Page 182 - North 40 Outfitters

KK, Christie, Paul, La Manzana, and Alisha just finished up a big breakfast on the porch at Graham's Place. Landed two Bonefish this morning on my way back to the cabin, KK rowed over a big Permit, and Paul just woke up. We are now sitting at the bar sipping coffee waiting for tailing Bonefish. The Bonefish here are really fat and wide shouldered. I've never seen this stout of Bonefish before (bring backing). It's 85 degree here, the sun is coming out... Life is Great.

We are having an okay time down here in Guanaja, Honduras... (haha!) We have the island all to ourselves, there are super sized bonefish, Dan and Monte saw a school of 100 permit today (no permit caught yet), Paul had a bonefish pull the eye off the hook today, Steve showed up today and we are sitting on the water having cocktails and eating lobster! Paradise! We caught numbers of Bonefish today... Boxfish were landed, Parrot Fish, Trigger Fish, Jacks, Barracuda... Can't wait to share more pictures but the upload process here is very slow. Until tomorrow....

KK, Paul, La Manzana, Christie, Alisha, Dan F, myself and a few othersare headed south today. I think everyone is fairly excited at this point. KK didn't sleep last night (tied). Same with Sam (well Iretired at about 2 from the vise). Paul slept like a bear. La Manzana and Sam are playing phone tag. Alisha and Christie are gathering their things ( Ithink Alisha was packed last week... KK, Paul, and Sam still haven't packed). We have enough rods though, at least we think so. Got 2 rods from Beulah, some Winstons, some Scott's, some other random sticks,and borrowed an extra 2 Winston's from Mike B last night just in case. Paul Bloch helped me tie last night and Paul C. DJ'd some of the worst music Ihave ever listened to for more than an hourfrom the kitchen table. Gear List that IPlan to Pack: Simms Flats Boots, Fishpond Rod Tube, 2 Loop Op...

Mr. Fred Telleen has just entered the house of North 40 Fly Shop starting now until May since he is back from his annual guide routine on the Kenai River in Alaska and back with his family here in Great Falls. Fred is a great resource for all things fly fishing, and we are excited to have him on the team this winter. Come in and pick his brain on some of his trout tactics. He is also knowledgeable on fishing the Missouri in the winter months (since that is his only opportunity to be fishing it). Fred is the owner and outfitter of Mystic Waters Guide Service in Alaska. Check out his blog at mysticwaters.com. Below is a bio of Fred from his website. Fred Telleen, Owner / Guide At the age of two, I captured my first Bluegill in Southern Michigan. Since then, I have never stopped looking into waters for fish. I spent my early years fishing...

The fly fishing industry has exploded in the past two decades around the globe. River access points are looking similar to mall parking lots, spots that were once known by few are now exposed, and quiet creeks running through private land are being explored like never before. This has created a grumbling, and sometimes feelings of animosity between many fisher people. Sports people are often clashing heads, as well as lines on the river, arguing over who has the right to be there more. Some altercations end as quick as they start, and others turn into lifelong grudges. Some of us don't want to fish unless we are stroking 30 plus fish per day. Some of us even think we are entitled to a particular piece of water every time we are present. Fishing etiquette seems to be set on the back burner too often. Why is this happening? This brings a c...

Cornfed and I decided if we are going to continue to spend our weekends chasing steelhead, driving all night, eating unhealthy, sleeping at the cheapest options, and sporting campfire cologne, we should probably see if the girls would like to participate. So we drove to Idaho last weekend with dog, girls, spey rods, and boat for the weekend. I had spent the night tying some patterns with some of the new materials we had in the shop, and had accumulated 3 flies to add to the box by morning (annoyingly unproductive at the vise that night). I initially assumed that spey casting in the cold would be somewhat frustrating, and a little difficult to get the girls charged up about, I was wrong. The girls took it up almost right away, and after a few short river side lessons we were fishing. I couldn't believe how well they were casting for thei...

A few weeks ago we posted on a number of dams going down on some of our Pacific Salmon/Steelhead waters. Here's a Saturday morning explosion that we saw this morning (via Moldychum.com)

Calvin, Erik, KK, John, and the rest of the crew just got back from a few days steelheading on the Clearwater River in Lewiston, ID. I mostly casted while Calvin and Barrett Mattison put on a clinic on actually landing steelhead on the famous stretch of water from Orofino to Lewiston (John Teini also got his first which was pretty awesome!). It was a great trip with a number of guys learning how to use a double hand fly rod for their first time, others getting their first steelhead, some landing multiple steelhead on the fly, and for some it is all about the Effie Burger.  The Effie Tavern is located in old town Lewiston at the bottom of the hill (most of the development has gone up hill), and is not far from the river.  Lucky for us, fleece pants, hoodies, flip flops with wool socks, and stench isn’t too big of a problem at the Eff...

Tonight Toby Tiber from the Blackfoot Reservation delivered a presentation to the Missouri River Fly fishers in a free public meeting all about the state of the fisheries on the different lakes available on the reservation. These lakes include known names in the area such as Duck, Mission, Kip, Fourhorn, Mitton, Dog Gun, Cooper, Goose, and Hidden Lakes. Over the past years 26 lakes have been stocked and 17 lakes are still stocked on a regular basis. Most of these lakes contains rainbows, browns, and cutthroat, and three of the lakes have even been stocked with Grayling. There are a number of streams on the reservation that hold trout as well. The prime fishing season on the reservation is considered to be April and May, however some of the largest fish of the season are caught in September and October, and there are way less crowds in th...

I was sitting on a balcony on Bourbon Street last month with Calvin, KK, Erik, the Trout Shop guys, and who knows who else. I was tired, the night before had been a big evening, and I hadn't even realized the smell associated with the mayhem of the famous street in DT New Orleans. We were there, among many other fly shops, guides, and fly fishing suppliers of course, for the fly fishing retailer show. From the balcony you could see everything happening on the street, seemingly life below the balcony was going by like a time machine compared to our slouched, worn out positions above.  The night before with the same company we swapped stories, talked about good selling gear, argued over which were the best rods, discussed water conditions on the Missouri, but that night we just sat there. So I found it odd that the first time in a long ti...

A couple weeks back now, North 40 Fly Shop was lucky enough to go Bass fishing with Jimmy Houston in Ponderay, ID. He flew in from Oklahoma for the Grand Opening representing Duracell Marine batteries. The fly won that day but if Calvin would have tied a good knots or carried some spinner blades with him it would have been a different story. Calvin, I posted this video for you- Watch and learn. A little something I picked up from Jimmy.

Contrary to popular belief, the flies that you buy from your local flyshop are not always as effective as they’re intended. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of thought that goes into designing flies and most of the time they are intended to be fished during a specific time-frame or hatch. So what is meant by modifying your flies? Fly modifications can be as simple as trimming the length of a wing, to as complicated as adding materials to the fly. I began modifying store bought flies a few years ago while fishing the salmonfly hatch on the Blackfoot River. While helping my buddy, who had very little experience on the oars maneuver through a wave-train, my high riding cat puke had sunken and become a drowned stone. To my surprise there was a 20" brown who thought that was a good looking meal. Instead of turning around and tying on a ...