Flies catch fish and fund medical research

I met Stuart Patterson at the Federation of Fly Fishers Florida Conclave in Celebration.

Nice guy.

He watched as I tied a few of my Myakka Minnows.

We chatted as I finished about a half dozen flies.

During the conversation, I found out Patterson sells flies through his website: http://www.pattersonsaltwaterflies.com/.

Nothing out of the ordinary there. Lots of folks are trying to make an extra buck selling flies.

But Patterson is just a little different. He donates all of his profits to the American Syringolmyelia Alliance Project. Syringomyelia, often referred to as SM, is a chronic disorder of the spinal cord. It can lead to numbing and tingling, a loss of sensitivity to hot and cold, scoliosis, muscle weakness, paralysis and other symptoms.

Patterson's daughters, Hope and Holly, suffer a number of neurological disorders, including Syingomyelia, Chiari malformation, intrachranial hypertension and chronic pain.

Holly and Hope decided to raise money money to fund research. Their goal is to raise $40,000.

Patterson joined the effort when he began selling flies.

To date, the Patterson family has raised more than $20,000.

Patterson has patterns from some of the biggest names in Florida saltwater fly fishing, including Tim Borski, Rick Grassett, Aaron Adams, Norm Zeigler and others.

Not only are the flies great fish-catchers, but money collected from their sales go to fight crippling diseases.

If you are in need of flies, check out Stuart Patterson's website.

You'll be glad you did.

Back in Business.

After the storms of the previous few days the fish have returned, this six pounder fought hard in the dark and was returned safely, along with a few others..........

Grayling on the Wye with John Tyzack

I had booked in another session with the Stockport Guide John Tyzack for a session on the great Wye which i have become a member.
I had previously fished with him on my favourite Ellastone stretch of the Dove and he totally blasted the river showing me dry fly fishing at the top level..
I have not done any serious Grayling fishing and only fished the dry all season so was looking to see if this Grayling fishing folk love was to strike a chord for me?
I arrived around 10.30 to meet JT on the private car park at the pumping station, i arrived on my Honda CBR 900 fireblade which gets me there quite quickly from my house!! John had a laugh and we chatted about our plan for the day, he said we have three options?
1. fish siting and stalking
2. Small Grayling shoals with lots of fish
3. Chech nymphing deep fast runs for big Grayling

What did i choose? all three of them please John!!!?
We set of and made our way up the river...As John was my guest for the day i wanted him to fish himself as this proved great for me last time as i learnt more by watching him.. I asked John how we would keep the Trout out the way and he said that this is a method that needs to be taught, I wondered how this was possible?
John started to spot the Grayling and showed me the signs to look for, low in the river, forked black tail, dark black looking from above, slow movements ect, i started to get the gist and started to pick out the dark shapes ghosting around the bottom..
We selected a pattern and john dropped his nymph 2ft above the fish, dead drifted it, the Graylings fins fluttered and swam left and sipped the nymph in, rod lifted and a decent scrap ended with a nice pounder in the net.. A bit of a piss take really as it was his first cast.. 'Now its your turn' with JT on my shoulder.... Three casts later i repeated the lesson and hooked and landed a 1lb on a halfer!! Watching the fish take the nymph was great, it reminded me of rolling down a luncheon meat cube to a sighted barbel on the Dove, any movement other than a dead drift was a failed take....
The major problem was not to hook a trout, if a trout was in the zone we would move away, John showed me a technique to get the fly low down under any feeding trout and hit the Grayling we had seen, this was a great challenge and we started to sight fish and take most.. One occasion i had a trout dart in and take the nymph, john told me to leave it there and do nothing, to my amazement the fish mouthed the nymph and then spat it out and moved on!!
The river was very low indeed and stealth was needed in most situations..
Around dinner we moved to a nice dry fly run which we could see the telling sign of the bubble left from rises, Grayling on the dry!! A dry fly was selected and JT took a couple in this run...
We had a very good fish rising around a tree which was impossible to reach with with the dry, JT did the most insane cast i have ever seen, he cast his fly well up the river and let his fly line wrap itself around the tree causing to fly to land right around the corner into the feeding lane of the fish!!! The fish came up and sipped the fly down.... JT hooked it and it came off, the first time i ever saw him loose a fish ever...i could see the competition in him as he was right pissed off.....
The picture below shows the tree to his left where he did the cast!!! Top draw!

