But just to “put it all out there”. Here is our letter to the editor.

Dear AK,
We will spend the next few days reading every post you have ever written in all of your many blogs. If after that time we wish we had your life, we will drive our sorry asses to MI and personally kiss your ass. If we don’t wish we were you after reading your dribble? Well, we get to decide that outcome as well. Maybe we all get in a boat and just go fishing. As for now, focus on the fishing, we hear shit is real tight up there right now and isn’t that what all this is about anyway?

If entertainment is what you’re after, maybe you’re barking up the wrong tree. Try internet porn. We hear there is some really good stuff out there these days. Surely you can find a site that’ll suit YOUR needs.

Hatchless Disclaimer – we don’t expect anyone to read our blog because we already know it sucks. We just like to hear ourselves talk. Tight lines and shit.

Yeah, he’s a scientologolist or whatever but fuck it…

The greatest thing about turning 40 for me is that in just a few weeks I’ll be fishing the Little Red in AR with Jamie Rouse (not sure what’s up with his main site but check here if the first link is a dud) who was recently featured in the latest of Southern Culture on the Fly. I found Jamie via the lodge that we are staying at and it would seem that my instincts led me in the right direction. After a short talk with Jamie I was sold on the fact that he is afflicted.  I’m heading that way with my best friend who lives in Dallas now. Another guy that refuses to indi fish even if he is being outfished by the nympher next door. He turns 40 this year too so we have to at least hit double 20″ browns or the trip has to be done over. Part of me hopes that the do over happens so the rest of the Hatchless dudes can join us next time.

We have one day with with Jamie and one with one of his other guides that is also a streamer junkie. Should be a killer trip. It was nice to get an endorsement on Jamie from a fellow Au Sable streamer guy, Kelly Neuman, and then yet another endorsement a week after we booked with Jamie via SCOTF.

Kelly is guiding on the White for the first few weeks in Feb and is well worth looking up because he has a killer deal going down there. Also on the White this time of year from MI are the guys from OAS in Grayling, MI doing time down there chasing hogs. Find them at Daily’s Ozark Fly Fisher. The Michigan guys know the deal when it comes to tuggin’ streamers!

We fucking love you all. Have a Happy New Year too!

You couldn’t have begged for better weather… for early fall color viewing. I mean really. We had perfect weather for anything you would hope to do on an early October weekend in Northern Michigan except target big, hungry, and horny pre-spawn browns on the Au Sable. It was sunny and 70 degrees every day we were there. Absolutely gorgeous weather to sit in a boat, cast your arm off, and consume many beers.

We did turn a fair amount of big fish which is always fun. Especially after a hot summer that had many concerned about a possible fish kill. The words we heard were that we turned more good fish than many of the other anglers that weekend. Nice to hear but boating a few of those that took more than a peek would have been nice. A fair number of teens were put in the boat but when you’re hunting the big stuff, small teeners don’t get in photos like they should hence the lack of fish pics in this post. Everyone caught fish but not everyone got a pic. Redundant is… well… redundant.

Here’s the trip pics.

Todd up front and Bart on the sticks with a great hat that may have helped him earn the coveted "Most improved oarsman of the year" award.

All Texans in the back of the bus please. Steers? Or queers? Its up for debate.

That hat really ties the room together.

Todd figured out that if he really squeezed his butt he could cast further.

Wadsworth... the only pic from the weekend of the man, the myth, the fucking LEGEND!

WTF do you say about this? Ummmm... that's a lovely "dock" you have there? No motor and clearly going nowhere. Fucking awesome. Next time I pass this barge, if there isn't a thong hung on the rail, one that was once worn by a woman, I'm gonna blow it up.

Here's Randy being glad this Ditch Pig was a mini and not tied on a cheap hook with a big ass barb.

Wow! Are you comfortable? Can I Get you anything?

Cooling off a bit. Like I said, it was warm... even for a Texan. I still haven't figured out out why some of us still INSIST on wearing waders in the boat.

I can't remember what was going on here but they seem to think its funny.

The morning commute.

One of Mike's from Friday.

Just plain nice.

