FlySpoke Custom Fly Rods Crafted With Pride In The USA

The Best Of Both Worlds

The problem with using a switch rod for nymph fishing is the weight.  Even a commercial 3 weight is really a 5 or 6 weight.  This is because the two hand rod fly line industry dictates the weight of the lines, calls them what they want and the rod companies follow suit.  For single hand lines the fist thirty feet is what determines the weight classification.

I have developed two new rods for the trout and landlocked salmon angler who wants to have full versatility while on the water.  Increased distance of casting and mending and a real switch rod concept.  Each is based on a true 2, 3, 4 or 5 weight power according to AFFTA yet has all the added ability of a two hand rod.  Also having a length that will not cause shoulder fatigue when single hand casting is desired. Feeling the take and excitement of the play is so important.

They are both built on a 10 foot blank platform.  These are IM6 medium action rods that will allow the shock absorbing give necessary when playing a big fish on very light tippet.  The choice is a removable bottom grip that extends the rod to be 10' 4" or the 10 foot blank with full custom grip that has a static mini bottom grip. Plenty long enough for two hand fulcrum pull when swinging.

So, if you are looking for that perfect nymphing stick that will quickly change into a swinging stick and with only a line change be a dry fly rod then these two versions will be a sure hit.

FlySpoke builds custom fly rods in many other designs for your exacting requirements.  We take the time to create that perfect stick that will be the most versatile for where you fish.  If you would like to explore the possibilities of creating that build I would be happy to offer you a high quality fly rod, made in America at what seems to be an imported price.

I Remember Atlantic Salmon In Maine

As my years have turned into real time, I have been reflecting on important moments.  In my angling life there is one that stands out above others and happened during the early 1970's in Maine.

The Narraguagus River is a Queen of waters among salmon rivers.  She has all the components that make for strong shouldered fish like those of the Matapedia and Moisie.  This is a river of Salmon and very few Grilse.

It was not my first year in pursuit of a Salar encounter.  I had been traveling to Maine in late May and June for three years and visited most of the other rivers with major runs.  Penobscott, Sheepscot, Pleasant, Dennys and Machais had all received some time with no takers.

I arrived in Cherryfield late in the day and spent the night in a local motel.  The rain had been coming in buckets and was not giving up.  The river would be in full glory and sounding a dark rage.  Reality was far more harsh than my words.  Even with such conditions the casters were lined up at the Cable Pool.  Other pools down river were available but most anglers would put their rods in order and wait their turn on this highly productive water.  I seem to remember hours between rotations at times.

On this day I decided to cross the rail trestle below the pool and fish from river right.  My 8 1/2 foot Fenwick glass 8 weight would be a limited match for a raging river that offered little back cast room.  Sinking line and a huge Mickey Finn was my set up.

As the rain continued, I made cast after cast shooting out as much line as possible and then letting the heavy current take more line down river through my fingers.  This is a technique that I now use to control the side ways speed of my fly in faster water.  In the middle of a swing it finally happened.  I had a salmon on my line in a raging river with no less that thirty people lining the banks.  The show was on.  The fish jumped multiple times, screamed down river, bored its way to the opposite bank where I thought it had wrapped a rock,  coxed close at hand on a heavy leader and finally came to net.  I then did what seemed natural.  I removed the hook quickly scampered back to the river and let the fish go.  What a thrill.

You could have heard a pin drop!

Now, today we call it 'Live Release' and before that 'Catch & Release' and up in Maine in 1973 they called it 'I can't believe he let it go'.  I remember one fellow coming up to me and telling me that if I am going to release a salmon that I should not have used the net.  I have hand tailed many fish for myself and others, removed the hook and having the catch on it's way in a matter of moments since.

I think for many that day it was the first time they experienced the release part of the equation.  The following year I made a stop at L.L. Bean for supplies and a fellow said, "Hey, you're that guy who let the Salmon go up on Naraguagus."  I proudly said, "Yes I am".

Sadly, the salmon of the cable are now visions in my mind.  I Remember Atlantic Salmon In Maine.

William

High Stick Switch Rod, Nymph or Swing?

