7 Flies That Catch Fish in Canada

March 11, 2016 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

I recently read an article in Outdoor Canada Magazine (my second favorite outdoor magazine) titled 7 Easy to Tie Flies That Will Catch Fish Anywhere in Canada. I live “Anywhere in Canada” and I love to fly fish so I have decided that it is my mission this summer to try all these flies and give you a report on how well they work and how easy to tie they are. One of the points the author makes is “these flies will work just fine if they’re a little sloppy”. Coincidentally that’s exactly how I tie most of my flies. I think “sloppy” also makes them look “buggy”, and, in some cases, injured.

So, the 7 flies are (in order of the images below the list):

I have tied and fished flies similar to all these at some point, except maybe the BiVisible. Good news, I can remember catching fish on all of them, from walleye and goldeneye on the Clouser Minnow to rainbow trout on the caddis. The wooley bugger has been a favorite, catching a wide variety of species including pike, walleye, and rainbow trout. The bucktail has work especially well on perch. I haven’t used an egg fly pattern in Canada, but I have caught steelhead on the Salmon river in Idaho with an orange/red version. Hare’s ear nymphs have caught rainbow trout and perch.

By the end of summer, I will also add a few of my favorites to the list, hopefully arriving at a respectable 10 flies that are easy to tie, easy to fish, and catch fish. Expect that list to include the Super Jumbo Mosquito.

Summer Fishing Plan

My plan for the summer is fill a new fly box with only these flies and fish them as often as I can. Translation: I now have another reason to go fishing. Whenever I convert my gear fishing fishing buddies over the art of fly fishing, I will arm them with a few of these flies and keep track of how well they do. Well, 2 months until fishing season opens, I’d better get tying some flies.

Essential Ice Fishing Gear

January 31, 2016 / galen / Fishing, Ice Fishing

Ice Fishing Essentials Gear List

5 Gallon Bucket & Seat
Auger
Rod & Reels (x 3)
Hooks
Tackle Box Tray
Bait
Hole Cleaner

By essential ice fishing gear, we mean the minimum requirements to get out and enjoy a day on the frozen lake. This is not everything, and it’s not the high end of ice fishing gear. That’s another article.

To start with, and we try to list off the obvious items first, you need a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. The bucket is your tackle box and your seat. If you are trying to take more gear than you can fit in a 5 gallon bucket, you are taking too much. Inside the bucket should be your ice fishing rod and reel, your bait, and your single box of hooks and weights. Add to this a hole cleaner (like a big perforated soup ladle) and you are stocked with the basics. If you plan on keeping some of your catch, then you need to add a filet knife and some plastic storage bags. Remember, it should all fit in the bucket. The only things not likely to fit in the bucket are the rods and reels, but there is a solution to that.

I’m a big fan of The Fishin Hole so I’m going to feature some product pics available at their stores.

Once you get to your spot, you need an ice auger. If we were trying to fish with primitive weapons I would say a hand crank auger, but when you have up to 4 feet of ice to drill through during a cold Saskatchewan winter, you NEED a power auger. Generally there are 8″ diameter and 10″ diameter models available. Don’t be cheap on your auger, get a quality 10″ auger. If you are planning on drilling a dozen holes or so, you don’t want the auger to ruin your day. Make sure you have the tank full of your oil/gas mixture before you leave so you don’t need to mess with that on the ice.

So you have a few holes drilled and you can set the auger aside for awhile. Now make sure you have the least expensive item in your ice fishing tackle box / bucket ready to go, the hole cleaner.

Some people call it a skimmer, or an ice ladle. No matter what you call it, when your holes start to freeze over, this $5 tool will make it easy to remove that thin top layer of ice from the hole.

The bucket, as was mentioned first, is your tackle box and your seat. I recommend you buy a pivoting bucket seat cover to go with your bucket. It gives a little bit of extra cushion for your butt and lets you move around easier. You will want a lid that is easy on and easy off as you will be storing your tackle in it and you will need to go in and out of it frequently. One custom modification you will want to make is to drill a hole in an outer flap on the lid and loop a zip tie through the bucket handle and the hole you drilled. When you put your rods in the bucket, they will stick out the top too far to bend under the lid. So let the lid dangle, but not get left behind.

Your choice in lures and bait is almost endless. I have three favorites that I like to have pre-tied on three separate rod and reel combos. When you are out on the ice, especially on a cold and windy day, tying knots can be difficult. Have three rods rigged up will keep you fishing and able to adjust your lure and bait presentation quickly.

