Happy New Year!

The older I get the faster time seems to fly. I watch in awe as another year comes to a close. This time of year always allows me to reflect on the adventures of the past 365 days. I am grateful for those days and look forward to many more. I am thankful for my wife and my children and the health of my family. I am thankful for my friends. I am thankful for my job.

On the fishing front, this has been quite a year. It was a rough start with rain dictating the fishing in our part of the world. Winter allowed me a few fishing excursions, but spring was brutal. The perpetual precipitation left the local rivers at impossible levels for fishing. My favorite hatch of the year came and went without a day to fish because of flooding on the rivers. Before I knew it, it was May and the dry fly fishing in Ohio hadn’t even gotten started.

Let me address some of the highlights from this past year: The Mad was fantastic. Each trip there, I found my net filled with fat, healthy browns that were more than willing to take a fly. The water levels remained healthy throughout the summer and July was one of the best months of the year. As I do every year, I spent my late Grandfather’s birthday on the water. I believe that is how we should remember those that were dear to us; we should enjoy some of the things they enjoyed while on this earth. We honor their time here and create new memories even without their physical presence.

July would also find me in the mountains of Colorado. It was my first trip west and it will not be my last. I was fortunate to meet and befriend Steve Schweitzer. Steve went to high school with my brother-in-law, Wes. Steve is also the author of A Fly Fishing Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was an amazing trip that I chronicled in detail here. I am grateful for Steve’s guidance and friendship. This trip, along with the blog, afforded me the opportunity to do a little writing as well. I was asked to write a destination article for Global Fly Fisher. It was a very enjoyable and somewhat tedious task. I look forward to more of this type of writing in the upcoming year.

My own children have really grown to appreciate their time on the water as well. Morgan and Matthew have worked hard on their skills and are a pleasure to have with me on any adventure. Morgan and I were even asked to do a local TV appearance. We filmed a fly fishing segment for fitTOGETHER, a local show that airs in Fairfield County. It was not my first time in front of the camera, but creating this memory with Morgan made it one of the most special trips of the year. As for Matthew, he is quite the bass slayer. I look forward to capturing more adventures with him as the New Year matures.

I even won the lottery this past year. The Castalia fish lottery! I have been faithful to donate my three dollars each of the past ten years. This year the Division of Wildlife gave a little back.  Mike and I(Owen Wilson) , travelled north to the booming metropolis of Castalia to fish the famed waters of the most pristine waters in Ohio, Cold Creek. This was chronicled in a short video that we shot and Mike produced. You can find it here or on Youtube and Vimeo. It is some of the best dry fly fishing footage that you may ever see from our great state.

Speaking of Mike, he created our new website http://www.flatlanderflyfishing.com/. We are very excited about what the future holds for this adventure. We have several videos from last spring and summer and this year promises to be even better. Stay tuned, you won’t be disappointed. I am fortunate to have such talented friends and Mike’s abilities often leaving me shaking my head. He is a great friend and a wonderful fishing companion. His abilities to lose my flies in trees also often leave me shaking my head.

As the year takes its last breaths, I am encouraged and excited to see what the future holds. It has been a good year on some fronts of my life and a very difficult year on others. I am grateful for both.

Happy New Year everyone!

It's Not Over Yet!

Two days ago, I sat here and typed my year in review. It was raining, again. I thought my fishing for the year had come to an end. I even mentioned that I did not think I would have the chance to get out again. I was wrong. I do that quite a bit. Be wrong, that is. Today, I had every intention of getting in the woods for an evening hunt. However, the weather was very warm and the wind was all wrong for where I wanted to hunt. With only a couple of hours of daylight left, I headed for Clear Creek. 

A little practice with the camera timer

I was not even sure if the stream would be fishable with all the recent rain. I was surprised to find the stream in great shape. It was carrying quite a bit of water, but it was completely manageable for flinging a nymph and a small bugger. I quickly rigged up and was soon on the water. The sun was warm and I only needed a light sweatshirt and a fleece vest. I was ready and comfortable for my   winter adventure. It is hard to believe that it is December 29^th and I am fishing in such nice weather. I think this creek was covered in ice last December.