I have been fishing my medium action high stick nymphing rods for about ten years now.  The advantage over what I see most anglers using is just amazing.  Longer drag free drifts, easier mending and control as well as effortless casts.  I carry two different leader set ups.  One for nymphing with or without indicator and then a collection of poly and versi leaders for when the swing is the thing.  I make these rods in a number of configurations from 10 feet to 11 feet with removable or static bottom grips.  $325.00 to $450.00  If you would like any further information please contact me at William@FlySpoke.com.

Can Instinct Be A Learning Process?

A while back,  I received a phone call from a very good friend and highly experienced angler.  He called to tell me about his day fishing and the events that happened.  In great detail, he told me of the five hook ups through the day and how and where.  I was really happy for his good fortune and wished I had joined him.  The important fact was that he remembered every aspect of what occurred.

Any day in February, that you have five hook ups is a great day to me.  I then asked how his partner did.  "He didn't get any to take" he said.  "We were fishing the same water with the same flies and I just can't explain why.  He has all the passion and desire and did work hard, but just did not connect."

Well, I think I can explain exactly why and it has to do with what I call Learned Instinct. Fish have instinct that is extremely powerful.  The slightest thing out of place will freeze them from moving, let alone take a fly.

Some of us will go through an entire day and not give a thought as to what is happening under the water.  Some of us will watch with great concentration as our line moves with the flow.  Some of us could close our eyes and feel every move the line is making.  When you get to that point you have achieved Learned Instinct.

The angler who throws out his line without thought is relying on luck.  The angler who watches every movement is learning.  The angler who can feel has learned what is right and makes it happen without thought.  Sort of like a basketball player who has achieved spontaneous action.  No premeditated thought goes into the process but the result is a basket.

The difference in my friend and his partner is the number of hours of careful attention paid to what is happening at every moment.

The moral to this story is that you need to fish a lot if you want to be successful.  Not every day will produce the catch, but your chances increase with every moment you are willing to pay attention.

William

FlySpoke Show Poster

Fleur de Lis

Now Available On All Custom Rods.  

Chernobyl Ants On Draft

Had a great time tying at the Three Rivers Stocking Association Jam last night.  Three Rivers is a wonderful organization that works to clean and stock some of the waterways in southern New Hampshire that were decimated by the industrial revolution.

Today the Lamprey and Cocheco are clean and hold trout year round.  Look them up and make a donation.  I am happy to be a contributing member.

Light Tippets, Light Weight Full Flex Rods & Big Big Fish

Over the past two and half months I have been playing with some truly unique Landlocked Salmon.  Some of the largest available in North America.  These are lake inhabitants for most of the year and find their way up rivers on their fall spawning run.  They are in every way genetically correct to Salmo Salar that roam the North Atlantic yet never have tasted salt water.  

My normal start to this short, and sometimes very short, season is swinging streamers and leaches with my eleven foot four weight.  I run a Skagit integrated short with tips and leaders that are correct for the situation of the moment.  But this year was very different.  The run started so early that  my favorite style of angling, the pure swing, was null and void.  The fish were not lake dwellers any more and the taste of river life was in their brain. 

For the swing I have no problem using a 2x tippet at eleven pound test. The 4 weight performs perfectly on fish up to ten pounds and my confidence in handling the screamers is very high.

Then there is the darker side of my angling.  My conviction is simple.  "Swing when I can and nymph when I must".  I have no problem hooking up a strike indicator and using weight to correctly fish with nympths and eggs and micro worms and what ever is needed to get the take.  Then I use another four weight in my collection.  A ten foot four inch two hand switch that has medium flex that will let me drop down the tippet size to as low as 5x if needed.  What I loose in tippet strength I gain in the flexibility of the rod and the fast bending forgiveness that sudden rapid movement requires..

For many years now, the fly rod industry has been following the line makers.  That's just the reality of the industry.  The weight of the first thirty feet of a standard single hand fly line determines what designation the line will get.  Juice the weight of the line a bit or lengthen the head and it will seem to cast easier.  That little bit of extra weight that will bend the rod more and let's us slow down or stroke.  So the rod makers working on their marketing make the blanks a bit faster. And faster, and faster and faster.   That is what makes the recovery from bent to straight happens quicker.  Denser cloth that is rolled on mandrels and baked that makes a faster action rod.  

