Club Officers and Directors for 2011/2012 Winter 2012/2013gwffclub.org/other/DFF Newsletter Winter...
Transcript of Club Officers and Directors for 2011/2012 Winter 2012/2013gwffclub.org/other/DFF Newsletter Winter...
Winter 2012/2013
Here are a few pictures sent to me from one of good friends, Ayr Miller, who is one of the regulars at Patterson Lake in Manitoba. The upper picture is a nice bull trout while the lower picture is of a cutthroat trout. The fish were from a lake in the Canadian Rockies. Pictures by Ayr Miller
Club Officers and Directors for
2011/2012
President: Bob Morenski [email protected] 701-862-3124 Vice President: Scott Renfandt [email protected] Secretary/Treasurer Clint Baxter [email protected] Board of Directors: Mark Olinger [email protected] Randy Olson [email protected] Murray Greer [email protected] Mike Kroh [email protected] M. Byron Grubb [email protected] Lee Brend [email protected] Editor: Bob Morenski [email protected] Webmaster: Ethan Renfandt [email protected]
Schedule of Events:
December 8, 2012: Meeting at the Minot YMCA 1:00 to 3:00 PM
Election of Officers and Directors for 2013/2014
Program: Practical Lake Fly Fishing Using Strike Indicators by Bob Morenski
January 12, 2013
Program to be Determined (See President’s Message)
February 9, 2013
Program to be Determined (See President’s Message)
March 9, 2013
Program to be Determined (See President’s Message)
Winter is here! In the Morenski household that
means one thing, its remodeling season! I think
that I need to find my wife a job so that I can retire
again. While it is only early November, I already
long for the spring thaw. Winter always seems so
long here in the Dakotas. Never the less, it is a great
time to get back in touch with our local club
members and start getting prepared for next season.
Our regular club meetings will start on December
8th
at our new meeting location, the Minot YMCA.
We will be moving to a once a month schedule
which will be the second Saturday of the month
starting in December and ending in March. I will be
doing the first program [See our program
Schedule] but I want to leave the next three slots
open and tentatively line up another program. For
the other two spots, I would like to devote one to a
species orientated meeting. We did a couple of
these a few years ago and they were very
successful. I will let the club pick the species. We
have a lot of new members and I am sure many of
them would like to learn the basic fundamentals of
fly tying. I will put these items to a vote and let the
membership decide what they want to do. For the
schedule, I will list the last 3 meetings as To Be
Determined [TBD].
I just purchased a used projector which I will make
available for club use. This will eliminate the need
for the club to rent or purchase a projector. I do an
occasional program out of state and I have a need
for a projector. So, I bit the bullet. I will make this
projector available for club meetings. It will also
come in handy when we have group fly tying. We
can use it in conjunction with a video camera and a
screen to allow an enlarged bird’s eye view of the
tying process.
We have a number of great articles in this
newsletter. Within the past week I have received
articles from Chuck Loftis. Chuck is a member of
our club who currently resides in Colorado. For
many, he will be remembered as the voice of fly
fishing in “Dakota Country” magazine. Mike
Andreasen who is an honorary member of the
Dakota Fly Fishers from Bountiful, Utah, has also
supplied us with an article for this issue. Mike is the
co-author of 2 books, “Effective Lake Flies” and
“Productive Stillwater Flies”. Finally, James
White who is another member of our Colorado
contingent and is the author of “The Round Boys”
also supplied an article. It is a little large for the
newsletter; so, I am going to place it on the website.
While I am at it, I would like to thank Ayr Miller
for the pictures that he supplied for the newsletter.
Ayr and his wife Lori are from Edmonton, Alberta.
They are friends and are some of my great
neighbors at the Patterson Lake campground in
Manitoba where I reside around 3 months out of the
year.
We will be hitting a new milestone this winter. It is
the Dakota Fly Fishers 30th
Anniversary.
Everybody said that it was impossible to start a fly
fishing club in North Dakota. Never the less, I was
too stupid to listen to anybody and forged ahead
with the idea. The members of this club plowed a
lot of new ground. For the most part, lake fly
fishing was in its infancy 30 years ago. In the
process, we have turned a lot of heads and we have
caught just about every species of fish that swims in
the state. We have led the way with many
innovative fly patterns and techniques. Through the
life of the club, I have served 7 two year terms for a
total of 14 years. I have been spelled by the
following individuals who have also served as Club
President: John Gillis, Mark Olinger, Clint
Baxter and Todd Pope. Remarkably, we have had
only 3 treasurers during our club history. They are
the late Art Ellis, Jim Harris and Clint Baxter. I
would like to take this time to thank all of these
people and all of the other officers and directors that
have guided us and kept us afloat for these years.
