OT: MGoAnglers Random Questions
1. What's your favorite method of fishing?
2. What's your favorite species to target?
3. Fish in solitude or in the company of others?
4. Dream fishing trip?
My answers:
1. I still use conventional gear from time to time, but fly fishing has become my passion. I love tying flies and have found species other than trout that I think are a riot on the old whippy stick.
2. Smallmouth bass- I have some pretty good streams nearby that I have gotten dialed in and to me, there's nothing that fights harder (pound for pound) than a smallmouth bass.
3. Most often I wade fish by myself, but enjoy a float down a river with a couple friends and a cooler. Late last summer I got a 3 man driftboat style raft, so my trips with a couple buddies will increase.
4. #1 on my bucket list is Tarpon on the fly, maybe down in Key West (although I've heard guides can be surprisingly hit or miss down there). I also would love go to the Bahamas for bonefish, and want to go back for redfish again (they bested me last time).
1) hard to pick. I do a fair amount of both fly fishing and spin fishing
2) Steelhead. All respect to smallmouth, but steelhead and chinooks crush them in terms of fighting power. That said, I'd love nothing more to head out to the river on a hot July day and wade around in some old tennis shoes catching smallmouth on light tackle
3) Depends on the mood. If i'm serious fishing, by myself or with one other super serious angler. But, as I have gotten older I have really valued fishing with family and friends more, and also getting more people into the sport.
4) Fishing salmonids in a super remote location - e.g. near the arctic circle for brookies, salmon in Argentina, rainbows in Alaska or Kamkatchka
Fair enough in regards to #2. I used to spend a lot of time chasing steelhead (got sick of the crowds where I am once the "secret" spots got blown). They're great fun, but a wise man once said, "there's a reason God didn't make 10 lb and bigger smallmouth bass"
1. fly fishing
2. all the salmonoids, but trout and the 4 species of salmon more specifically
3. fishing with a few, and spread out
4. i'm lucky to have done what i wanted a number of times. i intend on continuing, if/when travel is advisable.
caveat: there is a second type of 'fishing' that is pretty special, but man it can be very difficult. its shrimping/crabbing in alaska. have some hairy tales but also some of the most wonderful (and productive) days of my fishing life up there.
What has been your favorite trip?
i have buddies that live up in alaska and have been a frequent visitor, and have been taking some of my kids in these later years. as a generalization, when we were young and single we had some really wild adventures. as we've all gotten married and had kids, we still have adventures, but progressively less daring as it relates to survival types of stuff. too much puffing to go into the details, but neat experiences and grateful for them and to have shared some of them with most of my children.
My daughter is young still, but very interested in fish and the very short fishing "trips" we take. I can't wait to take her to some of my favorite places.
When my wife and I were newly married we went to Alaska with my family and stayed at a fishing lodge for a few days. Absolutely loved it and am dying to go back to Alaska again.
I'm not an avid fisherman, but my 91-year old dad has been fishing all his life.
In addition to fishing on pretty much every body of water in and around Michigan, he's taken my brothers and me on various Canadian and Alaskan fishing trips over the past fifteen years or so.
If you ever have the chance to go to Whaler's Cove in Angoon, Alaska...take it!
good for you, dad. keep on it. i also taught my kids how to tie flies and they liked that. we still have a kids fly-tying bench in the basement. i wrote an article that got published years ago for a trout magazine on that topic. they tied some ugly stuff to start, but got better quickly.
and yeah, i have hunted and fished all over alaska, rivers and oceans, and at some point it wouldn't surprise me if we had the kids tend the farm in the summer and mrs. XM and i live up there during that time.
Just got a cute picture of my daughter sitting on my lap while I tied flies the other day. I'm hoping by introducing her to some of this at a young age it's something that she wants to grow up doing with me.
those are the pictures you want to hit the 'print' button on, and post in your office somewhere.
i remembered that the article i mentioned above was written on the way to a michigan football game on a warm sunny day with son #2 in the back seat, sleeping. i put a pad of paper on the front passenger seat and wrote as i drove in silence. i hadn't thought of that in years. had to be a dozen years ago.
