What my Doo-Dah’s have to say
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Here’s you chance to book March 5-9 primetime OP steelhead, these dates have been booked since August and just now opened up to whomever jumps first. We have Bogy House Lodge space from March 4 – 10 for four people to accomodate. CALL FOR DISCOUNTS!
Thanks Jeff Brazda
253-307-3210
Jesse trying out the goose game...
For starters, the early waterfowl season was impressive to say the least. As some know I have a wonderful labrador named Jesse, I bought her last May from Longhollow retrievers, she is better than I could have ever imagined, even with me, an un-experianced trainer she has become an incredible retrieving machine. She soon tested out her new love as limits of Wigeon and bluebills were quite easy til nearly Christmas. Now not so much, but we stayed the coarse and gave her every experiance I could on her first season afield, Ducks on the Columbia, Geese in Montana and a few chucker and quail in the back yard. We are looking forward to out next trip here real soon…She’s out rolling in the snow right now.
2011 Fall steelhead was better than 2010 as angler pressure was way down and we had some good water volume, could have done with out the early freeze but thats fishing. I feel that in the next few season we will see an evening off of the status quo from that ridiculously easy season of ’09. By then we will be feeling good about 6 fish days again.
Nice chromer nate in January
On a more recent note Aaron , YT, and I made a shake down cruise to Forks last week before the big snow hit and came away with 6 fish a day, pretty damn good for January even found a few in the high teens. The Hoh river is looking awesome for the swing game and the Sol Duc has loads of natives already running its emerald waters. I think we are in for another year of wild fish up to our ears and maybe the weather will accommodate. As for now we are waiting out the next storm hoping the warm up will not produce a two week flood.
Once again the Puget Sound rivers are closing early due to poor wild fish escapement, (according to WDFW). Now would be a good time to send off some cash donations to the wild steelhead coalition, CCA or whatever your favorite charity would be I like the more radical ones of coarse. Along with that, drop a letter to the Gov telling her shes nuts for letting the Icon of the NW down and maybe the wdfw director @ director@dfw.wa.gov asking him to use whatever resources the state has to figure this thing out, as the bullshit politics ain’t working. Maybe if the dept would grow some balls and look into the fish farming they have approved they might find the cause. I know that if the feds can turn around the Upper Columbia the WDFW should be able to use that technology to help the Puget Sound Rivers..OK off the soapbox for now.
It looks like we have some Geese back into the basin and them Mallards that have been in Canada all year should be moving down we, will see, heading out for another go soon.
We start out on the Olympic Peninsula Feb 3 -7 with spey fishing classes and have a few spots open, this goes for 300 a day fully hosted at the Bogy House Lodge, as good as the early wild run is I predict we will catch a few wiley ones while getting our snap T on…Note I said fishing classes, you will learn to fish the swing not just throw it accross and hope!
Last day or my 2011 spring Season April 17
This season we will be guiding later into April than in the past. In the last few seasons I have left Forks with good numbers of chrome bright steelhead still pushing in and with the NO NETTING schedule in April we have a good chunk of time without them intercepting there 50% .
We have good chunks of open dates after April 15 and a few in primetime yet to be filled, come and see what steelheading on the Olympic Peninsuila is all about, book a trip today. Jeff@Brazdasflyfishing.com 253-307-3210
Hope to see ya on the river, Jeff
Brett Seng Photo
Another Montana trout season is in the books, Rooster is chasing fur and feathers, Joeis mopping up every last brown trout, Gary is sanding and building hot rods, Bubba is chasing a different tail at Montana State, Brett is of guiding elk on some mountain top, myself ,I am off to do what I do best,,,catch steelhead on the river of my childhood.
I will have to wait till November to fish with big Joe and Brett Seng aka Hollywood, they are coming out to hit every steelhead pool west of the Clearwater, that I am jealous of. I hope to head back to MT in late November-December for some Goose and Duck hunting but we will see how the steelhead runs hold up.
