Fishing News

Beat The Crowds to Yellowstone This Year

fishsouldier — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:31:42 +0000

It’s barely spring, and there’s still snow blanketing the high country, but they’re already advertising the switch from snowmobiles to bicycles in Yellowstone National Park.Bicycles? Now? In the land of geysers and bears and bison? Yes, now, before the summer crowds overrun the landscape.

According to one page of the park Web site—http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/springbike.htm—until the roads are reopened to motorized vehicles, probably in late April, certain routes are open to bike riders, joggers, hikers and even inline skaters. In places, you might have to wait until the snowplows are finished. Be sure to read the tips at the bottom of the page: don’t brother the bison, don’t go near the bears, and take bear spray just in case.

Whether you go now or wait until summer, go to the park’s main page—http://www.nps.gov/yell/—to learn about the history of America’s first national park, its wildlife and the awesome scenery. “Photos & Multimedia” has a Web cam aimed at the Old Faithful geyser, and a collection of videos you access by clicking on a park map. Click into the digital slide file for thousands of images, including a big library of historical photos. As with any national park Web site, “Plan Your Visit” has lots of valuable info on things to see and do and know before you go; this one adds an interactive map where you can learn even such mundane but needed details as the locations of the laundry at Fishing Bridge and of the showers at Grant Village.Since Yellowstone is so popular, it’s spawned lots of Web sites offering park information along with connections to commercial sites that you might find useful.

Yellowstone Net—http://www.yellowstone.net/—advertises lodging reservations, hotel reviews, and information on the area’s fly fishing, waterfalls (check the photo of Union Falls), geysers, wildlife, Top 10 attractions and more Web cams. They also have a link to the Yellowstone Association, a nonprofit organization that provides educational services supporting the park.

Look under “Things to Do” at YellowstonePark.com—http://www.yellowstonepark.com/—for another list of Top 10 Things To Do, including whitewater rafting and hiking some of the park’s 1,300 miles of trails. They have their own collection of videos about the park and surrounding region, and podcast guides. And if you click on “Maps & Travel Routes,” you’ll find downloadable guides for your road trips to the park from major starting points including Denver and Salt Lake City.

Don’t forget that this is a great slice of the outdoors begging for you to park the car and go exploring. The outdoors specialists at GORP have a guide—http://tinyurl.com/cf9znp—to the park’s nature trails, fishing and boating, and wildlife viewing. And if you insist, they also list scenic drives.

All Yellowstone Park—http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/—has more links to the region’s motels, lodges, cabins and guest ranches, under the “Lodging” heading, and there are links to resorts that offer package specials and deals under “Travel.” Look to the upper left part of the page for “RV & Camping” parks throughout the area. And if you’re not driving across the country, “Travel” also has information on airports and airlines.

If you want to stay in one of the park’s famous lodges, they’re operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts—http://www.travelyellowstone.com/—which also runs lodgings in other major parks. Try for a room in the Old Faithful Inn, the huge log hotel whose original section was finished in 1904. Look for “see more photos” under the geyser picture on the right to see what the inn looks like, especially the immense rustic lobby. Xanterra also has reservations for campgrounds and cabins inside the park.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/travel/ci_11977113

Man Stranded in Fishing Boat Rescued

fishsouldier — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:56:34 +0000

MOSS LANDING, Calif. – A man stranded in his small fishing boat near Moss Landing was rescued Monday evening.

North County fire, Monterey fire, the U.S. Coast Guard and state parks all responded to a distress call that went out when a man became stranded 1,500 yards offshore when his motor stopped running.

Fire officials first thought the man’s boat had caught fire, but it turned out the boater had sent up three flares and dropped anchor.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29738216/

Pyramid Lake and the Elusive Cutthroat Trout

fishsouldier — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:15:43 +0000

I did some fly fishing at Pyramid Lake in Nevada recently and I was very surprised at the method that the locals use. Pyramid Lake has a very shallow shelf that goes out about 30 feet all the way around the lake. At the edge it drops off into deep water. The cutthroat trout that inhabit Lake Pyramid swim around this shelf collecting food. Now, the locals all take step ladders and wade out to the edge of the shelf. Then they stand on the ladder, cast out as far as they can, and then strip their line in slowly and hope that a trout bites near the shelf drop off.

I was skeptical at first, but this turned out to be some of the most fun fly fishing I’ve ever done! We were using some brightly colored woolies, sinking fly line, and a standard tapered leader. We wound up catching like 6 or 7 cutthroats using this method. Very nice! All in all, it was a good trip!