We are the only surviving fishing club in the Minot
area.
Last but definitely not least, we have election of
club officers and directors. I will be stepping down
as club president at the end of this term. I am out of
the state for an average of four months per year.
Now that my wife is also retired, that may be
increasing. I will stay on as newsletter editor which
is the more time consuming of the two jobs but it is
one that I can do from any location. I stepped down
four years ago for the same reason. I ended up back
in the job when Todd Pope moved to Bismarck and
stepped down as President. I will still be very active
and try to serve the club as needed.
Bob Morenski
By Bob Morenski
Above is an olive Ice Leech tied in the balanced style using 15 lbs. TyGer Leader wire. The fly was tied on a size 6 standard, 2X heavy wet fly hook. This method of balancing a fly provides the option of fishing the fly as either a balanced version for fishing under an indicator or fishing it the conventional manner. This was my killer go to fly on Patterson and Tokaryk lakes during my October 2012 trip. Photo and fly by Bob Morenski
This fall I had an inspiration that I would like to
share with all of you. For the last couple years, I
have had articles about tying and fishing balanced
flies under strike indicators. I was fresh off an
afternoon of fishing at Tokaryk Lake. While
fishing there, I caught a lot of small fish plus a few
that were in the low twenties. The best fish that I
hooked that afternoon bent one of those blackened
Mustad jig hooks that we use for tying balanced
flies in two different directions and sprung the
hook. Right then and there, I decided it will be a
cold day in hell before I waste my time tying any
more balanced flies on those jig hooks.
The next day, Ron Granneman came over to show
me his latest inspiration. He had tied a balanced fly
using a monofilament loop knot. It burst his bubble
when he was told that there were people already
doing that. I did not particularly like that method
and we had a conversation on alternatives. TYGer
Leader wire came up in that conversation. For
those of you who do not know what TYGer Leader
wire is, it is a coated 21strand wire that is used for
toothy critters like pike or toothy saltwater fish
species. It holds a knot well and they claim that you
can use any conventional knot with it.
I had bought some TYGer Leader wire this past
winter from Feather Craft. I knew that I had it
somewhere in my camper; so, I started looking for
it. I found it right away in the first draw that I
looked into. I sat down and tried several methods of
attachment. On my third attempt, I hit pay dirt. The
method was simple, easy and best of all quick. I
found it no more difficult or time consuming than
weighting a fly. The big question, however, was
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“can a fish pull it out?” I quickly received an
answer to this one. I went out fishing to test it. On
my second cast, my indicator went down and I
landed a 23 inch brown. I missed a fish on the
following cast and then hooked up in the reeds.
After retrieving my fly, I stuck a good fish which
ran through the reeds and out to deep water. I
somehow freed my line. (It sometimes is better to
be lucky than good!) When it was all over, I had a
26.5 inch brownie in the net. I pulled up to the boat
ramp and got Dave LaFrance out of his camper to
help me measure the fish and to take a few pictures.
Above is a head shot of a 26.5 inch brown that fell for my prototype TyGer Leader Wire balanced Olive Ice Leech. The big fish made for a great test for the strength of the TyGer Leader wire connection. In all, several hundred fish were
landed using this fly with zero connection failures. Photo by Dave LaFrance
After that, I tied up around fifty flies using the
TYGer Leader wire technique to balance the flies.
I quickly found that the TYGer Leader wire
offered many advantages to the other methods and
techniques that I have used. They are as follows:
1. For starters, you can use stronger hooks. I
really love the ABI 2X heavy standard wet
fly hooks. This is one of my favorite hook
styles and for the price, you can’t beat them.
When you compare them to the strength of
the Mustad 32833 BLN jig hooks, there is
not even a competition. If you are fishing
around the edge of the reeds and you hook a
big fish, you will appreciate their strength.
(You can buy ABI hooks at Dakota Tackle
in Bismarck or at the Fly Desk. Bryan
Jenson who is the current owner of the Fly
Desk is a member of the Dakota Fly Fishers
and sells ABI hooks at a very reasonable
price. You can also get slip strike indicators
there and he has the best prices around on
Airflo Fly lines.)