Lo Fi Fly - funny fucks
Shooting Head – it has boobs, need I say more.
Frontside Fly – Sweeds make pretty videos
Gink and Gasoline – nice dudes

This year I was the proud recipient of a few new sticks that are worth writing about. The first one I purchased I believe I mentioned earlier this year with the promise of a review. Naturally, since that one was purchased first, I will go chronologically and start there.

Early this spring I decided I needed a 7wt. for throwing the bigger streamers. I have been fishing a TFO TiCR 6wt. for a few years and the bigger stuff was getting a bit cumbersome to throw with it. The 6 is a custom built stick that a friend put together for me and I think I mentioned in an earlier post how I feel about it. It still love it and I will still use it but I think it has to be re-purposed based on the performance of the new rod I picked up this spring. Being that I’m not a millionaire I decided that my highest price point was going to be around $250-300. After doing the shopping/research thing I settled on a new company, Rise, based on the simple fact that they seemed to have their sights set on the big picture (conservation) rather than their bottom line. That, coupled with the extra tip the rod came with, and some good pre-purchase communication (Amanda, one of the owners, is a VERY patient person… I can get a bit long in the tooth…) was the ultimate selling factor.

As for the rod, I love the damn thing. I started the season throwing a 200g SA Streamer Express which it loved but begged for a bit more. Its not that this rod is too stiff (like most of the others in this price point) and wouldn’t load at short distances because it does that very well but it just felt like I could easily plus up in line weight by 50-100 grains and still have no issue throwing the big stuff. Quite frankly, I have been wanting to bump up to a 250 grain sink tip and with the new rod I was able to do that with no problem. I switched to a Rio Streamer Tip 250 at the end of the season and the rod performs even better with that line. I did however fish the rod for the better part of the season with the 200 and was very happy with it but I will say the 250 is better. My first trip out with it scored me the biggest wild brown I have caught to date. While I realize that the rod probably didn’t make the fish happen, the fact that I was able to throw big flies all day without effort most likely did play a part in the catching of said fish. With the new rod I was able to spend a day chucking 6″+ streamers with ease at considerable distances with accuracy. For that it scores high in my book.

As I mentioned before (or maybe I didn’t), the Rise Level Series 7 wt. that I purchased came with an extra tip. This fall I broke a tip on this rod. Don’t stop reading here and shit can the rod thinking that its weak or something. The breakage was no fault of the rod. The tip broke because I either slammed it with some big honkin’ lead eyed streamer on a shitty cast, AND/OR… it was mishandled in a fly rescue mission from some low hanging, big trout harboring, fly eating tree, or it was a combination of both. Anyway, after the tip broke, I made a quick switch to the extra tip and kept fishing as if nothing had happened AND finished out the week throwing the same heavy ass flies with the spare tip on what has become my new favorite streamer stick.  From what I hear, Rise has been getting some push back from anglers on the strength of their tips based on the fact that they are giving you a spare. Seriously? There are so many things that I could say about that to those that are making that claim. None of those things are pointed in the direction of the rod maker. I will respectfully restrain myself and say quite simply this; I LOVED the fact that all I had to do is reach behind me in the boat and grab that extra tip and make the exchange. I did not and could not blame the rod for the fact that I was changing the tip. All I could think to do was praise the fact that I had the tip to change to. If not, I would have been pretty bummed for 4 more days of intense streamer chucking. Again, the tip replacement will be a breeze when I send it back and I can still fish out the year without having to wait for the new tip. When I contacted Rise about the broken tip I was told that they would happily replace it when I was ready to put the rod down for the year.

Bottom line, I will totally back this rod. Buy one. You won’t be let down.

I’m not going to pretend to know anything about this river. I do enjoy watching this sort of destruction. Awesome.

Best of all. I’m glad to see that the smoke monster from LOST found a new gig. One that really makes a difference. Pause the video at about the 25 second mark and see Smokey in action!

by: Will Rice

October 18, 2011

He is guilty.

He did it.

He confesses.

He comes clean.

He is a streamer punk.

Simple ideas turn to thoughts: Streamers in the fall—there are few things he enjoys more. 5X? No. 4X? Nope. 3X? Maybe… if the water is clear. 2X? These fish aren’t leader shy and matching the hatch is not exactly scientific.