Above left is a Swimming Jig. I used to use just a regular jig head, the same as when summer jigging over a walleye hole. It was my go to lure. Now I like the action of the swimming jig which seems to produce strikes a little better, especially with perch. To add some flash to the presentation, the Whopper Hawger in the middle is easy to fish and with a single J hook is also quick to release the fish. When I’m targeting walleye and pike, I like the Lindy Darter which also has a rattle feature to attract predators from further away. For bait, check with your local tackle shop, but the standard meal worms for perch and minnows for pike and walleye will never go out of style. Leaches may also work well but are hard to handle in the cold with gloves on .

I always multiple lures of each kind available, in varying weights and colors, just in case I feel the need to change up. The need to change up is usually triggered by the guy next to you out fishing you 3 to 1 using an orange lure while you are using green. Keep them in a tackle box utility tray, just one. Don’t try to bring your whole tackle box with you, just bring the one tray, with just the essentials. Less gear makes for less hassle out on the ice.

I mentioned before to have 3 rods rigged up and ready. I like to have rods rigged up for the lure/bait combination so that there is no waiting and no tying while on the ice. Pick the rod, add the bait to the hook and drop it down the hole. I am far less fussy about the rod and reel for ice fishing than I am for fly fishing. You can get a good quality ice fishing rod and reel combo for $35 to $45 dollars. At that price, get 2 or 3. When you save yourself tying time in a -30 windchill, you will know.

So there are your Essentials for Ice Fishing Gear. As I am writing this post, I keep finding myself wanting to drift into talking about some higher end ice fishing gear, some which is listed below. That will be a future article.

Ice Fishing Advanced Gear List

When you go beyond the bare essentials, you quickly empty your wallet, but add to the experience.

Tip ups
Pop Up Shack or Shelter
Propane heater
Wood burning stove
Underwater camera
Snowmobile gear sled

Add Your Favorite Places

January 6, 2016 / galen / Fishing, Hunting

Do you have some favorite fishing or hunting places? We do, and we love to help out others around us by adding them to the Favorite Places section.

Our Favorite Places to Fish and Hunt

Adding one of your favorite places does not mean giving up your secret spot. You don’t need to offer up your GPS waypoints. Rather, you are helping other hunters and anglers be more successful in the outdoors, doing the same things you love to do. If you are worried about your secret fishing spot, next to the secret inlet, just past the secret bush, then be a little more general, like “the west side of the lake”.

So take a minute or two, go to the link above, and add a few of your favorites. You just might find that others are doing the same and this will help you broaden your hunting or fishing locations and you may discover a new favorite spot.

Sunset Trout – Advice on Trout Fishing

August 11, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

Fly fishing for trout is a roller coaster experience. When you find the right time and the right tackle, it’s pure adrenaline. Acrobatic splashes, long runs, and a beautiful fish on the end of the line. When the bite is off, the bite is off. Trout tend to be very finicky, so if you find something that works, stick to it. I have found the combination that has worked wonders for the past two weeks.

While fly fishing my favorite trout pond, I try to experiment and see what happens with a different pattern of fly, fished on the bottom, pulled just below the surface, fast and slow, drifting, changing colors and sizes of the same or different flies, and changing location of my casts. While the old adage, “match the hatch” is certainly true, I’ve stumbled across a magic combination for catching trout at sunset in the middle of August. The key to the whole matter may be the time of day, but here’s what’s worked for me.

I started fly fishing that evening at about 7:00 pm, casting and switching flies frequently, hoping to catch a few nice rainbows before it got dark. There was a lot of action near the surface, but little for bugs on the top of the water. My guess was they were feeding just below the surface. So I changed tactics, tied on a dry and went for a fast retrieve just below. The result, a few nibbles, even a couple of little ‘bows too small to really count as a fish. So I changed flies, larger and smaller. Retrieved faster and slower and deeper and left and right, and the same results, occasional nibbles. The sun was quickly dropping behind the hill over my right shoulder, and the top water action was starting to die down. Disappointed, I gathered in my line and began the short walk from the far end of the pond to where I had parked my truck.

It was 8:30 now and would soon be getting difficult to see. In the 2 or 3 minutes it took to walk the length of the pond, the action suddenly increased, and the rises appeared larger than before! I paused! I thought! I took my rod back out of the case and cast my fly about 30 feet out. Fish on! A quick release and another cast. Fish on! That was two fish (and these could legitimately be called fish) in 1-1/2 minutes when I had caught next to nothing in the past 1-1/2 hours. So I continued casting and catching, as the sun disappeared and I could no longer see my line, but I kept catching trout, and they seemed to be increasing with size as it got darker. So I thought to myself, I’m staying here until I tangle or I lose my fly. By the time I finally did tangle, it was 9:45 pm and the stars were shining bright. I was the last to leave the pond that night. Most others had left as the sun was setting and missed all the real activity.

