Search Results for "float trip"

Floating the Colorado

August 11th, 2014

You can really blame it on Alex Landeen. In truth, the reason I bought my pontoon boat was for the sole purpose of floating the Colorado River. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed exploring the lakes here in Arizona, but a few months back when he started telling us about his 15 mile float down the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry, I was already counting pennies and looking at pontoon boats.

Fast forward to last Friday, Jason and I skirted our work activities and drove up to meet Alex, Marvin, and Scott. We milled around looking at the river, wading up to our knees to cool off, and waited for the backhaul boat that would take us, our gear, and our pontoon boats upriver to the dam. When we were finally loaded and the boat left the no-wake zone, our driver eased the throttle forward, and we left what little civilization there is at Lees Ferry behind us. The boats dropped us off at an upper beach were we assembled our boats, stowed gear,and rigged our fly rods for the short jaunt down to the Ropes camping area. We were in to fish right away. Smiles all around.

We camped at Ropes that evening, and after dinner from a bag, we swapped stories about fishing trips before turning in for the night. I’ve been on several multi-day float trips before, but this was the first one in my own personal watercraft. So the thought of my helpless little pontoon anchored on the mighty Colorado had me waking up at all hours of the night, wondering if that little red pontoon was still there. I resisted the urge to done my headlamp and go look, and when the sun finally started to brighten the sky the next morning, I found that little red pontoon waiting for me like a puppy ready to play.

Gobbling down a quick breakfast, we eased the boats into the strong current of the Colorado river and started plying the edges of the river for feisty rainbow trout. It was pretty much non-stop all day long. Fish were looking up, and we pulled many fish on hopper and cicada patterns. Everyone had a sink tip rigged with streamers, and when things slowed on occasion with top water, you could always clean up with simi-seals and wooly buggers.

The three days and two nights that we spent on the river were amazing, and although the fishing was great, I came home babbling to my wife more about the experience of the river and the fun times with good friends rather than the actual fishing itself. So although I blame Landeen for my pontoon boat purchase, I ultimately owe him for opening my eyes to the Colorado River. Without a doubt I’ll be going back.

Lees Ferry Cicadas — Fish were looking up

Colorado River Fishing — Scott working the walls

Dave Scadden Pontoon boat — I love this pontoon.

Alex Landeen — The man, the myth, the legend

Fly fishing gear — Home again with a pile of gear to clean and sort through

What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt. It is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else. – Hal Boyle

Our trip through the lens of Alex Landeen.

Rambling Review – Linekurv Stripping Basket

April 24th, 2013

Rambling Review – Linekurv Stripping Basket

Why:

This year, I had the opportunity to do a bit of pike fishing along with a trip to Pyramid Lake. Several people I talked to recommended a stripping basket for both occasions and it was not until I went that I really understood why. Stripping baskets help to keep line from tangling while hand stripping fly line. I found out that a quality stripping basket is worth it’s weight in gold. Here are my thoughts on the Linekurv Stripping Basket. The Linekurv baskets are made in Denmark where “linekurv” means stripping basket.

First impressions:

Solid – The Linekurv stripping basket is built rock solid. There is nothing fragile about the basket or the heavy duty nylon belt.

The fit and feel – Right out of the box, I tried the Linekurv basket on, and with a simple cinch of the belt it snugged right around my waist. There is a slight curve on the backside of the basket which allows it to hug your body. Some of the homemade stripping baskets I’ve seen are almost too boxy and look uncomfortable. Not so with the Linekurv

Field Use:

Although I needed a stripping basket for Pyramid Lake, I had the opportunity to try out the Linekurv stripping basket on a bit of pike fishing in Northern Arizona. I debated on even taking a basket along, but I at least wanted to practice with it before getting on the water at Pyramid Lake. When I showed up at Upper Lake Mary, I was more than happy to have the basket along. Fly fishing for pike involves heaving big flies tied with rabbit strips and then stripping line as fast as you can to shore. The banks of the lake were muddy and nasty, but instead of line being piled up at my feet and getting stepped on, line was coiling neatly in the stripping basket. I truly learned the value of having a stripping basket for keeping your line clean.

The main reason that I even looked into stripping baskets was for fly fishing Pyramid Lake. Pyramid is a windy lake in Nevada known for holding big Lahontan cutthroat. One of the main ways to fly fish the lake is with a heavy sink tip shooting head and lots of running line. Large amounts of running line, piled up at your feet is a recipe for disaster.

