Thursday, June 14, 2012
Back from the Keys
I'm back from my honeymoon in the Keys. I'll post pictures and a report soon. What an awesome place.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Tying the Knot...for NanoFil
It's only appropriate with my wedding coming up next week that I write a how-to post about tying a knot that has become special to me ;) [ I apologize in advance for the set of blurry photos that follow. Click on the pic to make it larger.]
Recently I took the plunge and bought a spool of Berkley NanoFil (as I said in my last post on white bass ultralight fishing). And then I bought another. And another. And another.
This line isn't cheap, but I agree with the writing on the box that it's the best spinning reel line--as least for lighter rigs. I have fished this line some very different scenarios, and I've caught a few hundred fish on it already in sizes 12#, 8#, and 6#. They make the line from 1# test to 17# (although 14# and 17# are new additions & harder to find). It only comes in white, and it looks and feels like a fine dental floss. It seems to be perfectly round (unlike dental floss), and it feels super slick to the touch. This is what makes it such an enigma: Smooth, round, and thin means it casts far, sliding right off the spool and through the guides. It has honestly added 20-30% to my casts over comparable diameter/strength PowerPro braid.
The downsides are twofold: (1) You do not want to handle the line under pressure--it feels like hell on your hands. It will burn you. (2) Many common knots will not hold--they easily slip with such a slick line. This is where today's post will come in handy.
So, to recap:
Pro's:
-Superior casting distance with little memory.
-Quiet through the guides (unlike noisy braid)
-Zero stretch/Lots of feel
-Small diameter spool can be used for other purposes (I use mine for leader material)
Con's:
-Will damage hands under pressure
-Knots slip (see the rest of this post for solution!)
-High Cost ($20 for 150 yds)
So let's get to solving this issue of knot slippage. First of all, use a mono or flouro leader for crying out loud! It will help you catch more fish as the visibility is lower than the bright white NanoFil mainline. It will help with abrasion resistance as well. Finally, using the technique below, YOU WILL NOT LOSE ANY MAINLINE*! *you might have to retie after a few dozen breakoffs or if line is chafed from heavy cover (which is a problem of too short a leader usually). I have not had a single knot in the NanoFil slide or break while using my system shown below, even when using leader stronger than the mainline.
So the system is a super simple loop-to-loop system inspired by fly fishing. It is common to tie a perfection loop in the butt section of the tapered fly leader and connect it to the manufactured loop in the main fly line, allowing for an easy swapping of leaders when conditions call for it. For spinning rods, my approach is very similar, with the exception that leaders will not swap easily. But this is a knot that will hold and keep holding!
Basically it is a set of "surgeon's loops" with 4 turns in the NanoFil and 2-3 turns in the Flouro/Mono.
STEP 1: Make an E.T. finger like this.
STEP 2: Pinch the tag end and mainline, and form a circle. It should look phallic-y like this.
STEP 3: Wrap the now-doubled tag through the doubled loop (put the frank through the beans) FOUR times.
STEP 4: Lubricate the knot over the wraps and pull the doubled tag (right side) away from the mainline and single tag (left). You will have to seat the knot by spreading the resulting loop wide with your fingers like below.
STEP 5: Trim the single tag. The result should be like this.
STEP 6: Do a surgeon's knot (or perfection knot, if you prefer) in the leader material. Slide the loop of the leader over the mainline loop. Bring the tag end of the leader through the NanoFil loop.
STEP 7: Slide the loops together by pulling the leader and mainline in opposite directions.
Finished Product:
Now you have an awesome looped leader system that will save you money. When you snag a jig in the rocks and have to break off, you will loose the leader before you come close to breaking the NanoFil. You can also use this as an upgrade to your braid's leader connection system. Your more-expensive alternative is to use a uni-to-uni knot that takes 6" of braid/Nano everytime you break a leader off. That adds up on days when fishing tight to cover means catching fish or getting bored quick.