Not sure if this was a one time phenomenon, I was determined to test my theory the next night as well, as all good scientists will do. An experiment which can be replicated has no validity. Therefore, in the interests of science (trout fishing research), I was duty bound to return, Tuesday, Thursday, the following Monday, Tuesday and again Thursday. Each night, the results were the same. A few nibbles, a few trout landed, then just after sunset, success every second or third cast. My belief is that the trout were not so much going after a particular pattern of fly but more on the movement of the fly. The first three nights I tried not to vary the experiment too much, sticking with a pheasant tail nymph each night and using a rapid retrieve just below the surface. Most of the hits came within the first couple of pulls on the line, some the instant the fly hit the water. I did move around the pond, trying shallow and deeper waters, close to and directly away from shore. It didn’t seem to matter, the bite was on everywhere!

This past Monday I decided to try a different pond, one I know holds larger fish. The results were very similar. These last two days I varied the pattern, switching from the pheasant tail nymph to a zug bug to an imitation shrimp. All three patterns about equal in size but varying in color. It didn’t seem to matter. All flies were equally successful. I’ll be returning tomorrow night, well prepared, and experimenting again with a few different fly patterns.

Here’s my advice for fly fishing when the light is starting to diminish. First of all, bring a small flash light. The light will come in handy when you snag your cast, when you tangle your line, when you want to tie on a different fly, and especially when releasing a fish which has taken the fly deep in it’s mouth. As always, it’s easier to release the fish with a barbless hook, or with the hook pinched down. Shorten up your line. You won’t need a lot of line, the fish are as active 10 feet off shore as they are 50 feet off shore. A shorter line leaves less chance of tangling in the dark. A side benefit of casting in the dark is you really learn to cast by feel and get into the rhythm of the cast. The only senses you have are touch, taste, sound, and smell, and three of those don’t help much.

Outdoors Songs

July 28, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Hunting, Outdoors

Of all the topics in the world to write songs about, the great outdoors seems to have been mostly overlooked. It’s just plain difficult to find a song, let alone a good song, about hunting or fishing. Yes, there are a few “joke songs” out there, songs that rank up there with “Snoopy and the Red Baron”, and hunting or fishing show opening songs, but actual songs by actual brand name artists are hard to come by. It’s not hard to find songs about girls, songs about boys, songs about cars, and summer, and parties, and all other popular topics. So, we have scoured the internet and our own personal music libraries, to give you a list of songs for hunting and fishing. Some of these are great, some are crap (personal opinions), but you know what they are about by the titles. Some of my personal favorites come from Ted Nugent, who can quite regularly be found on outdoor shows having a great time shooting black bear in Saskatchewan with his “Wackmaster” bow or shooting ducks off his back porch in Michigan. If you want a great album, pick up “Spirit of the Wild” which includes many of the songs listed. A few of these songs take the light hearted approach, such as Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her”. We have a second list of songs that might be considered, but aren’t really, about hunting or fishing, but mention animals, or lakes, or forest, or such.

Fred Bear – Ted Nugent
I Just Wanna Go Hunting – Ted Nugent
Gone Fishing – Downchild Blue Band
My Bow and Arrow – Ted Nugent
Spirit of the Wild – Ted Nugent
I Shoot Back – Ted Nugent
Tooth Fang and Claw – Ted Nugent
I’m Gonna Miss Her – Brad Paisley
Mossy Oak Song (Pass It On) – Tracy Byrd
One Damn Deer – from the Bob and Tom radio show
Mighty Manly Hunting Men – Da Yoopers
Thirty Point Buck – Da Yoopers
2nd Week of Deer Camp (part 1) – Da Yoopers
2nd Week of Deer Camp (part 2) – Da Yoopers
Deer Hunter’s Widow – Da Yoopers
Gone Fishing – Brad Paisley
Fish Fight Song – Da Yoopers
40 Pound Crappie – Da Yoopers
Too Drunk To Fish – Ray Stevens
Fishing On T.V. – Brian Regan
Mama’s Got The Catfish Blues – Tom T. Hall
Hunting The Duck – Buddy Wasisname and The Other Fellers

The songs that didn’t quite make the list:

Take Me to the River – Al Green
Catfish Blues – Jimi Hendrix
Of Wolf and Man – Metallica
Sweet home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Trees – Rush
Bullfrog Blues – Dave Hole
The Spanish Archer – Deep Purple
The Hunter – Free
John the Fisherman – Primus
Barracuda – Heart
Great White Buffalo – Ted Nugent
Hibernation – Ted Nugent

Man vs Mosquito

July 14, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

Today I attempted to fish at the North American mosquito testing grounds. I pulled up and parked near one of my favorite fishing spots and opened the door to get out. Within 2 seconds I had two mosquitoes on my ear. Like a fight in a high school parking lot, it was on! Out came the Muskol. I was determined to not let a pesky little insect prevent me from casting my fly rod and hooking some trout, maybe that big brown I’ve seen feeding on the surface nearby. In fact, mosquitoes be damned, I will use them to my advantage.

