Jeff Currier - Global Fly Fishing

Marlborough Fly Fishing Show

2012-01-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

The Marlborough, MA Fly Fishing Show is in the books. This was my third consecutive year speaking here. It’s been a solid show for me and a fun one because I know a lot of folks from the area because not only did I grow up in the northeast but I’ve also spoke at clubs around here several times over the years. The one drawback however is that if you keep coming, eventually you’re going to get beat up by bad weather. And although we didn’t experience a big nor’easter, we had enough snow on Saturday, the normally “busiest show day”, to drop attendance significantly. Further more, the New England Patriots played their championship game on Sunday. And although Sunday was a good show day, it certainly would have been even better if New England’s beloved football team wasn’t playing.

The next show is this weekend, the Somerset Fly Fishing Show January 27, 28 and 29, held at the Garden State Convention Center in New Jersey. Here you can catch up with me and Granny in the fly tiers area. I won’t be tying flies but I’ll be drawing up some Cliff Fly Boxes and hopefully mixing that with a little watercolor painting. I’ll also be giving a couple presentations. On Friday at 1:30 I’ll be giving my “Warmwater Fly Fishing – Bass, Carp, Pike and Many More” and on Saturday at 10 AM I’ll be doing “Saltwater Fly Fishing – Bonefish to Billfish”. If you aren’t casting in the salt yet or chasing bass or carp with the fly these presentations are a must. I promise you they will get you psyched to start!

I’m spending a few days with my family up here on Wolfeboro Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee New Hampshire. This is the place where I grew up fly fishing for smallmouth bass, yellow perch, various sunfish and the list goes on. It’s a little frozen right now but the fish are still here and the smallie fishing continues to be fantastic. I was hoping to hit the ice a few hours while here this week but amazingly the ice is not ready despite being late January.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo

2012-01-17T08:18:00.002-07:00

Two fly fishing shows have already come and gone. This past weekend I was a speaker for the Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo held in Boise. I’ve given presentations in Boise many times over the years but this was the first time working the show. All I can say is that the show was superbly run by Erik Moncada and the rest of the many Boise Valley Fly Fishing Coordinators.

As always I was busy with presentations from PowerPoint to casting demos as well as promoting my artwork, books and the latest DVD’s. Between talks I based myself out of the Anglers Fly Shop of Boise. The owners John and Maja ordered my books and Simms T-shirts with my latest artwork on them and I helped them sell a bunch. When not selling I doctored up some Cliff Fly Boxes for people and visited with them about all aspects of fly fishing. It was really fun weekend.

I could use some rest today but instead I find myself unpacking and repacking. I head for New Hampshire tomorrow for a quick visit to the folks then to Massachusetts for the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show. If you’re in the area be sure and stop by the show to say hi. Even better, catch one of my presentations. On Saturday at 3:30 I’ll be doing my PowerPoint presentation “Four Seasons of the Yellowstone Trout Bum” and on Sunday at 11:30 I’ll be presenting “Improve Your Fishing Photography”.

That’s about it for now. Busy busy this winter - Good stuff!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Denver Fly Fishing Show

2012-01-10T13:40:00.001-07:00

The Denver Fly Fishing Show was a great success. Masses of fly fishers and new to be fly fishers from all over attended. I was there to give fly casting demonstrations and present PowerPoint seminars. Between my shows I answered questions about every aspect of fly fishing, visited with friends and dabbled with my art.

Usually I paint up a green back cutthroat when in Denver. Greenbacks are the famous native cutthroat trout of Colorado. This year however, I never got around to breaking out the paints. Instead I “sharpied” up about six Cliff Fly Boxes and even better I drew on two pairs of shoes! Sandy Roberts, a well known casting champ and longtime pal of mine, called me last week to ask if I would draw a bass on a pair of her shoes. I told her only if they didn’t stink. Luckily, they were bran new white boat shoes. All I can say is it wasn’t easy. Stitched seams and rubber adhesives made my new canvas difficult to deal with but the end result was success. Not only did I sketch her up a pair of largemouth bass sneakers but also a pair of common carp.

My next show is the Western Idaho Fly Fishing Show that runs Friday and Saturday – January 13th and 14th. I’ll be doing a ton of presentations starting with a kickoff of “Four Seasons of the Yellowstone Trout Bum” at 12:30 on Friday. Then at 2:30 I’ll demonstrate the Double Haul on the casting pond. At 5:30 yet another favorite presentation of mine, “Fly Fishing through Midlife Heaven”. And wait, I’m working hard Friday, if I have a voice left at 7:30 you can see “Improve Your Fishing Photography”. You don’t want to miss any of these programs! I haven’t looked at my schedule for Saturday but it’s on the show website and none will be the same as Friday.

Hope to see you there!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Even "Currier" Puts Down the Fly Rod

2012-01-04T19:02:00.001-07:00

Is it really already the 4th? Time flies when you’re having fun. I’ve been preparing for a winter of hitting the speaking circuit. Check my schedule and see if I’ll be in your neighborhood.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday I’ll be working the Denver Fly Fishing Show. You can catch me throughout the weekend at my booth. Even better, Friday at 11:30 you can catch my “Improve Your Fishing Photography” presentation. Saturday at 4 I’ll be doing a show on “Fly Fishing for Carp” and Sunday at 2 I’ll be giving a casting demo at the main pond. I hope to see many of you there!

I have one other note of interest. My South African friend Leonard Flemming recently launched his dream – an internet magazine. It’s called Wade Magazine. I can tell you Leonard’s first issue was gorgeous and a unique read. Many of the articles are about fishing destinations far from the US. Expect to see fish you haven’t heard of from places even Google Earth has trouble finding. Best of all, issue number 2 is out. Please have a look as I have an article about fly fishing in Madagascar.

That’s it. Off to Denver very early tomorrow. Stay tuned and hope to see some of you there!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

Yesterday ended great year of fishing and today starts another. I hope everyone enjoyed the blogs and are ready for more.

I'll be on the road much of the next three months speaking at the Fly Fishing Show and fly fishing clubs throughout the US and Canada. Take a look at my schedule and try to catch up with me somewhere!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Last Fish of 2011. . . Probably

2011-12-26T17:07:00.006-07:00

December 26, 2011

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend one more day on the water this year. I considered letting the big catfish be the last fish of 2011, but why cheat myself. Friends Rob Parkins and Zack Dalton were floating the South Fork today therefore so was I.

Warm for this time of year is to put it bluntly. While I was in Brazil everyone around here suffered through below zero temperatures. There was a lot of ice formed on the rivers edges. And normally that’s what we get over the Holidays. But today the temps rose to a toasty 33º. Just perfect to keep the guides from freezing.

We kept our fishing simple. We met in Swan Valley at a casual 10 AM then drove up to the Palisades Dam and decided we’d float the short mile or so down to the Husky Station. What the heck, we had beer and moose steaks. There was no sense in working too hard. It’s the holidays.

I took the oars first because Rob and Zack wanted to nymph directly below the dam. Often times this can be fantastic for huge rainbows. I rowed them across to the far side of the South Fork and they hopped out and waded. I hovered above them with my camera around my neck hoping to get some good big fish photos but it didn’t happen.

Next we fished our way downstream to one of the favorite pools near the dam. Fish truly weren’t on the nymphs today. It wasn’t till we got to the hot spot that Rob stuck a nice rainbow for the first fish of the day. Zack and I switched and I tossed my usual streamer rig minus the top fly. Three flies can be a hassle in the dead of winter. I had a cool chartreuse-eyeballed-creation fly my friend Ace man gave me for Christmas. It turns out that fly worked great and in a short time I landed two respectable browns.

That was about it. We were content with our fishing for 2011. However, in order not to be off the river too soon we pulled over on a snow covered gravel bar and had a feast. Back in October Rob killed a respectable bull moose with his bow; not too far downstream from where we were in fact. And every time we hang out we chow on some form of moose. Rob busted out his grill and cooked us up some tasty steaks. The grill and charcoal took a long time to heat up so while we waited we indulged on delicious moose jerky and sausage while sipping tasty Red Hooks.

I think that last paragraph says it all. What a day. What a month. And what another great year. I expect to post one more time this year but it’s a busy week. We’ll see.

Have a safe, fun and happy holiday week!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

A Monster from the Deep

2011-12-20T15:27:00.007-07:00

December 9, 2011

I miss my Granny. I wish she was on her way down to the Amazon and that we were together here for another month. But instead, today was the last fishing day and the journey home begins tomorrow. With that in mind, everyone got up early and headed fishing sooner than any day this week.

Becky and I went with Moe. Dale and Ken went with Matu. This worked out good because in my experience with Moe, he’s the best for big peacocks. And Becky would really like to catch a peacock of over 10lbs as she’s one of the few who hasn’t. She’s worked her little butt off all week but somehow the big guys have eluded her.

We rolled out as usual. And as usual, about ten minutes into the drive I was lost as hell. Moe zigzags through lagoons, rainforest, unheard of rivers etc so fast I don’t know how we ever get back to camp. It’s really cool. This morning we didn’t go as far as normal because at 2 PM we were returning to camp so Becky could join Linda and tour a village and I could meet up with Mark and go catfishing for the final two hours of the trip. Even though we made a short run with Moe, we were still in the boonies!

Our lagoon was long and narrow. For awhile I could hit both sides of the fishy looking water body with a long cast on the right. Becky and I started out hot by catching several gray bar peacocks like there was nothing to it. Their sizes were nice for this species but we fought them fast in order to get the fly right back out there in search of a beast.

There was a lot of activity splashing around mid lagoon. There’s lots of baitfish species that don’t take flies. The guides have various names for them. I often launch a cast at their splashes in hopes something weird takes my fly. Today I landed a picúa, often known as the freshwater barracuda or dogfish. They put up a good little fight but if you don’t have on wire or heavy mono shock tippet you’re likely to lose them because of their teeth. When I caught this one Moe kind of gave me a look of disgust as he really wants some big peacocks in his boat rather than what he considers garbage fish.

Fishing remained hot. Becky racked up more fish than she’d taken in a single day all trip. I too had numerous peacocks. We caught all species of them including this gorgeous little butterfly. On low water years we catch more butterflies than you can imagine but this was the only one Becky and I saw all week. I also got a cast at a pirarucú also known as arapaima. These fish are rare in the Amazon these days because they are delicious, air breathing and easy to harpoon. They reach sizes of over 10 feet long and more than 600lbs! One pirarucú can feed an entire village. The pirarucú I cast to was small, I’m guessing by his disturbance more like five feet long. I cast at him right after he rolled then several cast towards his bubble trail but then he was gone. You can only imagine how bad I want to catch one of these rare fish!

Moe told us we had to leave at 1:30 in order to be back to camp by 2. When he grunted and held is hand up with four fingers we knew we had four minutes left. We’d had a terrific morning of fishing but Becky was still shy her 10lber. There was a great looking sunken tree approaching. I reeled in and said its all yours and watched. Lo and behold, she made one strip and the three of us watched a massive peacock devour her fly. I mean 15lbs or better! It was flipping humongous! And you know what happened? It wouldn’t have mattered who was holding the rod. The rod could have been a 12-weight, a tuna stick or a marlin rig – Becky was toasted!

I heard my 10-weight she was using crackle under the pressure and when her fly line slipped through her bandaged up fingers I swear I smelled something burning. Honestly, this big fish manhandled the situation. Moe usually laughs at people that get worked over by a peacock, but he was shook up. We couldn’t tell if Becky was broke off or just tangled. I guess in a perfect world the fish could have been on. Her line basically went down out of sight under the tree trunk. It came up and back into sight some 20 feet away from us and then over another log and back into the jungle. It was mess. Moe made his usual effort. He had Becky loosen her drag and he went overboard and followed the line into the jungle. If that fish was still attached I’d of eaten my hat. He wasn’t and Becky reeled in and sat down. She was trembling with fright and excitement and said hand me a beer.

Whew! What a way to end the peacock fishing. Becky and I powered down a couple of beers in the half hour run back to camp. It was a great week. Becky didn’t get her fish but man is she ready to come back. I seriously doubt I’ll ever be in Brazil again without her.

While Moe took Becky and Linda off to some Indian village, I hopped in with Mark and his guide to go dunk piranha heads for catfish. We only had two hours to do so but what the heck; it only takes one cast to make things happen. It turns out Mark and Linda catfished all morning and never had a single bite.

The first place we stopped was a high bank in the shade. They had one really good catfish rig on board and I got the luck of using it. Mark used his own which looked like it was very capable of exploding to pieces if he got a big fish on. The guide hooked my up a piranha head and I miraculously casted the bait caster without a backlash. Two seconds after my head was on bottom I got a thump. Piranhas are a nuisance with their pecking and bait stealing, but this felt different. Sure enough I had something big and I wrenched on him.

The fight was on but it was weird. This fish moved slightly then stopped. I’d lift him off bottom a little then he’d manage to get back down. It was almost as if he was stuck – that could easily be. Our guide re-positioned the boat several times while I used everything I had to move this fish. Finally I got a break and the fish started coming up off the bottom. It still felt odd and sure enough the fish was odd. It was a freshwater stingray of about 20lbs. A very interesting, yet dangerous creature. We clicked a quick photo then released him very very carefully.

We thought the action would be good after that, but we never got another bite there or at any other places. At 4:30 we made one last attempt. It was another high bank. The sun was setting. There were some very unusual bird sounds all around us, howler monkeys growling as if in a rage and the constant breaths of the freshwater dolphins up and down the river. It was very special and Mark and I were both reminiscing about the week. It’s been a great one. Then I got that thump again. Only it thumped then nibbled. Then thumped then nibbled. I let out some line and watched it go. Something decent definitely indulged on my piranha head. I lowered the bait casting outfit and reeled till I felt pressure than set the hook like no tomorrow. Fish on!

This fish was no stingray. It absolutely took off downstream. Not only could I see line peeling off the reel, I could feel it bumping off debris along the bottom of the Amazon. The run went on and on. I told the guide it was time to follow but he didn’t understand my English. Mark then started pointing to my reel. There was very little line left. Our guide then fired up the motor and we followed after the fish. Sure enough, the fish became entangled in a snag down deep.

Mark had learned from his catfish earlier in the week that now was time to loosen up the pressure. I did so while our guide moved the boat at several different angles. Each time we moved I’d tighten up again and pull on the fish. He was really stuck, but I could still tell he was there. Nearly ready to give up, we got right over the top of him and I reeled and lifted as hard as I could. This was 80lb braid so I nearly went overboard pulling as hard as I was. Then to my delight and big time surprise I felt my fish break free of his snag.

Our guide asked me to take it easy again and he drove the boat towards mid river. Then he nodded and I started pumping the fish in with all my might. In the middle of the river there are few snags to endanger losing the fish. I had him. And after a short two minutes of reeling and pumping there was my fish. It was a fabulous monster redtail catfish! A true monster of the deep!

I let out a loud cheer. I was very excited to see such an amazing creature come up out of this black water. Now it was time to figure out how we would get it in the boat. The cat was easily 50lbs of pure muscle. It wouldn’t be easy. First we tried to net him in the massive peacock net but then decided against it. Then not using it wouldn’t work so we tried the net again. Our guide got most of the fish in and then he and I lifted the cat on board. I had my massive redtail catfish!

It’s not easy to handle such a fish in the small confines of a tin boat. If you're gonna do it you need to dive in. Don’t be bashful. I’ve waited my entire life to catch a truly giant catfish so I was by no means bashful and I dove in! I wasn’t scared I couldn’t lift him. I wasn’t scared of being spined. I just wrapped my arms around him and went for it. It worked!

Mark clicked off pictures at about every angle possible. I did some sitting down with the fish then I stood up in the bow and strained every muscle in my body to hold him. Finally we took the fish to the shallows and I got out and played with him there. The redtail catfish is a truly amazing creature.

This has been a magnificent week down here with River Plate in the Amazon. And remember, this was high water. The Amazon fishes even better in normal conditions. This place offers some of the greatest fly fishing in the world, and it is one of the greatest fishing adventures you could ever have. Unfortunately I won’t be back for awhile. I could not fill my scheduled trip for February so I canceled my reservations for 2012. However, I will try again for February 2013. If you want to go contact me ASAP. I believe after this week’s blog there could be a waiting list!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

A New Species

2011-12-18T15:58:00.005-07:00

December 8, 2011

I got up early as usual, poured a coffee and strolled around camp. As I was doing so I noticed some shrubs shaking out a ways from shore. I watched thinking I’d see a caiman or a snake or something crazy, but it turns out it was a fish. And probably a big peacock bass. I dropped my coffee and ran for my rod. I chose my 8-weight Ross already rigged with a popper.

When I got back the fish had moved to the next clump of bushes. He was definitely hunting and by now well out of casting range. I tried to wade out, but not a chance. It got deep fast and my wade turned into treading water towards the disturbance. There’s a real art to treading water and casting at the same time, especially when your back casts have to be incredibly accurate as not to tangle in the trees. There was also some current to deal with so as my legs kicked like eggbeaters I was bouncing into trees like the peacock bass. At last I laid a good cast and on the first pop the big peacock devoured my fly. While my casting up to my neck skills are pretty good, my hook set sucked and I missed him. It was peacocks one “Currier” zero before breakfast.

After breakfast I headed out fishing with my long time friend Steve Berry. The only place Steve and I have fished together is in Arizona. We’ve chased grass carp (White Amur) in every pond and lake around the Phoenix area and largemouth bass and smallmouth bass in the outer lakes. Steve and his girlfriend Cinda even guided me into my first Apache trout. But despite how fun all those little jaunts have been, fishing today in the Amazon topped all.

While Becky headed off with Steve’s partner Bill and his guide, Steve and I headed out with my guide Matu. We were anxious and therefore the first boat out. As we took off Matu could sense that Steve and I are long time friends and you could tell he was on a mission to find us some interesting fishing.

