Remembering the part called "angling"

I really enjoyed this post by FishErie.com member Duncsdad, and he was kind enough to give me permission to share it here. I added the pictures because of my obsessive need for imagery, but all the words are his. Enjoy, and thank you Duncsdad!
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The root word of the term angling is….

ANGLE.

I am amazed how often this concept is ignored by fishermen (and fisherladies, but the generic term will be used going forward). And I can think of no other fishing situation that requires being at the proper angle than dry fly fishing for very, very selective stream reared trout in clear water.

Yet I witnessed this disregard for technique again on Tuesday evening.

I arrived at the Little J somewhat later than I would have liked and when I got there, there were already fish on the surface. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but I wanted to get to an out-of-the-way area to avoid the circus that had ensued and that would take some time.

While there are a few remote spots on the River, most stretches are easily reachable within a reasonable distance from parking areas. I typically don’t like to get too remote because it can be dangerous, especially when fishing by one’s self. The wades can be long and tough and there are enough dangerous snakes about to make a pitch dark trip out not too fun. But some of the out-of-the-way but not exactly remote spots are difficult enough that most won’t venture there and they are within a reasonable (make that 15 – 20 minutes) walk/wade.

Since I was running late, I bypassed some pools in order to hustle to where I wanted to spend the bulk of the hatch. About 200 yards short of where I wanted to be, I just had to stop and throw a few casts at a pod of fish that were just smashing duns with reckless abandon. They were in a tough spot, almost completely across the creek and their lie has a downed tree in the stream guarding any real good approach. After watching them for about 10 minutes – trying to figure the proper angle, I waded in slightly above them, threw a high arcing cast over the water level tree and tossed an in air mend to put the fly line below the tip of the tree branch. By dropping the elbow, this produced enough slack to get about a foot or so of drift. That was plenty. By moving my position up or down stream a few feet, I was able to raise 7 fish and catch 5 of them. I also think that the two that I didn’t hook may have missed the fly completely on very violent rises. From the angle I had to work from (there was a way too fast, way too deep spot that would have given me the right shot), I think they rose aggressively to the fly, then spotted some micro-drag that I couldn’t see or remove from the drift because of the angle, an aborted the feeding attempt.

Deciding that I really needed to get where I was headed, I gave up on the still rising fish and moved to the area I wanted to fish.

And there were two guys already there.

The fisherman in the upstream position was positioned just fine. The gentleman in the downstream position was trying to fish two feeding lanes from the same standing spot. Both guys were good casters and both had on the proper fly. But they weren’t doing very well.

I stood back out of the way to watch – due to what time it now was I was committed to being here for the evening. After about 5 minutes, the upstream fisherman waded over to where I was standing and said “they’re all yours, I can’t catch them.” He said he hadn’t caught a fish all evening and at this point the hatch had probably been rolling for hours.

Why was that?

ANGLE.

He was in the right standing spot. Fish were rising at casting distances of anywhere from 10 to 60 feet away. But his casting angle was all wrong.

He was throwing a straight right-handed over hand cast. With the direction of water flow and the 4 – 6 different current seams he was facing, there was absolutely no way he could get a clean drift of any length – even a foot or so.

In addition, his buddy that was downstream was in such a spot so as to prevent the upstream angler from wading out another 5 feet and down another few to make that type of cast workable without disturbing his fishing.

So I waded in where he left, even though his buddy was still an obstacle to getting into a perfect position. In order to get any type of drift at all, I had to lean at the waist and throw a semi-backhanded cast across my body. This put the fly, and much more importantly, the fly line; in position to get at least some drift.

I raised a fish and missed it. Over the next 45 minutes or so, I probably raised 20 or so and only hooked 3 – one shook off, one that took a massive upstream run actually broke off (the tippet was fairly abraised, I think it rubbed against something rather hard), and I land only one – and it was foul hooked under the chin. I think that I was getting the same micro-drag as the previous spot and the fish were missing the fly on purpose. But this was the only angle I had with the guy downstream.

The downstream gentlemen thought it funny that I was getting frustrated at rising but not catching. During the same time period he raised 3 fish and caught two – one of which was foul hooked under the chin also.

He finally decided to leave and stopped to talk a little while I repaired the leader after breaking the fish off. He had been fishing all day and had caught 5 – the last two of which I witnessed. He said that these trout were so tough.