Why I’m Hooked On Fly Fishing

fishsouldier — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:04:58 +0000

It is a warm summer’s evening. The sun is smouldering on the distant hill and the valley is bathed in a gold-leaf light. I am thigh-deep in the river, slowly edging upstream, when a movement to my left, a dimpling disturbance in the smooth downstream flow, teases my eye.

I turn to look. There it is again. It has to be a trout under that willow, a trout sipping down the flies that are hatching in the dusk. I crouch and edge nearer. All sounds fade away and the world closes in. We are locked-on and cocooned, this trout and I, we have the only two pumping hearts in a world set on hold.

Wait, wait. Now! I cast, the fly alights like a maiden’s kiss and drifts towards him. There is a caught-breath stillness, a long, agonised will-he-or-won’t-he moment, then he tilts up and takes it. The rod goes down and the fish leaps high into the air streaming stardust and light before tail-walking downstream on the current. Or else I miss him. Or he gets away. And then the world comes rushing back again, the river sounds intrude again, and again I am edging upstream, looking for the next trout.

That, anyway, is how I see it this weekend, with the new season so near. It is how thousands of others like me will be seeing it this weekend as they wait for Monday to come. The trout season starts in most places on March 16 and the trout, above all fish, is synonymous with fly-fishing, the most esoteric and beguiling of all angling forms.

No one really knows how many trout fishers there are, but surveys suggest that there could be up to 500,000 in the UK. Angling is a huge social melting pot, but no branch of the sport has a wider appeal than this.

Most anglers use baits, the kinds of real foods that fish naturally eat or else can be induced to eat. Fly-fishers do not use real flies, they fool trout into taking artificial flies made from slips of feather and mists of fur, turns of tinsel and silk.

There are several kinds of fly, all ingeniously designed to provoke fish into taking them into their mouths. The flies best-known to non-fishermen are those beloved of advertisers: gaudy confections on bright, silver hooks. Flies such as these are designed to provoke a trout, a razor-edged predator, into making an attack. Other flies, generally less gaudy, are designed to arouse a trout’s curiosity, and how can a fish investigate anything other than by taking it into its mouth? It is the third category, though, that fascinates most. These flies are tied to suggest specific bugs and are designed to catch fish while they are feeding. They are often so small that two could sit side by side on a finger-nail. Dry and in the hand they may look like tufts of carpet fluff, but when wet and viewed from underwater where the trout is they are transformed.

The art of making flies, like most things in angling, goes back hundreds of years. It works on the basis of the newspaper cartoon. A cartoon doesn’t look like a real person, but a few clever strokes of the pen can produce enough of a likeness for the reader to say “that’s ‘im!”. When a particular kind of natural fly is being repeatedly eaten by a trout, an artificial fly that has suggestions of wings and legs in the right size and colour can cause a fish feeding “on auto” to make a similar assumption.

So while all anglers need to understand water and fish behaviour, fly-fishers need to know something about natural flies as well, a study that fascinates in its own, separate right. This need to understand all underwater life, not only fish but also the tiny, fascinating lives lived out alongside them – on stones, clinging to water plants or lived in little tunnels on river or lake bed – is a world invisible to most non-anglers but one that absorbs fly-fishers: it take us down, down, deep into Nature, close to the quick of life itself.

Not so long ago, fly-fishing for trout was available to only a few. The gin-clear, well-stocked chalk streams of the South were beyond most anglers’ pockets. The big lakes of Wales, the North West and Scotland were beyond most anglers’ reach. Then, in 1956, Chew Valley reservoir in the West Country was opened and stocked with trout. In the 1960s and 1970s Grafham Water in Huntingdonshire, Rutland Water in Leicestershire, Bewl Water in Kent, and many others followed suit; all of them likewise stocked with Salmo trutta, hard-fighting, beautiful and delicious to eat.

This sudden availability of fly-fishing, and reports of large, fast-growing trout, generated a demand that soon not even these huge lakes could meet. Before long, some saw a business opportunity and small, purpose-built trout lakes began to spring up like an aquatic rash across the countryside. Today, fly-fishing, once the province of the well-heeled and the geographically blessed, is available to Everyman.

As with most things, you get what you pay for. Rod fees – the right to fish a given water – have to be paid to the fishery owner in addition to the Environment Agency’s annual fishing licence. A rod that allows one day’s fishing a week on a big Hampshire chalk stream can cost up to £4,000, and that for a season that ends on September 30. Syndicates – small groups of anglers clubbing together – can reduce costs significantly per head if they buy or rent fishing of their own. Angling clubs with hundred of members and serious buying power can give access to waterways for only a few pounds for the entire season. A day’s permit on a commercially run lake typically costs £20-£40 a day.

