hit wet flies and streamers as a defensive action. Unfortunately, due to the pure density of the schools, it can be easy to snag sockeyes if you tend to have a hair trigger hook set with any bump of your line.

Sockeye teeth!

Sockeye salmon do not put on a show like silvers. Sockeyes are just plain strong. When you catch one there is no aerial show. It is a pure tug of war match. There is no quick landing of a sockeye.

Spawning sockeyes develop a green head and deep red body. The males develop a large hump on the back and large hooked kypes with A LOT of sharp teeth. The big toothy kype is developed as pure weaponry between the males. It was not uncommon to see 2 bucks fighting and chasing in the shallows to establish territory.

30" Moraine sockeye

Mike and I did get in to a few sockeyes on the Naknek river during our day 1 drift trip. They were a sure thing when our confinement to the boat limited us from realistically targeting other species. I landed my 1st sockeye early the 1st day and was thrilled with the catch. I was my 1st salmon on the fly and the deep red fish was amazing to see.

On day 3 of my trip I was able to jump in a Cessna 206 and fly over to Moraine Creek. Moraine Creek is world renowned for big rainbow trout and a lot of grizzly bears. While we were the only folks around at many of the places we fished, there were plenty of folks around at Moraine Creek. There were other groups fishing. There were photography groups, bear tour groups, and several groups that were enjoying float trips down the creek. And yes, there were a lot of bears on Moraine Creek.

He refused to share.

The day of bear observation on Moraine Creek was far more relaxed than on Margot Creek. This was a day that allowed me to casually observe bear behavior. In one area we were able watch a large alpha boar catch 7 sockeyes in 7 swipes of his enormous paw. It was interesting to watch other bears behavior around this boar. Any other bear that walked up on this fellow immediately tucked tail and went the other way.

Grizzly day bed on Moraine Creek

The fishing on Moraine Creek was slower than anticipated. We were hoping to have a day of large rainbows. But, for whatever reason, the rainbows were in short supply in the area we were fishing. I did hit into one 30"+ rainbow. This fish was strong and mean. He put on quite a show. He was a jumper. I was able to keep him on through all of his pulling and jumping, but as Jacob went to net the big fellow, he made a quick turn and found his way off the hook. And sometimes, that's just how it goes.

A little further down stream I was casting to a rainbow in a group of sockeyes and hit into my biggest sockeye of the trip. This 30" buck was so big and strong that he broke my 7wt Helios. Luckily, due to the 15lb fluoro tippet I was using, I was able to hand line the beast in.

Pat with a rod bending silver

Fishing for silvers was pure joy. Now, when I say joy....I mean the catching part. The fishing part was pure frustration at times. Silvers are far more easily caught on spinning gear with squid jigs, spoons, and spinners. Catching silvers on the fly takes more work. It was pretty common to see guys with spinning gear catch 5 or more silvers for every one caught on fly gear. But, as fly fishermen, we know that is part of the story.

Nice Naknek Silver

When you do hit into a silver on the fly, hold on. These fish are strong and aerobatic. The jumps are incredible. The problem is not so much the pulling and the jumps, but the death rolls. At some point in the fight the silver decides maybe rolling will set him free...and often it does. Once the fish starts rolling, it can easily unseat a short shanked hook. After a day of loosing several silvers, Mike drew the conclusion that a stinger hook is a better option for silver flies to reduce the loosing fish during the roll.

The following video is not poking fun at Mike. But, it certainly depicts the emotions of a fly fisherman who can successfully get the silvers to strike and not get them to hand. This was more of the norm than any of us want to admit.

Alaska 2011: Arctic Char and Grayling

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Campbell) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:22:00 +0000

Gorgeous Arctic Char!

Char, the other salmonid. No matter which char you chase: brookies, lakers, bulls, dollies, or Arctics...they are by far the most spectacular looking members of the salmonids.