2. You do not have to use a pin to extend the
fly to get it to balance.
3. You do not have to try to bend the eye of the
hook down like we have done in some of
our alternative methods in an attempt to use
heavier hooks.
4. It is just as fast as or faster than tying on a
pin to your hook shank.
5. The distance from your bead to where you
line attachment point never varies like when
you use a pin. You will be able to eye ball
the proper distance after a couple flies.
6. The coating on the wire allows the tying
thread to cut in and bind. It makes for a very
secure connection without having to double
the wire over to lock into place. I got to test
out the strength of the connection
unintentionally when I cast a fly deep into
the reeds. I broke 12 pound Seaguar
AbrazX fluorocarbon line before pulling out
or breaking the TYGer Leader wire
connection to the fly. If I had any lingering
doubts, this was the final sale.
7. You do not have to have a separate fly box
for flies balanced with this method. If you
want to fish the fly in the conventional
manner, you can tie your line directly to the
eye of the hook in the normal manner. There
are several flies like the Beaver Leech that I
have been tying both balanced and standard
versions. With this method, I no longer have
to do this.
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Here is how you attach the TYGer Leader wire
to balance your fly.
1. Slide on a bead using the larger opening
toward the eye. This helps placing the bead
in a consistent position
2. Wrap your thread and secure the bead in
place with thread. Lacquer the thread.
3. Take a length or TYGer Leader wire. Do
not cut it into small pieces first! You would
only be wasting material. Make a loop
coming up from the bottom of the hook.
Position the wire so that the smaller tag end
faces away from you and the balance of the
wire is toward you.
4. Make a few wraps of thread. Then pull up
the wire loop to the desired length. This can
vary with the fly pattern.
5. With the two stands of wire sitting on the
top portion of the hook shank, wrap over the
wire back toward the hook end and stop
where the hook starts to curve.
6. Wrap back toward the where the loop is and
then clip the off the excess wire.
7. While you were securing the rear portion of
the wire, the loop portion will pull in along
the bottom of the hook shank facing the
bead. With hook end of your whip finisher
or tool of your choosing, hook on to the loop
and pull in down. Wrap in front of it with
thread to position it facing down.
8. Throw a few wraps of thread at the base of
the wire loop.
9. Lacquer the thread heavily.
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That is all it takes. The process sounds lengthy but
it can be accomplished in just a few seconds with a
little practice. I am fully sold on this technique for
the reasons that I have already provided. Those
people who have watched me demonstrate this
technique are also sold. It is fast, simple and makes
a very secure loop. Besides balanced flies, you can
use this wire make tandem hook articulated flies
such as those tied by Kelly Galloup or Ray
Schmidt or maybe even use it for its intended
purpose which is catching tooth critters like pike,
musky, kingfish or barracuda. While I know that
you could use this technique with other types of
wire or materials, I do not think it that it would
make as secure of a connection. TYGer Leader
Wire comes in various sizes from 2 to 120 pound
test. For most balancing applications, the 15 pound
would be best. I would probably go with 10 pound
test for balancing smaller flies. The stuff is a little
pricy but if you hook on to big fish near the reeds,
you will appreciate every penny that you spent to
make that connection secure. You will especially
love being able to use a heavier hook.
Like I mentioned earlier, TYGer Leader is
available at Feather Craft. You can order it on line
at www.feather-craft.com or order toll free by
calling 1-800-659-1701. If you want to buy it in
larger spools or in full range of size and colors, you
can also order it directly at www.tygerleader.com. It
is available on larger spools in nickel, black or
bronze.
If you are in Bismarck, you can buy ABI hooks at
Dakota Tackle, 2005 E. Bismarck Expressway,
Bismarck, ND 58504 (701) 222-3092
Another source for ABI Hooks is the Fly Desk you
can find them on line at www.flydesk.com or by
calling Bryan at 801-557-6182. Bryan is a member
of the Dakota Fly Fishers and I am sure that he
would appreciate your business.
Above is a big Patterson Lake Rainbow that took an olive Ice Leech that was balanced using TYGer Leader wire. Photo by Bob Morenski
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By: Bob Morenski
Ayr Miller of Edmonton Alberta displays a typical Patterson Lake brown trout. An Ayr Miller picture
One day this year in early June, I woke up and saw
that conditions would be great for a run to the north
end of Patterson Lake. I cranked up my trolling
motor and headed straight up to the north end
without bothering to fish. It was if I had a
rendezvous with destiny. Approximately ¾’s of the
way up, I reached the location where I planned to
start fishing for the day. On the first cast, I hooked
up on the second strip. I knew right away that it was
one of the big boys and fortunately for me, the fish
headed out to deep water. About five minutes later,
I put the net to a 27 inch Patterson Lake brownie.
