Leader Calc...

Hyper-Compleat Principles of Leader Design

"The most comprehensive tool for calculating classical and contemporary leaders - and designing your own formulas for knotted leaders"

FULL LINK TO PAGE - CAN DOWNLOAD...

It's at least worth a note...

Haven't tried one yet, but looking to in the coming months...

Steelhead Season 2009 - Week 26

While we evaluate the importance of these weekly reports, we'll keep them coming...

Tough week last week. Was back in CT without a fly rod for some personal stuff, but it doesn't mean that the scene wasn't scoped every day...

Some good days, and some poor days. We had some precipitation, and some nice temps to keep the fish moving in slowly but surely...as always, we were seeing the stone, egg combo's working, and white streamer patterns...typical guide rigs...

Mike managed to get into some PA trout this past weekend, and with a Friday off, I maybe trying to do the same. Rumor has it that there have been some decent hatches coming off so we'll see...

Fly Fishing Film Tour tomorrow, and there will be a full scouting report from that. Tight lines and enjoy the week...

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...

Check out Sleeping In The Dirt's latest post...

Talking about Douche instructors...

"By the way - you really should take a lesson or two. The break in your wrist was awful, and was causing the curve you thought was thew wind. Just saying if you're going to teach...."

Hit on the head perfectly...

Thanks guys...

FULL LINK

Just in...

From our friends at Flies & Fins...

Thanks for the tags guys...

Be sure to check out their website for stories, pictures, videos, reports...and find out how you can snag yourself a sticker...

www.fliesandfins.com

Tying Flies...

Found a great fly tying tutorial site...


By Fly Guy's Flies & Guide Service...

http://www.flyguysoutfitting.com/flytutorials.html

Some great macro shots, different patterns...

More Tuna Battles...

"Since increasing rarity just increases prices as Tsukiji, Tokyo’s central market where the world’s tuna comes to be sold, this simply raises the incentive to go out and get those last specimens. And because tuna do not stay within national boundaries, they can’t be conserved in sanctuaries."

It's just heart breaking to realize that our children may never get to fish for one of the most amazing species of fish in the world...

FULL LINK - via The Economic Times

Steelhead Season 2009 - Week 25

We have begun the annual run of WAR fishing here in North Eastern Ohio. River levels have come way down from the rain and melt off…which means every prick with a fishing rod in a 200 miles radius has decided to go out for their hero shots with fish pulled from beds…

The good news though that the circuses wouldn’t exist unless there were fish in the rivers. The bad news is that finding a fish that doesn’t look like a Christmas tree or hasn’t been pegged in the nose numerous times by the same yarn wrapped hook shank…

Bitter much? I digress…

Fishing the rivers finally started Thursday afternoon for me. Clarity wasn’t perfect, but the water was fishable. Due to some work complications, I was only able to fish for about an hour before the sun and cold set…one missed grab to show for my efforts…

Friday and Saturday were lost causes…suicide trip to NYC for some family support for my brother…

(View from our hotel)

Schmidt actually made the trip up on Saturday on his own and fared well. He was lucky enough to have no problem finding fishable water, and feeding fish…

Sunday was another gorgeous day, and with my 2 day absence, I asked my lovely wife to join me streamside while we both took in the sunshine. Of course I wasn’t as lucky as Schmidt, and walked into a hornet’s nest of fishermen…from every walk of life. We had the guy wet wading in shorts, the bait chuckers, the large hardware guy casting to beds. As I feared, I couldn’t even get a pull.

Looking ahead…a bit of rain tonight and tomorrow should spark things up a bit. It’s nice to be out throwing line again…

Seriously?

U.S.A., U.S.A.: Takes gold in ice fishing

Seriously?



Not Canada?

Goodbye Charlie?

Seriously...we know the Bluefin stocks have significantly dropped, yet we allow the trend to continue?

"Japan and Canada along with scores of developing nations succeeded yesterday in preventing any restrictions being imposed on the harvest of the fish, which is highly prized in sushi restaurants, on the grounds that a ban would devastate the world's fishing economies."

WTF?

Full Link to article via THE INDEPENDENT (Guy Adams)

Asshole...

Interesting read...from Montana...

Article by Bob Wire..."Northern Pike: A**holes of the Fishing World"...

"What really steams my olives is the northern pike, the flaming asshole of the aquatic world. With its surly underbite and rapacious appetite, this pugnacious intruder is laying waste to the trout population of Western Montana with such ruthless efficiency, it makes whirling disease look like a paper cut by comparison."

FULL LINK

2009 Fishing Industry Information

Snagged from http://www.floridasportsman.com/...

The Top items purchased within the fishing industry in 2009

The top brands from 2009 were:


-Top rod brand: Shakespeare Ugly Stik (16.4% of all purchases)
-Top reel brand: Shimano (23.0% of all purchases)
-Top rod and reel combo brand: Shakespeare (25.7% of all purchases)
-Top fishing line producer: Pure Fishing’s Berkley line (Trilene, Fireline, Big Game, Vanish) (42.6% of all purchases)
-Top hard bait brand: Rapala (30.6% of all purchases)
-Top soft bait brand: Zoom (16.8% of all purchases)
-Top spinner bait brand: Strike King (16.6% of all purchases)
-Top hook brand: Eagle Claw (34.5% of all purchases)
-Top sinker brand: Bullet Weight (19.0% of all purchases)
-Top fly rod brand: Sage (16.7% of all purchases)
-Top fly reels brand: Orvis (11.1% of all purchases)
-Top fly combo brand: St. Croix (18.0% of all purchases)
-Top fly line brand: Scientific Angler (28.8% of all purchases)
-Top fly brand: Orvis and Cabelas tied (11.0% of all purchases, each)
-Top fly leader brand: Rio (28.4% of all purchases)
-Top fly tying material brand: White River (60.5% of all purchases)
-Top fish finder or sonar brand: Humminbird (42.9% of all purchases)
-Top tackle box brand: Plano (55.8% of all purchases)
-Top landing net brand: Frabill (20.2% of all purchases)
-Top fishing knife brand: Rapala (22.6% of all purchases)

Facts and figures:

-Close to 48 percent of all fishing tackle purchases involve terminal tackle (hooks, sinkers, swivels).