I gave him a fly and told him of a spot upstream (on his way out) that I knew had a single feeding lane. With his casting skill and only one target area to think about, I knew he would do well.

Upon his departure, I waded into the spot I had been in, took a few steps out and a few down and started to use a completely sidearm backhanded cast – one that I couldn’t use when he was positioned where he was. In short order I caught 4 trout – with zero missed fish, or more correctly zero fish missing the fly.

I then moved to where he was standing and saw that there were two distinct feeding lanes – neither of which could be accessed properly from that exact spot. By moving a few feet up and half a step out, I could get clean drifts into the upper feeding lane. And by continuing to make slight adjustment, I was able to catch 7 trout from that seam. I did miss 3 fish, probably because I got lazy and didn’t make the slight adjustments needed to get a clean drift.

I moved a little below where he had been, like 4 – 6 feet and had a good angle to the lower lies. Eleven trout came from there – including one of about 16”.

Turning around, I saw a pod of fish under a very low hanging limb, gently rising. This indicated that they were on spinners and not slashing at duns or emergers. I changed angles to get a good drift – no easy feat with the limb right over the fish and no downstream approach available. I rose and caught 4 fish from the pod, one again of about 16” and one that stuck out several inches on either side of my landing net opening (which is 17.5”). It had a huge kype and teeth. This fish had been around for a while and it was one of the largest trout that I had caught in the River that was not from the Jurassic Park area.

Of course, I finally put a fly in the tree and broke my lead to heck. It was getting dark rapidly, so I reeled up and quit with trout still rising.

When I was back at the vehicle putting my gear away, the gentleman that I gave the fly to approached with his three fishing comrades. He asked how I did and I told him that I caught a few including one good one. He said that he went where I told him and used the fly until the trout tore it apart. He caught more fish in an hour than he had in the last three days (they were from out of state on an extended fishing trip). He wanted to know where he could get that “magic” fly.

The morale of the story isn’t that there was a magic fly, but rather he was fishing the fly in a spot that forced him to be at the proper angle due to only one feeding lane and he got some clean drifts. In addition, its not that I am a super fly guy or a great caster (those that have fished with me can attest to that), but rather, if one studies the water and gets the proper angle for a clean drift, one can overcome less than great casting, less than a perfect fly, and less than perfect technique.

The root word of the term angling is….

And that was the difference between one of the people I met on the river catching zero fish in a day; the other catching about a dozen (the bulk of which came after he was unknowing forced into fish from the proper angle); and myself landing over 30 despite arriving late and not getting to fish for a decent period of time from the angle I wanted to.

As a post script, during my conversation I found out that these guys fished Erie Tribs for steelhead. When I asked if they were FishErie board regulars, the response was, “No, those guys are just a bunch of a-holes.”

Little did he know that a FishErie a-hole more than doubled his catch for the day.

Perhaps next time I’ll ask the FishErie question before providing flies and spots.

Deadly Waters

I wrote this one a while back but the heart of it is useful to anybody who works or plays outdoors, especially near water.
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We’ve had invaders… Asian Carp, the Zebra Mussel, New Zealand Mud Snail and the Round Goby have impacted our fisheries greatly. Fish populations have fluctuated wildly because of changes in water quality, predation upon egg and free swimming fish, being out-competed for food and the Asian Big-Headed Carp has even had a direct, physical impact on boaters due to their propensity for jumping into the air when startled by the sound of a boat motor. Broken noses and black eyes to fishermen have been reported. What else can you expect when a fish weighing up to one hundred pounds jumps into the air in the path of a moving watercraft?

One of our greatest dangers however, is much smaller than that giant, flying minnow. In fact, one of its most dangerous features is that you probably won’t know that it’s there until it strikes, and when this invader strikes on its microscopic level, it kills.

It’s target isn’t Rainbow Trout, or Walleye eggs, or even algae. It’s meal is the very flesh on your bones, and if you don’t act immediately upon discovering it having an effect on you, the odds are great that you will be dead within days. Unfortunately, it’s a very widespread invader, and it must considered a constant companion.

It’s a form of streptococcus bacteria and it IS in the water you fish. It causes a condition known medically as “necrotizing fasciitis”, but you’ll recognize it more quickly by the name bestowed upon it by those who’ve witnessed what it does to its victims. They call it “Flesh Eating Bacteria”… because it will devour you.

