But she has a great personality...

We have all heard tales and legends of particularly elusive lunkers that seem to be smarter than the average angler. Now scientist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden believe that Brown Trout may posess individual personalities.

"My results show that it are not just humans and other mammals that exhibit personality. Also brown trout differ among each other in their level of aggression and react differently to changes in their surroundings", says Bart Adriaenssens. "The release of a novel object in the aquarium causes very different reactions. Some individuals will immediately explore this object, whereas others will rather hide in a corner and try to avoid every contact."

Although it might just be the meek that inherit the creek bed...

"But it are not always the bold and aggressive fish who are most successful. When we marked trout individually and released them back in the wild, it were shy trout who grew most rapidly."

Tuesday Photo Zen: One in the hand...

Meine Forelle

Favorite dish of the most evil person to ever live? Brown Trout in butter sauce. We bet he poached them during the spawn as well.

"In the next episode of his series 'Plat Prefere,' or 'Favorite Dish,' acclaimed Belgian TV chef Jeroen Meus will be seen travelling to Hitler's haunts in southern Germany to prepare trout with butter sauce. The dish is described as 'a succulent festive meal' and is said to be one of Hitler's favourites. "

Link to the article about Hitler's favorite foods via the UK's Daily Mail.

Lazy / Busy Friday

I am still catching up from this week's trip to Bristol, VA so I haven't been able to post a lot in the last few days. One of the reasons I have been so busy is that my day job "required" that I take a team building float trip down the South Holston River (with free beer no less). Now that's my idea of a way to maximize corporate team spirit!

I'll have photos of the 40+ fish afternoon high water float in the very near future along with the result of a field test of Thingamabobber strike indicators. We caught lots of smallish rainbows and some bigger brown trout on nymphs and (after a big rainstorm came through) a hideous pink San Juan worm.

I also got a ringside seat as a brown trout that was at least 30 inches did the 40 yard dash an inch below the surface while trying to chase down an 8 inch rainbow for his supper. Awesome day on the river.

Jeff Paisley Stalks Big Trout After Dark

In his latest FlyFishMagazine.com article, Jeff Paisley, takes a look at the risks and rewards for fly anglers looking to catch large tailwater trout in the dark of night.

"We tried nymphing with no luck so I tied on a streamer and the river came alive. Bite after bite, fish after fish for the next four and a half hours. I would make long casts and use short but emphatic jerks on the retrieve. 17 casts in a row produced fish, with the biggest being landed right after the horn blew on the dam. I had fly fished for the last 20 years and had some great days on some fantastic rivers, but I had never been so satisfied from a fishing experience as on that night."

From the excerpt it sounds like things went well. We always love articles that require a disclaimer tacked onto the end. Click here to read the entire article.

Trout vs. Mouse

New Zealand's Southland Times reports about one angler's catch of a large brown trout who's eyes were bigger than its stomach.

Invercargill angler Alan Hoffman said he landed the large brown trout on Friday morning and noticed it had a hard bulge in its stomach.

On gutting the fish he discovered what looked like a "long possum tail". However, on closer inspection it turned out to be a large number of mouse hairs, which had matted together.
"It's looked like it had swallowed a large piece of drier lint."

Mr Rodway said the fish had a large head relative to the size of its body, which indicated it had been losing weight because of the obstruction.

Photo via Fishing Flies Online

Champion Outfitters

FlyfishMagazine.com fishing report contributors, Rod and Matt Champion of Champion Outfitters received a nice write up in Bristol Herald Courier. Their shop is located less than a mile from Tennessee's South Holston River.

Before we moved to this location, we ran a little fly shop in North Carolina. We then guided from a little log cabin right across the bridge from the weir dam," Rod Champion said. "Fishermen were out there at all hours of the day, so we decided that we needed a fly shop on the river. We searched for a location, found this building and took the plunge."
The 18 miles of bountiful trout river in Northeast Tennessee attracts fishing enthusiasts from across the globe. The client list for the Champions and other guide services in the Mountain Empire is wide.

"We’ve been guiding in this area for nearly five years, and we’ve had a great time meeting working with all the different folks," Rod Champion said. "Fly fishermen are diverse group. There is no average age or typical profile. The sport is for everyone."
The guiding business is competitive and time-consuming. However, Rod Champion said their work is all about family-style fun.

"It’s a unique privilege and pleasure to work with my son on a daily basis," Rod Champion said. "Matt is just a natural at guiding."

Want to be successful like the Champions? Send fishing reports to FlyFishMagazine.com. Ok maybe we are exaggerating it a bit. Fly shop ownership is not a requirement for report submission.

As if we needed a reason

To use streamers for brown trout

Buy American...sort of....

"Abel Quality Products touts the fact that all the components used to produce its world renowned fly fishing reels are manufactured in Camarillo, right down to the nuts and bolts.
Every last screw is made in a 16,000-square-foot factory on Aviador Street."


With a bit of foreign investment:

The company is owned by Craig Treharne, a London businessman who acquired the business in September 2006. But day-to-day operations are handled by Swanson, Krapff and sales manager Jeff Patterson.