I defiantly walked to the waters edge and tied on my “Jumbo Mosquito” pattern and started casting, through a cloud of mosquitoes, so it seemed. Every piece of exposed skin was covered, twice, with bug repellant, but they were all over me. I set my rod down and started applying bug repellant directly onto my clothes. I read the label, “Apply sparingly, re-apply as needed, lasts up to 6 hours”. Try 6 minutes and only when applied in thick layers. It was better to be on the move. With myself and my dog constantly moving and casting, I thought I could move away from the swarm, only to realize I was moving into the next swarm. Walking through the grass only bounced more mosquitoes into the air.

I was convinced I was in a battle with Muskol resistant mosquitoes, or these are the mosquitoes from the bad side of town and they treat Muskol like candy or a cheap drug. The more I put on, the more I was swatting at mosquitoes landing on my neck, arms, legs. Finally after an hour and a half, and no fish, I packed it in and headed home. I saw the big brown trout surface again. I’ll be back for him, with uber strength bug repellant. Perhaps a double layer of Muskol Extra Heavy Duty and Deeper Than Deep Woods Off.

This round to the mosquitoes. Next round to man!

Your Rod as a Fish Ruler

July 3, 2015 / galen / Fly Fishing

When you are busy fishing, you have a hand full of rod, reel and line, and hopefully a net in the other, ready to land your latest catch. Once you remove the hook, do you have time to fumble through your vest for a ruler to measure the fish, getting it back to the water quickly? What if your rod was also your ruler?

I have 3 fly rods, an 8 weight I use for pike, a 6 weight for river fishing, and a 4 weight for trout ponds and perch. Recently I was fishing a trout pond and tied into a decent fish for the pond, about 12 inches, but not exactly sure. I laid the fish down beside my 4 weight rod and reel for a quick photo then slipped the fish back into the water.

It looks like about 12 inches. A few years ago, I had used thin strips of duct tape wrapped around the shaft of my 6 weight rod to mark off ruler lengths of 12 inches and then every 3 inches. When I took the above picture, I realized my 4 weight rod doesn’t have the ruler markings, so I used some colored electrical tape and added the measurements to my 4 weight, my 8 weight, and redid the markings on my 6 weight.

Some might say the color tape makes the rods look a little ugly, but I don’t mind, and the quick ruler is a time saver on the water. I don’t bother with longer measurements on the 4 weight, I have it marked at 12″, 15″, and 18″. I don’t expect to catch anything bigger than that with that rod. The 6 weight goes up to 27″ which would be one hell of a trout. The 8 weight is marked from 12″ all the way up to 48″, because I’m an optimist.

The Guy Trip

June 30, 2015 / galen / Fishing

It’s almost a year since the last guy only fishing trip. I don’t know why I call it that. It’s always all guys I don’t think that women are invited. A bunch of us get together, usually at the start of May and go to catch some rainbows on a fly rod.

The planning doesn’t take long. Pick a weekend, buy some food, beverages, and pack a minimum amount of clothing, lots of fishing stuff and worry about the sleeping arrangements when we get there. It’s a simple, uncomplicated process.

The guy trip must be a fascinating thing to women. I am in no way a chauvinistic person, but I can’t see my wife or any of our wives picking a weekend and just going to do nothing but be there. With a girl trip, its all about what are they going to do, where are they going, what are they going to wear, what are they going to see and so on and so on.

We go on this trip to drink, eat, fish and sleep and that’s about it and not necessarily in that order. We can go for hours and not talk, we can laugh at things that our wives would kill us if they ever found out what we were talking about, and most importantly we can be ourselves. There is no one there to impress, no one to criticize, always some one to make fun of and it’s all in good fun.

The trip is about more than just catching fish. It’s about friends, family, fun times and connecting in a very surreal way with nature. Its about bragging rights that last 5 minutes or 5 hours. Its about spending time with people that don’t care if you’ve had a shower brushed your hair or how you look. Within every trip there are lessons learned in life, fishing and family. That’s what the trip is about. It’s a simple, uncomplicated, fun, fantastic time. Everyone should do it. If you do it once, you’ll do it forever.