-Largemouth bass remain the number one targeted species of freshwater fish, with nearly 60 percent of all fishing activity targeting largemouth bass.

-Saltwater anglers were more varied, with 25 percent of trips targeting any fish that bites, followed by striped bass (23%), flounder (21%), red drum (20%) and seatrout (20%). (Note that these refer to species targeted on trips and not the number of fish actually caught.)

Credits:

Link to Florida Sportsman's Page


***Information compiled from www.anglerssurvey.com. Information from this site is fed to Southwick Associates. They collect the data to form the above information yearly. Check them out for more reports and information on the fishing industry...

Attention All Children...

Or parents of children...

Encourage your kids to write...and they can win a new boat!

The great team from fishykid.org have put together a stellar contest for our future anglers. Encourage your kids to participate...not only for the boat, but for themselves...

"The topic for the writing contest is:


Why are the outdoors and spending time on the water so important to you?


SPONSORS – NuCanoe, ECHO, Redington, Scientific Anglers, Montana Fly Company, Idlywilde Flies, Korkers, Tenkara USA, Osprey Packs, Simms, and others!

CONTESTANT – Children ages 17 and younger accompanied by the Fishy Kid Writing Contest online form which signifies the permission of their parent or legal guardian’s acceptance of all terms and conditions of the rules stated.

ENTRY – The Fishy Kid Writing Contest online form will be the only way in which essay submissions will be accepted. Essays will be accepted online from March 3rd through May 31st, 2010.

ELIGIBILITY/RULES – All participants must be registered members of the Fishy Kid website. Contestants must be age 17 or younger at the time their essay is submitted. Due to shipping concerns and restrictions all contestants must live within the United States. Only one essay per Fishy Kid will be accepted. Essays should be approximately 1000 words or less. All essays submitted must be the original written work of the Fishy Kid applicant. Violations of these rules are grounds for removal for consideration in this contest."

LINK TO CONTEST PAGE

Steelhead Season 2009 - Week 24

Finally…2010 is fishless no more…

Perhaps not what you’d expect in a steelhead report from the Mad TROUTER…but hey…they’re a habit we can’t give up.

We finally got the rains, and winds that we needed. Warmer temps this week made Monday the only fishable day of the week. The rivers are a still a bit angry at the moment with many flood watches still in effect...but we’re happy to report that all of the ice and most of the snow is gone. Now it’s time for the battle fishing to begin…SPRING IS HERE!

Also…apologies for the quiet week. The Page household has been dealing with a leaky roof (damn ice dams)…and we’ve also been watching over 3 younger cousins at their house…so we’ve been away a bit…none the less, we’re back and ready to roll…

Other pictures…

Upper Bass Pond...

Lower Bass Pond...which gave up the first bass of the year...

Chocholate colored spill way...sign that the rivers must be roaring...

Chagrin...nice and dark...but ice free!

If the rains hold off, we should be fishing later on this week! God is feels good to be casting again...

Steelhead Season 2009 - Week 23

Well I’m getting to be a real sad story here. I’ve not cast a rod in over 2 months…though to be fair, the weather hasn’t really cooperated.

Not an excuse though…

Spring is coming…snow is melting…and I’m ready to get the winter blues out of my system…

Despite the need to change up the routine, the streams still need to clear, and snow still needs to melt. There’s lots of ice on the lake still, making the upstream journey tough for a lot of the fresh fish. Reports have a few old fish in the systems, but that’s about it…

If the weather man holds his promise, we should have some swinging water by next weekend. The Petite Filet and I finally made a recon trip this afternoon after a stop by the fly shop. Things are looking up…

Pics from the day...

Lake to the West...

Lake to the East...

Some brilliant ice fisherman's shack...river mouth is 100 yards to the left, so you know there's moving water under him...

Budding trees!

Rivers are starting to clear out!

Finally...flowing water...

'til next weekend...

WOW...a must watch...

Found on facebook...



takes the breath away...

Please check out the movie site and find ways that you can help.

http://endoftheline.com/

Even if it is just selecting the right seafood at the store...

yeah...it's that simple...

Spillane Celebrates...

You'll remember that Johnny Spillane not only medaled three times in Vancouver...

Now he's back home picking off large trout in CO...

"I consulted my secret source in the fishing world, Deep Trout, and learned that Spillane caught a 25-inch rainbow trout in the morning and a slightly bigger rainbow in the afternoon."

FULL LINK

via midcurrent  - article from Steamboat Today...

Conservation Back Home...

From the Hartford Courant (Peter Marteka)...on conversation of the Salmon River

"Another is conserving forested areas along streams to protect water quality by trapping sediment and pollutants. Other strategies include improving town maintenance practices from cleaning storm drains to sanding and salting roads, preserving and linking open space and better management of storm water runoff."

Exciting news for a recovering fishery...