Pictured above is the Able Prosek Signature Edition Brown Trout Super 5N. Only 45 of this limited edition remain.

Don't get us wrong, we are big fans of Abel products and we like folks from the UK just fine. Just ask Alistair if you don't believe us. We just found it ironic that a company doing this much to manufacture its product in the USA was owned by and English business man. Now you will have to excuse me. I need to go fill up my Toyota Tundra with some Saudi gasoline.

R.I.P.

Authorities are trying to determine the cause of the death of this near record breaking White River Brown Trout. The fish which was estimated to be between 12 - 15 years old, weighed in at 32 pounds.

Biologists are trying to determine if warm water temperatures and low oxygen content led to the trout's death. Heather Crunkleton, Rainbow Resort owner, said other dead fish have been found over the past few days. "You can't have 70-degree water and expect trout to survive," she said. Crunkleton said the fish was found after five days of no generation at Bull Shoals Dam. Powers said the water temperature near the North Fork River after some generation Tuesday was 68 degrees.

Link and photo (credit Kevin Pieper) via the Baxter Bulletin.

Arkansas: White River Fishing Report

Paisley with an excellent White River brown trout

Garwood floating the White River in his White River Pontoon

FlyFishMagazine.com staffers Paisley, Garwood, and Zugbug recently float fished Arkansas' White River. Read about their excellent trip on FlyFishMagazine.com's Fishing Reports page.

It seems I am the only one not getting to fish in Arkansas this month. Tennessee contributing editor Jay Moore is fishing this week on the White River with one of his valued customers. We should have an up to date report from him shortly.

Remember we will publish just about anything around here so feel free to brag by sending us your own fishing reports and photos.

Review: Trout Bum Diaries Vol. 2 - Kiwi Camo

The Angling Exploration Group could rightly be called pioneers of fly fishing's new media. Their Trout Bum Diaries: Volume 1 set in the fly fishing paradise of Patagonia, opened the door for a new sort of fly fishing video. This new format shuns the teaching of technique in favor of pure entertainment value and adventure. It was for this reason that we were excited to watch their newest offering, Trout Bum Diaries: Volume II Kiwi Camo.

Kiwi Camo chronicles the trout bum's four month adventure to fish the back country rivers of New Zealand. During their journey they brave everything from biting swarms of bugs to a sheep traffic jam in their quest for some of the largest trout on the planet. We get to watch as they perfect a style of fishing that is somewhat foreign to them. Long leaders, light tippet and big flies mean that they often find themselves ditching graceful casts in favor of the "chuck and duck."

The rivers in the shadow lands are huge and the giant trout are scarce, so fishing here often becomes a team sport with one person acting as spotter and directing his fellow angler's casts with both sharing in the joy of a successful hook up or the disappointment of a missed bite.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about the AEG's work is that they show both the good and the bad. Their videos seem to tell us, "Sure you can fish New Zealand with us but you better not mind the smell of sheep or be bothered by a few dozen sand flea bites along the way." It reminds us that the payoff of the trout bum lifestyle, while rewarding, requires that a price be paid. These guys and gals gladly pay that price and the reward is getting to fish.

Kiwi Camo's production quality is a step up from AEG's first video. Volume two has a decidedly more professional feel with less narration and more dialog. The scenery is sublime and the fish porn outstanding! My wife always has "problems" with me after viewing a Trout Bum flick. After watching one, I can't help but do the math to see just how long the money in my 401k would last on my own trout bum adventure.

Trout Bum Diaries: Volume 2, Kiwi Camo is available from the Angling Exploration Group's website for $26.95 (as of this printing). It is a 75 minute long letterbox DVD wth dolby digital stereo sound. You can view a trailer by clicking here.

New Fishing Report - Caney Fork Tailwater

Tennessee Editor, Jay Moore, has posted a new fishing report from his most recent trip to the Caney Fork in Middle Tennessee. We won't spoil it for you but this time he dukes it out with a three pound brown trout. It seems he "forgot" his camera, but we have seen enough of Jay's fishing skills to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Post your own fishing reports by visiting our aptly named "Fishing reports page" at Flyfishmagazine.com. If you are a professional guide or shop we will be happy to include your contact info for a bit of free advertising. If you are not a professional, take advantage of the chance to post a report and brag a bit or take potshots at your fishing buddies.

Throwing them up on the bank?

A bid to rid the Shenandoah National Park of invasive species has spawned new regulations that are not sitting well with some die hard catch and release fishermen. Park officials say the new regulations are aimed at protecting the Brook trout fishery.

From the park's fishing regulations:

In the park’s continuing effort to control wild non-native brown trout populations to limit
impacts on wild native brook trout populations, special brown trout specific regulations
have been promulgated for the Rose River, Hughes River, and Brokenback Run.

All regulations as specified in the Regulations section apply to these three streams except:

• The minimum size for brown trout as part of any daily creel or otherwise in
possession is 7 inches.

• The release of any captured brown trout back into any park stream is prohibited.

Undersized brown trout, those less than the 7 inch minimum, must be disposed of
away from the stream and away from park roads or trails.