There are numerous sources of fly-fishing information, such as FlyFishing & FlyTying magazine, as well as fly-fishing websites. Which leaves the books. The sheer diversity of angling has spawned one of the greatest literatures not just of any sport but of any subject.

The first angling book in English was the Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle, printed in 1496 by William Caxton’s apprentice, Wynkyn de Worde. Since then, the literature has been in full flood. Sir Robert Boyle, of Boyle’s Law, Charles Kingsley, of The Water Babies, Arthur Ransome, of Swallows and Amazons, all wrote books or essays on their sport. So did Lord Home of the Hirsel, the former Prime Minister. So did Jimmy Carter, the former US President.

Fishing – and for me, fly-fishing especially – is a fascinating and challenging pursuit that takes those who have discovered it into the wide outdoors, melting away our pressures and drawing us down into a mysterious, otherworld that so few see. That is why this weekend will have fly-fishers tossing restless abed, dreaming of those evenings when the sun is smouldering on the distant hill and great trout are rising in that gold-leafed light.

Come Monday, tens of thousands will be hoping to relive it, and I will be out there, among them.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article5901886.ece

Chesapeake Sportsman: In search of trout, far and near

fishsouldier — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:30:43 +0000

(Yampa River, CO)– I don’t know if I’ll ever fully appreciate the majestic expanse of the West, much less the raw, secretive beauty of its mountain trout streams. Once-a-decade visits don’t foster such depth of knowledge. Yet, the lore of fly fishing these sweet waters is well-chronicled, even to this salt-encrusted flatlander.

On a recent trip to the Colorado Rockies, my wife Whitney and I fly fished the Yampa River for cold-water rainbows and browns. It was a lay-day of sorts, in bluewater angling parlance, a brief respite from several days of testing fate by hurtling myself down a very tall and steep mountain, which, as near as I can tell, never did me any injustice. Besides, I’m a much better fly fisherman than skier.

I suppose we could have saved the expense of hiring our guide, Ryan Herbert (www.herbertflyfishingunlimited.com), and struck out on our own to explore unchartered (to us) trailheads and tail waters. But odds are I would have led us into the only foraging bear within 100 miles, started an avalanche, or both.

Besides, we wouldn’t have caught nearly as many fish and would have been deprived of Ryan’s comedy chops and fishing acumen. The latter proved indispensable, if the former was iffy from the opening gun. The sweetener was the half-hour snowmobile ride into the semi-back country. It was almost as rewarding as the fly fishing.

We fished 4-weight fly rods, using split shot on the leader to dip the #20 scuds in front Salmoninae eyeballs. Red hot fishing it wasn’t, but it more than toasted my fishing Jones on a crisp winter’s day.

Closer to home, we have some pretty good trout waters a few hours drive from Annapolis. The Gunpowder, upper Patuxent and the Potomac’s fingerlings come to mind. The state’s Department of Natural Resources stocks many of our waters annually with trout, including Lake Waterford and Severn Run in Anne Arundel County. So we too have our own coldwater jewels to admire. All it takes is a little time.

NOTE: The presence of whirling disease was documented in Maryland as early as 1995, but in 2007 infected fish were detected at the state’s Bear Creek hatchery in the Youghiogheny River basin, catapulting the issue into the limelight. To reduce the potential spread of Whirling Disease, Maryland DNR’s recommends:

Do not to move fish from one stream to another.
Do not discard trout carcasses in streams, or on stream banks.
Please be sure to clean mud from boots and equipment before moving from one stream to another.
Drain water from boats and live wells and rinse mud from trailers and gear before leaving the fishing site. It is preferable to dry your boats bilge when possible.

Source: http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/out/2009/03/17-53/Chesapeake-Sportsman-In-search-of-trout-far-and-near.html

Fishing Boat Crew Rescued 30 Miles off Cape May

fishsouldier — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:34:17 +0000

Three crew members of a sinking fishing boat were rescued this morning by the crew of another fishing boat moments before their sinking vessel erupted into flames about 30 miles off the coast of Cape May, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard received an S.O.S. call at 6:40 a.m. from a crew member aboard the Dollie who reported the boat was taking on water and they were about to board a life raft.

The Coast Guard dispatched a rescue boat from Cape May and a helicopter from Atlantic City and sent out an urgent marine broadcast requesting help from any nearby boats.

The Amy Marie, a fishing boat plying the waters about nine miles away, answered the call and immediately set course to help.

