Quick Look

Well, my camera's battery recharger has died, so I am now waiting for a replacement before I can upload my recent pictures from fishing trips.

I have mainly been catfishing in the West Branch and Main Branch of the Susquehanna River lately. It is a phenominal fishery, depending where you go. On an average evening/night, two people will land 40 channel catfish combined in about 4 or 5 hours of fishing (at one or two locations). Those fish average 20"-23", and give up good fights.

If we are after bigger fish, the numbers will go down, but the average cat is 27" and about 4lbs bigger. One afternoon this past week I tangled with 4 catfish, landing two. The two I landed were both 29" about 10-12lbs, and the one I lost was bigger yet. I was using my centerpin reel and float rod, float fishing cut bait through a deep channel. Steelhead fishing for catfish....

Because I can't get new pictures up, I will post pictures from throughout last year.... Enjoy.

Friends and the West Branch Delaware River

Rods Used: Diamondback Flawless 9’5wt 4pc (Chris)
Scott (?) 9’ 5wt (Joe)
Sameo Globetrotter 7’9" 5wt 6pc (myself)

Lines Used: Cortland Precision Platinum Dyna Tip 5wt (Joe,Chris) Line Info
Cortland Western Drifter Dyna Tip 5wt (myself) Line Info
(These lines are PERFECT for fishing nymph rigs and streamers. We turned over indicator rigs all day, up to 55’ away, with minimal effort and no tip sink. I’ll try to get some videos up of this line….)

After calling a few buddies last night and contemplated whether or not we wanted to fish the West Branch of the Delaware or the Salmon River, we opted to terrorize the browns and rainbows on the Delaware. The water had been raised a few days ago, so we weren’t sure how this would affect the fishing. If anything, after 3 days of higher water, the fish should be settled down and feeding heavily….so we thought.

Chad, Chris, and I met Joe in Deposit at about 8:45 a.m. They suited up in their waders while I visited the boy’s room and filled up with some gas. Unfortunately, all of my wading gear is in Pennsylvania with my other belongings (except my 6pc travel rod and flies, both necessities), so wet wading was my only option.

If you don’t know anything about the West Branch Delaware, let me fill you in on some very valuable information. The river is a tailwater coming out of a bottom release dam; therefore the water flowing through the dam is ALWAYS cold. Cold, as in 40-45 degrees during the middle of summer. Now you can see how I was unfortunate.

We headed South from Deposit hoping to find some warmer water. Upon arriving at Hale Eddy, the river looked perfect. Joe and Chris swapped a few flies, cracked a Red Bull, and then we headed for the river. When I took that first dreadful step into the water, I quickly realized that the higher water had kept the river MUCH colder than what it usually is. After 5 minutes of pain from my muscles tightening in my legs, the water warmed, as my legs became numb. Joe took a quick temperature check and informed me that the water was a toasty 48 degrees.

After a few hours of fishing with very slow results, moving only a couple fish, Chris and I headed upstream to a hole that is usually very low but with the higher water should fish well. This hole is a failsafe, but after 30 minutes and no fish, it wasn’t looking very promising. Apparently the go-to nymphs for the Delaware weren’t working, so I switched to an articulated streamer. Not the best move for 48 degree water, but I was hoping to entice a big brown into striking by slowly moving the streamer through the water column. On the second cast I placed the fly at a 45-degree angle upstream from me. I slowly swam the fly over the shallow ledge until it swung below me and I left it hang there, which is uncommon for me to do. After a few seconds my line jolted and a 30" brown broke the surface with massive headshakes. The fish was all of 10lbs. OK, he was more like 18" and 2lbs, but he jumped several times and made a blistering run which felt much bigger. Props to the fish. The coolest thing about this fish was his cheek. If you look at the picture, you can see the baby blue coloring it has.

