kinky fish.

Local angler Michael sent me this picture of the elusive boomerang trout caught near Verdi. These rare fish are pursued diligently by a rare few and are desired for their odd tendency to return to their original hold to get caught and thrown back again:


Posted by Brian, who knows this is the dumbest shit you've seen all day.

The East Walker in March

I had a great time on the east walker the weekend before last. The weather man said "snow" and I think that thinned the crowds but it ended up being overcast yet warm. This brought out the bwos as well as put the fish in the disposition to eat things. The best producing flies (for me) were a #18 disco midge and a #8 stonefly nymph tied on a scud style hook:

My Stonefly nymph:

a chewed up disco midge:

There were BWO's, and midges hatching galore and lot's of various mayfly nymphs and cased caddis underneath every stone. The disco midge did really well in the morning and then afternoon and evening the fish really started keying in on the stonefly nymph. It became apparent why that evening when adult skwalas were spotted crawling about on the shore.

trout snack:

My two best (or perhaps just "favorite") fish of the day were two browns that weren't quite 20" long -- one of which was quite skinny-- but were feisty and, I think, quite healthy. In the end it was Justin who caught the fish of the day though-- he put away a large number of fish on small attractor dries including a beautiful 21" brown trout.

Truly a great day on the water! --BJ

Recent Ties

I had a great time on the EW last weekend but I've also been tying up a few things at the vice. I've really been digging John Barr's tung teaser and have tied up this modified version in hopes it will be a killer green drake pattern (tied with tungsten to be a lead fly):

MATERIALS:
thread: Danville black 6/0 (or other)
hook: #10 -14 tiemco 3769
beads: 1/8" black brass or tungsten
underbody: .015 in lead wire to center the bead
tail: golden colored goose biots
body: Arizona synthetic peacock (dark)
ribbing: Br or Sm gold ultrawire
Thorax: pearl tinsel with thin skin pulled
over the top and epoxied at the end
Legs: hen back fibers

I also tied up some a lot closer to the original tung teaser prescribed by John Barr and have actually caught a lot of fish recently in the truckee on small sizes (14-16) of the fly described above:

Something closer to the original with white biots
and lighter Arizona synthetic dubbing:

Caught a lot of fish on this guy last week:

Lastly I've been tying some big heavy jumbo johns to use as lead flies this upcoming season. Last season when the caddis were coming off a Stonefly with a caddis dropper was fast-riffle dynamite:


--BJ

Truckee Update & Monday Links

The River:

As you can see the river has taken to fluctuating a bit and is on the rise. There has been a couple of days where the river is totally blown out but there has also been some days where guys have been catching some very decent fish. Last time I was out there I saw a lot of bug activity with big baetis (#16 or so), lots of midges and even a bunch of skwalas coming off the water. That last part is pretty exciting IMO:

So make sure you have some skwala patterns handy for this spring. For inspiration check out the shit eating grin of a guy who just brought to hand a monster brown (the picture doesn't fully do it justice) on a skwala dry-- this happened last week:

Monday Links:

In other news I was happy to see two back to back messages in my e-mail declaring that my two favorite e-mags have new issues up:

This Is Fly: I never would have thought so many of my obsessions could be covered in one magazine-- art, music, and fishing. So check it out if you like any of those things. Or go there if you curiously want to see the newest 80's throwback sneakers next to the newest set of line clippers.


Catch Magazine: Focused on fly fishing photography this Brian O'Keefe & Todd Moen creation is abundant in fish porn, inspiring fishing photos and best of all-- embedded fishing videos that will blow your mind (usually two per issue).