Fly Fishing

Team Salmon Fly Edition 2010

January 17th, 2010


Movie by Meskel of Meskel Custom Rods…”Drink That Productions”



Movie by Meskel of Meskel Custom Rods…”Drink That Productions”

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Team Salmon on the Fly: Steelhead Edition

November 22nd, 2009

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This movie made by Brian Meskel AKA Che on the Spey AKA Meskel

Every one should try this once – You will gain the utmost respect for just how much time and effort Chris has invested in this.

Here is a little piece in comparison – only 4 minutes long – but you won’t miss it. Look forward to producing the trout version here in the upcoming weeks.


Meskel AKA Che on the spey

Nookie available for hookie August 13th - 20th

July 28th, 2009


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My lovely wife has informed me she will be taking my tike and visiting the in laws in the Natti from August 13th to the 20th.  During this time I would like to make up for lost fishing time that my family and business life has not afforded me as of late. 

I’m thinking of a Deschutes trip to chase some steel and trout, but I am open to other ideas as well.  I would really like to float though.  Ping me here if any of you are down.  Heller, Burge, Meskel let’s go do the float!  Either from Pine Tree to Beavertail OR Mack’s to the Mouth.   Could be a lot of fun!

Holla…

Nook

Much anticipated trout trips pics

June 27th, 2009


Today as Pigsticker and I sat out in the Columbia in the Diamond…fishing in high, brown 20 ounce…I mean 24 ounce water….we mentioned that Nookslayer’s trout trips pictures should be coming in any day now….”ask and you shall receive.” I got home from a sunny day on the river with a real good buddy…and these pics were waiting. He left instructions that he’ll fill in the text later. Here you go everyone. These are some great pics Nookman.

Thanks for the intro Cat, I’ll be brief.

The first photos are from the Resi trip I took for the 3 rd year in a row. I can’t tell you how much fun this trip is. I ended up with only a few photos as we were too busy catching fish to take them. The one in the blue net was one of my bigger fish measuring out (as you can see by adding both numbers in the net) at a little over 17″. Mike (the bald guy) had a slab of a redside at a little over 20″.  The guy in orange is my buddy Plem who fished with me all day.  We touched a LOT of water that NEVER sees anglers.  What a treat to throw huge dry bugs at acrobatic fish.

The next photos are from my trip to Diamond Lake with my uncle Denny (guy driving boat) who is the founder of Oregon Anglers (www.oregon-anglers.com) He does two things, fishes (and this guy is FISHY) and fights for our rights to continue to fish. If you want to learn more you can visit his website.
The weather was interesting having intermitant rain and sun. Fishing was slow but I did manage one piggy at a little over 19″ and 4 3/4″ in girth (photo). The two mountains you see are Mt Bailey (rounded) and Mt Theilsen (pointy). The lake is directly between these two at a little over 6000 ft elevation. BEAUTIFUL place and fishing is usually hot. All in all a great trip even though the fish were stingy.

Nook

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Plem about to take a rising red

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Mike’s slab

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One of my many

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17″ FAT red

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Nice bow from Plem

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Below Chum Bucket on the Res

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Facing Mt Bailey on Diamond Lake

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Mt Theilsen

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15″ bow on PowerBait

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Denny’s boat

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My piggy

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Mt Bailey

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Rain, sun, rain, sun

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Captain Denny Richey

a bear of a few weeks

June 22nd, 2009


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The last few weeks have been nothing but go-go-go for me (and there doesn’t look to be a change in plans anytime soon).  It has been nice to be able and take a break from everything and see all that has been happening here with all of you.  Keep it up guys.

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I have gotten to fish the 3wt a few evenings since the river opened less then a month ago.  And it has been fun watching the progression of phenomenal hatches that have been popping off despite the recent cooler weather. The May flies don’t seem to mind the fact it is June and they are out in force on any-give-evening.

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This was the case last week.  After putting the little ladies to bed I quickly threw a couple of cold ones in my back pockets, grabbed the little stick, just a couple bugs and strolled down by the riverside with a pinner to do a little wet wading.

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The river was hopping with life and I was pleased – so much so I didn’t even crack open a beer.  Rather it was right to business casting bugs to fish that almost would meet it half way in the air just to say to the other fish that he got it first.

