Interactive fly fishing with John Dark

Let's talk Aguachile Alley

Am I taking up fly fishing this year?

Yes!
3
75%
No way
0
No votes
I want to, but let’s be realistic…
1
25%
 
Total votes : 4

Postby blab » Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:53 pm

beautiful fish
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Postby John Dark » Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:15 pm

It's been too hot for trout fishing all month, so I went to a nearby warmwater stream to chase some panfish and smallmouth. Caught my first-ever pumpkinseed!

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Tiny little fella but purty.
Last edited by John Dark on Sun May 14, 2023 6:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Stuntman » Sat Jul 18, 2020 12:12 am

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Postby John Dark » Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:11 pm

This dude's putting on a clinic for the bow-and-arrow cast in this video.

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Postby dogshit miller » Sun Aug 09, 2020 10:02 am

i have become totally fishpilled

after months of shit luck around toronto this summer, nabbed this gnarly guy yesterday just upstream from lake ontario

Image
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Postby John Dark » Sun Aug 09, 2020 3:12 pm

Nice fish!

Just upstream from Lake Ontario is.....Niagra Falls?
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Postby John Dark » Sun Aug 09, 2020 3:13 pm

Someone tell me to get off my butt and go see if the smallmouth white fly hatch is still on this evening.
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Postby pretty yeoman » Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:04 pm

when are you ever disappointed after the fact that you went outside
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Postby dogshit miller » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:37 pm

John Dark wrote:Nice fish!

Just upstream from Lake Ontario is.....Niagra Falls?


Port credit, just west of Toronto
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Postby John Dark » Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:19 pm

Might have to pick up a duckling fly. :)

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Postby dogshit miller » Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:44 pm

last pike i caught

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minutes later my dog fell into a weir and i lost those sunglasses in the lake trying to get him out
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Postby Gourmetbe » Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:41 am

Was up in maine for the week, my sister and her bf got me beginners rod and starter kit (vest, too). Had a really fun week fly fishing in a lake. They gave me a crash course but they don't know a ton either.

I know very little, but it seems like a hobby I can get behind. Just read this whole thread which was great. Now in NJ, going to look for some local places to mess around and see what happens.
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Postby John Dark » Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:15 pm

Gourmetbe,
That's great! It sounds like you had a good time. A week in Maine sounds like a pretty intense crash course in and of itself, but if you want to turn to Youtube for some instruction, the best channels for beginners are Grog's Animated Knots and the Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxGQMCT70DALylKj9CQl2sw). In the latter, Tom Rosenbauer and casting instructor Pete Kutzer are both natural teachers and their vids are really helpful. Tom has a calming manner about him that reminds me a little bit of Bob Ross.
Also, feel free to use this thread as a Q&A any time you like.
JD
Last edited by John Dark on Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby John Dark » Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:16 pm

This morning I went to a small state park that I haven't fished in a couple of years. Despite the water being extremely low and clear, I still had a great day: 7 or 8 caught, including three rainbows. About the same number hooked up or almost landed.

A couple of the rainbows.

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No fish here:

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Some bad news on the drive out...

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I am pro-flax and take no pleasure in reporting this.
Last edited by John Dark on Sun May 14, 2023 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby John Dark » Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:47 pm

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Postby John Dark » Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:19 pm

Back to my favorite little class A wild trout stream this morning. Woke up at 4:30, on the water by 7:15. Spent 8 hours hiking and fishing without seeing another living soul.
Set a new personal best tally with 19 trout caught. All brookies, all but two on dries. At least 24 hooked up but shook free. Lost count of the strikes (50+).
Water temps stayed 62 all day, which surprised me; I thought it would heat up, especially since the water was low, and I'd have to pack it in.

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Postby John Dark » Tue Sep 15, 2020 5:54 pm

This is exactly the kind of small stream, dry fly fishing that's my ideal experience:



God, it's so fucking beautiful. Kinda want to make it my life's goal to fish Southern Colorado until I find out where this stream is, or die trying.
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Postby black drum » Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:03 pm

Went shorefishing today in the Atlantic Ocean (Northumberland Strait) from South Side Harbour, Nova Scotia, where I am riding out the pandemic as a Florida refugee. See my post in the Covid thread for clarification if you need a better explanation of what I am doing here.