Congrats on reading this far. Before I let you go, I want to show one more thing. If you want to change leaders (say, to replace with a longer leader when the first gets too short), or if you break off (breakoffs will occur around the leader's surgeon's knot), you can't just push the loops apart because of how narrow the mainline is. Once the NanoFil is cinched down, it doesn't want to push back into a loop. So you will have to take these steps:
LEADER CHANGE STEP 1: Snip one leg of the loop between halfway down and the surgeon's loop knot.
Recently I took the plunge and bought a spool of Berkley NanoFil (as I said in my last post on white bass ultralight fishing). And then I bought another. And another. And another.
This line isn't cheap, but I agree with the writing on the box that it's the best spinning reel line--as least for lighter rigs. I have fished this line some very different scenarios, and I've caught a few hundred fish on it already in sizes 12#, 8#, and 6#. They make the line from 1# test to 17# (although 14# and 17# are new additions & harder to find). It only comes in white, and it looks and feels like a fine dental floss. It seems to be perfectly round (unlike dental floss), and it feels super slick to the touch. This is what makes it such an enigma: Smooth, round, and thin means it casts far, sliding right off the spool and through the guides. It has honestly added 20-30% to my casts over comparable diameter/strength PowerPro braid.
 |
| Spooled Up |
The downsides are twofold: (1) You do not want to handle the line under pressure--it feels like hell on your hands. It will burn you. (2) Many common knots will not hold--they easily slip with such a slick line. This is where today's post will come in handy.
So, to recap:
Pro's:
-Superior casting distance with little memory.
-Quiet through the guides (unlike noisy braid)
-Zero stretch/Lots of feel
-Small diameter spool can be used for other purposes (I use mine for leader material)
Con's:
-Will damage hands under pressure
-Knots slip (see the rest of this post for solution!)
-High Cost ($20 for 150 yds)
So let's get to solving this issue of knot slippage. First of all, use a mono or flouro leader for crying out loud! It will help you catch more fish as the visibility is lower than the bright white NanoFil mainline. It will help with abrasion resistance as well. Finally, using the technique below, YOU WILL NOT LOSE ANY MAINLINE*! *you might have to retie after a few dozen breakoffs or if line is chafed from heavy cover (which is a problem of too short a leader usually). I have not had a single knot in the NanoFil slide or break while using my system shown below, even when using leader stronger than the mainline.
So the system is a super simple loop-to-loop system inspired by fly fishing. It is common to tie a perfection loop in the butt section of the tapered fly leader and connect it to the manufactured loop in the main fly line, allowing for an easy swapping of leaders when conditions call for it. For spinning rods, my approach is very similar, with the exception that leaders will not swap easily. But this is a knot that will hold and keep holding!
Basically it is a set of "surgeon's loops" with 4 turns in the NanoFil and 2-3 turns in the Flouro/Mono.
STEP 1: Make an E.T. finger like this.
STEP 2: Pinch the tag end and mainline, and form a circle. It should look phallic-y like this.
STEP 3: Wrap the now-doubled tag through the doubled loop (put the frank through the beans) FOUR times.
STEP 4: Lubricate the knot over the wraps and pull the doubled tag (right side) away from the mainline and single tag (left). You will have to seat the knot by spreading the resulting loop wide with your fingers like below.
STEP 5: Trim the single tag. The result should be like this.
STEP 6: Do a surgeon's knot (or perfection knot, if you prefer) in the leader material. Slide the loop of the leader over the mainline loop. Bring the tag end of the leader through the NanoFil loop.
STEP 7: Slide the loops together by pulling the leader and mainline in opposite directions.
Finished Product:
Now you have an awesome looped leader system that will save you money. When you snag a jig in the rocks and have to break off, you will loose the leader before you come close to breaking the NanoFil. You can also use this as an upgrade to your braid's leader connection system. Your more-expensive alternative is to use a uni-to-uni knot that takes 6" of braid/Nano everytime you break a leader off. That adds up on days when fishing tight to cover means catching fish or getting bored quick.