What does that do?

These faster rods are a casters dream.  They fly straight, recover quickly, bend less and get the same transfer of energy and handle those slightly heavier lines very well.  Today we are seeing lines that more resemble a Scandi or Skagit than a double taper.

But there is something missing in this equation.  It is the fact that when we have a fish take our fly that wonderful casting tool must change it's persona and become a tool that plays the fish.  

You know what happens when a crazy ten pound Landlocked Salmon or Steelhead is played on an ultra fast action rod with 5x tippet?  Yep, that's right, you say goodbye very quickly with a snapping high pitched sound of fine quality fluorocarbon.  In addition I ask anglers who fish the steelhead run in New York what weight fast action rod they are using.  The most common answer is a seven weight.  A seven weight fast action rod and 4X to 5X tippets.  Then the next statement is, "I don't understand why I am not landing any fish". 

My position is that a fly rod needs to serve as a fishing rod and if that means it will not cast an ultra tight loop yet cast well and land the fish, then that is the correct tool for the job.

After you have had the great fortune to hook and play a number of such fish you will know the range of your equipment's ability.  The only way we are going to see fly rods that are fish playing friendly is because we demand them from the rod makers.  

In order to have such a rod I must build them myself.  I call them SWIMPH rods.  SWIng when you can and nyMPH when you must.    A simple conversion at the loop connection at the end of the line changes the rod system from a nymphing leader rig to poly and versi leader swing.  Ten and a half feet is the longest I will use as casting single hand is also desired without shoulder injury.  Here is a photo of a beautiful twenty four inch Landlocked Salmon and one of my custom rods.  I have 10' 6" four piece 5 wt's as well as some 10' 4" 4 weights with removable bottom grip available now.  Please let me know if you have any interest.  My price with rod, sock and tube starts at $375.00.  A great choice in a medium action ultra forgiving rod that handles the new Switch and Chucker style lines for a true switch in function.

Swinging The Salmon River

There is a place on the Salmon River in New York that is a fly swinging paradise. It's location is accessed by a very long walk to the lower portion of the Douglaston Salmon Run property. The pool  is called The Meadow Run.  From top to bottom and through a narrow yet deep gut between two islands, it offers the best and most aesthetically pleasing swing you will find on that river.  There are many places on this former Atlantic salmon River that offer a good swing and if you love to cast with two hands a trip to Pulaski will not disappoint.  Just don't let yourself get hung up on the negatives.  

The top of The Meadow is created where a strong rapid quickly becomes a steady flow through the center.   This water is not the best for nymphing or floating.   From that point you can find fish for the entire three hundred yards down river.  Broad and constant flow makes it best suited to the swing.  There are far better locations like upper and lower Clay hole right next door that will give indicator and float what they came for.  The tail flattens and widens to form three separate channels around islands.  The center cut is deep and the lane of choice for most of the migration.  During low water conditions this area below the main pool will receive most of the attention.

The problem with this pool, and all others on the river, is that there is no rotation.  Sometimes it can be down right uncivilized because of all the different methods of legal fishing that are allowed.  The high stick nymphers take the least room, we Spey Boys need more and the Center Pin and Spin rods would float their egg sacks all the way to the lake if they could.  The time when the crowding is most prevalent is first thing in the morning.  Only the least caring are still in bed as the sun comes up.  I get to my designation at least an hour before sun rise and there still can be five anglers standing in the run.  Sad to say, but as true as can be, this is not a gentlemen's sporting river.  By mid day the crowds seem to disperse through the area and opens the door to getting in some quality swinging action.

This past Saturday I was able the hook up two fish on the swing in the lower part of the pool.  Because the location is close to the lake the possibility of a real bright and very large fish becomes clear.   You need to stay with the rhythmic cadence of the swing and make as many quality passes as possible.