Every turn offers another beautiful run

I chose to start with an olive bugger and began to swing it through the seams of one of my favorite runs. On the first cast, I had a fish miss the fly three times.  This continued as two or three more fish would come up short on their attempt to take the fly. I decided to slow things down a bit and tied on a bead head green weenie. The green weenie is an easy tie and a great winter attractor pattern. It proved its worth on the first drift with a small, but very healthy, brown trout. I proceeded to find two more willing trout from this run and my day was already as satisfying as it needed to be.

After beating that stretch to death, I worked my way through some other familiar spots as I headed for the car. I picked up another fish on the green weenie before switching back to the olive bugger. I managed one more fish to my hand and several that were short on the strike. Five trout on a winter’s day in Fairfield/Hocking County Ohio, that’s a darn good day! I was thankful for such willing trout and the warmth of a winter day.

I have to add a side note here: I was asked why I would post pictures of such small fish. Trout and their habitat are beautiful. I do not care if they are five inches or twenty-five inches; I am excited every time I see or catch one of these swimming gems. When I fish, I can often be heard oohing and awing when I miss a fish. Friends that fish with me just shake their heads and laugh. I just love catching trout, no matter how big or how small. I have been catching trout since I was old enough to walk and carry a fishing rod. I will continue until I can no longer walk or carry a fly rod!

My last fish of the day

As you can see, Clear Creek is a beautiful place no matter what time of year. I could spend the entire time taking pictures of all of the beautiful portions of this wonderful park. It is a great luxury to have such a place so close to home.

One of the many unique sights in the Park

The road home

A little Thanksgiving fishing!

Major holidays are spent with my wife's family. I am fortunate to have married into a family that I enjoy. I enjoy them even more when they move into houses that have ponds on the property. My brother-in-law, Wes, lives in a beautiful house with both a pool and a pond. Since there are no fish in the pool, it is not something that excites me. Besides, November is too cold to swim anyhow. However, the pond does quite a bit to get me excited about a visit to the in laws. I think this video clip sums up my feelings about a visit to the  in laws. I asked the same question and received a similar response. I couldn't agree more... the pond is just perfect for me!

Realizing that I have not fished this month, I grabbed a fly rod and a hand full of flies for some time on the water. After an amazing meal, I just had to try and catch a fish.
It was cold, damp and a bit breezy, but I was determined. The pond is the only back yard pond that I know of with yellow perch. There are some very nice perch in there as well, but today any perch would do. I was lucky enough to find one on my first cast. He was not much bigger than the clouser I was casting, but it was a fish, and a pretty one at that.

I was satisfied, but just like dinner- I wanted more. The water was very cold and the fish were not very active. I did manage to land a small bluegill before the cold and my common sense drove me back inside. It was nice to catch a couple of fish. I have been preoccupied with antlers for the past month, but I think that will all change very quickly.

Oh, and a picture of the pond. Trust me, the pool is there, but there isn't much to see this time of year.

RMNP Video

As I have already posted and described, my trip to Rocky Mountain National Park was surreal. There were very few closed mouth moments. The grandeur of the place is incredible. It has been almost three months and I am still digesting my trip. I am also planning my next one!
I was fortunate that Steve had his video camera along to record the events of my first true back packing adventure into the high country. I have trout fished since I was old enough to walk, but this trip made me feel as if I had come full circle in my fly fishing life.
 I think the most overused word on television is "unbelievable!" If I just watched it, it was believable. I truly try to avoid using the word. However, many of you will think that the title of this video is just that-unbelievable. I am sorry it has taken so long to post this.

Please excuse the stupid grin that never leaves my face and some of the idiotic things I say. I hope you enjoy the scenery and the fish as much as I did. I want to thank Steve and Wes one more time. It sure didn't suck!

Clear Creek 10/8

The weather has been absolutely amazing this week. The evening and mornings are staying nice and cool while the daytime highs have soared into the lower 80’s. The fall foliage is ready to explode any day now. It is just great time of the year to enjoy the outdoors.

