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Grundens Presents: Chrome Chasers – A Flylords Film

Joseph Berney
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Grundens Presents: Chrome Chasers – A Flylords Film

How this came to be

Let’s get this out of the way… you must be crazy to make a steelhead film. We don’t say it’s crazy purely because it is a fish population that is diminishing, but also because it is such a special species deserving the utmost reverence by anyone who wishes to capture them on film. When we were approached by the team at Grundens to make a film in the Northwest, we were intrigued, they understood how crazy it was to make a steelhead film, but also understood we needed to tell this story to elevate the conservation efforts which are ongoing to protect these beautiful fish.

Then we met Rick…

Man driving a boat
Rick Matney, Chrome Chasers Lodge

About Chrome Chasers

Rick Matney is a multi-generation outdoorsman through and through. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he sowed his outdoor roots by learning the ropes of fishing, hunting, and commercial trapping with his father and grandfather. His passion for wild places took him to Bozeman, Montana to obtain a college degree – but, more importantly, to pursue a career in fishing where he eventually became a trout guide.

With guiding in his blood and an affinity for promoting sustainable fisheries, Rick landed in the Tongass region of Southeast Alaska – an area that he explored as a young man, documenting steelhead on numerous rivers while his dad operated a local commercial trapping business. As he dove deeper into the world of becoming a “steelheader,” the need for conservation became more and more apparent.

Through the foundation set by Trout Unlimited, Rick – along with a coalition of dedicated anglers – documented the salmonoid species to protect habitat throughout the Tongass Coastal Range.  Simultaneously, Rick worked tirelessly alongside commercial fisheries management to shift fishing seasons and safeguard wild steelhead in small streams where they were being captured as bycatch during the Chinook Salmon run.

The Steelhead Fishing

In order to collect data and document these steelhead, we needed to go fishing. The process of going steelhead fishing in southeast Alaska is no small endeavor. On top of all the time and effort to find the steelhead, there are over 5,000 anadromous watersheds. You are going to need deep knowledge of the tides so you don’t get stranded. You will need a boat that can run you to the mouth of the creeks, and a jet boat to get you to shore. From there you are just getting started.

It is fitting to put some miles on your boots and really put your waders to the test when the fish you are chasing are battling so much adversity to meet you in the same place. We would hike for miles through the forest, over deadfall, dodging devil’s thumb (the worst kind of thorn plant you can imagine), and scramble up and down rocky banks to have the chance to catch a steelhead.

Southeast Alaska is a true test for your gear.

Rick would march ahead of us, and as we reached each of his “spots” we would in almost every hole have an opportunity to see fish. This was a first for all of us in the group and for any serious steelheader this is a rare occasion. You learn an incredible amount when you are able to study a fish. To sit on the bank and watch how the fish moves, where in the water column they are sitting, and more importantly how they react to your movements and presentation of a fly.

The creeks we were able to fish were just coming up in flows and too skinny to fish the traditional swung fly. The setup of choice was a 7wt rod with an indicator rig in order to get the perfect drift to the fish we were sight fishing. When the bobber would go down, all hell breaks loose.

Ed Fuhrken from Waters West Fly Shop hooked up to a steelhead.

When brought to the net, Rick was able to take the documentation he needed for the genome-tracking projects he was helping with. This would require measuring the fish, taking a fin clip, and a scale sample. All of this would be done while keeping the fish in the water to make sure the work being done was not going to hurt the population. As a group, we were able to see dozens of fish and were lucky enough to shake hands with a few from different watersheds.

The Takeaway

Beyond the fishing, you can’t help but be blown away by the journey these fish had to go through to get to where we were meeting them. Rick’s passion for these fish hasn’t stopped him from interacting with the entire fishing community, both recreational and commercial to inspire meaningful change for steelhead in southeast Alaska. The bottom line is, if we don’t have any fish, there is no fishing.

We along with Grundens hope this film inspires you to join the fight with Trout Unlimited, Wild Steelheaders United, as well as other great organizations fighting for these incredible fish.

In southeast Alaska, there are over 5,000 anadromous watersheds, but only 346 are officially recognized as supporting annual runs of steelhead in the state’s Anadromous Waters Catalog (AWC). Trout Unlimited believes Steelhead are in twice that many streams. Documentation in the AWC is critical for the protection of species and their habitat. The Trout Unlimited Alaska’s Fish Habitat Mapping Project is an ongoing effort by TU staff and volunteers to expand Alaska’s AWC by mapping previously undocumented anadromous waters and species in Southeast Alaska.  The first habitat survey conducted by Trout Unlimited focused on adult steelhead, but since then the effort has expanded to include surveys for juvenile salmon as well.