Another fine choice would be to find locations in the two fly zones that offer water that is less frequented because of proximity to access points.  You will not find any center pin or spinning rods here.  Most anglers are using indicators and nymphs and there are an increasing number of two hand casters.  In low water these places will be available by crossing and walking.  In higher flows you will need to use one of the bridge crossings and walk.  In some cases you will be the only rod on your side and looking at six to ten on the easy side.

For this river I use marabou collar flies, bunny leach flies with eztaz heads, cut shanks and West Coast style Spey flies.  More traditional West Coast Steelhead and European Temple Dog style flies can be used with a good deal of success.  The water temperature is the key to how well you will do.  The colder the water gets the slower and deeper you will need to run your fly.  Most situations during late October through the first week of December can be handled with Scandi lines and poly leaders.  As the river cools down you will want to switch to a Skagit and might need to go as heavy as t14  at times.  I greatly prefer to use non weighted flies as the action is far better.  It is also much easier to control depth and speed by having the ability to control my line and not have the fly drag on the bottom.  This river loves to eat flies and using weight can take it's toll.

Right now, the crowds have started to thin and the river is loaded with fish.  In normal years the ground would be snow covered and walking made more difficult.  This year, for the two hand fly swinger,  the window of opportunity is still open.  The key to right now is that you can not get hung up on what you think should work.  If big leech and marabou flies are not producing then move smaller down to sparsely hackle more insect looking.  Change flies not only by color but size as well.  Make sure you are running the lightest tippet that you dare.

Many of the Lake Ontario and Lake Eire tribs are producing well right now.  The Salmon River is but one that gets a great deal of attention.  We need to swing more and hope that in the future some of the pools will start to rotate.  I expect the next few weeks will see a lot of action for the few who will make the effort.

William  

Donation For Project Healing Waters & Hope On The Rise

I have something special to share with you.  I have been entrusted with two matching numbered sets of Pierre Lutz prints from the Grande Cascapedia Series.  Pierre was a five time artist of the year recipient from the Atlantic Salmon Federation.  His work is well known on covers and maps of the great rivers.   Each set of four(4) numbered 66/200 and 67/200 were printed in memory of Pierre as he pass away shortly after their completion.  They are not signed.  The stipulation for me is that they be sold and 100% of the proceeds be donated to charities of my choice.  The beneficiary of set 66 will be Project Healing Waters.  They gave to me and I can give something small back.  The beneficiary of set 67 will be Hope on the Rise.  (Hopeontherise.org) I have met Susan and Mary and what they are doing is special and deserves support.  If you would like to own these beautiful 9 1/4" x 6 1/4" prints ready to be framed please send to FlySpoke@gmail.com your offer and set number desired.  Bidding on these SILENT auctions will close on November 1, 2014 at 10pm Eastern Time.  Winners will then be notified.  Own these depictions of "The Forks", "Bend At Parsons", "Charley Valley Rock" and "Pool Eighty"  Opening bid for each set is $150.00.

Landlocked Salmon Time Is Now

Strong Fulcrum Two Hand Casting

Many two hand casters are afflicted with a serious disease that limits their ability to cast tight loops that finish with the leader having enough transferred energy to completely unfurl and pop forward.  The root cause can come from a pre existing condition that is not covered by their health insurance plans.  It is based on many years of single hand fly casting.

Singlehandcastitis can now be controlled and used only when wanted.   It will take a bit of work, but in the end will get you to kick the single hand casting memory habits of push and squeeze.

Let’s for a moment talk about how we have been taught to make tight loops with a single hand rod.  The principles of constant acceleration with a straight tip path to an abrupt stop are the corner stones of using the forced turn over style that is most prevalent in our teaching.  We place a very strong emphasis especially on the word “STOP”. 

At the time of that abrupt and squeezing hard stop what can you imagine happens?  The rod is in full bend and because there can be no such thing as an exacting stop, we do our best to anticipate the almost stop.  Techniques like squeezing and pushing with the thumb are explored.  All to get the line moving over the tip to launch the loop.  Joan Wulff says that we should release hand pressure immediately after, what she calls, the power snap stop.