After the first speeding jungle run we eased into more of a river than a lagoon. With the water still dropping fast there was a surprisingly lot of current. So far this trip we’ve tried very few of these type places. The area was narrow and I hit the right side while Steve hit the left from the front of the boat. Unfortunately, it became quickly apparent that piranhas love current because both of us had our peacock flies trimmed in the first minutes.

As always, I have my 6-weight handy with a chunk of wire and a red and white Clouser attached to molest a few piranhas. I picked it up quick and nailed a nice one before we were out of the school. Then I saw what appeared to be a peacock place. I switched back to my peacock rod and Steve and I each launched a cast to the peacock fortress. In an instant my fly got smashed. It was a big fish and he immediately tried to pin me back in the logs. As always I began a new blister into my fingers struggling to keep the fish from his safety when snap! I broke him off. My 40lb saltwater tippet snapped on a 10lb fish! I raised my head in despair only to see a cool little monkey spying on me from above.

Steve got a good laugh at that. He was stunned how hard I held on to the fish. And it probably looked like a stupid thing to do. But usually my 40lb holds ok. Certainly if I let him into the logs I wouldn’t have had a chance anyway. No matter how you look at it that wicked peacock won the battle and by now Steve was hooked up. And by the time I re-rigged my leader and a new fly Steve landed two peacocks including one quite respectable.

We must have landed about ten peacocks in that one spot. From there Matu steered us down current with his paddle into an area where it was impossible to cast because we were buried in jungle. Steve and I began flipping our flies into tiny open areas around logs and bushes. Once the fly hit you wouldn’t even strip. We’d twitch our imitations and then swirl a figure 8 with our rod tips. This did the trick and we picked up a few more little peacocks and I also caught about a 14” payara. This payara was different than the little guys I posted two days ago. He was the specie I’m more used to – gray, a little fatter and has a very unique adipose fin as well as black and white ridge a the end of his tail – the kind I’ve caught in the Orinoco of Venezuela.

Steve and I were off to a roaring start. Fishing was looking to be the best it’s been. It was still morning and we each landed about ten. The big boys however were hiding. By 11 AM it was sweltering hot. Since the rain stopped on the second day, each day has gotten hotter. I’m talking the mid 90°s with unbelievably high humidity. It gets so hot that the metal boat deck can burn you. Personally I like fishing barefoot because I don’t have to worry about standing on the line or it tangling around a shoe which leads to disaster when you hook a beast. But the bottoms of my feet started to smolder so on went my flip flops.

We lucked out in the afternoon. The scorching sun was replaced by a thin cloud layer. This allowed me back to my barefoot fishing and the temp dropped to a comfortable low 90ºs. The fish became even more active than they were in the morning and some very unique species came out. There’s a fish down here they call a sardinata. It’s very similar to our American shad. Most the sardinata I’ve taken over the years have had a silver/blue color, but this afternoon I caught a couple that were literally gold. They were absolutely gorgeous!

At 5 PM Matu had us very close to camp. Normally we need to be in by 5 but some of the other boats passed us on their way in so they knew where we were and staying out a little later wasn’t an issue. Everything was eerily still. There were few squawking birds including huge toucan that watched our every move. And when you cast into the jungle you could only see blackness beyond the splat of your fly. We were continuing to catch lots of peacocks and I pulled in yet another cool species called a bicuda. Then Steve yanked on a beauty. It was a monster and in two seconds the brute went around a tree and snapped him off. You know how we know it was big? Because Steve got re-rigged and quickly hooked this fish and landed him. This fish was NOTHING compared to the one that got away!

What a great day. Steve and I combined for more than 40 peacocks and I multi-specied like one can only do in the Amazon. I’m sure the next time we chase the grass carp we’ll spend most the time reminiscing about today. In fact everyone did well today and as always we celebrated around camp. The only bad thing is that tomorrow is the last day. . .

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

In Need of a Slump Buster

2011-12-16T16:05:00.004-07:00

December 7, 2011

We awoke to just another spectacular Amazon sunrise. I was up at 5 and strolled around camp. It appeared the water dropped about six to eight inches while we slept. All the floating cabins were tilted from the loss of water. This should be good news for the fishing I thought.

Today I was back in the boat with Becky and Matu. We took off on the usual machete-chopping and paddling adventure through the rainforest and finally into a lagoon of untouched paradise. Becky and I got right to work casting to all the nooks and crannies retrieving our flies from as far back in the jungle as we could reach. I had a constant feeling that something big was following my fly on every cast.

Three hours into the morning that confident feeling started to slip away. Becky and I hadn’t hooked a single fish. It was especially tough on Becky because although she caught several fish yesterday, they all came in the morning. She was now more than 24 hours into a fishless period, very unusual for peacock fishing. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t getting it done. Becky has truly grasped this style of fishing. Her fly is always in the zone. It was simply a bad slump.

We did have the luck though of seeing some fantastic Amazon wildlife. At least three giant Amazon otters entered the lagoon we were fishing. I heard some splashing behind us and expected to see a pink dolphin only to see an otter. At first they were shy, but gradually they worked their way near our boat. Then it all made sense, otters that are over six feet long probably don’t attract fish.

At 11 AM we were in a new lagoon and I declared we were not going to be skunked at noon – absolutely not. I’m not sure what I meant or what I had in mind. It wasn’t like we needed to do anything special, we were fishing hard. But my declaration worked and finally I stuck a good one. It was a spot that Becky already hit several times from the front of the boat, but sometimes the peacocks observe repeated presentations before sealing the deal. This fish was encouraging and we expected things to turn for the good. Surprisingly, the fish continued to elude us.

Despite struggling, I was catching some fish. Unfortunately I was catching them and Becky wasn’t. I couldn’t figure it out. She was hitting all the spots. She had a great fly. It was just a bad slump. In addition to her bad fishing luck, the blister on Becky’s casting hand exploded. The wound looked extremely painful yet it didn’t stop her.

I think everyone who really fishes has been in one of these crazy slumps. It happens. I’ve certainly had some ridiculous ones in my fishing life. Luckily they never go on forever and Becky nailed her “slump buster” at 4 PM. It was a gorgeous speckled peacock. Poor Becky was almost too exhausted to smile. And notice the bee buzzing her head? That crazy annoying bee-fly-thing had been buzzing her head for hours. When she let this peacock go the terrorist bee flew away and Becky nailed another peacock on her very next cast.

Evidently swimming around camp is getting popular. Ken and I swim every night but tonight Becky and Steve joined us. It was a scorcher of a day even for the Amazon and the swim felt fantastic. Then it was caipirinha and beer time. I could keep this lifestyle up for awhile!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Bummer Mr. Tapir

2011-12-15T11:34:00.001-07:00

December 6, 2011

Becky wasn’t crazy about the idea of me jumping in with Dale today as she and I have been having a blast fishing together, but as group host I like to fish with the others if it’s possible. And today actually worked out fine because Becky got to fish with Steve whom she knew before the trip and they definitely had fun together. Fishing has been a little slow for Dale so my goal today was to try and figure out why. Also nice was I got to fish with Dales guide Moe who I enjoyed fishing with last time I was in Brazil. In fact, the last day Moe and I fished together I landed an 11lb and a 13lb peacock.

One thing Moe likes to do is get deep into the jungle. He has been guiding and running these waters longer than any of the guides. He has so many secret spots that I’m lost about ten minutes into our boat ride. It’s really amazing how well he knows this area. Today he ran Dale and me for about 45 minutes before we eased into a gorgeous little lagoon. A lagoon that had a few monster caiman lurking.

It took about two seconds to realize Dale could cast. Casting certainly wasn’t causing him not to catch fish. Dale can hit the targets and his fly was landing where the fish were. But it was his line control. When you land your fly for peacocks it's essential to get an immediate strip. When a fly hits the water it attracts attention and sometimes an instant strike. If you are making a strip you hook the fish. If you’re still reaching for your line you can miss them easily. The other thing is if you think about a creature falling in the water – its not going to just sit there. The creature starts struggling. So your fly needs instant action. I advised Dale and he made an effort to get that first strip going quicker.

I landed a nice peacock almost immediately after we started. My catch made it obvious how important that first strip really is. Sure enough Dale started getting some looks at his fly too. By now the sun was cranking up the heat and adding a morning glow to the submerged rainforest. It was really spectacular when wham! Dales fly was consumed and all hell broke loose! It was a huge fish and unlike me where I hold on tight to the line until my fingers catch on fire, this big boy stole the line and in seconds snapped Dale off in the trees. Moe and I smiled and with a look of panic on his face Dale asked what happened? Then we laughed and I told Dale the line always slips but to try not to let it happen so soon. I’m telling you, when a big peacock eats IT IS SCARY!

An hour later I was the one getting schooled. Dale was resting and Moe was challenging my casting skills deep in the jungle. It was like being in a shooting gallery. It was a real kick trying to cast both lefty and righty as well as back hands and forward casts. I even slipped in a few roll casts to hit the unhittable spots. On one of my retrieves there was a huge boil behind my fly. I’d landed a few more small peacocks but this swirl was serious. Moe advised to rest the spot so we paddled away for ten minutes then went back. I changed to a Warpath jiglike fly and tossed it to the area where the big fish hung out. On the first strip I got pulverized and I clamped down on the line with all my might. Not a chance. This brute pulled the line from me within seconds and took for the forest. He purposely went around a couple trees and then snap. Only this wasn’t my 40lb leader. I lost two feet of the end of my fly line. Yikes! Giant peacocks are unreal!

The real monsters can manhandle about anyone with a rod. I don’t care if you’re an expert fly fisher or even a professional bait caster with 80lb test braid, peacocks frequently win. Other than an enormous lizard that leaped into the water after my fly and luckily missed it, our midday fishing was a little slow. The main reason was that Moe was searching us out a big fish. He saw us each break one off, now he wanted one in the boat. As he paddled us along the forest he noticed a disturbance in the middle of the lagoon. It was bubbles from a big peacock. And it was far from the forest. This peacock was 100 feet from the nearest snag. “Cast”, Moe screamed to Dale as he pointed. Not knowing peacocks ever leave their fortress Dale questioned Moe. “Why cast out there? There’s no fish out in the middle of the lagoon”, Dale stated. That’s when I yelled cast and pointed until finally he launched. He made a great cast. “Strip fast”, I shouted. The next thing I knew Dale was hooked up.

Again the line squirted away from Dale and the big fish charged for the trees. “Stop him! Stop him!” I was freaking out. Finally Dale at least slowed the fish to the point that when he reached some bushes he was tired. And when the peacock got tangled in the bushes he didn’t have enough left in his tank to break Dale off. He was stuck and we just needed to dig him out.

Moe is one of the best and overboard he went and into the brush with his Boga. There was a bit of commotion when the fish saw Moe's face but he really was spent. Moe slipped the Boga to the peacocks’ mouth, cut Dales leader and swam out with the fish. Moe is awesome! He handed the fish to Dale and Dale landed what appeared to be one of the greatest fish of his life. I know the look. It’s a smile from ear to ear and the rest of his face and body was in shock. Dale went from not catching many fish to catching an 11lb Godzilla!

No ones day could have gotten any better after that. I love to see a friend catch a big fish. Dale was glowing. Moe had the pressure off and so did I. We fished a little more this afternoon and I ended up with ten fish. Dale only got one but it seemed like a hundred. Dale doesn’t drink beer at all but he had one with me on the ride home.

The ride home was interesting. There isn't much boat traffic out in the boonies of the Amazon. We don’t even see many locals in dugouts. But there’s been a decrepit boat on the river the last couple days. It turns out they were locals from the village of Vale and they were hunting. When we saw them on the way to camp tonight Moe brought us over to see what they were up to. They had just shot a tapir for dinner. It was skinned out and dressed and the hunters were very pleased. I’ve never eaten tapir but they resemble a pig, a cow and perhaps even a small elephant. I’ll bet they taste great.

When we got back to camp I took a swim. You can swim in the Amazon as long as you keep your feet out of the water, otherwise you’ll lose your toes to piranha. Actually unless you’re bleeding to death and thrashing in the water a piranha attack on humans is rare. What you do have to worry about though are caimans and anacondas. They don’t scare me however – I’m just a crazy. . . . !

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Hunt for Kitty

2011-12-14T13:22:00.001-07:00

December 5, 2011

Despite being a hardcore fly fisher, I’m completely aware the world offers a few fish that are unlikely to eat my fly. Giant Amazon catfish are one of these fish. Every trip to the Amazon I spend at least a few hours dunking piranha heads into the deep black water of the Amazon River system. In one of my fishing dreams I see myself straining to hold a true whiskered beast.

I encourage my guests to devote a little “catfish” time as well. I talked about catfishing well in advance for this trip knowing the high water would make fly fishing tough. To kick back and hold a bait rod while resting the casting arm can do even the most dedicated fly fisher a world of good. And catfishing isn’t like the bait fishing many of us are used to – catfishing in the Amazon is never boring.

My group this week is more excited to spend time chasing catfish than ever before. So today we all set out to chase catfish together. After the usual early breakfast we set off for the rich piranha grounds to catch as many of the toothy terrors as we could for catfish bait. We all began tossing the 6-weights with a chunk of wire and a red and white Clouser. This set up normally works great for piranha fly fishing, but this morning very few were caught on the fly. I landed only one small white piranha. However while trying for piranha I caught a heap of baby payara – a fish more toothy than piranha!

While the rest of us were struggling to catch piranha on fly our guides were reeling them in on bait. Before we knew it each boat was ready to dunk for cats. The only problem was we had a limited hook supply. Camp normally has catfish stuff around but for some reason there was hardly anything this week. They provided us light bait casting outfits and a very limited hook supply. Unfortunately due to snags and more piranhas biting off our hooks, most of us were out of hooks within an hour and catfishing was over. The only ones to continue were Mark and Linda. Mark was chopping up old flies in order to get more hooks.

Switching back to fly fishing for peacocks isn’t exactly heartbreaking. As always Matu took us off through the rainforest to another of his secret lagoons. Unlike previous days, the first stop produced a handful of small peacocks. Most of them were nice sized gray bars with a few speckled and three barred ones mixed in. I also landed one of the biggest jacunda I’ve ever seen. Jacunda are another of the many cichlid species of the Amazon drainage yet rarely get bigger than about a foot long. This one was a dandy!

Peacock fishing was the best it’s been. Becky, Matu and I chased after them till about 4 PM and caught a bunch. I snuck in another nice one about 7lbs. I really want Becky to get herself a good one but so far only the smaller ones are cooperating. At 4 we ran into Mark and Linda and they were still catfishing. They had found a spot with few hook stealing piranhas and less snags so they weren’t losing hooks like crazy. Best of all they had landed a nice redtail catfish about 20lbs and lost a big one they estimated to be around 50lbs. I got really excited hearing this and Matu decided to steal some hooks off an old plug he had in the boat. We were catfishing again.

We had one hour of catfishing. During that hour I had two cats eat my sunken piranha head. Unfortunately I blew the hook set on my first. And the second one was too big to handle. This fish scorched out about twenty feet of line and got hung in a snag. I could feel him thumping down there and we did everything we could to pull him loose. The beast would have none of it and finally broke me off. It’s amazing how strong Amazon catfish species are and now I’m just wondering how big he was. Damn!

We had a really fun night around camp. The staff fed us some piranha fingers that were scrumptious and I sucked a few Skol beers while everyone else indulged in strong caipirinhas. Tonight’s sunset was incredible like many sunsets in the Amazon are. We’re not even half way through the week and everyone is catching fish and having a great time.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Blackwater Surprises

2011-12-13T17:04:00.002-07:00

December 4, 2011

It’s hard to beat waking up in a camp on the banks of the Amazon. Some of the coolest birds make their morning calls. Dolphin chase bait in front of your cabin. And the camp staff has delicious coffee made by 5:30. Life really doesn’t get any better.

I got up around 5 AM. Believe it or not I was freezing. Obviously it’s not cold here but River Plate cabins actually have air conditioners. Becky and I accidentally set ours so cold we froze to death. So bad that I turned it completely off in the middle of the night only to awake about an hour later just roasting. Then back on again and freezing by daylight. I ended up opening both doors and the windows to let the hot air back in. This morning John told us exactly what number to set our air conditioner at and we should be set for the rest of the week.

Breakfast is served at 6 AM in camp and the sooner you finish the quicker you head out fishing. Here at River Plate guides are eager to go and ready when you are. Becky awoke to a dismal looking rod hand. You may remember I said this trip is her first time casting heavy rods, well let’s just say she developed some aches and pains. She says her wrist is killing her and she has a terrible blister on her hand. Luckily, she’s about as close to a doctor as you can be and she fixed it up with some goo and tape. She’s also a maniac like her older brother and after the first half hour fishing she wore away the pain.

Fishing started rough for us again. Luckily there were no equipment failures. My artillery of Ross Rods and Reels and my Scientific Angler lines were doing their part. We simply couldn’t find the fish. I lucked into one tiny speckled peacock but that was all we got before lunch.

Lunch generally consists of a woofing of a sandwich in the shade. But due to the slowness of today, Matu set Becky and me up with some hammocks. We relaxed in the shade, ate and drank a beer. Then Matu took us on one of his jungle-maze runs and we popped out in a beautiful lagoon. Becky and I were stoked and overflowing with confidence, but I heard Matu growl and looked back only to get hand signals from him that the water here was much too high. Knowing this would likely be the case everywhere I signaled back that I was willing to give it a try.