Since the project began in 2018, TU has added more than 67 miles of anadromous habitat to the AWC. More information about the project can be found here The Fish Habitat Mapping Project.

In 2021, the U.S. Forest Service charted a new direction for the Tongass National Forest with the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy. This direction includes ending large-scale old-growth logging and instead prioritizing restoration, recreation, and climate resiliency. As part of that strategy, the Forest Service restored roadless protections on 9.3 million acres of the forest, conserving plentiful salmon and trout streams and critical wildlife habitats for deer, bears, wolves, bald eagles, and many other animals.

Trout Unlimited is working with the Forest Service and local communities to advance restoration projects across the forest. These projects will remove barriers to fish passage and restore stream habitat for anadromous fish. This work doesn’t just benefit fish and wildlife, it also brings vast benefits to the people of southeast Alaska, who rely on a healthy forest to support their cultures and tourism-based economies.

Get Involved! 

To learn more about how to take action and protect Steelhead please visit America’s Salmon Forest and Wild Steelheaders United.

Thank you to Grundens for being crazy enough to make a steelhead film with us, they understand the dire need for these fish and the importance of making sure we have fish to chase for generations to come. If you are interested in learning more about Grundens go HERE.

Thank you to Rick and Dory at Chrome Chasers for sharing their slice of heaven with us for a week, and inspiring us to be more thoughtful about how we are treating our resources. If you are interested in learning more about their operation go HERE.

Watch The Film Here

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Grundens Launches New GORE-TEX Boundary Wader Collection and Boot

Potential World Record Bonefish Caught in the Indian Ocean

Scoty De Bruyn
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Potential World Record Bonefish Caught in the Indian Ocean

This is a recap of my trip to Socotra with Wild Sea Expeditions in March 2023. We were doing the exploratory and only had a few days to fish ourselves, so we had to work the place quickly.

We struggled to catch fish, it’s super technical, mainly because the water is quite cold there, so the fish behave accordingly. We had strange wind, and the conditions just weren’t perfect or conducive to catching large numbers of fresh per day, so we caught a few different trevally species on the first day.

Two weeks later, I decided I’d seen some bonefish on the beach. I told my buddy Nick, who was fishing with me then, that I wanted to catch a big Bonefish on that beach, and that was the goal.

The day before the big fish, we caught decent bonefish. Nick, unfortunately, lost his bone at the end of the fight, but all the bonefish we had seen were over 60 cm that day, so we were stoked and confident that we would get to get the job done at some stage.

When we had a few clients, and I saw two bonefish, I think on the second to last day that the guests fished, I saw a few bonefish, I’d have to say between 90 and 100 cm kind of in that range, 34-36 inches; however, I couldn’t fully determine if they were bonefish because they were on a rocky-coral bank with a bit of white water and wave action. Hence, spotting the fish is hard, and I wanted to avoid getting in the water to spook them. Still, I needed to get in the water to identify what they were, so I got in the water and waited for them to come back to that exact spot. I thought they were milkfish as soon as they went off the broken bottom onto the sand. Still, then when they turned, I could see the eye and see the shape of the head and everything. I was like, “holy s*** balls, and those are some f****** massive Bonefish and some of the biggest bones I have ever seen.”

So, we decided that on our last days fishing, we would go and fish this particular section of beach close to where we were camping, but it was just a perfect spot. It was deeper water closed by a shallow flat sandbar near the beach so that you could wade a little bit, and that’s how we would find the fish: you would get into the water and get pumped by a few waves and wait.

And then you could see with the wave action, little puffs of sand off the deck, and then it would obscure your vision a little bit, so it is hard to spot fish. The water is clean, but it’s not like the Seychelles flats clean; it has a sort of opaqueness to the water. So, that last day Nick decided that we needed to go and fish, and I was pretty tired at that stage since it was towards the end of the season.

Nick decided to drag me out of bed and walked towards the beach. We got down there and put our bags down, and I lit up a cigarette, and low and behold, two-three meters in front of us on our left, into the sun, we saw two fish cruising a few feet away from the edge of the sand. I quickly grabbed my G Loomis fly rod, got on my knees, and threw out 15 to 20 feet of line with a little crab attached to my leader, and I still couldn’t tell what species I was casting to.

The fish had a pretty long length, but it was swimming with a bluefin, so I dumped the fly in there and waited for it to find my crab. I thought the bluefin would react first, but the bluefin there are very strange. The bluefin turned and went back into the waves, and I stripped the fly once since the bone was still on the sand, and this big bonefish just crushed my crab pattern. I set the hook gently cause I was fishing with 10lb tippet, then this thing tore off, and my Shilton reel started screaming. I ran back up the beach to get rid of my cigarettes since I had them in my pocket, and basically, the rest is history from there.

