Carp Camp 2013 Beaver Island, MI: The Setup

The two hour ferry ride over to Beaver Island from Charlevoix is always a pleasant experience. It gives me an opportunity to clear my head, anticipate my arrival, as well as get myself into the right frame of mind and acclimate myself to island time. Beaver Island Boat Company provides the ferry service, and just a week or so prior to my arrival, word of a failed port engine on the Emerald Isle posted on Facebook, putting she ship out of service indefinitely. The Emerald Isle is BIBCO's flagship boat, the bigger, younger ship in the company's fleet. Service was to resume on the Beaver Islander, a ship I've yet had the pleasure of cruising on. The ferry ride over was nochalant, with little difference between the two ships apart from capacity and vending options, a true testament to the professionalism of BIBCO and their staff. Upon our entrance to St James harbor on the island, we were surprisingly greeted by a biplane, cruising around the island at a low altitude. The familiar sights of the harbor and the bright red roof of the Central Michigan University boathouse brought back pleasant memories of my last visit to the island. It was like visiting an old friend.



Upon arrival, we made our way off the dock and over to the Fisherman's House where we were to make home for the next five nights. I had caught wind of the terrible conditions that plagued Cameron's TFM hosted trip. A few of the guests from TFM's trip stayed back a bit longer and fished an unscheduled day in hopes of breaking the funk now that the weather had cleared up considerably. After meeting and chatting with a few of the carryover guests, I walked over and met Cameron at the boat landing as he was coming in on Kevin's boat. A fine day on the water, but no carp. Hard to believe that between threes boats, six anglers, and four days out, only two carp were landed. Brutal. Although brief, it was nice to chat and catch up with Cameron before he headed off to the air strip to catch his flight out.


I made my way back to the house and unpacked, settling in before all of the campers arrived. There were many thoughts running through my head, wondering about how the fishing was going to be over the next several days. We were slated to have a nice stretch of stable weather, though we were unsure how long it would hold out past three days. Conditions were certainly better than for the TFM group, but was weather the only factor at play regarding the tough carp bite? Photos of hex and large drake mayflies started popping up on social media a few weeks prior to Carp Camp. Hex popping around the end of June/early July was common so there wasn't much cause for alarm. On the boat ride over, the ship was covered with hex spinners, still wasn't worried. As I sat down to a grilled dinner with the campers, we chatted and speculated throughout the evening of what was to come of the fishing. Much anticipation.


Day one started with a great breakfast courtesy of the Dalwhinnie. We met up with the Indigo guides and constructed a game plan for the day. We were going to follow the wind and the warm water, fishing the windward sides of the islands and the cups and bays that would catch and hold the warm surface water as it blew in to shore. I had my fly selection picked out and my rods rigged and ready. We grabbed our lunches from the deli, and I saddled up with Sweet Chili Martinez for my first day. We launched the boat and made our way out of the harbor, headed to the west. What we would find when we got to the flats we did not know. The plan was to fish from the boat as much as possible, allowing us to sneak up to the fish as close as we could. This isn't always the easiest tactic. Drifting boats, the wind, weary, deep carp changing course as you cast to them, and water currents, this can all be a challenge. At one point I had done a complete 360 from a fish I was targetting from when I had started my backcast to when the fly was delivered. Disorienting to say the least.



Over the following four days we covered a lot of water and saw a lot of fish. We all hauled a lot of line, got our boots wet, and casted plenty of flies. Sometimes we found ourselves in a complete cluster of tangled line and knotted leader, other times, in a perfect zen like trance of enlightenment, fishing to a pod of fish circling in a pool of bathroom temp water. I would be hard pressed to say that we didn't fish hard. We were thorough. We were complete. We had brought our A game.


To see how the fishing went, stay tuned for Parts Two and Three.

Carp Crack: It's an Epidemic

If you haven't checked out the Fall issue of the Drake yet, you're doing yourself a great disservice. Among the accustomed fine photography and literary work is a Scuddlebutt piece by Pete McDonald of fishing jones fame, featuring yours truly.


This is not a an egotistical pandering for your kudos. As per the usual, Pete naturally captures what we ponder and perceive on ink and paper, an arduous task for any writer in a sport as panoramic yet enveloped as fly fishing is. His frustration during his endeavours with pursuing the wily carp are poignantly captured in this anecdote. Read the piece to see how his journey ends against the carp.


