September Musky Quest

I had the very recent pleasure to spend several days in the UP of Michigan with my good friends Capts. Kevin Feenstra and Jon Ray.  Both are top-notch Michigan guides looking for alternatives to the salmon-mania of September on the lower peninsula.  The search was undertaken for the apex predator of the Great Lakes area- Esox masquinongy. 
With 10-weights and oversized streamers in hand, miles of water were covered.  Savage strikes kept us on our guard at all times.  There were explosions to top-water patterns, lightning fast green-gold flashes to stripped flies, and several rocket-like attacks from below where Esox totally cleared the water in an attempt to kill our offerings of flash, feather, and fur.

A number of fish were hooked and fought to boatside where they were netted, photographed, unhooked, and quickly released to recover and, hopefully, be encountered again.

Correction to Previous Post

I stand corrected!  It has been pointed out to me by a couple of fishy friends that Kevin Feenstra'a fish is actually a channel catfish, not a flathead.  So this turns into a big channel cat, instead of a small flathead.  Thanks John and Lou for pointing out this error.

Flat Cat on a Fly

Michigan river guide, Capt. Kevin Feenstra holds an uncommon fly rod species he caught recently.
This 12 pound flathead catfish took a crayfish pattern that Capt. KF was fishing on the upper Muskegon River.  Feenstra's wife Jane, netted the fish for him after quite a battle on a 7-wt.  The fish was then photographed and released.

Flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) are one of the largest North Amercican catfish species.  They can reach lengths in excess of five feet, weigh over 120 pounds, and have a life span of over 20 years.  Feenstra's catch is just a youngster in the flathead world.  Their native range of distribution is the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basins.  They are found into North Dakota, east to the Appalachians, west to Arizona and south to the Gulf Coast and northern Mexico.

Flatheads are voracious carnivores with a preference for live prey.  The young are cannibalistic which has precluded their use as a commercial aquaculture species.

Award Winning Line Up for Spring, 2013

The Patagonia Fish product line up has been winning a host of awards for an assortment of items that will be available beginning Jaunuary 1, 2013.  Here are awards from recent trade shows as selected by dealers that attend these shows:

EFFTEX (Europe)

• Best Wading Footwear- Ultralight Wading Shoe- Sticky rubber
• Best Outerwear- River Salt 3 in 1 Jacket

International Fly Tackle Dealer Show (Reno, NV)

• Best Wading Gear- Rio Gallegos Zip Front Wader
• Best Outerwear- River Salt 3 in 1 Jacket
• Best General Apparel- Minimalist Wading Jacket
• Best Eco-Friendly Product- R1 Full-Zip Jacket

Congrats to all of Team Fish pictured here from let to right- Mark Harbaugh- Sales Manager, Bill Klyn- Marketing and European Sales, Brian Bennett- Spiritual Advisor, and Bart Bonime- The BIG Fish- product designer and head of Team Fish.

Perks of the Job

Most people think I have a dream job.  I get to work in the fly fishing industry and all I do is travel and fish.  Wrong!!  Actually most 9 to 5'ers probably fish more than I do as I actually work 24-7, no real days off, and did over 40K miles driving last year.  But every once in a while things do work out in my favor.

I went out a day early for the International Fly Tackle Dealer (IFTD) Show in Reno last week.  Fellow rep and good friend, Jason Lazano, had set up a couple days fishing at the Seirine Ranch, jsut outside of Bridgeport, CA, on the East Walker River.  It is a working cattle ranch with around 2 miles of the river running through it.

 Nymphed in the morning and when it started to heat up, switched over to hoppers and had a great afternoon of surface feeding rainbows and a few browns until the late-afternoon storms hit.  Got a chance to break-in my Scott M 8'8" 4-wt.  Thanks Jason for the hook-up!

Aluminum Bars Get It Done!

I'm just back from a brief trip up to the U.P. of Michigan where I got to spend a day and a half chasing Atlantic Salmon on the St. Marys River that forms the border between Michigan and Ontario.  This was my first chance to put the Aluminum Bar Boots and River Crampons to a real test.  I can honestly say that these are game changers. 
If you have ever fished the St. Marys, you know how difficult the wading is- a strong curerent, gin clear water, and granite rock of all shapes and sizes that you need to manuever.  It is the worst wading I have ever encountered as the rock is all shapes and sizes with no consitency.  I can honestly say that the River Crampons were a game changer for me.  I was able to wade with much more confidence due to how well they gripped and could reach areas on the river I had never been able to before.  Even an old guy like me could get around.

Here Patagonia Ambassador, Jeff Liskay, shows and Atlantic taken on the surface in a pocket he was able to reach by wearing the Aluminum Bar Wading Shoe.  Both the shoe and crampons get it done when the wading is really gnarly.