The fish took off, and I don’t know how many meters or yards of backing it took off the reel, but I was worried about how far it ran. I was concerned that the 10 lb tippet would break during the first change of direction because typically, at 90°, if the fish books out, it will pop with all the drag and resistance on the fly line through the water.

I had to follow the fish a bit, and it was a hell of a fight cause of the size. I had to follow the fish, get in the water, and then run back to the beach numerous times, and in its entirety, the fight was about 23 minutes.

It was onto the beach, but man, what an insane feeling to land a fish that size. I mean, any bonefish over 30 inches is remarkable, but to go 30-inch plus or 81 CM, you don’t see fish like that in the Indian Ocean. I was speechless that all of this happened, and to catch a bone that big, not knowing what species it was at first.

There are massive bones there, and I would like to go back to Socotra and see if we could try and stick a serious record over 90 CM; over 34-35 inches would be unbeatable, but they are there, and we have seen them.

I was so stoked that Nick was there to capture it all on video; I don’t think anyone would believe us if we didn’t bring a phone or camera. It was an unforgettable day in my fly fishing life, and I look forward to doing that again at some stage. Whether it’s a bonefish or a permit or anything, it doesn’t matter what it is. I’m stoked to catch anything, and I’ll throw my fly to whatever has fins, and this is just one experience I will never forget.

Angler Story from Scot de Bruyn, find him on Instagram at @cartel_flyfishing. Video and photos captured by @nickclewlow. Big thanks to Wild Sea Expeditions.

Check out the articles below:

Fly Fishing the Island of Socotra

Top 13 Underrated Saltwater Species to Target on Fly

Reel of the Week: Stand Up Paddle & Tarpon Fishing

Nelson Oxley
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Reel of the Week: Stand Up Paddle & Tarpon Fishing

A note from John Agles @flyfishinrad:

“Overall, I’m about 75% stand up paddle board and 25% Skiff. When it comes to beach tarpon on fly, it’s pretty much all on the paddle board. Being able to launch anywhere and quickly is the obvious advantage. I also like the serenity and simplicity; I’m definitely not going to put a motor or a bunch of junk on my board. A not so obvious advantage is often the fish will tolerate being chased by SUP to some degree, which is very unlikely to happen by boat. Of course you’re still left with the over the shoulder shot. This string of fish was headed north. At least a couple fish saw the fly and passed on it before a big one said ok.”

Reel of the Week from John Agles, be sure to follow him on Instagram @flyfishinrad.

Check out the articles below:

Reel of the Week: “That’s Tarpon Fishing”

Two Days, Two New England SUP Fly Slams

Patagonia’s Cracked–An In-Depth and Disturbing Account of The History of Dams, and a Path for a Better Future

Will Poston
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Patagonia’s Cracked–An In-Depth and Disturbing Account of The History of Dams, and a Path for a Better Future

Within the fly fishing world, it’s standard knowledge that damming rivers harms and degrades ecosystems, migratory fish, and communities of people. Steven Hawley’s Cracked takes a deep dive into the history of dam building in the United States and globally, shedding light to many of the not so common knowledge sides of dams. From the Glen Canyon Dam and reservoir evaporation to sustained efforts to dam pristine Chilean rivers to the success of dam removals on the Elwha to poor economics of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration, Cracked underscores the sustained and well-connected dam construction efforts globally and identifies the blueprint for successfully reconnecting river systems. If you care about rivers and understand the importance of wild, free-flowing waters, this is a book you need to read.

Cracked author, Steven Hawley

Published by Patagonia, Cracked reads with a tone of keeping wild places wild and restoring previously wild places to give future generations the opportunity to experience all that this remarkable planet has to offer, but also an almost fear-inducing reflection of past mistakes. The threat of climate change, however, has always been a perplexing factor for dams and hydropower, specifically. The traditional thinking was that dams are a clean, carbon-free source of electricity and energy, that are good for the planet—well at least compared to coal, oil, and gas power. However, Cracked exposes a different school of thought that hydropower is not as “green” as once though and, in many cases, produce substantial amounts of emissions harmful to the planet.

The bathtub ring of light minerals at Reservoir Mead shows the high-water mark of the reservoir, which has since shrunk to its lowest point since it was first filled in the 1930s. Southern Paiute ancestral lands, Arizona.