Congrats on reading this far. Before I let you go, I want to show one more thing. If you want to change leaders (say, to replace with a longer leader when the first gets too short), or if you break off (breakoffs will occur around the leader's surgeon's knot), you can't just push the loops apart because of how narrow the mainline is. Once the NanoFil is cinched down, it doesn't want to push back into a loop. So you will have to take these steps:
LEADER CHANGE STEP 1: Snip one leg of the loop between halfway down and the surgeon's loop knot.
You should see something like this.
LEADER CHANGE STEP 2 [FINAL]: Pull on the leg of the loop you did not snip, and voila, the leader will slide out of the NanoFil loop end.
There you have it! I know the long post makes it seem complex, but it is not. You can do this super quick. The knots couldn't be simpler. Grab some NanoFil or your favorite braid and enjoy a stronger system!
-I.A.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Wipe Ass, I mean, White Bass!
Whites, whitey, Lieutenant Stripey-Sides--they have many names, and whenever I tell non-anglers about them, they think I caught "wipe ass" (a mysterious wooded creature that cleans your bottom, I have to assume). By any name, I have been fortunate enough lately to catch a LOT of white bass, one of my favorite sweetwater species. And this makes me very happy.
I hit the jackpot 2 weeks ago when visiting some relatives of mine in the state that refers to itself as "the heart of it all." It certainly was the heart of the white bass spawning run and whatever else these fiesty bastards were doing on main lake rocky flats.
Over the course of 4 mornings, I personally managed to catch over 200 fish. Yes, that's two zeros. They weren't all that big, but bending the rod on nearly every cast for a few hours made up for a lot of fishless hours and fishless trips. I fished each of the four mornings for only 3 hours each day since I had many familial obligations and lots of folks to see. I was glad to see that the fish had missed me too.
So yes, I used both ultralight spinning and fly gear. I'm no purist...I just want to catch fish. Sometimes I bring both types of gear, sometimes I convince myself to stick with one and figure it out. Using spinning gear was made a little more fun on this trip since I just got a new setup--nothing fancy, just needed a new rod and bought a Shimano Scimitar on clearance from a big box store. This whippy little 5'6" rod got put to the test of all these hundreds of fish each day, including the bigger of the carp, pulled from some 10' deep. I spooled the pflueger reel with 6# Berkley Nanofil, which is my favorite spinning-reel line to date. This stuff feels like dental floss, but for the same reason allows it to rocket farther than braid. It is silent, but deadly, as they say. [I will have to post a separate blog entry on Nanofil]. I used 2x tippet (~7.1# test) as a leader material with 1/8oz jigs and 2" white grubs. Better than the grubs, however, was the new 2" Berkley Ripple Shad in Pearl.
Just an all-around badass. The fish didn't want deep-bellied swimbaits, so the ripple shad's minnow-like profile with well-constructed paddle tail was the ticket. When I ran out (the pack comes with 8 baits for $4-$5), I took my deep-belly baits and cut the bellies off. Not as good, but it still had a hard time avoiding certain annihilation.
For flies, I use a 2" long fly on a size #8 or #10 hook that I came up with. It's a lot like a gotcha bonefish fly, but with a patch of zonker hanging off the tail. They love this thing, but a conehead krystal bugger also worked well. As they say about bucktails for NJ flounder, "any color works, as long as it's white."
_________________________________________________________________________
Now last week I got to go to central Wisconsin to a city that promotes itself as "the white bass capitol of the world." As a moronid finatic, I couldn't turn down the offer to tag along with two of my fishing buddies. They wanted to fill their coolers for their families and employees, so they were making the 7-hour round trip in a single day, once a week for 3 weeks. Last week was supposed to be the peak of the run. I had to take a 1 hour train from the city to the suburbs to meet my friend for the 3.5 hour drive North. That meant I woke up at 3 am. On the water by 8:30am.
While we moved around a little, my fishing buddy controlling the tiller decided to stick it out anchored in the spot he found whitey in a week prior. Which could only mean I spent about 9 hours staring at this:
...which at least wasn't as bad as the other side:
Overall we spent 11 hours on the water, fighting current, crowds (we had some lead cast at us from other boats), and thankfully, lots of fish. We caught whites, crappies, smallmouth, and one big walleye that came unbuttoned boatside. Totalled about 100 fish including 80 whites.
