Another Great Rod From LTS

When a certain rod matches you its pure Magic! That is what I am finding with the LTS rods. I'm not sure what they are made out of, but they are nothing short of amazing in my book. Donna, from www.fishon-sports.com let me play with yet another LTS....The Most striking of all them...the 1309-4 Across! Check out my review below!

The Next Generation!

I love the fact that my boys still want to go fishing with me. I think the future of our Sport, Rivers, and Fish are in there hands. I am proud of all three of my boys, and would like you meet them. They aren't only the future of On The Fly Guide Service they are the people that will carry its values forward. I am pleased to introduce:

Aaron 

Aaron is the oldest of my three son's which means that he has been eating all the boat snacks longest. He is the most patient of all my boys. When he was little he would hunt the whole river, hitting every lie until he would catch a fish, then he would stay there the rest of the day. I couldn't get him to move as he thought that was the only place to catch a fish in the whole river.

Aaron with a couple nice Wood River Red Bands

Gage

Gage Is my middle son. He is probably the least patient of my sons. If its not moving fast he is. He covers water like a freight train! Often passing up all, but the most aggressive fish in the run--his excuse is those other fish don't fight anyhow. Gage is a natural with a two hander, although I had a heck of a time teaching him (father son thing). It wasn't until Mark Bauchman spent some time with him until he really started kicking some line out. If your swinging behind Gage, don't worry he wont hog the hole- but he may get all the tail walkers.

Wood River... Ya

Gage attacking a classic Rogue River Run!

Chase

Chase is the youngest of my sons. He is never to be outdone by his older brothers. He is fishes wise beyond his years. Always calculating, he watches his brothers and learns from their victories and mistakes. Chase usually bats clean up--catching fish the other two have missed. You can bet if Chase is fishing a certain lie he'll have a reason. 

Chase with a nice Rogue River Steelhead.

 As you can see, On The Fly Guide Service and our sport is in good hands, and you can bet I am a proud Papa.

Proud Papa!

What happens when the lady of the house goes shopping and leaves the boys at home on a day off? We go to the Rogue and swing some flies. We loaded up the rods and headed to the top of the river to try out a couple of new patterns that I wanted to fish. I took Gage to the top of the run, tied on my prototype fly, and pointed out the rocks to pay attention to. Gage, rolled his eyes and told me,"Dad I know, I'm not a little kid anymore." I thought, ya kid, I would listen if I were you. But, I smiled at Gage, and headed to the next run below. I about made it to my run when I heard, "Dad, Fish On!" I looked up river and sure enough Gage had a nice fish making a good run. By the time I got back up the river he had the nice hatchery fish subdued. "Griller Dad, I told  you I know where they are." Gage said when I got there. I took some pictures and congratulated him nonchalantly, but I couldn't be prouder as my son has turned into a steelheader, he is reading his own water and catching fish out of it. He went on to hook and a hog just a bit further down the run. I tied on a "prototype" and hooked a couple of my own but they didn't get me near as excited as Gage's! To say I am a proud papa is a understatement.

Locked and Loaded!

Swinging "his" water

Gage with a well read fish!

Following suit!

A couple for the grill!

 

Time for the big boys on the Rogue River!

When temps drop in the low 20's in the Rogue Valley, and the days shorten, its time to pull out the big flies, and if its on the Rogue River it had better have black, orange, and blue. It should also have a bunch of movement and some flash to move cold water fish. The perfect Rogue Cold Water swinging fly should poses all these things, That's what moved me to design Casey's Intruder. Named after one of my favorite cold water runs on the river, this fly contains everything the Rogue River Steelhead want. The next few photos will show you how to tie it.

Start with a long shank hook.

Get some Heavy Mono, I like colored just to add to the fly.

Start it through the eye of the hook. Make the loop go back to where the Marabou will flow--normally a couple of inches but, If you get a ton short strikes like the Rogue make a larger loop.

Fold the mono through and lash it down! Do a good job here as this is what will hold the fish. I also hit this with super glue.

Install eyes and super glue them.

Use orange chenille and make a ball. this ball will make the marabou loo like it has mass when the fly swim's.  

