Steelhead scouting has begun. A good friend of mine will be coming up from NC to help me get everything setup for guiding in Ohio and more notably Steelhead. The first few scouting trips have been great and I look forward to getting others on these impressive fish!
I have a good friend Steven. He is one of the "crew" as we call ourselves. The crew does a bunch of outdoors stuff together but mostly hang out and drink beer. Stevo (as we call him) had a bad (basketball not motor vehicle) accident a few months back and had to have emergency surgery to put his knee cap back in place. Awesome I know! Well Stevo was kind of bummed because he had caught the fly fishing bug real bad prior to this and had to sit out the whole fall season. He finally got the green light from doc to get out and fish. So to celebrate I decided to take him to a little stretch of water that has great fish but since I we didn't want to push the knee, also is pretty easy to wade. Needless to say it was an awesome day! Not a 100 fish day but one of those slightly hard days when you really have to think and every fish feels like a little win in the chess game. We had a mink watch us from the other bank for a few minutes which was really cool and there were a ton of turkeys, I mean a ton. They were going crazy yelping, purring, and gobbling all day. At one point we even had two of them fly right over our heads. I don't want to bore you with any more reading so here are some great photos of Stevo and I in action. Welcome back to the river Stevo!
I was just recently up in the Appalachian mountains for the first ever Appalachian Tenkara Jam. There is a ton of good water up that way but some of the best streams to fish are off the beaten trail so to say. I don't know about you but there is something about hiking back into the high country and catching some eight inch brook trout that is just plain fun. I understand that some folks like big fish I mean who doesn't. However, to catch the only native salmonidae to eastern North America in its home water is a real treat. The only issue is that some of this water can be quite remote and require a hike to get to. I always recommend or advise that when headed into the back country that you go prepared. If you read just a couple post back I covered some simple gear that you may want to bring. I, however, did not mention food. I was in a rather health based grocery the other day and stumbled upon their "bar isle". It was kind of like an organic, protein, super bar mecca. I'm sure any seasoned hiker or backpacker has some favorites that they bring with them as do I but what do you look for in a bar? Be aware that not all bars are created equal. Some are full of sugar and are nothing more than glorified candy bars.
Most people go into the back country on day hikes of fishing trips with the thought of "I don't need to plan or bring much. I'll only be out there for a few hours." I would caution against this form of thinking. The greatest "contributing factor" to people getting in trouble,
according to the 2012 NPS National Search and Rescue Report report, were 735 cases which were attributed to insufficient knowledge or bad judgement. There were also 524 instances in which the subjects either had insufficient equipment,
clothing, or experience. Always research the area in which you plan to hike into and try to acquire a map. Also, make sure that someone back home knows where you are going and when you plan to be back. This ensures that somebody will come looking for you if you get stuck out there. Cell phones don't get service everywhere!
Packs
Something that most people probably haven't thought of is shelter of some kind. I'm not talking about hauling your four person tent on a day hike. There are some great lightweight items that you can bring to keep you warm and dry if you end up having to spend the night in the woods. Even a good light weight rain jacket can keep you warm and dry. One item that I have and love is my Sea to Summit poncho tarp. I like that I can also use it as my rain gear so I don't need to carry a rain jacket. I pair this up with my SOL bivvy which makes a great shelter combo and gives me something to get in if my clothes are wet and I'm drying them by the fire.
Yesterday I had the privilege of not only attending, but being invited to be the guest tier for the Rocky River Trout Unlimited's January fly tying gathering. There was a very nice turnout and when I arrived everyone was in their respective groups and tying away. After a short lunch break a table was cleared and I set my station up. They used a camera linked to a TV that was zoomed in on my vise which was a great idea so that everyone could see what my hands were doing and also get a good image of the kebari. Since kebari are relatively easy to tie I thought it might be kind of boring to watch. Also, many tenkara anglers are only familiar with the iconic Takayama and Amano kebari but not with other forms of Japanese flies, many of which do not have a reverse hackle. So, I spent a few weeks gathering all the information that I could about different kebari, where in Japan they originate from and how they were tied. I also printed out Yoshikazu Fujioka's Map so that I could show everyone where each kebari originates from. Here are just a couple photos of me tying. Rocky River TU has photos here of the kebari that were tied. I had a great time and I hope that everyone enjoyed the event and also learned some additional info about tenkara and the unique kebari that are used.