The fish didn't want to come to the surface, so we didn't really break out the fly rod until close to dusk. I caught one and missed 3 other bites on the fly (type III sink tip with a chart/white clouser #6).
With dark water, crowds, a long drive (for only a day on the water), keeping fish, and live minnows for bait, it wasn't my preferred style of fishing. But I do like catching fish. And I'll do quite a bit to spend more time chasing that majestic creature, "wipe ass."
I hit the jackpot 2 weeks ago when visiting some relatives of mine in the state that refers to itself as "the heart of it all." It certainly was the heart of the white bass spawning run and whatever else these fiesty bastards were doing on main lake rocky flats.
Over the course of 4 mornings, I personally managed to catch over 200 fish. Yes, that's two zeros. They weren't all that big, but bending the rod on nearly every cast for a few hours made up for a lot of fishless hours and fishless trips. I fished each of the four mornings for only 3 hours each day since I had many familial obligations and lots of folks to see. I was glad to see that the fish had missed me too.
In addition to tons of white bass to tug the line, my fishing partners and I caught a mess of black- and white crappie as well as walleye, saugeye, and carp (to 10 lbs!). We fished 2 lakes and a waded a narrow tributary, catching fish in all these spots. The first 3 mornings were calm (see the top pic), which made fly fishing possible (casting) but not ideal (line slap on the surface can drive fish down). Fortunately these are aggressive fish feeding throughout the water column and moving along the shoreline enough to not give a royal damn. And the fourth morning was a downpour with a little onshore wind.
So yes, I used both ultralight spinning and fly gear. I'm no purist...I just want to catch fish. Sometimes I bring both types of gear, sometimes I convince myself to stick with one and figure it out. Using spinning gear was made a little more fun on this trip since I just got a new setup--nothing fancy, just needed a new rod and bought a Shimano Scimitar on clearance from a big box store. This whippy little 5'6" rod got put to the test of all these hundreds of fish each day, including the bigger of the carp, pulled from some 10' deep. I spooled the pflueger reel with 6# Berkley Nanofil, which is my favorite spinning-reel line to date. This stuff feels like dental floss, but for the same reason allows it to rocket farther than braid. It is silent, but deadly, as they say. [I will have to post a separate blog entry on Nanofil]. I used 2x tippet (~7.1# test) as a leader material with 1/8oz jigs and 2" white grubs. Better than the grubs, however, was the new 2" Berkley Ripple Shad in Pearl.
Just an all-around badass. The fish didn't want deep-bellied swimbaits, so the ripple shad's minnow-like profile with well-constructed paddle tail was the ticket. When I ran out (the pack comes with 8 baits for $4-$5), I took my deep-belly baits and cut the bellies off. Not as good, but it still had a hard time avoiding certain annihilation.
For flies, I use a 2" long fly on a size #8 or #10 hook that I came up with. It's a lot like a gotcha bonefish fly, but with a patch of zonker hanging off the tail. They love this thing, but a conehead krystal bugger also worked well. As they say about bucktails for NJ flounder, "any color works, as long as it's white."
 |
| Much Love |
_________________________________________________________________________
Now last week I got to go to central Wisconsin to a city that promotes itself as "the white bass capitol of the world." As a moronid finatic, I couldn't turn down the offer to tag along with two of my fishing buddies. They wanted to fill their coolers for their families and employees, so they were making the 7-hour round trip in a single day, once a week for 3 weeks. Last week was supposed to be the peak of the run. I had to take a 1 hour train from the city to the suburbs to meet my friend for the 3.5 hour drive North. That meant I woke up at 3 am. On the water by 8:30am.