For example, methane emissions, a potent and harmful greenhouse gas, are a huge, and often under-estimated, output of dam construction. “A new model improved the accuracy of methane measurements in reservoirs. Emissions were about 29 percent higher than previously predicted. All told, the world’s reservoirs are annually producing 1.07 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents as methane. This is as much greenhouse gas as is emitted annually by Germany, the world’s sixth-largest contributor to climate change.”

Built during the Depression at fire-sale prices, the construction of Hoover Dam launched what would become the largest construction firms in the United States. Southern Paiute ancestral lands, Nevada. PHOTO CREDIT: © Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress.

Hawley goes into the dark history of the Bureau of Reclamation’s pursuit of dams at the expense of indigenous tribes and entire towns. Advertised as ushering in modern society, BoR promoted dams as the necessary tool for converting unusable lands into booming places of commerce and prosperity. But in reality BoR’s actions throughout the 20th century padded very few, yet well-connected, pockets, displaced entire communities, and destroyed wild and immensely productive rivers.

The Klamath River’s Iron Gate Dam and Reservoir—an emitter of the potent greenhouse gas methane. Note the bright green hue of the water, the sign of a dangerous algal bloom. Klamath River Shasta Indian Nation ancestral lands, California. PHOTO CREDIT: © EcoFlight

“When, in 1902, the Bureau of Reclamation was invented, a new cabal of powers turned their collective attention to dams. Making the desert bloom, it was uncritically assumed, was a giant leap for humankind, a project only a technologically advanced, eternally optimistic, fabulously wealthy, and powerful nation such as the United States could undertake. But it was shortsighted to assume that the total control of water–across far-flung geography–was a bold leap for civilization.”

When discussing rivers in the Pacific Northwest, Cracked takes note from indigenous communities to describe the holistic impacts dams have generated. Not only have the Snake River dams decimated wild salmon and steelhead runs, but their human impacts serve another devastating example of dam-building’s disturbing past. Carrie Chapman Nightwalker Schuster is a Palouse tribal leader, who’s childhood marred by her home and ancestral lands being inundated with the Snake River Dams’ construction.

Concrete isn’t forever: the Elwha was freed of its dams in 2014. Lower Elwha Klallam ancestral lands, Washington. PHOTO CREDIT: © John Gussman

Prior to the construction and under an agreement formed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, archeologists from Washington Universities arrived to sacred tribal lands. “One day we saw the archeologists,” recounted Schuster. “At this point my mother’s eyes were going bad, and she couldn’t quite make out what was being dug out of the earth. So, I was her eyes. ‘They’re taking a canoe!’ I told her. It was then that we knew that they were stealing my mother’s grandfather, my great-grandfather.”

Gary Woodcock paddles through the locks of Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River in a Salish dugout canoe. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation ancestral lands, Washington. PHOTO CREDIT: © Ben Herndon

Today, there is real movement to remove the Lower Four Snake River Dams. Congressman Mike Simpson, a conservative Republican from Idaho, developed a plan to remove the dams and replace the dams’ services. Some of the region’s Democrats, too, developed a plan to offset the benefits and recover the River. Yet, Hawley determines both plans miss the target, because according to former 30-year veteran of the Corps of Engineers, Jim Waddell, explained that not only are the dams “fish-killers, they are money-losers.” Waddell concludes a discussion with Hawley by saying, “But the realization that I have–we all have–an environmental ethic, is because we are a part of nature, not separate from it. That means, among many other things, that economy and ecology are really two sides of the same coin. We shouldn’t consider the well-being of one without equally considering the other.”

Kalivac dam site on the Vjosa River in Albania. The dam project had an inadequate environmental report, protestors rallied against it, and the project was abandoned in 2021. PHOTO CREDIT: © Andrew Burr

Cracked points to many other examples of dam tragedies, including along Chile’s Patagonia rivers and in comparatively undeveloped parts of Europe, where sustained and powerful dam proponents are trying to dam the remarkable, glacial rivers of these remote corners of the world. These example also show the power of grassroots efforts to fight dam construction and protect wild, free-flowing rivers. As such, one of Cracked’s main takeaway points is a blueprint for how to effectively advocate and organize against pro-dam efforts.

Hawley, lays out the “blueprint” to form a movement, the expertise needed to refute the claims of dam developers or government entities alike, and how to create the grassroots, community level operation to garner the political will and influence to fight for rivers and/or restore them. This “educational” chapter is important, for as David Browner, a formative environmentalist and the Sierra Club’s first Executive Director, observed, “all environmental victories are temporary, and all defeats permanent.”