I was pitching a greenback fly, which is typical for Tarpon in Florida, and managed to conjure two striped bass - my first on fly or on any tackle for that matter! I was psyched! I was fishing a 9 ft 8 wt (overkill), with a clear sinking line, double hauling maybe fifty feet straight perpendicular to shore where I saw the deepest water and little baits (herring? I dunno).

I immediately texted pics to John Dark, and he commanded me to post them in the thread, so here you go:

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I'm going fishing with bait and spinning gear tomorrow in deeper water where there are known to be 25 lb striped bass, so will post a pic if I can get one of those monsters. My idea is to chum them up and if we can get big ones around, pitch the same greenback fly in (or possible a crease fly for some topwater action) and take one on fly.
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Postby John Dark » Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:41 pm

So, my fishing trip to New Hampshire last week was a mixed bag. Even before arriving, I knew the water levels of the rivers were down to nearly nothing. The USGS gauges had them at 1%-5% of their normal flow. My airbnb host told me the newspapers said it was the worst drought since 1940.

The fly shop guys told me what I already figured, which was skip what was left of the rivers and hike in to the remote mountain ponds of the White Mountain National Forest. The state of NH stocks these via helicopter. Despite sounding pretty intimidating, all of the hikes to ponds were only 1.5-3.5 miles (one way), so doable, even with my lockdown lack of fitness.

First remote mountain pond (Sawyer Pond) was great, but I forgot some essential equipment and had to pack it in after just a few fly changes. Black pond (second) was on a day that was windy as hell and cold. Casting was a challenge, but I managed to get one. Upper Greeley Pond was perfect conditions and I wound up catching a mess of small brookies (twenty to be exact, a new single-day personal best). Saw a beaver -- unintentionally disturbed him from his hidey-hole just a few feet from where I did most of my fishing. Pretty sure he would have murdered me if he could.

Sawyer Pond
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Black pond (me in the distance):
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Upper Greeley:
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One pissed off beaver:
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Last edited by John Dark on Sun May 14, 2023 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby John Dark » Sun Oct 11, 2020 5:23 pm

I have a special message for owners of dogs who let their animals run around unleashed and unsupervised on public land like state forests.

Here is the message: fuck you
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Postby garbiel » Sun Oct 11, 2020 5:31 pm

tell me more about this beaver
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Postby John Dark » Sun Oct 11, 2020 6:01 pm

liquid garbiel wrote:tell me more about this beaver


While I was fishing, someone might have on purpose, but without malicious intent, kicked a small quantity of pine needles down into a mysterious opening on the pond bank, which caused a tremendous and watery thrashing down below. The beaver emerged from the waterside egress of his hidey-hole forthwith and swam around glaring at everyone.
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Postby black drum » Sun Oct 11, 2020 7:12 pm

Beavers don't fuck around.

Some things I know or have recently learned about beavers:

1) People are surprised to learn that beavers are native to and live in Florida. I guess because they are so iconic of the northern woods it's unusual to think of them living in Florida, but they do!

2) Beavers are driven insane by the sound of moving water - like, some scientist did a study where they put a beaver in a box and played different sounds for it, and when they played the rushing water sound the beaver lost it's mind. So that's one of the key things that triggers them to chop down trees and build dams to stop the moving water.
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Postby blab » Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:22 pm

i wanna become a fishergurl
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Postby blab » Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:23 pm

i've only ever rly done fresh water bass fishing. the lakes around me seem to have lots of bass, stripers, n hybrids. i could learn how to catfish maybe? idk how to start. i wanna get gear but like, can you do fly fishing around here? should i just stick to bass fishing again? i could go on a quest for a big five pounder
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Postby blab » Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:23 pm

it just seems balm afffff
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Postby John Dark » Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:31 pm

You can fly fish for anything. It's the format, not the genre.

I've even heard that some kinds of catfish will feed on the surface (and presumably take topwater lures/flies).
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Postby dogshit miller » Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:29 am

caught this insane brown trout on friday at jordan harbour near niagara

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Postby John Dark » Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:16 am

Wow! Damn. That's a hunk of fish.

Nice job!
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Postby Ghost of Spartacus » Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:21 am

black sandwich wrote:caught this insane brown trout on friday at jordan harbour near niagara

Image


is that a fish you keep and eat or do you throw it back? it is lovely.
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