Normally an October morning would have found me perched in a tree somewhere with my log bow in hand, but eighty degrees and standing corn are not conducive to finding many deer. Add to that a moon that is almost full and fishing becomes a no brainer.

This morning Morgan and I decided to go to Clear Creek to see if we could find any surviving browns. I love this place, but it suffers from warms temperatures in the summer and very few friends. There are too many people in the area that will keep a trout regardless of its size. I am always able to find a few, but there should be more in a place as pretty as this.
It was a wonderful ride through the country side as we gawked at so many beautifully changing trees. The park in not far from my house and the back roads that take me there are fun to drive. It is a pleasant ride regardless of the time of year, but with the changing colors and my favorite young lady, life does not get much better.

Morgan and I arrived at one of our favorite spots and walked up the road to get to a hidden run that always seems to have a fish or two. We rigged up and realized that the water was much cooler than it had been during our last visit. I was soon fishing and Morgan quickly traded her rod for her camera. She fished a little, but was way too distracted by the scenery. I soon found a fish and was very happy to see such an aggressive little guy. It was not a big fish, but it was a trout that I caught on a fly not twenty minutes from my home. In Ohio, that is a blessing.

We fished and filmed our way around the stream and failed to find another willing fish. We decided to make a stop at my favorite place in the park. This section of the park contains two of the prettiest holes in the park. We worked our way up through this beautiful place and found another willing fish. I was satisfied and soon found myself taking pictures as well.

I could not imagine a finer morning in October spent with a prettier young lady. Today was truly a blessing and one that I won’t soon forget.

The Mad..dening River 9/25

I took a solo trip to the river yesterday (mistake number one!) I should have taken one or both of the kids! I felt guilty for that the entire trip. Mike was unable to go, so I tried to video some myself (mistake number 2!) Trying to film and cast (mistake number 3!) was next to impossible for me. Between the wind and the camera, I  was a mess.
The river was gin clear and much busier than I thought it would be for the opening weekend of bow season.I had hoped for some color to the creek, but I was greatly disappointed. I started the trip with a stop at the Macochee. I moved a couple of fish and the grasshoppers were ridiculous, but the water was soon muddied by a group doing a stream survey. I have never even seen another person fish this stream, but there were guys gearing up when I got back to the car.
I then swung past Pimtown, but again there were two cars parked there. I went down stream a little further and found some willing trout, but the clear water and falling leaves made for some pretty touchy fish. I did manage to see a couple fo really nice fish, but they were very skittish. One was a beautiful male that was all colored up for his fall mating ritual. I was happy to see such a large healthy fish in this section of the river.

I soon found myself stopping at the Route 29 bridge. There were five cars there and two more people pulled in to launch canoes. I managed one more decent fish here in a familiar spot and soon my afternoon was finished.
I managed a little footage, but I am not sure that I have anything usable. I will hand it over to Mike and see if he can work some magic. On a brighter note, I did catch two on a hopper. They were not very large, but they smacked that big fly.

"My Time on the Mountain" Article

After my trip to Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park, I blogged about the entire trip. My good buddy Steve Schweitzer follows the blog and asked me to write a destination article for a website he co-owns. He gave me some details about what he was looking for and asked me to submit the article along with some pictures to the globalflyfisher website. I was more than happy to share and looked forward to the opportunity to publish an article.
The article itself was very similar to the blog posts. However, advice on what to take, flies to fish, and what to expect overall were added. I am pretty pleased with the article, but there were a few errors that I missed and wished that I had edited better. It was a very cool experience and one that I hope to repeat in the near future. 
If I could just get some one to pay for me to go on a trip and write another article...
If you want to check it out, you can find it at: http://www.globalflyfisher.com/reports/my-time-on-the-mountain/
There are some great photographs that my brother-in-law took that really add to the quality of the article. I need to thank both Wes and Steve for such an awesome opportunity and for their fellowship and friendship along the way.