For any angler who appreciates wild, free-flowing, healthy rivers as much as a well-fed trout or the powerful experience of seeing spawning salmon thousands of miles from the ocean, Cracked is a great read. It provides context for the global shortsightedness of attempting to harness the power of rivers and turn the desert green and describes the will of many to fight for these wild, life-giving bodies of water. Finally, Cracked inspires what it takes to turn the tide against dams, recover and restore the world’s rivers and embodies Patagonia’s ethic of protecting the one planet we’ve got. So, be sure to get a copy of Patagonia’s Cracked and learn for yourself!

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Fishing Tips: The “Dip and Swish” Casting Trick

Andrew Braker
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Fishing Tips: The “Dip and Swish” Casting Trick

The “Dip and Swish” casting trick is something that all anglers need to know. If you fly fish, you are all too familiar with the annoying moment when your fly line falls down through your guides. Rather than doing whatever crazy dance you’ve been doing to correct the situation, check out the Dip and Swish method from Troutbitten.

How to Tie: Egan’s Poacher

Greg Stohrer
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How to Tie: Egan’s Poacher

In this week’s “How to Tie” video feature, Lance Egan with Fly Fish Food ties a pattern every angler should have in their streamer box year round, Egan’s Poacher.

Learn About This Fly:

Difficulty: Intermediate

Although it is getting to dry fly season and trout have started looking up, we cannot forget about our subsurface friends. Nymphs and streamers will always get the job done and should be brought to the water no matter the season. Spring and summer offer some of the best dry fly fishing of the year, but some days won’t be productive unless you make the change to subsurface. Egan’s Poacher is a fantastic streamer pattern that will produce on those days the fish aren’t looking up and sure make you glad you didn’t just bring the dry box.

Tying this pattern is relatively simple and will only give you grief during the dubbing loop stage. Take your time and go slow, as this step is extremely important in building the body. You can also switch up the colors and tie a version of Egan’s Poacher in black to cover the basics, which will only help your chances at catching fish. Enjoy the tying process and take the extra time needed to learn new skills on the vise instead of rushing through for a less than ideal result.

Pairing Egan’s Poacher with another larger streamer or nymph in a double nymph rig is an effective way to fish this pattern. This is a fly originally created for European nymphing tactics, but can be fished in traditional ways as well. When the water bumps this summer from rain, or if those trout just aren’t looking up, always make sure you’re prepared. Tying a batch of Egan’s Poacher is a step in that direction!

Ingredients:

Now you know how to tie Egan’s Poacher!

Video and ingredients courtesy of Fly Fish Food.

12th Annual Cheeky Schoolie Tournament Another Huge Success–Raises $30,000 for Striped Bass Conservation

Flylords
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12th Annual Cheeky Schoolie Tournament Another Huge Success–Raises $30,000 for Striped Bass Conservation

Last weekend, anglers from all over the country set their sights on Cape Cod, MA, for the 12th annual Cheeky Schoolie Tournament–the world’s largest fly fishing tournament. This community driven and conservation minded event is a favorite for many of us here at Flylords, and something we look forward to every year. This year, outside of some strong and ever-shifting winds, Cheeky and so many other sponsors and partners put on another great event! Follow along for a full breakdown of the tournament weekend!

What is the Schoolie Tournament?

The Cheeky Schoolie Tournament is the world’s largest fly fishing tournament. It is entirely catch & release and targets striped bass, hence all the event’s proceeds going towards striped bass conservation (The American Saltwater Guides Association, Keep Fish Wet, and Stripers Forever). The scoring is determined by the angling team’s four-fish aggregate length. In year’s past four 25″ fish or 100 total inches would definitely put you high up on the leaderboard, but the pre-tournament rumors had many anglers dreaming of larger fish and some high scores!

“The Cheeky Schoolie tournament is a celebration of striped bass with an emphasis on handling and conservation,” said Peter Vandergrift of Cheeky Fishing. ”We have people come year after year and not even put in a score card which tells me they are here for the community and the fish. Over the past 5 years we have donated more that $100,000 to striped bass conservation, but we have made a place for anglers to celebrate the fish as well.”

As alluded to, this tournament is all about community and striped bass conservation. Anglers are required to measure fish according to best handling practices developed by the folks at Keep Fish Wet. Representatives from the American Saltwater Guides Association and Stripers Forever were also present and accessible throughout tournament weekend to discuss the recent news on the striped bass management front and how anglers can effectively advocate for an abundant, healthy striped bass population for the long term. Not to mention, the Cheeky Schoolie Tournament, consistently raises a lot of money for these organizations; this year’s tally was $30,756 split amongst those groups!

Schoolie Tournament Run of Show

Tournament Weekend kicked off Thursday afternoon at West Dennis Beach, where Capt. Abbie Schuster led a women’s fly fishing event. Abbie shared her fly fishing prowess and gave many female anglers casting tips and support!