So, at that very moment after we have used a forced turnover stop technique, when the rod achieves being perfectly straight as it moves forward, what then happens?  It moves in the opposite direction and counter flexes.  The amount of counter flex is determined by a few factors.  The weight and length of line out the tip, the recovery rate or action of the rod, the amount of push performed just prior to the stop and the grip firmness of that stop all play their parts.  Fast recovery rods will counter flex less but the other factors are all causes of greater counter flex.  What then happens to the shape of the loop at the moment of launch?  Launch being the moment of loop formation that has sufficient energy to pass the line over the tip top and move forward.  What is the result of counter flex?

If we were to make a video of a caster from the side we could see the effects in slow motion when making different casts under the situations listed above.  The experiment of what will cause the rod to have the greatest counter flex could be achieved.  This is a worth while study at your next get together or clinic.

There is another factor that can sap the energy of our line.  In addition to the natural atmospheric condition at the moment the hard stop will cause our rod, lever acting as a spring, to vibrate back and forward.  The tighter we hold the grip the greater the effect of vibration.  The quickest way to damp the rod is to let it go.  The way to create the greatest vibration is to hold tight.  Each time the rod vibrates backward it pulls the line backward.  This creates shock waves and is a loss of energy .

Let’s assume that we are making a longer cast using a medium action single hand rod  and utilizing a hard stop and a hard thumb push with just the amount of translation, forward movement, rod arc, casting stroke and rotation that will keep the line from making tailing loops.  This will be a cast using forced turnover that is of good quality and as tight as possible for that technique.  When the rod goes into counter flex what then becomes the tip path?  In our slow motion video you will see that it becomes substantially convex.  Convex to the point of forcing the line leg to move down causing a serious dip in the line.  The harder the stop and squeeze the greater the downward tip path.  This shape is called a shock dimple.  The reason it works is because the downward movement of the tip clears the path for the loop to form and pass over the tip top.  Controlling that shape, as well as it’s size,  is possible by slowing down, tip manipulation and changing the abruptness of the stop to as light as possible for the amount of energy needed to launch the line.  In single hand casting there is but a short distance between thumb and pinky placed on the grip.  Try making short casts with body translation, moving back and forth,  and then only rotate the rod at the end of the stroke by using a pinky pull.  Yes that’s right, it can be done with a grater amount of line that you might think.  Pinky pull with no thumb and index finger pressure needed.  You will also want to make a slight downward movement of the rod grip at the same time to allow the line to move over the tip.  I now also move slightly to the opposite side.  Watch the loop shape.  If you are like most of us you will now see the tightest wedge shape loop you have ever cast.  You have now positioned the fulcrum for your lever at a point on the rod grip and not at your wrist.  Is this a practical way to cast a single hand rod?  Possibly not for all of us.  But what about if you could expand the limits of a single hand rod and achieve this when using two hands.

I learned Pull Rod Straight from Al Buhr.  He noticed that I was using excessive and premature rotation of my top hand and gave me the information needed to help me.

Let’s start from a perfect key position for this discussion.  Key position being the place where top and bottom hands are perfectly ready to start our forward translation of forward stroke movement.  At this point our top hand will be to the side of the top hand ear and the bottom grip will be in front of the top of the middle upper part of your abdomen.  Bottom hand will be forward. Remember we are in key position having circled up our D loop and under continuous tension and rod bend and moving without pause into the forward stroke.  Now, move both hands forward together at the same speed.  What should be happening is that the rod is achieving a butt style full length bend through the grip. 

Why is this important?

Fly rods are designed to taper from a thick butt section to a thin tip.  The more mass an object has the greater the amount of energy that can be transferred to an object.  Hence to butt bend the rod is to use the portion of the rod that has the ability to then transfer greater energy through the length of a tapered rod to the tapered line.  Does the energy pass from the butt to the tip?  Sure it does.  But the efficiency of a greater mass receiving and then transferring energy to a lesser mass is greater than the amount of energy that can be accepted in the lesser mass and then transferred to the line mass.   Tip casting is fine and I do it all the time.  Forced turnover is fine and I use it all the time as well.   Using the “flip the tip” exercise is a great way to have our students move line over the tip.  The key factor is to choose the way we move line and do it that way when we want to.  The greater the amount of line out the tip the more reason to make a strong, not tight, fulcrum at our top hand.  The greater the amount of line out the tip the less amount of top hand push and hard stop should be used.  