Tying the Super Jumbo Mosquito Fly

June 29, 2015 / galen / Fly Fishing

I have fished the Jumbo Mosquito^TM fly a number of times over the past few years and it is the best trout pond fly I have ever used. The only negative I can state is that the fly is not very durable. After a few fish landings and especially when the forceps are needed to remove a fly from a trout, the fly gets beat up and starts to unravel.

Because the fly is so easy and inexpensive to tie, I have always compensated by tying lots of them and switching flies when this happens. That is, until I came up with the Super Jumbo Mosquito^TM fly. A slight modification has made the fly more durable, and takes a minimal amount of additional effort.

Fly Tying Materials:

Same materials as the Jumbo Mosquito:

#14 dry fly hook
Black thread
Peacock Hurl
Head Cement

I could use a smaller hook, I have, but #14 seems to be the size the trout like.

Tying the Fly:

Step 1: Place your hook in the vise and wind your thread on to the start of the hook bend. I like to catch the bottom half of the hook bend with my vise so that I can wind the thread further back.

Step 2: Pull off two stands of the the peacock hurl. I found this particular peacock feather lying on the ground at the local zoo. Trim off any excess material that may have pulled off the stalk of the feather. Then catch the peacock hurl in place with a few wraps of thread. Leave the thread at the hook bend.

Step 3: Wind the peacock hurl towards the eye in tight wraps, touching the previous wrap. Once you reach the eye of the hook, place a hackle pliers on the peacock hurl to hold them in place and free up both hands.

Step 4: Wind the black thread over the peacock to the eye. This gives the fly the added durability, keeping the peacock fibers from breaking and unraveling.

Step 5: Trim off the excess peacock, build a small head with a few more wraps. Perform a whip finish and put a drop of cement on the head.

The finished fly:

The picture below has the Jumbo Mosquito^TM fly in the center, and four Super Jumbo Mosquito^TM flies around it. The Super Jumbo Mosquitos^TM are slightly thinner, but have proven to catch just as many fish, and far more durable.

How to Fish this Fly:

Anytime trout are feeding on small top water bugs, this fly works. Especially if a mosquito hatch is underway. Because I fish it on trout ponds (still water = mosquito breeding ground), I can be pretty sure there are mosquitoes around from mid May to mid September.

You can toss the fly randomly, hoping to catch the eye of a fish looking to the surface. I’ll do that until I see a fish rise, then I’ll quickly lay the fly in the middle of the ripple. A couple quick short pulls will get the attention of the fish feeding there. If not, move the fly to another spot. Sometimes I will catch a fish after pulling the Super Jumbo Mosquito^TM for 10 or 20 feet but most hits are within 2 feet of where it lands.

Tying the Jumbo Mosquito Fly

June 18, 2015 / galen / Fly Fishing

What’s the world’s best fly? I would argue the Jumbo Mosquito. My criteria is simple, the fly with the highest fish caught to tying time ratio. I sat down today to tie some Jumbo Mosquito flies, 5 of them, for tonight’s outing to the local trout pond. 5 flies, plus the time to take a few pictures, total time = 15 minutes. Last night I used up 3 Jumbo Mosquito flies, while catching 29 trout.

I don’t know if anyone else has already invented and named a fly like the Jumbo Mosquito. If not, I am putting a Trade Mark on it right now. The Jumbo Mosquito^TM. There, done. This fly is so easy to tie that even if it is your first fly ever tied, it will work for you. I think the most expensive item on the materials list are the hooks.

Here’s my fly tying desk, complete with the Fly Tying Bible. It’s not in there, but I recommend the book. Great stuff in there.

Fly Tying Materials:

What I use:

#14 dry fly hook
Black thread
Peacock Hurl
Head Cement

I could use a smaller hook, I have, but #14 seems to be the size the trout like.

Tying the Fly:

Step 3: Wind the peacock hurl towards the eye in tight wraps, touching the previous wrap. Then hold the peacock in place with a couple wraps of thread.

Step 4: Trim off the excess peacock, build a small head with a few more wraps. Perform a whip finish and put a drop of cement on the head.

The finished fly:

How to Fish this Fly:

You can toss the fly randomly, hoping to catch the eye of a fish looking to the surface. I’ll do that until I see a fish rise, then I’ll quickly lay the fly in the middle of the ripple. A couple quick short pulls will get the attention of the fish feeding there. If not, move the fly to another spot. Sometimes I will catch a fish after pulling the Jumbo Mosquito^TM for 10 or 20 feet but most hits are within 2 feet of where it lands.

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