“The womens Cheeky Schoolie Tourney Kick Off is one of my favorite times of the tournament,” Abbie said. “It’s so amazing to see woman come together and fish! Some women have fished their whole lives while others learn that day. everyone is so supportive of each other. Many friendships have been made over the years and some of the women who met there fish together throughout the whole year. I feel lucky to be a part of it and watched it grow.  There were even some  fish caught, despite the gusting 30mph winds!

On Friday, anglers presumably scouted spots for where they’d find fish come tournament kick off the next day. Our crew planned to get out of the now strong southerly wind and check out some spots on the north shore of the cape. We found some fish, but nothing to get too excited about. Later that day, anglers all met up in Hyannis for the Captains Meeting and to pick up their Captains Bags.

Photo by Rick Griffiths

Throughout the parking lot, brands like Costa, Simms, Cheeky, Breeo, Thomas & Thomas had tents set up for anglers to learn about new products and talk fishing. Beers began to flow, oysters were shucked, and there was even live music–The Captains Party really got the stoke high and set the stage for tournament saturday.

This year’s Captains Bags had a pretty great haul for anglers!

Lines-in for the tournament was 5:30 am and was accompanied by some windy and rainy forecasts. Thankfully, the rain held off, but the wind definitely did not. Anglers spread across Cape Cod either finding secluded, out of the wind spots, or braving the South side of the Cape in hope of some larger fish. Flylords’ team members Dan Zazworsky and Nate Holmes were on opposite ends of the Cape with their respective partners and all caught some solid stripers.

As a local Cape Codder, Nate Holmes is the resident striped bass tips and tactics writer here at Flylords and fished hard all weekend. “Being locals, our plan was to hit the spots we had confidence in to produce solid schoolies early in the day so we could take some riskier gambles in the afternoon for those winning 30+ inchers,” Nate explained. “We fished the end of the ebb on a Vineyard Sound inlet to start the morning, with the biggest fish of the effort being a shad before we quickly packed it up and headed to my personal favorite areas. We got word of some solid fish around, and soon after we rolled up on spot 2, we landed a nice 26” fish. The rest of the flood tide at spot 2 did not produce any more than dinks, so we decided to bounce around to try to find more scoreable fish. We found lots of small bass, but struggled to find fish over the 20” limit. We ended up measuring one 23” fish before lunch and one 25.5” at the buzzer to end the day. Our gambles for bigger fish didn’t end up paying off, but we were able to squeeze a few schoolies out of the confidence spots. For flies we were using clousers and kinky muddlers. Unfortunately, the weather  did not allow for our favorite technique of sightfishing, so we opted for confidence flies to cover water.”

But the real story of the weekend was the winning team–P-Rex, Peter Markano and Rex Messing from Simms–amassing 119.5 inches, edging out the second place team–Flailing Fly Fishermen–by just half an inch! But let’s hear it directly from the source:

“We were super excited to compete and be a part of raising so much money for striped bass conservation,” said Rex Messing. “We had no expectations for doing well, but as we got right to our first fish, we knew it was a real one that would put us in contention. We didn’t do anything special, just kept flies in the water and picked away at ’em. We managed our final solid fish right at the end of the day, giving us some optimism that we had at least a chance. When the announcement was finally made, we were shocked and stoked to step up and take the first place trophy. To beat out all the talented anglers in the tournament as a couple Montanans just proves the point that you gotta have a good strategy and a lot of luck to make it all come together”

Huge thanks to Cheeky for another amazing weekend of fishing, camaraderie, and conservation. Also, big thanks to all the other supporting partners in Costa, Simms, Yeti, Scientific Anglers, Breeo, and many more, and the benefiting organizations doing great work on the striped bass conservation front–The American Saltwater Guides Association, Keep Fish Wet, and Stripers Forever.  The Cheeky Schoolie Tournament is an event you’ll want to put on your radar for 2024!

photo credits: Rick Griffiths and Simms IG.

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2023 F3T Behind the Lens: Bleed Water

Will Poston
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2023 F3T Behind the Lens: Bleed Water

For this installment of F3T Behind the Lens, we connect with Chris Kitchen of KGB Productions to talk about their film “BLEED WATER” with the Harrison Brothers. New England is not widely known for its trout or river fisheries, but Dan and Tom Harrison have developed quite the reputable operation up there with their dedicated, hard-core approach to guiding. Follow along to learn more about their fisheries, their story, and this awesome film! BLEED WATER is a bad*** film that you’re not going to want to miss!