I've got a space in my classroom for those types of pictures. It will get added when I'm able to go back
I have family in AK, and that's been a great thing for fishing adventures.
where in AK?
Fairbanks.
nice. i have not spent much time in the interior, usually SW or SC.
I've been up there a few times since the mid 90s. Been out to King Salmon, fished the Naknek and Brooks, been to the Kenai and a fished few spots around there, fished the interior a bit and have been to the North Slope. Also done some grouse and ptarmigan hunting up there, around Tok and Fairbanks.
One thing I really want to do but haven't done is fish for sheefish up there.
nice spread of places. any favorites in that group?
soaking pots is a neat thing. one of the guys has one of those deadliest catch type of boats and all the licenses needed, so we can get out to the gulf of alaska and/or PWS. as i mentioned earlier, some semi-hairy days from time to time, but also tons of great memories. i hope you get your wish.
It's all such a singular experience up there, it'd be hard to say. All such dramatic country.
I did a fair bit of the salmon thing and got over it mostly, but kings on the Naknek and bright ocean-fresh sockeye up on the Brooks with lot of bears around, those were memorable. I spent three days stuck on a small island in Naknek Lake due to wind, having been out on that big lake with a canoe and sea kayak. We watched bears on the near shore, and worried about whether they could and did swim out to this little pile of rocks we were on.
Being alone on the arctic tundra all night fishing for grayling and lake trout, having hiked a ways from our camp east of the haul road, that was out there. Biggest grayling of my life. Was fishing chartruese bunny flies on a Wright and McGill Granger Special 9053 -- 7wt bamboo rod -- and going about 50/50 between lakers and grayling. It's a slog walking on the spongy moss of the tundra, and in this spot at least there were caribou antlers littering the ground everywhere. Some fresh, some just a mossy bit sticking up. Generations of idk millions of caribou. I carried two nice ones out and brought them home through Canada; was worried a bit about that at the border but of courtse they were more interested in my firearms. (This was Aug 2001, btw, and after a bit of time playing around in BC, I crossed the border into eastern Washington late in the afternoon and there wasn't even any at the station. I stopped, looked around, waited and drove on.) Along the way on that trip we came across a fisheries biologist studying grayling. We caught some grayling for her and put them in her pens. She said the lakers I described catching would be well over 50 years old, and they can live 100 years up there.
Hunting ruffed grouse in brown bear country had an extra dimension you don't get hunting blues or ruffs in most of the lower 48.
On the Jim River, I shipped water over my waders and stripped everything down to dry by a driftwood fire, then went on fishing. Pretty soon I was into my biggest grayling ever to that point and, standing at water's edge, rod bent, wearing nothing but boxers, I looked down and saw I was straddling a very fresh bear footprint.
all fun stuff. i will say that when we fish on land we are always armed. and it is really disconcerting when you get out of your tent in the morning and there are fresh griz prints the size of you head walking through camp.
Mmmmm, Alaskan spot prawns are a delicacy few in the lower 48 have ever tried.
1. Conventional rig. I like fly fishing as well, but why make catching fish even more difficult if my goal is to keep and eat the fish?
2. Walleye
3. By myself if I'm wading in the river, in the company of others trolling for walleye (more lines in the water)
4. I think a southern Alaska trip would be awesome. Lots of different species and opportunities.
Great point. I mostly fish catch and release. When I am fishing for food, I'm usually fishing conventional gear. I love jigging for walleye. Was supposed to go to the Detroit River in a couple weeks, but we had to cancel those plans. I've been up to Ontario a couple times for fly in trips for walleye and pike, some of the best fishing I've had and great memories with my dad, uncle and Grandpa.
Those fly-in memories are special! I have them, also, and they'll never be forgotten.
Canadian fly in trips are pure gold. Do you have any favorite lodges/memories to share?