As I fish my way closer to the age my Grandfather was when he planted the fly fishing seed into my life of angling. I realize that this whole jurney is that of a lifestyle choice, friends, family and most of all fishing clients and guests make it all possible.
As I think back on the season I acomplished all that is required and most of that is not: forgot my luch and did the hike back, left the bugs I spent hours tying till midnight on the desk, lent out the rain coat and needed it, ran out of 3x (this can be brutal with big dries) and on the final day I was left with a fine anglers waders in the dry box UPS loves that one.
This is to thank all of you at the Stonefly Inn and especially my comrades for without them the journey would not be the life it is.
About a month ago Brett Seng and I were standing around The Stonefly Inn waiting on guests to arrive for our fishing day, since they were still in Indiana we had a day to go fish…Nothing of the ordinary type of trip would do!
SO the boats rated at about 300 lbs,,,we had that covered with the cooler and just me. This little drifter would detail a little getting used to as it would nearly capsize with a good hook set.
If you don’t know, Brett is a fantastic photographer and these are what we ended up with, it also helps that the Brown Trout were nearly jumping in the boat it was so good!
Shannon with her first Beaverhead brown trout
KT and Shannon,
The dry fly game begins anew,,,after some well needed leveling off of river flows and a month long disco ball in the sky we now are experiencing the normal weather patterns of SW Montana, afternoon thunder clouds!
With them come the occasional torrential down poor resulting in a slowdown/ complete stop of angling success but,,,,prior and post of the fast climactic change the dry fly fishing can be phenomenal. As trout fishing goes this will all change in a week or two and again make no sense what so ever.
The nymphing on the Beaverhead has become,,,,well,,, “Rictor Dude” as the young cool guides all say,,,I must have lost that with my hair on my dome long ago!
A good cloud cover brings on the caddis and mayfly hatch depending on daytime occurrence.
Fishing for GAY trout, another lesson in the nonsense of trout fishing, overcast on the Big Hole throw anything Purple on the surface = brown trout on the dry.
No Hoppers on parade YET.
The Big Hole Spruce Moth has not yet gotten the message; he fly’s around but will not fall dead on the water.
We started the season with a Pig roast Party at the Roost and the rivers promptly blown out for two more weeks. Sometimes it’s tough to bring on the summer, we must have tried too hard as now we pray for cool temps and some clouds.
With high water we don’t get much picture shooting time as finding a stopping spot can be troublesome. ½ A dozen dropped strokes and were around the next bend and into the trees, that’s not easily forgotten, come tipping time. Attached are a few of the less risky ones….
More recently; the Beaverhead is flowing nice at around a grand and the POGO rig is in play, the water needs to flush out the silt from run-off below Monkey face rock then we should see some short leash opportunity. The big boys are out between the Dam and High Bridge and may have flushed down towards Hennaberry as we have been catching some nice bows down that way.
The Big Hole is finally down below 2k and the dry fly game is incredible with some clouds. Summer stones are very active and the early AM deal was rolling good back during the full moon.
The Madison? Well it’s the Madison and fishing every other day, best results around the West Fork and down to Mac.
Hoppers are on deck and growing fast maybe we will get the hopper love this season, none as of yet though.
Fish allways, “Brazdas Fly Fishing”
20 inch Rainbow
Hot weather brings hot fishing. Seems we went from February to August in two weeks. The Big Hole is big water (still over 5k) and fishing with streamers on most days even in the bright sun and 90 degrees. Most recently (yesterday) the whitey bite has been insane and avoiding them is like avoiding rain in Forks or wind in Ellensburg. Large browns are on the streamer/little bug combo in the AM and again after 3 pm.
The Beaverhead is as good as I have ever seen it both the pogo and the short leash are producing. Fished with an old friend and prior neighbor from 1980 Rodney Roland, we had a stellar day on the Beaverhead fly fishing his first time and landing trout over 20 inches a few times in the day to cap off an insane Sally bite.