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That’s when things took an unexpected turn.  I could hear some rustling behind me thru the one ear that I had left free of the ipod.  Not thinking much I casually bent around half heartedly expecting to see a local neighbor who will often come just to shoot the shit or even better just one of the neighborhood dogs (the dogs actually bug me less then Smokey Joe does, though Joe usually brings pinners so).  To my surprise it was neither, and in retort of self preservation without contemplation I seam to be gifted.

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You see what I did see as I was turning was a bear.  Now it wasn’t Ben from Black

Mountain but it sure was bigger then Number Seven.  I don’t know much about bear other then when they stand up on their back legs and are just slightly shorter then I that I probably cant take em in a wrestling match. Yet since he was raising up, less then 10 feet from me, as I was turning to look I thought that it might be better for me to actually turn around to face him to avoid possibly being mounted from behind.

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And that is when my self preservation went into auto pilot causing my pivot foot (the only one currently in contact with the earth via slippery river bolder) to slide out from under me leaving me to flutter like a brick back onto said slippery rock landing squarely on my ass with the only thing to break my fall being the full silver bullet can in my back pocket.

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Mind you this all took place in a split second.  But during that split second I thought, and in this order, don’t break your rod, but grab the 9, ohhh shit this is going to hurt.

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And then it did.

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Granted im not sure I actually physically moved in any coherent manner as to not break the rod or grab for the 9 but I thunk it.  And that’s got to be half the battle.

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Landing on the unopened beer in my back pocket, crushing it, sending rockey mountain freshness up and down my backside only stayed relevant for a few seconds as I quickly sprung to my feet while turning mid air to face my advancing attacker.  To my surprise all that was to be seen was the backside of the bear doing an impressive clip down river, even taking out some sapling in the process.

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Now im not sure if it was my display of aerial Kung Fu or the fact I was able to crush mettle with my butt or a combination of the two, frankly I could care less I was just happy that he was retreating – though I do need to restock my bear hair for fly tying.  But I will be more then happy to just pay for some and not be mauled.

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As for fishing it wasn’t more then 10min before I cracked open the other beer for drinking and started to catch fish again.  This time no ipod and just a tad more mindful of what was behind me.

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Meskel  

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Slamming Redsides on the Res

June 9th, 2009


By Nookslayer
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As most of you are aware I usually take one trip during the salmon-fly hatch every year with Harold “Toot” Pennington on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.  The water that we have access to is literally untouched by any other anglers due to restrictions.  What amazes me is somehow this fish know this too!

This year as we waited for our faithful guide up at Kah-Nee-Tah.  The wind was screaming through the canyon and I was getting concerned.  Fishing giant dry flies in gale force winds with trees all around you is no treat.  We continued to get geared up and wait for Toot.

Toot showed up about 30 minutes late (which in reality is early for him) and we tossed all our gear in his rig and headed down below Chum Bucket.  You should know that Toot almost didn’t make the trip this year.  3 days prior to us leaving he was bitten 3 times by a large rattlesnake.  He used up all the anti-serum in the Madras and Bend Hospitals and had more flown in from California.  He was very close to having his arm amputated at the shoulder but made a miraculous recovery in time for us to fish.  I digress…

Once we got down to our spot Plem and I proceeded to “get our game face on” and tie on the appropriate bugs (and only used one at this time due to the wind).  My choice was a variation on the rogue foam.  On my third cast in water that resembled a small Montana stream I found my first fish.  A beautiful redside that measured out at 17″.  A rather hot fish and a blast to handle on my 4wt (custom Meskel rod).

As the day progressed we fished al the water from below Chum Bucket to White Horse all the way to the Mill.  I finished the day 17 for 24 with 20″ as my biggest fish and none under 15″.  The others in my group had similar numbers but I did have the most.  Biggest went to Kim who is a brain surgeon at OHSU.  He landed a pig that measured out at 23″.  Beautiful fish.  A great day and great fishing even with the wind and the water flow at 5100 CFS.  Pics to come…

If you would like to experience more of what it is like to fish with Toot, head to YouTube and search for Edgar and Romulus.  You’ll get the gist….

 Nook

Sunday Spey outting

April 23rd, 2009

So I have a new 12′4″ Echo 2 7wt with a Ross Evolution 6 and 540 compact Skagit that needs to get wet for the first time and Sunday is it.  The rivers may not be in shape and there’s a good chance of getting skunked, but I’m going anyway.  Not sure of the destination yet but most likely it will be closer to town, possibly in the gorge.  Just thought I’d see if anyone wanted to tag along with me and make a day out of it.  Let me know.