While we moved around a little, my fishing buddy controlling the tiller decided to stick it out anchored in the spot he found whitey in a week prior. Which could only mean I spent about 9 hours staring at this:
 |
| Lt. Stripey-Sides' snaggy romp room |
...which at least wasn't as bad as the other side:
 |
| Docks |
Overall we spent 11 hours on the water, fighting current, crowds (we had some lead cast at us from other boats), and thankfully, lots of fish. We caught whites, crappies, smallmouth, and one big walleye that came unbuttoned boatside. Totalled about 100 fish including 80 whites.
 |
| We had 2 coolers. This is one. |
The fish didn't want to come to the surface, so we didn't really break out the fly rod until close to dusk. I caught one and missed 3 other bites on the fly (type III sink tip with a chart/white clouser #6).
 |
| Fly-Caught |
With dark water, crowds, a long drive (for only a day on the water), keeping fish, and live minnows for bait, it wasn't my preferred style of fishing. But I do like catching fish. And I'll do quite a bit to spend more time chasing that majestic creature, "wipe ass."
-I.A.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Yesterday's Talk
The academic presentation I mentioned in my last post went very well yesterday. I think a lot of people in the academic world and sociology specifically are curious about the world of recreational fishing. They show up like "What could this possibly be about that would interest me?" and then they smile and nod as I show them how important fishing is to so many people--fishermen as well as those in jobs supported by angling. And they seem to share some of my own intrigue in how fishing is also ripe with internal debates, conflicts, and meanings that are often parallel to those in other segments of society but sometimes unique to fishing. In general, it seems that the effect that my research on fishing has had on academics has been to raise awareness and interest among non-anglers. And I think that's a good thing.
I also had the opportunity to talk with an esteemed professor from a prestigious university about my research. He had attended my talk and later sought me out to tell me how much he enjoyed it. He doesn't fish, but he has made his career studying a wide variety of subcultures in the US. Needless to say, this was a cool moment and a big boost to my self-esteem.
Thanks to troutbirder for wishing me luck.
-I.A.
I also had the opportunity to talk with an esteemed professor from a prestigious university about my research. He had attended my talk and later sought me out to tell me how much he enjoyed it. He doesn't fish, but he has made his career studying a wide variety of subcultures in the US. Needless to say, this was a cool moment and a big boost to my self-esteem.
Thanks to troutbirder for wishing me luck.
-I.A.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Academic Presentation Tomorrow
I'm giving an academic talk on white and Asian relations in fishing tomorrow at an urban ethnography conference. It's kind of odd at times being in both the academic and fishing worlds, and being one of the very few who are trying to combine these spheres. Some anglers might misinterpret my argument, but fortunately tomorrow there will be few if any anglers among the sociologists in attendance. Perhaps I'll talk about it differently when I talk to a room full of anglers.
Wish me luck.
Wish me luck.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Dam it, or More Road than Water
I had a tough weekend. No, I wasn't working. I wasn't volunteering or helping people in need. I was selfish, in fact. I left town and visited a friend in Ohio where I knew we'd fish some of my favorite locations. Despite being out on the water all weekend, all day Saturday and Sunday, it was tough. Such are things when the fish don't show up no matter how far you drive to meet them.
This time of year is typically primetime for walleye, sauger, and hybrid striped bass behind the dams of Ohio River and its tributaries. In other words, my favorite species should just be waiting for me to feed them. It isn't unheard of to have 30-50 fish days in April in these tailwaters, with a mixed bag of species that goes beyond the big three listed above. So needless to say, in the days before I left my apartment in Chicago for border of Ohio and West Virginia, I was doing half-ass work and full-ass flytying, packing, and repacking of my gear. I even shipped some gear and base layers to my destination for the cold nights I anticipated spending in the car.
My friend and I had 2 main fishing locations in our sights given the flow rates. Well, one of the spots we didn't care about the flow rate because we had never been there--we had only heard amazing stories about this place. Now, we have a million spots to fish along the big O, but the flow was appropriate for basically bouncing lures off the dam since the fish would be so close. The 2 locations were about 2.5 hours apart; one of them was 1.5 hours East of my friends house, and other was 2 hours South. So we needed a game plan.