All of my fly in trips have been with my dad, and each one is a trip I will never forget. Our last trip was to Clarks Resort in NW ON. Fresh fried walleye everyday was the highlight.
Regarding #1- Its a complete misnomer that you will catch less fish with a fly rod. I have out fished people many times with a fly rod when they were using traditional tackle.
I think depends on the species and technique. I know guys that will catch trout hand over fist nymphing or euronymphing, but I personally HATE nymphing
Try tenkara fishing. Im with you on the nymphing.
I've never tried it; nothing against it, just haven't felt compelled to try. My favorite fly fishing is streamer fishing.
What do you like about tenkara?
I like that it breaks fishing into its simplest form, very little gear needed. Secondly, as someone that hikes to fish often, tenkara rods are telescoping and fit easily into a pack (or luggage if traveling). Third, I catch more fish with tenkara than any other method AND the hookups are intense since you have fixed amount of line (no reel). The technique is much more active than just drifting a nymph. Tenkara flies fished correctly are the best looking fly I've ever seen. They pulsate like an emerger. They have amazing action. I use a Daiwa tenkara rod and have a hard time picking up my other rods anymore unless I want to fish dries or bigger tackle.
Also- I fished Wilderness State Park for smallies last year and it was incredible. Streamers, wading in Lake Michigan and huge smallies!
That has been on my radar for a little bit! I have a friend who does Wilderness State Park every memorial day weekend. It sounds right up my alley. I love river fishing for smallmouth, but they just don't get as big as lake michigan smallmouth (in most cases)
I love Tenkara fishing on small streams in Montana. You hike up the beautiful creeks and fish. The Tenkara allows you to fish without the need for a back cast so you don’t get snagged as much. I only use dry flies. I love watching the take. Typically, the trout are quite aggressive as they have a short eating season. My favorite fly is an #14 olive caddis with brown Palmer hackle and white calf tail wing. It floats well, and more importantly, I can see it. I got my rod from Tenkara customs. You have to glue the cork to the rod (there is a short video on their website. I am NOT a do-it-yourself (no time or interest), but it is easy and saves you 50-100 dollars. You could pick up some deals also as the worker at the local Cabelas told me recently that the popularity has declined, and they have large stock.
Let me tell about all the times I've fished circles around bait and hardware fisherman, using flies, and on their own water.
I disagree.
You outfishing traditional tackle with a flyrod just tells me you are a better fisherman - nothing about equipment.
Given equal fishing "talent" - good live bait will always win.
1.) Popping frogs on the lillies after bass. Watching a smallie or largemouth break the surface to take one of those down is a thrill. That being said, I also love the low and slow troll for northern pike and muskie
2). Favorite to catch: northern/muskie. Such a great fight. But usually i spend my time chasing crappie cause they eat better
3). With people, usually
4). Hydrocynus vittatus in Africa
Topwater bass fishing is a riot!
Yeah man, bass smacking stuff on top is great!
I've usually got a one or two specific things I'm kinda keyed on during a fishing season. This year one thing is catfish on the fly -- got a bit interested in that last year, with some random tie-ins to some fairly good-sized channel cats -- and the other is having a bass year like I haven't really done since I fled Alabama. I've been tying bass flies heavily this spring, and have some new ideas based on the Tarpon Toad I'm eager to try out.
I mostly tie bass flies since that is what I target the most. Do you have any pictures of what you've been working on?
Got the first two prototypes sitting here at my desk. A bit crude and have been fished, but you'll get the idea. My big innovation, such as it is, is that I alternate tying the bundles on the top and the bottom of the shank, so I can get a green back and white belly. I've been tying them with plastic bead eyes, bead chain of various sizes up to some really big stuff I found at Ace Hardware, and heavier eyes like Predator Eyes. The ones with heavier eyes I tie to ride hook up, Clouser style. Instead of cutting the rubber legs short like these, I've started tying them together, then cutting them. Gives more of front frog log look. Maybe.
those are glorious. what size hooks?