We then drove to various runs know to John where he showed me the cheq nymphing style, a deadly method which took us bags of Grayling, We were hitting shoals of them and then moving on to another..

This method is obviously harder with the no wading rule but JT showed me methods that worked no end, i struggled at times with this being new to me but something i will get from practise, i would be thrashing a swim with no fish and JT would come in and take my rod and have fish on the first cast!! presentation just like the dry.....

We carried the afternoon taking fish to whatever the conditions needed, sighting, Dry fly fishing and Cech nymphing.. great sport..

Fishing for the Grayling is something quite new to me and i can now understand why so many people rave about it, the way a Grayling feeds in the river, its calm movements and its top looks.. I will be enjoying my sessions there this winter and have some real clunker spots up my sleeve!!

Nice one for another top day out John, i have still got ur manc accent in my head saying 'strike kid!'

Still 'Living the Dream'

Nice one

Glen

Week Review with Big Fish Pictures

This week has been tough, but were are still doing the best we can for all of our clients AND our family. Traveled east a couple hours for an electrofishing survey on Monday. Headed north of Chicago for an electrofishing survey Tuesday. Went to kickapoo wednesday and shocked a pond for a new client with an absolutely beautiful pond and property. Thursday we started a marathon of fish deliveries!

The lake we electro shocked on Tuesday is 147 acres and absolutely gorgeous. For some reason the owners dont want their name or location mentioned, and I cant imagine why perhaps one of the best fishing lakes in the state located near a heavily populated windy city wouldnt want people to know their name and location? Anyhow check out these pics, they will tell the tale of the lake:

Here are some pics from the 2 acre pond we electrofished on wednesday:

So back to thursday! We met the fish truck about 8:30 pm over near champaign and delivered 2000 nice channel catfish in the steady rain. Then Justin headed north with a load of feed trained bass, golden shiners, and fathead minnows. I jumped in with the fish guy and we headed west towards Norris, and we delivered quite a few feed trained bass and large hybrid bluegill along the way. About 5:30 am and we get all done delivering fish and head to sleep at the lake. I had to get up at 7:30 am to head into town for the funeral and was back delivering fish by about 1 pm. On my way to the last stop and I ran out of gas just 3 miles away! My client came up the hill with some gas and we were back on the road to finish up our fish delivery marathon!! I fell asleep on my parents couch about 6:30 pm and woke up at my house at 7 am??? Apparently Brook came over and got me, I just dont know how they lugged me into the car and into bed?

Saturday my dad and mom came with me to check the trapnets at a pond, take care of chores out at the lake, and then deliver a load of rainbow trout out to Otter Creek Preserve. Then saturday evening I cooked some dinner with Mae and Noah and we just hung out at home riding bikes and raking leaves. The week was so hectic, that the kids just needed some dad time, and that was just what the doctor ordered for me as well!

Tragic Accident, We are gonna miss Gabriel!

Early Sunday morning I got a call from my mother that there had been a bad accident in Haiti. My Aunt and Uncle and their 5 youngest children are missionaries over there. My Uncle Tim, 16 year old cousin Sara, and 5 year old Gabriel were in a horrible accident on their way to church. Tim has some head injuries, broken arm, and multiple open wounds, Sara's knee was torn open and her neck cut pretty bad, and Gabriel was thrown from the vehicle and died at the accident with head and lung injuries. The other driver just never saw them and he unfortunately fled the scene, even leaving his passenger behind.

Tim and Sara have along recovery ahead of them, but their bodies will be fine. The loss of Gabriel however, words cant even describe. 11 years ago Tim and Joan lost their first son Joshua to a tragic drowning accident while they were missionaries in Tennessee. I just try not to think about how unbelievably hard this would be to handle. Tim and Joan are very strong though. This definitely isnt easy, but they have plans of finishing their work in Haiti and just fully trust that God has a plan for even a tragedy such as this. It has been a long week for all of us, but we have tons of friends and family that have come together and are praying for and supporting Joan, Tim and their 5 daughters.

As I was looking at Gabriels little body today in the casket, Joan came up and as we hugged all she could say was "he was my little fishin buddy" And he was. At that moment I couldnt think of anything to say, the embrace and look of afirmation was all I could do, and really all that was needed. I dont know what this winter will bring or when they will be able to go back to Haiti, but I will definitely be headed there to help them out at some point.