This appeared to be a great time for Becky to rest her arm so I went to work casting from the bow while Matu eased me along with an electric trolling motor. Even though I wasn’t catching any fish I was having a good time. One thing about peacock fishing is that the deeper into the jungle you land a cast the better you do. At this particular spot casting was like a game. I wasn’t even thinking about fish. I was just taking casting risks one after another lucking into a few casts that surprised the hell out of me. But it wasn’t some great cast twenty feet back through a small gap in the forest that drew the first strike. The brutal attack on my fly occurred about ten feet out towards the boat. And it’s a good thing.

Big peacock bass hit a fly harder than any freshwater fish I’ve ever met. They make trout and our bass seem like wimps. They hit harder than Nile perch, tigerfish, pike and the list goes on. They hit and run so ferociously it scares you and it often takes a miracle to stop them. This peacock that hit me dropped me to my knees. I fish a ridiculously strong five feet of straight 40lb shock tippet and that’s my leader. I attach it to a whipped loop on the fly line that I make myself. It’s the only way to have a chance. What dropped me to my knees was that at first I attempted not to let the huge fish run because if I did he would run so far back in the submerged trees, vines, bushes and etc that I’d never see him again.

Even with 40lb test, my 9-weight Ross and a lot of experience with peacocks I could only hold on for a few seconds. Gradually the line burned through my clenched hands, thumb and fingers. But my efforts slowed him enough. The one weakness of a peacock bass is that their fierce run is short lived. They give everything for about fifteen seconds. Then they fight about half as much and you steer them into the middle of the lagoon. I led my fish to Matu's massive net after about four minutes.

You could say that Becky was in a state of shock. She was very impressed with what turned out to be a 13lb peacock. But it was the power of the peacock that awed her most. She was flat out frightened. This fishes strike and run had me grunting and groaning, nearly yanked me off the bow and bent my rod deeper than you could do by hand before finally giving in. Becky gave me a nervous smile, shook her head and said had she not seen that fight with her own eyes she would never believe it. And she said she wouldn’t have had a chance.

Everyone has a chance. Fish do stupid things just like people. Probably not as many though. I just put the screws to the fish long enough to get him. My hands too were now messed up. I’d put line blisters across my thumb and several fingers. Worthwhile scars and I hope there are more to come.

I acquired another wound while handling the beefy peacock. Just as I took him off the Boga for a few pics before releasing him, the muscular fish started a tantrum and his dorsal spines clipped my leg. My leg was a bloody mess that even after I stopped the bleeding, ached from the poison that all fish spines leave. No big deal though. We usually get the fish but sometimes they get you. It’s all part of the deal.

The rest of our day remained decent. Becky and I went on to nail about a dozen more peacocks including one of 7lb. When we got to camp I learned of mixed reports from the rest of the group. Ken and Dale had a rough day. They nailed just a couple small peacocks and Dale took a hook to the lip. He’ll be alright. Steve and Bill each caught a fish and Steve fell in. All is good though as Steve held onto the rod and didn’t lose any body parts to piranhas. We can laugh about it now. Mark and Linda had and exceptional day. They landed many peacocks and Linda landed this beautiful 12lb giant. In these conditions – absolutely fantastic!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Higher than High

2011-12-12T15:58:00.001-07:00

December 3, 2011

Last night Becky and I rolled into the Tropical Hotel in Manaus, Brazil at about 11:30 PM absolutely exhausted from the long two days of travel from the States. Our overnight at this hotel was the last leg of the journey before heading to the Amazon today. Most of my seven guests arrived on earlier flights and were sound asleep, all but my buddy Steve Berry from Phoenix who was in the bar waiting for us. Once Becky and I checked in we joined him for one late night brew.

During our brew I was quickly informed that our flight into camp was leaving at 5 AM sharp. In past trips we’ve never left for the Amazon before about 1 PM. The early departure was great news however here we were tired as can be having a midnight beer. We pounded the Brahma fast and headed to the room for the short sleep.

As expected the 4 AM wake up call came quick but we bounced from bed and headed for the lobby for a snack and coffee. Before we knew it we were at the Manaus domestic airport weighing our gear to prove we were light enough to board our amphibian Caravan plane. Once that was done we were on our way. I couldn’t believe we got this early of a start!

The flight into camp on the Xeurini River takes about 11/2 hour. We hit some huge pockets of rain and dodged some massive thunderheads but soon I looked below and saw camp. After a sound water landing we were greeted by fishing guides in their boats and were hustled into camp where we met camp manager John. John gave us a short orientation and then a rundown on the fishing. The water is higher than high and fishing will be tough. Tougher than tough actually, and he made it very clear fly fishing may not prove successful at all.

The camp I use for this trip is operated by River Plate Outfitters. I book the famous “floating tent camp” for eight anglers. Most those in this trip are friends however on some years I am short a few and offer the trip to anyone. If you love cool fish in an adventurous environment this is the trip and you can contact me to see if I have room for next year.

“Fly Fishing may not prove successful” are tough words for me to swallow. Evidently they are tough words for my group to swallow as well for not one of them flinched or showed any fear towards the camp manager John’s statement. They simply let John finish his spiel and then headed to their tents to unpack and rig the fly rods.

All eight of us were fishing before 9 AM. Becky and I fished with a local guide named Matu. Matu doesn’t speak a lick of English and hardly any Spanish. In fact, I’m not even sure he speaks Portuguese, the language of Brazil, and therefore he is extremely hard to communicate with. Nevertheless, Matu can run the River Plate fishing boat and knows where the fish are.

This is only my third trip to the Xeurini River yet it didn’t take much for me to realize just how high the water was. It’s literally about six feet above the banks. And sure enough at the first place we stopped we were casting into deeply submerged trees. The problem with high water is that the peacock bass can swim far back into the forest where the boat can’t go. The jungle is basically flooded. No matter how close you cast to the structure, the fish could be another 100yds further back into the trees and never see your fly. At the first spot we stopped Becky and I cast relentlessly for over an hour and saw nothing. Not only did we go fishless but I shattered my 8-weight in the middle of a cast. The very rod that performed so well on the Wisconsin musky trip last month. I’m not sure why it broke but I do know this was a very bad start!

I had several other back up rods on board so by the time we got to Matu’s next fishing spot Becky and I were ready. We’d driven, paddled and macheted through about a mile of tropical rain forest to get to this place and because we were so far back the depth was relatively shallow. It would be hard for peacock bass to hide from us here. The only problem was you could hardly cast because of all the overhanging trees and dangling vines. This kind of fishing is all new to Becky so I sort of stayed back and watched her get familiar with the tight casting. Also, Becky has never chucked a big stick before so the 8-weight took some getting used to as well. Like most first timers to peacock fishing she spent a fair amount of time tangling in the overhead trees and snagging on sunken logs. This is always entertaining because most trees have a few sleeping bats and Becky was waking them up left and right!

Meanwhile I was still a little ticked about breaking a rod in the first hour. I bring a bunch of extras expecting a few rod fatalities amongst my group but not this soon and not without a fish. But gradually the broken rod frustration faded and I started nailing some decent casts to where fish just had to live. Soon enough I nailed my first peacock of the trip – a very encouraging sign.

Our day improved from there. Becky and I ended up catching ten peacocks today. Becky got her first two and really learned a lot and fine tuned her casting. The peacocks we caught consisted of a mostly what is called the gray bar or fire belly. These are beautifully colored peacocks usually glowing in orange around the gill flaps and then have a gray smudged bar above the belly. Then they have a few spots along the back. They are one of the smaller peacock species and rarely get more than 3lbs.

Today was a great day to start the trip. Everyone in my group except for Ken caught fish. The wildness of the Amazon was evident with all the gorgeous birds and we saw a ton of the famous freshwater dolphins. The high water is a threat but it appears we may be able to work through it. Now the biggest fear we have is that the water may come up more. We experienced some heavy rains several times today. The rain felt good because it cooled us down in the steamy jungle but we don’t want the water to rise anymore.

I’m really exhausted now and its time to score the first decent sleep since I left Victor. Hopefully tomorrow we can get into some of the larger peacock bass species and the water doesn’t rise. Stay tuned.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Almost There

2011-12-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

December 2, 2011

My sister Becky and I survived the overnight flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil with flying colors and find ourselves in a 9 hour layover waiting to fly to Manaus, Brazil tonight. We’re doing our best to kill off the time. I sorted flies, walked every square inch of the airport and now we’re sucking a few local beers and watching the people. We arrive in Manaus tonight around 11 PM and tomorrow we fly into the Xeurini River to start fishing.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

On the Way

2011-12-01T09:41:00.001-07:00

The long journey has begun. I’m presently at the San Francisco airport en route to the Amazon. It was a snowy windy night in Victor, Idaho. My flight left Idaho Falls at 6 AM. Needless to say I couldn’t sleep to well worrying about the morning road conditions and the fact that I had to leave my house by 3 AM. As expected, the roads were treacherous all the way to the airport and it was a good thing I gave myself some extra time.

The flight from IF to San Fran was a cake walk and my next jump is to Houston. My younger sister Becky is on this Amazon trip so I will meet her in Houston and tonight we fly together to San Paulo, Brazil. We’ll get in around 11 AM tomorrow morning. We have most of the day to kill there before we fly up to Manaus, Brazil and sleep there and meet up with my group. Then Saturday we take the bush flight into the Xeurini River.

Fishing conditions look to be difficult. It’s unfortunate because I have a great group of folks. In fact, this is the group I was taking last March and we had to reschedule at the last minute because of flood conditions. Anyhow, water levels are high but not enough to cancel again thank goodness.

It’s been a challenging year in the Amazon. Many trips have suffered the consequence of high water. What it adds up to is far less fish caught overall because the fish can literally swim deep into the rainforest where boats can’t reach them. And you don’t exactly wade around in the Amazon. The blame goes on El Nino causing far more moisture than normal.

We’ll give it our best. I should note that catfishing is supposed to be excellent during high water. The Amazon has some of the world’s largest and most amazing looking catfish imaginable. You can expect I’ll be dunking a piranha at least a few times this week.

As always I will report about each and every day of the adventure. However it’s likely I will not have much internet access until after the trip. Stay tuned – this is going to be interesting!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

SF

2011-11-28T06:06:00.002-07:00

This will be one of the shortest blogs ever as I’m a little pressed for time. I floated the South Fork today. It’s possible this was the last time this year but hopefully I’ll get out in December. As usual the fish were all over the streamers. Here are a few pics from the day.

The reason for the short blog is that I’m leading a group to the Amazon starting Thursday. I haven’t packed a thing. We are faced with high water again but this time not quite as bad as when we rescheduled in March and we’re going to deal with it. That means organizing some specialty sinking lines and carefully chosen deep riding flies. And a variety of odd flies so I can take advantage of some of the smaller less sought after species that prowl around. I might even set us up for some catfishing. The Amazon has some of the largest most interesting catfish on the planet!

Even better, many of you reacted to my post about putting some “Currier” under the Christmas tree. I’ve been busy as heck drawing up Cliff Fly Boxes and filling mug and t-shirt orders. If I got your order it’s on the way. In that post I forgot to mention I also stock the new “Connect” movie by Confluence Films as well as Mikey Weirs “Soulfish 2” – both superb DVD’s at $29.95. I’ll be shipping goods again on December 13th - plenty of time for Christmas.

It’s impossible for me to report while in the Amazon. I hope to give a quick update from Manaus, Brazil on Saturday morning just before we fly into camp. I’ll write up my blogs every night after fishing but realistically they won’t start posting until around December 10th. They should be worth waiting for!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Changes

2011-11-27T18:15:00.007-07:00

An eye catching trend has occurred in my life. In 2009 I fished 14 days in November. Six of were in Baja. Last year in November I fished eight days. Five were in Africa. But as of today I have only four days fishing in November. Luckily I’ll raise it to five tomorrow but I believe I’m getting more dedicated to my self employment. I heard that it takes two years to blow the steam and then you get serious. That theory is right on.

What helped me most was that winter came early to Idaho. That always leads to more time indoors and less fishing. Here’s a glimpse of just a few of my November art projects.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

No Other Boats & No Ice in the Guides

2011-11-22T08:21:00.004-07:00

It’s a special time of year. I’m not quite tired of the snow. I’m not yet sick of the sun not rising until 8 AM. So far I can even handle darkness at 5 PM. Temps aren’t too cold and because it’s mid November, and I enjoy the fact that trout have normally crowded rivers all to themselves – almost that is. Actually it’s that time of year when trout spend time with me and “gurus” Tom Montgomery and Paul Bruun on the South Fork of the Snake.

It was snowing sideways when I left the house at 9 AM today to meet up with friends Paul and Tom. They left from Jackson, Wyoming towing Paul’s South Fork Skiff. After a slick drive we met at the Husky boat ramp and floated down to the Spring Creek Bridge. Despite snowy roads for each of us we met and launched with ease.

The temperature was a surprisingly warm 40º. Warm enough to row without gloves. By now the falling snow tapered off but the cloud cover was thick. It never got bright and in fact all day long it looked like the last hour of daylight – even at noon. There was a stiff breeze at our start. The wind was blowing straight downstream but after an hour or so on the water that wind stopped and the day was balmy.

Fishing was outstanding. Paul took the oars to begin. I was ready to rock with my three streamer rig (I plan to explain this soon) and three casts into the day I landed a strong 15” rainbow. Tom was up front rigging his rod. I undid my bow and three casts later I landed a 16” brown trout. This was going to be a heck of a day.

The brown trout ate my middle fly. This always takes a little extra care to avoid tangling my long level 0X three fly leader. Once I took all my precautions I tossed my flies overboard and went to cast. I wasn’t quite tight and the point fly of my loosely flying set up caught Paul about a ½ inch from his eyeball. Because it was so dark, Paul wasn’t wearing his sunglasses, however luckily he had on his normal clear prescription glasses. As always, my fly was barbless and although scary for a minute, no harm was done. Cigar time.

From there on out I tightened up my casts. I took a little crap from the “gurus” but went on to continue to tear up the fish. Tom was in the action by now too and immediately caught a lengthy colorful cutthroat.

A lot of snow melted today. After the last storm there was over a foot of snow at valley level but by afternoon the south facing banks of the South Fork were clear of snow. Red squirrels and birds were digging around enjoying a good feed knowing the opportunity to forage on snowless ground won’t last long. We had a few bugs on the water but nothing like the midge hatch last week. Often times, even though you might expect great hatches because it was warm out, the rush of melting snow drops the river water temperature and actually slows down the hatch. Today was definitely the case of that.

Other than a few whitetail deer along the banks the only wildlife we saw were the birds and squirrels. But the trout seemed happy as can be. We experienced one slow period for less than an hour but overall we caught fish throughout the day. Species were an even mix of browns, rainbows and cutthroats. Tom even snuck in a whitefish, not the usual catch on a streamer but this time of year you get about one a day.

We were in no rush to get off the river. It wasn’t exactly a summer night, but the way we were dressed we were just as warm as on a summer night. So warm that we took our time and fished right into the dark. Once we got Paul’s boat loaded on the trailer we took the time to suck down a cold one at the ramp before taking off. During the time we decided we’ll try to do this again on Monday. I’m leaving with a group for the Amazon on Thursday so it all depends on whether I’m packed for the jungle or not. This is the trip I had to reschedule from last March.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Gigantic Brown Trout!

2011-11-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last week my friend Doug McKnight of Livingston, Montana called to invite me to streamer fish the Yellowstone River with him. Dougy promised me that this is the time when you have a chance at some really big brown trout. He wasn’t kidding!

Unfortunately I opted out on Dougy’s offer. I’m more focused on my work than I’ve been since I set out on my self employment quest. To take four days off would surely screw up my rhythm. But maybe I should have. The very next day Dougy caught this massive 31” brown on one of his own creations, the Home Invader Streamer. Perhaps I should have screwed up my rhythm!

Off to the South Fork tomorrow.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

South Fork

2011-11-16T06:33:00.002-07:00

I don’t know what I’ve been thinking lately. It’s November 16th and I haven’t chucked a streamer on the South Fork this month. Sure I got a heck of a lot of required work and projects done, but at the expense of some of my favorite trout fishing of the year. Not smart. As I always preach to my friends who make excuses not to fish or go places, “This aint a dress rehearsal”. Who knows where we’ll be next November.

Recent blog star Weldon Jones and good friend Andy Asadorian joined me on the South Fork today. Like many of my friends, Andy too worked for me in the fly shop for years. He’s now the main man at Will Dornan’s Snake River Anglers in Jackson, Wyoming. And may I add, one of the most hardcore young anglers I know.

The temperature was a whopping 1º F this morning. Yes, you’re reading this correct and yes we went floating. Winter has arrived early in the Yellowstone Country and believe it or not, today was about the best looking weather day in the 10 day forecast.

At 9 AM we hooked my boat up to Weldon’s truck and headed over Pine Creek pass to the South Fork. We were making first cast at about 10:30, and Weldon and Andy were cracking ice from the rod guides by 10:32. Being the oldest and wisest, I offered to take the oars first to stay warm and in hopes of a rise in temps by the time I pulled out my rod.

About an hour long session one went poorly. The boys didn’t land a fish and spent a lot of time clearing guides. After a warm up break on shore I pulled my out my Ross 6-weight all strung up with a WF6S Scientific Anglers Stillwater line. Attached was my usual rig of 16 feet of OX SA Flouro and three streamers. As always I had a heavy bugger on the point, five feet up the level leader a yellow streamer and on top an unweighted mini leech.

I don’t know if the cold effects leader material but two minutes into my fishing a modest sized cutthroat ate my top fly and he was gone. I didn’t even feel him. A few casts later I realized he’d broke me off at the knot. Being that my 0X is nearly 13lb I hardly ever get broke off by a trout. I still had two flies attached so I continued fishing and soon landed a brown trout about 16 inches and similar sized rainbow.

