Eye Of The Tiger

It was a beautiful evening out on the pond we were fishing. The fishing was slow but it was a great night for kayaking on the pond. I swiftly casted the brown, black, and white popper inches from the bank. I heard a osprey chasing a heron from the pond. blup I turned around to see my fly pop back out of the water let go by the fish I just missed. bummed I casted a few feet to the left of the original spot. I bent down to unhook my line from the kayak pedal blup. I look up and see my fly gone then back to the surface. Flustered but amazed by the boldness of the fish. So I casted a couple of feet to the left and started to laugh since the frustration had past. I turned to my dad to say something between spurts of laughter and the darnedest thing happened. The fish struck again. Of course I didn't hook up because I wasn't paying attention. So I thought I would share this funny and quite embarrassing event.

Beware Of The Seceret Fish Assasin

Hey, this is going to be my first ever environmental awareness post. So this month I will teach you about phosphates. Phosphate is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined especially in North Carolina. Phosphate naturally enters our streams, rivers, and lakes but doesn't have much of an impact. But when us humans use the dish soaps, laundry soaps, and fertilizers that contain phosphates all that plays into factor. Then the water ways cant maintain aquatic habitats or keep them stable.

When too much phosphate enters our water it creates algae blooms. We all know that algae is a oxygen consuming beast when in numbers. With the limited amount of dissolved oxygen the fish start to die off. Considering that many of us are fly fishers that is pretty scary.

 To find products that are phosphate free click here


To learn how to wash dishes with phosphate free detergents click here

Therapy With Scott

You know those morning. waking up late, having a casual fishing trip. I like to call these therapy appointments with Scott(my fly rod). Going out on the kayak on an unexplored seven acre pond. We got on the water not knowing what to expect. I started out with a articulated streamer on a sink tip. 15 yards fishing down the bank I got a hit. I came to figure out it was just a green back sunfish. As we kept on down the shore on this beautiful morning. I hooked up again. this time it was a decent and gorgeous large mouth bass. It was a tough fighting for its size 13 inch bass.

As we kept slowly crept along the shore we got hit with a half hour of slow feeding. So we switched to a deer hair popper. We still didn't have any bites. I turned my head to dad who was rowing me down the bank and said "If i don't get anyth......Wheres my fly?". "Whoa did you see that swirl". And I had that fish hooked. It was as if god told me where the bite was at.  So far that day my score was 3. It was dads turn to fish.

Dad fished with the popper for a  while with no product. He put the sink tip back on and almost immediately produced a HUGE crappie. But when I  went to grab it it got off. He caught another crappie and a large mouth to tie it up 3 on 3.

I mostly liked the beautiful sunset and enjoying the day with my dad. I also liked ramming into the shore with the kayak. but mostly I enjoyed the company of my dad and the great creation of the lord.

Robbie Of The Haw

It was a hot sunny day on the haw river as many of us have enjoyed.  My Dad and Mike Sepelak were there with me on the haw river to cheer me on as I took up a Hobby that has now turned to obsession--fly fishing. The haw river probably isn't the most friendly place for a first wading trip but is still a beautiful place in its own way. We set off from the country road into the woods in the direction of the river.

I was having trouble before we got on the river. I just couldn't seem to keep the tip of my beloved 9ft 7weight A2 Scott's fly rod off the ground of the trail we were on. I am now much better at not stabbing the tip of my rod on the ground.

Imagine you are back in first grade and you are supposed to have a spelling test. You know that when you miss spell a word the teacher will say  "Good job!" even though you know it was wrong. That's how I felt with two very experienced anglers watched my every movement of my casts. Even when my Dad said "nice cast buddy" I know it meant I was doing alright for my experience level. If I made that kind of cast now it would have been "What did you do wrong try that again". Even though I could hear the sincere joy of my Father. I had and still feel like he has a better time watching me fish and having fun than I have fishing.

We got out onto the river and I was hooked just with my surroundings. I will never forget the first time I felt the cold tight squeeze of the water rushing around my waders. My dad tied on a stealth bomber that I had tied a couple of days ago. I waded a little down stream to where my father told me to head. There was a over hanging tree right over a nice deep hole on the left bank. I took a false cast then slung it right under the tree. I stripped........stripped...........stripped with nothing. Disappointed, I casted a couple of feet to the right of the spot of the first cast. I stripped........stripBAAAAM I got a strike. I yelled and ripped my rod up almost waking  the fishes dentist up.I stripped the line up pulled the fish in to take a look at my first bass on the fly. It wasn't a six pound beast but it was a prize to my eyes. I was ecstatic and my Dad was glad for me. 

Mike immediately casted in the spot i just pulled the Large Mouth out of. In the end of the day every one but me got skunked. This memory of mine may be similar to yours but all of our own first fish on the fly experience are stored and archived deep in our hearts. Until we catch a HUGE fish then the first fish seems less important. Just joking.

Bipolar Rivers

If you have ever been on the eno river you know what type of morning I'm talking about. Even after a heavy rain the water was clear, the sun was out, and most importantly the fish were biting. Well, me and my Dad (Cope) decided we just had to go to "fish church".

We got in the river with high hopes of some big large mouth and a streamer fishing movie fresh on our minds, well my dad was the only one thrilled to test his newly acquired knowledge. I immediately tied on a stealth bomber since I had a nice 16 inch large mouth on the same type of fly early that year.

Well, my dad used a streamer on sink tip line. Once we started fishing I got nothing--not even a bully from little fish. Once we got fishing apart this is what happened.



Yeah, that's when I changed from top water to
streamer fishing.





Dad-"uuuuhhhhhhh.........Robbie you should come here!

Me- "Do you have a fish?

Dad-"yeah a big fish.....what? is it on still.

Me-"I'm coming"

Dad-"OH MY GOSH"

Me-"I'M COMING"

Once I finally got over to the other side of the deep hole that my dad was fishing I knew what all the freaking out was about. It was a 13 inch roanoke bass! As I looked in amazement at the monster sized roanoke I was thinking "I have got to change my fly". 

The moral of my story is rivers are very moody and you have to change your fly and not get an attitude because you're not catching fish. The river won't change for you; you have to change for the river.

Welcome

                                                                Welcome To Fly Rod Therapy, my new Blog. I am new to Blogging and am so excited to share my journeys fly fishing and enjoying mother nature with you. I am a beginning fly fisherman and enthusiast. I will try to make a blog about a topic with tips how to be friendly to our waters. I will have a conservation blog once a month. I am sure the first while of my Blogging will be rough but hang with me. I will hopefully get better as I progress. I am excited to have you read my future blogs.