|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOIN
OUR ONE YEAR IN-THE-NEW-STORE CELEBRATION !!! |
|
There may be some truth to the
rumor that Mark Bachmann has single handedly set the art of fly tying back 100 years. However, he works cheap and since we are on a tight budget, we decided to have him as a guest tier at the "One Year Celebration" Round Table. If you don't know Mark Bachmann he's the one that you occasionally see in this newsletter holding other people's fish (mostly local steelhead). He ties fairly weird but fun flies made out of rabbit strip... |
|
... flies that are
quick, easy, inexpensive and TASTY TO LARGE FISH. |
|
|
Don't
Miss The Sandy River Spey Clave! |
|
A Day on the Skeena River by Luciano We were close to the end of a beautiful October day spent on Skeena river, some miles north of Smithers. It was a cloudy day and the sunset was quickly approaching, Alberto was still fishing at about 50 yards from the shore with the water raising his waist, gently looping his Teeny T130 with a big Articulated black leech, while me and Mimmo were seated on some rocks smoking a good cigar with our rods on the |
| knees. We were talking about what happened during the day and, of course,
we had the same questions who have all when a fish is lost: do you think
that if I just waited a little bit before setting the hook it would have
been better ? Or if I had the rod tip higher ? Or if I set the hook
several times while playing the fish ? Or if I used a bigger hook ?
Or…Or…, we all know very well that all these questions will stand for
the eternity without a reply, but we like, we need to ask them each time,
it is part of our breed, as if we try to find out a
justification or simply because after that we feel better.
While me and Mimmo were fantasticating, suddendly the
silence broke: Alberto set the hook and instantly said: e’ grossa, e’
grossa !!! (fish on, it’s big, it’s big !!!). Knowing Alberto and his
more than 20 years of steelhead flyfishing experience I realized that
‘big’ for him was meaning not less than 20 lbs. It had been an
unforgettable vision what me and Mimmo saw: Alberto was dangerously
swinging back and forth in the water pulled by an incredible force, the
11’ 8wt Diamondback rod was at it maximum point of flexibility, while
the Ari’t Hart steelhead reel was close to the collapse, hissing like
never heard before. I screamed: Alberto, pay attention pls !! beware that
if you lose the fish now, you will swim in the water, I’m sure!!! Alberto
said: I have 250 yards of 30 lb backing on the reel and I’m starting to
see the end….I’m unable to stop it…..In those 10 seconds, the
‘monster’ took 200 yards of backing across the current going close to
the other side of the river where other guys were fishing, it also jumped
outside and our hearts stopped to breath for a while: is it a dolphin or
something else ??? Since the fish was very far, we were unable to give it
the first estimated weight. When the big run stopped (simply because the
fish reached the other side…), Aberto started to go back keeping the rod
tip high in the attempt to reach us on the shore where it would be less
dangerous and more easy to follow the big one.
While reaching the shore he was able to reel in some
line and now he had about 70 yards of backing. As if we had not enough troubles, one more was adding up:
a motor boat with one Canadian guide (Gunter
Zweifler) and two Japanese clients was approaching quickly. Before I
had the need to scream, the guide realized what was happening and lowered
the motor speed, in that moment, the steelie jumped again close to the
boat and the guide screamed: Hey, Hey, you have got not less than a 35
pounder !!!
After speaking with the clients, they decided to land the boat where we was and see the free show given by Alberto who never did anything wrong until that moment. Now the steelie was going downstream and Alberto was following it while reeling some line, but the fish was still far. Some hundreds of yards below Alberto there was a little gravel island in the middle of Skeena: that was the only place Alberto had to land the dolphin. In fact, without thinking 2 times, Alberto crossed in
diagonal the water and reached the small island not without risks, as you
can imagine, crossing the current with the water raising the waist is
already dangerous for itself, but if you add a big fish on the rod, it
becomes worst jet, but it had not been a problem for Alberto, because his
adrenalina was pumping up very fast.. At this time, the elapsed time was
at about 30 mins from the hookset and we were all on the shore following
Alberto, laughing and screaming like supporters on a football game. It
took other 10 mins to land the trophy fish, after that, we reached Alberto
who was completely exausted but extremely happy. The ‘fish’ was
hanging in low water kept by the tail: it was the biggest steelie I (and
other guys) ever seen anywhere, there were no words to describe it, other
than lose our eyes on it. The
Canadian guide measured the fish: it was a male 46.45 inches in length,
26.8 girth, based on this formula: (girth squared) x length x 1.33 divided
by 1000 (inches) = approximate weight of Steelhead, the fish weight
would fit in the range of 44 lbs (WOW !!!). We took some pics, gave
a kiss to the steelie then released it. I think I went thru one of
the strongest emotions I ever had in my life. |
|
|
The 39.95 Fishing Vest |
|
Vest Features: |
| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| V3995-S | The 3995 Fishing Vest | Small | $19.95 |
-->SALE ENDED |
| V3995-M | The 3995 Fishing Vest | Medium | $19.95 |
-->SALE ENDED |
| V3995-L | The 3995 Fishing Vest | Large | $19.95 |
-->SALE ENDED |
| V3995-XL | The 3995 Fishing Vest | Extra Large | $19.95 |
-->SALE ENDED |
| V3995-XX | The 3995 Fishing Vest | XX Large | $19.95 |
-->SALE ENDED |
|
* Sandy River Fishery Information Bank |
|
|
Daily
Fishing Report |
|
| If you would like to read past "Insiders", click Archives |
| Your commentary is always welcome. Drop us a line: flyfish@teleport.com |
The Fly Fishing Shop, Welches, OR
1(800) 266-3971