This was not only, my best brown for the 2012
season but also, my personal best brown for the
lake. I had hooked a lot of big brown trout over the
years at Patterson which would have equal or
exceed the brown that I just landed. I can think of at
least a dozen fish. At least two of these would have
topped the former Provincial record. But you know
what they say, “The 13th
time is a charm!” With
that fish under my belt, I can start focusing on my
next losing streak. It is sad to say but I already have
one notch in the belt towards topping my record.
It was the lure of big brown trout that brought me
across the border to Manitoba in 1987. At the time
William Lake in the Turtle Mountains which
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Author with a 26.5 inch buck brown that he caught on a TYGer Leader wire balanced Ice Leech. Photo by Dave LaFrance
straddle the Manitoba/North Dakota border was an
awesome brown trout fishery. It was subsequently
ruined by the introduction of perch. Never the less,
this started me down the road to my love affair with
the fisheries of our northern neighbor. I had been
hearing rumors of outstanding brown trout in a
place called Tokaryk Lake. On the Canada Day/4th
of July weekend in 1995, I decided to check it out
and I have been a Manitoba Parkland junky ever
since.
The brown trout fishery waned on Tokaryk Lake in
the late 90’s but Patterson Lake filled the void.
From 2005 through 2008, we saw a lot of big brown
trout in the lake. Like many newly aerated lakes, the
water was a little more turbid than it is today. In
2008 we had an explosion of browns in 20 to 23
inch class but by 2010, the brown trout fishery
seemed to drop off. I think that part of this was due
to a decline in the dominant year class of browns
that the lake contained, a rise in a dominant year
class of rainbows and high water. I have had an
annual camp site at Patterson since the campground
opened. Between 2008 and 2011, we saw the water
levels raise a good 3 feet. This created a brown trout
super highway between the shoreline and the
bulrushes. I forage for oyster mushrooms in June on
the dead timber along the lake shore. I would see
large brown trout cruising in this region of the lake.
This made them almost untouchable to fly
fisherman.
Drought gripped Manitoba from July of 2011 to the
present. This dropped the water levels in most of the
area lakes. Patterson Lake dropped at least 20
inches from its high levels of June 2011. This
eliminated the open water region between the shore
and the reeds and moved many of the brown trout
back into the normal feeding zones of the lake. We
had exceptional brown trout fishing all year which
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reached its zenith this fall. I am glad to report that
there is a huge population of 19 to 23 inch browns
in Patterson Lake at present with excellent
population of smaller browns. Larger browns are a
little tougher to come by but they are there. I landed
browns to 27 inches this year. I got gooned in the
reeds by one fish this fall that popped my 0X tippet
like it was sewing thread. I believe this fish may
have topped my season best. As a consolation prize,
I landed a beautiful 26.5 inch buck and another that
was somewhere close to 26 inches.
A nice brown around 26 inches caught by the author this fall. Picture by Bob Morenski
Below: Author shows off a 24.5 inch brown. Picture by Dave LaFrance
Tokaryk Lake was another surprise. Dave LaFrance
and I caught a lot of browns this spring. This fall we
witnessed the full spectrum of year classes on
Tokaryk. Like on Patterson Lake, there seems to be
a very large class of 19 to 23 inch browns. Ayr
Miller landed a fat 25 inch hen brown trout on
Tokaryk. He did not get a picture of it but said that
the weight was close to 10 pounds.
Above and below are pictures of some typical Tokaryk browns. Pictures by Bob Morenski
Above: Author doing the Ernie Schwiebert pose with a small Tokaryk brown. Why is the author so happy? It is because the future brown trout fishery on Tokaryk may soon return to its glory days of the 90’s. Pictured snapped by Ayr Miller
Other Manitoba Parkland lakes contain browns.
Persse Lake has a small population but some of
these should be huge starting in 2013. Like many
newly aerated lakes, Persse has some turbidity
problems at this time. Patterson Lake went through
the same issues. It has been further compounded by
two super bright summers which aided a spurt of
algae growth. The food supply in this lake is
unbelievable. I suspect that by next fall we should
be seeing some super chucky 25+ inch football
shaped browns and browns and even some 20+ inch
brook trout.