The morning was slow but reminded me of how much I love floating the South Fork in November. The wildlife was tremendous as always. Although not much more then a few beavers and muskrats in the mammal department, the birds were unreal. I’ll bet I counted twenty bald eagles and thousands of ducks. There were even a few robins and killdeers that were stocking up on protein from an enormous midge hatch that blanketed the rocks and snow patches along the rivers edge.

Fishing improved dramatically in the afternoon. It wasn’t because things warmed up however. The temps hardly changed and we had a downstream wind with us all day to cool things off even further. Although we didn’t catch any “big” fish, there were plenty of “quality” cutthroats, browns and occasional rainbows to play with. I even had a cutthroat double on briefly. Unfortunately one fell off when I put the heat on to get them to the boat fast. Two fish on one cast is a pretty cool feat and this would have been the second of the season – darn!

We reached the take out just at dark. The boat ramp was a glaze of hard packed snow and ice. While some daredevils often chose to back their trucks down such a ramp, we wisely dragged my boat up to the road and loaded it on the trailer before even starting Weldon’s truck. Then without any chance of getting stuck were on our way.

When I got home tonight I was very pleased to check my email and see two painting orders, some Cliff fly box art requests and two article needs. I’m a lucky guy to have all the work. But these jobs aren’t going to keep me off the South Fork several more times this month. Today was a precious reminder of how much I love it there in November with friends. Stay tuned for more fishing reports and feel free to keep those orders coming!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

A Little Currier Under the Christmas Tree

2011-11-11T18:47:00.003-07:00

An entire week has passed and I did not go fishing! I’m feeling it. But it has been catch up week. I’ve been working on several paintings that customers have been patiently waiting on, wrote and article for an English Fly Fishing Magazine, organized some issues on my Brazil trips and I even winterized the yard.

With Christmas sneaking up on us it’s time to think about purchasing some “Currier” product to put under the tree. I have excellent stock of coffee mugs with my artwork on them. These have been very popular gifts for the angler that has everything. These hefty coffee mugs are offered with many popular fish species on them and can be viewed and ordered on mywebsite.

I have plenty of Simms T-shirts with my art on them. There are many kinds of fish to choose from including the new brown trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, golden trout, carp and a few bass. Some of these are available in your choice of short sleeve or long sleeve.

I have full stock on both my books. I’d be happy to autograph and personalize the books for you or the person you’re giving it too for Christmas.

If you want to remember that special catch you or someone made this year, let me paint the trophy for you. With winter in full swing here in Idaho I’m ready to paint. Check out my watercolors and prices on my website.

Feel free to contact me about any of these items.

As for fishing, a few more days of work at home then it will be time for the South Fork.

Jeff Currier Global FlyFishing Website

Frrrrrrreeeezing!

2011-11-05T08:04:00.005-06:00

When you can hardly handle the cold in your own house, that’s usually a good indication it’s too damn chilly to go fishing. You should just quit being cheap, put the heat on and stay home. But my friends Rob Parkins, Weldon Jones and Neil Chamberlin and I are idiots. We went anyhow. Why? Why not?

I’m not kidding. We awoke to snow, wind and another 16º morning. My magpies were scrambling for food – digging through the fresh snow trying to find the laker heads I tossed on the lawn from Lewis Lake the other day. The birdbath has been frozen for two weeks. Time to face it – it's winter in the Yellowstone area. But that doesn’t mean no more fishing. There are plenty of good venues still. Jackson Lake, which is closed to fishing for the month of October for lake trout spawning, reopens in November. If you can stand the cold, it can be the best lake fishing of the year. So off we went into the storm.

Jackson Lake is in Grand Teton National Park directly under the Teton Mountain Range. The lake is truly one of the most beautiful on the planet. I used to fish Jackson all the time both through the ice and open water but the last ten or so years I hardly ever get there. After the great day on Lewis Lake on Thursday, Jackson Lake seemed like a logical place to fish and spank a bunch more lake trout on the fly.

The drive to the lake was terrible. No one in their right mind would consider traveling over Teton Pass, the mountain pass that separates my house from the lake, unless you absolutely had to. The winding mountain road was shear ice and this time of year there are no snow banks to save you from skidding off a cliff. Even after we put the pass behind us, the drive across antelope flats up to Jackson Lake was treacherous. And pulling a boat on the trailer - yikes! But I already declared us “idiots”.

Once we got there is when that stupid feeling hit us. What in the world were we doing here? It was colder, snowier and windier than when we left home – just like the forecast said it would be. But there was no turning back. Then we’d really be idiots. So with fear of backing down the icy boat ramp and not being able to get back up, Rob bravely went for it. And just as the trailer entered the water, Rob’s truck started to slide into the lake. From my point of view it looked like disaster had finally struck. But miraculously there was enough bare cement where the waves were washing up and Rob’s truck got a grip. After a deep breath and a laugh boat number one was in.

Neil was a little hesitant to launch his boat. Neil is the only one that’s never been on my blog. Like most my friends, Neil worked for me in the fly shop and went on to be an excellent guide, now a school teacher and most important a great friend. Anyhow, after some encouragement Neil went for it and luckily he had no trouble. We were in and on our way, Weldon and me in one boat and Rob and Neil in the other.

It’s always an interesting feeling being on a lake and knowing that if you were to somehow end up overboard your dead. You literally don’t have a chance because of the cold. Lifejackets are virtually useless. They simply allow search and rescue to find your body. That’s kind of where my thoughts were when I looked down to see that I knocked loose the boat plug with my sorrel! Oh my God I screeched! All while scrambling to find the plug and at the same time steering the motor towards shore with hopes we’d make it there. There the plug was. I grabbed it and jammed it into the gushing stream. Just in time. We’d only taken on about two inches deep of water. Just enough to get my feet wet but not enough to sink. Weldon started bailing and we continued on.

That’s about all the excitement for the day. We fished for about three hours total. We all thought we may have had a strike but no proof. The only one to catch a fish was Neil but he cheated, he was jigging with a spin rod. Probably the smart one when you think about it. But even with this evil method he only caught one. Fishing was brutal. After freezing our hands for three hours and nothing, I pulled cigars from my Simms bag and Weldon and I spent the last hour enjoying a smoke with our hands in our gloves. The sun actually poked out and the snow stopped. That lasted a whole five minutes and the snow started again. What a great day.

Skunked certainly happens. And it usually happens right after a great day on the water. That’s fishing. Today was a kick. Another day with friends and probably my last lake day of the year. From here on out it will likely be South Fork, South Fork and more South Fork, my true favorite of November.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

End of the Yellowstone Fishing Season

2011-11-04T07:16:00.005-06:00

November 3, 2011

Yellowstone National Park officially closes its gates the first Sunday in November. Some years the first snow causes this closure to occur earlier but this year we’ve been lucky. Today Weldon Jones (my Bass on the Fly partner) and I headed up to Lewis Lake to say goodbye to another great year in Yellowstone.

There’s absolutely no sense in leaving early anymore. Heck, it’s still pitch dark at 7:30 AM. Furthermore, it’s been a whopping 16º the last three mornings in a row. I have the hands of an old Wisconsin ice fisherman so I can tolerate that, but the ice that clogs your rod guides takes all the fun out of casting. Therefore, first cast didn’t come till about 11 AM today.

Lewis Lake is an old fall favorite of mine. I’ve been chucking streamers here in the fall for over twenty five years. In fact, this is one of my dad’s favorite places too because of the memories we have fishing together here through blizzards, windstorms, ice and great fishing. Luckily today’s weather was mostly sunny skies, temps in the 30º’s but a little more wind than we’d of liked.

We didn’t just end up going to Lewis Lake; we went all the way to the famous Lewis Channel. This is a two mile slow moving river that connects Shoshone Lake and Lewis Lake. The channel is on the complete opposite side of the lake of the boat ramp. With our drift boat and a 3.3 horsepower motor it’s a 30 minute boat ride. On the way back the wind is almost always in your face and then the ride takes an hour and even on a summer day can be dangerous.

The channel was worth the trip today. Motors are not allowed in the channel so I cut the motor several hundred yards of its mouth and we drifted into it casting. It took a whole five minutes to land two handsome brown trout and a 20” lake trout. Even with our midday start our guides were freezing and it took an hour before the hands got used to the cold.

When we got into the channel itself fishing got even better. Yes that means we caught more than three fish every five minutes! It was truly unreal. One thing I noticed is that the browns are larger than the norm for Lewis Lake. By and large these guys average about 16” but today I’ll bet most were 17” to 19”. My best fall flies up on Lewi s are rubber leg type flies in yellow. I caught a few lakers on this fly today but black was even better. In fact the only fish I caught on the yellow yummy were lake trout.

We wrapped up our day at around 4 PM. The temp was plummeting with the setting of the sun and we were getting barked at by five very unhappy otters. We made the long ride back to the ramp with the icy cold wind directly in our face as expected. With no chances taken we hugged the west shoreline all the way back and had the boat on the trailer at sunset.

2011 was another great one in Yellowstone. As always Granny’s and my wildlife trip in May was one of the best. But so was the one we made in October with my parents and the big griz we got so close too. But this year’s favorite was Heart Lake. Heart was an unplanned unexpected trip and those are always tops.

There’s plenty more cold days on the water and big fish to be caught in November. But first a couple days with the paintbrush and then we’ll see where the rods end up next.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Tonight - Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio

2011-11-02T11:04:00.003-06:00

Tune in tonight November 2, 2011 at 7 PM (MT) to Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio. I will be doing a live interview about fly fishing for Peacock Bass and other Brazilian Treasures.

I’ll be talking specifically about the four different peacock bass species.

The largest (Cichla temensis) better known as tunacaré, pavon, azul, striped or speckled.

The (Cichla ocellaris) better known as the butterfly.

The (Cichla monoculus) better known as gray bar or fire belly.

And the (Cichla intermedia) better known as the royal.

I’ll also talk about many other cool species you can expect to catch such as:

Jacunda

Oscar

Aruana

Pacu – this is one of many species of pacu.

Piranha – one of many species

Traira

Picua

Bicuda

Sardinata

Redtail catfish

These are just a few of the fish you could meet while fly fishing in the Amazon!

If you want to go I have three spots left for a trip I’m hosting February 11-18, 2012. For details click:

Brazil 2012

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Live Broadcast Wednesday Night

2011-11-01T08:35:00.001-06:00

Tune in Wednesday night November 2, 2011 at 7 PM (MT) to Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio. I will be doing a live interview about fly fishing for Peacock Bass and other Brazilian Treasures.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Cheating Mother Nature

2011-10-29T08:01:00.005-06:00

October 26 & 27

There’s nothing like fall fishing. However, I’m not much for winter and at first I get bummed about the onset of fall. Winter is just too close. But the truth is, like most sportsmen, the fall is the best and by October 1st I completely forget what follows. I love the change in the landscape, the crisp mornings and best of all, the great fishing.

These past two days I spent with friends Scott Smith, Tom Montgomery and Bill Happersett. Scott is a long time friend, former employee but now head guide for Snake River Fishing Trips. Scott was last on my blog in May when we got the great privilege of fishing on Legacy Ranch. Tom has been on the blog many times. He’s my photographer buddy whom I last fished with in July on the Green. Tom and I also have a habit of frequenting the South Fork many harsh weather days in late November. Bill is a long time fishing guide and friend whom I’ve known forever but somehow we’ve never fished together.

While most offseason anglers of the Yellowstone area love to target brown trout this time of year, we set out to find some lunker rainbows. We got an early start Wednesday and drove and drove. Then we did our own shuttles and launched our two boats about 11 AM. There was a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, the wind was threatening and temps were a chilly 27°. Fortunately the wind subsided and the temps rose fast so we only shook ice from the rod guides during the first hour.

Fishing started lousy. I lucked into an unusual looking cutthroat, possibly a Bear River strain on a streamer, but other than a few small rainbows that’s how the first few hours went for all of us. By lunch time between the four of us we’d caught a mere five trout dragging streamers. Tom and Bill decided it was time to put away the streamers and start nymph fishing. Scott and I noticed the beginning of a baetis hatch so Scott rigged up a dry rod. We still didn’t exactly slam the fish but we found pods of risers and caught a few. Most of these fish were 13” to 16” rainbows and cutthroats.

The mediocre fishing Wednesday was easily acceptable because of the fantastic weather. Although it never got too warm, the day was just one of those that every time you looked up from your fishing you were excited to be alive. Not only was the scenery spectacular but there was plenty of wildlife including numerous bald eagles to enjoy. There may have been a few cigars smoked as well. And really the fishing wasn’t bad. Tom and Bill caught several trout on the nymphs including a 21” rainbow. Scotty nailed several nice rainbows and I pulled a Snake River Cutthroat from and amazing little nook of an abandoned beaver lodge. He was an easy 16” and so fat he should with no trouble make it through the winter.

Getting back-to-back pleasant weather days in this part of the world in late October is unheard of. But it happened. Today the weather was even nicer than yesterday. We awoke to warmer temps and barely a cloud in the sky. There was no wind, and the slightly different float has more trees that somehow are still preserving their leaves. It was like we were set back to early fall again – something we all dream could happen for real!

The fishing was much better, in fact it was superb. The day began with five quality fish from the first good looking spot – one solid cutthroat, a rainbow and four colorful browns all on some silly looking yellow fly Scott had. Meanwhile, Bill and Tom were nymphing the run below us catching some chrome colored rainbows. Each one not only looked like mini steelhead, but they fought like them too. The river was on fire!

Our fishing didn’t slow down until about 5 PM. All day we steered clear of the wind and I’ll bet temps were in the 50°s. We spent most of the day jacketless wondering if we’d died and gone to heaven. And once again the scenery was breathtaking in every direction. Although we didn’t catch any of the giant rainbows we set out for, we caught more than our share of respectables including another fantastic bow on the nymph.

As promised, October has been one heck of a blogging month. From grass carp to largemouth to musky and pike and finally back to trout, this has been a memorable month. Now it’s back to work. Tomorrow night I’m hosting a showing of “Connect” and next Wednesday (November 2) I’ll be the guest on Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio. I’ll be talking peacock bass and other exotics of the Amazon so I hope you get a chance to tune in as these shows are always great fun. Then it’s catch up on artwork, a writing project and update my PowerPoint shows for my speaking tour that starts on January 4th. I will be on the road most of the winter. Luckily, the South Fork River is close to home. For me, working more than a few days in a row isn’t feasible so not to worry; there will be at least a couple fishing blogs per week. Stay tuned. . .

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

"Connect" Tonight in Jackson, Wyoming

2011-10-28T08:29:00.003-06:00

Don’t miss “Connect” at the National Wildlife Museum of Art
Friday Night

October 28, 2011 7:30 PM

This is a benefit for the Snake River Fund!

Tickets available at HCF & JD or online

You may remember exactly a year ago I left for Africa to fish for tigerfish for a segment of Confluence Films latest movie, “Connect”. I lucked into some incredible tigerfish and the Confluence crew not only captured the fishing but the true Africa. That was just one of many great segments they filmed including Japan, Cuba, Maine, Alaska, Yellowstone and more.

I caught the movie premiere in Bozeman earlier this month and all I can say is they have made one heck of a fly fishing adventure movie. Whether you like to fly fish or not, this movie is fantastic!

I’ll be there at 6:30 PM for the pre-screening reception – I hope we can catch up!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Musky from the Flats Boat

2011-10-23T06:38:00.002-06:00

On our past ice fishing adventures to Wisconsin the last day usually involves a few hours of fishing then an afternoon pub crawl throughout the Manitowish chain. We play pool, watch sports and just have an incredibly fun time at good old Wisconsin bars. But this years last day was different. Instead of a pub crawl, all of us wanted to musky fish as late as we could.

Last night we wined and dined at Smokey’s, so yes, the morning came fast. It was a cold, gray, windy morning completely opposite of the previous two days. But Bill Sherer and I were on new water in his flats boat sneaking up on muskies before most of Wisconsin moved. At first I was surprised Bill exchanged his pontoon boat for his flats boat because it barely even fit on this river. The river was beautiful like the other, but tiny. The difference was we were headed upstream and would end in a lake. The big boat was to get us around on the lake. Easy enough, using his electric trolling motor, Bill slowly propelled me upstream while I pounded every piece of structure from sunken trees, docks, boats, and rocks and even dredged some troughs. To our delight, it took less then ten minutes for our first exciting moment.

I was looking ahead casting with meaning to every fishy location I could reach. I was feeling confident. I was ready to see that ever so imprinted image in my brain of a musky behind my fly – almost snarling from the tea colored water with glowing angry eyes. Then Bill shouted “there’s one!” At first I didn’t know where he was talking. I looked behind my fly but there wasn’t one. This fish he spotted was close, real close. Ten feet off to the side of the boat was a poof of mud, similar to what several feeding common carp would leave after being spooked. However, this fish wasn’t spooked. He had just nailed some baitfish and stirred the bottom. I dropped my fly just past the mud and stripped the imitation through it. Nothing. Then on my second attempt a 36” musky burst from the mud like some monster and swallowed up my fly.

Just like yesterday the musky took off and showed his incredible strength. The difference was this river was shallower than the last couple days. Instead of dredging a Streamer Express line on my 10-weight, I was using my intermediate line on my 8-weight. This musky schooled me for some length of time. But persistence, concentration and a strong hook held my end of the skirmish long enough, and soon Bill filled his net with my second big musky of the trip. A great start to the day.

Things didn’t slow down much from there. Bill took me upstream for nearly a mile. The river opened up and gradually turned to a lake. I caught two more musky and some pike. These two muskies barely count. They were babies. But the coloring on these jewels was worth seeing. They each had very pretty barring and spotted tails. They were stunning to be honest. I can only hope they go on to live a long musky life.

