Shooting Trout TV on the North Platte

This summer my worlds are colliding. My two professional histories in television news and fly fishing guiding smacked into each other recently when I was asked by Bob Asbury from Columbia Country Television to co-host a new fishing show called Trout TV alongside the lovely and talented Rich Birdsell, owner of Northern Rockies Outfitters. The show is a fly fishing-only video festivus of the most interesting, beautiful, plentiful and nutty fisheries in the West. We hope to venture south and east next season...but for now we're mostly in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain region. We're shooting 18 episodes this summer and fall, and the series will start airing on 35 network affiliate channels in February.

This past weekend I got to go on my first shoot for Trout TV. And, in true cliche fishing show form, I must say it was "a dandy." And we caught some "real pretty trout." The truth is that we are trying to steer away from traditional fishing shows in which two big 'ol guy pals slap high-fives all day and seem to re-catch the same whopper over and over. However, I have to admit that when you actually are catching "real pretty trout" it's hard not to fall into the cliche and state that fact every time it's brought to the boat.

We drove 14 hours from West Glacier, MT to Casper, WY to fish the North Platte with Ryan Anderson from Wyoming Fly Fishing Guide Service at the Platte River Fly Shop. We put in west of Casper at the Grey Reef access in Alcova. When I first looked at the river, I thought, "no stinkin' way is this going to produce." The river was cruising at 7,000 cfs; the most water those banks have seen in 30 years, thanks to huge snow melt out of Colorado. Apparently I don't know much about tail waters or the strategy therein...because despite my doubtfulness, Ryan got me into some amazing fish immediately. (The pictures below are only of the small ones, because shooter/producer Bob wouldn't let me get out my camera for the biggies--we have to save those for the tv show, you know. So, the pics below represent the smallest fish of the day.)


We fished a long leader and double red rock worm/San Juan rig. I caught two 15" "dinks" but the rest of the day yielded 19-22" rainbows. So yeah, more than once I said, "that's a real pretty trout."

I was so impressed by the North Platte River and its lovely rainbows. And I understand it fishes that well all year 'round.

Thanks to Ryan and Wyoming Fly Fishing Guide Service for a great two days and an amazing experience.

Good day fishing today

Fished the negative low today. Fish with their backs out of the water and a new fly. Splendid. Click the picture to get the full effect.

http://captgordon.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/negative-low-tide/

Guess Who's Not Going To Get A Tip....

UPDATE - According to the PilotOnline.com, the team was disqualified.


Forget being a good law abiding citizen and all that...forgetting to buy your fishing license could cost you big time...

The Charlotte Observer reports that one angler might be out almost a million dollars because a mate on his boat failed to buy the North Carolina Recreational Salt Water Fishing License.

A record-setting blue marlin that would have won almost $1 million in last week's Big Rock was on the verge of disqualification today as tournament officials investigated whether one of the boat's hired crewmen failed to purchase a license.

Andy Thomasson, hauled in the record-setting 883-pound blue marlin aboard the Hatteras-based Citation last Monday, the first day of the week long tournament. He waited all week for a bigger fish to be caught. None was, and the Citation claimed $912,825 in prize money.

But there was no presentation during Saturday's awards banquet and Sunday morning, the Big Rock released this cryptic statement: "The Big Rock board of directors withheld presentation of blue marlin prize money until an alleged rules violation by the top team has been totally researched and a decision made regarding this alleged violation."

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/21/1516071/15-mistake-could-sink-912825-payday.html#ixzz0rY9i65MH

Happy Father's Day

My Dad when he is not fishing.

and when he is fishing.

The Editorial Offspring when he is not fishing.

and when he is fishing...
Happy Father's Day to all fishing dads and fishing kids.

Sierra Trading Post Ipad Giveaway

Win an iPad from Sierra Trading Post! No purchase necessary.

Quote of the week: Blind Luck

Darrell Pendergrass describes fly fishing for trout at night in his article "Fishing blindly for trout with the eternal optimist" via the Superior Telegram:

"Simply put, almost blindly a cast is made, a fly drifts casually for a bit, and then the soft sound of a trout coming to the surface is heard. You need only to lift your rod and line from the water to know that you’ve succeeded in hooking a fish. It’s calm. It’s quiet. It’s perfect. And I believe the term ‘blind luck’ was actually coined by Scottish fly fisherman back in the nineteenth century."

Orivs Giant Fly Sale Viral Video

Orvis goes viral video on us and shows what happens when fly fishing legend Tom Rosenbauer doesn't quite get the memo. No word yet on what the price will be for that fly he ties for his boss...

Capt. Gordon's Advice for the Lovelorn

The Editorial Corporate Counsel and Cousin-in-law pointed out and interesting article on the net that quotes our own pal Captain Gordon Churchill (seen here kissing a fish) as he gives advice for those looking for love, fly fishing style.

From "Five Rules for Playing Hard to Get," via MSN's lifestyle section:

1. Use the old fishing ploy. "If you want to get a fish to bite your lure, you have to keep it moving enough to be interesting but not so fast as to be too hard to catch," says North Carolina fly-fishing guide Captain Gordon Churchill. "The erratic retrieve is usually best. The darting action of a lure in the hands of a skilled angler is usually hard to resist for a hungry fish... and then you've got what you were fishing for."