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Laurie Lake in Duck Mountain Provincial Park
has a good population of brown trout and also some
nice lake trout and splake. Laurie currently holds
the Provincial record for brown trout with a 30.88
inch specimen. I do not get up to this area very
much anymore. So, I do not feel comfortable giving
any specifics but fishing after ice out and again
October can be very good here. A good person to
contact would be Ryan Suffron. Ryan is a guide
who lives in Benito, Manitoba and guides in many
of the lakes north of Roblin. I have incorporated his
business card if you are interested in fishing this
area. If you are with a small group and plan on
fishing Duck Mountain Provincial Park, you should
check out Childs Lake Lodge. Bryan and Joan
Forbes are good friends and FLIPPR supporters.
They have nice clean cabins and Joan is an avid fly
fisher. For more information about Child Lake
Lodge, check out their website at the following link.
www.childslakelodge.com
Flies:
There are a lot of real good flies that work on
Parkland brown trout. Most represent either leeches
or minnows. Right after ice out, I like to use a
Beaver Leech. We tie these in quite a few versions.
We use it plain or with gold, silver or black bead
heads. We have been fishing them both in balanced
and regular models. In the last issue of the “Dakota
Fly Fisher”, Summer/Fall 2012, I stuck in a fly
created by Nick Laferriere called the Chocolate
Peanut Butter Cup. It is an excellent early season
brown trout pattern. I take a lot of fish on both
Patterson and Tokaryk on black Matukas. Last
spring, it was dynamite on early season browns. It is
a perpetually good pattern to use throughout the
season at dusk. The Purple Beaver is frequently a
hot fly; so are Pine squirrel Zonkers. I have had
exceptionally good luck on black with Kelly green
body. Every fall, one of my top patterns is an Ice
Leech tied with Fire Fox Peacock Lite Brite body, a
red rib, silver bead and a black marabou tail. This
fall, I hammered the browns on a balanced olive Ice
Leech. I had one package of material that was
significantly lighter in color than the other olive Ice
Dub packages that I have. It would be called a
golden olive if they actually made that color.
Variation in batch color is something that I have
seen a lot in products from Hareline Dubbing. I am
going to leave a bag of olive out in the sun to fade
it. I think that I can get close to matching the color
in that manner. In addition to these flies, just about
every leech pattern and wooly bugger pattern ever
invented will turn browns on these waters. Make
sure that you have patterns in black, brown and
olive. When fish go deep in late June, magnum
version Dark McGregor, UV brown/Olive Pine
Squirrel Zonkers with sculpin olive strips work very
well and on cloudy days, UV lavender Ice Leech
with a black tail can be hot.
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The Future:
Above: Author doing the Ernie Schwiebert pose with a small Tokaryk brown. Why is the author so happy? It is because the future brown trout fishery on Tokaryk may soon return to its glory days of the 90’s. Pictured snapped by Ayr Miller
The future of Parkland brown trout fishing is bright.
In fact on Tokaryk Lake, I think they are now the
dominant species. They have had several very
successful stockings of brown trout in recent years
and there is just a huge number of 10 to 12 inch
browns in the lake. Since Tokaryk has made a
resurgence, I have been hoping for the brown trout
fishery to return to the glory years of the mid 90’s
and the lake looks to be on track to that.
The brown trout fishery on Patterson Lake is just as
bright as Tokaryk. In 2012, the lake was double
stocked with browns. No browns were stocked in
2011 because the browns were too small and the
decision was made by Manitoba fisheries to hold
the fish over the winter to help get a little more size
to them. This stocking is doing very well. In
October, another load of around 6000 browns were
planted.
So, if you love fishing for browns as much as I do,
you don’t have to fight the crowds out west in
Montana to get into some trophy fish. Some of the
best lake brown trout fishing in North America
awaits you just a couple hour drive north of the
border.
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By: Mike Andreasen
One of the hottest items in fly tying over the last
two years has been ultra violet or UV products.
Several companies have come out with them and
they have been a very pricey profit item for them. I
have questioned whether or not they are really UV
products, because all of them seem to contain a lot
of purple plastic material in their makeup.
For years manufacturers have sold us fluorescent
materials that really were not fluorescent but rather
were just much brighter colors. We were led to
believe that they were something they are not. I
wondered if this was the case with the UV products.
