It’s official, the dog days of summer are finally here, and as outdoor enthusiasts, we’re looking to find new ways to responsibly enjoy our local waters such as getting out with our four-legged friends for some quality time by the river. This is why we partnered with our friends at N-Gage to celebrate exploring our local waters with our canine companions, and ask you to share those moments with us for a chance to win an awesome assortment of pup-focused prizes from N-Gage, Orvis, and YETI.
Here’s how to enter:
Step 1: Post a picture on Instagram of how you and your dog beat the heat and responsibly enjoy your local waters together. Then, include the hashtag #ngagedogdays in the caption.
All entries will be due by August 3rd. A selection of finalists will be selected by the Flylords team, and will be voted on via the @flylords Instagram story on August 4th! The winner will be based on whoever gets the most votes, and will be announced on August 6th!
Each post will count towards a participant’s entry. Each participant may enter as many times as they like.
We can’t wait to see the adventures you and your pup head off on! Thank you to N-Gage for making this possible. Make sure to check them out for new and exciting ways that you can engage with your furry friend! Good luck to everyone who enters!
Effective July 23rd, the DNR public lands in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Washington State will be closed “due to extreme fire danger and ongoing drought east of the Cascades,” according to a Facebook post from Commissioner Franz. This move to close all public lands in the region is crazy, but seems to be a necessary evil after the western drought and heatwave continues to affect the PNW. You can read the full Facebook post below, and be sure to check the Washington DNR’s Recreation Openings page for a full list of closures.
In this week’s “How to Tie†video feature, Galloup’s Slide Inn gives us a great tutorial on how to tie the North Branch Caddis.
Learn About This Fly:
Difficulty: Easy
The North Branch Caddis is a relatively simple caddis dry fly that should be in every summer box. The legend Kelly Galloup has brought us this incredible pattern, substituting short-fine deer hair for the traditional elk hair used in caddis dries. From a single dry to a dry dropper, the North Branch Caddis has the buoyancy to do it all on the water.
It should be a shock to no one that one of Kelly Galloup’s patterns is extremely effective. The ingredients and structure of this fly are methodical and create a highly buoyant trout snack. The short-fine deer hair for the wing and body paired with a few turns of hackle in the head make the North Branch Caddis one of the most naturally buoyant caddis dry flies on the market today, never mind once treated with floatant.
During the warmer months of the year, you should always keep an eye out for caddis hatches. Mornings and afternoons will typically produce the most prolific hatches and carrying a wide variety of caddis is important. From nymphs to dries, it pays to carry each. Trying various tactics such as skittering and using an emerger as a dropper will only increase your chances of figuring out your trout adversary. The North Branch Caddis is a tool that should always be in your box during those spring and summer months.
So you’ve invested in a top-notch cooler, but you’re still not getting the results you were looking for … Here are 12 tips that will help you keep your food, beverages, and ice cool longer.
1) Pre-cool the Cooler
Pre-cool your cooler by bringing it inside before your adventure. Make sure to open the lid so that the inside of the cooler can reach room temperature. Even better, make the inside of the cooler even colder by pre-cooling it with frozen items.
2) Use Block Ice
Line the bottom of your cooler with block ice or reusable ice substitutes like Yeti Ice. Make sure to put a barrier between block ice and food items because the block ice is so cold that it will freeze the food. This can be achieved by using a foam mat or towel.
3) First Food Is Frozen Food
After laying down a cold layer, the first items should be frozen items. Since they are frozen they are best situated closest to the block ice (the coldest part of the cooler).
4) Pack As Tight As Possible
The goal is to eliminate any empty space in the cooler. Cubed ice is perfect for filling in gaps between items. Remember, empty space is the enemy.
5) Use Resealable Containers
Resealable containers make it much easier to repack items in the cooler without making a mess.
6) Produce on Top
Non-frozen produce should live at the top of your cooler. You can keep loose produce and other items in a crate so they can stay together. The Yeti Tundra Basket is the perfect tool for the job.
7) Use a Foam Pad
If you want to really lock in the cold, add a foam pad as the finishing layer before closing the cooler. The pad will take up any additional air space left, and will provide enhanced insulation.
8) Close Tightly and Close The Nozzle
always make sure the lid of the cooler is completely shut. This is especially important when you’re stacking it high and it becomes difficult to close the cooler all the way. Additionally, make sure the nozzles are all closed.
9) Have a Separate Cooler For Drinks
Since the drink cooler is opened the most frequently, and consistently being exposed to warm air, the ice will melt more quickly. If you want to maintain a cold cooler make sure the drinks are stashed elsewhere.
10) Drain or Don’t Drain the Ice Water?
Melted ice water is colder than the air you introduce by draining it, so the popular opinion is to keep the water in the cooler. However, if you have items that you don’t want to get soggy, it may be best to drain it in that scenario.