Now we will take fishing advice from Capt. G any day. However, we didn't know of his wisdom in the arts of love. He must have some skills since he did somehow manage to reel in his own trophy wife, Melissa. Read the article for yourself then head on over to his blog and leave a comment for the "ladies man" himself.

Hardy and Greys Announces New Fly Rod Innovation

Press release below, product expected to hit the shelves Jan. 2011.

Hardy & Greys Ltd are proud to announce the most significant development in fishing rod design for twenty five years.

SINTRIX ™material provides rods which are 60% stronger, up to 30% lighter and with hugely improved impact resistance over conventional carbon fibre.

Initially the new technology will be used in Hardy fly rods but eventually SINTRIX™ will also be used in Carp, Coarse and Sea ranges within the Greys and Chub brands.

Decades ago when we moved away from cane and fiberglass, carbon fibre changed the way fishing rods were made. Carbon being remarkably strong for its weight gives us many advantages for modern rod design.

The carbon rods we use today have of course advanced over the years but the trends for lighter and faster blanks lead to rods which can be brittle, unforgiving and prone to breakage during use.

The carbon fibre in any fly rod blank is supported by a bed of resin, typically this resin or matrix simply holds the fibres in parallel alignment so that as the rod bends, the fibres can flex and return into position. However if a carbon rod is suddenly bent beyond its limits, the normal resins used in manufacture are unable to support the fibres adequately because the carbon fibres are stronger than the resin. The result is catastrophic failure due to the fibres buckling or, put simply, the rod breaks. These failures occur because typical modern fishing rod resins simply do not contain enough toughening mechanisms to give the fibres enough protection.

SINTRIX™ is an enhanced fortified matrix resin which supports and bolsters the carbon fibres to withstand a far higher degree of bending and loading than ever before. Through technology, exclusive to Hardy & Greys Ltd, specially treated silica nano spheres are blended into a SINTRIX™ resin. Thousands of the nano spheres surround every individual carbon fibre giving a very even distribution of the particles throughout the resin which results in rods with unparalleled smooth casting actions. This technology is radically different to any previous nano rods using titanium nano or carbon nano tubes. These previous carbon nano technologies simply attempted to reinforce the carbon and not the all important resin. The bending strength of a SINTRIX™ fly rod is vastly improved over outdated common designs. Controlled testing has proven that SINTRIX ™fly rods are over 60% stronger and up to 30% lighter than previous carbon rods. A SINTRIX ™fly rod will bend further without damage and will also take incidental impacts far better than any conventional fly rod design.

On a recent test trip to Florida five Hardy & Greys product developers caught around 1,000 fish on SINTRIX ™rods .The fish ranged from 5lbs to 350lbs and the idea was to put the SINTRIX blanks in situations above and beyond normal use. Despite their best efforts to test the rods to destruction our testers did not break a single SINTRIX ™rod! Some of this action is available to view on YouTube.

Andy Mill, Hardy & Greys US based consultant and five time gold cup Tarpon tournament winner said about SINTRIX™ rods.

“These new SINTRIX™ rods are the most powerful, lightest, smoothest casting rods ever designed EVER!”

Andy recently landed an 80lb Tarpon in Just four minutes using a SINTRIX™ rod.

Peter McLeod from Aardvark McLeod, International fly fishing specialists on the Hardy SINTRIX™ rods.

“The perfect rods for the flats, I adored using them. They are light, responsive, have quick recovery, fantastic presentation and huge reserves of power. The blanks were so thin they just cut through the wind. Bottom line is these are without doubt the best rods I have ever used and when they go into production I will use nothing else”.

Initial SINTRIX™ developments involve three Hardy fly rod ranges, one saltwater range and two freshwater ranges which will include double handed models. The new Hardy SINTRIX™ rods are set to be available in January 2011.

In addition to these increases in performance and durability the company retains its commitment to using the highest quality fittings. This combination has not, however, resulted in a price increase which puts this material and its advantages out of reach to most consumers and prices should be comparable with other premium fly rod ranges.

At Hardy & Greys Ltd. We believe that SINTRIX™ is THE new generation of carbon fibre technology and is the most significant breakthrough in rod development since the move from glass to carbon fibre twenty five years ago.

We Are Marshall

The Zanesville Times Recorder is reporting thatThe Thundering Herd of Marshall University will be sponsoring a team which will compete in an upcoming national fly fishing tournament.

"The College of Science and Career Services is sponsoring the Team Marshall Fly Fishing duo of Brady Hanson and 1973 Marshall graduate Greg Hall in the 2010 Harman's North Fork Invitational. The tournament is being held Thursday through Saturday at Harman's Cabins on the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River in Grant County."

Rookie Mistakes

Cotter, AR fishing guide John Berry writes in the Baxter Bulletin about the "rookie mistakes" that even the experienced angler can make.

From forgetting to put the plug into the boat to leaving a rod on top of the car, John's article rings true for many of us who have the guts to admit it. What rookie mistakes have you made? Fess up in the comments!