These are tied on #1 Gamakatsu B10S Stingers, about 3" long.
2x wut?
I'm no angler by any means as I only really fished the small ponds behind my grandfather's house when I was younger and he was alive. And I'm pretty sure over 5 years and maybe 25 times fishing we never caught anything. Looking back it was just time the spent talking with him and fishing was the excuse. The 8-10 year old that I was didn't understand that at the time and always got annoyed we couldn't catch anything.
The only "real" fishing I've done is in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida by standing about knee-deep and using head-on shrimp to catch baby shark that are swimming around just past the breakers. Would mostly catch 1-3 foot hammerhead and black tips. I did this mostly by myself on family vacations...PVC pipe shoved in the sand as a rod holder, a little bell on the end of the rod...and plop down in your chair to snooze and wait for something to happen.
The first time I caught one, I was fishing by myself one afternoon, and I didn't really know what to do with it. This crusty old man - who wasn't fishing, mind you - shouts out "you gonna eat that?!" I said "no, I don't even know how to get the hook out" and he walked over, grabbed the baby shark by the tail, stepped on the gils, and the shark froze and its mouth just popped wide open. He reached in and took the hook out and put it in an igloo cooler.
I always get a kick out of how I was fishing for something that I had no clue how to actually get off the hook. Maybe deep down I figured I wouldn't catch anything? But I learned that day from a guy that had cowhide for skin and a few missing teeth how it's done.
The funniest thing was seeing him walk off, dragging a giant igloo hard side cooler behind him with the tail sticking out one end looking like he won the lottery. Shark steaks for dinner that night.
1) Spinning reels. But baitcasters are better for bigger fish on the oceans. I've never really tried to fly-fish, though, so that's subject to change.
2) Walleye rank high, but so do tuna, dolphin fish, and sailfish
3) I always prefer solitude, but a group of good friends heading out to the Gulf Stream or beyond roads in Canada would be perfect.
4) Sailfishing off the coast of Venezuela. Trout fishing in, pretty much, any stream in the world - there are no ugly places to find trout.
I've never done any deep fishing in the Atlantic. I think going fishing for tuna and sailfish would be awesome, but when I've been around those areas I've spent my money on different types of fishing. Maybe my Father-in-Law will spring for a charter next time we vacation down there.
"no ugly places to find trout"- true words my friend
Bringing in one of the ocean heavyweights is a workout of a thrill! I once took about 40 minutes to bring in a 90 lb bluefin (still have the certificate from NC somewhere), but it felt like 190 minutes! Feeling them run while the boat is still going forward makes one understand how powerful they are in their won element.
" there are no ugly places to find trout. "
Actually... planting/stocking makes that pretty untrue.
When I lived in Oregon I fished some pretty ugly farm ponds for trout... surrounded by highways, etc.
1. Fly fishing. Anywhere for anything.
2. Trout. Mostly native trout. Cutthroat in high alpine lakes and streams.
3. Solitude. Maybe 1 other. I usually find if you're willing to hike over a mile, you will be by yourself. Also, learn to wet wade comfortably. No need for the waders then.
4. I was lucky enough to do my dream trip last year- Slovenia. I fished for Marble Trout in the Soca River valley and it was amazing. Huge trout. Wilderness. Solitude. Tenkara Rod.
I've seen videos of Marble Trout fishing in Slovenia. I'm jealous! How long were you there for?
My wife and I took our 1 yr. old daughter on her 1st big trip last year. We spent 3 weeks driving a camper van around Slovenia and Croatia. It was amazing. I couldn't recommend Slovenia any more. Go before it gets too popular.
As for the fishing, lets just say its reputation is warranted. I've instructed fly-fishing and fished all over, so I don't say that lightly. I would get up at 4am and hike up the mountains into the tributaries. It was amazing.
Very cool. You don't have to disclose what you paid, but is it wildly expensive? Or can it be done on a modest budget?