11) Keep It In The Shade
Keeping the cooler out of direct sunlight and hot vehicles will extend the life of the ice and the contents inside. This may be hard to achieve if you’re in an exposed area like a boat, but even throwing a towel over the cooler will go a long way.
12) Stay Organized
Depending on the trip and the number of items you’re bringing, you may organize your cooler differently. For example, if you have a larger cooler and you’re packing for multiple days, you might split your cooler up into multiple different columns for each day. Or, you could organize it by different meals. One way to improve your organization is to use an actual barrier like the Yeti Tundra Dividers.
These are 12 tips that will help you keep your food, beverages, and ice cool longer. If you have any tips that we missed write them in the comments below. Stay tuned for more Fishing Tips.
Featured from GoFundMe supporting the guides whose tires were slashed on July 14, 2021.Â
If you haven’t been paying attention, things are getting contentious on the world-famous Madison River in Montana. From permitting access to overcrowded holes and runs, it’s safe to say that things are coming to a head between locals and anglers traveling to the area.
According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, tires on 15 vehicles were slashed along a 7-mile stretch of the legendary trout river. Sheriff Phil Fortner reported that none of the damaged vehicles had Montana plates and all were parked at river access points between Three Dollar Bridge and Lyons Bridge.
“Unless someone has noticed anything suspicious that day that can lead us in the direction of a certain person or persons, then it’s going to be difficult to identify a suspect,†Fortner said.
None of the parking areas had cameras set up, so identifying a suspect has been difficult, but the Sheriff did say that because none of the vehicles were in-state, they believe that the perpetrator was disgruntled by the increased visitation and attention the Madison River has received in recent seasons.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help those affected by the vandalism with their repairs, and you can support that, here.
If you know anything about the tire-slasher please call the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at (406) 843-5301.
TINCUPWhiskey wants to send you on an all-expenses-paid, guided fly-fishing trip, on August 30th -September 2nd for two people to beautiful Madison Valley Ranch in Ennis, Montana! This epic trip will be 3 nights, with 2 days of fishing during our favorite time of the year to fish big hoppers for rising trout.
If you need a bright, shining example of how invasive species enter our freshwater rivers, lakes, and streams, these fat goldfish are perfect. Likely released by well-meaning owners who no longer want to keep them, they’ve taken over and even choked out some lakes in the Land of 10,000. Recently the city of Burnsville, MN had a tweet go viral, talking about the oversized, invasive goldfish that reach “infestation” levels according to locals.
Please don’t release your pet goldfish into ponds and lakes! They grow bigger than you think and contribute to poor water quality by mucking up the bottom sediments and uprooting plants.
Groups of these large goldfish were recently found in Keller Lake. pic.twitter.com/Zmya2Ql1E2
— City of Burnsville (@BurnsvilleMN) July 9, 2021
“You see goldfish in the store and they’re these small little fish,†Caleb Ashling, Burnsville’s natural resources specialist, said in an interview. “When you pull a goldfish about the size of a football out of the lake, it makes you wonder how this can even be the same type of animal.â€
Unfortunately, this isn’t a local phenomenon in Minnesota. In fact, Arizona has popped up as a popular goldfish, carp, and koi fishery in the many canals that lace the suburbs in the state. In fact, you’ll likely see an errant gold-orange blob in most neighborhood lakes if you look hard enough.
“A few goldfish might seem to some like a harmless addition to the local water body — but they’re not,†the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advised earlier this year.
Goldfish and other released carp species can choke out lakes and ponds by stirring up muck from the bottom while they feed and destroying the aquatic plant life.
Last week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) successfully transported 1.1 million juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon from Iron Gate Hatchery on the Klamath River to Trinity River Hatchery. Drought conditions and water quality were so bad that managers were forced to truck the smolts to a different facility and wait until conditions improve. When that happens is anyone’s guess, but most of these hatchery smolts would have died had they been released. Back in May, sampling discovered an unprecedented fish kill on the Klamath River with 97% of smolts testing positive for a deadly parasite, at one point.
Juvenile Chinook salmon are herded by CDFW staff in a raceway at the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery, Siskiyou County, Calif., prior to their loading and relocation to the Fall Creek facility on July 7, 2021. (CDFW Photo/Travis VanZant)​
“It’s extremely challenging to raise cold water fish species in a drought,†said Dr. Mark Clifford, Hatchery Environmental Scientist for CDFW’s Northern Region. “The reality is most of these fish would have died if we released them into the river. We need to maintain the integrity of the fall run on the Klamath River and we especially can’t afford to lose this generation of fish.â€
While the impact of hatcheries on wild fish populations has been drawn into a negative light recently, the severity of water conditions is the focus here. If water conditions are bad enough for millions of juvenile smolts, do the endangered wild species stand a chance?