After lunch we fished the lake itself but for some reason we caught nothing there. Perhaps the musky were deep or perhaps it was just the midday thing and they weren’t eating. We fished Bills hot spots there until about 2 PM then motored back to the river. Sure enough the musky were still there. As we worked our way back to the truck I picked up two more musky including a nice 32 incher – certainly he’s still a baby but a quality fly rod fish nonetheless. We ended at 3 PM and with a total of five musky – a fly fishing miracle. We could have fished till dark and possibly caught even more but tonight is our final night and festivities are big on the last night.

We concluded our fabulous long weekend with our nightly feast at the famous Little Bohemia Lodge restaurant. Every year we reserve the back room where in 1934 gangster John Dillinger and his gang had an epic shoot out with the FBI. The bullet holes are still in the windows and the story of the gangs escape is unreal. We celebrated our fantastic musky fishing that between all of us included landing a total of 15, and Rick, my fellow fly fisherman, landed only one but it was a 47” beast!

This was fantastic musky fishing and a great visit amongst friends. My thanks to George who makes this wonderful weekend happen and John McGraw who hosts us at the Chippewa Retreat Resort. This place is paradise. If musky on the fly is what you’re after contact Bill Sherer at the We Tie it Fly Shop and stay comfortable at the Retreat. I can’t wait to get back next October!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Don't Look the Musky in the Eye

2011-10-22T06:09:00.005-06:00

The morning came quick again today. Last night we indulged at the Blue Bayou restaurant. Once again George looked after us like I can’t explain. The food and was incredible and we had lots of fun. On a normal day getting up would have been slow but instead I bounced from bed an hour earlier than I needed. The reason was, I dreamt about catching a musky the size Larry did yesterday. Before I knew it I was casting from the front of Bill Sherer’s pontoon boat.

We went to a different stretch of the same beautiful river as yesterday. I don’t know for sure, but we were probably twenty or so miles further upstream. It was another nice day. The temps were unseasonably warm and we had plenty of sun. Bill and I definitely feared that today was too nice for good musky fishing but luckily some clouds rolled in by mid morning.

As far as fishing goes, there was some action right out of the gates. I had several aggressive northern pike scarf up my fly and missed too respectable unknown fish. One, Bill was almost sure was a good musky. I never saw this actual fish but he definitely pushed some water. Like the musky that ate my fly last night, I never felt anything but Bill saw him eat the fly and I should have hooked him. I was definitely screwing up the musky hook set. That’s when I took a deep breath and asked Bill to go over the hooking method with me.

The way Bill explains it; muskies have a habit of charging towards you when they eat your fly, like many fish. Usually that’s ok because when most fish grab a fly they turn away then you feel them and hook them. But musky often keep charging your direction and you don’t feel them. That’s the problem. Unless you strip set at the speed of light you don’t make sufficient hook-driving contact. The trick, strip set and drill them with a hard side sweep of the rod. This adjustment would help incredibly.

At 11 AM this trip was still fishless. Bill couldn’t believe it. I was surprised too, but assumed “Hey, this is musky fishing”. About then I nailed two pike. Then at Bills lunch hole I missed a fun pike of about 30 inches. I made note of his location and after lunch I waded up to where I missed him and nailed him. The bite was on and my technique was better.

After I released the pike we were back in the pontoon boat. It wasn’t two casts and I hooked up again. We didn’t see anything because I was dredging down deep below a nice riffle but there was some weight there and the fight was much different. There was strong power and although this fish didn’t run, I had trouble raising him to our view. After a couple minutes of fighting him deep, I raised him and Bill netted my first musky of the trip - a gorgeous respectable musky on the fly. We were stoked!

We were catching pike and now our first musky was on the boards. Most importantly the skunk was out of the boat. I went on to land about five more pike and another musky. This would be a memorable day. My second musky was no slouch either; he was a musky you dream about. I was casting and relaxing, just shooting the bull with Bill. I was catching the occasional pike and of course, I missed another musky. But things were good. Then as I stripped my 8” fly towards me from a rickety old dock I saw a face. It was like a famous old musky painting. All I could really make out were the eyes and the white lips. At this point the mouth was closed and his eyes were after my fly. Then on my next strip all I saw was white and when the white mouth closed I stripped and struck with all my might and it was game on.

I can tell you from experience, muskies and pike fight far differently. A pike of this size would have put a hurt on me, but this fish was incredible. But the fight didn’t start that way. The musky hardly fought at all in the first minute. I literally stripped him to me. But he was simply coming over to see what the problem was.

“Don’t look him in the eye!” Bill shouted.

It was too late. This was my first big musky. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. But when our eyes met I knew exactly why Bill told me not to look him in the eye. The anger in this fish’s eye was scary. What I did was challenge the fabled giant and now it was game on. This muskellunge had smoking power. I was using my 10-weight with my Ross Momentum LT - one of my burly saltwater reels and the drag was tight. That made no difference. The massive musky tore upstream then down. My Momentum drag was humming and the line crackled as it left. My 10-weight was horseshoed and I was nervous as hell. I rarely get nervous but I’ve dreamt of this moment since I was a young boy reading old fishing magazines.

This musky toyed with me for over five minutes before I finally gained control. Then on the first sweep Bill filled his gargantuan musky net with musky. I landed my first big musky on the fly!

This spectacular musky made my day, my trip and may possibly be the best musky of my life. They don’t come easy with the fly rod. But the truth is, even though it’s a magnificent fish, they get a lot bigger. Tomorrow Bill is taking me to his big musky spot. Looks like I won’t be sleeping again. . . .

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Fly FIshing for Musky

2011-10-21T05:58:00.007-06:00

My friend Rick Schreiber and I arrived in Wisconsin yesterday to begin our annual fishing trip hosted by our excellent friend George Hillenbrand. George was once a good customer of both Ricks and I when we worked at the fly shop. Rick guided him on the river and I took care of his tackle needs. But over the years we became great friends and enjoyed fishing and spending time together. These days George takes us to Wisconsin to stay and fish out of Chippewa Retreat Resort in Manitowish Waters. Also enjoying the fun are friends John McGraw (owner of Chippewa Retreat), Larry Burtschy, Dave Baker and guides (longtime friends also) Joe and James Pestka and Brett Jolly.

For years this has been an ice fishing trip. As a group we beat up the pike, walleye, bass and perch through the frozen waters, but this year George thought it would be cool if we caught some muskellunge (musky) from the open waters. Muskies are the famous Wisconsin fish specie and nearby Boulder Junction is the official Musky Capital of the World. But musky are difficult to catch. These legendary fish aren’t common, only eat when they want to and can be extremely picky when they do eat. They also have a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, can obtain gargantuan sizes and are hard to hook. And if you get lucky enough to hook one - good luck landing him. These powerhouses don’t just break lines; they break rods and smoke a lot of reels too!

While most our group simply wants to catch a musky, Rick and I are going for them on the fly. To help us with our difficult quest, George booked Rick and I with top musky fly fishing guides. I’m fishing with Bill Sherer, owner of the We Tie It Fly Shop in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin and Rick is with Bills friend and guide John Coolidge.

Despite our excitement, this morning came early after our first night celebrations. George takes great pride in seeing that his guests are well wined and dined. Each night he takes us to one of the finest restaurants in the area and we feast on heaps of scrumptious appetizers, entrees, deserts and great wines. The meals are so tasty and fun that I look forward to the dinners as much as the fishing. Last night we ate at The Dinner Table Restaurant right at Chippewa Retreat and everything was superb.

Once I was up and after a great breakfast (seriously, we eat on this trip) I soon found myself casting from the bow of Bill Sherer’s pontoon boat on one of the most gorgeous rivers you have ever seen. Certainly, I moved to the Yellowstone area because I love the mountains and all that goes with it, but I can promise you, Northern Wisconsin is beautiful. Even though the leaves have left most of the trees the scenery is stunning. The dense forest ground is covered in colored leaves and the birch trees are glowing white. To top it off, the tamarack trees, a deciduous coniferous tree that to me is the symbol of being far north, are vibrant shades of yellow. Beyond the tree line was rich blue sky in every direction, a big change from last nights dreary drizzly cloud cover. Even the cold front the area has been experiencing moved out. Today reached a comfortable 50°.

Because muskies get massive, you must fly fish with no less than an 8-weight rod. Today I rigged up two rods, my 8-weight Ross Rx with an intermediate line and my 10-weight Ross FW with a 300 grain Scientific Angler Streamer Express sinking line. Then I attached one of Bills 8” long sucker imitating flies to each rig. Because of the muskies teeth, between the end of my short stout leader and the super long fly is a 12” piece of 25lb wire shock tippet.

Although the rivers are much different and the gear and fish are bigger, you’re still casting streamers to structure all day long. If it wasn’t for the fact that you need to strip set on muskies like you do a tarpon, the tactics are similar to streamer fishing my home waters for brown trout. Therefore knowing where to cast was easy. Even better, the fact that this is one of Bills secret rivers, I got the heads up of exactly where certain fish lived. But even with all my fishing experience and Bills knowledge of this river, musky fishing was slow. The reason was the weather. As much as we enjoyed the delightful day, the drastic change from cold and wet to sunny and warm is not good for musky fishing. Today I got skunked.

Though fishing was slow and I got skunked, I had two chances. One was a good chance. I landed my fly inches from the bank on a shallow flat and as I made my first strip a hefty wake ripped toward my fly. It was a nice musky. But he ate the fly while accelerating toward me. I strip set as hard and fast as I could but I never even felt him. By the time I realized a strip set wouldn’t be enough to hook this musky it was too late for me to use the rod and my musky chance was over. The only other chance I had was a follow where although it looked like the musky ate my fly, I never even felt him either.

Rick and John had about the same luck as Bill and I. They did not catch a thing. Not only that, they never saw a musky. Today was flat out tough. The rest of the gang did better but for most, not much. Even with muskie lures and live bait their fishing was difficult too. However, in this group there’s always an exception. Larry who was fishing with James caught and released two muskies that fell for a live sucker. One was this inspiring 44 incher!

The muskellunge are here but now we need to wait till tomorrow. It’s good to start slow as long as you end big. Hopefully Rick and I can at least get a few hook ups and even land that musky on the fly. Stay tuned. . . .

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

We Made it to Wisconsin

2011-10-20T22:54:00.004-06:00

It's cold as heck. It was raining and the wind was blowing 30. Needless to say we did not fish for the one hour of daylight we had upon arrival. However the catching up with old friends, food and drink was incredible!

Muskie fishing should be good to go in the morning.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Muskie on the Fly

2011-10-19T21:41:00.000-06:00

Heading to my old stomping grounds of Northern Wisconsin first thing tomorrow. I should at least land a nice pike before sunset! This is a short trip but will give me three full days of fly fishing for muskellunge. I'm crossing my fingers!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Big B-Day Fish, B-Day Cigar & B-Day Beers That's a Great Birthday

2011-10-18T16:54:00.001-06:00

Everyone has some sort of ritual for their birthday. For me it’s required that I go stick at least one fish and today was no exception. Just three miles from the house there’s a small body of water that’s loaded with brookies. For me this one fish doesn’t have to be big, just pretty. Brook trout look about as nice as any fish in October with their spawning colors.

When I got to my spot there wasn’t an ounce of wind or a cloud as far as the eye could see. The Tetons were crisp and snow covered and all the hillsides were glowing with orange and gold aspen leaves. There were bugs on the water, mostly baetis and to my surprise there was also a drake of some sort. We have a fall drake we call the “Snake Drake” but usually their long gone by mid October. But this gorgeous mayfly would have to be him.

Despite perfect conditions there were few fish rising. Usually these scrappy little brook trout are splashing around everywhere during a good hatch but instead things were quiet. About then I heard the slurp of a cutthroat. That may sound funny but big cuttys make a slurping sound when they eat a small mayfly. The rings from their rise are micro and can easily go unnoticed, but the slurp is a dead give away for me. Even after the first slurp I couldn’t locate this fish. It wasn’t until his third that in the shade only inches from a tree branch I saw the nice cutthroat.

This wasn’t the brookie I set out for but he’d do. I grabbed a seat in the tall grass and watched. Every so often the cutty would swim a few feet from his cover and take one of the mayflies. That’s where I’d land my fly. After I got done enjoying his show I waded ever so slowly through the muck and weeds of the creek and got into position. Then I let him rise again and after that I uncorked my first cast. Bam! It was too easy. I had on a thorax blue wing olive pattern in a size 18 and Mr. Cutty couldn’t resist. After a good battle I landed and released a respectable 16 inch cutthroat. Then I took my seat in the grass again and lit a nice big cigar. My kind of birthday!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

One More Sling on the Henry's Fork

2011-10-15T18:18:00.003-06:00

Fall in the Yellowstone region is my favorite. This year has been one of the best in recent memory. Summer temperatures stayed with us until about a week ago and now we have comfortable temps in the 50ºs. We had one quick 4” snowstorm last week but that white stuff is long gone and now everywhere you look are the beautiful colors on the trees and shrubs.

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you can probably tell the Harriman Ranch of the Henry’s Fork is my favorite place to fish. With time running out on our fishing season I had to get another day there before it was too late. This week my old friend Chris Reinking was out visiting. Chris worked for me back in my fly shop days – some 15 years ago and he now lives in Atlanta. The last couple years he’s made it out to fish in October and we make a point to walk a good chunk of the Ranch.

Today was a spectacular day. Our temperatures reached the mid 50ºs and the sky remained overcast all day. We got on the water a little early for this time of year. Generally hatches don’t start till afternoon but we camped on the river last night and got up early and had nothing better to do than wader up around 9 AM. Fish activity was really dead to start but it doesn’t get any nicer for a morning wade. The eagles were flying a few elk were bugling. At 11 the first mayflies showed. They were tricos followed by baetis, a few mahogany duns and even some mystery mayflies. A few fish got on the feed. Because the bulk of the mayflies were so tiny the rise forms were so subtle it was hard to tell whether you were casting to a big fish or a medium sized one. Only when the occasional size 16 mahogany passed over would the entire head of these trout completely break the surface.

I only found two really big fish to cast too. That was a bit of a surprise considering the area we went. Here I always find the biggest fish. Chris found about the same and unfortunately neither of us could connect.

The first beast I cast too was moving all over the place. I’d see him rise and then lay down the most delicate cast I could. The presentation was delicate because I was using my 4-weight Rx and about an 18 foot 5X leader. But every time my fly landed the fish had already moved. I’d watch my drift all set to drill the dang fish and then he’d rise 15 feet further upstream. I stayed hot on my pursuit and finally got the first pig to eat. Wouldn’t you know I just grazed him. I was using an old favorite, dandruff. My dandruff fly is a European grayling fly. It’s simply your thread color of choice up the shank of the hook and then a smidgen of CDC. That’s it. Fish this fly in very small sizes in the fall and even the most selective trout can’t refuse it. However I hit this trout too hard and my size 24 dandruff stung him just enough to send him down the road but not enough to keep him buttoned on. That was it. The other big fish I saw rose twice and I never saw him again.

I felt the need to nail a couple trout no matter what size they were after my week of carping and very minimal trout fishing so far this month. Therefore I stuck a few little guys just for fun. As always its great to catch up and fish with old friends and Reinking and I already locked up for next year. In fact we think next year we might have to fish two days.

Somehow I think I’ll see the Fork once more this season. I love it there and should probably handle at least one monster before the snow flies. Time to turn on the NLCS and hope the Cubs win. Oh wait a minute, Cubs, I must be dreaming!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Harder than Steelhead

2011-10-12T16:15:00.001-06:00

Even after a major butt kicking yesterday, Cinda, Steve and I were up early and rearing to get back after the ever so difficult grass carp. At least Cinda and I were. With the carping as tough as it was yesterday, Steve opted to relax and catch up on emails. He went with us though and he drove us right back to the canal to exactly where we saw the majority of the grassies rising yesterday. Sure enough their noses were breaking the surface and glistening everywhere in the morning light.

Honestly, I felt like today would be easier. We were several hours earlier than yesterday. I made mistakes yesterday that I didn’t expect to make today. And I was confident in my olive grand hopper. After all, I got three grassies to eat yesterday all while learning the nature of the canal fishing. Today I should fool at least ten right? Wrong. All those good feelings disappeared quickly.

For starters, I pulled out the camera to photograph Cinda fishing to this first group of munching grassies. The sunrise light was stunning. I could get some great photos. Cinda too was feeling confident. We both felt for sure that she’d just drift that dry of hers into them and wham. Maybe I’d even photograph her hook up with a 20lb grassie leaping in the air trying to shake the fly. Well it didn’t exactly turn out that way. These grassies remembered us. They probably were never molested by fly fishers before in their lives and yesterday was traumatic for them. Cinda’s first drift through the happy grassies and it was game over. Once again these carp of the canals won’t spook from a speeding bike, a pair of runners in glow orange or a construction vehicle, but try to fake them out with their food and its like someone sewed their mouths shut!

I didn’t lose hope. I just needed to find the right fish. Just keep the fly in the water over fish and eventually my luck would come through. And it did. But just like yesterday, I had trouble connecting. I set on another three fish and all I got was air. It was painful on the self-confidence to say the least. Was I doing something wrong? Was I waiting too long? Was I striking too fast? What the heck was the problem?

By 10 am temps were in the upper 90°s. Even with sunscreen on, I’m sure my legs and feet and face were broiling. I didn’t notice. Grass carp turn me into a truly possessed angler. Over and over I prowled up and down this particular stretch of canal. There continued to be the occasional riser. Sometimes I’d feed my fly down. Sometimes I’d cast up to them. Both methods gave me the sporadic look but eventually the grass carp knew I was after them and simply sunk to the deep and laughed at my efforts.