The guide story of the month comes from the Big Hole River a week ago Monday. As if fishing could not get any better, brown trout are attacking boats. We had a 2 ft brown trout surface on a streamer as the angler was recasting, as they do sometimes, while this one was doing its best impression of a Great White at the surface searching for the removed streamer it catches the disturbance of my right oar as we stroll down stream with me verbally wishing the streamer back to the searching brown. It literally turns on the oars entrance and attacks the tip then runs off.
More from Twin and SW Montana on my next day off the river.
June 7th I left for the season to Twin Bridges MT, (a full 10 days late) I new it may be short so I packed light in hopes of finding a place to live with plan b as a back-up (the fifth wheel). With no luck in five days rental hunting, three days guiding and 300% snow pack now melting off, found me right back in E-Burg packing the trailer for plan B. As luck would have it Rooster calls yesterday with Andy Nye standing in his office plugging a great two bedroom rental smack dab in the middle of Twin, guide shack number 12 has been found!
As for the 3 guide days? Jay Virnooche, Steve Wagner and myself pulled a full grown rabbit out of the hat three days in a row. The Mo was fluctuating every which way, the lake turned over and the brown streak from Prickly Pear to Craig had every boat in the county fishing RIGHT bank. We managed a dozen good Mo Bows each day and met some new friends and visited old friends, quite the resurection of the Winging it theme. Headhunters fly shop was there usual accommodative self right down to the shuttle drivers waiting on my 2:30 put in the first day!
The second stroke of luck is the Salmon fly has not hit full on yet and I may get my chance at season seven of the BIG BUG on the BIG HOLE. Funny how nature works, the calendar says June 21 but the season says Salmon fly a full 12 days later than average. Who knows it may still be a great hatch with a little more fisherman’s luck thrown in.
If your the wait and see type, tye up some big orange foam and gas up the go cart and head for Twin as its going to be a barn burner!
Over the past couple years I have been gaining on the shallow water salt fishing game by leaps and bounds, catching Bonefish, Permit and many exotic species along the Mayan Yucatan Peninsula. Working diligently on my distance casting and accuracy every chance I get. With a mere 20 flats fishing days under my belt I have been learning the finer points of being guided in a far away land with a underrated language barrier and many cultural differences. The Local guides are fine people fishing only 50-70 days a fly fishing season, not much considering I guide near 200 plus in a calendar year, but means they get some good fishing practice in. We are learning that there culture and there angling abilities are very strong, once this last week Evaristo picked up one of our rods and simply cast it 70 ft into a 20 knot wind just for fun, something I can do with a few back casts but he simply false casted once and shot it like an arrow, exactly what we want from our fishing guides.
The first day of our fishing produced good numbers of larger Bonefish, well,, large for the area, 2-5 pounders tucked way up in the mangrove flats, in zones I had never reached before, the strong west wind has the tide higher than usual. We stuck to the routine of getting in the groove with some good casting on Bones then we would go for the wily Permit. I ended up landing ten or so and having at least that many run into the mangroves and break off. For some reason when Permit are just around the bend anglers seem to concentrate on them and treat the bones as by catch. Not sure why, as I feel they are a fantastic adversary that require great casting skills and good sight fishing ability, skills needed in all flats fishing, maybe its that there a sucker for a well placed gotcha. Whichever I love em and will fish to them any day of the week.