Arriving before the Coast Guard boat, the Amy Marie plucked the three mariners from their raft and started back to Cape May.

Soon after the Dollie’s crew was aboard the Amy Marie, the Dollie caught fire, sending thick clouds of black smoke into the air.

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090317_Fishing_boat_crew_rescued_30_miles_off_Cape_May.html

Resevoir Fishing Going Strong

fishsouldier — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:42:12 +0000

Biologists who oversee the fishing on Ross Barnett Reservoir say their numbers don’t lie and tell a story that fishermen should like to hear.

Surveys of fishermen and results of electro-fishing sampling indicate that bass and crappie are doing quite well in the 33,000-acre, heavily fished lake in the Jackson metro area.

“I feel very good about Barnett Reservoir, where it’s at and where it’s headed,” said Larry Bull, the district three fisheries biologist for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “When you look at the data, it shows that the fish are both there in quantity and quality.”

Bull is, well, bullish on the lake for good reason. The numbers support his conclusions for the two most popular species.

CRAPPIE

The No. 1 targeted fish on Barnett is crappie, with a range of 50 to 55 percent of fishermen making it their fish of choice over the past five years. Bass is No. 2 at 35-40 percent while catfish and bream combine for 10-15 percent.

Creel surveys – studies of fish brought to the bank by fishermen – are a key tool in tracking fish production.

“By aging crappie caught in creel, we’ve found that there are six different age groups contributing to the fishery,” Bull said. “That is what you like to see, a good distribution.

“Over 80 percent are in the 2- and 3-year range, and they run 7.5 to 14 inches. Those are the fish people want to catch. It appears that the 2006 year class was very strong … a good spawn.”

Catch rates remain good, an average of 1.8 per hour over the past five years, and the average weight is .7 to .8 pound.

“Crappie are in great shape,” Bull said. “The good thing is that we don’t see much variation year to year. It’s been good, is good and with the range in year classes should stay good.”

BASS

Catch rates of bass remain good – .8 fish per hour, and anything over .6 is considered good – and tournament anglers continue to put up impressive numbers

“It always ranks high or at the top of several categories on our statewide tournament report (available at mdwfp.com),” Bull said. “Average winning weights are good and up two pounds from 2003. And two years ago, nine of the biggest 10 fish caught in tournaments in Mississippi came from Barnett.”

The fish are healthy, added biologist John Skains.

“Our surveys indicate that fish are within 4 percent of their ideal weight, when you compare length to weight,” Skains said. “anything over 90 percent of idea weight is good, and its 96 on Barnett. They’re getting a lot to eat, and are plump and healthy.”

Not all statistics are as good. The average weight of individual bass being weighed in tournaments and showing up in creels is down a pound since 2003.

The percentage of tournament anglers catching a five-fish limit is also down, from 29 percent in 2003 to 23 percent last year.

“I think that bears out what fishermen were telling us when they requested the drop from a 15-inch minimum to 12 inches,” Bull said. “I think this year, with a 12-inch limit, that percentage (5-fish limits) is going to go up fast.”

Statistics from last week’s WalMart Bass Fishing League event show 62 of 154 fishermen (40 percent) caught a five fish limit. The winning weight was 19 pounds, 13 ounces by Reid Sanders of Newton.

Source: http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090315/SPORTS08/903150326/1287/sports

John Berry’s Fly-Fishing Report: Wadable water in near future

fishsouldier — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:04:37 +0000

Over the past week, we have had some very heavy winds and some higher, then lower, temperatures. The lakes in the White River system have fallen slightly and all are currently at or below power pool.

The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam remained steady at 0.3 feet below power pool of 654 feet. This is 41.3 feet below the top of flood pool. Up- stream, Table Rock Lake fell 0.1 feet to rest 0.1 below power pool or 16.1 feet below the top of flood pool.

Beaver Lake fell 0.2 feet to rest at 0.2 feet below power pool or 9.6 feet below the top of flood pool. The pattern on the White was for low levels of generation around the clock with a couple of high- level spikes during the day.

There was no generation last weekend. This created some spectacular wading. Norfork Lake has risen 0.1 feet to rest at power pool of 552 feet or 28 feet below the top of flood pool. There has been limited generation on the North Fork with several windows of no generation and there was no generation last weekend. This has created some excellent wading. With the current lake levels, I would predict wadable water in the near future on both rivers.

Remember that there is a new size limit on brown trout. All browns less than 24 inches must be released immediately no matter where they are caught on the White and North Fork Rivers. Only one brown trout may be kept in the daily limit of five trout.

