Eddie Rivard Fly Fishing

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

R & D

After successful testing of the Special Ed fly pattern on Saturday I went back to my folks house that night and tied up a bunch more. Some were tied in the traditional fashion and others were tied with a bead. My hands trembled as I added the special materials to the hooks for I knew that I was on to something big. Another thing I knew was that before I can start licensing this pattern I am going to have to do some more research and development.

The Special Ed proved without a doubt that it was highly effective at fooling Salmo Trutta; otherwise known as Brown Trout. The question that lingered in my head was, "Would it be equally deadly on Oncorhynchus Mykiss and Salvelinus Fontinalis. For those of you who didn't study Latin for three years I am talking about Rainbow Trout and Brook Trout.

Brook Trout

Rainbow Trout

Brown Trout, Brook Trout and Rainbow Trout are the three major trout species present in the Driftless Area.

Time was of the essence so on Sunday morning so I set out to do a little R & D. I started out at a place that I like to call Glass Creek. The water is as clear as glass. If the Special Ed can fool trout here it can fool trout anywhere.

This is my nervous face. I was worried that the Special Ed might be a total flop. My entire future hinges on the success or failure of this fly pattern.

Three casts later and bam! a Brookie. One down and one to go.

My worry was replaced with joy but there was still work to be done.

Not being one to waste time when there is work to be done I soon had in my hands what looked to be a Rainbow Trout. Damn I'm good.

I started this blog not only to entertain and inspire but to also inform. After photographing this flower on the forest floor my goal became to educate my readers on what type of flower this is. I spent fifteen minutes Googling last night and I have come to the conclusion that I have discovered a totally new species of flower. Since I discovered it on Mother's Day I have decided to name it after my mother. I hereby declare this flower to be the Debbie Sue.

I forgot to mention that I had my research assistant Foxy tagging along with me on Sunday. She is a a great assistant!

I thought the plants growing out of this rotting log were pretty cool.

Foxy also thought that they were pretty cool.

This stream has a pretty quick descent through a magical canyon but I found one little spot of pocket water that I was sure would contain a trout.

Another one bites the dust at the hands of the Special Ed!

After conquering trout it was time for the Special Ed to begin it's quest to annihilate every warm water species present in the lower 48. I figured the best species to start on would be Rock Bass. Mission Accomplished!

The rest of the day was spent exploring new places. I never even knew this place existed before Sunday. Cool things happen when you venture off the main road.

Eddie Rivard Fly Fishing is now on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/eddierivardflyfishing

Third Times a Charm

My dad and I had already fished together twice this spring and our combined total of fish caught between those two outings was three. I invited him to go fishing with me again on Saturday and I was hoping we would have some better luck. This time we headed for one of my favorite southern Minnesota streams.

The last thing I like to see when I'm exploring a new section of river is the dreaded "No Trespassing" sign. Besides not being able to walk the banks of a certain section of stream I always seem to get a certain song stuck in my head.

Oh, signs, signs, everywhere there's signs

Blocking up the scenery, breaking my mind

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

We don't need your banks anyway.

Beautiful place.

I guess the Skulpin Bunny works on Smallmouth Bass as well.

I was off to a good start.

Pretty soon Dad had a bend in his rod. He thought it was another bass.

But it ended up being a Brown Trout.

Nautilus.

Soon I switched to this Olive Beadhead Rubber Legged Bugger that I have slayed them on in the past. The trout just couldn't resist it.

I've have caught so many trout on this stupid thing. I think the hook is an extra long size 8 with a big old brass bead.

Another one bites the dust.

Then dad caught one on his Dumbell Eyed Yellow Fox.

It was turning out to be a great day.

The river has current.

A little while later my Dad caught his biggest Brown Trout to date. It was 18 inches. Nice trout dad.

Sometimes when my arms are tired from fighting trophy after trophy I just take a break and photograph the scenery.

Beautiful place.

I tried nymphing unsuccessfully for a few drifts and then decided to go back to streamers. When I was looking through my fly box something caught my eye.

One night last winter I was tying up a few Carey Specials. If I tie any fly pattern the same exact way more than three times in a row my head starts to hurt so that night after tying three Carey Specials I changed the materials. For the body I used olive ostrich herl and for the collar I substituted peacock herl. This constituted a great innovation in fly pattern design. Instead of naming my new creation the, "Eddie Special" I decided to name it the, "Special Ed".

Well when I saw the Special Ed in my fly box I decided to give it a whirl. I still had a split shot 26 inches up from the fly which I left in place because the Special Ed is unweighted.

On my very first cast with the Special Ed a trout came out of nowhere and slammed it just as I was pulling it out of the water.

Two casts later bam! Another trout couldn't resist the temptation of the Special Ed.

What a beauty!

Look at that smile. I should have been a model.

After releasing Special Ed's second victim I caught yet another trout. Now I know how Bethke must have felt the first time he tested the the Pink Squirrel.

When I started fly fishing back in 2006 I always knew that I would someday invent a fly pattern that would change the face of fly fishing as we know it. Only thing is that I didn't think it would happen so soon.

After nailing those three trout in short order it was time to call it a day. And a good day it was.

Eddie Rivard Fly Fishing is now on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/eddierivardflyfishing

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Minnesota Drift

This year I have made a concerted effort to explore some more of the waters in my home state. This was an easy choice last Saturday because it was the Wisconsin Fishing opener and I didn't want to deal with the crowds on that side of the river. My friend Shebs felt the same way so late Saturday morning we set out to explore some new water.

I've heard legends about a big deep pool miles from any road that harbors large numbers of trophy trout. The ones who know about it call it Big Blue. I ended up having to resort to blackmail to get the location from a guy I know but I hoped it would be well worth it. Besides the location being a closely guarded secret it is also almost entirely surrounded by privately owned land. "One way in and one way out." I told Shebs as we made our way along the seven mile trail in. "This better be good", Shebs stated. When we made it over the last ridge we saw what it was that we came here for.

The river flowing out of Big Blue was every bit as beautiful as Big Blue. I reminded me of some of the photos I have seen of New Zealand.

While beavers are predominantly viewed negatively by the trout fishing community the remnants of this beaver dam have created a nice little pocket in an otherwise characterless section of river.

We decided to check out another creek. I caught this nice little Brown shortly after we arrived.

Another beautiful place.

Nice riffle.

Some cool moss growing on the bank.

At this point I believe that Shebs had landed for or five to my one. We had both lost several nice trout. After seeing a Sculpin swimming around 20 minutes before I decided to match the hatch and I tied on a Skulpin Bunny. My choice of streamer seemed to make an immediate difference. I had a few strikes and suddenly I was in to something big. It was an epic battle where the trout took me around to all points of the run. But the 3X Fluorocarbon stood strong and she made it into my net.