Older Footage

Fly Fishing from Wildlife Matters on Vimeo.

As we seem to be well on our way to another year of record rainfall, I am left to write about fishing rather than get out and experience fishing. In the past few days, we received another inch and a half of rain to an already soaked landscape. The rivers are all at flood stage and it will be several days into the future before we are able to fish once more. For now, I will reminisce.

While searching the Vimeo website the other day for ideas and interesting video, I found a picture of myself on one of the videos. I had completely forgotten about some footage we filmed several years ago.  I was a bit surprised. Mike was then working for the Department of Natural Resources. He was helping to film and produce their Wild Ohio television show. He asked me if I would be interested in filming an episode that highlighted some of the fly fishing opportunities here in Ohio. I was more than happy to help and we set out for the Mad River.

We had a pretty good afternoon of fishing, but much of it was missed on the video due to a few overhanging clouds and some thunder. Once it cleared, we set out to capture enough video to create a short segment for the show. We thought we had some great footage and Mike proved his skills with the editing of that episode. However, the best fishing happened after we shut the camera down. There was not enough light that evening to film the fishing that we experienced, but it was a fantastic night.

On this short segment, I am interviewed. Please excuse some of my answers. I think I mention a “thousands of dollars” fifteen different times. 

Southern Culture On the Fly

Sometimes I find different websites or blogs that I cannot wait to share with my fishing buddies. This week, I found another one of those sites. I follow a blog dedicated to the fiberglass fly rod.( I will address them in a future post) They do a great job of sharing different products and websites with their followers. This week they mentioned Southern Culture On the Fly. This online magazine chronicles the fly fishing opportunities and destinations from the southeastern region of the United States. Along with some fantastic photography, there is some exciting video and some very well written articles. If you love to fly fish as much as we do here, I would suggest signing up for your free subscription. It is well worth your time.
Check out their latest issue here: http://www.southerncultureonthefly.com/scof_winter2012.html

Pretty Cool!

Mike sent me a text today reminding me to watch for the Orvis Friday Film Festival. Orvis is one of the oldest and most widely known fly fishing companies in the world. Their name is synonymous with fly fishing. The company maintains several blogs, and their fly fishing blog is one of our favorites. Each Friday, they post interesting fly fishing videos from around the World Wide Web. This week, they found our latest video and decided it was worth sharing. Pretty cool!
I was elated when I opened the site and found that they had posted our video. It is quite an honor for us to be recognized on this site. Again, I need to thank Mike for all of his hard work and talents. He does an amazing job with these short clips and he is my favorite fishing friend. However, it is tough to think that the whole world will now have the chance to watch me tangle with a tree. Oh well, it isn’t my first dance with a tree and it certainly won’t be my last.
If you enjoy fly fishing, I would encourage you to subscribe to the Orvis blog. Mike and I always look forward to the Friday Film Festival. There is some truly awesome footage out there.
You can check it out here:  http://www.orvisnews.com/FlyFishing/Friday-Fly-Fishing-Film-Festival-012012.aspx

Clear Creek in the Snow

     Sunday the skies were bright and sunny. The thermometer rose from ten degrees to a balmy thirty. The sun felt warm. I hesitated to fish and hunted instead. Today, the weather was supposed to warm to the upper forties. A front was moving through bringing moisture from the South. Today we would fish! It was the coldest forty degree day I have fished in a long time!

     Neither of us had much time so we opted for Clear Creek. It is close to home, the scenery is pretty and we can always find a few willing fish. We parked at one of our favorite spots and fished a good stretch of the river. There was still plenty of snow in the valley and the water was quite chilly and very clear. The rain had begun to fall and my hands and toes were instantly aware of the fact that they were no longer in a heated environment.

     Mike and I tried different tactics in an attempt to find some sort of pattern. I dragged an ugly nymph through the promising pools and riffles while Mike bounced a bugger of the rocky bottom. He was the first to hook up and landed an energetic eight inch fish that came with a smile and the pride of getting on the board first. I soon switched to a bugger and lost a fish that followed almost to my feet. This would be a recurring pattern.

     We slowly worked our way down stream casting to all the promising water while losing the feeling in both our hands and toes.  We had several follows and both managed to miss a few fish. Finally, after losing my fly to a fish, I decided to go back to dredging a nymph. On my next two casts, I managed to land two small browns and rid myself of the skunk like smell that was beginning to fester. I would have never heard the end of that!

We ended just as darkness was ready to set in and walked gingerly on our frozen feet back to the car. It was a struggle to get out of our waders while working with such cold fingers. The car gave us the welcomed warmth that our fingers and toes had been craving. It was a pleasant ride home after the pain of my thawing hands finally subsided.

I forgot my camera. The stills here were extracted from the video footage. We filmed quite a bit as well, but we only took the GoPro today because of the cold and rain. It will be a few days before Mike has time to edit the footage, but I am not sure he has enough for another short video. 

We Have Video!

     I received a text from Mike last night saying something about hating to edit fishing footage. He complained that it made him want to fish. If the sun shines I want to fish. Heck! If the sun rises, I want to fish!

On our first trip of the year, Mike carried both his Cannon SLR with  the new lens and the GoPro. If you follow this blog, you have already seen what the new lens is capable of with stills. I could not wait to see what the video footage looked like. Well the wait is over and once again, Mike worked his magic and the footage is fantastic.

     Let me preface the viewing of this short video with one small note: I am not a professional videographer. Mike is. I have a theory that if you are not in the trees at some point; you are not fishing hard enough. With that said Mike fishes harder than anyone I know. He has caught more trees with my flies than any other person that I know, and this would include my own children. Don’t worry I am getting better with the camera each trip. It won’t be long before you all get to witness some of what I have been watching for the past several years.

      For now, you will only get to see me fishing as hard as I can. It was a nice tree. I let it go.

Finally!

Finally! We are a week into the New Year and I finally caught a trout. Seriously, the weather could not have been better. It has been in the fifties and beautiful here for the past two days. I hope the weather is this nice in April. I fear that winter is waiting pounce, so I will fish while I can. Mike also had a new toy to play with: a  new lens for his camera. As you can see, the pictures are amazing!

Mike, His father-in-law, and I headed for the Mad this afternoon. The skies were clear, the winds were light, and the temperatures were very comfortable for an afternoon of fishing in early January. Mike’s father-in-law, Denny, wanted to show us a section of the river further upstream than I had ever ventured. We started just south of interstate 33 and fished upstream and downstream from one of the bridges that crossed the river.

Denny told us he had caught two monster rainbows in this section a few years ago. I was excited about the opportunity to see a few rainbows.However, I would be happy to see any trout today. Mike and I headed upstream through some promising runs and riffles. It did not take long for Mike to find his first fish of the year. It was a short fight and a small brown, but it was the first trout of 2012.

We filmed a bit and played with the camera and soon, I found my first brown of 2012. It was one of the many fish stocked from the fall. The basic eight inch fish that jumped and dance his way to my hand. I was glad to see him and thankful for his visit.

We filmed, we fished, and we explored a new section of the Mad. We did not catch any more trout, but I did find a tree that Mike was glad to film me catching! It was a great visit with the winding river. I look forward to getting back to that section later this year. With the weather they are predicting, I hope to fish again soon.