The skunk was off and we headed down river even more. After arriving at the next spot, we immediately noticed a warmer water temperature, and were all into fish right away. They were mostly rainbows in the 9"-13" range. Not big, but they brought a huge appetite to the table and lots of energy. Chris tangled with all dumb fish that swam right at him once hooked. Then again, they may have just liked the way he looked in his waders as they all ended up at his crotch in about 2 seconds after feeling the steel. He did end up nailing a brown about 16"-17" that ran him downstream about 40 yards. We all thought it was much bigger, especially Chris ;)

Joe creamed the fish at the head of the hole in very shallow, but fast water, also tightening up with a brown about 17". I’m actually surprised he was able to fish between signing autographs and answering questions with his groupies. Lol. I’m pretty sure the one guy even had Joe sign his rod. Haha. Maybe it’s the long hair…. Either way, I saw his rod bent more often than not and rainbows dancing on the water.

After doing some minor damage on the little guys myself, I tied on a size 4 tungsten bead head, lead body, brown stonefly nymph. A few casts later while probing the depths of the hole, I stuck a good fish that screamed downstream. Thankfully I had Precision 3x leader material on and clamped down on the brakes. This made him upset and he started to thrash on the surface trying to throw the hook. A solid 20" bow.

We all played with a couple more smaller rainbows and called it a day at 5:30. The lesson learned is this. Much like steelhead when there is a spring melt/runoff, the fish shut down when the water becomes cold very fast. They behave more sluggishly until they can become used to the new water temperature. This is why weren’t as successful at Hale Eddy (which is generally around 55 degrees at this time of year), and more successful down further where the water had a chance to warm up slightly. Thankfully, because I was starting to question our fishing abilities.

Tight Lines, Bent Rods, and Frozen Legs,

Michael Foreman

Back Home From Utah

Traveling is definitely not for me. At least flying.

I have just arrived at the dirty, disorganized JFK International Airport from the Red Eye out of Salt Lake City. I feel like I have walked off the plane from one of my 10 hour flights to Europe. My body craved sleep, but it was not physically possible. With a guy shoving his elbow in my side every 10 minutes, a baby to my right crying, and no room to lay back....I'm not a happy "jetter."

As for Utah....

The fly fishing shops in Utah that we visited are in a league of their own. Most of these guys have been in the business for awhile, and know what they are doing. Everyone knows everyone. They have anything and everything. If they have one color of rubber legs, they have them all. If they carry one brand of dubbing, they carry all 60 colors. What size hook do you need? It doesn't matter, they have 'em all. With such a short season, it's amazing how much inventory these guys can go through. I'm surprised I was able to get out of the shops without maxing out my credit card.

Alot of them carry conventional gear as well, which greatly increases their sales. Let's face it, fly fishing is such a small minority that it's amazing that people can make a living off of it.

We didn't do any fishing, but this was a major learning experience for me. I didn't have to fish to come away confident enough to go out and successfully take one or two fish. The people were nice, the country was beautiful, and the air in the mountains was fresh. What more could you ask for when visiting a new part of the country?

On a closing note, if anyone ever gets a chance to speak with someone named Steve Densley at a fly fishing show, I would highly recommend it. This guy has been in the industry for a very long time, and is a reservoir of priceless information. Over the last two days, he has pounded me non-stop with information I only wish I could remember. He is one of those guys that you want to write notes down as he talks, but everything is so interesting that you cannot take away your focus for one second. Partly because he never shuts up....kind of like my girlfriend. ;)

Thanks again Steve,

Michael Foreman

A Few Days in Florida

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my Blog. This is a new adventure for myself, so please bear with me.

The main reason I have decided to start a blog is to give you an inside look at the general fishing industry, and anything interesting that has recently happened in my life (pertaining to fishing.) Including my travels, fishing trips, new fly fishing patterns, tips and tactics, etc. With this, I will share with you all that I know, which isn’t much, and hope you come back for many more visits. Feedback is appreciated as I hope to keep this fun, entertaining, and informative. Enjoy!

For the past few days I have been traveling in Florida with one of Cortland Line Company’s sales representatives, Capt. Frank Catino. This trip has been an eye opening experience for me, a Northern Country Boy, into the world of saltwater fishing in Florida. The tactics, techniques, rigging, rods, reels, line, and fish were all new to me as I cut my teeth on typical Central Pennsylvania trout and bass fishing.