On a recent trip to Denver, I had to make pilgrimage to one of the finest fly shops in the nation, Trout's Fly Shop. Aside from the obligatory bullshit sessions with shop celebs Will Rice and Michael Gracie, every staffer in the shop from owner Tucker Ladd down to the shop dog, knows their stuff and they most definitely know how to run a fly shop. It's always a trip seeing your own signature fly patterns in the fly bin, even better when you see customers riffling through the bins and picking out your flies among the other fine offerings Trout's has to offer. Humbling to say the least.


In commemoration of the success of my Carp Crack pattern, I will be offering a special bonus with any Crack Pack order during the month of November from my online store. Simply purchase a 12 Pack of the Crack Pack and enter the promo code: DRAKE (or mention it in the order comment section) during checkout and I'll throw in a free Ruffian, as seen in the photo above. Order the 24 Pack and I'll throw three Ruffians!
This hot fly pattern is not yet available in stores.

The Ruffian is the baby brother to the Carp Crack, and has been my go to pattern this season. Effective in burnt orange, tan, olive, and black, this fly has been deadly on everything from smallies to carp. Burnt orange, however remains my favorite. Order your Crack Pack today and get hooked up!

Carp Slam 6

Yes, the rumors are true. No, I am not giving up carping to pursue the world of alien trout species... I will be competing in this year's Carp Slam on the South Platte in Colorado. And no, I didn't need to take a shot of penicillin after my last visit to Denver.


I will be participating in Carp Slam 6 this year, alongside industry pros like Barry, Reynolds, Kevin Morlock, Luke Bever, and Kirk Deeter. Pretty Humbling really, especially since I've seen firsthand what Kevin and Kirk can do with a fly rod and carp. It will also be great to hook up with buddies Will Rice and Michael Gracie (not competing this year), as well as finally get a chance to meet up with Alex Landeen, Nate Taylor, and last year's Slam Champ, Trevor Tanner, perhaps better known as McTage of Fly Carpin.


This tourney exists for one reason, and that's for Denver Trout Unlimited to raise money for the South Platte. Since stream restoration and habitat improvement are near and dear to me, and my bread and butter when the fly rods are tucked away in their cases, you can easily see why I'd get involved with such a worthy cause. So be a sport and help me raise a few dollars for the fish by donating a few of your hard earned dollars to the cause. Trust me, those dollars will be well spent!

Creatures From the Brown Lagoon

You saw the trailer, now catch the rest of the video from uprising fly fishing:

Local residents in Atomic City, Idaho (near the world's first nuclear accident site) have become possessed by freakishly aggressive carp. These carp will pound flies in skinny water, then jump out of the water and cartwheel when hooked. Mortals can not resist their atomic tug power.
More carp action at uprisingflyfishing.com

Maybe this should be on the next F3T?

the Carp-pocalypse

From Adam McNamara, Portland, Oregon Orvis Store Fishing Manager and co-owner of Castaway Guide Service:

CARPIN’ FOR A CAUSE
Last fall I started working on a little side project. I had an idea to throw a fly fishing tournament for Carp that would be a great chance for a bunch of people to get together catch some big fish, drink some awesome beer, eat some BBQ, and help the Native fish we all love. After some hard work and lots of help from from some awesome people at the Native Fish Society, Orvis, Ninkasi Brewing, Idylwilde Flies, John Montana, and others I am proud to say it has finally come together.

Today I am proud to announce the first annual Carp-pocalypse Tournament at Banks Lake in Washington. Clear water, shallow flats, lots of fish, and plenty of sun make this a perfect place for everyone to get together and have some fun while helping our native fish. This is a two day tournament with a tailgate party on Saturday night so come prepared to impress with your tailgating abilities as well as your mad flats fishing skills. All it takes to join is a minimum donation of $25.00 to the Native Fish Society. To sign up or get more information come see me at the Portland Orvis store or give me a call at 503-598-7680.

So here's your chance to meet and fish with legendary carpers like John Montana and Jim Pankiewicz and support a good cause like the Native Fish Society. Hogan Brown and Patrick Kilby will be representing Team Idylwilde, with rumors of a scruffy looking nerfherder making the voyage west to join the ranks. More details on that to be announced at a later date. Save the dates, August 11 and 12, 2012 at Banks Lake in Washington.