It’s a fact that when colored items are placed in the
water , they lose their appearance of color and fade
to gray or black, depending on how deep in the
water column they go, and on how turbid the water
is. Red appears dark gray or black at about four feet
deep in turbid water. Every color after red in the
spectrum will show the same dark gray or black as
red does as each of the colors goes deeper into the
water. The last colors to disappear are blues and
purples.
It’s for that reason that I’ve used purple flash and
materials in my flies whenever the water has been
dark, or the fish have been deep, or when their
wasn’t a lot of visible light present. EG: dark
cloudy days. It has been very successful for me and
my friends over the years. I’ve discussed this at
many seminars, fly tying demos and fishing shows
with many people who feel the same way.
One of my good friends David Larson happens to
be a superb fly fisherman but is also involved with a
company that produces chemical sprays for the
treatment of many health issues. They also make
major non-toxic disinfectants and germicides for
sterilization of medical facilities and other places
requiring germ free environments. In short he has
access to major chemists and lab facilities to test his
theories.
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David reasoned that sight is the major perception
that game fish use to locate their prey and food
items, and that scientific research has shown that
trout and salmon and most other game fish perceive
light in the ultra violet spectrum as well as in the
visible spectrum.
David was thus lead to develop a product
that when sprayed on a fly causes the fly to absorb
radiation in the ultra violet region of the
electromagnetic spectrum and to re-emit light in the
ultra violet and visible regions of the spectrum.
Colors with shorter wave lengths such as
purple and blue penetrate the water more effectively
and are thus seen from farther distances by game
fish. These colors are greatly enhanced by
Spectrum Response.
Spectrum Response causes the fly to radiate more
light in the shorter wave lengths and causes the fly
to be more visible from farther distances by the fish.
When David first showed me the product he took
two identical flies out of my fly box and treated one
of them with the product. He then placed both flies
under an ultra violet light. The treated fly was so
bright and radiant compared to the untreated fly that
I got totally excited. I also had lots of questions.
The first question was, “If you still have to place
your fly where the fish is located or you won’t
catch him anyway, how can you prove it works?”
The answer was that they had taken two identical
lures, one treated and one untreated and put them on
down riggers on both sides of a boat. After thirty
minutes of trolling they traded sides of the boat.
The treated lure consistently out caught the
untreated one by seven to one.
That was enough to get me started testing the
product. I still believe if you haven’t worked on
your knowledge of how fish relate to structure and
how they feed and travel through the water to and
from their feeding areas, that Spectrum Response
will not suddenly make you become a better
fisherman. I do believe however that if your fly is
in the area of the fish it will increase the fish’s cone
of visibility making your chances better to hook the
fish.
A one ounce bottle sells for $12.95, and a two
ounce bottle sells for $19.95 from spectrum
response.com. A bottle will treat dozens of flies.
All the instructions and scientific data is on the
website.
The product is hydrophobic and will not clump up
the materials on your flies. It dries in about 30
seconds and is very user friendly.
My friends and I are using it regularly and it has
become another tool in our arsenal of fish attracting
weapons. We have even been spraying it on so
called UV materials.
One of my friends said he was going to use it and
not let his partners know about it. He caught 17 fish
to their 4. Did it make that much difference or was
he just that much better that day? I don’t know but
to me if it will give you an edge over the fish it is
worth the investment.
Editor’s Note: Mike Andreasen is an Honorary
Member of the Dakota Fly Fishers who lives in
Bountiful Utah. He is a well-known and sought after
demonstration fly tier and is the co-author of two
popular stillwater fly tying books, Effective Lake
Flies and Productive Stillwater Flies
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By Chuck Loftis
Snow! Cold! Trick-or-treats! More snow. Teeth
begin to chatter! Deeper cold! Heavier snow! No
one even considering "gratitude" by Thanksgiving
weekend! Intense cold! Teeth chattering
uncontrollably! Heaviest snow of the season!
Christmas cancelled! (Santa stuck in a snow drift;
reindeer refuse to work anyway.) More cold!
Eskimos seen heading south with "Brazil or Bust”
signs on back of their parkas! Cold from ground
to moon. Dentures involuntarily leaping from
mouths, refusing to leave full coffee cups. More
snow! Moderating temperatures! Hope for spring
renewing. Snow begins to melt. Equinox still
scheduled for March 20. Northerners perplexed at
appearance of strange glowing orb in the sky.
