Framework

Fly pattern, photo and illustration by El Pescador

The Fisherman and the Fish

Rasta Fly

Harmony illustration by El Pescador

HOW TO FISH

Here's a 7 minute animated masterpiece (and movie poster) that I think you'll enjoy. This classic is one of Disney’s pseudo-educational cartoons focused on the fine art of angling (including fly fishing). It's called HOW TO FISH starring Goofy and was produced by Jack Kinney. The linen-backed movie poster for HOW TO FISH is very rare and is valued at $6000 in fine condition.

Fishing In Alaska

Fishing In Alaska

The bullet whooshed by my ear,
the shooter somewhere on the hill above.

We took the warning and motored downriver
but here too we heard gunfire.

And so it continued all afternoon.
Not one cast could we make
to the beautiful silvers in the long slow pools,

for the native people were having sport with us
and nothing we could do to stop it.

Poem by Alan Harawitz Photo by Steve Stracqualursi

Tortures for Flies: Fly Fishing

Onboard

It has been a while since I invested time doing apparel posts but I'm happy to say that the task seems to have made its way back onto my plate. Last month I became an ambassador for Mountain Khakis and have been doing some field testing for this Jackson Hole based brand of "hips-down apparel". My first assignment was to put their 50+ UPF rated Granite Creek Convertible Pants through the paces.

I will start by admitting that I've never been a convertible kinda guy but the MK version is one of the best I've come across. The first thing I liked was the 6.3oz fabric. This brushed finish nylon is comfortable and quieter than the norm. It has a Scotchgard finish which really helps the fabric resist condensation build up when worn under waders as well as shedding light precipitation. These pants have zippered back and side pockets that are well located, ample without being cavernous and the rope zipper pulls make them easy to access/close. The pocket bags are made of mesh which doesn't seem to catch on my key ring in addition to allowing for good airflow/drainage. There are 10" calf zippers and color coded leg zips on this style to make the conversion to shorts easy and the 9" short inseam provides good coverage. I like the Grosgrain detail at the waist because it adds rigidity, durability and a little class. These pants have "Mud Flap" reinforced heel cuffs too.

Even with those product attributes called out, I'd have to say that my favorite feature is that the pants with all the details can still be worn daily without giving you the feeling that your wandering around in expedition clothing...though these would really shine on an adventure because of the efficiency they would provide. I've logged about 25 days in them so far. No complaints. I'll keep you posted as they age. Visit the Mountain Khakis web site for more info on this pant, the company, their products and the ambassador tribe.

Photos by Tom Maneggia

Stars and Stripes Forever

**********************************************************

Illustration by El Pescador

Making of The Source - New Zealand

Here's an interesting follow up to the previous post about Gin-Clear Media's film called The Source - New Zealand. This nine minute segment includes interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage and mostly unreleased bonus material. You can really get a sense of the beauty and remoteness of this special place and the unique fishery in this added content.

SalmonsKin

SalmonsKin from Thomas B. Dunklin on Vimeo.

This piece is a collaborative effort between Joanna Mariana Reichhold and Thomas Bang Dunklin, combining poetry and incredible underwater salmon visuals. A groove track from Aubergine 3 sets the tone. This eleven minute clip was created for the 2009 gathering of the Fisher Poets, in Astoria, Oregon. It features all five species of wild salmon found in the Pacific Northwest, plus steelhead. Geographically, this film spans the entire length of the temperate rainforest, from Kodiak, Alaska to the middle fork of the Eel River.

Head of the King

Photo by Tim Pask Illustration by Steve Stracqualursi

a man and his dog

A man and his dog from loonachic on Vimeo.

Drifting for years

Sean McCormick has invited me to float Maine’s Kennebec River with him for the last four years and we just made it a consecutive half decade this past Sunday. This trip has become one of those anticipated events that quietly emerges as a fixed point in one's life. This year I invited old friend and ski industry veteran Tom Maneggia to join me for the drift. The plan was to fish the 8 and 1/2 mile Bingham stretch which would be a variation on the established groove. We have concentrated on the Solon section in all our previous drifts. One distinction between the two float choices is that Solon offers the possibility of battling fiesty browns while Bingham is well known for its wild, never-stop-pulling rainbows. The similarities are that an angler has the potential to also catch a smorgasbord of other river species including brook trout, splake, landlocked salmon, smallmouth, suckers and chubs. I've heard whitefish are even a remote possibility but catching the whole array in one trip would probably be impossible, like finding a pot of gold.