Not too far from this stretch of canal was a small dam much like what you’d find for irrigation on a Wyoming river. Below the dam the water gushed out. At a glance you’d assume it was too fast for carp. But upon closer look you could see a few monsters sliding up and down through the current. Their silhouettes resembled huge New Zealand trout more than carp. I strolled down about a ½ mile or so below this water surge and began nymphing my way up it.

My rig was and old favorite. I went with two of Vladi’s Polish nymphs about 8 inches apart. I attached them to 4X Fluorocarbon and fished them without an indicator. Then like a blue heron I made my way up current slowly walking up the concrete edge of the canal. I saw tons of carp. While most were grass carp, there were also common carp and koi as well as some specie of sucker. I made casts to every fish I saw. I didn’t care what they were. Most of them spooked on the first cast because of the bright Arizona sun. Some would allow me a few extra casts then tear out of their lairs like a lightning bolt. And the ones that didn’t spook at all wouldn’t look at my nymphs.

Things were going bad. These carp would have nothing to do with me. Worst of all, when dredging a city canal you snag into a lot of disgusting things. On a river, I hardly ever get snagged when Euro style nymphing. But here there are crates, rags, clothes, garbage, shoes and all kinds of other crazy things you can hook. And with 4X you break off flies way too often. It was so bad that eventually I was out of the measly nymph assortment that I brought with me to AZ.

By now it was 2:15. Steve, Cinda and I agreed that we should be out of there by 3 because I needed to get ready for tonight. (Remember, I’m here in AZ to speak to Desert Fly Casters about fly fishing in Baja). It was looking like this would be my first trip ever to AZ where I did not get covered in grass carp slime – not cool at all. I was only a little ways below the small dam on the canal so I decided to walk up to it and look. About then I saw a common carp munching algae off the wall of the canal. I thought I’d try and get a picture of the armored scaled fish. Then a sturdy grass carp of about 10lbs swam off the bank and rose to a floating willow leaf. The leaf was about 3 inches long and he devoured the piece of greenery and slid back to the bank of the canal. This caught me totally by surprise. My heart accelerated as if I just saw a 100lb Nile Perch. I dipped into a crouch. Then the grassie rose again. He was acting like a monster brown trout sipping mayflies on a remote river. After his third rise I tied on the largest, stupidest looking foam hopper I had in my box. Then I made a very low sidearm cast and flipped the quirky looking fly up into the carps feeding lane. Sure enough he slipped off the bank and nipped it like a Henry’s Fork rainbow eating a spinner. And I hooked him! Miracle!

I was hooked up to a grass carp in shock and he frightened for his life. All grassies are strong. They always put up a great fight. But this current dwelling Amur took his first run to a whole new level. He smoked off line so fast down-canal that he had me in a full sprint. I figured I didn’t have a chance. But this was a canal. There aren’t trees sticking out from the bank. No rocks. There’s junk down deep but if I kept him high I did have a chance. A little luck wouldn’t hurt either and after two days with horrible luck, I knew I’d land this guy. Ten minutes later I was scaling down steep slippery cement steps in order to get close enough to wrestle my prize.

The carp dragged me so far down-canal that Cinda and Steve were able to come to the rescue and snap a few pictures. I say rescue because falling into a canal often leads to a horrible death. Under currents, bridges and the inability to get out of them drowns its share of people. I was now balancing knee deep in gross water on a submerged step in the canal doing my best to get my hands on a thrashing grassie of about 10lbs. He was so thick around the neck that a one handed grab was hopeless. And he was too heavy for a tail grab so I had no choice but to let go of the bank, use two hands and just pray I didn’t fall in. It was risky but on my second attempt I got him.

When I lifted the hefty grass carp for this photo heaps of canal water rolled down my shirt arm and all over me. I didn’t care how dirty the water was. I didn’t care about anything. After a two day mission I’d nailed my grassie from the challenging canals of the Phoenix area – success at last!

My “Fly Fishing in Baja” presentation went great tonight. There was a huge turnout at the Desert Fly Casters meeting and I even got myself all pumped up to get back to Baja soon. Unfortunately I’ll have to wait till May 2012. I have many more presentations coming up in the next six months. Take a look at my schedule and see if I’m in your area this winter. I’ll be speaking at many of the Fly Fishing Shows as well as clubs so be sure and come by for a visit. If not, talk with the fly fishing clubs in your area. I’m still taking bookings for the few available dates I have left.

Expect some interesting reports from here on out. Its home tomorrow and to the Henry’s Fork Saturday. Then next week I head for Wisconsin for three days of musky fishing. Time to enjoy October!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Grass Carp 1 - Anglers 0

2011-10-11T21:42:00.001-06:00

It took years to learn how to catch the grass carp (White Amur) from the ponds and lakes in the Phoenix, Arizona area consistently. Grassies are undoubtedly the most difficult of all carp to catch on the fly and in fact one of the hardest of all freshwater fish species to fool with a fly. But after years of trial and error I know where to find them, much about their behavior and what flies work best for them. But that’s in stillwater. Today Cinda and Steve took me grass carp fishing on the flowing water of the canals.

The canal systems of the Phoenix area are complex. They house plenty of fish from largemouth bass to carp and as long as you have a license you can fish in most of them. The ones closed to fishing are well marked or in the case of CAP canals, even gated. But the rest are part of an intricate manmade river system quite unique to a guy like me from Victor, Idaho.

The canals on today’s agenda were very close to Steve’s apartment. Steve lives in Mesa, AZ and I’ll bet we drove less than ten minutes to get to this one. I’d love to tell you more about where we were, but after a couple turns and more than three traffic lights this place all looks the same around here – fast food and shopping malls over and over and over again.

Laugh as you will, but despite being far from the wilderness where I am most at home, I get as excited about the grass carp fishing around here as I might some exotic fishing 5,000 miles from home. Steve thinks that’s particularly crazy but I can’t help it, grassies are difficult to catch and I love the challenge. For me, as long as I see fish I’m happy and in the waters around here you see grass carp everywhere. It’s my job to catch them. If I can’t, than it means I have more to learn which for me is very, very, very exciting.

Once parked down some remote alley (no bears to worry about for a change) I jumped out of the truck grabbed my rod and walked up a short dirt trail, crossed a bicycle path and on to the cement of the canal. Like standing on the banks of a trout river I’ve never fished before, I stared upstream for a minute then down. This was different though, both views looked about the same. Both directions of the canal were nearly perfectly straight, the current speed was exactly the same everywhere, the water was slightly colored and there was absolutely no structure at all. “How and the hell do you fish this?” I mumbled to myself.

I was really baffled. I didn’t even know what fly to go with. Normally I fish grass carp with dry flies resembling grass. While some anglers sport some pretty fancy grass flies, I have had great success with green, chartreuse and olive foam grass hopper patterns. But conditions looked wrong for dry flies.

As I stood and gazed with my wheels turning frantically a ghost appeared below me. Then another and another. A school of grassies were passing along the bottom of the canal. I could just barely make them out in the off-color water. Man! I froze like a nearby electrical post until they finished passing. There were hundreds. This place was crawling with carp. After seeing them hugging the bottom as they passed, I rigged up one of my olive grand hoppers and dropped one of my friend Vladi's special Polish nymphs below the big dry and started walking it downstream.

By now, Steve and Cinda were with me. Both were rigged similarly so I figured I was on the right track. However it was about then they confessed to never fishing the canal before. They knew of this place because they biked along it and saw grass carp but truly hadn’t fished it. Then they went on to tell me downstream was where the rising grassies hung out.

We fished our way all the way to the rising grass carp spot. That meant about a mile of walking; crossing a few bridges and dodging speedy cars on a major roadway that made me feel like the frog in Frogger. All along the way we slung our nymphs over many grass carp as well as some commons and some of the local chub and sucker populations. Not one fish specie made an effort to swerve to my nymph. The only action was when a koi rose to my hopper but only nudged it with his nose.

It was obvious when we got to the good water. I looked downstream of the canal and began to see snouts breaking the surface. They were grass carp snouts and they were feeding gently. I grabbed my camera and Cinda snuck below them and then crept into position to cast to them from below. The situation looked easy. Just toss a dry up to them and they’d munch it right? Not! These are grass carp, one of the spookiest of all freshwater fish. Although they tolerate passing bikes, fast walkers and construction trucks, the raising of your casting arm 50 feet away puts them down instantly. After Cinda's first cast it was game over – ten rising grass carp vanished.

“Yikes” was the word. These guys were going to be nastily tough. The next group of risers was just below a wooden bridge. Now it was my turn. Instead of casting from below, I opted to cut off my dropper nymph and feed only my hopper to the grassies. And about 100 feet above them I made a short cast to get started – bad move. These ones saw my cast from 100 feet away and bolted. Grass carp can be tough but this was ridiculous!

That pretty much sums up day one. While Steve was smart enough to kick back, relax and watch, Cinda and I fished relentlessly till dark. We were brutalized by the grassies. I spooked more fish today than I have in my entire life. Schools of carp ran from me and as they ran they spooked the next school and the next and the next. It was the most extreme domino effect of spooking fish I’ve ever seen. Yet remarkably both Cinda and I would end up hooking a fish.

During the afternoon I focused on another group of risers and instead of setting up on them from a 100 feet away, I set up on them some 200 feet upstream. Then I shook out over 70 feet of fly line and crawled down the edge of the canal following my drifting fly. I wasn’t taking any chances of them seeing me or my rod. And by miracle my system worked. I had three grass carp consume my hopper. The bad news however, is that the take of a grass carp and the shape and location of their mouths is not made for a downstream hook set. I watched my fly disappear into the mouth of all three yet when I lifted and set on the first two, my fly, leader and line flew right back in my face. It was so frustrating!

But on the last one, I lucked out. I had at least 70 feet of line between me and the fish. Some of the line wasn’t tight and I know my leader was bunched up. I set with all my might and in addition to a strong set I jumped to my feet and ran backwards. When I felt meat I screamed with joy and Steve ran down to me and grabbed my camera. The grassie jumped immediately then ran me up and down the canal for about three minutes. It was great fight and finally he was tiring. Then as fast as he was hooked, I lost him. I think I played with him a little too much trying to get some cool pics. No big deal I thought, I’d get another. But another never happened. Today was a lesson on grass carp of the canals of Arizona. They are tough – real tough. Yet despite the ass kicking, today’s learning experience was a magnificent day of fishing.

Cinda and I fished as hard as we could. I tried every trick in my book and I’m sure Cinda did too. And we got still got skunked. I can’t think of many fish where the same effort towards the same number of seen fish could end in a skunk. Today was absolutely awesome and it’s going to be hard to sleep tonight. Not because I’m derailed. Not at all. But because I’m pumped to try and solve the grass carp of the canal puzzle tomorrow. Good stuff!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

AZ Bound - Fishing Hard Starts Again

2011-10-10T07:44:00.002-06:00

Before I even talk about my trip to Arizona this week I need to fill everyone in on the premiere of the movie “Connect”. You may remember I headed to Bozeman, Montana to see the first showing of “Connect” on Friday. All I can say is that the movie is superb! As I’ve mentioned, this is the movie that has a segment from our tigerfishing trip to Tanzania last November. That part is incredible. It’s the grand finale and I promise you when I lift the giant tigerfish from the water it will blow your mind. But it’s not just my part that excited me. The entire movie is terrific! There’s a trout fishing segment in Japan, tarpon in Cuba, trout fishing in Yellowstone, pike in Alaska and striped bass in Maine to go along with Africa. And you don’t have to be an angler to enjoy it. The entire flick is extremely entertaining for all. The good news is that it will be available for sale on my website in early November and there’s even a good chance the movie will hit the big screen in a theater near you. Check the Confluence Films website for tour dates.

I’m presently on my way to Arizona to do a presentation for Desert Fly Casters on fly fishing in Baja. My presentation will take place on Wednesday night. If you’re in the area go to the Desert Fly Casters website for details. In the meantime, I will be fishing with my friends Steve Berry and Cinda Howard. Steve and Cinda have been showing me a good time fishing in Arizona for about 15 years now. They’re great friends and if you go back on my blog to October 2010 you can see what we got into last time. I honestly don’t know what they have planned but I’m sure it will include big bass or finicky grass carp (white Amur).

As always when I’m travelling my blog could post a day or so late. So just keep an eye and hope to see some cool fish. As for the big gaps between fishing reports the last couple weeks, that’s about to end. I am caught up on work and about to hit it hard again. Stay tuned!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

"Connect"

2011-10-07T07:51:00.000-06:00

Me, Granny and my folks are headed for Bozeman, Montana for the premiere of "Connect". I have a segment in this movie where I catch this monster tigerfish in Tanzania. I can't wait to see it! And, you may be able to see it too as the tour schedule is just beginning to form. I will be selling the DVD's as well starting in early November. Don't miss it!!!!!!!!!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Fall in Yellowstone

2011-10-03T07:58:00.002-06:00

Blog entries have been a little lean since my 30 day burst of fishing from late August through much of September. I simply fell behind in my work and also my parents are out visiting. They are from New Hampshire and this is their first visit in about two years. My dad loves to fly fish but unfortunately he suffers badly from Parkinson’s. Although we are trying to do some fishing together he’s not often able too. This past weekend Granny and I led them to Yellowstone Park to try and find some bears and hopefully wet a line with dad.

Granny and I have two favorite times to be in Yellowstone Park – early in the spring and late in the fall. If you’ve been to Yellowstone but not at these times, do it. Both are times when there are few human visitors and plenty of wildlife. On our spring trip the landscape is barren and most areas are covered in snow. There are animal babies everywhere and you can spend your whole day looking through your binoculars and never get bored. That’s good because in early May the fishing season has yet to open. In the fall all the aspens and cottonwoods are shedding their leaves. Rather than snow, the ground is covered in leaves of every color. The grasses are brown and the animals are feeding with winter on their minds. And unlike in spring when you can’t fish, fall fishing in Yellowstone can be incredible.

Saturday was a casual day for us. We took two cars. Dad rode with me in the old exploder and Granny and Mom followed us in their rental. Our final destination was Cooke City, Montana. A distance from Victor, Idaho of about 200 miles. With that in mind, Saturday was mostly about driving through both Teton and Yellowstone Parks and enjoying the fall scenery and looking for wildlife. Temps are still unusually hot for this time of year and wildlife viewing was poor through most of the day. Along the way we stopped at Lewis Lake hoping to spot some gulping brown trout but things were quiet. Then we pulled off at several of my favorite haunts on the Yellowstone River hoping to catch one rising YellowstoneCutthroat but there wasn’t an insect to be found and therefore no risers to be seen.

At 5 PM we found ourselves descending down Dunraven Pass when about a ½ mile below the road I spotted a grizzly bear moving fast across a meadow. We pulled over and watched him with binoculars for about ten minutes. He was a large bear on a mission and eventually he disappeared into some trees along Antelope Creek. The road we were on actually meets Antelope Creek about two miles further down it so I drove us to that spot and we pulled off there and waited about a half hour hoping the very same bear may show up. Sure enough he did and we got to watch him pass our cars from very close. Seeing a wild grizzly this close is a rare thing. This was a big bear of about 400lbs with two badly bloodied up ears, likely from a recent fight. Just as fast as he appeared he moved on past and into the wilderness away from the roads.

From there we passed through Lamar Valley where we saw the usual hundreds of buffalo, elk, pronghorn antelope, deer, a red fox and even a pair of mountain goats high on a mountainside near the North East gate to the park. Then we settled into Cooke City. My parents stayed in a hotel while Granny and I camped just outside of town.

Sunday morning we hit the pavement early driving back the way we came through Lamar Valley in search of more wildlife. We just missed seeing the Lamar Canyon wolf pack cross the road with pups and all. No matter how early you are, you’re often too late for wildlife. From Lamar we drove through Mammoth and towards the Gibbon River.

The Gibbon River is by no means a fall season hotspot for fishing. Everyone goes to the Madison and the Firehole River. But for that very reason I fish the Gibbon every fall. Normally around the 1^st of October, you can expect cool overcast weather that’s perfect for a thick blue wing olive hatch. Or if warmer, in the 60ºs, you see mahogany duns hatching. Unfortunately, yesterday was still too warm for either and the only insects we saw were the occasional grasshoppers and the fish weren’t on them.

Water levels on the Gibbon are very low. It’s amazing how fast the Yellowstone area went from too much water to hardly any. The normally deep pools that often provide surprisingly nice browns were shallow. The few fish we saw were spooking and swimming away as fast as they could. Nonetheless, dad was feeling well and I strung him up with my 5-weight Ross and a wooly bugger he tied himself years ago. Then I kicked back and watched him fish for about two hours. He fished well. He made long accurate casts and stripped his fly in and out of all the best looking water. It was great to see dad casting and fishing in Yellowstone. He took me fishing here for my high school graduation present in 1982 and that trip is probably why I moved here. It was a trip we will always remember because the fishing was so damn good.

At the end of two hours we covered about eight of my favorite pools and managed only one lost fish. Too me it was disappointing but dad assured me how happy he was just to get out and fish.

Despite not having any great fishing we had enjoyable weekend. Seeing a big grizzly at close range made the trip for us all. The fall scenery was incredible and spending time with the folks is something we rarely get to do because we live so far away. My parents are here till next weekend and will join Granny and me to Bozeman, Montana to see the premiere of ConfluenceFilms new fly fishing movie, “Connect”.

Jeff Currier Global FlyFishing Website

The Musky Coundown

2011-10-01T07:27:00.000-06:00

September was a great month as usual. The fishing was outstanding and plentiful and the weather was the best ever. Yesterday, our final day of the month reached 83º! By the looks, the first few days of October will continue to be gorgeous, but then on Wednesday the Equinox storm arrives and we just may have a little snow by the weekend.

