The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Our kids are growing up and their interest level in fishing has been developing. For 10 year old Patsy it’s a challenge she takes seriously. Casting has been our focus but fishing in the drift boat on the McKenzie or Willamette does not require long casts most of the time. At Cedar Lodge we practice on the lawn and her skills have improved greatly. For 7 year old Cash fishing is more about discovering new things including fish, rocks, plants, bugs you name it, it’s about being outside for him. Our last trip down to the Bahamas I brought a couple of small spinning rods. We found a dead squid on the beach and caught bonefish, snapper and jacks right off the beach at Casuarina Point. Patsy cast and caught snapper from the boat with a fly rod last year and was ready to catch a bonefish this year.

We asked our friend and local guide JR Albury to take the family our for a day in the Marls. After stocking up on chips, mini snickers bars, Gatorade, and even a sandwich to accompany all the items you never get unless you are with mom and dad in a boat all day, we were ready to go. It was mid day and Patsy was up, JR poled here into a school of bones, she cast our old favorite 9ft 8wt B2X far enough to coax a small bonefish to a crazy charlie like imitation her and her brother had been tying the day before, and it was off to the races! She landed the bonefish without bloodying her knuckles and everyone in the boat was thrilled with her success! Proud parents then attempted to explain to her what she had just done!

Back up to the beginning of the day. We motored to an outer island looking for the tide to start to move lower and bring a few fish out of the mangroves. Shauna was up and right away we spot a small Permit. One cast near it and it spooked out of the area, nothing new here that’s what Permit do right? Next fish we see is a bonefish, she casts and hooks the fish who quickly runs into the mangroves and breaks off the already 4 day old leader that was a bit questionable to start. I hand Shauna the SAGE SALT 8wt and begin to re-work the leader on the 8wt Winston. New Rio leader and Hatch 12lbs tippet tied on we pole around the corner looking for bones. It’s beautifully calm and in the distance JR sees what he immediately identifies at a large ray with at least one Permit on it. Now we are about 150 meters away from the ray, plenty of time of change flies. I tie on an Avalon Permit fly and step onto the bow and have a look. JR poles us to with 60 feet or so, I make one cast that JR and I both think is to long, fortunately my leader is about 15 feet so the line doesn’t splash over the top of the fish. In retrospect I am not sure it would have made any difference. By now we have figured out there are about 7 permit feeding like reckless Jacks around this ray that is kicking up enough sand, crabs and shrimp to keep there attention focused on the meal not the approaching 18ft skiff. I make a long quick strip to get my line a bit shorter and mid-way through the strip the fish explodes on the fly that is ripping across the surface at mach 10. JR and Shauna are freaking out that the Permit has smashed the fly. I am in total dis-belief and contend that it’s not a Permit but rather a Jack. Permit don’t act like that right? Wrong! Thirty minutes later the fish to hand.

The rest of the day was filled with bonefish a few snapper and a double of small Barracuda’s for the kids. The day was spectacular and will certainly be one of the most memorable fishing experiences of my life.

CD

Our second season at Cedar Lodge is just underway. In preparation we’ve been painting, planting, mowing, fencing, burning and getting a bit of fishing in. There has been a mixed bag of spring weather with everything from warm howling “norwesters” to spitting snow and early morning frost.

A couple of early season gear notes…..

Trouthunter tippet has been awesome, 4.5x is perfect for most of our dry fly and dry dropper rigs. Knots are clean and strong and it comes of the spool very straight.

I have had a chance to fish the new Winston Nexus rod and the 9ft 6wt has a sweet moderate action. The 9ft 6wt is not as fast as most of it’s counterparts. Not only is the casting a bit more relaxed but the fish fighting with a 6wt is still very enjoyable.

BTW: If you haven’t had a chance to follow Cedar Lodge on Facebook, I’d encourage you to connect here. We’re posting photos and links regularly.

We missed our annual Bahamas trip last year. With our first year at Cedar Lodge approaching we had a couple irons in the fire and thought it best to concentrate on the new venture. This year our trip to Abaco is serving as a respite before our second season. A chance to regroup before we head south. Sunshine, home school, fishing, beaching and a few online meetings were on the docket.

Casuarina Point is a perfect spot for a family vacation that mixes fishing in at your leisure. We stay at Abaco Palms, one of four very well appointed homes available for rent from Kathy Heacock. Each home is ideally suited for families or couples and comes with a boat for “do it yourself bonefishing”. Kathy has thought of everything inside each home, washer, dryer, internet, cable, vonage phone, a/c and a very complete kitchen. In addition to a very user friendly Carolina Skiff there are paddle boards, kayaks and all kinds of odd “floaties” for the kids. You can view all of Kathy rentals on the same beach at this link: ABACO PALMS

Dick Matteri and Laura Parrish have joined us again this year and are fishing with our good friend JR Albury of JR’s Bonefish Abaco. JR has a new boat this year and has been taking Dick and Laura to the “marls” each day. The bonefishing has been consistently good as you would expect with 5-10mph winds and clear skies.

Dick caught this Permit on a crazy charlie pattern in between who knows how many bonefish for the day. Fishing has simply been outstanding this week!

I brought a few new products down with me this year. Hatch lines, and tippets, the new Bauer RX reel and the Sage Salt 8 weight.

The Hatch Professional Series Tropical Fly Line is made by Airflo and employs “ridged technology”. The line casts beautifully! It’s taper is very friendly in close, and when you need to reach out to those tailing bonefish that seem to be just out of reach. The line seems slightly over weighted to me, not a bad thing with most saltwater rods on market being on the fast action side of things. I have been casting the 8wt Hatch line on the Sage 8wt Salt which certainly qualifies as a fast action rod and the Hatch fly line easily loads it. At first glance the olive colored head or forward section of the line struck me as a bit “trouty” in color. But having fished the line over sand and turtle grass the olive head to tan running line is quite stealthy and yet visibly enough for me to track the line.

Hatch Professional Series Tippet Material is fluorocarbon material. It comes on a large spool and comes off the spool surprisingly straight. It’s strangely supple for a super strong fluorocarbon. I have found it to be incredibly strong both in knot strength and abrasion resistance. The 12lb is perfect for bonefish in the Bahamas.

The New Bauer RX Series fly reel has enough drag to stop any fish you might encounter on the flats. I have been using the RX5 on my 8wt and have loved it’s super smooth out going drag mechanism. John Bauer has “beefed up” the drag on the RX when compared to his Rogue series of reels. The drag knob is large and easy to get at for adjustment, but does not catch line or get accidentally adjusted while casting or fighting fish. The RX has elegant looks but is super tough. The size 5 is great for an 8wt but will easily take a 9 or 10 for a very nice Tarpon reel. The RX will play nicely on a switch or spey rod in sizes 5, 6 and 7 as well.

I am a huge believer in Sage’s “Konnetic Technology” graphite, like the SAGE ONE, METHOD, and CIRCA series the new SAGE SALT employs the Konnetic story. The SALT is a fast action powerful rod capable of casting in serious wind with large weighted flies. The SALT has all the lifting power to manage fish that try to beat you at the boat. Saltwater fly fishing demands speed, accuracy and strength from you rod the SALT takes care of all three as well as any rod I have used in saltwater. The SALT has a new reel seat design, a beautiful blue color, large stripping guides and a larger tip top to accommodate some of the large short headed lines of today. We have an 8 and a 10 available for demo, stop by and give one a cast!

More from the Bahamas coming soon!