Next week, we have our major fly-tying event of the year in Mountain Home, the Sowbug Roundup. Anglers from all over the United States and some from Europe will be traveling here to demonstrate their favorite patterns. More anglers will be coming in to observe them. All of these people will want to go fishing while they are here.

I will be presenting a couple of seminars, and my wife, Lori, will also present a couple. I will be tying my brother’s signature pattern, Dan’s turkey tail emerger. Stop by and let me tie one for you.

This year’s shad kill is basically over. The upper river from the Bull Shoals Dam catch-and-release area down stream to Cain Island has been a real hot spot. The lower flows were perfect for drift fishing and, with the trout still keying in on shad patterns, the bite was on. Other effective patterns were zebra midges and San Juan worms.

Source: http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20090314/SPORTS/903140305

Colorado Mountain Climbing Instructor Falls To Death In Argentina, 2 Students Injured

fishsouldier — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:04:50 +0000

Windsor Genova – AHN News Writer

Buenos Aires, Argentina (AHN) – A mountain climbing instructor from Aspen, Colorado has fallen to death during a climb in Argentina while two of his American students were injured.

Travis Matthew Lizotte, 25, died Sunday after falling 66 feet into a crevasse while climbing with four other people the 11,411-foot Mount Tronador in southern Argentina, according to the North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS), where the fatality worked.

Two student climbers linked to Lizotte by a rope suffered fractures and injuries in the chest and back from the fall, NCOBS Executive Director Whitney Montgomery said in a press release on Monday. One of the injured was already released from a local hospital, the director said.

Two other NCOBS staff, who were with Lizotte leading a 72-day course for 11 students aged 18 to 23, initiated a rescue operation for the victims. Local responders, doctors and two helicopters joined in the rescue effort.

Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014371318

Lake Lure to Host Inaugural Fly-Fishing Masters Tournament

fishsouldier — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:52:36 +0000

Lake Lure, NC (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 10, 2009 — The Olympiad Fly-Fishing Masters tournament comes to Lake Lure, NC, one of National Geographic’s ten most beautiful man-made lakes. Competitors and family and friends are encouraged to come to this one-of-a-kind tournament.

“I’ve competed in several tournaments and they are always in very remote locations,” said host sponsor and tournament founder Michael Yelton. “While that’s the true nature of fly-fishing, family and friends seldom attend because there’s little to do and see. Lake Lure is a win-win on fishing, spectatorship and things to do for everyone.” Yelton, owner and operator of The Granddaddy Fly-Fishing Experience, is a member of the North Carolina Fly-Fishing Team.

Competition:
Day one, anglers in adult and youth divisions will be judged on distance and accuracy casting. Day two, the top ten adult division finishers will be judged on the combined length of three fish caught within a specific time.

Cash prizes and Olympiad medals will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners. Consolation prizes go to the fourth and fifth place winners. Olympiad medals will be awarded to winners in the youth division after day one.

For more information:
Go to www.granddaddyflyfishing.com or call 828-288-1221. The entrance fee is $50 before Apr.15 — $75 by the Apr. 20 deadline.

For family and friends:
Unlike secluded-location fly-fishing tournaments, much of this competition takes place along the Upper Rocky Broad River. Here, family and friends have easy road access and exceptional views of fishermen. Another portion of the competition takes place in a park full of things to do.
Lodging partners are offering discounts to tournament participants, and from Lake Lure, you are five to 30 minutes from all of the following:

Chimney Rock State Park — a new state park expanding an already-breathtaking mountain destination.
Lake Lure Inn — roaring with the 1920′s elegance, tournament attendees get 20% off spa treatments.
The Bostic Lincoln Center — exploring the persistent theory that Abraham Lincoln was born here.
Washburn’s General Store — where your great-grandparents could have shopped.
Quaint and high-end shopping of all types in Chimney Rock, Rutherfordton, Forest City and Spindale.
Impressive museums of farm life and of classic cars.
Restaurants with unique menus of fresh and innovative food.
Pharmacy soda shops serving up shakes and burgers on Main Street.

About the Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad:
The tournament is part of the Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad. As a volunteer, non-profit organization, the Olympiad coordinates sporting events to bring people together in the spirit of friendly competition for the broader purpose of promoting health and wellness, charitable giving, regional tourism and economic development. Since 2005, the Olympiad has given more than $120,000 to charities. The 2009 Olympiad Sports Festival is scheduled for Aug. 27-30 in Lake Lure, N.C. Go to www.hickorynutolympiad.com

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/fly-fishing/tournament/prweb2214754.htm