Juvenile Chinook salmon swim in a raceway at Iron Fish Gate Hatchery, Siskiyou County, Calif., before their relocation to the Fall Creek facility on July 7, 2021. (CDFW Photo/Travis VanZant)​
Thankfully, they have hope, as the four Klamath River Dams are slated for removal by 2024. Dam removal will restore access for salmon species and is expected to have a cooling effect on upriver water temperatures and improve resilience to climate change.
The 1.1 million juvenile smolts currently housed at Trinity River Hatchery will continue to grow this summer and are expected to be released later this fall, when water conditions improve.
Opportunistic, hard fighting, and readily accessible across the country, smallmouth and largemouth bass are an insanely fun species to pursue on the fly. Fly fishing for bass can be intimidating to some however it’s one of the most accessible types of fly fishing around. Bass can be found in rivers, ponds, and lakes from New York City to Hawaii so there’s no excuse not to wet a line.Â
Smallmouth Vs Largemouth & Where to Find Them
Largemouth bass have a defined black lateral line. Photo courtesy of @kirkymarks.
For starters, let’s take a look at the physical differences between largemouth and smallmouth bass and where they can typically be found. Largemouth bass have a jaw extends beyond the eye and are green with a defined black lateral line.
Largemouth typically prefer shallow, weed and lily pad filled water and like plenty of cover. For this reason, small ponds in parks provide great habitat for largemouth bass which can be easily accessed on foot. When fishing lakes and rivers, target large structures like fallen trees that provide coverage for ambushing prey and protection from predators.Â
Smallmouth are typically a bronze color and have vertical black lines on their bodies. Photo courtesy of @gemichaels.
Smallmouth bass are easily identified by their jaw that extends to the middle of their eye. Smallmouth are typically a bronze or brown color and will have vertical black lines on their bodies and horizontal lines on their cheeks. Smallmouth tend to reside in deeper and cooler water compared to largemouths throughout the spring and summer. They can often be found in colder streams and cohabitate with various species of trout. Smallmouth bass will move into riffles to feed similar to trout and can often be found at the dropoff of a riffle into a deep pool.Â
Flies/Techniques:
Fly choice is not quite as important when fly fishing for bass as some other species. Bass will often have reactionary strikes and attack any fly that catches their attention. Crayfish are one of the biggest food sources for bass so having a variety of crayfish patterns like the Wooly Bugger, Meat Whistle, Slump Buster, or Nancy P are recommended. Throwing one of these flies against a bank with quick strips will imitate a fleeing crayfish and likely attract a resident bass.
Top water eats on foam poppers and deer hair bass bugs are some of the most exciting freshwater eats.
For some, fly fishing for bass is synonymous with poppers, and for good reason. Topwater eats on foam poppers and deer hair bass bugs are some of the more exciting freshwater eats you’ll get. Throwing a frog imitation popper over lily pads or into structure is a surefire way to get an explosive eat from a lurking largemouth. Short, quick strips with a foam popper will drive bass crazy. Slider patterns are another way to target bass on the surface.
The Clouser Minnow in its many variations is a phenomenal bass pattern.
Fly fishing for bass wouldn’t be complete without a few minnow patterns. Tried and true classics like Clouser minnows, Deceivers, and Game Changers are must-haves for an aspiring bass angler. When fishing baitfish streamers, vary your retrieve with some pauses and variable strips. At the end of the day, bass are predatory, reactionary feeders so don’t overthink it!Â
Fly fishing gear for bass fishing, like most fly fishing, can be as simple or complicated as you want. Any 9’ fast action 6-8wt weight rod is ideal for throwing large, wind resistant flies. You can certainly get away with a 4 or 5 weight if that’s what you already have. When using lighter rods, plan to throw smaller flies like a Micro Game Changer. If you plan to regularly pursue bass and want a purpose built rod, consider the G. Loomis NRX+ Swim Fly Rod, which was designed specifically for large baitfish patterns, is perfect for targeting large and smallmouth bass.
Reels
The Ross Reels Animas is a workhorse of a reel and available in sizes 4/5, 5/6, and 7/8.
When fly fishing for bass, choose large arbor reel with an adjustable drag in a size paired with your desired rod weight. While you can certainly play bass on click and pawl reels, an adjustable drag system is the way to go. The Ross Reels Animas is a phenomenal, American made reel with a super smooth drag. Available in ⅘, ⅚, and ⅞, there’s a model to pair with your favorite bass rod.