I checked the wind direction and spent late the night before our early morning departure. I decided to change our plans and hit our confidence spot first--in low wind--rather than scope out an unknown place in the middle of a dark morning. We didn't have the time to waste. When we awoke at 4:30 and slipped into our fleece and wool, I told my friend I wanted to change up the plan. He was cool with it. That's why I love fishing with this guy. He is low-key and game for whatever.
Coffee and donut in hand and gas in the tank, we were off for the 1.5 hour trek. We'd actually be going to the West Virginia side of the river, but fortunately they honor the Ohio fishing license, because I am going broke on non-resident licenses these days. Back to the ride...I can't tell you how much I'm glad we have to travel to fish sometimes. It's cliche, but in fishing it's true that getting there is half the fun...the drive home is the other half. Fishing, as this weekend was an example, is often work. It's a mere reason to get in the car with a good friend and just drive, not knowing what the road or day will bring, and then forces you to spend an equal amount of time reflecting upon it during the voyage home. But a disclaimer should fit here: make sure the person you share the car with is someone you like.
Having not fished together in about 6 months, we mostly bounced our enthusiasm back and forth for the day and even the season to come. What tactics we were going to use, our "confidence" and our "experimental" approaches. It's funny how in between this banter, which all of you who fish know well, we check in with each other about non-fishing things. My friend is going to be a new father of a little boy in less than a month. He is nervous as hell. His house is "baby-proof" (meaning baby-injury-proof, since it will certainly not be without a baby!). In previous years, this conversation would have been about how he never wants kids, how the world is too horrible a place, how he wouldn't have a chance to do what he wants with life, how traditions of marriage and parenthood just aren't his bag. But now things have changed, sort of. He hadn't planned the pregnancy with his girlfriend of 9 years. Now his son is almost breathing fresh air and crying, and he is freaking out but going through the motions. What impresses me most is his commitment to fatherhood and being a good partner to his girlfriend. He tells me that this trip is the last one this year where he'll be in places with limited-to-no cellphone signal, and he'll stay within a reasonable distance in case anything happens with the newborn. But he'll also be spending less time on the water, taking baby-watching shifts with his girlfriend who works the graveyard shift several times a week.
So we arrive to the WV side of the Ohio River, and we are pleased to see we have the entire tailwater (and it is huge) to ourselves. My first cast produces a decent sauger, and though I like taking pictures of all fish on trips, I decide this is a sign of good things to come, and I should keep fishing. Boy did I jinx us there. Other anglers trickled in during the morning, and the fishing slowed. Something changed in the flow, but we could tell it was also just too low. The water was nearly crystal clear, and the sun was getting higher without a cloud in sight or wind to ripple the surface. Five hours later we have about 4 fish a piece--4 sauger for me, and a 4-species mixed bag for my friend. We have a sit down on some boulders to pitch ideas. With about 8 hours of sunlight left, we still have a shot at more distant locales, but will sacrifice fishing time. We decide to check out one spot downstream, then high-tail it to the other spot we had in mind for tomorrow, some 2.5 hours away. What proceeded was fishing a 6-spot hop across 2 rivers and 2 lakes. We fished 3 dams. The good news is that as a duo we didn't get skunked at any place. The bad news is that one tiny crappie or sunfish or even sucker counts against the skunk. And we averaged something like 1 fish per 50 or 60 miles. But so goes the unknown fishing adventure, as I have quickly come to find these years.
Fortunately, we didn't sleep in the car in 30 degree temps as previously planned (there are really no hotels around this part, and the ones slightly out of the way are over $100/night). That's the upside to shitty fishing--no temptation to stay out and freeze to death for some pisces, pescado, fish-a-roonies. We made it back to the town where my buddy lives just before the kitchen closed at the cheap-but-delicious Mexican restaurant near his house. Full of tortillas and grease, we made it home to slept in our respective beds (couch in my case). We agreed to play it by ear the next day.