Day two found us fishing in heavy cloud cover we chose a zone of mudding rays and wile I crushed bonefish after bonefish many over 3 pounds Poppa Mac stayed vigilantly searching the edge of the grey water for Permit. It is important to fish as a team in this sport two anglers with similar abilities and a good back up for the guy on the deck. He soon hooked his first Permit of the trip which ran what seemed like a mile only to turn around and zig zag its way back, at the same time I hooked what seemed like a big ass fish of some sort head shaking and then running all directions, we had the shit show going full Barnum Bailey. Joe’s backing was not tied correctly to his fly line and will not reel back into the rod, Evaristo is laughing his ass off and offering only partial help( exactly what I would do), he held my rod while I snipped the HUGE loop tag left at the backing connection. Joe had since hand lined his fish close enough to see the black edged tail fin of a nice sized Permit, it took one look at us and ran for Chetumal ( laughing of coarse) As it seemed we would end the circus with a bang, both the Permit and whatever I had left us both seconds apart. Lesson learned, DON’T TRUST ANYONE ELSES CONNECTIONS CHECK THEM ALL. That mistake cost us TWO fish!
Day three through five found us with very good conditions and we all had ample opportunity to catch the wily Permit, with 6 – 12 good shots a day, although only one was landed on the trip, Joe hooked two and I had one on my last shot of the week. On the last day Mike Bunny and I where fishing with Chucho we had traded off shots most of the morning and in fact, the best shot I ever had in 20 days and four trips angling, ten large Permit slowly moving in a circle (?), we snuck in and I made three casts one 7 ft right of the group one 7 ft left with two different retrieves and no response, I then dropped one cast straight on 4 ft short of the circling school to have the biggest of the bunch come out and investigate only to sniff and run away through the school taking them all with it. My only Permit hook up came wile wading on some bones peering over my shoulder knowing the Permit would be approaching sooner or later. A pair arrived neurotically zig zagging the white sand flat I followed there progress hastily on foot till they eventually turned my way and offered a 70 ft shot, dead on I cast four ft short of the slow travelers trying to anticipate there zagging, the lead fish turned and was on, instantly running out, but short lived was my victory as I discover in my waist deep wading a loop of running line had found its way under foot and my fly pulls free at the added tension of going through my leg’s, crap. I look back and Mike and Chucho are getting into the boat five hundred yards away coming to get me for the return to the Lodge and the end of my fishing trip. As I stand in waist deep water and revel at what had just happened I realize it was a perfect fishing vacation,,, humiliation and all.
Back at the dock Poppa Mac who fished an extra day with Judy his wonderful wife, arrives late after nearly accomplishing the hallowed saltwater slam he had landed his Permit around 11:30 and caught a quick bonefish and was in the Lagoon Tarpon fishing where he had three 30+ pounders jump off before they all disappear into the depths of the Cenote.
We all had a wonderful trip to the smallest fishing village on the Yucatan, we enjoyed the local community with its permanent and temporary inhabitants. Two very nice restaurants and one local spot that serves the best authentic Taco’s on the Peninsula. Our beach side accommodations where far better than expected and the meals equal to any five star restaurant.
Next Spring I will be hosting two – six day seven night fishing vacations: April 24-May 1 and May 2 – May 9 2012 The later date will be in Acention Bay both have room for 7-9 anglers and wives each week, we will be adding additional recreational services to the package for non angling people, diving/snorkeling, visiting Mayan ruin’s, shopping trips to local villages etc…
If you wish to have further information on this place or want in on a great economical fishing vacation to the Yucatan next spring shoot me a EM Jeff@Brazdasflyfishing.com
Thanks for the opportunity to be your fishing guide, Jeff Brazda.
To everyone that came out to the OP and fished with us, Joe, Tyler,Aaron and myself are very appreciative and would like to have you back at the Bogy House next season. Look for and extended season next year and some additional services, Spey fishing classes, both in Feb and April. 2011 we had what has been the wettest season since 2007 but possibly the biggest fish runs in many years, hoping to keep that cycle on the upswing.
I am presently packing and heading for the Yucatan Peninsula for some Permit fishing on the flats we will be back trout fishing by May 5th weather permitting,,, it will be nice to fish the Yakima again. Then in June I am headed back to Montana and the Stonefly Inn for my 7th season…Hope to see you on the water!