With a pending ice fishing season looming, how can a soft water angler survive until ice out? Do not fear anglers of the open water. There is hope. I have been tracking my progress while dealing with the SWW (soft water withdrawal) syndrome below.

Week 1

Pike On The Fly will help fill the open water void.

Having just spotted the first ice hut on Mary Lake, my sunny day turned blue. I waved to my ice and cold-loving fishing brethren as I drove past the lake’s scenic wharf. They politely waved back across the glassy water without skipping a beat on their jigging patterns. The cold – is not an issue in the least. This time of hard water is yours. Returning home, in a slightly depressed state, I resorted to watching some fishing DVD’s I had in my collection. Three hours later I was feeling better about myself and my self diagnosed condition. One movie in particular stands out in my mind as being very well done. If you have not seen or purchased it – please consider it. It’s called, Pike On The Fly, by Barry Reynolds. It has a perfect combination of instructional items and heart-pounding pike fishing action. There is a large number of huge pike caught in the movie and 8 of them are over 50 inches!

Survive Week 1 by watching, buying or renting some fishing videos.

Week 2

The videos were great. This week, my issue has been, the ‘call to action’ the movies have inspired within me. Dust off your fly tying equipment and tie these trout flies recommended by expert anglers and fly fishing authors I have had an opportunity to interview on my blog. I asked them a simple question: If you could only take one or two flies on a body of water you have never fished before – what would it be?

Mark Williams (author of So Many Fish So Little Time )
“It’s hardly fair to take away from me the boxes and boxes of flies I’ve tied and collected over the years. Rivers change hour to hour and you’re going to stick me with just one fly? Fine. I’ll take a size 12 Ausable Wulff and I’ll catch plenty of trout. But I’m stashing a Rio Grande Trude in one pocket and a beat-up Goddard Caddis in another.”

Rick Passek (author of Freshman Flyfisher Series)

Adams Dry Fly from Wikipedia

“This can be a tough question for me because I would research the stream before I went, But let us say I didn’t. I would take a Hares ear Nymph (picture right) and a Tom Thumb, why you ask, simple. The hairs ear and the Tom Thumb are an searching patterns. They don’t represent any one insect perfectly, but represent many insects well. These two flies will be taking by trout as Caddis Flies, May Flies, Mosquitoes, Midges, along with many others.”

Ed Quigley (author of In The Company of Rivers)
“Probably the Muddler Minnow because of its versatility. If gooked up with floatant, it can be used as a dry fly with what I call the ‘plunk-and-twitch’ effect on smooth water. In other words the plunk gets the trout’s attention; the twitch says, “I’m alive!”. Without the floatant, it becomes a streamer cast either upstream or down-and-across.”

Randall Kadish (author of The Flycaster Who Tried To Make Peace With The World)
“Initially, I would have two choices: An Adams, which takes fish on any river, or a Woolly Bugger. Because, I don’t know the stream, and because most takes are subsurface, I’d choose a Woolly Bugger and cover as much water as possible.”

Pace yourself through Week 2 by tying these effective fly patterns.

-To be continued-

I came across this video segment about an easy to tie pike fly last night. It looks simple enough for me to tie and lethal enough to make me look good catching some of Muskoka’s numerous pike.

Big pike on the fly from Johnny Saunderson on Vimeo.

For those of us fly fisherman who think we don’t need to wear glasses while lauching our flies into the currents, this graphic video is for YOU. I was directed to the British Journal of Ophthalmology website where I saw this video of the surgeon removing a hook from an anglers eyeball. In the interest of public safety Muskoka Outdoors recommends you wear glasses whenever you fly fish. Get the message out people! (Quicktime is required to view the video)

The guys over at AEG were kind enough to send me their DVD, Fish Bum 1: Mongolia River Wolf, in exchange for my thoughts on its content. In a few words…

The best fly fishing epic available on DVD!

This is NOT your regular fly fishing dvd that takes place in a ‘more than I can ever afford’ fishing lodge with a trout stream ‘only metres from your bed’ kind of setting. Until I saw this DVD, I had no idea that the kind of trout they were searching for even existed. The ‘Taimen’ Trout or River Wolf lives up to it’s name and the hype on the DVD’s back panel. To me, the the trout looks like a cross between a lake trout, bull trout and slight smattering of leviathan.

It looks awesome!

The trout is only half the story. The trout is only found in remote (stress the word remote) sections of certain Mongolian rivers. There are no roads and easy access to any portion of the rivers that hold these trout.

This did not stop the Fish Bums. The DVD chronicles their incredible journey to make their own roads and forge their own mountain passes to dip their flies for these Taimen Trout. Then, to prove the anglers are only human, when they finally spot these trout – they don’t buy into the flies they brought with them. It was humorous and inspiring to see how these guys used what was available to them and rethink their presentations. I will let you watch the movie to see how they did this, but these fish were so ‘intelligent’ the Fish Bums had to use radio spotters on the banks several metres up on the banks to assist their fishing counterparts. (Taimen Photo From: University of Wisconsin News Website)

The fishing footage is phenomenal and well put together. I have already watched it 3 times and can’t wait to show a few of the guys. Fish Bum 1: Mongolia River Wolf will make a great birthday or Christmas gift for any fly angler. Please visit their web-site for more information (I am not paid any money when you click on the DVD links) so, check it out.

Oh, and the Fish Bums win – for now.

(Notice to Fish Bum Guys – Feel free to put me on the back-up recruit list for Fish Bum 3)

The AEG (Angling Exploration Group) guys are at it again! They are working on the third installment of the their Trout Bum Diaries video series. They are not headed to some ‘out-of-the-way’ north country stream. No Sir. They are trekking their way into Mongolia in search of the ‘River Wolf’ – the Taimen fish species. A portion of their press release explains it best, Continue Reading