Today Granny and my folks who are visiting are headed to Yellowstone for the weekend. I packed my 4-weight RX Ross and a box of mahogany duns. While most anglers are running to the Madison River to intercept migrating browns dad and I will spend a few hours on the Yellowstone River, Slough Creek and tomorrow we’ll take a stroll through the Gibbon Meadows.

On the books for October is some great fishing around home, a few days chasing grass carp (white Amur) in Arizona and a week to northern Wisconsin for musky. I’m really excited about it all but especially the musky trip. Here’s a picture of some friends who are having some fantastic musky fishing as we speak. I can’t wait!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Indian Summer at its Best

2011-09-26T21:33:00.003-06:00

September 25, 2011

Every year Scott Sanchez (Chez) and I donate a day called “Fishing with Jeff and Scott” to the Jackson Hole One Fly. They auction us off and the money is used towards some sort of river rehabilitation project. This year a good friend and owner of Gros Ventre River Ranch, Tina Weber, purchased the trip and Scott and I put together a very special day of fishing.

I left Victor at 5 AM and met up with Tina and Chez in Jackson, Wyoming at 6. Then we drove to the launch and pushed off in a temperature of 37º. 37º sounds brutally cold, but for Wyoming in late September, temps above freezing at sunrise are considered warm. In fact, the forecast was for an amazing 80º, clears skies and little to no wind. No matter how chilly 37º felt, we knew it would get hot fast.

To begin the day, I took the oars and rowed us downstream. I know this river like the back of my hand. Today was a long float and I wanted to blow through some dead water so we could concentrate on the better water. Keep in mind, days are a heck of a lot shorter now and it gets dark around 7:30 – making the best of our time was essential. The row was nice for me because I warmed up quick and nice for Tina and Chez because they have never been here and got to take in some of the scenery, something you don’t do much once you start working those flies. And the scenery was spectacular to put it bluntly. All the leaves of the cottonwood trees, aspen trees and varieties of scrub bushes are about 3/4th changed to their fall colors. Reds, oranges and yellows gleaming amongst the remaining green leaves is a sight to behold. Then throw in the mountains and the rich blue sky – what a morning.

Before we got to where I wanted to begin, I had Tina and Chez start fishing. I know Sanchez can fish, but I’ve never fished with Tina. I know she fishes a lot but as the rower it really helps to do some observing. What I learned was that she can put not only one, but two winged Chernobyl’s exactly where they need to be.

Within minutes Chez attached himself into a fantastic brown that fell for his famous double bunny pattern. The size of this brown caught us all by surprise. He was truly huge and quickly pointed out a weak point in our equipment, our net was a “junk show”. Scott, who provided the boat along with the normal boat utensils, owns a net that gives the fish a true bonus opportunity to get away and leaves you helplessly tangled in its net bag. After my first swipe at Chez’s brown I found myself dreaming of my New Zealand weigh net in my boat back in my garage in Victor, Idaho. On my second scoop with the net I got the fish half way in then the net frame collapsed and ejected the enormous brown back to the river. By now my biggest concern wasn’t Scotts brown but rather will this go on all day and will it cost Tina the brown of her life at some point. On the third attempt I put the browns head in the net then tailed him with my left hand and handed the muscular thrashing trout to Chez to deal with. It was a true wrestling match and in order not to hurt the fish we released the trout quickly and I missed the photo opportunity.

Tina caught the next few big fish on her dry flies. On each one I rowed to the shallows, often beaching the boat so we could land the fish and without the net. She landed a nice brown of her own and several cutthroats. All the cuttys were hefty Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroats. I threw in the “fine spotted” part of their name because not only is this part of the full name of the species, but these particular ones have the finest spots you will ever see. To top it off, their gold coloring and orange fins are electric. They are truly unbelievable looking.

Her last cutty to this point was impressive. I was pushing us through a sandy structureless flat when I had to put the brakes on. As I was looking downstream, always scanning for fish even in the worst looking of water, I noticed the tip of a quality trout’s nose break the surface. I saw just enough to know there was a beast attached. I had Tina feed her flies down to the fish and in the most delicate sip you’ve ever seen a trout make, her size 8 Chernobyl vanished. She raised the rod and the cutthroat of dreams started to wind up.

Cutthroats get accused of being poor fighters and many of the subspecies are. But Snake River Cutthroats are a different breed. They usually put up a good fight and some, like Tina’s, will take you to the cleaners! It was all she could do to maneuver and land this trout. Once she did he was well behaved and we were able to snap a few shots.

After we released Tina’s big cutthroat I was thinking to myself that this was going to be the best fishing day of the season. Why not? We were only two hours into the day and less than a quarter of the way through our float. But the fishing went steadily downhill until dark. It literally went from fish crushing the fly till they were hooked, to nipping at it, swirling below it and then hours of absolutely no action at all. Luckily the forecast lived up to its prediction. We saw only a few tiny clouds. We had a breeze for only an hour. And the temperature went past 80º. In fact it went so far above; I went for a rare late September swim to cool off. Of course all this nice weather is probably what turned off our fishing.

As the sun set, the fishing improved slightly. It wasn’t nearly as good as it gets, but we managed to find some action. We nailed a bunch of little guys and I got one thick brown about 18 inches. Chez was playing around by swinging a couple soft hackles and caught two little browns at the same time. This is the second double I’ve seen this week! While our fishing improved the moose woke up and we watched five make their way from the willows to the river to begin a night of feeding on the last of the season’s greenery.

Despite the mediocre fishing, today was just one of those memorable days. I don’t think I’ve experienced a prettier one in years. And we squeaked out a few incredible trout and I got to fish with two friends, one whom I hardly ever get out with anymore because we are both so busy these days and one whom we’ve been trying to fish together forever.

I’m not sure what’s next on my fishing agenda. On Wednesday my folks come out to visit then my schedule in October gets insane. I’m not saying I won’t be fishing in October, that’s far from the truth. In fact I’ll be supplying some very exciting stories with a few days down in Arizona for grass carp and a week in Wisconsin for musky. But the next ten days is uncertain.

One thing I do know for sure is that on October 7th I’ll be in Bozeman, Montana for the premiere showing of the Confluence Film, “Connect”. This is the movie where I was the lucky guy to do the segment filmed in Tanzania for giant tigerfish. If you didn’t see my photos and blog for this trip last November go there now. You absolutely will not believe the fish we caught and the stories that went with it. And the movie! I did voiceovers in July and got a glimpse of the near final product on a small laptop screen – this is a fly fishing movie you don’t want to miss!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

A Great Ending to a Great Week!

2011-09-21T15:09:00.003-06:00

September 19-20, 2011

One of my favorite trips to do in late September with friends is an overnight float trip through the canyon of the South Fork of the Snake River. This normally busy river has little traffic, the mahogany duns are hatching and the colors of the changing leaves scattered up the canyon walls is as stunning as it gets. The problem however it that my drift boat only takes three, me as the rower and two friends, so when I have a crew of college buddies like I do this week, the South Fork isn’t feasible – unless we rent another boat.

Renting a boat isn’t often a smart idea either because rowing the South Fork is about as demanding as float fishing gets. This river cranks out the water flow. This September is especially high flowing at nearly 9000 cfs. Of course, every angler says they can row. And many can row. But honestly, there’s a big difference between rowing lakes and small slow flowing rivers vs. the South Fork. If you don’t know what you’re doing you can get killed out there in a blink of an eye. So before I threw out the idea of renting a raft so all six of us could do the overnighter I really thought it over.

Mike Birmingham, one of my college pals on this trip, is one of those guys that is good at everything. One night over the campfire I mentioned the South Fork float and quizzed him on his rowing skills. My gut feeling was that he could handle the challenge and when I tossed the idea out he was all about it as were the rest of us. On Monday morning we found ourselves pushing off from the Spring Creek Highway Bridge beginning our 26 mile float trip to Byington on the South Fork of the Snake.

Although I was confident in Mike, I believe Travis and especially Mark, his passengers were a little uneasy as their fishing raft took off in the heavy current of the South Fork. But Mike was good. He simply floated behind my boat and followed my every move and my advice that I gave him on the drive over. My best piece of advice to him was to avoid danger from afar. Basically, rowers should be looking downstream (rather than staring at their friends fly) and always have that boat pointed towards anything that can wipe you out – rocks, rapids, overhanging trees off the bank, sleepers and strainers. By pointing towards them you can always in an instant begin back rowing away from them. What gets every rower in trouble is not seeing these dangers soon enough and then rather back rowing away from them; they try to push forward and away. Pushing forward to get away often times gets you to the danger faster. Most humans are much stronger back rowing rather than forward rowing so spin the boat and back row. After about three hours of following our boat, Mike was rowing excellent and everyone was at ease.

Fishing was hot right out of the gates. I had Howie and Mark (Rieser) in my boat. Howie was up front rigged with two small dries about three feet apart. One was a cinnamon ant like I used in the One Fly last week and the other was a size 18 mahogany dun. Rieser had a big black streamer. I clued them in on the sneaky places trout live at on the South Fork. Anglers not familiar with this river have a tendency to cast to the banks and outside turns from start to finish. Sure these are good places at times and on most rivers, but on the South Fork, these places can have so much current that the fish actually move more to the inside turns and shallow gravel bars. It didn't take long for Howie and Rieser to become believers as they each pulled fish from literally 8 inches of water.

Our favorite catch of the day was when I rowed Howie into one of the most unsuspecting fish holding areas on the river. While fishing a spot upstream I noticed a trickle of water leave the river and meander into the forest. Ten minutes later, on the same side of the river there was a slough of dead water – no current and full of weeds. The spot didn’t look like much. However, I thought to myself that somewhere back at the top of that slough well out of sight that perhaps that little trickle I saw leave the river might enter. Anywhere there’s current there is usually a fish. So I rowed us up there. Sure enough before we even saw the trickle enter we could hear it. I told Howie a big fish lived in there. I rowed the boat forward and Howie methodically dropped his dry flies in every inch of the in flowing water. Then just where the shallow met the deep, wham! A beautiful cutthroat inhaled Howies fly and soon after I netted a nice 16 incher.

The wind howled the rest of our day. Birmingham and I rowed hard against the wind and the rest powered their casts into the teeth of the wind the best they could. At 5 PM we settled into a campsite in the upper canyon near the entry of Pine Creek. During cocktail hour we enjoyed watching a group of moose including two huge bulls. They were across the river feeding on willows and silver berry. There is no more velvet on the antlers of the bulls.

As usual we had a feast. Tonight we cooked kabobs with steak, pork and chicken on them mixed with mushrooms, onions and green peppers. It was scrumptious to say the least. For me, there was no need for a tent because skies were clear. Howie joined me and we slept on a high bank inches from the river. Our only fear was getting stepped on by a moose. There were several moose on our side of the river and we got to watch them graze around camp during dinner. But we lucked out; we weren’t sleeping on a moose trail.

I got the boys up early on Tuesday. Sometimes streamers and enormous dry flies can be deadly before noon. We made our coffee and skipped breakfast altogether. As we broke down camp we had a crazy cow moose meander right into us. I say crazy because she gave us the “google” eye with her ears back – something they love to do before they charge you. I was a bit uneasy but she finally moved on out. Then once on the river the fish were biting as expected.

We had great action for about two hours. Howie and Rieser each landed a handful of nice 14 to 16 inch cutthroats and a scattering of browns and rainbows. By 11 the sun was high and it was hot like a summer day and unfortunately the fishing slowed down miserably. Our boat probably landed less then three fish from 11 till about 3 PM. It was really surprising. Luckily, at about 3 the hatches started and I mean big time. There were pale morning duns, mahogany duns, tricos and a few stoneflies out. Once again the fish returned to feeding on the riffles and even on the slow banks. Howie, who has much less fly fishing experience than Rieser, put on one of his best fly fishing performances of his life. While fishing from the back of the boat he threaded the needle and dropped his flies into nooks and crannies that trout don’t expect a fly to land. The result, Howie beat the heck out fish in the final hours of the trip. I’m not sure if he just drank the perfect number of beers or what, but Howie was in the zone that anglers get in only once in a very rare while.

The highlight wasn’t Howie putting on a clinic however. The highlight was watching Rieser land two brown trout on one cast. Rieser was in the front of the boat fishing two small dry flies. I saw some shallow water towards the middle of the river and suggested he drop a cast over the gravel. His flies drifted along about ten feet then one got eaten. He set the hook and a small brown leaped. He was hooked on his upper fly. Then Rieser said there was another trout chasing the one and acting very strange. After a few days ago when I had that huge trout eat a trout off my line I stood up hoping we were about to have some similar excitement. But this was different. The chasing trout was the same size and he wasn’t chasing the other hooked trout at all. He was chasing the trailing fly. And he got it. “You have a double!” I shouted.

Rieser and Howie had never heard of such a thing but it happens. I actually see about a double a season. The hard part is netting the two. If you net the top one you have to hand over hand the bottom one and you usually lose him. So on this one I lifted the top fish up over the net and scooped up the bottom one. The upper fish was still on so then I dropped him in the net. It was really an awesome catch for all of us.

The boys left this morning. We are all exhausted from seven days of fishing in a row and six nights of camping. We played hard, slept little and had a great time. Actually we had the time of our lives. It’s amazing that after 25 years we are all still such great friends. And the six here this week aren’t all of them. There were about another six that couldn’t make it. All I can say is I hope they read these latest blogs – they’ll surely find a way to make it next time! We’re getting too old not to!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Fishing Far Surpassed Expectations

2011-09-18T16:08:00.009-06:00

September 15-18, 2011

We woke up to clear skies and the thickest frost I’ve seen in years last Thursday. In fact, remember that wet meal we ate Wednesday night? Our plates were solid ice blocks when we woke up. Even the flies on our rods were frozen popsicles for fish. We had to chip them loose from the rod guides. But the sun was out and things could only get better for the rest of the week.

Once things thawed, including us, we pounded the fish around camp until about 2 PM that day. Although most the fish were small browns, everyone managed to catch at least one 16 incher and they were all on dry flies. You can’t beat that! By then it was 70º already and we broke down camp and migrated north into the Bridger – Teton National Forest where we could fish the headwaters of the same river. This area also gave us access to many tributaries and even some lakes. There’s no way my college pals could get bored or run out of water even in the four days we had left.

I hate to put four days of fishing in one blog, but with more camping and fishing days ahead without internet access its best I get this done tonight. All I can say is these last four days far surpassed my expectations. I simply wanted to show my Midwestern college friends a good time with some reasonable fishing in a gorgeous place. On the very afternoon we arrived at our new camp we had great fishing. This is a camp I’ve stayed at before and it’s absolutely spectacular. It’s right on the river, there are peaks in every direction, the elk are bugling and fish rise all the time. This week was no exception and before we even set up the tents we observed several nice rainbows feeding. Travis of Iowa was first to pursue the risers. He waded right out and on the third cast he hooked and landed one of the nicest trout of his life. It was a thrill not only for Travis, but the rest of us enjoyed watching the whole experience unfold before our eyes as we sat in our lawn chairs sipping beers. Fun!

That was Thursday. On Friday morning Mark, also of Iowa, climbed from his frosty tent and made some casts to warm up. The sun had barely risen and most of us were still hunkered down in our sleeping bags. Sure enough, Mark got rocked by a nice brown. Again, these guys from Iowa don’t have trout fishing like I’m spoiled with and this chunky brown will go down as one of his most memorable.

Friday night got about as cold as I like to deal with when it comes to camping. Call me a wimp, but as I get older, temps in the teens aren’t that appealing for sleeping out. I tell you, walk ten feet from the campfire and it aint fun. And in the morning, good luck getting your waders on. They are always frozen solid. But once the sun rose Saturday the temps skyrocketed and before we knew it was back in the 70ºs.

Mark Rieser and I fished together all day Saturday. We actually planned to fish a mere four hours then return for lunch with everyone, but the fishing was so good our four our jaunt turned into a ten hour full day of fishing and hiking. The situation was simple, the first hole that I fished produce a huge rainbow of about 18 inches. The fish absolutely smoked my 4-weight Ross rig up and down the river with several jumps mixed in. Once I got him beached I couldn’t help but stare at how pretty he was. His speckles were amazing to say the least. There were millions of them and they were all over his body including his pectoral fins.

That rainbow wasn’t the only great fish yesterday. Mark and I just kept on walking – probably four miles of river. And every pool, run and bend produced a surprise. We caught several more nice rainbows, a couple of big browns, a huge cutthroat and even a fall colored brook trout. This place has everything. However, the most memorable moment of the day was not catching fish, but rather witnessing some serious fish carnage. While I was rapidly stripping in an 8 inch trout that I had on, a huge trout, likely a brown but possibly even a monster cutty, ripped him off my fly and ate him. Just seeing this massive trout whirl effortlessly through very fast shallow water and maneuver so easily will leave an impressive little memory in the back of my mind for a long time. What I’ll never forget was that his eyes were as big as nickels and his tail like a broom. He was so focused on stealing my trout off my line it was incredible!

Naturally, after my heart settled and I could think clearly again, I tore through my fly boxes in search of some sort of massive streamer. I didn’t have one. My streamer box was nowhere to be found. So instead I put on two huge Polish nymphs and started dredging the run in hopes I’d hook up with him. But no luck. Evidently, once this big guy showed himself in the area, all trout went into hiding. For the rest of the day I found myself doing terrible things like really taking my time to land the all the small trout I hooked and I may have even dangled one through a deep pool accidentally on purpose!

After a few hours of fishing this morning, we are back in Victor, all cleaned up and ready for a night on the town. Remember, this is a celebration with college buddies. We graduated from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin 25 years ago and we are still great friends. The plan is to search out a big dinner in a warm room under a roof after our four nights of camping in the cold and good bit of rain. Then it’s up early in the morning so we can head to the South Fork of the Snake where we will do an overnight trip through the Canyon. Expect a good report as I believe these college buddies have really brought along some fantastic luck!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Who Knows What We'll Get Into

2011-09-14T08:44:00.005-06:00

Undoubtedly, today is the beginning of a pretty rowdy and fun six days. My college buddies have arrived. We all graduated from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin back in 1987. I can’t believe it’s been that long. Anyway, we keep in touch like brothers and after all these years we continue to get together and fish.