Flylords: Chris, thanks for taking a second to connect with us. Before we dive into your 2023 F3T film, Bleed Water, can you share some background on you and KGB Productions.

KGB: KGB Productions has kind of been my baby of me collaborating with people who enjoy working in outdoor media. I started out by making ski films, and then we’ve just grown to do all sorts of commercial and editorial work. I spent some of my early years in Jackson guiding fishing trips and exploring that region’s infamous rivers. I always strayed away from filming fishing, as that was one activity I enjoyed that I hadn’t been filming, but about 5 years ago we decided to make a fishing film. Since then, we’ve made 5 others, all of which featured on the F3T

Flylords: Let’s hear about how you all learned about the Harrison brothers and their unique approach to fishing New England’s rivers and streams? And then turned that idea into a full film? 

KGB: I first heard of the Harrison Brothers through Rex at Simms and I was fascinated with the fact that these guys fish all over the world and came back to fish and guide in western Mass. I actually grew up in Mass and had no idea that this fishery even existed, so that was intriguing to me, as was doing a trout film in New England. It seems like that part of the world often gets overlooked although it’s got a huge fly fishing community base and in many ways it’s where fly fishing kind of originated in the United States. There’s so much history there, and it’s great to get some recognition. Once I started talking with Dan and Tom and heard about their passion for finding and discovering new fisheries and running new and different rivers, I was very intrigued and knew we had a good story.

The Crew behind Harrison Anglers

Flylords: The Harrison Brothers pride themselves and have built a business on fishing remote, hard to access stretches of water. I imagine that presented some challenges on the photo and videography front. Care to explain? 

KGB: It was interesting to film with the Harrison Brothers. I’m used to showing up at nice boat ramps with bathrooms and an easy way to put in the boat and take it out . With this, we were dropping boats off on the side of the highway or winching them down Cliffs or dragging through fields. I don’t think we ever went to an official boat ramp. For many of these rivers, easy boat ramps don’t even exist. In fact, half the time we’d pull up to the spot, and I’d be like “we’re putting in here? Where?” For filming, we had to slim down our gear and we brought just essentials which is still a lot. Everything had to be portable as we would portage the whitewater with our gear and then let them run the boats without it just in case. Also the whitewater day nobody had run that section, so we had to figure out what we wanted to shoot and not shoot as it happened. Normally you have an idea of the places where you would catch a fish or shoot scenic or have a plan. For the whitewater day, it was true in the moment documentary shooting.

The Harrison Brothers approach water differently–they regularly launch boats at places other anglers wouldn’t even consider!

Flylords: Dan and Tom Harrison, definitely seem like fishy, very fishy, guys. What was it like filming and fishing with them? 

KGB: Dan and Tom and all the guides are very fishy dudes, as they fish some really tough water. As we say in the film, some of the stretches we were fishing have 30 fish per mile, but these guys have figured it out and know how to fish their water. They definitely have the brother vibe and their difference is what makes their guide service strong. Tom is “the general,” he’s the business man, the logistics guy the day to day guy. Dan is the dreamer, the one with the big ideas, fun loose but dialed. I mean all these guys can fish, tie flies, and really understand the fisheries and are great entertainers. With any sort of guide service, they feel an immense pressure to catch fish and protect the fisheries, and I think they manage that well. For filming its nice to catch a bunch of fish–that helps the film but was not our only focus. These guys were working hard for 12 hours a day plus tons of driving. We ended up doing two trips with them one in the summer and one in the fall and coincidentally we just happen to come the weeks that were the toughest fishing of the season. Seems to be on par with filming even with the tough conditions these guys put in 110% every day and worked every opportunity we had. I’m sure they do the same for their clients. You can see how much they care and how much thought and knowledge goes into the rivers they are guiding. They all seem to truly love guiding and whether they are guiding or have a day off, they are all on the water for 250 days or more!

Flylords: In the film, you all covered many different types of water and fish species. Can you tell us a little more about the Harrison Brother’s different fishing techniques and types of fish they’re targeting? 

KGB: What’s cool about the Harrison Brothers’ operation is that it’s a year-round operation. They are targeting trout year round but they’re also able to fish other species such as Pike and provide winter fishing opportunities too. I mean they use every technique in the book, from deep nymphing to euro nymphing to streamers and  dry flies and all sorts of variations and techniques. I mean you have guides like Phil Nogee who can tie any fly in the book and has specific flies he’s developed for these waters but you won’t find them in a fly shop. And then Cam Chioffi, a Junior fly fishing world champion. Just like Tom and Dan, their guides are continuously changing and adapting and innovating. Even as more pressure comes to the rivers, they are able to stay on top and produce.