Tragedies and death just dont seem to happen all that often in my little portion of the world, really the only funerals I have even been to is my grandfather a few years ago and Joshua's 11 years ago.


Gabriel Joel Reinhard, 5, of Peoria died Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 in Les Cayes, Haiti where his parents and family were involved with missionary work.
Gabriel was born March 12, 2004 in Pekin, IL, the son of Timothy and Joan Meister Reinhard.
Surviving are his parents; and five sisters, Kristin (Rodney)Menold of Peoria and Sarah, Bethany, Hannah, and Faith, all at home. Also surviving are his maternal grandmother; Rhoda Meister of Hanna City; his paternal grandparents, Dan (Delores)Reinhard of Remington, IN.; 17 aunts and uncles; and numerous cousins.
He was preceded in death by one brother; Joshua; and his maternal grandfather; Paul Meister:
Gabriel attended the Sheridan Road Apostolic Christian Church in Peoria. Gabriel loved being in Haiti with his family and enjoyed catching crabs on the beach and frogs and loved to go fishing. Gabriel was such a joy to our family. We thank God that he was a gift to us and that we had the chance to love and raise our son and brother:
Visitation will be held from 2 to 4p.m. and 6 to 9p.m. Thursday at the Apostolic Christian Fellowship Hall at 7329 W. Route 150 in Edwards, IL. Services will be held at 10:00a.m. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Apostolic Christian World Relief Haiti, restricted in Gabriel's name.
To send condolences to the family online, go to www.EndsleyFuneralHome.com.

Shocking Lakes and Ponds is oh so much fun!

We have been shocking and evaluating lakes and ponds across Illinois like madmen! Some real good fishing, and some not so much!! But they all have potential and that is where we enter the picture. Some lakes need just a bit of tweaking and some need well, a bit more. Turning a body of water into a productive fishery really is not hard and doesnt take long and doesnt even cost that much money, as long as you are in tune to what the lake is set up to produce. They are all different!




Gary Glovers 4 acre pond near lewiston just needs a bit of agricultural lime to sweeten up the water to help grow some aquatic vegetation. David Van Ackers pond in the Quad Cities had a fish kill last winter and he lost all of his BIG fish, the small bass that did survive however are growing at a RAPID pace with little competition. Hidden Lakes big lake is perhaps the worst fishing lake on the entire property, we filled the boat with small fish. Hidden Lakes new lake is perhaps the best trophy bass fishing lake in central Illinois, but it wont be for long if they dont harvest TONS of the 11-13" bass that are taking over.


Next week we do some traveling to Champaign, Kickapoo, and Northern Illinois along with some fish deliveries mixed in. Its gonna be hectic.

Gibby at FFF Florida Conclave

I will be tying flies and conducting a kayak fishing seminar Friday and Saturday at the Federation of Fly Fishers Florida Council Conclave at the Ramada Inn Resort in Celebration, Fla.
If you will be there, please top by and say hello or introduce yourself.
I will be tying the famous Mighty Myakka Minnow, a fly I designed five years ago that does nothing more than catch fish -- a lot of fish. It's my go-to fly for oscar and Mayan cichlid in The Everglades. It's easy to to -- if you know how. And that's what I'll show you at the Conclave.
I'll also demonstrate how to tie my variation of the D.T. Special, a fly I consider to be THE best beach snook fly ever created. I've been using it and catching snook along the beaches for the past 20 years. Many flies will take snook, but none like the D.T. Special Variation.
Capt. Matt Hoover, a guide in Naples, Fla., sent me a D.T. Special year ago. He told me it was the only beach snook fly I'd ever need.
He was right.
I've tweaked it a little over the years to suit my needs -- hence, the term "variation."
I sometimes get credited with developing the pattern. I did not. I have changed it somewhat and I think it's a better fly.
My seminar on freshwater kayak fishing is scheduled at 11 a.m. Saturday in Room D of the Ramada Inn. I have what I think is a very interesting Power Point presentation. My seminar will last about an hour, with the last 15 minutes for questions. Of course, I'll be available throughout the Conclave to chat about fly fishing or fly tying.
The Ramada Inn is located at 6375 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Celebration. Phone number is (407) 390-5800.
For information on the Conclave, call Capt. Pete Greenan at (941) 232-2960.