Time to Extract Some Chromers

On January 27th, 2012 by Sig. Tier

Water is starting to come into shape.  Time to start thinking about getting back out there again.  One fly you might consider while the water is on the high side but fish-able is Silvey’s Extractor New for 2012. Here is a little bit about the fly.  Cast easy, sinks fast, big profile, lots of movement and you know it works because Silveydesigned it.

Silvey’s Extractor

 

When guiding most  times I have 2 clients.  Arriving at a run one angler makes a 1st pass and the second follow him/her through.  I was looking to design a series of flies that would have a completely different look in the water than various tube flies I have designed.

With a new fly design the main 2 things I think about the skills of my clients and where the fish are holding:

Client – My flies are aimed at giving my clients greater odds of hooking and landing steelhead.  Most of my clients are average anglers with average casting abilities.   Therefore flies must be designed so that my clients can consistently cast the fly all day to the most productive lies.

Fish - The fly must sink fast to get down to the fish as fast as possible to maximize the swing area.  I have found that overdressed flies sink extremely slow because of the resistance between the materials and the water.  My goal is to have as sparse a fly as possible that retains its shape under tension and imparts significant movement.

I decided to base the look of this new pattern on the double segmented fly style (some refer to as intruder style).  I found most intruder flies on the market to be over-dressed and over-weighted making them un-castable for my clients.

What separates the Extractor from existing patterns on the market is:

  • How simple it is to cast.
  • The rate of speed that the fly sinks at.
  • More movement than existing commercially tied flies while using less materials.
  • 2 sections move independently of each other.

I was able to achieve these results by:

1.  Tieing an extremely thin body is critical to eliminating water resistance and getting this fly down fast.

2.  Using less weight to get the fly down.  The only weight on the fly is the undersized eyes which mostly serve to insure the fly rides correctly in the water.

3.  Tying the fly sparse.

4.  The use of rubber to create movement.  Rubber doesn’t soak up water making the fly easier to cast.  Once the fly hits the water the thin rubber has minimal resistance making the fly sink faster. Rubber has memory and it doesn’t collapse back flat under tension.  When the swing gets into the softer water the memory of the rubber tentacles cause them to flare and create tantalizing movement.

Extracted!

I noticed that the materials on the front section of intruder style flies are tied so they match up with the tips of the rear material.  It seemed to me a waste to tie such a large fly only to have the tips at the end of the fly be the only place where movement is imparted.  I decided to tie the rubber on the front section short so it wouldn’t marry with the rubber in the back section while being swung.  This feature allows the front section of materials to move independently from the back section breathing more life into the fly.

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Boat in Production

On January 26th, 2012 by Zach

Thought it might be interesting to show the progress of a sled as it goes from order to finished product.  This boat was ordered by Team Idylwilde angler  Matt McCrary for delivery in March.  The order is for the following.

So far the hull is built and some of the bracing has been put in.Will keep you updated with pictures as they come in from the production floor.

Just in.  Welding the boxes and the gunnels now.

 

 

 

 

 

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Nor Cal – Holiday Supplies Keeping Me Going

On January 25th, 2012 by Hogan Brown

Wow how things can change when water falls from the sky…It started raining Thursday and has only really let up for about 12 hours sense (today being Tuesday). Forecast shows clear skies by Wednesday and then another storm coming in for a few days around Feb2. Who knows though. With rain comes some interesting fishing reports.  We should see some improved fishing with the changing conditions. Most of the valley rivers blew out and are now coming back into shape, so there should be some fresh winter steelhead.  The trout should be a little more energetic with cloud cover and some colored water.  The coastal rivers got a huge dump of rain so that should get the coastal steelhead season going or as I like to call it the, winter casting season, sense few fish are actually caught but guys get really good at casting.

 

Least the river wasn't blown out

With regards to the I-City crew The Deeler pulled out of town and headed to Vegas for a weekend of debauchery with his missus. Ryan J decided that the fishing was in such need of rain that it was a good time to take a break and have surgery of a minor nature, but which will still lay him up for 3 weeks. KP….who knows. I have no KP sightings to report. Though I imagine he made an appearance at the Sacramento ISE show this weekend and the English Beat is playing at Aces in Sacramento so that most likely will be a likely KP stop. I have driven by Sanchez’s house a bunch in the last few weeks and his truck has not moved and his raft still has a hole in it so I imagine he is taking in the bar seen via his bike. I did see someone looking like Sanchez at a gas station by his house but I am pretty sure it was his doppelganger Kumar.
Lower Yuba River – With the heavy rains on thurs and Fri the Lower Yuba came up from 750cfs then up to 972 from the 22 jan – late Jan 23 evening. It has sense come up to 1393cfs. This is not a problem as a normal summer flow is 2500-3500cfs. I fished the river on Sunday at 972 and the clarity was very good, about 4-5 feet in places. Deer Creek, the main trib, has blown out twice in the last week. It blew out Saturday going from 24cfs to over a 1000cfs then crashing back down to around 20cfs late Saturday night. It blew out again the evening of jan 23 up to 1120cfs but has crashed back down to 59cfs. The creek is what brings in the color and I imagine that last pulse of water should clear out here over the next 24-48 hours. We caught plenty of fish on Saturday on standard winter/off color water patterns and even ran into a great baetis hatch and had the opportunity to fish over consistently rising fish for about 35-40minutes. With no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week I would imagine the Yuba will be in great shape soon. Fish big attractor flies, worms, and eggs. Nothing fancy and something they can see.