Getting plenty of rest, the next day started with disputes over the remaining orange juice, a battle which his girlfriend obviously won. We decided to give our first spot from the day before, our confidence-spot, another try today, despite 20 mph winds gusting to 30 blowing enormous bows in our lines and not allowing our jigs to sink (yes, jigs. there is no way I was fly fishing). Totally forgetting this was Easter, we arrived mid day and shared our spot with a few folks. It quickly turned into a huge crowd, and folks were obviously ignoring any ethics regarding claims to space. We were frustrated. We stuck it out all day (after getting there just before lunchtime), snacking on granola bars while inevitably retying jigs and leaders, watching our boxes get clearer as our options thinned out. The debris at the bottom of this river must look like a series of Christmas trees. In the end of day 2, I caught 4 fish and my friend caught 3. Yep. And yes, I released them all alive and well. I even gave some people verbal shit that day for keeping undersized fish and holding fish out of water too long. I am straight up obnoxious about this shit. But I care about our fisheries. I want there to be at least AS MANY fish, if not MORE, especially when I drive about 9 hours to catch 8 fish in 24 hours of real fishing time.
The ride home that night was probably appropriate. We talked about our own mortality, our inevitable finality, and the only other thing you can discuss when death is on the table--astronomy. How big is the universe? How did it begin and will there be any life in other solar systems after the Earth is left cold and humanless by a burnt-out sun? I don't know the answers to these questions. I can only speculate. But one thing's for sure: In this life, I'll keep having the conversation if it means we're going fishing.
-I.A.
This time of year is typically primetime for walleye, sauger, and hybrid striped bass behind the dams of Ohio River and its tributaries. In other words, my favorite species should just be waiting for me to feed them. It isn't unheard of to have 30-50 fish days in April in these tailwaters, with a mixed bag of species that goes beyond the big three listed above. So needless to say, in the days before I left my apartment in Chicago for border of Ohio and West Virginia, I was doing half-ass work and full-ass flytying, packing, and repacking of my gear. I even shipped some gear and base layers to my destination for the cold nights I anticipated spending in the car.
My friend and I had 2 main fishing locations in our sights given the flow rates. Well, one of the spots we didn't care about the flow rate because we had never been there--we had only heard amazing stories about this place. Now, we have a million spots to fish along the big O, but the flow was appropriate for basically bouncing lures off the dam since the fish would be so close. The 2 locations were about 2.5 hours apart; one of them was 1.5 hours East of my friends house, and other was 2 hours South. So we needed a game plan.
I checked the wind direction and spent late the night before our early morning departure. I decided to change our plans and hit our confidence spot first--in low wind--rather than scope out an unknown place in the middle of a dark morning. We didn't have the time to waste. When we awoke at 4:30 and slipped into our fleece and wool, I told my friend I wanted to change up the plan. He was cool with it. That's why I love fishing with this guy. He is low-key and game for whatever.
Coffee and donut in hand and gas in the tank, we were off for the 1.5 hour trek. We'd actually be going to the West Virginia side of the river, but fortunately they honor the Ohio fishing license, because I am going broke on non-resident licenses these days. Back to the ride...I can't tell you how much I'm glad we have to travel to fish sometimes. It's cliche, but in fishing it's true that getting there is half the fun...the drive home is the other half. Fishing, as this weekend was an example, is often work. It's a mere reason to get in the car with a good friend and just drive, not knowing what the road or day will bring, and then forces you to spend an equal amount of time reflecting upon it during the voyage home. But a disclaimer should fit here: make sure the person you share the car with is someone you like.
Having not fished together in about 6 months, we mostly bounced our enthusiasm back and forth for the day and even the season to come. What tactics we were going to use, our "confidence" and our "experimental" approaches. It's funny how in between this banter, which all of you who fish know well, we check in with each other about non-fishing things. My friend is going to be a new father of a little boy in less than a month. He is nervous as hell. His house is "baby-proof" (meaning baby-injury-proof, since it will certainly not be without a baby!). In previous years, this conversation would have been about how he never wants kids, how the world is too horrible a place, how he wouldn't have a chance to do what he wants with life, how traditions of marriage and parenthood just aren't his bag. But now things have changed, sort of. He hadn't planned the pregnancy with his girlfriend of 9 years. Now his son is almost breathing fresh air and crying, and he is freaking out but going through the motions. What impresses me most is his commitment to fatherhood and being a good partner to his girlfriend. He tells me that this trip is the last one this year where he'll be in places with limited-to-no cellphone signal, and he'll stay within a reasonable distance in case anything happens with the newborn. But he'll also be spending less time on the water, taking baby-watching shifts with his girlfriend who works the graveyard shift several times a week.