This butt bending movement should be performed with limited to no rotation between bottom and top hands.  Scissoring top and bottom hands is not desired.  I practice pantomime from the key position to presentation over and over again to get the movement fluid. 

There is another key position to talk about.

This position is the one that comes at the moment the forward stroke has completed forward movement of both hands.  It requires us understanding what a strong fulcrum is and why a strong fulcrum is necessary.  As our bodies have certain muscular structure so do all the muscles in our bodies have certain positions where, when flexed, those muscles will be at their pinnacle strength.  For the upper arm during a casting stroke that will be when the elbow is at a 90 degree angle and the elbow itself is close to our core. 

A Strong Fulcrum

If I were to place the butt of my rod in the palm of my up facing off hand and move only the top dominant hand forward and back where would the fulcrum be?  In the palm of my bottom hand.  Yes?  Look at the shape of the tip path and the shape of the loops that this creates.  Like a rainbow and severely convex and surly not tight.  Then let’s make the top and bottom hands scissor equally forward and back.   The 50/50 standard of top and bottom hand power.  Look at the shape of the line.  Still very convex with large loops.   Now keep the top hand as still as possible and only move the bottom  hand as power placing the fulcrum solidly in the top hand and using the bottom as all the energy.  Yes? 

Try this experiment. 

Stand in a doorway and straddle left and right of the floor door jam.  Now place your dominant hand at eye level in front of your face.  Push on the door jam.  Then move your feet to a position side to side and forward and back and find where you can exert the greatest amount of force from hand to jam.  The conclusion you will come to is that it will be straight from your shoulder, your elbow pointing down with the angle at 90 degrees.  It will also be the same position if you get someone to push on the back of your hand as well.  Exactly where you what the fulcrum to be when two hand casting.  Exactly the height and distance from your body that is the set up for the bottom hand pull.  The top hand is now a strong pivot point fulcrum.  The D loop is the resistance and the pull can be performed.

Now we are making that strong rod butt bend and moving forward with top and bottom to this exact point and we cease forward movement.  Not with an extra push or flick or tight extra squeeze but with a shoulder and elbow and wrist that is in their strongest of strong positions.  We then notice that the pressure point of the rod in our top hand is not in our fingers but solidly into the heel of the hand.  This is the pivot point.  This is the creation of the strong fulcrum with a pivot point for maximum strength.

Note that the butt of the rod is still in front.

The next thing that happens is making a seamless, without pause, bottom hand pull.  This pull is not to add excessive power.  If you pull too hard you will make tailing loops and cause line crash.   It is not meant to further bend and therefore possibly collapse the tip of the rod and it is not to be very long and abrupt.  This pull, heading in the direction of your off hand side hip can be as short as two inches.  It could be a bit longer when greater line lengths are out the tip.  This pull will have your core and shoulders and arm flexing tight.  What is intended by the pull is to pull the rod into a straight position that will have the effect of limited counter flex and vibration.  It will have a natural downward movement allowing the line to move over the tip.  You will notice issues in your loops that are the same as when top hand uses forced turnover if you are pulling too abruptly and too much.

The “Pull Rod Straight” movement has become another part of my cast scripting.  It now falls in between forward stroke and presentation.  I can alter the way my leader straightens with ease now and full well use this style as often as possible.  It has taken a long time and many pantomime and practice sessions but my muscle manipulation is now becoming more important than memory.  

Am I completely cured?  Like any recurring problem, Singlehandcastitis can rear it’s ugly head, but I now have an understanding for why it does and I can stop it from happening on the very next cast.

William

CCI/THCI

Trout Unlimited Guest Speaker

Tenkera Style Isonycia

A Perfect Storm

This has been one of the worst North American salmon seasons in history.  Facts are facts and can not be sugar coated or embellished or made favorable by desire.  This has been one of the worst.

