Archive for April, 2007

Rudy is a little Maltese dog that we got last year when he was a puppy. Now, I might not be able to train Rudy to fetch beer for me, but he does have pure white hair that has some marabou like qualities to it when under water. Last year, I tied up some streamers using Rudy’s hair – he needed a hair cut. The streamers were later dubbed “Maltesers” by Team Osprey captain, Ernie Kalwa.

This evening, I went out on the Grand with Colin before I take him home to Ottawa tomorrow – the conditions were worse than they were on Saturday. The water level was very high – the water felt colder, and although the sun was shining in Orangeville before we left, warming us up – it was overcast on the river.

Once again, we cast a variety of nymphs and streamers but not even a hit. Others on the river were experiencing the same lack of action. Finally, I thought, “what the heck?” and tied on a Malteser that I had in one of my fly boxes.

A few minutes later, an envious Colin was watching me pull in a 14 inch brown. It was the only fish we saw however. A real pretty brown it was, except for the gash marks across its back, likely from an Osprey (the bird, not a team member) looking for a snack.

I’m thinking of hosting another fly swap – perhaps my pattern will be this Malteser. I’m curious how it will work for others!

When we got home, Rudy being the loud yapping dog that he is, of course yapping with excitement to see Colin and I home. Instead of telling him to shush, I picked him up and thanked him. His hair kept me from being skunked twice in a row!

To follow up on the disappointing Opening Day of 2007, another wee disappointment. Late last season, I obtained a William Joseph chest pack after having found their waders to be terrific.  The descriptions I had read about the Chest Pack were all impressive, so I went ahead and got one.

By the time it arrived, I was too busy to switch over from using my bag and/or vest – and although I inspected it, and really liked the features – I didn’t use it much at all on the water. Along with the construction and design, I really looked forward to the ability of having a high volume water bladder, carried in a rear pocket on the back.

Last night, I decided to get ready for today’s Opening Day, and see if I could fully make the switch to the William Joseph chest pack.  I filled up the water bladder, put in the rear back panel, and then put the Chest Pack on.

Well, with a full water bladder, this chest pack is unusable for me. The weight of the water pulls the back portion down so the weight is sitting too low.

There are adjusting straps – but this particular model comes with this sort of “snap” plastic thing, over the straps under the front pockets that provide the adjustment for the tightness of the shoulder straps.

But this “snap” gizmo is so weak, that any pressure on the loop that is formed causes the snap gizmo to fail – and the chest pockets slide down. I had thought that perhaps if I were to put my wading belt through the loops formed by pulling downward on the adjusting straps, that would provide enough tension to keep the weight of the back panel higher on m back, rather than sagging.

In principle it would work – if the snap “gizmo” thing wasn’t so weak.  Any downward pressure below that snap thing causes it to open up – and all the adjustments become unadjusted.

Without the weight of the water filled bladder, everything is fine.  But that feature of having a water bladder, stored in a panel on the back, with a long tube that the water can be drawn from when thirsty was a big selling point for me as well as the rest of the design.  I find it awkward and annoying to keep bottles of water in vest pockets or even in my bag – all extra weight on the fronts or tops of my shoulders and more bulk in front that I don’t want.  And I can be a thirsty guy while out on the river – with despising the thought of leaving the river to head to my auto for more water if all I’ve carried are bottles of small volume.

I’m going to send a note to the good folk at William Joseph and ask them if maybe I’m missing something here that is not obvious to me to make this work better.  Overall, I really like the idea of the built in “fly stations” in the chest pack which negates the need to carry fly boxes as well as the tippet dispensing system built into one of the front pockets.  I tend to lose flies at times, when changing them – holding my rod, opening a fly box, putting the fly just taken from my line, and rushing to find another fly that matches the hatch going on. Sometimes, I’ll even drop my fly boxes in the river… which is a real pain. The built in fly stations in the William Joseph pack that I have should eliminate some of that.  If I can get the thing to be comfortable while having a filled water bladder.

I’ll write a more full review of the pack after any response from William Joseph.

Colin arrived from Ottawa yesterday to carry on our years long tradition of spending Opening Day together. We had made arrangements with my friend Dave Moore to head to the Grand and show him a few of the access points as he’d never fished there before, meeting here first at about 7AM.

I was so excited with anticipation that I couldn’t really sleep. A few rum and cokes – and finally at 6AM, had an hour long “nap.” The day started out grey, windy and cold – and continued that way. I don’t think the temperature got above 8C where we were. The cold weather must have made the fish very lethargic as not one was seen during the hours Colin and I fished with Dave.

We threw everything but dries at the flies – there didn’t seem to be any point to dries as even with some minor hatches going on – there were absolutely no rises whatsoever. Not a hit all day – and not one fish seen being caught by any of the other anglers nearby.

About 3:30PM, shivering and Colin especially cold due to a leaky wader, Colin and I decided to call it a day with the idea that we’ll be heading out again tomorrow. Dave decided that he’d head up to Meaford to try the harbour area for rainbows using worms. He just called to gloat that he caught a 5 1/2 pound rainbow – and not only that, the temperature was warmer than where we had been fishing earlier! That was unexpected! Usually, Meaford is at least a couple or three degrees cooler than the Orangeville-Elora-Fergus areas.

Regardless of the disappointing action, it was still great to get out on the river though and start the bad casting habits all over again. I was quite impressed with how well Colin, my 15 year old, did – remembering all the good habits he had been taught in the early season of last year by Ian James.

Well, here’s to better luck tomorrow!