Matt Norton (Howie) of Minnesota and Mark Rieser of Iowa arrived in Jackson, Wyoming this morning by plane at about 10 AM. They gave me a ring and I met them at the Albertsons Grocery in Jackson. Just as I pulled in the lot they were coming out with two full carts of food. There was no doubt we would eat well! Once the coolers were loaded with food we filled all remaining space with beer. Oh, and another cooler as well.

We drove about an hour south of Jackson and met our other friends that drove out from Iowa. From my directions earlier this week they had settled into one of my much loved camps on one of my favorite rivers. Although a nice day when we left Jackson, now it was windy and cloudy here in the mountains and we could see thunderstorms on the way. After a few celebratory orange whips the rain and wind started. It was so bad I thought for sure it was the fall equinox storm. Then the temperatures dropped and we even had some sleet. However, rather than getting us bummed out and force us to sit in our cars we all wadered up and sat in the rain over another orange whip. Then, we rigged our rods and while most fished around camp Howie and I walked upstream.

Howie (Matt Norton) was my roommate in college. He fly fishes just enough back in Minnesota to get in trouble. Howie has fished with me out here before and he can cast well and is actually a pretty darn good fly fisherman. I had Howie rig up with two winged Chernobyl’s about 4 feet apart from each other.

By now it was more than just raining. It was flat out pouring. We could only hope that this wasn’t the way our weather will be all week. Nonetheless, Howie and I worked our way upstream. Howie tends to work his fishing very slow and methodically. I don’t mind this when fishing is great and fish are everywhere, but typically on this river you need to move fast covering the good water and skipping the bad.

In fact there’s an old saying, “When fishing’s slow, fish fast. When fishing’s fast, fish slow.” And this is a perfect theory for this river. But Howie tends to fish slowly no matter what so I had to keep pushing him along.

In no time we both forgot about the rain because we started to catch fish. It seemed that every rock I threw behind produced either a small brown or rainbow. I felt like I was competing in a Euro tournament because how fast I was catching these little guys. Howie was catching a few but he wasn’t doing as well with the wading. This river is boulder strewn and fast moving. If you not used to gliding across the rocks all the time they can be a challenge. He did his best though and kept up by covering some ground on the bank. What slowed down Howie more than anything was the beauty of each and every one of these nice little trout. I always admire them but not like Howie was. He just doesn’t get trout fishing like this back home.

When the rain and wind was at its worst Howie and I found ourselves working opposite sides of a deep pool below a fast rapid. I landed two nice browns about 17 inches on my first two casts. Howie was hooting and hollering as my fish leaped all over the place. I was really wishing he had caught them rather than me because I knew he’d go even crazier. Then just as I released the second brown, Howie hooked up his own. I began a fast wade across to him but Howie landed and released his fish so fast I never got a picture. He was in absolute awe! All I can tell you is that it was a beauty from a far and I wouldn’t be surprised if he topped out at about 18 inches – large enough to make Howie's trip even if he doesn’t get another!

The rain is miserable as I write from the back of the Explorer. We just finished our dinner over the campfire in pouring rain. My plate literally had water sloshing around my steak and potatoes. This is not too cool. And unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be clearing up. Also, I have few photos to show from today just because I was afraid to take my camera out for more than a second at a time. The last thing I need is a trashed good camera.

I doubt I’ll be able to post again till Sunday or so. That’s when we will return to Victor and regroup for another two days of fishing. As of now we plan to stay on this river and next week float the South Fork and do an overnighter on Monday and Tuesday. Be ready for more stories and pictures soon!
Jeff Currier Global Flyfishing web site

Tough Luck

2011-09-11T22:43:00.007-06:00

Day 2 of the Jackson Hole One Fly started brilliantly for me in doing my part to help the Good Times Team finish solid. Just like yesterday, I fished a cinnamon ant, only today’s ant was a size smaller, an 18 because I was on the South Fork of the Snake in Idaho. Here the trout eat small stuff regularly and reject flies if they are too big.

Now remember, if you lose your fly you’re done. Or if the pattern falls apart and looks so bad that you can’t catch fish anymore you’re basically done. I wasn’t worried about losing my fly, I’m confident in my casting skills and I also managed to squeeze 1X through the tiny eye. But damaging the fly with all the fish I planned to catch was a worry.
At 8:30 AM our boat pushed off. My guide, Rollie Towler was a young 20 year old Swan Valley, Idaho local that knows the South Fork as good as most veterans. My boat mate and competitor of an opposing team, Phil Rever, was a cool guy from Florida in about his mid 60’s. When I say cool, he had the same attitude as me – the best thing for our boat was that we both kick butt and have a great day of fishing together. Phil fished Rollies recommendation of a PMD emerger size 18.
It took less than three minutes to land my first fish and an hour later, I had nearly a dozen and Phil had a big fish, a 17” brown that gave him considerable bonus points. Things were going exceptional. What was especially great for us was that morning fishing on the South Fork is considered poor because the hatches don’t start till about 1 PM. So here we were doing well early and the good fishing had yet to start.
By noon, I too had some bonus fish. Basically the way the scoring works is that all fish are worth two points (by the way, all fish are released). In addition to the two pointers you’re allowed to measure eight fish, six of which earn you bonus points. The bigger the trout, the more bonus points you receive. Phil’s 17 incher earned him 80 points. My bonus fish so far were 16 inches (60 points) and 15 inches (40 points). These nice cutthroats came so easy that I released two nice fish around 15 inches without measuring them because I just knew I’d catch six more much bigger. I was truly out to make the kill today!
Around noon Rollie and I spotted a huge bank feeding cutthroat. If this fish was less than 18 inches I’d be surprised. He was such a beast that he would earn me at least 100 points if I caught him. Rollie dropped anchor and I leaped out of the boat. On my pursuit after him I stumbled into a large rainbow. Good news for me right? Well, sort of. Rainbows fight harder than the cuttys and this guy was no exception. With no fear of breaking my 1X tippet I put the heat on him and brought the feisty fish near the net in seconds. The bow was in heavy water below me and I could hardly move him. Rollie made a move with the net and the rainbow surged and got off. A bummer I thought, but not the end of the world. I still had a huge cutty to catch. And my ant was working so good there would be plenty more for big fish for me to catch. Remember, the good fishing hadn’t even started.
Little did I know it, but that spirited rainbow damaged my fly. In the next ten minutes I hooked and lost three more big fish. I hooked them, fought them for about ten seconds and they were off – talk about frustrating. I flipped my fly to my hand to check it and the hook gap was opened slightly. It was from the massive pressure I put on the “not ready to land” rainbow. Not cool, but a situation that happens and you simply bend the hook back. So, I pulled out my forceps and delicately began the procedure and with hardly any pressure at all my hook snapped. My hook snapped! I was finished!
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a competitive dude. Breaking my hook in my own little hands was a tough one to swallow. But as I get older I realize how little these things are. Sure I was incredibly bummed, especially because my team was counting on me, but it happened and I couldn’t look back. I popped back to back beers from the cooler and an hour later I tied on another of the same fly. Of course my results wouldn’t count but it would be cool just to see how I “would have done” had my hook not broke. Well, that ant absolutely crushed the big fish. I hardly fished as to stay out of Phil’s way so he could have chance to kick butt, but every nice fish I cast the ant at ate it. I would have absolutely destroyed the fish today and led the team to glory. Damn!

Granny and I just got home from the One Fly celebration party. The One Fly is now officially over. I’m so exhausted I can’t explain it. Competitive fishing is as fun as it gets but it really takes it out of you. And it’s not just the fishing. I get so amped up with the fun of seeing old friends that come to Jackson, Wyoming just once a year for this great event. What a great time. I will work and rest for only a couple days, then on Wednesday my best friends from college arrive for a week of camping and fishing. Stay tuned. . .

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

One Fly Day One

2011-09-10T21:01:00.004-06:00

The Good Times Team is in the middle of the pack after day one of the Jackson Hole One Fly Contest. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow if we are to get in contention to win the One Fly.

As for me, I had a great day on the toughest stretch in the competition. I fished South Park to Prichard on the Snake and although it was a struggle I managed to land 30 fish, four of which were "measurable" for bonus points. My score was 2nd overall for that stretch.

Tomorrow I fish the Upper South Fork and I should be able to to do well. Its a far better draw than today. If I do well and the rest of the team does to we will be right back in this thing. Expect a full report on Monday.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Let the Games Begin

2011-09-09T22:14:00.007-06:00

All One Fly Contestants know where they are fishing and the names of their guides. My draws are doable. I got one of the worst stretches on the Snake in Wyoming - South Park to Prichard for Saturday. This is the most heavily fished section of the entire river. Big fish are far and few between and unfortunately big fish are what you need to be competitive. You get what you get and make the best of it. And the truth is, someone on our team was going to get this stretch so why not me. I will make something good of it. Sunday however, I drew the Upper South Fork in Idaho. Even if I do poorly on Saturday I should be able to do very well on the Upper South Fork.

That's it. Kick back and watch folks. I'm really excited. I miss my competition days of the past on Team USA Fly Fishing. This weekend will be great fun!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Choosing the One Fly

2011-09-08T05:55:00.004-06:00

If you haven’t noticed yet, I don’t travel far in September. September is absolutely the most spectacular time to fish in and around Yellowstone Park. The weather is almost always a perfect 75º with very few clouds in the sky. We have plenty of PMD’s, Mahogany Duns, drakes, hoppers, fall stoneflies and the list goes on of trout foods. That’s why the Jackson Hole One Fly always occurs in September, the weekend after Labor Day.

Gary Eckman and I decided that today we needed to nail down our One Fly fly choices. That’s right – one fly. In case you’re not familiar with the famous Jackson Hole One Fly Contest, it’s a contest where contestants get only one fly a day. Not one pattern, but rather one fly. You lose it. You’re done. You pick a fly that can’t catch fish. You may as well be done. And with all the trout foods around in September there’s a lot to choose from and you need to make the best choice in order to win.

I’ve been involved with the One Fly for over 25 years. Until last years One Fly I rarely got to fish in the contest because there’s a huge entry fee. Lucky for me, Team Captain and great friend Gary Eckman generously sponsors me to be on his team, so rather than work for it, I compete in it.

Today Gary hired guide and long time pal Zack Payton from over at South Fork Anglers to float us on the Upper Section of the South Fork. Zack was top guide in last years One Fly so no better guide for us to fish with. All we really wanted to gain from today was to make a final decision on what fly pattern to use when we have our competition day on the South Fork. What makes the decision hard is that the riffles on the South Fork team with rising cuttys every afternoon. They rise for PMD’s and Mahogany duns but rarely eat the big terrestrials just because so many terrestrials drift overhead with hooks in them. So you might think the decision is easy, just fish a size 18 PMD, right? Wrong. It’s not that easy. Remember, you get one fly. Have you ever tried to fish one size 18 PMD for an entire day? It’s hard to keep and not lose the small fly at least a couple times in a days fishing, tougher yet, if you don’t loose it, will the fly stay together after you catch a dozen or more trout?

I think you get the idea. Luckily we had a nice day of fishing and Gary and I caught a bunch of quality fish. We were able to switch through some patterns and hear Zack's opinion on their results. And I think we're set on our decisions. I will be fishing a cinnamon ant size 16, the very ant that nailed that beast of a brown for me on Quake Lake ten days ago. You believe in a fly and it will do well for you – that’s my theory.

Tonight Gary and I and the rest of our team will find out what stretch we drew on not only the South Fork but also the Snake River in Wyoming. And we will find out who our guides are and the contestants that we will directly compete against. It should be a fun weekend. I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated. What I can’t update you on this weekend I’ll finish up on Monday. Stay tuned. . . .

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

Large Leopard Browns & Cart Wheeling Cutthroats

2011-09-07T21:24:00.004-06:00

Granny and I just returned from another blockbuster weekend (Granny’s weekend of Tuesday & Wednesday) on the water. Monday night we headed north to the banks of the Lower Nunya for the second time this year. Mother Nature did everything she could to discourage our pursuit. The forecast was for high wind, thunderstorms and rain. When we left Jackson it was high wind, thunderstorms and rain. But we went. And although we saw some wind, heard some thunder and experienced some rain, it was far less than predicted and on our two day 35 plus mile float we caught a lot of fish, saw a ton of wildlife and relaxed and truly got away from it all.

There’s really no highlight. The entire weekend was out of this world. We caught only one rainbow but plenty of nice brown trout and an unusually large number of big healthy cutthroats. I do mean healthy. Cuttys rarely jump when hooked but many of them cart wheeled across the Nunya into bushes and log jams. The browns were solid. I can’t think of a fishery on the planet with so many girthy 16” browns that destroy a hopper pattern. And the condition and the way these browns looked. They are fat, amazingly spotted; all jump the second they are hooked and burned that GPX Textured line through our hands like you can’t believe. Oh, and we got a few bigger than 16” too!

Blogs could be a little brief for a week or two. I’m amidst a true fishing rampage. If you go back on my blog to mid August you’ll see I’ve been fishing or traveling even more than the norm and I don’t see it stopping soon. I’ve blogged every event to the hilt and neglected what pays the bills. So rather than cut out fishing days, please forgive me being short in words and long in pics until I’m caught up in art, organizing my winter tour and get in some serious fall fishing!

Granny and I just returned from another blockbuster weekend (Granny’s weekend of Tuesday & Wednesday) on the water. Monday night we headed north to the banks of the Lower Nunya for the second time this year. Mother Nature did everything she could to discourage our pursuit. The forecast was for high wind, thunderstorms and rain. When we left Jackson it was high wind, thunderstorms and rain. But we went. And although we saw some wind, heard some thunder and experienced some rain, it was far less than predicted and on our two day 35 plus mile float we caught a lot of fish, saw a ton of wildlife and relaxed and truly got away from it all.
There’s really no highlight. The entire weekend was out of this world. We caught only one rainbow but plenty of nice brown trout and an unusually large number of big healthy cutthroats. I do mean healthy. Cuttys rarely jump when hooked but many of them cart wheeled across the Nunya into bushes and log jams. The browns were solid. I can’t think of a fishery on the planet with so many girthy 16” browns that destroy a hopper pattern. And the condition and the way these browns looked. They are fat, amazingly spotted; all jump the second they are hooked and burned that GPX Textured line through our hands like you can’t believe. Oh, and we got a few bigger than 16” too!
Blogs could be a little brief for a week or two. I’m amidst a true fishing rampage. If you go back on my blog to mid August you’ll see I’ve been fishing or traveling even more than the norm and I don’t see it stopping soon. I’ve blogged every event to the hilt and neglected what pays the bills. So rather than cut out fishing days, please forgive me being short in words and long in pics until I’m caught up in art, organizing my winter tour and get in some serious fall fishing!
Granny and I just returned from another blockbuster weekend (Granny’s weekend of Tuesday & Wednesday) on the water. Monday night we headed north to the banks of the Lower Nunya for the second time this year. Mother Nature did everything she could to discourage our pursuit. The forecast was for high wind, thunderstorms and rain. When we left Jackson it was high wind, thunderstorms and rain. But we went. And although we saw some wind, heard some thunder and experienced some rain, it was far less than predicted and on our two day 35 plus mile float we caught a lot of fish, saw a ton of wildlife and relaxed and truly got away from it all.
There’s really no highlight. The entire weekend was out of this world. We caught only one rainbow but plenty of nice brown trout and an unusually large number of big healthy cutthroats. I do mean healthy. Cuttys rarely jump when hooked but many of them cart wheeled across the Nunya into bushes and log jams. The browns were solid. I can’t think of a fishery on the planet with so many girthy 16” browns that destroy a hopper pattern. And the condition and the way these browns looked. They are fat, amazingly spotted; all jump the second they are hooked and burned that GPX.
Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

One Fly Practice

2011-09-02T06:40:00.003-06:00

I’ll make this short and sweet because I’m behind in everything do to this fishing problem I have. Gary Eckman, my One Fly Captain, and I fished Moose to Wilson on the Snake River today in Grand Teton National Park in order to get a little practice in for next weekends famous Jackson Hole One Fly Contest. Gary has been on the Snake several times this season but I’ve yet to get over there. Sure, I’ve probably floated it 300 times the last 25 years, but every year it’s different. There are different channels and hatches and every year you simply need a tune up.

This morning was the coldest morning of the summer, a nippy 25º when we launched the boat at 8 AM. I was in shorts and Tevas and already wet wading. That will wake you up! Needless to say, our fishing started very slow. During the first hour streamers didn’t work at all but then gradually produced a few fish. Gary landed three nice ones during my first session on the oars including this Snake River Cutthroat.

In the afternoon things warmed up and it felt like summer again. I decided it was a good idea to test some big dry flies. I tied on the classic original Chernobyl ant and caught numerous fish right away. In fact several were very nice up to 18 inches. Our assessment of today is that the Snake is just beginning to fish great and next weekend during the One Fly should be spectacular. Our “One Fly” choice should not be that hard as many flies worked today. My guess is the weather during the tournament will determine whether I go dry fly or streamer.

I have a busy week of fishing. Granny and I are doing an overnight on the Nunya Tue and Wed. Then on Thursday it’s to the South Fork with Gary. Gary hired guide Zack Payton and I’m the lucky guy that gets to take the back seat and fish away. On Friday I’ll rest up and prepare for the One Fly and fishing in the contest takes place Saturday and Sunday. Should be a great week!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing