Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November/December 2021 i Fly Fisherman

FROM THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1926, W.D. COGGESHALL WAS AN AMERICAN EXPAT LIVING IN LONDON. HE BROUGHT WITH HIM TO THE OLD WORLD THREE FLY RODS MADE BY HIRAM LEWIS LEONARD, FOUNDER OF THE H.L. LEONARD ROD COMPANY. LEONARD MADE THE FIRST-EVER SIX-STRIP HEXAGONAL BAMBOO FLY ROD, AND IN HIS SHOP TRAINED MANY OF THE NEXT CENTURY’S GREAT AMERICAN ROD MAKERS. Coggeshall fished the chalkstreams of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Kent along with the foremost angling authors of the day, including Frederic M. Halford, author of Floating Flies and How to Dress Them, and also G.E.M. Skues, the author and lawyer who was publicly condemned by Halford more than a few times for advocating the use of nymphs. Coggeshall was a trustee of the Flyfishers’…

ARTY GRAZCO HAS BEEN PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA STEELHEAD ASSOCIATION (PSA) FOR SEVEN YEARS, CAUGHT HIS FIRST STEELHEAD IN 1976, AND LIVES LESS THAN A MILE FROM WHAT SOME WOULD CONSIDER TO BE THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF STEELHEAD IN PENNSYLVANIA—THE LOWER SECTION OF WALNUT CREEK. STREAM IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS SPONSORED BY THE PSA, MONUMENTAL STOCKING EFFORTS BY THE PENNSYLVANIA FISH & BOAT COMMISSION (PFBC) AND 3-C-U TROUT ASSOCIATION, AND A SET OF HIGH FALLS FOUND JUST UPSTREAM FROM THE MANCHESTER HOLE THAT BLOCKS MIGRATION, MAKE THIS PFBC ACCESS AREA A HEAVILY FISHED DESTINATION FOR IN- AND OUT-OF-STATE ANGLERS. Grazco likes to do it the old-fashioned way, casting $2.97 knockoff Walmart spoons off of what locals call The Wall, a boat channel leading to Lake Erie at the lower end of the…

The McCloud River ranked number 7 on American Rivers’ 2021 Most Endangered Rivers list. The threat comes from a proposed project to raise the height of Shasta Dam by 18 feet. If completed, this project would inundate 5,000 acres of land and nearly a mile of the McCloud River above Shasta Lake. It would also flood 39 sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu, the Native Americans whose ancestral lands encompass much of the lower McCloud watershed. The portion of the river that would be flooded is currently owned by Westlands Water District, who purchased the entire Bollibokka Club property in anticipation of the dam being raised. While the project would theoretically add about 70,000 acre feet of water per year for agricultural use in the Central Valley, this is literally…

THE GUY STANDING ON THE REMOTE AIRSTRIP WAS A COMPETENT FLY FISHER. HE WAS MIDDLE-AGED, TRIM AND TAN, WITH SANDY HAIR AND GRAYING TEMPLES. HE RADIATED CONFIDENCE, AND YOU KNEW HE COULD PROBABLY TELL YOU ABOUT SEA TROUT IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ATLANTIC SALMON ON THE KOLA, AND STEELHEAD ON THE KISPIOX. YOU ALSO KNEW THAT ONCE HUSHED WORD OF A HOT NEW VENUE LEAKS FROM PRIVILEGED SOURCES, AND YOU SCRAMBLE TO PUT A TRIP TOGETHER, HE’S THE GUY WHO’S ALREADY BEEN THERE. He was part of an eight-rod group departing Lava Creek Lodge, and we were arriving. He shook hands with my fishing partner, Joe Turano, then turned and smiled. “You boys are hitting it just right. The king salmon run started showing strong during our week, and the…

LEIGH PERKINS WAS CEO OF THE ORVIS COMPANY FROM HIS ACQUISITION OF IT IN 1965 UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT IN 1992. TO WRITE ABOUT HIM, A MAN WHOSE FULL LIFE WAS GUIDED BY HIS PASSIONS FOR FLY FISHING AND BIRD HUNTING UNTIL HIS DEATH IN MAY, 2021, WHERE COULD I POSSIBLY START? I COULD BEGIN WITH A SUMMARY OF HIS PLACE ON THE HONOR ROLL OF NORTH AMERICAN FLY-FISHING GIANTS, HIGHLIGHTING HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS, WHICH WERE MANY AND IMPORTANT: ARTICULATING THE OUTDOOR COMMUNITY’S OBLIGATION TO PROTECT THE PLACES WHERE HUNTING AND FISHING TAKE PLACE AND SETTING AN EXAMPLE WITH HIS PERSONAL WORK AND DEDICATION OF CORPORATE EARNINGS TO CONSERVATION; ORIGINATING THE CONCEPT OF FLY-FISHING AND WINGSHOOTING SCHOOLS, THEREBY CREATING CUSTOMERS WHILE ALSO BUILDING THE RANKS OF DEFENDERS OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. There…

PLEASE DON’T FEED THE LAKE TROUT How exactly nonnative ciscoes got into Yellowstone Lake is the latest mystery to plague Yellowstone Lake and Yellowstone fisheries personnel. Park officials revealed the discovery of ciscoes at Yellowstone’s 2021 Annual Fish Meeting. It’s likely more bad news for the beleaguered haven of native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. According to Todd Koel, Yellowstone’s Native Fish Conservation Program lead, one three-year-old female cisco (likely Coregonus artedi) was discovered during routine lake trout gillnetting in August of 2019. Subsequent otolith testing revealed that the fish was born in Yellowstone Lake, which indicates that there is a viable, reproducing population of ciscoes in the 85,000-acre lake. To date, only one has been found and positively identified. Ciscoes are baitfish that are native to the Great Lakes and other…