Snow really melting fast now! Flooding in Red
River Valley! Seven state blizzard! Though it's
April, a return to double-digit below-zero
temperatures! Spring rescheduled to begin third
week of August! Clinton administration declares
Fourth of July observances to be held in
conjunction with Labor Day!
Yeah, I'd say that accurately describes the winter of
1996-1997 anywhere within a 20 state area east of
the Rocky Mountains and north of the Mason-
Dixon line.
But a curious thing happened in central North
Dakota on New Years Day 1997: the temperature
climbed to a gray-yet-balmy 40F. Winds were calm
and it actually rained in several counties January
1st. I found these to be perfect conditions for
nabbing crappies, largemouth bass and bluegill
from the olivine waters of Nelson Lake in Oliver
County near Center, North Dakota.
The Fishery
For those new to Dakota Fly Fishers or those
unfamiliar with the situation of Nelson Lake, allow
me to describe this unique angling opportunity: the
dam thrown across Square Butte Creek created a
sizable lake from which water is drawn in order to
produce steam-generated electricity at an adjacent
coal-fired plant. The water is returned to the lake
after use and usually comes in at around 70F. When
both units are up and running at the plant, the water
runs heavy and hot (relatively speaking) and so does
the fishing!
Consequently, while all other area stillwaters are as
stiff as an ironing board, Nelson Lake is open for
business... whether from shore (near the inlet or the
dam) or in some conveyance on its open waters.
My first trip on that New Year’s Day 1997 came at
the behest of a friendly Texan who had learned how
to fish it three winters prior. He invited me along
and I obliged, anxious to get the rust off my elbow,
a line in the water and see this curiosity (if not
"oddity") of a lake. It didn't take long after arrival
and, despite shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, we were
sniggling fish as fast as we could get our lines in the
water.
We managed several eight inch bluegill and a few
12 inch bass, but it was the 11-13 inch crappies that
had us most entertained. We fished "the other fly"
under floats that day (read: marabou jigs) and they
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worked like a charm. Of course, a fly angler's mind
is usually stuck in fifth gear and mine was no
exception: I recalled standard minnow patterns that
would do the trick and began formulating ideas for
new ones.
As winter 1996-97 ground on, I made it back a
couple of times to Nelson Lake when the air
temperature approached 20 degrees in Bismarck.
That temperature failed to hold as I reached the lake
and it was only 10F outside. No matter. Having the
entire west shore near the inlet to myself, to cast
Zonkers produced crappie after crappie and bass
after bass. Eventually, when March came around
and the snow was melting from the surrounding
landscape, small creeks developed bringing with
them a demarcation between warm and icy water
and it was along the edges of the frigid flows that
fished stacked up. Please don't ask why, but if I had
to guess, it likely had something to do with where
the minnows were staging. Fish - like any other
carnivore - are generally found near food.
Before You Go...
Here's a list of things to consider before heading to
Nelson Lake...
1. Check on the immediate area's weather
conditions and/or forecast. Just because there's a
70% chance of snow with highs in the 20's, don't get
too worked up about it unless that includes winds
exceeding 15 mph. Sure, the wind chill will be
tough but, more importantly, this is BIG water and
if it is going to be windy, leave the pontoon or float
tube in your automobile and try casting from the
west shoreline. Short lining is fine, by the way, as
90% of the fish are often within 10-50 feet of the
bank.
2. Call ahead to the MinnKota plant's office. If the
generation units are shut down, it pays to ask how
long it has been since they were last running. If the
answer is "a couple of days" then stay home and tie
flies. If they say "a few hours" then there's still a
good window of opportunity as the warm waters
will still have the fished turned on. If one unit has
been running consistently, then the angling will be
fairly good near the inlet. If both have been up and
running for some time, then action should range
from "good, everywhere on the lake" to "Forget the
wife and kids... I ain't ever going back!"
3. No need for finesse here... simple tackle is fine.
Floating lines with varying lengths of leader and
tippet to accommodate the depth at which fish are
suspended will work easily. If you want to get e
little technical, intermediate sink fly lines work
fabulously, too.
Fantasy Fishing a Real Possibility Over the years, friends of mine and I experienced
several outings at Nelson that are the stuff of
legend. When it came time to get off the water,
there was weeping and gnashing of teeth; shouts of
protestation; little boys having to be pulled from
their float tubes or boats and shoved in the pickup
truck just to get them back home.