The various forms of streptococcus bacteria are part of the natural microbiology of animals and humans. It is a form of streptococcus that gives its name to the condition “Strep Throat”, Scarlet Fever”, and forms of pneumonia. Like so many other substances, strep type bacteria live unnoticed until some barrier is breached in the human body, or the immune system is compromised, and then they do their work. The particular species of bacteria which cause fasciitis is Streptococcus pyogenes.

Acute Streptococcus pyogenes infections may take the form of pharyngitis, scarlet fever (rash), impetigo, cellulitis, or erysipelas. Invasive infections can result in necrotizing fasciitis, myositis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Patients may also develop immune-mediated sequelae such as acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis.

Recent examples have made headlines this man fell into a harbor polluted by raw sewage after heavy rains, and apparently cut himself while climbing out:

A 34-year-old mortgage loan officer is near death with a flesh-eating disease after falling into the polluted waters of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor last week, according to his friends.
Friends of Oliver Johnson said his doctors at the Queen's Medical Center diagnosed him with necrotizing fasciitis, a Group A streptococcal infection that "destroys muscles, fat and skin tissue," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The disease forced the amputation of his left leg above the knee Monday, his friends said. His body also went into Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome, which causes blood pressure to drop rapidly and all major organs to fail, they said.

This man thought he had merely come down with the flu:

Last Tuesday, Ed Kopfman thought he'd come down with the flu. On Friday, he went to the doctor. By Sunday, the 47-year-old Kirkland father of two was taken to Harborview Medical Center and died that same day.
For those who knew Kopfman, the cause of death was even more shocking: necrotizing fasciitis, a rare condition also known as "flesh-eating bacteria."
"It's so unreal," his wife, Peggy Kopfman, said Wednesday. "We're all still in so much shock."
The bacterial infection took the lives of five King County residents from January to March 15 this year, and eight more in 2005, according to Public Health — Seattle & King County, citing data from the county Medical Examiner's Office.

The fact is, there are a number of bad infections that can come from exposing a cut or abrasion to the waters we love so much. This is just one of the worst. This article isn’t meant to scare you out of the water, but to encourage you to be extra-careful.

Something that each of us should have is a small first aid kit somewhere handy. I keep a decent kit in the glove compartment of my car, and a smaller version in both of my vests. Have the basics like antibiotic ointment, antiseptic wipes, bandages, sterile needles and tweezers for removing splinters, stingers, thorns and other “ouches”, aspirin or other pain-killer, a small bottle of saline solution (for flushing dirty wounds and eyes), and frankly whatever else you can think of. Obviously you can’t carry all that in your vest or chest pack, but having it in the car is a major plus. It should be part of every vehicle emergency kit, and just like your car jack and spare tire, you hope you never need them but are very glad to have them if the need arises.

In my vest I just have the bare necessities like stick on bandages, antiseptic ointment (it’s great that this stuff forms a barrier to further entrance in the wound), headache pills and tweezers.

If you sustain a cut while fishing, clean it immediately. Don’t be a hero. If you sustain a cut that will be under the water, or the cut was sustained underwater, stop fishing and clean it out immediately. If, for example, you are wet wading (wading in a pair of shorts and sneakers instead of waders) and you should suffer a cut on your lower leg, STOP wading for the day! It isn’t worth the risk of infection by bacteria or any of the bugs that are naturally in the water. You don’t need some parasite entering your leg and causing you untold problems for the future.

Now I’m sure that some of you are going to take this as being overly-cautious. I just have to ask you, is really worth the risk? We’ve all done the he-man thing and kept fishing as blood ran down our hand or leg, and eaten our sandwiches with a hand covered in fish slime, but it only takes one infection to make us change our ways, and that only if we are given the chance to make that change.

There are a lot if “Urban Fishermen” these days. these men and women are fishing in the shadows of skyscrapers, and unfortunately that means they’re probably in water that gets regular contamination by sewage runoff. In an area know for sewage outlets, don’t fish during or after a prolonged, heavy rain. You might not smell the sewage, but it’s there. It gets on your waders, your hands, your legs, the fish, your equipment…and there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll live there. Picture your hand all covered front and back by someone’s bathroom leftovers and then you get jabbed with a hook.

My friend, you’ve just become a lab experiment.

Wild waters have their share of bacteria and parasites as well, so don’t assume just because you’re up in the mountains that you won’t get caught unawares. Infection can happen anywhere.