MUSKIES ARE OFTEN CALLED “THE FISH OF 10,000 CASTS” BECAUSE THEY HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN MISUNDERSTOOD, NOT WIDESPREAD, AND DIFFICULT TO CATCH. BUT UNLIKE SPECIES SUCH AS WEST COAST STEELHEAD, THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN RECENT DECADES IS ACTUALLY EXPANDING. AND BECAUSE ANGLERS TODAY KNOW MORE ABOUT THESE FISH, AND WHEN AND WHERE TO TARGET THEM, AND BECAUSE WE’VE GOT BETTER FLIES AND TACKLE, IT’S NOT AS DIFFICULT TO CATCH MUSKIES ON FLY AS IT USED TO BE. IT’S NOW LIKE THE FISH OF 500 CASTS IF YOU LEARN THEIR HABITS DURING SEASONAL CHANGES—MAYBE EVEN THE FISH OF ONE CAST IF YOU’RE THERE AT THE RIGHT TIME WITH THE RIGHT FLY. MY MENTORS My first time seeing a muskie was on a trip with my uncle. We borrowed a canoe and set out…

ON A RECENT FISHING TRIP, MY BUDDY MARTY MONONI AND I WERE TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THE OLD-SCHOOL FLIES LIKE WOOLLY WORMS AND WOOLLY BUGGERS AND HOW—LIKE A COOL OLD HOUSE—THEY HAVE GOOD BONES BUT CAN GENERALLY USE A REMODEL. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD, BUT SOMEWHAT OUTDATED, FLIES OUT THERE THAT THIS “REMODEL” IDEA REALLY STRUCK A CHORD WITH ME. AS YOU SAW IN THE FEB.-MAR. 2020 ISSUE, I REVAMPED THE VENERABLE CHUBBY CHERNOBYL WITH A FRESH LOOK AND CALLED IT THE ELEVATED CHUBBY CHERNOBYL. WELL, THE NINE-POUND HAMMER I’M SHOWING HERE IS REALLY NOTHING BUT AN IMPROVED, PURPOSE-BUILT VARIATION OF A WOOLLY BUGGER. I HAVE TO SAY I BOTH LOVE IT AND HATE IT WHEN THE DESIGN PROCESS RUNS A WIDE CIRCLE AND ENDS UP SOMEWHERE BACK AROUND…

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, I LIVED IN CENTRAL MAINE. I USED TO WHITEWATER CANOE ON THE SANDY RIVER, GLIDING OVER ITS FREESTONE BED AND THROUGH ITS PRISTINE, CLEAR WATER. AT ONE TIME IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC ATLANTIC SALMON NURSERIES IN THE UNITED STATES, BUT NOW FOUR DAMS ON THE KENNEBEC RIVER MAKE THE SANDY—A TRIBUTARY—INACCESSIBLE TO SALMON. Brookfield Renewable Partners, a hydroelectric juggernaut based out of Toronto, Canada, operates and/or owns around 5,300 power-generating plants worldwide. They own and operate the four offending dams on the Kennebec, from north to south the Lockwood, Kennebec, Shawmut, and the Weston dams. All are between Waterville and Skowhegan, Maine. “There is no downstream [spawning] habitat south of the Waterville dams—in the entire watershed,” says Nick Bennett, staff scientist and healthy waters…

THE MCCLOUD RISES IN THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS OF FAR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, A REGION DOMINATED BY THE SOARING PRESENCE OF 14,179-FOOT MT. SHASTA. THE VAST AQUIFER ADJACENT TO THE MOUNTAIN PROVIDES THE SPRING FLOWS FOR THIS BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL RIVER, A RIVER OF LONG POOLS AND POCKETWATER IN A WILD, WATER-CARVED CANYON. IT IS A REMOTE AND MAGICAL PLACE, WITH THE ANCIENT STILLNESS OF THE OLD-GROWTH FIR AND PINE FOREST. IN THE SPRING, THE SCENT OF WILD AZALEA AND SHASTA LILIES DRIFTS UPSTREAM ON THE WARM AIR. BEARS ARE COMMON. GOSHAWKS CHASE SOOTY GROUSE IN THE UNDERSTORY. MOUNTAIN LIONS HUNT DEER IN THE FOREST. The river has sculpted picturesque riverside cliffs, ledges, and deep pools in the gray basalt. In the pocketwater, it flows among smoothed and variegated volcanic rocks, creating a…

Patterns. There have been many advancements in fly design over the years. Most modern designs are based on a couple of innovators who paved the way for this generation of fly fishers. These pioneers include but are not limited to Larry Dahlberg and his Diver series, and Bob Popovics and his Hollow Fleyes and Beast Fleyes. I know there are others, but I feel these are the foundations that most modern muskie flies have been derived from. There are many flies out there today that make catching muskies with a fly rod more practical than ever before. These include Matt Gajewski’s Yard Sale, Slip N-Slide, and Devil Dancer; Chris Willen’s Double Nickel, and my own Game Changer series and T-Bones. With these patterns in different colors and sizes, you have…