Poor, Brian Barrett. He was almost as bad as Bill
Mitzel!
At any rate, I sympathized with these li'l fellas
because, between the three of us, we tallied plenty
of days in excess of 350 crappies, bluegilll and bass
in about 4-6 hours of presenting leech and minnow
patterns. For crying out loud, many was the time I
would simply lower my flies and jigs right in front
of my pontoons because fish were schooled up
beneath me like I was a courtesy dock.
Given the right conditions, a 100+ fish afternoon is
a breeze at Nelson, but you have to be on the fish in
order to enjoy such results. They school there just
like anywhere else; they move from spot to spot.
Get them figured out in optimal water temps and
you'll be talking about that outing for the rest of
your life, too.
In addition to what I mentioned before about the
fish often hugging the shore, don't overlook getting
out on the lake. Many are the times I worked 60-70
yards from shore and slightly north of the west
shore boat launch. Fish often schooled over that
shallow area and could be nabbed right at the edge
where the water deepened oh so slightly.
Even a slight change in the bottom can be
considered "structure" that attracts fish.
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Available Species
In addition to the plentiful white crappie, bluegill,
largemouth bass and carp, there's a fair number of
black crappies, the odd northern pike or two and a
rare walleye.
Flies
Effective patterns are as follows:
1. Any streamer patterns, in sizes 2-10, 3-4X long,
incorporating white and/or chartreuse materials.
Good combos of contrasting dark and light
materials do a good job of imitating baitfish.
2. Woolly Buggers, sizes 2-10, 3-4X long...
especially in white or olive. Heavily weighted with
lead or beads allows for good jigging motion.
3. Mohair leeches, sizes 2-10, 3-4 X long, in olive,
blood, black and gray. Tie weighted for jigging
motion in retrieve.
4. Marabou jigs in small to medium sizes. All white,
yellow, chartreuse, white/blue, white/red,
chartreuse/red combos just to name a few.
For Sale: 2007 17’ Casita Travel Trailer.
My wife retired this year and I bought a new travel
trailer to accommodate us. Casita is a rugged and
better built version of a Scamp. These things last
forever and maintain a very high resale value. It is
light weight and can be easily towed with a ½ ton
pickup.
I have not really tried to sell this thing. I finally
cleaned it up this fall. I still would not mind keeping
it for use around here for when my other camper is
up north.
For more information, contact
Bob Morenski
701-862-3124
The Classified Section of the Dakota Fly Fishers
is free to all paid members of the club. Submit
your listing via email to:
Bob Morenski
Chuck Loftis is former resident of North Dakota
and a member of the Dakota Fly Fishers who
currently resides in Littleton, Colorado. He was
one of the founders of the Missouri Valley Fly
Fishers in Bismarck and wrote the fly fishing
column for “Dakota Country” magazine.
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By: Bob Morenski
Above is a nice brown trout caught by Dave LaFrance on a Ruby Eyed Leech. Right is a TYGer Leader wire balanced Ruby Eyed Leech. This version can be fished normally or under an indicator. Photos by Bob Morenski
In the fall of 2010, Ron Granneman had a very
successful day using a fly that he bought on the
internet. He was fishing up on the west end of
Patterson Lake along the bulrushes and using the fly
under a strike indicator. Doing a little research, I
learned that the fly was developed by stillwater fly
fishing guru, Brian Chan, who is a fisheries
biologist from British Columbia. We tied a few of
these up but never fished them.
This past fall, Dave LaFrance caught many trout
on the pattern fishing it around the edges of the
reeds. For those of you who do not tie your own fly
patterns, this fly pattern is available commercially
from Feather Craft and many other fly shops around
the US and Canada and comes in several colors.
Materials: Hook: size 6-8, 2X long
Bead #1: Cone head Gold or Copper
Bead #2: Red mirrored (silver lined) bead
Thread: Your preference
Tail: Arizona Simi Seal
Body: Arizona Simi Seal
Ruby Eyed Leech tied with “Black Red” Arizona Simi Seal Dubbing. Below Ruby Eyed Leech tied with “Spectrum Olive” Arizona Simi Seal Dubbing. Both flies are tied in the balanced fashion using TYGer leader wire.
A balanced Ruby Eyed Leech blank balanced using black 15
lbs. TYGer Leader. Flies & Pictures by Bob Morenski
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