A Different Intruder

Here are a few color variations of my new favorite pattern, The Niagara Intruder. I learned this fly from Canadian Niagara River guide, Paul Castellano a few weeks ago while spending a day on the water with him. We caught lakers, browns, and steelhead on this pattern, both stripping and swinging. The fly is quick to tie, durable, and will catch just about anything- perfect for guide work!

The Niagara Intruder

Thread: UTC 140

Hook Loop: 30 lb. braid or .018" nylon coated wire

Shank: Medium Flymen Articulated Shank or 3x-4x long hook

Eyes: Barbell-style

Hackle: Wrapped marabou

Wing: Rabbit strip with Mirror Flash or Krinkle Mirror Flash on top

Head: Estaz, Cactus Chenille, Sparkle Chenille

Planked Salmon

My good buddy, Ted Kellogg from Ashton, ID has been doing unique fish (and waterfowl) paintings/carvings for a number of years. I got an early Christmas present from him when this Atlantic salmon showed up at my door. He works on cedar planking and adds eye, mandible, fins, and tail separately. Ted's work is amazing- individual painted scales & spots, great color blending, with just enough added artistic license. This fish is 29" long.

Ted is a retired Forest Service fish biologist and his last project was an inventory of the native cuttthroat trout populations in the Targhee National Forest. His art is for sale at The Trouthunter in Island Park, ID, and he also does private work.

Swinging the Niagara!

Lake-run brown trout are found across much of the Great Lakes and often take a back seat to steelhead, the glamour fish. After spawning, browns will begin to feed heavily and quickly regain the weight and fight they lost during spawning. This fish, and a number of others, crushed a swung fly in the lower Niagara River while I fished with Paul Castellano. A good test for Scott's new L2H 12'6" 7-wt. and a 520 gr. SA Intermediate Skagit Extreme line.

Fly Fishing Outside the Box

Meet Paul Castellano, a guide on the Canadian side of the Niagara River and maybe the only guide in the area who encourages fly fishing. I just returned from fishing with Paul and we did everything from swing flies, to fish indicators, to strip streamers in the Niagara and Lake Ontario for steelhead, browns, and lake trout. Here Paul holds up a mega-sized larry (lake trout) that smashed his baitfish pattern at the mouth of the river in shallow water. The lake was dead calm with drizzling rain and the lakers were busting bait on the surface in 10 feet of water. Pretty awesome stuff! Get a hold of Paul for some fly fishing outside the box!