Tom and I were both pleased to be throwing 4 and 5 weight floating lines as opposed to chucking our typical 3oo grain cable on saltwater sticks but we didn't verbalize it to each other until the following day. Surface activity was light but consistent and we caught fish with regularity as we meandered our way down river. Three way conversations drifted from topic to topic and would be punctuated only by something needing to be netted. Over time our focus became lunch. We anchored the drift boat along an exposed gravel bar separating two river channels and as we ate a ceremonial meal things began to change. We noticed that the bar was disappearing and the Coleman stove was sitting in water where it once sat on the dry stones. The river flow is dam controlled and it was coming up which wasn't expected until much later according to the authorities' published forecast. Given the situation we readied our watercraft and began the next phase of our journey. The water continued to rise and the definition of surface activity changed from seeing rising fish to looking out for floating debris. The water column was now filled with all the flotsam and jetsam that was once on dry ground.

There is a significant difference between fishing and catching and we were now immersed in the first one of those activities. Our confidence level for catching began to erode as we drifted along but our hope was maintained by the thought that the higher water would actually improve our chances on the dead water section at our journey's end. Visions of something resembling a lake with dimples left by big cruisers occupied our minds eye while we made unsuccessful casts in what would have been productive pools before the increased flow. Conversation was now intermittent and there were long pauses of silence as we drifted toward the last section. Bugs danced on the water as if they knew that the fish were off duty.

We hadn't caught a fish in hours and we saw no rises on the final expanse of river. Our hopeful theory was now in question. It looked like time to throw in the towel. We sat silent with eyes searching for any sign of a rise. Darkness was beginning to dominate the landscape and Venus was visible in the sky. I recall watching a bald eagle cruise the tree line just before a subtle shift began to happen. Off in the upstream distance we saw a lone rising fish which stirred our dwindling motivation. Within a few minutes there were three or four more risers on a waterscape that was as big as three football fields. Instead of packing it in we decided to chase after a few of these cruisers even though our chances of catching a bat were much better than catching one of these skittish fish. Sean delivered and put both Tom and I on 11th hour opportunities before the last trace of light was gone. Tom hooked a nice salmon and played it to the boat before it vanished in the black water avoiding the net. I connected with muscular brookie (photo below) that made it to hand. It was too dark to really get a good look at him especially after the camera flash went off, but with the shot taken, we slipped him back into darkness.

Sean rowed us toward the lights of the dam and pointed out the line of stone deadmen from logging days gone by. At the take out we readied the drift boat and gear for travel and headed for home at the day's last hour. The next morning I remember thinking that it was the kind of trip which tests patience, skill and endurance. It wasn't the kind of trip where you knocked it out of the park, yet I felt as if we did, maybe even more so. At any rate, I figured this post needed a few more words than usual. Thanks for reading.

Photos by Steve Stracqualursi

Freckled

Photo and arrangement by Steve Stracqualursi

Peter Gander Fish Collection

English artist Peter Gander has been producing a variety of fish inspired pieces over the last month and it gave me the idea to bring you an exhibition of this particular collection here at Way Upstream. The title and media are detailed under each of the 7 pieces on exhibit. Links are contained for all the work, including a short story that goes with "Onto a Big One". Visit Peter Gander Fine Art to see a wider scope of his work or for art inquiries.

Onto a Big One (Illustration for a short story)
Black Biro and white Conté pencil on brown envelope


Fish 100501
Monoprint


The ripple watchers (Final print version)
Linocut


Brown trout 100505
Monoprint


Blue fish 100513
Monoprint


Fish-shaped shoal
White ink on sketch pad paper


Fish 100428
Monoprint

Peter Gander Fish Collection 2010 Way Upstream Gallery

Cartoon Sushi

Perpetual learning process

The Bay of Fundy lies in a rift valley called the Fundy Basin which is located along the Atlantic Canadian coast tucked in between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Inner Bay of Fundy is most famous for the almost overnight extinction of Atlantic salmon. Some of Atlantic Canada’s most prolific salmon runs used to visit the IBOF rivers, now they are virtually all extinct with nothing but a remnant population. Runs in excess of 40,000 salmon dwindled to a couple hundred in a few short years during the late 1980’s. The exact cause is unknown – but the likely candidates are an over-abundance of aquaculture, dams and development. The Inner Bay became known as the black-hole, with The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans being under-funded and under-staffed to do their job properly and assess the real cause of the problem. There is an IBOF Recovery Strategy in place now, but it’s difficult to say what its effect will be. Meanwhile, local anglers have taken up interest in another species - Striped Bass. Way Upstream community member Mike Bardsley sent me some images and information about chasing "linesiders" in this historic Atlantic salmon region. Here's what Mike shared about stripers:

I’ve only been chasing the spring stripers for the last two seasons – and as I’m sure you know, it’s a perpetual learning process. The rivers that I typically fish are the Shubenacadie River and the Stewiacke River. They are deep in the Inner Bay of Fundy, both stemming from the same inlet about 45 minutes outside of Halifax. There are many other options though, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The St. John River in New Brunswick is famous for big stripers, and in Nova Scotia there are other options like the Gaspereau River, the Annapolis and others. Basically, any big watersheds that stem from the Inner Bay of Fundy (IBOF) generally offer the chance to catch stripers. Interestingly, though I’ve never tried the fishing up there, Cape Breton also gives up lots of opportunity for stripers, with the Nova Scotia record being broken twice last year! The Bras D’Or lakes in the Cape Breton are very large saltwater lakes and good catches of bass come from that area. You can see the picture of the record fish, plus get a bit more info here: Canada Striped Bass Fishing

The striper run varies year to year, and size classes of the fish are cyclical, but generally the run comes in mid-May and will stay in some rivers right through October, though they are concentrated in schools and easiest to catch from mid-May to mid-June. They come in the rivers mainly to feed – their favorite eats are assumed to be eels and baitfish. In some rivers, the fish come in to spawn which can be an amazing site. Picture an 8’ x 8’ area of water on the surface that is boiling and frothing with big stripers in their mating ritual. For the most part, you see a lot people with heavy spinning gear fishing for the stripers with an assortment of soft baits, rapalas, jigs, etc. Live bait has been restricted over the last couple of years, so you don’t see quite as many “bait & wait anglers” – though they do still exist. There is a small but growing contingent of fly fishers who are chasing this anadramous species – you have to be willing to hunt the schools of bass, often walking several kilometers looking for signs of schools of fish. Fishing from boats is a good option as well, but good boat launches are hard to come by and the boat would need to draw a minimal amount of water (think small aluminum, jon boat or a skiff).

The runs of stripers seem to be in pretty good shape right now. The main concern though is the abundance of the older age class fish. It is becoming more and more of a concern that the majority of fish being seen and caught are older bigger fish. Which seems pretty good, but considering the only fish that are allowed to be kept are those over 26.8 inches. Fortunately though, the bag limit in most places is now one fish, with many places being catch & release only. Also, the elimination of live bait should help prevent some fish from being mortally wounded. I’ve been out half a dozen times this year and run the full gamut of conditions. From spotty fishing with hundreds if not thousands of bass spawning all the way up and down the river, to crazy awesome fishing with big fish being hooked every couple of minutes – triple and double headers were common, to nights like last night where five of us, all good fly fishers, hunted up and down the river for the fish and only managed to land one.

Photos and contribution courtesy of Mike Bardsley

Sandscape

Illustration by Steve Stracqualursi

Oil spill

Here's a 30 second public service message from the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation that deals with a less newsworthy yet equally devastating kind of oil spill. Fortunately this kind of oil spill doesn't require corporations and governments to figure out how to prevent or stop it. The solution for this one is in our hands.

One on the books

I just went on an exploratory striper mission with my friend Joe Z. The plan was to put his inflatable in and run around the typical spots to see how the sand bars may have changed. The engine fired up on the second pull which we took as a good sign. Water clarity was excellent and the flats looked to be in very good condition. I noticed an occasional surface disturbance but minimal signs of aquatic life, other than a few crabs. We motored our way up to a spot deep on the inside due to a steady onshore and tossed our patterns into the outgoing flow. I managed to catch a striper with my Coyote Crab but that would be the only one on the books for the short session. We snaked our way back through the low tide and considered ourselves successful. Our season is underway.

Photos by Steve Stracqualursi

Micro session

I received some pictures from Mike Thompson about two weeks ago. They were from a Texas redfish session with Capt. Billy Trimble. Mike has been dialing in his new micro skiff poling platform and since I've been following the developments I thought it would be worth sharing some of the shots. Have a look and if you ever get the chance to spend time on the water with either of these guys I think you'll find the experience memorable. Here's a link to the ceviche recipe (lunch) shown below as well.

Big Catch

BIG CATCH MOVIE from Moles Merlo on Vimeo.

How many times have you wondered if any trophies looked at your fly or lure but didn't take? Here's a 4 minute film that shows just how much can really be going on without you ever noticing a rise ring or feeling a pull. Keep the line in the water and keep believing that something monumental is about to happen.

STAND FOR SALMON

Save Wild Salmon from Epicocity Project on Vimeo.

Endangered Snake River salmon are fighting right now to survive — tackling a gauntlet of dams, escaping predators and climbing higher than any salmon on Earth. They’re doing their part. Now let's do ours. Learn more. Take action: STAND FOR SALMON

Illustration by El Pescador Photography by D. Bungard

Gut Feeling

Illustration and arrangement by Steve Stracqualursi

Mouse Plagues and Cicadas

I saw the trailer for a new movie from the team at Gin-Clear Media called The Source - New Zealand and was intrigued not only by the high quality product that I've come to expect from this media tribe but by a few of the details I had read on the Gin-Clear blog as well. I asked Nick Reygaert for a little more explanation and he was kind enough to shed light on things. First let me start by sharing the written excerpt that got me thinking:

"If ever there has been a summer to make a New Zealand fly fishing movie the last 12 weeks have been it. The weather has been fantastic and the fish have been in superb condition thanks to a mouse plague that happened earlier in the year. Once we saw the size of some of the fish being caught we made the decision to begin filming The Source - New Zealand immediately, a full 12 months earlier than planned. In the end it was an easy decision, this summer was basically a once in a decade chance to film fish of epic proportions. The filming began with a trip with big fish hunter Silvio. The timing of the trip was paramount as we intended it to coincide with the first hatch of cicadas. Big fish tend to go a bit silly when the first of these big insects hits the water and previously hard to catch fish will totally lose their heads and smash dry flies with the reckless abandon of a fingerling. We got very lucky! We hit our chosen rivers at exactly the right time. The fish were moving up to 3 meters to intercept our cicada imitations. These rivers all had a mouse plague earlier in the year and the fish were carrying an extra 2 to 3 pounds of weight."

After reading this I had to understand this thing about the "mouse plague" better. Was this mouse hatch something that an angler could predict? I figured the Way Upstream community might be interested to know too. Nick sent me this explanation by email:

"The mouse plague is a largely misunderstood phenomena, it happens because the beach trees bare fruit every five years or so and this causes an explosion in the number of mice around. When there are lots of mice around they become an important food source for large trout as they are continually falling in the water. Trout put on as much as 1-2 pounds of weight for every month the plague lasts. The big misconception is that these fish are regularly taken on mouse flies during the day, it is unusual for these large fish to be fooled by a mouse pattern during the day and it is much more productive to fish with nymphs or dry fly for these fish. The reason that the mouse plague is such a highlight for NZ fishers is that fish that have been feeding on mice are bigger and in fantastic condition - 7 pounders become 10 pounders! It pays to note too that mouse plagues tend to be very localized. The trick is to find the small areas that have had lots of mice and then target the rivers/lakes within these areas. It takes lot of leg work and local knowledge to get it right but when you do the results are spectacular."

I think it's fair to say that this film is going to contain some rare and special moments. Look for the full length release this July. Have a peek at the 2 minute trailer and consider making plans to fish New Zealand someday. You just might want to pay special attention to beach tree fruit and cicada hatches before you go.



Photos by N. Reygaert Mouse illustration by El Pescador