Salmon VideoHi Speed Only
You just can’t argue with success. This trip for more landlocked salmon fly fishing was about as good as it gets in my opinion. Jeremy and I had made plans to travel the distance to new water and hopefully trick a big landlocked salmon or two….well, two is certainly nice but 40 or so is better.
Jeremy, Joey, Luke and I could not keep the landlocks off our lines. It was actually really hard for us to tell what was a big fish and what was a huge fish. We fished dries, emergers, streamers and nymphs and caught salmon on all of them. Our primary flies of choice were the copper johns and wooly buggers. One fish was particularly special.
All of us had already caught a few salmon and the morning was off to a great start, and then I decided to go the distance. The days of me taking the shortcuts and not bothering to put on another split shot or switch my nymph rig to a long leader with a dry fly are all over.
There are really no shortcuts and I now find myself catching more fish by going the extra distance. So, I was catching nothing on my indicator copper john rig so I switched it up. I changed my spool and put on my depth charge line with a nice new wooly bugger that I tied. I stripped out a ton of line and threw the fly into ledge type pool. I let the fly sink, started a slow strip and WHAM! The salmon hit hard and raced towards me. After a spicy battle I landed the fish and reflected on a great fly fishing trip. There is nothing like landlocked salmon in Maine.
you are very lucky to have such a fishery within a daily drive. As you experiment more your success will only continue and grow. Looking forward to reading more of your adventures as the summer apprioaches. Keep up the good work!!!!
You truly are Fisherboy!!! Defender of the Wooly Bugger!!!
WHat great footage
Austin … Your fly fishing skills truly amaze allot of people … nymphing, swinging flies, dry flies, streamers … more than that .. your ability to read water on rivers that you have never fished is very impressive. And more than that .. your fly tying ability is astounding…. But above all that – what is most impressive is your passion for the sport, your humble nature, your good sense of humor and your dedication to preservation, conservation and catch and release. I know that many fly fisherman here in Maine and even other states have helped you along the way and done what they can to promote these natural talents of yours. Through all the good people you have fly fished with … Alan, Joey, Pat, Greg, Whippa, Luke, Kevin McKay, Caleb … (and so many others …) and organizations like Trout Unlimited who put on such great events like the weeklong Maine Trout camp – you have certainly learned allot. And, it is obvious that you are able to put your skills in motion and apply those skills. Everyone has so much fun when you are on a fly fishing trip because your energy is passion for the sport is contagious. You see all of the rivers and all of the fish and all of the experiences with a sense of newness … and enabling you to see and experience all of these new things … in turn … makes those who are with you see them as new again too.
It is my hope for you that things will always be new… as the years pass .. seak out the new experiences and always remain young at heart… it is easy to become complacent and rely on the rivers, tactics, methods, species that you are familiar with … but, as you are experiencing now, the truest fun and the most learning takes place in the journey … and the journey never ends… there is always something new to learn, a new river to figure out, a new species to trick, a new town, state or country… and through the journey … although it is fun to catch fish, big fish and lots of fish …. the complete measure of your fly fishing life will be based on the summation of all your experiences… the lessons learned, the people you meet, the places you go and the non-material things you leave behind….
As I said when I first met you a couple years ago … If the youth is the future of fly fishing …. and you are a representation of the youth … the future of fly fishing is in good hands … Remember to pass on your skills, your passion and all the things you have learned to someone else …. I have the perfect person in mind:) — My son:) .. he is 1 and a half years old now … and in a few short years … he will need someone to show him the rope:)
I love that peice of water FB. I caught my first LLS there on an Olive WB. Good to see you are keeping the tradition alive. That little river can blow your mind!
Keith
Nice fish guy’s. The end of that video is unreal footage. I don’t see that kind of stuff anywhere else. Thats what gets me through my workday and pumps me up for fishing tomorrow. Great job!
–Mooncaster
Austin, It is imperative that you go the extra distance. When things start to get stale you have to improvise adapt and over come. It is easy to sit on your laurels and just put in time and punch the clock. That is why it’s such a blast fly fishing with you. Your enthusiasm is evident and it rubs off on everyone in the party when we are on the water with you. Glad to see you guys getting spoiled up there this spring with all that dry fly action.
Jeremy, my passion would be very little if you hadn’t taught me how to fly fish! I don’t think you relize that you are the one that gave me the passion. If not for you, many things would be different! I really enjoy all the fly fishing adventures we go on and will continue to do so because your sense of humor, good people skills and passion for fly fishing is, well…contagious.
Austin
Excellent video and story. I wish I had a group of guys who taught me how to fly fish and who took me on all kinds of great fishing adventures when I was your age. I was reading all kinds of books about fly fishing, but all I and my friends could manage was to dream about fly fishing. You get to do it. Keep up the stories and I look forward to watching your education as a flyfisherman deepen and expand.
Chalk up another one! Many more to come. T’is the season.
Great video. Are you guys from Maine. I have lived here all my life. Is that the E.O.? I can’t seem to place that stream. email me [email protected]
Great job as always Austin.
I wasn’t going to comment since everyone has already expressed appreciation for a job well done.
What I do feel is worthwhile saying is that being able to read and watch your fishing experiences motivates me like nothing else can.
It’s easy for me to lose focus on my own fishing because of work and family responsibilities. Seeing a river, the rise, the bent rod inspires me to set aside some of the daily grind and get out. For that I thank you.
Nice work Fisherboy. That’s a nice stretch of water you guys were fishing. Seeing the way those LL’s take those dry flies makes me ready to head up there now. I’ll be up in your neck of the woods trying to bring a few landlock to hand in about a month. Can’t wait. Hope their still as active as the action you guys got into.
Austin,
I too refrained from posting a comment the first time I read your article. There really is nothing to say that has not been said by the others. But after rereading it and watching the video for the umpteenth time I had to say once again you are a pleasure to fish with and a pleasure to know. Thank you for your spirit.
Jeremy,
Did you call Austin HUMBLE? 🙂
Looks like you guys had a good trip.
Told you it was worth the ride.
Where are you fishing? Great Fishing.
Charles
i did call him humble….you should see how politely he listens to advice and nods his head when older folks feel obligated to give him advice…. all the while it is obvious that the older folks might benefit from his advice. and if it wasn’t obvious during the conversation…. it becomes clearly obvious when fisherboy starts picking up trout under the feet of the guy who just gave him advice…..i have witnessed this happen many times and fisherboy always seems to outfish many folks in the most humble way possible… …:)