For 2 ½ days, we visited Big Game Tackle shops and Fly Fishing shops, speaking with owners and Captains about new products, fishing info, what’s hot, and of course, how the fishing has been. After hundreds of amateur questions, I figured that I was making some headway and could confidently carry on a conversation with a knowlegable angler for about 5 seconds before embarrassing myself. The information I received from people in "the know" was perfect, but was still only a scratch in the surface. I would need to dig for a long time before I could even THINK about hanging with these guys.

The amount of products these guys carry in their shops is simply unbelievable. $2600 reels, $100 lures, more types of mono and braid that I could remember. Charter Captains do not think twice about spending 5k on a couple days of fishing. For one $60 lure, I could supply myself with months worth of groceries! Notable shops we visited (and are worth checking out) are Grand Slam Sportfishing in West Palm Beach, Harry Goode’s, and Orlando Outfitters in (of course) Orlando. There were others, but unfortunately, my memory is not working so well today.

Did I fish? Of course, but not much, and not nearly as long as I would have preferred.

4:45a.m. Monday morning greeted me like a hangover. I was too tired for fishing, and so excited that I felt sick. By the time I stumble out of bed, Frank had the flats boat hooked up, rods ready, cooler filled, and the truck running. After a quick stop to pick up Bi-Bo, Frank’s buddy who runs a bonefish lodge in South Caicos Islands, we were on our way South of Satellite Beach. Upon arriving at the launch, I noticed Bi-Bo hang his legs over the dock and swish them around in the water. I shrugged this off as nothing, more than him wanting to feel the warm water on his legs (or attract the first shark of the morning.) 15 minutes later, I was standing on the front deck blind casting into an area for cruising tarpon. About 5 minutes went by before my line became tangled on my left foot’s toes. When I bent over to free the lne, I quickly realized why Bi-Bo had washed his feet. On the boat ride out, ocean spray had covered the front deck of the boat, leaving it moist. When I stood on the deck, all of the dust that my feet had collected from the dock had been turned into brown water stains on Frank’s pure white boat. Note to self: Don’t be an idiot again. Wash your feet off before stepping into another flats boat.

"Tarpon 20ft behind the boat" were the next words I hear. I scramble to the back and managed to forget how to make a 20’ cast in the process. With knees weak and hands shaking, I had tarpon fever before I even made a cast. Can you say "greenhorn"?

The morning wore on without many tarpon showing themselves. This was not typical sight fishing either. When the fish would roll, you cast ahead of them and work the fly blind. Pure luck in my opinion. Cast after cast, strip after strip, with a constant lookout for fish. At some point in the morning, I made a cast and looked away to search for fish. A few seconds later Frank yells, "He’s on it! He’s on it!" I turn to my fly, which was actually Bi-Bo’s creation of a giant hook with 4 black chicken feathers out the back, to see fins and a big wake screaming towards it. With the tarpon disappearing in a giant swirl, I strip set the hook perfectly, only to find that the fish did not take the fly, but simply turned away. Disappointing, but exhilarating at the same time.

Time wore on and the tarpon shunned us. It was not meant to be. However, the ladyfish were all over Bi-Bo’s creation of black chicken feathers and proved to be good entertainment for a noob such as myself. Hard hitters, high jumps, and fast runs were enough to make them a worthy target for this trout guy. A few skipjack and ladies later, we called it a morning, as even the big reds were not cooperating.

Later that evening, Frank worked me through some canals in search of small tarpon and snook. This fishing was my style. Land the fly within inches of the mangroves, tuck a tight loop under a dock, and hold on. Well, not so much of holding on to the fish, but more of the rod. After 2 hours of perfect casts, I received 2 small hits and a big swirl, but it seemed as though the fish weren’t there. Baitfish were even stacked up at the docks during the night with NO fish crashing them. It seemed strange for even a beginner such as myself.

I will be back, but as a true fishing trip, not work. And then, maybe….just maybe, the fish will greet me with open mouths and tail slaps.

But for now, I am on a plane to Phoenix, then Salt Lake City for a taste of the Western Fly Fishing business. I hope you enjoyed reading, and will check back in for the Utah update.

Tight Loops, Bent Rods, and Reels Screaming…

Michael Foreman