Every major urban fishing center has what we in Pittsburgh have come to call “Allegheny Whitefish”. Nobody wants to talk about that, and it isn’t spread over the entire watershed or even the entire river for that matter, but there are entry points on every major river in every industrialized city in the world where stuff that you don’t want to be standing in gets mixed with the water where our favorite quarry live.

What’s an “Allegheny Whitefish”? It’s a used condom, flushed from someone’s home and a part of the sewage that overflows in so many places.

Possible our biggest weapon against high bacterial levels in our water is to maintain a vigilant stand against illegal sewage overflows and fighting to upgrade legal ones where everybody knows…THAT shouldn’t be legal! Work with your local water departments to find out what it takes to improve the runoff system. Make sure that you aren’t adding to the problem yourself as well. For those pristine mountain streams and lakes, just remember that dirty waders, boots, tubes and boats carry a coating from one place to the next, and birds are yet another source of spreading contaminants.

I thought about going very in-depth on prevention, cure, vaccination and other aids, but I’d rather you get the information straight from the source. Linked below you’ll find all the information you need to be a better protected fisherman, ready to land that next lunker!

Tight lines and safe fishing everybody!


Recent F.E. bacteria cases here and

Streptococcus resource
More resources on Strep

First Aid Kit resources
Sewer runoff info
Naturally occurring bacteria
Water borne parasites

Musky fishing, Musky CATCHING, with the Lindners

The Lindner family is unquestionably the First Family of fishing, having been the heart behind everything "In-Fisherman" for many years and then leaving to launch Lindner's Angling Edge and other media projects.

They're real innovators in the game and interviewing Al Lindner for my radio show is one of the highlights of my broadcasting career. I had to laugh when another fishing show host shared with me that having Al and his brother Ron as guests on his show was a real learning experience and that they never, ever stand still. He said he'd never been around fishermen with such passion and energy!

So while I was checking out some Pike fishing videos, leading to Musky fishing videos and then finding this one featuring two more members of the Lindner family, I thought I'd share it with you. Watch it when you can't fish, it'll make you crazy!

Lake Arthur fishing report again!

I got back up to my favorite lake Saturday. It was a pretty nice day, windy but not as windy as the previous Saturday when I had to stop from time to time just to hold my hat on my head. I got a bit of a late start but that's ok when you know where to find the fish. It was warm too for mid-morning. I wondered what would happen to the mayonnaise on my ham and cheese sandwiches while I fished. As it turned out, warm mayo wasn't such a crime. Warm drinking water on the other hand, not so much fun (Note to self: put ice in cooler with food).

I faced a bit of construction traffic on 279N, but I knew they'd be there. Hey, on a Saturday going fishing and having the right music playing, I could've dealt with almost any traffic. :)

I arrived at the lake in good spirits, and set out with the hopes of finding a nice school of Crappie somewhere. Stop 1: Bear Run boat launch area. This area can really deliver at the right time of year. Unfortunately, this wasn't the time.



I always expect something to jump out of this tangle of tree roots and get me!

After 30 minutes I took off for area number 2: Secret Bay. I have a love/hate relationship with the road to Secret Bay. It's really long and dusty, parking is almost non-existent when I get there, but I see lots of different animals, plants and birds when I drive it. Secret Bay paid off but not with keeper sized fish. After an hour of this (and good company in the form of another fisherman wading out with me) I decided to go where I had every confidence that I'd find not only fish, but keepers.

Those of you who know me might be wondering right now why I was so intent on getting fish to keep, knowing that I almost always fish catch and release. To explain...early in the season I like to get a limit or two of panfish so that I can have fish in the freezer through the season whenever I want some, then I can fish the rest of the season mostly catch and release style. I have a freezer devoid of fish right now so I need to get some in there. Anyway, I got to spot number 3: that certain place.

There I had to deal with quite a bit of wind, quite a few people, but was able to finally get into the fish. It wasn't easy and they made me work for every bite, but the Case Worm did it's job and I ended the trip with exactly the same take I had last week. A handful of Bluegills, 2 Yellow Perch and 1 Crappie! Strange that I would get the same combination two trips in a row, but I ain't complainin'.

The oddity of the bunch was this Blonde Bluegill. I'm calling it that because it was a shade of gold when I caught it and I've never seen such a thing before. It even retained that color after death.



See you on the water!