Arctic char may be the most stunning of the char. Arctic char are found in the icy waters of both Europe and North America. Interestingly, as extreme cold climates effect the growth rate of trees and vegetation, the frigid conditions in which Arctic char live also effects their growth rates. Arctic char in the northern parts of their ranges can grow as little as one inch per year and can take 15-20 years to reach breeding age. Arctic char in the southern parts of their range have a much more rapid rate of growth. So, when you are in Alaska and you land a 25-30" char, that fish has been around for awhile. As you may have guessed, we caught some old char in Alaska!

Close-up with Buff's streamer

Arctic grayling are an unusual member of the salmonid family. Grayling are distinguished by their sail-like dorsal fins. While Arctic grayling thrive in the cold waters of Alaska, their numbers have dwindled in the lower 48. Grayling are particularly sensitive to water temperature and water purity. Currently, measures are being taken to increase populations of graying in the lower 48 and to reestablish them in systems in which they have been long absent.

As with the rainbow trout in Alaska, the char and grayling love to gorge on salmon eggs. But they are more than willing to chase down streamers and hit the occasional dry fly as well.

Alex and Greg with a beauty.

As great as Contact Creek was for rainbows, it was even better for Arctic char and Arctic grayling. The 1st hole I hit on Contact Creek I landed a rainbow, a char, and a grayling. It was nice to get the trifecta out of the way and get focused on the big boys.

The char on Contact Creek were aggressively hitting streamers. Once again, it did not matter if we were swinging streamers or stripping them, the char were all over them.

The streamer of the day for me was a green and cerise egg-sucking leach with a stinger hook. My pal Buff Ratliff wanted to tie a few flies for me to take along. This Ratliff special was the ticket on Contact Creek. The majority of the fish I caught on this streamer were arctic char, but several rainbows and one 20" grayling fell to it as well.

My 1st Arctic Grayling.

Two days after fishing Contact Creek, we ventured to Margot Creek. Margot Creek was similar in size to Contact Creek. The sockeye salmon were dropping eggs in Margot Creek and that meant 2 things. One, the fish would be keyed in on eggs. Two, there would be plenty of bears around to catch sockeyes that where otherwise preoccupied. And let me tell you, there were A LOT of bears around. We caught plenty of Arctic char on Margot, but it seems like we spent the majority of the day playing chess with grizzlies.

I would not say we were in any specific life threatening situations with the bears, but Pat Robinson, Mike Schmidt, and myself were caught between a rock and a hard place at one point that did get out dander up a little.

As the bears would make their way up and down the stream, we would follow all of the rules of making noise to alert them of our presence, never running away, never looking them in the eye, and generally trying to give them the right of way. This was ongoing throughout the day. At one point, Pat, Mike, and I found ourselves on the opposite side of the stream from the other six members of our group.

A sow & cubs on Margot Creek

Here's where it got sticky. One of the guides alerted us that there was a sow and 2 cubs coming down stream on our side of the stream and another sow and 2 cubs coming down the opposite side of the stream. So, we were not going to be crossing the stream to create some space. The obvious thing to do was walk down stream. About that time, the other guide alerted us that there were large boars making their ways up both sides of the stream. Now, our compadres across the stream had a few small shrubs and an open field behind them, so we could assure them that nothing was coming behind them and they could back up if the bears did not alter their paths. We, on the other hand, had a dense thicket behind us that was full of well worn bear trails.

Margot Creek cub

The boars turned and went the other way and they were fine with it, because there were a lot of sockeyes down there. The 1st sow and cubs on the opposite side of the creek were finally coerced by the remainder of our group that maybe she should just take the cubs and go on back up stream. The sow on our side of the stream came on down and really wanted to be where Mike, Pat, and I were trying to maintain our composures. I immediately shared with the fellas that I could not think of 2 better guys I would like to be eaten by a bear with. Mike immediately shared that he could definitely think of 2 better people to die with...I never liked that guy anyway :) In any event, the sow made her wishes known that she wanted to come our way, but we jumped and yelled and finally convinced her to lead the cubs back up stream. Crisis averted! I made a quick trip back into the thicket and left my underwear there as a little memento to the neighborhood bears.

Margot Creek fishing boar.

Our days on Contact Creek and Margot Creek were quite rigorous, but in the end they were worth it. The fish were fantastic and the adrenalin raising incidents on both creeks will keep the memories long burned into our minds.