Tie in a marabou tip like a hackle.

Add a couple of flash strips, I like holographic flash.

Add a tinsel over-body advance you thread, and make another chenille ball.     

Add another marabou tip and wrap it like a hackle. 

Add four white rubber legs that do not go past the marabou in the swimming position.

Add flash, and a blue hen hackle.

Whip finish and clip off the bend of the hook with diagonal cutters--this will keep the fly swimming right.

Add a octopus hook to the mono.

There it is, a fly to move cold water Rogue River Steelhead!

The Rogue River Spey Fishing Is Back on!

Last week consisted of praying for Rain!--the Rogue slowed the last couple weeks. The Rain finally came, the River grabbed some color, and best of all, the Steelhead started biting again. I had some new lines to try out so I hit the river at about 3:30 this afternoon leaving me just a couple of hours to get my two new Tfo's dialed in! I started through the run with the TFO 4/5 126 4 DC. I lined it with a 330 grn Airflo Skandi compact, which was a tad on the heavy side, but I slowed the rod enough to let it do its thing. I tipped the head with a intermediate polly and  about 3 foot of 0x tippet. I placed two prince Nymphs and dead drifted them in The greased line fashion of old. Even though the the flies bounced their way through the run the fish waited until they started to swing before he slammed them! The little Spey Rod did well, and 15 minutes later the 5 lb buck was in my hands. I loved casting the little rod, but Im going to buy a 300 grain scandi for touch and go casting.

I really wanted to catch a fish on both rods as it was the first time they were out, and I knew it would put some serious Steelhead Mojo on them, if they hit fish. The next rod to Fish was the TFO TF 6/7 130 4 DC. This is the absolute best rod I have casted and fished, in a long time. I lined it with a 480 Airflo Skagit Intermediate and 10' of T7. The line swung slow and hung just off the bottom. This presentation brought a huge strike that jerked line off the reel. I felt the weight of the fish, but was unable to get a solid hookset. I fished until dark and had a couple small taps, but left the river with a huge Grin. I love the rods, with a little more fine tuning they will become at the top of my list of great rods.

Two Hours and a few fish,  it sounds like the bite is back on boys--lets make up for some Lost Time.

Nice Little Buck

The 4wt Spey  Rod did a great job on this Rogue River Steelhead !

6wt Swinging the Rogue!

The Rogue Is getting some color!

Dang Kings!

One of the best places to catch Steelhead on the Upper Rogue River is behind the Salmon Redds, but this can be tricky at times because the salmon that haven't spawned yet will hold in the same water, and after being in the river for a few months they get persnickety. This, bright for this time of year, salmon went 20 feet to slam this fly before Bob could get it out of his way a second time. Normally we strait line em ' but this salmon was bright enough I thought, I might be able to get our flies back...I was wrong!

Grilled Rogue River Steelhead

People who know me know that Hatchery Steelhead don't make it past my boat. there are a couple of reasons for this. 1. We don't need them breeding with the Rogues Wild Steelhead. 2. Rogue River Hatchery Steelhead taste so good! Please help the river and keep all hatchery fish.

My absolute favorite way to cook a steelhead is on the grill. here is a recipe that will bring everyone to the table.

Take a Nice Rogue River Hatchery Steelhead, Fillet it and cut to portions. 

Mix 1 to 1 ratio of pancake syrup and soy sauce. 

Pour marinate in a suitable container, add some fresh garlic, add fish meat side down. Let it soak for at least 15 minutes and no more than a hour.

Take left over marinade and reduce it to a thick basting sauce.

Treat the grill with oil so the fish doesn't stick (do this before you start the coals if you like to keep your arm hair)

Lay fish on grill skin down, and away from the coals, as we will cook with indirect heat. close the lid and keep the grill at about 400 deg. F (notice the fresh garlic)

Cook for about 15 minutes or until the steelhead is flaky. A good way  to know when its close is to watch the skin, when it shrinks to make the edges of the fillet rounded the fish is about done. Properly cooked, the skin should fall off, but there should be a little moisture left in the meat. pepper to taste and serve with a nice salad, and your choice of beverage. YUM!