Angling Obsession

Whoa, long time without a post here! I've been fishing, but the warm spring put an end to my local steelhead fishing and I just haven't had the time to put the miles in and travel north to fish with Kyle D. When I started fly fishing, smaller headwaters and spring creeks were all I knew. Lately, my addiction to chrome steelhead has steered me toward larger waters with the anadromous fish we all love. I spent the holiday weekend fishing a few spring creeks for trout in Northern Michigan that have been begging to be explored for years and it felt good to bring back some memories of what fueled my initial obsession with fly fishing.

Hoppers were the ticket this morning. Yes, hopper season is in August. The water was clear and no bugs were coming up. Were they just looking for a big meal?...who knows, but this guys and several of his buddies made for a great morning! 
  

Michigan Brown Trout



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It's getting to be that time of year when the work schedule has set in and fishing time is becomming limited. That's not to say I don't stay up to the midnight hour burning candle light, tying up whatever is comming to me at the vice. I am slowly getting more than one box of flies that is an "all purpose" box. I am starting to try and put my finger on our spring fish's kill instinct. Last year, while I was finishing up my general sciences Assosiates Degree, one of my mothers co-volunteers passed a 8ft 6wt loomis Gl3 with an old school battenkill 5/6 that purrs onto me. I am finally putting it to work. What I have done is taken a beat up SA 8wt mid belly and cut it way back so that between the transition into running line and where I cut is about 13 ft; with a 5ft chunk of t-8 and 3-4ft 10lb flouro to my fly. I am not going to try and say it doesnt feel a little, "ghetto" but hey its working. I will be expierimenting with more streamers so stay posted as I hope to bring you some effective patterns!!!



Enjoy,

Kyle D.


I tied a couple of these over the past couple nights.

I got a couple of the local bass to go with it .... literally on the first cast, and its been a while since I grabbed the leader to unhook a fishy so it was good to shake the skunk!






Fishing Report:

Our migrating fish are on their way to hopefully a strong recovery from the spring spawn.
We do have stray atlantic salmon and late dropbacks being found around the mouths of the northeast side.

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Chris tricked this strong chrome beauty just after I had been through the run ........ again!! That is happening more than I like to admit right now, but a day on the water with a good friend can't be beat. On a good note however, I was able to get the catch and release shots that capture a nice memory !!

Enjoy,

Kyle D.

CATCH.........

and RELEASE!!

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The spring season is quickly ending. Although this is bummer for those of us that target migrating fishies, its a great time to try out a new line, different rods, and get some "seat time" behind the rod. With the compelling enegry that leads to distraction when they're in not being so overwhemling, its a great opportunity to channel that energy into tight loops and accuracy. The more you do anything the better you get at it, because repitition is the father of learning. Last summer, I had the opportunity to sit on the riverbank and talk with Dr. Joen lee and he said," you must practice if you want to become an accomplished spey caster." If you ever have the chance to witness his casting ability you will believe he must know a thing or two about the long road of precision spey casting.

Get out there,

Kyle d.

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During the summer months here in michigan our fishies open a few "out of the ordinary" windows with different forms of suggested life that they are willing to commit in pursuit of killing it. Over the last few summers I've noticed big, fast, displacements attrack quite a few predatory fish. It's summer fun kill mode in the skamania that migrate on our West side rivers. Over the next couple weeks I plan on filling a nice size box, full of these squidro's in various colors.

20lb fire line trailor loop
White polar bear flash in dubbing loop palomered and pulled back
Rubber legs ( explained below)
Pink rabbit cut off magnum strip while in a waxed dubbing loop, and palored as well and pulled back
Flat mylar tinsel tied in with silver oval tinsel first so that it follow the flat mylar
Follow one behind the other towards the front
Repeat the dubbing loop work, but finish off with two pink variant hackle feathers married

Rubber Legs:
Everyone uses and ties these in different. I tried my best attempting what I believe to be the best method. Tie them in facing the opposite direction that you plan on locking them down in. Trim the tags ends roughly 1/16" and fold the long section over and secure bunched up with the tag ends. This provides resistants against the water as the fly swings.
fly swings. Now go get on the vice already and have some fun!!!



Tight lines.

Kyle D.

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       Chris, a very good friend of mine, from Canada had a GREAT weekend.  Three solid fish with a full floating long line and a swung fly.  We both know it is getting later in the season and fish are quickly returning to the lake and even with all the indicator guys "tearing them up" we stuck to our passion, swinging our creations from the vice.  Chris told me friday night that he has set two goals for himself to go after this summer. One, catch an atlantic on a married wing pattern and two, catch an atlantic on a dry fly.  Saturday, he was able to scratch one off the list when a fully recovered atlantic "killed" his first ever tied, married wing.  Good job Chris, that is something to deffinitely be proud of!!!

Married Wing Atlantic

          On the other end of the spectrum, ... I am still fishless, and I have nothing to say about that other than focusing on casting and proper technique really aids in forgeting that you are in a slump, which I am. With that being said, I did however encounter the biggest and strongest steelhead yet, in my time chasing steelhead. It was about 3:30pm on saturday and chris had just went in for the day. I was just hitting the 80-90 ft range and midway over the dark blue water, it happened, what I believe to be a fresh steelhead absolutely crushed my Kyle Caroline. I cannot put into words how the grab was other than it was the most aggressive one to date and I've had some good takes.  Once I set into it, the fish launched completely out of the water.  Quickly after the first run and jump, that steelhead showed no respect for my 10 lb tippet and broke me off, leaving me shaking in my skin. 
      Sunday morning I woke up thinking about the fly that I had lost to that chrome bullet.  Chris was nice enough to leave me a couple heron feathers that I quickly put to use.  I call it the Kyle Caroline, however it is just a variation of the lady caroline without any married bronze mallard.

"Kyle's Caroline"

I tied three of them while enjoying the french roast Chris closely watches when I stay and passed one on to him when he arrived on sunday.  The fly proved itself when Chris "picked my pocket" on a beautiful steelhead from a run I had just left.  As hard as that was to accept, knowing I created that fly, that morning, eased my mind. 



A Beautful Steelhead

Again, good work Chris!! Ive attached the blessings from the weekend, I hope you enjoy and continue to follow anglingobsession in this rocky road of swinging flies!!!

Kyle D.

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Well Viewers,

     I have made it through another semester and I must admit, I am running low on tying materials from all the study breaks.  It is a relief to be on break, however now it is time to do work with the spey rod! I am not going to sugar coat this difficult game.... I have not had my hands on the tail of a chromer since that nice one I showed you guys from up north, and yes I've still been fishing, but the fire inside is burning hotter with everyday that goes by fish-less.  Although, I have not landed a fish in a while my casting is getting better and better everytime I am out there.  I hope to bring you guys instruction and tips for tighter loops this summer, as well as some SBS on the vice to help fill your boxes.( A little preview of a couple tying sessions attached below) As I stated before, this is all one big learning expierence and as the golden arch says..... I'm Lovin it!!  My car is packed and I am heading up to one of my favorite rivers, so please wish me luck!!   I wrote this interesting quote about learning, which is what I am full pursuit of, hope you like it,

"Learning is a beautiful process that allows our life to bloom because the day you give up, or quit pursuing to learn new things, is the day you begin to truley age. You see, age, represented by a number, accepted by society as an actual indicator of ones age, but I feel it couldn't be further from the actual age of ones soul for the special ones that continue pursuing to learn new things in life."


Kyle D.

Blue Charm

Crazy Bugger ( resulted from late night calc final studying)

Spey Variation

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West Michigan Brown Trout

Anytime we catch a brown trout in Michigan while chasing steelhead, its a bonus we all look forward to and remember.  I found this guy hiding behind spawning steelhead in Berrien Co, just minutes from Indiana.  Who says its all carp and largemouth bass down here!  Its no secret that brown trout love salmon and steelhead eggs, and dead drifting beads and yarns eggs is a very effective way to target these beautiful fish.  The river was just shy of 60 degrees and stained with the recent rains.  The steelhead are spawning and I'm afraid the spring run will be over shortly, unless you plan on traveling north.  Tight Lines. A.O.

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Last weekend was all about the brown trout.  I know, not much of a steelhead forecast!  Anyhow, we hooked several steelhead on Saturday and Sunday, each of them showing us who was boss.  In between lost battles, the trout kept us occupied and were very active.  I except the egg bite only to improve this weekend.  Look for steelhead on gravel and in the nearby dark water.

The weather has been extremely warm and I'm seeing steelhead within a few miles of Kalamazoo.  That a heck of a long ways from Lake Michigan and if this weather keeps up, the run will be over very soon.  The water levels are down from last weekend, good luck out there.

A.O.

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I haven’t swung a fly in weeks, and the anticipation of this weekend’s fishing trip has been compounding exponentially. The boat and truck are organized, fly rods are packed, fly boxes are overflowing, yet I still tie more each night as Scott Howell’s Skagit Master II DVD spins indefinitely. I drive to work and wonder what the water levels will reside to, between meetings I finalize my gear list, and during lunch I check a half dozen weather reports…just to be sure.  This is my obsession; I wouldn't have it any other way.
A.O.

Packing Up The Essentials



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