Nook

A Tale of Two days

March 24th, 2009

This post comes a little tardie, and for that I apologize.  My only excuse is that I was out fishing!  Fishing twice in an eight day period has been un-heard of for me in the last 9 months.

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Finally got to pull the Hyde thru the Sandy.  Its sad that i live on one of its tributaries yet this was my first time floating it.  The sun was out, the water was cold, low, and cracker ass clear.  Did i mention that the water was low?

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Yes i did say PULL earlier.  With Richey on the sticks your guarantied to leave a mark on the rivers bottom.  Yet you have to hand it to the guy for getting us right on top of some fish.  The boat went 3 for 5 with nothing to bring home. 

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And then it happened.  Scott the third in our party broke out his 12′ 9″ spey rod and started effortlessly tossing his fly the length of the river.  Reluctantly i fell in line after Nookslayer to give it a try.  It didn’t take long to pick up a serviceable cast that was fish-able.  It was rather fun when it was clicking.

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All in all it was a nice day on a great stretch of river with good friends.  I would be hard pressed to ask for more.

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Just a week later i find myself standing in the Clack, 35 degrees and raining thick.  That wouldn’t have been half bad if my waders hadn’t , unannounced to me, been used as a recreation apparatus for my cats.
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Yet here i find myself cold as all can be - standing with soaked frozen feet on a classic Oregon March day. 
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That is because i know something you guys don’t and at the time only Scott did.   It was that at the moment i accepted to throw the Spey rod i was infected.   It starts slow but by the end of the week i was thinking of how to go about building a 13 foot two hand-er.  Maybe that’s why when i got the call Saturday night for fishing in just seven hours - i didn’t think twice.
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I ended up going 0 for 1 while swinging.  On that take i knew then that the tug is the drug and i am addicted.
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Now if i can stay on top of this March Madness maybe i can actually afford this new addiction.  Go baby blue
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Meskel

AKA Che Guevara

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On the bench

February 11th, 2009

While some of you have been flogging the rivers for winter steel (A commendable effort to say the least) I have taken what free time i can find to build a few sticks that i have been meaning to get to.

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This is a 9 foot 4 weight that i just finished for my uncle.  He is recently retired and is super excited to take up fly fishing.  This was supposed to be a Christmas gift but what can i say it is only a hobby.  I did give him the reel at Christmas with a couple hand tied bugs just to get him excited.

 I stayed true with incorporating “three lines” as often as possible.  The white lines you see are actually three lines and when assembled there are three wraps located at the ferrules - two on top (pictured above) and one underneath.

 I also like to try something new with most builds for family (ie bark grip on Nookslayer’s 4wt) so on this stick i turned a corn cob as the reel seat and filled it with putty.  This picture just does not do it justice.

Next rod is already started - as a favor for a friend i am going to finish a build he had started.  It is a 10 weight TFO that he plans on using for chasing Chum.  He has requested OSU colors so I’m sure that the orange on the black blank will realy pop.

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Then maybe i will find some time to get at three blanks i have at home that i had planned to build for myself.  Yea right. 

Also on a side note my retired uncle is a master machinist and upon receiving his reel he decided that it may be fun to make some of his own.  You know im on the short list for a custom built fly reel that i helped design.

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AKA Che Guevara

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Elk Creek– Girard, Pennsylvania

December 14th, 2008


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Pulling from the photo archive here, but since the Great Lakes area is under a blanket of snow and winter steelheading is a current topic…

Been to this river a few times and it’s always been productive.   Very much a creek, but holds a lot of fall hold-overs.  When it warms up and the shore ice shelfs receed it’s very fishable and it’s not hard to find a pool or run with a player.

This particular 20 foot slot must have had over a dozen fish in it.  We each snow beached 4 fish and stung many others.   All yarn, aside from one susie that darted out from under an ice shelf to snatch one of those yolk fry flies.  She had shown herself earlier when I was walking and blindly casting a blue and silver streamer.  She came out three times and tugged on the tail but managed to avoid the hook each time.  I checked it twice convinced that the point was missing.

We went upstream to find this deep narrow shown in the photo where they were stacked.  Check out baby faced Reid!

I recall meeting a friend of DC’s on my spring first trip out there to OR that was from this area of PA?

MR