Critter Gitter

Introducing the Critter Gitter.


If there ever was a carp fly to personify Marc "Rowdy" Crapo's bodacious beard, this would be it. This fly has scruffy written all over it. I know the carp will be kosher with it because let's face it, they are no strangers to beard and mustache culture, rocking their Fu Manchus.


So what's hiding underneath the beard?

"You know they say that Chuck Norris is so though, there is no chin under his beard?
There is only another fist"

What next? I'm thinking I should tie up a darker rust colored variation in honor of Matt Dunn's mantastic beard. Perhaps my best work yet....

2012 Swap Flies

Fruits of the 2012 fly swap hosted by McTage. As you may notice, I am not sporting the full complement of flies as was offered to the participants. Rather, I opted for a handful of tasty looking snacks that should provide some perspective and inspiration behind the bench. No offense should be taken by the other participants, as I already have stashed in my fly bank several of the patterns that were offered up in the swap. I felt it redundant to receive these flies, when others haven't had a chance thumb over and drool on the offerings from John Montana, Kevin Morlock, Wendy Berrell, et al. In addition, due to the popularity of the swap, more participants had signed up than was anticipated. Since only ten flies were required per tyer and there were 22 participants, not everyone was going to receive a fly from each other. Hence, me offering up a Carp Crack to all the tyers participating so nobody had to suffer from crack fever. Also, I hoped that be me not accepting all of my entitlement, a few others could benefit from the gain. Many thanks to McTage for hosting this year's swap. Perhaps the torch shall be passed for 2013.

Carp Swap Flies

As you may well know by now, I was asked to participate in a fly swap this winter hosted by McTage over at Fly-Carpin. Twenty-two participants in all, including the likes of Barry Reynolds, Kevin Morlock, Will Rice, John Montana, Pat Cohen, and other carp studs. Hell, Even Third Coast referred to some of us as the carperati. Ha! I like that term, kinda like the music mafia of the carp slayers. Regardless, I may be fashionably late in getting these flies off to McTage, but at least everyone in the swap will get a Carp Crack.

Independence Log

Two can play at this game....


One pound of bacon.


Two pounds of beef.


A half pound of cheese.


Cooked over low heat until an internal temp of 165°F is reached.


Enjoy.

Thanks for the inspiration goes out to my Fat Guy brethren. Thanks Brothers! It may not have been as pretty as your "bacon stripe" but it was just as delicious!

Third Coast Love

Check out Brother Matt Dunn's reports from Beaver Island over at Third Coast Fly. Plenty of good stuff going on on Third Coast Fly's Facebook page, so become a fan now and don't miss out!

Field report from the roughfisher coming soon!

This

Only a few days before I head out to Michigan and Beaver Island. If one of those sumo carp takes me down into the depths of Davy Jones' Locker, avenge my death.






Eye candy courtesy of Third Coast Fly. Be sure to catch updates from the Beaver Island Media Outing over at Third Coast Fly and on the roughfisher.com Facebook Fan Page

Beaver (Fantasy) Island

Those other dudes had FIBfest, now we got ours. Sure, a week in the Bahamas chasing bones sounds appealing to most any fly fisherman. Even more jealous were the rest of us bloggers who were overlooked for the trip, attempting to stay warm within the frozen confines of home while getting fish porn updates from the white sands of South Andros. Well, through the hard work and generosity of the folks at Third Coast Fly, Indigo Guide Service, and others, they are sponsoring an event the rest of us "real" anglers all wish we could participate in over on Beaver Island in beautiful northern Lake Michigan.


In the back of my mind I always wondered if the Holy Grail of fantasy dream trips for the typical trout angler was an excursion off to the tropical flats, getting lost amidst the atolls, ghostly silhouettes, and copious amounts of fresh seafood, rum and lager. It would be hard for anyone to turn down a trip like this, even if you don't fish. But what about the roughfisherman? I like bikinis and white sandy beaches as much as the next guy, but I prefer a much more higher latitude, and a different quarry of fish. To me, the ultimate dream trip is one that holds potential for fish greater than forty pounds, bonus if they're carp. If it's in a beautiful locale, even better. Enter Beaver Island. You've got your white sand beaches, endless flats, northern latitude, bottomless supply of ales and stout, and oversized carp all right there. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, you get to fish alongside some of the industry giants like Deeter, Romano, and Morlock, even my boy Rice-cakes will be there.