Choosing a line when fly fishing for bass is pretty simple. In most scenarios, aside from deep lakes and fishing from a boat, a weight forward floating line is all you will need to pursue bass on the fly. Choosing a weight forward fly line with a compact head is ideal as it will help turn over large, wind resistant patterns. When fishing with streamers and larger patterns, I turn to the Airflo Superflo Power Taper in 5wt and 8wt models for bass fishing and streamers due to its compact head, capable of turning over large flies, and unmatched durability.Â
If you plan to fly fish for bass from a boat on deeper lakes and rivers, you may want to consider and intermediate, sink tip, or full sinking line to help get your flies down quickly. Depending on the amount of structure in the lake, you may want to avoid sinking lines as you can get snagged frequently.
If you find yourself fishing a variety of water types, from shallow lily pad filled ponds to deeper lakes, consider attaching a sinking polyleader to a floating fly line to create a sink tip line.Â
Leaders/Tippet
Leaders for bass are pretty simple. When fishing top water, a leader in the 7-9’ range should do the trick. Using stiff, bass specific leaders will work however I’ll often use old trout leaders that are cut back into the butt section with a few feet of 10-20 pound tippet attached. If you’re fishing baitfish, leech, or crayfish patterns, using a 4-8’ fluorocarbon leader or section of tippet will usually do the trick, similar to streamer fishing for trout. Like fly selection, don’t over think it.Â
Get Out There
Fly fishing for bass is fun and accessible nearly anywhere in the country. Photo courtesy of @gemichaels.
Fly fishing for bass is fun and accessible nearly anywhere in the country. Now that you have the basic knowledge of large and smallmouth bass, where to find them, and the gear required to target them, what’s stopping you? With the fly rod you already own and a handful of flies, you can be fishing for bass in no time.
Article by Evan Garda on the Content Team here at Fly Lords. He can be found chasing trout throughout the west with his trusty fly rods. Check out his adventures at @evangarda.
There are pros and cons to working in a fly shop. The pros are obvious: talking about fishing, facilitating fishing trips, and rigging up fishing equipment all day is any fisherman’s dream. But with that comes the reality that you yourself are not fishing.
The beauty of the West in the summertime is that the sun shines well into what should be nighttime anywhere else. That means that when work is done there’s only one thing to do. Go fish.
“What time you getting off,†Mike asks me after he finishes up ringing up a customer.
“I’m off at 6:00, wanna float?â€
“Sure I’ll get the boat rigged up then we can roll out when you get done.â€
“Sweet I’ll ask Luke if he wants to join then we’ll get after it.â€
The remaining few hours of work drag along as my mind shifts into fishing mode. When 6:00 finally rolls around, I help close up the shop and meet Mike and Luke outside with the boat ready to go.
There’s something special about floating the Missouri River in the evening. The guides have long since trailered their boats and dropped off their clients. The rec floaters have deflated their tubes and are on their way back into town. The river is quiet and the fish have had a break from the constant flow of nymph rigs.
We pulled into the boat ramp parking lot around 6:30 pm and found it mostly empty except a few overnight campers grilling out and relaxing after a long day on the water. We backed the boat down the ramp and pushed off from shore.
As ideal as this all sounds, the Mo is still the Mo. That constant flow of nymph rigs means that these fish are as smart and picky as they come. Big brown and rainbow trout have seen it all and have gotten pretty good at avoiding getting jabbed in the face.
After a few fly changes though, indicators began to drop. Just a couple hundred yards from the put-in we began netting fish. After a quick photo op, we sent them back on their way. We worked our way down the river picking off a few fish as we went along.
Entering the homestretch of the float feeling content as we had each caught a few fish, it was time to let me row. Up to this point, Mike and Luke had been taking turns captaining the drift boat as they had more experience doing so. I jumped on the sticks feeling confident that I would not be able to get the boat into position to catch fish, but there’s only one way to learn.
As I grabbed the oars, Luke said, “let’s head over to the left side and fish that seam coming off the pointâ€. I clumsily rowed us over, and they cast their flies into the seam despite the poor boat positioning. We drifted through the seam without any takers. “I know there are fish in there let’s row back up and try it againâ€.
As the second drift came to an end, Mike’s indicator shot under and his rod bent nearly down to the water. “This is a good fish,†he said as his rod tip went thump, thump, thump.
The fish stayed deep as it peeled off yards of line. Chaos ensued as Luke got into position with the net and I tried unsuccessfully to keep us away from snags. “It’s a big brown!†Luke said as Mike lifted it to the surface.
Luke apprehended the monstrous fish with a big swoop of the net and turned to give Mike a fist bump.
The Missouri River may be known to produce big fish, but landing a brown trout of this size is no small feat. After a few obligatory pictures, we sent the big brown back down to its lair.
We cracked a few celebratory Budweiser’s and paddled on down to the boat ramp aided by the evening breeze.
As the sun began to set, we trailered the boat and hauled it back up to the shop. After washing the fish slime and spilled beer out of the boat we headed home ready to do it all again tomorrow.