Flylords: On that note, did you have a specific fish or film sequence that was particularly memorable for you 

KGB: There’s always that one fish that got away from you but what stuck out of this is we’re fishing a river (I probably can’t say the name of it ) and it’s one of those post industrial rivers where there’s like less than 100 fish from mile maybe 50 which seems like the odds are dismal and it’s just been like overcast and raining all day and we had just been nymphing and every one of their holes that were supposed to produce didn’t. It just got to that end of the day where you’re like “man are we really going to get skunked again (because the previous day we did)?” And then Dan just hooked into this big fish starts freaking out yelling it’s a big one. Cam jumps out of the boat  and ends up netting it. I mean literally end of the day, it was just a nice healthy big brown trout, and I think for me as a filmmaker we can always work around that we did not catch a big wild fish, because we have we caught some fish on film and we are trying to tell a more comprehensive story, but I think for the crew and the guides it was kind of their favorite river and they wanted to really prove that big Browns are living in there, kind of to us more than anything. And to the world and for them, I think it was more of a win, a real moral booster. I mean obviously we love the footage but like that just kind of built the group morale after two kind of bad days and then you know we went into those next three days and really got what we needed for the film.

Flylords: Any stories from shooting that might not have made it into the final film but you’d like to share? 

KGB: It’s a small but tight community. It’s cool that Dan and Tom kinda started the thing there and now there are many other guides and river users and they all help out. There doesn’t seem to be any competition or animosity. And of course what makes every guide service special is the guides and their personalities.  

I think another cool story that’s in the film but I want to reiterate, is that originally we were trying to go to another area and check out the streams where they had found some big natural brows in real skinny water but the water levels were too low so we kind of improvised last minute and ended up running that white water river which wasn’t initially our plan before the trip. But it was a river that these guys were all honestly interested in checking out. Some of them had been eying it up for years  So, we literally kind of went into it blind and made it happen, and I hope that came across in the film. It’s kind of the spirit of these anglers, and I think of us as filmmakers when we figured our original plan isn’t going to work out, and just audible and make it work. We all just jumped into it no questions asked and did it. That’s a cool thing when a crew coalesces and comes together like that. Those guys are definitely my friends now, and I can’t wait to get out with them again.

Flylords: While KGB was heading up the production of Bleed Water, I’m sure this was a full team effort–care to highlight any partners or others involved in the film? 

KGB: I got to thank Matt Fournaris the principal camera and editor on this project. He put a lot of time into it and two trips and literally slept 4 hours a night it seemed.

I also must thank Fool Hardyhill. It’s an off the grid Glamping camp with cute structures and a common area, and they are part of the fishing community. Thet put us up and fed us and served as a home base. It’s a home base for Harrison Anglers too, and it’s just got that good community vibe.

 

 And of course Tom and Dan and all the guides. They don’t really need the publicity and they took a lot of time during prime season to make this work and they were with us from dawn to deep into late night shenanigans.

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Video of the Week: The Story of Alex Waller – A Fly Fishing Journey

Landen German
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Video of the Week: The Story of Alex Waller – A Fly Fishing Journey

In this Video of the Week, we link up with our good friends Alex Waller and Mike Fisher in their newest long-form film telling Alex’s story. “Alex Waller is a driven fly angler pursuing his dream of meshing the sport he loves with the necessity of making a living. He travels around New Zealand documenting his fly fishing lifestyle.” So sit down and enjoy as Alex takes us through his love for fly fishing, his daily life, and his never-ending curiosity of chasing trout throughout New Zealand.

Alex Waller is a content creator and guide based in Taupo, in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. Follow Alex HERE as he takes you on fishing adventures around New Zealand.

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Angler Story of the Week: Second Biggest Known Sea Trout caught on Fly in Iceland

Nelson Oxley
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Angler Story of the Week: Second Biggest Known Sea Trout caught on Fly in Iceland

A note from Maroš @jungleindatrout:

“There is no need for an extra long introduction to trout fishing in Iceland, a well-known country for its native brown and sea-run trout.

Today I have an extraordinary one to show, the second-largest known sea trout caught on fly fishing equipment in Iceland of this century.

Pictures will talk for themselves… Spending a few short moments with this astonishing creature was an overwhelming moment and a privilege.

You never know here what you will find in your backyard; when I managed to hook into the fish, I was fishing my local river just a couple minutes walking from my house…”

Angler Story of the Week from Maroš, check out his Instagram @jungleindatrout.

Check out the articles below:

Angler Story of the Week: Icelandic Sea Trout

Far From Home EP. 2 ICELAND

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