READ ON>>>

First couple of days… Built a guest house… BlAhBlaHblAH.

Here’s his reports, daily as requested, since we’re too lazy to get off the Au Sable and go elsewhere regardless of when and where else we’re invited.

Day 1.

Fished the east fork of the San Juan last night.  Very cool stretch of river. Lots of riffles and big boulders with deep holes and runs.  Saw some fish but couldn’t catch the rotten pricks.  The water temp is pretty high and all the streams are pretty low so it sucks. I had one hook up on a cone head green crystal bugger which proved that the fish are dumb but stealth is key.  The water is extremely clear so after that lesson I resorted to casting to the holes from about 50 feet to keep from spooking fish.  Tried a hopper dropper for a bit… nada. My T-130 is shot. Going line shopping later.

I have some pictures I’ll send when the wifey gets here with my phone cable.  Not enough cell signal here to send them from my phone.

Day 2.

Fished the Blanco yesterday during and after a rain.  The water where we fished was warmer than the east fork and all mucked up from the rain.  I had two slashers but otherwise nothing so we left at about 4 pm.  I called my buddy Jeff who was out here for 2 months and said he fished every river and reservoir in a 100 mile radius.  He gave me a few places to try and the one we chose was Big Meadows reservoir spillway.  It was over Wolf creek pass. We went through the second tunnel and took the first left which heads up to the camp ground and reservoir.  It is a pretty big body of water and the spillway this time of year is shallow and weedy but we caught fish on little tiny streamers and a dries. Good times.

Day 3.

Going to fish the upper Chama tomorrow which the dude at High Desert Angler in Santa Fe told us was “the place to go”.  Gonna be a 2 mile hike at about 12k elevation to get to the head of the river but I’m sure it will be worth it.

I bought an  SA 5 wt floating line that I used today and I love it.  Feels a lot like the salt water lines we used while we were down in FL. Sure beats hucking the sink tip for a change.

Day 4

Fished the Navajo today. Same stretch we fished last year about 5 miles from Marc’s house. Very cool little river with a small camp site right on the water that you can drive up to.  Had a good rain yesterday but the Navajo was still really clear, not crystal but still pretty clear.  Caught the first 14″ brown on a small olive bugger with no bead head. About a #8 hook in a riffle about 2′ deep.   Fished around the corner and changed bugs to a bead head crystal/olive bugger size #6 and rolled a big rainbow.  Ten minuets later I changed to a # 12 gray & red soft hackle and caught another 12″ rainbow. Then it started raining and we decided to head out.

Day 5. (???)

Fished the Chama yesterday. Edited by me. Too much info to put on the internets…

Day 6.

On our last day we went to the hot springs in Pagossa to soak for awhile  A must do while in town.  Afterwards the girls went shopping and Marc and I went fishing in the main branch of the San Juan right in down town.  It is rumored to be good fishing there. Hard to believe. Warm water and lots of pressure should say otherwise but the sources were right.  Most of the river in this area has been improved for fish habitat and seems pretty artificial.  All the boulders are strategically placed and the holes are deep.  We went in behind the malt shop and really didn’t have to move to far to find the fish.  We only had about an hour to fish before meeting up with the family for dinner and the normal afternoon rain but I’m glad we went.  I bet when the water is a little cooler it is a great place to fish.   My buddy Jeff said he had a couple of 100 fish days there.  When I talked to the guy at “Let it Fly ” fly shop he said it is pretty common to get a bunch and some good sizes out of there.  Stockers for sure but also some holdovers and natives to be had.

It was a great trip.  We fished almost every day except the day we built the guest house and the day we went to the airport to pick up the family.  I may go in july or september next year to get some colder water.  I never took my waders out of the bag.  I really like the Simms wading shoes I bought.  http://www.simmsfishing.com/site/Riprap_shoe.html?id=tbDCzCSD:64.202.228.19#

They don’t let rocks in under your feet and have really good traction, not too bad for hiking in either.

Thats the report. Here’s a few pics from the trip. I’d do captions but I don’t know what is what.