The cones at the bottom of the basket keep the running line from tangling. So as you are casting the shooting head, the rest of the running line zips through the guides without knotting up and ruining the distance on your cast. The smooth design also cuts down on any line snags on the basket. I was using a 200 grain shooting head and with a bit of a tailwind, I was laying down casts farther then I have ever cast line before. I believe much of that comes from using a stripping basket.

The Linekurv also has two notches cut into each side which hold your fly rod perfectly when you need your hands free. On Pyramid Lake, I had to fight the urge to start stripping my flies in before they had sunk to the bottom of the lake. What I liked to do was to cast out my heavy sinking line, lay my fly rod in the Linekurv, put my hands in my coat and count to 30.

As I mentioned in several posts on fly fishing Pyramid Lake, Landon, the Pyramid veteran of our group, stayed on the ladder longer than any of us. While I was taking a break, he asked to give the Linekurv a try. This was probably a mistake, because he almost did not want to give it back.

The one thing that I went back and forth with on the Linekurv basket was the lack of holes for draining water. While pike fishing, it did not matter, as I usually was not more than knee deep in the water. At Pyramid, we waded out to chest deep before putting our ladders down and climbing up. Often times, when landing fish, we were wading in water up to our bellies and water filled up part of the Linekurv, making it awkward to move around and necessary to drain. After doing quite a bit of reading, I think that it is a matter of preference for the fishermen. Some guys like to have drainage for their baskets for a rogue wave, while others who do more deep water fishing prefer to have a basket that floats on the water. The jury is still out for me. It did not take much effort at all to give the basket a quick flip to drain water, but I think it would be cool to have two drain plugs that you could open and close depending on the situation you are fishing in.

Pros:

Lightweight

Durable material designed to be rugged in very cold and warm conditions

Nine cones in the bottom of the basket to minimize line tangles

Comfortable

Built in rod holder

Sleek design that reduces protruding edges

Cons:

No drainage holes

Prognosis: The Linekurv stripping basket is a top of the line choice if you are looking for a high quality, well designed stripping basket. The Linekurv is an excellent tool for adding some serious distance to your cast.

* Disclaimer:

The reviews at Arizona Wanderings are my honest opinion. Arizona Wanderings is not sponsored by or associated with any of the stated companies and is accepting no compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. The Linekurv stripping basket was provided for the purpose of this review. My independent status may change in the future but, as of the date of publication, no relationship other than described above has been pursued or established.

What to Pack on an Out-of-State Fishing Trip: A Filson Guest Post

May 17th, 2012

The good people over at Filson ran one of my guest posts on what to pack for an out-of-state fly fishing trip. I have had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling with my wife with the team at https://thewallmuseum.com/ and every time we are going to see someone, I see what type of fishing I can get to in the area. The article is more about the bare essentials and how to maximize my luggage space. If I missed anything, let me know. As always, I really would really appreciate it if you would give some love over on the actual guest post.

Packing List for fishing — Packing List for Fishing

“Last summer, I had a great opportunity to head up out of the Arizona heat to the float the Deschutes River in Oregon, with my good friend, Eric. Since this was a do-it-yourself fly fishing trip, it was absolutely important that I show up with all the gear that I needed. Here is the list that I drew up that served me very well on our 4-day float down the river.

Fishing gear – I had a good idea of the type of fishing I was going to be doing, and with a little help from my contact there, I was able to pack accordingly.

2 Rods

2 Reels”

Read the Full Article over at Filson Life

Last Rim trip of the year?

December 6th, 2009

With the holidays fast approaching and the temperatures dropping rapidly, I really wanted to fish the mountain streams one more time this year and give my Frankenstein wooly bugger a good try. Like any good coach, I gave my new fly plenty of game time throughout the day, hoping that I would see him rise to the occasion and put up big numbers for me. Apparently the trout were not as impressed with my tying skills as I was and Frankenstein will have to wait for another day. I was fortunate to pull in one decent size brown and several smaller rainbows on a parachute adams. (Note: In these small streams, I have seen bigger fish lurking, but “decent” to me is anything over 12-13 inches) I did hook onto one of those lunkers later on in the day. He slammed my dry fly as if he had not eaten in a week and ran a ways up the pool. Jumping several times, he showed me his glistening white and orange belly before spitting my hook. When the scene was over, I could do nothing but stand there with my mouth open as my mangled fly floated past me. He looked to be well over 17-18 inches and would have been quite a fish to reel in and hold. The day flew by and before I knew it the sun was already dropping behind the canyon walls.

From what I have read, the Mogollon Rim turns off for the winter except for the occasional warm up where some fishermen brave the snow and ice to tempt some hungry trout. There are several other streams and rivers closer to town that I would not mind checking out as the weather turns to winter. I’m looking forward to tying up my wooly buggers and learning and practicing some other flies to tie.

Arizona Dove Season Opener

September 1st, 2014

Today was the Arizona Dove Season Opener and I wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to swing my shotgun at some quick flying birds. I met up with a buddy before daylight and we headed into the desert towards a marginal dove spot that I know about. It’s not the greatest spot to hunt doves, but I know if you stand in one spot long enough, even a blind squirrel will find a nut.

After the first hour and a half of daylight we were looking at a small pile of five birds and feeling a bit sorry for ourselves, so we hopped in the truck and moved a 1/4 mile. We stopped to empty our bladders and 4 doves flew overhead. Perfect. Downing the last of the coffee, we spent the next couple hours making our pile of doves grow until we had a respectable number for lunch.

We tried something a bit different and plucked all of our birds. Plucking takes a bit more care and time than just breasting out a bird, and it gave DJ the time to really dive in and tell me about his recent Alaska float trip. After the first couple of doves, the process starts going pretty quick and in no time at all we were looking at 20 or so perfectly plucked doves. After cleaning up and saying our goodbyes, I rolled on home and pulled up a Hank Shaw recipe that I’ve been wanting to try. Cajun Grilled Dove. An Arizona dove season opener doesn’t get much better than that.

Rambling Review – Cortland Precision Platinum Salmon Line

September 16th, 2011

Rambling Review – Cortland Precision Platinum Salmon Line

Why:

Gearing up for my summer trip to the Northwest, I was looking to pair some quality line with my Lamson Konic and 6 weight BVK rod for the big water of the Deschutes River. After shopping around and talking to a couple different folks over at Cortland, they turned me on to their new Cortland Precision Platinum Line and sent me their Platinum Salmon line to try out on my float trip.

First impressions:

The Dyna-Tip – The fly line changes from mango orange to white and indicates Cortland’s high floating Dyna-Tip. Cortland Dyna-Tip has a very nice durable welded loop to attach a leader to the fly line and it is impossible not to notice how well the Dyna-Tip floats, even in the fast, choppy water of a powerful river.

The Little Things – It is always a good sign when a company goes above and beyond however small it might be. Cortland includes a “pro line cleaning applicator” with their Precision line. I love these handy little cases for a quick clean on the river in the hopes of lengthening the life of my fly line.

Field Use:

While on the Deschutes I was presented with various fishing situations that put this line through the paces. While most of my casting was between 30 or 40 feet the Deschutes really pushed my distance casting far beyond that. The precision line shot through the guides and really performed well on these far reaching casts. I was able to lay out some fairly sweet roll casts that really put a smile on my face. Wether it was 3 inch foam dries or a double nymph rig, the Cortland line was the ticket.

Being back from the Northwest with time on my hands, I am not one to let nice line sit around unused. I tote my 6 weight with the Cortland Precision line over to my local carp and bass ponds here in Phoenix. When carp are tailing out on the middle reef, my casting needs all the help it can get to reach these big fish. So quality line that casts well is a nice feature to have. I feel that nailing this line down as simply “salmon line” is selling this line short as it really is an all around high performance floating line.

I try to thouroughly clean this line after I fish these ponds due to all the who-knows-what-that-crud-is floating on the surface, and after 6 months of use, the line looks as good as new.

Cortland line being pulled through the guides...

Pros:

High quality line

Floats high all day

Sails through the guides

Pro-cleaner patch included with line

Cons:

Comparable price to other fly lines (they are all high in my opinion)

Prognosis: Having used a number of different brands and styles of fly line, I believe that Cortland’s Precision line is a great choice.

* Disclaimer:

The reviews at Arizona Wanderings are my honest opinion. The Cortland Precision Salmon Line were provided by Cortland for the purpose of this review. Arizona Wanderings is not sponsored by or associated with any of the stated companies and is accepting no compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. My independent status may change in the future but, as of the date of publication, no relationship other than described above has been pursued or established.

It’s been a while

July 8th, 2019

This last year has been a whirlwind. We moved into a new house in June of 2018, and last summer was a total wash as far as fishing trips were concerned. It had been so long since I’ve been fishing that I had to buy new tippet and floatant, as well as tie up a few new furled leaders for the day. After a few flubbed casts, it all came rushing back.

I’ve never heard or seen the cicadas so thick in the White Mountains. For most of the day, the fish were looking up and attacking flies as soon as they hit the water. In the evening, the fish backed off from their feeding frenzy and refused any cicada/hopper pattern. I worked my way through the fly box, cycling through different flies, and trying to figure out what they were eating, when I spotted several winged ants in the slower slack water. The one small black foam ant pattern I had in my box caught a half dozen more fish, before the ravaged fly unraveled completely.

Standing in knee deep water watching the sun set and fish rise is a great way to end the day.

Rambling Review – Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip 10’ Type 3 line

December 1st, 2014

Rambling Review – Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip 10’ Type 3 line

Why:

I’ve been able to fish for a long time without a sink tip, and I have gotten away with adding lots of weight to my flies when I needed to get them deep. For fishing deep rivers and bottomless lakes, there is often a better tool for the job than a floating line, and in this case, the Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip 10’ Type 3 line has filled a much needed gap in my fly line selection.

First impressions:

The Sink Rate – A Type 3 sinking line offers a middle of the road sink rate at 3″ per second, compared to an intermediate line that sinks around 1.5″ per second or a type 6 that sinks at 6″ per second.

The Sink Tip and Floating Line – The Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip 10’ Type 3 line, as the name implies, has a 10′ sink tip while the running line is a floating line. The floating running line can make a big difference when mending line on a river.

Field Use:

The Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip 10’ Type 3 line has found it’s way into my line repertoire for two specific scenarios. The first reason is for big river streamer fishing. Often times when fishing bigger rivers, those bigger fish are holding deep waiting for bigger meals to swim by. I like to rig a short and stout leader to the sink tip and tie on a heavy streamer pattern followed by small leach pattern. Casting your flies across the current followed by a couple of big mends, allows your line to sink putting your flies at the perfect depth to tempt the deeper holding fish. Then, I strip the flies back across the current and wait for the big one to come out of the depths. This sink tip/streamer set up is a great way to mix up your offerings to fish, and can add a whole new dynamic to big river fishing.

Streamer Brown — A Colorado brown trout falling to the sink tip/streamer setup

The second one is deeper lake fishing. I have a Cortland intermediate line that excels when fish are holding in the 0-10′ depth. Some of our lakes are quite a bit deeper in Arizona, and at certain times of the year, fish are holding 10′ and deeper. I have found that the Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip is ideal for presenting flies in these deeper lakes. My favorite fly setup is a heavy crayfish pattern followed by a Simi-Seal leech. Slow-stripping these flies along the bottoms of a dark Arizona lake can be very productive.

Casting a sink tip is always a bit of a challenge. The heavier front end of the line loads the rod differently than a regular weight forward line, and when you add in a couple of heavier flies, the casting stroke takes a bit of getting used to. I have found that proper control of the running line is very important when shooting line. If I’m not making a concerted effort to keep my line neat, I’m going to wind up with a nice big rats nest when casting.

So far, I’ve been fishing this line for around a year or so. I always make sure to clean it when I get home in soap and water as well as wipe it down with a microfiber cloth. The line shows little to no wear and I’ve been very pleased with how well it has held up.

Pros:

Excellent big river streamer line

Floating line for easy mending

Durable

Reasonable price

Cons:

As with all sink tips, it takes a bit to get the casting stroke.

Running line can tangle if you’re not careful

Prognosis: The Cortland 444 Classic Sink Tip 10’ Type 3 line is an excellent choice if you are looking to add a Type 3 sink tip to your fly line repertoire.

* Disclaimer:

The reviews at Arizona Wanderings are my honest opinion. Arizona Wanderings is not sponsored by or associated with any of the stated companies and is accepting no compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. The Cortland 44 Clasic Sink Tip was provided by Cortland for the purpose of this review. My independent status may change in the future but, as of the date of publication, no relationship other than described above has been pursued or established.