Now don't get me wrong, the folks at FIBfest looks like they had a great time, but this trip has legendary written all over it. Any self respecting carper can tell you that this is the ultimate trip that we all fantasize about. Well for once, I find myself inside the inner circle of all good things, and got the invite to participate in this year's Media Outing. Now, you guys get to drool about my carp escapades while I'm back kicking up my well worn heels, swilling from my goblet of rum and recalling all of the takes, misses, and runs from the day, in the glorious and eloquent manner that all such fly anglers recall their tales of ribaldry from the high seas.

This is the dream.

the brownline 2011.02.01

Some reading materials to fight the long, cold winter blues:

• the shooting head
• Marinated in Awesomeness, from the folks at Idylwilde
• Adventures in Squirreling, from Another Year On The Fly
• The musings of SwittersB.
• The latest in fashion from the Hopper Juan.
• Gratuitous fly porn from Pat Cohen of the Warm Water Journal.

FUBAR

WTF is up with gear these days? Manufacturers complain about recruitment and the often high barrier to enter this sport, yet they release stupid ass shit like a pair of goddamn nippers for $50 bucks. For fifty bones, that babdboy better be sporting a Class 4 laser that'll cauterize your tag ends of tippet. Recently read was a conversation debating the merits of zippered waders. No offense, but the items brought up for comparison were a couple of high buck models topping the charts at $425 and $450. $450! For a pair of waders!? What the hell has this industry come to? $450 waders puncture on barbed wire just as easily as a pair of $150 breatheables. Between angling, guiding, and my other occupation (fisheries management), I spend a lot of days in the water. Alot. I've been wearing the same beater pair of waders for going on 6 years now and not one hole or leak has sprung. Not one patch in those badboys. They aren't a pair of Patagucci or Simmps, but rather a $150 middle of the pack model store brand that didn't break the bank. What's the secret? I take care of them.

I'm not the only who's refusing to drink the kool-aid; I know of a fellow blogger and angler who'll soon be ditching his Simms for a similar performing "generic" at a quarter of the price. I'm not saying that the innovation or the technology that gear companies are bringing to the table are unappreciated, because I love gear. I'm a gear junky. But I don't believe that the bar for a mid-level piece of equipment should be set so high. Retail markup on soft goods are ridiculous. The same goes for hard goods in this industry; every "pro" knows the general rule of thumb for wholesale that a fly rod or reel is going for. Times are tough on everyone right now, but a $500 fly reel from a start up company is no way to enter the marketplace. Perhaps take a look at cutting profit margins a bit or ditch the no-fault warranties to move more product. I suppose you'd need to first move out of the Neolithic Age in order to begin embracing the principles of micro and macro economics in the Digital Age. All I know is that an $1100 spey rod isn't going to curry much favor with recruiting folks from the bait dunking and gear tossing crowd. Bubba ain't gonna pay $1100 for any gear but a new compound bow or an AR-15.

So what to do about those extravagant markups? It used to be in the past that the industry just held us all hostage. Unless you were on a pro plan, you had to pay full retail for gear. It took a great deal of time and resource to become outfitted with enough gear to meet your needs and interests; likely more than you paid for your first car, for some, maybe your first house. It seems the prices of these items just kept rising with the times, often higher than the rate of inflation. Where did the profits all go? Aside from a handful of companies, I can tell you where they didn't go: back to the resource. Likely, those huge margins went to stock fridges full of Nestle bottled water and wild PNW steelhead in more than a few executives' guest ranches on a reach of private water on some stream that we all wished we could afford to fish. Lucky for us consumers, a few folks fed up with the whole scene had the balls enough to put themselves out there and found companies that stand for something. Companies like Rise Fishing Co. are selling high end rods at guide prices and donating 20% of their proceeds to fishy causes. These are the guys that are making a difference. They are building a nice user base that will be around long after the old schoolers die off, likely taking a few of the aloof, apathetic companies with them. I say good riddance. Either change with the times or die off. It's called survival of the fittest; natural selection.