For the longest time, many hard working enthusiasts and conservationists have bridged the gap to keep the runs alive.  Always hoping that some day the magic bullet would be found that could open the door to dramatically larger sustainable returns.  To think that a natural resource as the Atlantic Salmon was being harmed by certain singular events was too simple an approach.  Today we know that conservation and seeding of rivers was but a small finger in the dike that has greater influence.

The Greenland buy out is one such finger, or even a few fingers worth.  When runs started to increase, during some of the last ten years, the buy out became the reason why.  When we think of the reasons that have be associated with poor salmon years it is always the same.  First Nation Netting, Seals, Clear Cutting, Dams and Pollution.  Certainly these factors have an effect on the numbers of returns.  Yet in general they have very little to do with the number of smolt that go to sea.

A set environment, in this case a certain river, has and exacting number of young that can be supported.  This number changes from year to year based on weather patterns over the course of the young fishes in river life.  But in most years these numbers are constant.  For example a river with a usual return of 5000 fish creates an exacting number of eggs that then hatch and over the next two years creates smolt in numbers that the river supports.  That same river in a poor year might only have 3000 fish return and the number of smolt ready for ocean travel will be exactly in the same relative numbers as the good year.  Biologists call this the escapement level as it pertains to returns.

A RIVER CAN ONLY SUPPORT A CERTAIN NUMBER

Producing numbers of eggs greater than the number of smolt going to sea is an every year cycle event.  There are many natural predation and environmental factors for this yet it happens.  Why then would it matter?

During times gone by there were bad years.  Not just over the past fifty years but bad years that occurred before Greenland buy outs, before netting, before seals were so prevalent and way before the dams and pollution were in effect. Rivers all over Canada that have never had these factors and still experienced light returns.  Naturally bad years.

THE PHENOMENON SEEMS TO BE UNIVERSAL

This year the low returns are not river specific.  The numbers reflect the entire North American profile and that can only place the cause in one place.  The winter feeding grounds.  If you have followed my writing over the last number of years you know that The North Atlantic Oscillation has had a prominent place in my thinking.  I have now had more than a few years experience watching the winter charts and predicting the following spring and summer returns.  The situation shifted this year and what we have experienced is the lowest returns of adults in recent history.  

NOT JUST FEWER FISH BUT THEY WEIGH LESS

Returns of Grilse in the two pound range and thin fish that are larger have been seen.  What can be concluded is that the food supply was disrupted and made scarce.  The NAO chart for the winter of 2013-2014 explains this in simplistic detail.  The oscillation was in a positive position for the entire period.  In a typical year there will be fluctuation.  Some storms travel east below the feeding grounds and some directly through.  But this past year it was almost a continual battering in the North Atlantic.  Salmon winter in an average of fourteen feet from the surface.  When seas are high and rolling the bait is scattered and the salmon go hungry. Naturally there is die off and experience lighter weights.

THE PERFECT STORM

With all the factors of man in full effect this became the year when all parties wanted their share.  The Greenland buy out is no more.  Many fish were harvested.  First Nation rightfully took theirs.  Fish farms in estuaries produced sea lice, and The North Atlantic Oscillation could not have been of much greater detrimental effect.  All the other ocean issues of seals and pollution have not stopped.

Sad to say that we, as anglers, then continued to harvest and live release.  Harmful to the totals and all contributing factors.  The Perfect Storm was in full effect this year and we can see what happens when all the factors of man and nature take hold.  

I AM STILL HOPEFUL

As I said in the start of this posting, the number of smolt that will go to sea from this years November spawn should be the same as last years and the same as if the river were chocked full of adults.  A river can only support so many and nature has that survival covered.  What we as anglers and conservationists can continue to effect is of the greatest importance.  We, with our efforts and money have sustained the survival and in some cases replenishment to many rivers.  Yes, some are lost forever as the gene pool is gone.  But what happens this winter is still unknown.  Perhaps the powers that be will come up with a solution to the netting.  And an even greater possibility will be that the NAO will be negative all winter long and Salmo Salar can be fed without working too hard.    

This has been one of the worst salmon seasons in history.  Yet if nature has it's way the North Atlantic Oscillation will move winter storms south and intelligent heads will prevail and the buy out will be re-established and a dramatic change could happen.  I am still hopeful.