Skip to main content

The Outskirts


During the coarse of a cold winter day while working my mind wanders towards more important things, like finding another stream in the spring with some wild Browns or Brookies. I scurry off into another room while mid-sentence with a strip of cane and snatch a book off my shelf. I turn to a page with a map of North Eastern Maine and start following my previous chicken scratches then veer off of a more recent Sharpie dot from two years before. Hmm... I wonder if there is a gas main road there that will take me upstream. A plan is hatching before my eyes. Before I persuade myself that the price of gas is too high, and doubt the weather conditions, I quickly close the book. I wander off to squint for another few hours at tiny strips of cane and consider going fishing in the middle of February. My insatiable thirst for wild trout is hitting me during the coldest season.

I've been told I could shoot wabbits and goats and pigeons and mongooses and dirty skunks and ducks. Could you tell me what season it weawwy is?
        ~Elmer Fudd

It is hard for me to stop thinking about my quarry even while working. It's the old “what if” that rattles around in my head when it comes to my fascination for wild trout. Like Elmer Fudd and that pesky wabbit I try to carefully plan my attack often failing in the end when the fish are following an altogether different stream of consciousness. Which usually means while driving my truck along a road less traveled I took a wrong turn in  Albuquerque. Ultimately the wild fish follow old Mother Natures skirt wake, the outskirts if you will. Those places are hard to get to without a stubborn will, determination, and a little dumb luck. If I fall into a couple wabbit holes that's the breaks.

I'm a wed-hot sportsman after 
wild game. Heh-heh-heh-heh.
~Elmer Fudd

~Clint Bova

Popular posts from this blog

Slow Water Caddis Emerger

 The Caddis emerger is a very important part of the trouts diet. During this life stage the Caddis is especially vulnerable to the elements and is easy prey thus making it very attractive to these very energy conscious fish. The insect is just about ready to break free of its nymphal shuck and the count down for its launch sequence begins with a few wiggles. I have always been looking for a great surface fly that mimics these little beauties. For a few years now I have gotten a lot of use of this little emerger pattern that tends to out fish most of my other emerger patterns even when there is no discernible hatch. This is a great pattern for super finicky Brown trout. I have fooled many fish with this pattern and with the right combination of materials it is a pattern that stays floating even in fast water for a long time. With the use of TMC's Aero Wing material (extended shuck) the fly is a great floater. The fibers are not only fine but hollow keeping the fly float

CB's Japanese Beetles

 above photo: Provided by Debbi T. Walker an Ohio Photographer.  Debbi is a talented outdoor photographer who loves to take pictures of insects, animals, and landscapes and often shoots photography around the Mad River and Cedar Bog. In the heat of the summer many fish hunker down during the day and will pass up the occasional Caddis, midge, or ant floating overhead. Often fish conserve energy for a larger more nourishing food item. During the summer months fish want to conserve energy and exert themselves only for the most significant meal.    This is called the “Pounds Per Meat Law” again the least amount of energy is expelled for the most nourishment possible. This should be the mid-summer mantra for both fishers and fish!  Large ants are another food item that fish will come off of the bottom for during the midday sun and heat. Japanese Beetles are one of those items on the surface menu that will spark a fishes interest when nothing else seems to work. Rise

Spidey Senses~The Irresistible Arachnid

Fishing spider patterns is a favorite activity of mine in the late spring, summer and fall. Many of the spring creeks that I frequent have adjacent fields of corn, soy, feed grass, as well as tall overhead trees and brambles. Spiders are prolific here and as much as I hate them I do love fishing with them. I have tried many patterns over the years most of which were not my own. Most of them were either too clunky, too overdressed, or just downright stupid looking. If I were to cast a wad of sheet foam and rubber bands to a big Brown on most of my usual digs I would be typecasted by most of the coherent fish instantly. After years of hit and miss I settled on my own pattern that just seemed to meet my criteria as well as the Trouts. When your standing in a “hot river” in the middle of the day and you spot a massive brown that just will not budge for the most ingenious morsel you have in your box whip out a spider. Spiders are protein intensive, they are like baklava on a silver