IR4J

This year will mark 15 years fishing fishing the anadromous species.. 

Spring my favorite fly is this dumb looking black and gold nymph I found in a river 12 or 13 years ago that seemed easy enough to tie. It has become my best producing fly and those of you that fish with me know I have one box full of these dumb things.

Fall run salmon; skein, end of story.

Late fall steelhead, if im on the pin you cant beat roe. If im on the fly I tend to be confident in a black and blue hobo spey. 

I had the pleasure of using a helix through the ice last year on two occasions and loved it. I would consider it as fast as my traditional flasher, and the nice bright screen was great for fishing outside. The battery life was kind of lacking but you shouldnt have any issue fishing a full day on one...

Got this so i can bring my other sticks on the river

 

Lost mine on the river last december, have yet to replace it unfortunately. I had the "one" version but that red will match your lightsaber nicely 

salmon dont run under liberal leadership, please wait until the next election year

More often then not, especially with smallies they will be in wolf packs. Its not uncommon to see 5/10/15 fish all stacked on the same rock or same piece of structure, especially offshore. Ill see if I can find the video I took last year fishing the St Lawrence shootout, we were sight fishing a pod of 2-6lb smallies in like 20 feet of water.

I always use fluoro for nymphs, for its sinking properties and Nylon for dries. Never tried mono might have to give it a go.

mono can be made from many materials but nylon is the most common (mono = monofilament) 

I dont want to hijack this thread but I am hoping one day there is no longer a season on bass in ontario (or at least an extended season). There are so many "incidental" catches fishing for other species that I makes no sense why they cant be opened to a strict catch and release or reduced limit season. Yes I understand that bed fishing is a thing and the idea is that we are leaving bass alone to spawn but numbers are by no means low, and we can fish for just about every other species during their spawn (weather provided) I dont know guys, just my 2c

I dont think Ive got anything else for you, they are worth the try "you'll never know until you go" philosophy 

The reason you are seeing "braid" backing is that the length of dacron (braid) backing weighs less the equivalent mono needed to fill the spool. this gets a little to deep into physics but by lightening the spool closer to the center of gravity the initial inertia needed to "start up" your reel spinning is much less. Not only will your reel operate better the dacron line is basically good for the life time of the reel. My grandfather will to this day tell me the braided dacron on his shakespear wondereel from the early to mid 40s will still haul a bucket out of scugog weeds.

Its all personal preference though, you know. The advantage to the start up is pretty minimal, I like to add the custom look to my reels to make them my own so thats what I use.

Matt 

Just a few of the more interesting shots of this fall; whether it be the fish or the story behind it. 

First fish of the fall, tucked up against a mud bank this fished moved 2 feet to hit a relatively poorly presented roe bag

Chubby dimer, makes the 2 hour trips before work worth it.

Give me back me bead! Dirty water 14mm eater

Same fish as above taking a 1 handed approach

By far the prettiest steelhead Ive ever caught, huron fish certainly are lookers

First double digit day of the year, 13/15. This fish is only impressive if you know how big that net is!

From the same day, seems to be a lot more fall spawn fish this year which is definitely a good sign!

My first real year experimenting with glass beads, the creek candy beads available at Fishheads have defiantly been a positive addition to the arsenal!

And lastly....

The fish that makes the early mornings, cold weather and many donated dinero to fast food chains worth it.

Thanks to everyone that made these pictures possible and to the friends that have shared drifts with me over the past few months.

Keep tight

Matt

Im running a mix of 8lb tritanium (chartreuse) and 10lb pro mix (lemon grass) straight to leader... Ive definitely caught fish in gin water doing this, and have completely removed the shot line from my arsenal. 

There are many variables when it comes to float fishing, especially beads. Even though you could be running the same depth, having differing shot patterns could mean the difference, another factor being hook size/weight. The hook can affect the tumble rate and swing out/speed of your presentation. 

Gahdam, looks like a couple stellar deals to me. Some body please eat this up so my wallet doesnt have to!

 

My red candy came in. Put my reel on it and i still could not believe how light that rod is.

 

Us fellow Methodists call it the lightsaber  

Congrats boss, beautiful first steelhead.