So we arrive to the WV side of the Ohio River, and we are pleased to see we have the entire tailwater (and it is huge) to ourselves. My first cast produces a decent sauger, and though I like taking pictures of all fish on trips, I decide this is a sign of good things to come, and I should keep fishing. Boy did I jinx us there. Other anglers trickled in during the morning, and the fishing slowed. Something changed in the flow, but we could tell it was also just too low. The water was nearly crystal clear, and the sun was getting higher without a cloud in sight or wind to ripple the surface. Five hours later we have about 4 fish a piece--4 sauger for me, and a 4-species mixed bag for my friend. We have a sit down on some boulders to pitch ideas. With about 8 hours of sunlight left, we still have a shot at more distant locales, but will sacrifice fishing time. We decide to check out one spot downstream, then high-tail it to the other spot we had in mind for tomorrow, some 2.5 hours away. What proceeded was fishing a 6-spot hop across 2 rivers and 2 lakes. We fished 3 dams. The good news is that as a duo we didn't get skunked at any place. The bad news is that one tiny crappie or sunfish or even sucker counts against the skunk. And we averaged something like 1 fish per 50 or 60 miles. But so goes the unknown fishing adventure, as I have quickly come to find these years.
Fortunately, we didn't sleep in the car in 30 degree temps as previously planned (there are really no hotels around this part, and the ones slightly out of the way are over $100/night). That's the upside to shitty fishing--no temptation to stay out and freeze to death for some pisces, pescado, fish-a-roonies. We made it back to the town where my buddy lives just before the kitchen closed at the cheap-but-delicious Mexican restaurant near his house. Full of tortillas and grease, we made it home to slept in our respective beds (couch in my case). We agreed to play it by ear the next day.
Getting plenty of rest, the next day started with disputes over the remaining orange juice, a battle which his girlfriend obviously won. We decided to give our first spot from the day before, our confidence-spot, another try today, despite 20 mph winds gusting to 30 blowing enormous bows in our lines and not allowing our jigs to sink (yes, jigs. there is no way I was fly fishing). Totally forgetting this was Easter, we arrived mid day and shared our spot with a few folks. It quickly turned into a huge crowd, and folks were obviously ignoring any ethics regarding claims to space. We were frustrated. We stuck it out all day (after getting there just before lunchtime), snacking on granola bars while inevitably retying jigs and leaders, watching our boxes get clearer as our options thinned out. The debris at the bottom of this river must look like a series of Christmas trees. In the end of day 2, I caught 4 fish and my friend caught 3. Yep. And yes, I released them all alive and well. I even gave some people verbal shit that day for keeping undersized fish and holding fish out of water too long. I am straight up obnoxious about this shit. But I care about our fisheries. I want there to be at least AS MANY fish, if not MORE, especially when I drive about 9 hours to catch 8 fish in 24 hours of real fishing time.
The ride home that night was probably appropriate. We talked about our own mortality, our inevitable finality, and the only other thing you can discuss when death is on the table--astronomy. How big is the universe? How did it begin and will there be any life in other solar systems after the Earth is left cold and humanless by a burnt-out sun? I don't know the answers to these questions. I can only speculate. But one thing's for sure: In this life, I'll keep having the conversation if it means we're going fishing.
-I.A.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Why I love birthdays
Yesterday was my birthday, and these were waiting for me when I awoke thanks to my wonderful fiancee:
-I.A.
I am anxious to put them to the test. There is a great smallmouth bass river nearby I've been meaning on checking out. Now I just have to get through the next few weeks of intense non-stop work before I can fling some flies like this:
-I.A.
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