If you're in the industry, do me a solid and check out this piece on Angling Trade about the Bristol Bay Academy and see what you can do to help. If you're not, check out organizations like fishy kid, the TU conservation and fishing camp, or the National Fly Fishing in School Program and help get our youth involved. It's up to us because clearly, the mainstream industry isn't doing anything about it. All they care about is whether or not they should get their next pair of nippers in the Brook Trout or Cutthroat Trout graphic finish.

micros

Some micro fly fun with sulky holoshimmer. Thanks to the Winona Fly Factory for renewing my interest in the holoshimmer, an excellent material for small nymph bodies on caddis and midge patterns alike. Of course, his midge patterns kick my ass. Nice work there brother!



I better get to tying up a bunch of midge patterns if I plan on hanging out on the river with WFF and Wendy Berrell next month. Those guys will school this roughfisher; they've been out a few times already this winter and I haven't touched a fly rod since November.

You can never have too much porn

This has got to be one of the best decals I've seen in a long time.....


Check out the fine folks over at fishingporn.com. As it turned out, I showed them mine and they showed me theirs, and sent me a couple of sweet ass deeks. They run all sorts of contests for free swag on their Facebook fan page so check them out and join in the fun. Here's the winning hero shot:

A call to order

Last week I summoned the challenge to tie some traditional trout flies. It wasn't a call to order for producing flies specific for trout, but rather a trial of dogma and doctrine amongst the clandestine rogue tyers of the roughfishing underworld. It's not that we couldn't do it, it's that we didn't want to. For me it was a shakedown of discipline and adherence. Drew Price answered the call and responded in sort: a swarm of stoneflies. Before the rest of mainstream fly tying has us pegged, here goes to show that us brownliners can tie trout too.


A rally cry from the vise of brother Drew, Semper Catostomidae!

Uncovering the secret stash

I recently delved into Singlebarbed's secret stash of spectral dubbing samples that he sent way back with the magic antron. I figured nearly four months in quarantine should rid me of any nasties that singlebarbed may be harboring over in his compound. You can never be too sure.


I applied a few of Singlebarbed's different flavors to some of my classics and some recent works. The texture and feel of the dubbing is nice and full. The blend is a perfect balance between guard hairs, underfur, and antron and doesn't fall apart between your fingers while dubbing, as is common with some of the other spectral type blends and seal substitutes. I do have to say that the old man knows his way around the blender, fur, and flash. Not bad, not bad at all.


It's interesting to note the differences between our dubbing blends. Both are similar in many aspects, yet the "eye" that each of us has for a color composition may come from opposite ends of the spectrum. I know Singlebarbed heavily relies on the color wheel and complements when composing his blends. His blends are always well balanced and composed. I, on the other hand, tend to use the foundations of color composition and apply a bit of social influence and gut feeling when creating a spectral blend. I swing more from the hip, often times with a bit more abstract composition. The same could even be said of my fly patterns and their development. It's always refreshing and intriguing to see other's works close up and in hand. I'm glad to see that the student has learned well from his master.



Check out Singlebarbed's biz site for his Sixth Finger scissors, and soon, his custom dubbing blends.

Caveat Emptor: I don't know why in the hell Singlebarbed would give away his trade secrets as "free samples" to us carnivores of the blogging universe, especially those of us who like to roll our own and make our own dub. Nonetheless, he did, and I suppose he was looking for free advertising in exchange for said product. Here you go Sensei; you're welcome.

Zeebs redux

Thanks for the head's up from Captain Brownstain DP for some alternative variegation on those Zebra patterns. The running theory is that the stripes should run horizontal to the "D" shape shell of the zebra mussel pattern, as opposed to the vertical orientation found on my earlier prototypes. Will it make any difference which way the stripes lay to a fish? Maybe, maybe not, but I've got to give it at least the old college try. And of course, brutha Drew and I will have to take one for the team and field test these patterns to those unsuspecting molluscivorous fish to ensure sure that you, the public, receive the finest in authentic roughfish fly patterns.


Sometimes appearance can be everything.

Fly Box Porn Friday

If you're still in a food coma from yesterday or are trying escape from the wrath of Black Friday, fix yourself up a turkey sammich and head on over to Fly Fish Ohio for some fresh flybox porn and a Q&A with yours truly.