Trout fishin should improve as streams clear

Butte Creek – The creek has blown out twice in the last few days as well. Going from 130cfs up to 1200cfs and then back down to around 300cfs then back up to 1240cfs and now back down to 337. This is great for the creek and will really clean out the debris and move some winter fish up into the system. I am hopping to get the raft out on the creek both days this weekend. Hopefully the water holds at around 350cfs and we get some low elevation snowmelt to give the river a nice tint.

 

Lower Sacramento River – Most every trib to the lower sac blew out with the last storm so the only stretch that was really fishable, as the flows out of Keswick did not change was the top half float or so.  I have not heard anything from up there but I imagine with the Trinity blowing out as well the upper stretch was packed.

 

Klamath Report from guide Isaac Roman from the snowy Siskiyou county area, edited by me – The rivers and creeks are swollen willy wonka style and fish are taking advantage, not much word down the Klamath river, but the iron gate stretch is dropping and is fishing like it should right about now.  Decent numbers of fish are being caught most fish are averaging 18 inches, but a few 5 to 7 pound adults can be found with a little perseverance. The coho and kings are done spawning, so the steelhead have free reign of the river and are taking advantage. Covering water is key and mixing up bugs and presentations is best. Indicators set around 7 ft. with a Jimmy Leggs in black, brown, or peacock with an attractor nymph dropper is working well in the tighter water. Fish can still be caught swinging a cone head silver hilton, brindle bug, green butt skunk, and other standard winter patterns. Fish do not move as well to a swung fly this time of year but the grab is worth the work. The pressure is minimal and the fish are hungry, go north.

 


Booze report - well….. I am still working on a 1.75 litter bottle of Vodka and Jameson plus a case of Sierra Nevada Rye from the holidays. I did fill up my growler with Sierra Nevada Dunkelweizen from the tap room. Kinda banana nut bready with some nice spice. Amber color and really a darker version of the Kellerweis they have been bottling for a while. I also had a bottle of the Ovila Abby Ale Quad and Saisson. These are both collaborative brews with the local New Clairvaux monastery and winery. These are about $12 a bottle but some amazing brews if you can find them. check out this website dedicated to this venture www.ovila.com.

Music Report – Ok so I finally bought the new Black Keys Cd “El Camino”. This thing rocks like a collection of vintage fuzz pedals and bell-bottoms. The CD is much more rock then Brothers. I have by no means any indie street creed as I became a Black Keys fan via Brothers so say what you may about the “old” stuff and how “they have changed”….Bottom line there is some head bobbers on the new disc that rock!

I steelhead fish too!

Also picked up the deluxe copy of the newest Wilco disk “Whole Love”…not sure about this disk yet. There are some good songs but not sure what I think of it as an album. I was not a fan of “Wilco the album” and this is better but still digesting it. My favorite albums are still “Being There”, “Yankee Fox Trot Hotel”, and “A Ghost is Born”. In tour news Wilco announced its west coast tour and will be stopping in Davis, CA…good news. bad news it is on a Wednesday…rough but must rally.

Sports Report – Pitchers and Catchers Report Feb 18, First work out Feb 19, Position Players report Feb 23 First Full Work out Feb 24…enough said.
TV News – 3rd season of East Bound and Down has been announced and a few teaser videos are up on the web…mark off Feb 19th as national Kenny powers day.

“I am the type of guy that has always chased the trains to the edge of the horizon. I have seen it all. Highs and lows. Ups and Downs. When I look at you I see a little bit of myself in you.” – Gospel of Kenny Powers

hogan brown
www.hgbflyfishing.com
www.hgbflyfishing.blogspot.com

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Keny Powers Steelheading Release

On January 23rd, 2012 by Zach

Much to our surprise Kenny Powers is an avid steelheader.

9 Comments ››

Eager Angler Encounter on Raging River

On January 20th, 2012 by Patrick

She's still raging

Took a quick drive to the Washougal River this morning to see what it looked like after it crested last night.  To my surprise I encountered an eager angler who had the day off and was really hoping to fish today.  Here he was wading and casting in a newly found side channel.  I completely understand the need to get out.  I was supposed to be fishing today too.  I rewarded this guy with some stickers for his effort.

Good Effort

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