things to come

redfish- you can run but you cant hide

The future is kinda mysterious. This morning has me wondering just what the future will hold for us. Hopefully a boat though. A beautifully used  two tone Jon boat with a painted mouth like a fighter jet and decked like a poling skiff. Tomorrow Sam and I may be going up to pick up a 14 foot aluminum v-hull Jon boat that looks like a craigslist treasure, holding value only a few broke college kids with blurry visions of bruiser redfish and chartreuse backing would see. A complete game changer. That's what I hope for the future; but then again, who knows. Our dreams may sink faster than a holey hull. Stay tuned.

alexander

raw

Slam by WorldANGLING fly fishing South Florida for Permit, Bonefish, Tarpon, Snook, and Redfish from WorldANGLING on Vimeo.

meanwhile down on the third coast.

-alexander

5 things we did NOT read online...

...before driving around trying to catch trout (more specifically, a trout home run, consisting of any three of the major trout species in one day).

 the least of our trouble

You can read all you want online about the rivers that are fishing best and what kind of water to fish and what flies to get into that perfect drift, but the truth is that all that info is mostly meaningless once you're out there and get replaced by nagging details. We found this truth within the first few hours of being in Colorado. Here's the 5 things learned real quick:

          1. Fence lines are hard to see on Google Maps- I probably spent over 5 cumulative hours on Google Earth before heading out, finding the best looking most easily accessible yet remote spots on the river and marking them with way points. What I found out was that most of them were past a fence on someone else's private property- not to be waded into either because of Colorado's ingenious river laws.

          2. Dehydration happens before you are thirsty- Most mornings, the thing farthest from our mind was hydrating properly. I began to regret it when I was wading over slippery rocks, falling left and right from dizziness. The trout laughed at me.

          3. EFF fishing midday- Seriously, this was our very first mistake we made. There are a few issues with midday fishing such as the stressful realization that you are sacrificing your lunch to try to coax finicky trout into eating theirs OR the well known fact that the sun dries up all the good vibes midday. So its a better idea just to run into town and style on some pizza and brew so your well rested for the evening hatch.

          4. When sifting through local advice- Always take the humble ramblings of well to do locals seriously. We ran into one such case at a hostel in Salida. He quietly told us stories about killer fishing he had done over the years and how he had started tying a sinking mosquito fly for big browns on one certain stretch of river that he recommended we both fish at and keep our lips shut about....it was our best day of fishing.

          5. Have a sleeping plan for post night fishing- One of the worst feelings I had last week was realizing we didn't have a place to sleep once the bite died at 12:30am and we were close to 2 miles down a canyon from our car. In this instance, Advil PM came in handy while sleeping upright in a car seat that would have been to small for me sitting back in 4th period french. BUT the situation could have been avoided by bringing our camping gear.

colorado vibe

Sam and I spent the past few days driving through Colorado trying to catch a few last minute vibes before school starts back up. We decided the Arkansas River would be our best bet for finding consistent fishing. So after booking a one way flight with Spirit Airlines and stomaching an 11 hour unexplained delay at IAH, we were heading south out of Denver toward Fairplay South Park to get a little taste of the South Platte before heading on to the Arkansas.

sage rodz

Slow midday fishing on the Platte mixed with one hour of sleep and a severe lack of water made for a pretty rough day. We managed a few pretty fingerlings and 2 lost BIG fish, one of which bent the bend in my hook about halfway. The Brown sipped my foam #6 hopper, I set the hook and felt his weight before he threw it back at me. I raged. 

sam at the south platte

The next day we fished the Arkansas north of Buena Vista at Railroad bridge which ended up to be a bust as well, we were a bit out of form and fishing fast pocket water that we were not used to. So we continued to drive south after picking up a french press and a pound of the darkest roast coffee The Roastery in BV had. Much needed. This is how we hydrated most all of the week.

full court press

We took a right off 285 and cruised up the Chalk Creek road as far as Sam's 98 Cherokee 4X4 would take us and fished Chalk creek. Fish and Vibes were caught.

chalk creek brookies

Middays were spent cruising through mountain towns and checking out the scene, we found out real quick that fish were not about eating lunch. So we headed back out to the Arkansas and fished Browns Canyon in the PM. We found browns along the edges of the river at dusk and rainbows were taking streamers at night. It was legit.

Arkbows

We received a little insider information from a local Salidanite at the Simple Lodge/Hostel about a spot south of Salida that had been fishing superiorly so we saved that for our last morning in the Rad. Turns out he had the right info, as we proceeded to tear em up...

18 inch browns for days

stank face

hopper scene

Things we learned

          1. Colorados recreation scene is unreal

          2. The Arkansas has a TON of public river access.

          3. Salida is Vibey

          4. Dont fish midday

          5. Bring water everywhere--------dehydration--------

Last look....

iphone pano

-alexander

brookies

Chalk Creek, Colorado. Vibe

-alexander

misquote monday

Confused(left) Dazed(right)

"That's what I love about koala bears, man. I get older, and they stay the same age."
          Wooderson, Dazed and Confused.

-alexander

sunday night vibe check

by ingrid husby

The third coast wave. There's other fish in the sea, so check your vibe. 

-alexander

frankenflies

by alex husby

I have been experimenting with craft fur and marabou a bit lately, substituting them and make shifting existing patterns. Most of them have been intended for a bayou audience. Here in Houston, there are endless miles of waterways holding any number of fish, one where I caught my biggest bass-a 7lb slabbbb.

Anywho, the olive scheme seems to be the most popular with bass and panfish-these are what I came up with. I am always inclined to name new flies:

          1. Green Reaper is pictured on the right. Craft fur tail on a size 10 wire hook with olive legs. Classic           bead head wooly bugger body and head.

          2. Hatch Chili Minnow is on the left. White over green marabou tail on a size 8 stinger hook. Green           chenille body, bead chain eyes and a tuft of tan craft fur.

saturday inspiration

Soooo Long Gone!!! from Owen Osborne Visuals on Vimeo.

These guys have some amazing shots. Major cool points as well.

-alexander

5 tips for late summer bass

"Bass Adery" by Travis Valadez

One hundred and one defrackin-grees. Feels like 110. That's what you can expect in Texas for the rest of the month, and if you want to catch the lunkers, you have to realize a few things. The following is a reminder for you, as well as myself, because often we fail to recognize many important signs whilst slinging flies for bass. I formulated these in my head as we were fishing at a friends property in La Grange today.
       

 1. Skip midday fishing. In my opinion its not worth it unless you have a mister fan and an umbrella with a koala hanging underneath to tell you jokes. And even then you're still risking a heat stroke.
       
 2. Black rabbit fur looks like food to bass. So pick up some black zonker streamers, preferably cone head or bead head to get down a little bit into some cooler waters where the fish are more active.

 3. Slow it down. fish are looking for an easy prey that they don't have to work for, a Mach 3 retrieve with that bait fish pattern an inch below the surface will wind you up with less takes in my experience. So give them a hand out, not a chore.
       
 4. Weed lines are key. Bass will use the weed bed for cover from which to ambush stuff. Make it be your fly by casting parallel to the line and working it back.

5. When the temperature breaks in the evening, the fish loosen up and seem a bit less strained. This is when they are far more apt to feed on the surface. So this is a great time to sling a foam popper or a deer hair mouse-the pattern that fooled the bass pictured above.

Also, realize bass on the fly es preety fun. So do it.

-alexander

Untitled

By Seryn. Dope banjo riff. Check them out

-alexander

misquote monday

by alex husby

"Coffee only real when shared"  -Chris McCandless (Alexander Supertramp)

-sam

megalodon lives

by mattson creative

SPOILER ALERT! (They found Megalodon.)

I decided to tune into shark week today in hopes that I would find entertaining programming and stunning shots detailing the behavior and biology of sharks that makes this week so cool. Apparently that doesn't make the cut these days. The show was called "Megalodon: Alive" or something akin.

The show began with two biologists and a photographer investigating the plausibility of the famed 30 foot South African shark named "submarine" existing. Well, they didn't find it halfway into the 3 hour show so they started looking for a 100 foot long prehistoric shark that dates back to 20 million years ago. Basing the investigation on computer generated images, the biologists rigged cannons and a full sized whale dummy behind the ship and put the divers in the water. Oh, at night too.

Suddenly everything is dark...

The boat looses power, the decoy sinks, the cameras are shut off and a diver in the water manages to tag the beast without seeing it. After a few hectic moments, a rescue boat was able to find 3 missing divers in the water where they return to the boat stunned over something they didn't see. They quickly check the computer, which registered the tag on the animal and they watch it dive 6,250 feet (which is also interesting as they were 300 yards offshore max) where the tag promptly fails and I'm left watching the credits and thinking about the overall theme screaming "you cant prove it wasn't megalodon!"

Sorry for the pessimistic rant, I'm not hating the game, just a player.

-alexander

sunday night vibe check

by alexander husby

Respect your elders, they're likely way more bad ass than you. Like this guy captured in his natural element strolling through Big Bend National park, cig in hand. Check your vibe.

-alexander

Jamestown Revival

Local uber talented guys from Magnolia, Texas. Check em.

-alexander

rep your water

Seeing Red from TwoFisted Heart Productions on Vimeo.

Many times I find myself thinking if only I lived up north I could be fishing every day, and I over look the home front. When in reality there is great fly fishing all over. It doesn't all have to be brown trout and mayflies. The creek you bike over every day to school-there's blue gill in there. The 9th hole hazard that consumes all your golf balls-massive bass in there. The marsh land you drive though to get to the coast-yep, fish there too...redfish and trout. All of whom will take a well placed fly. 

The truth is a lot of times we'd like to believe all the good fishing is far away when in reality its in our back yard. Were just to lazy to try or think were too good for that trash. This video is a good reminder of the solid redfish fishery in my back yard that I pretty much gave up on after so many fishless days.

Fish wont catch themselves, get out and rep your water. And hood, always rep your hood.

-alexander

no label brewing

by ingrid husby

Decent micro breweries seem to spread thin the farther from Colorado's beer mecca you get. For us third coast dwellers, they become rare as squatch sightings. Katy is breaking the trend. No Label Brewing company has a great reputation in the southern part of the state and is growing to fill bars as well as grocery shelves across the state of Texas.

We had the pleasure of touring the brewery and were quite pleasantly surprised. The family owned business does all of their brewing in an abandoned grain mill in downtown Katy. Cool points awarded. Also, they didn't skimp out on tasting either. Actually it was more tasting and less touring. Five dollars gained you entrance as well as four fills of your choice in a glass pictured above right. You could upgrade to a pint sized glass, above left, for seven dollars and use the four fills in that. Good vibe, good beer, great people. A perfect choice to grab after a long day on the water. So hip so local.

Getting drafty.

No Label offers tours every Saturday noon to 3. Check them out-BAM

Check out our no label tour video! By Ingrid Husby

-alexander

"squatch...loose the sass"

I was flipping through an article in the new Drake Magazine and landed on an interesting article about "squatch hunters." Apparently they hadn't had any luck in the forest finding these curiously illusive creatures so they turned to the web for the latest sightings. They landed on this innocent video detailing floating advice for certain section of water in Oregon. The guides filming had no idea they had captured what could be the most promising yeti lead of the 21st century. Or ever. The video sat dormant until the hunters uncovered it...and freaked.

After seeing the article I had to find the subject video. At 1:42 youll see a "squatch". He/she was a little camera shy, though, because he made a b-line for the woods off to the left side of the screen. The guides were contacted regarding the videos contents and they said, "those guys must be on bath salts." Regarding the sanity of the yeti hunters. Hilarious.

-alexander

coffee culture

A Swedish fly fisher far wiser than me once said, "good fishing does not make a good fishing trip, but bad coffee can ruin your trip." I cant really comment on this probably because Ive never had a cup of coffee as good as he brews it. Next time your out and about, take some time to make a decent cup of coffee, it just might make your day/life.

And do it Scandinavian style. Here's the how to-BAM

-alexander

sometimes...

Kola Peninsula - Fly fishing for brown trout from Kristian Solli on Vimeo.

Sometimes you just have to watch the Norwegians fish.

-alexander

buzz kill

from my bio page, you will not learn very many things about me as an author of this page. but that probably will not matter much because if you are reading this, we are likely best friends. one such thing you will not learn is that i like to fly fish for fish. i also have not used a capital letter in this blog.  apparently i don't want offend those less fortunate lower case letters. (capital letters to come-so stay tuned)

this is the first post of the blog and after thinking of some monumental way to begin the discussion of fly fishing or things related , this is what i came up with. a story. 

a recent family excursion to rapid city south dakota had us near a cleverly named river named rapid creek. i have had the pleasure of fishing the clear running stream quite often before so on one of the first evenings spent with family i had to steal away to a fairly heavily fished stretch of creek directly above a municipal lake. with rod in hand i walked up a gravel trail snaking along the waters edge and slipped into one of my favorite holes that had produced many a brown trout in summers passed. as if i hadnt switched flies in a year, trout began to take a liking to the same tan san juan with a black zebra midge that had caught fish last summer. 

a few half hours passed and i began working my way up creek while casting when suddenly in a fast stretch of water where the creek took a bend a trout sunk my indicator like none before. he shot up river with me chasing behind him tiring out my 4 weight rod. a few hectic minutes passed and i had the rainbow netted. it was a 19 inch male rainbow that likely came up river from the lake and the biggest fish i had caught in rapid creek. 

once my hands stopped shaking i quickly realized i had no charge on my phone and the camera was a half mile downriver...and likely also out of battery. of course. after a few stressful minutes gad gone by, a passerby commented on the temperature outside while she walked by. not acknowledging her comment, i asked if she had a camera phone. looking back on it, that was probably not the best greeting question coming from a guy hunched over standing in the water shaking. she said no quickly and turned away to run back to her car and i was left in an awkward position. 

i released the fish with only my memory to show for it and vowed not to return without a camera. it turns out that was the biggest fish i was to catch that whole week, and by a long shot. which got me thinking of all the fish that may have been fooled had they not smelled a camera in the air. the picture above is of that fishes home, a cold clear running tail race nestled in the black hills of south dakota....cozy. 

-alexander