 FATMAN's GUIDE SERVICE FALL SUMMARY TO DATE: HOLY COW! I'm on FIRE! My clients are just KILLING the fish and we're all having a great time. I've met a ton of new folks and established some great friendships. My thanks to all of you who've taken the time to come out with me and help broaden my fly fishing horizons. I'm having a great time doing this fly fishing gig!! The best thing that's happened this fall is that EVERYONE has caught fish. I've been avoiding the skunk and it's Root River 0, FATMAN - 32 guides. I've been fishing mainly above the weir since it's been in operation and we've had great flows this fall. When I'm not below the rt 38 bridge, I've been in Colonial Park and Lincoln Park. I've been to Island on the rare low water condition days but the pay offs haven't come from there yet! The fish of choice has been the KING SALMON. This year has seen a fantastic return of these big bruisers. The Steelhead Facility has processed almost 10,000 fish since August,.....that's an insane amount of fish. My client's personal best has been a 32 pounder and we've landed a lot of fish in the 31, 30, 29 and 28 pound classes. I've had a group hit a GRAND SLAM (King, Coho, Brown and Steelhead). I've broke five rods this fall, smoked a reel and I'm out of 200 yards of tippet. I've retied my four fly boxes three times and have logged over 180 hours on the river since Sept. I'm not saying I'm spending a lot of time there but my kids are starting to think I just come home to sleep and the fish are calling me DAD. In my humbled opinion we should see the fishing continue for the next couple of weeks. The river system is rising again and the old dying fish are getting blown out and the fresh fish are skipping the weir. Last weekend we caught a lot of fish with out fin clips from the steelhead facility and with the river rising we should see an increase in fish jumping the gates. Fresh rain will clean up the river and bring in new fish; new fish means more browns and steelhead. I wouldn't put the rod away yet, I think we're in for some great fishing still to come. Please stop by and visit the FATPHOTOs here's a link: http://community.webshots.com/user/fishfat2 Make sure to check out the Canadian PINK SALMON trip and the newly updated Fall Photos. These aren't all of them but my poor wife's been doing nothing but scanning in photos for the last week. FAT TIP: The Watermelon Pattern: Well this has been the pattern of choice for the Root. Everyone and their mother's been calling me on how to tie it and what it is. Here it is..........in its entirety! You need a HOT PINK piece of Salmon Yarn and half a piece of Chartreuse Salmon Yarn. The pieces should be about an 3/4 inch to an inch long. You use a snell knot to connect the tippet to the hook shank coming under the eye hook and creating a loop with the tippet, eye hook and snell knot along the hook shank. Place the yarn in the snell loop with the chartreuse covering the hot pink. Push the snell knot up to the eye and trim to your desired length. It's called the watermelon because it should look like a piece of watermelon on a hook. Here's the link to the snell Knot http://fisher-of-man.com/snellknot.html FATMAN's Preferred Leader set-up for low Water Salmon: This has been the set up of choice for me this fall. I'm running a nine foot leader. It's simply a six foot section of 25lb trilene big game line. I use a surgeon knot to connect a 3-4 ft ,12 pound tippet. I prefer to use the trilene XT, but if the water conditions are clearing you need to shift to a fluorocarbon (maxima is my preferred choice). Instead of clipping the surgeon knot close to the knot, I clip the leader end off and leave the tippet tag. I use the tippet tag to place my weight on. I prefer to use the clam weights rather than the re- usable weights because they drift better. This is key on the Root because of the frequent snags. It's quick and easy set up and doesn't cost much. It's effective because the dropper weight allows the flies to swing freely in the current. If you lead the flies down river and tight line to the dropper, it provides tremendous sensitivity with the bottom and WILL increase your hook up percentage. FATMAN FEEDBACK: On the new forums page I asked for some FAT FACT feedback and a good friend, Keith Elmore, suggested I discuss some additional topics that could range from my personal ranting and ravings to etiquette. So with out further ado, I'm pleased to introduce a new section to the Fat Facts. FATMAN's Pearls of Wisdom This month River Etiquette next month I'm RANTING I'm obviously going to post this on the FISHFAT Forum board ( http://amazingforums.com/forum/FISHFAT/forum.html ) and I'd appreciate it if you all would comment on my Pearls of Wisdom. The FAT Etiquette of SE WI Tributary Fishing: 1. Introduce yourself and SMILE: For Pete's Sake this is supposed to be fun. It's amazing most of us are out for the same reasons. Get to know the people on the river; hell it's a whole lot funnier fishing with a new friend than a bunch of strangers. Ask permission to fish next to the person your fishing by. What's the worst they can say "NO", if they do say no, do you really want to fish next to them? 2. Get there early. If you get there early and find the spot you want to fish, you're not rudely cutting into another's fishing spot. This is key! You must be on the water early otherwise your screwed!! No matter how hard and polite you are you may not get a quality fishing spot. 3. Net a FISH! This is so easy. I can't believe people will sit back and watch a guy walk his fish through the hole. Why not get it over with and net the guys fish. If it's legal then you also know what fly they are hitting (great ulterior motive) and if it's snagged you just saved a fish and an angler from a costly fine. 4. Remember the golden rule: Do unto others as you want done to you. That means give other anglers a comfortable space. Don't walk through the holes as you go down river, pick up some trash, learn to tie flies and give them away, help a struggling NEWBIE to "GET IT" and finally don't be afraid to talk with other anglers. TFT: Tuesday Fly Tying http://www.fishinfatman.com/sys-tmpl/tuesdayflytying/ Well, we're back by popular Demand! We're tying flies every Tuesday night starting November 6th at the White River Fly Shop in Bass Pro Shops, Gurnee, IL 7- 9pm. These classes are being offered free. That's right they cost you, the general public, nothing!!! That's right not a thing!!! ALSO, every fly tying class Bass Pro Shops is providing a limited use 15% Discount. So, if you spend $100 on merchandise, you'll be paying $85. Not a bad deal. Plus you get to learn how to tie flies and keep what you tie. I've listed the tentative classes on the link above and I'm asking for inputs on Tying Classes. Please visit the link and put your two cents in about what you'd like to tie. We're looking forward to the upcoming discussions and tying with you. So far here's the schedule: Nov 6: Wooly Buggers, Nov 13: Eggs, Nov 20: GOO- fly, Nov 27: Hex-Nymphs, Dec 4: Justin's Wooly Spey. I say get there early and get a good spot. These are going to be some very cool classes and they are a great time to get together Drink Coke, Tell Lies and Tie Flies!! The lunker lounge's closed so no more beer! FAT TRIP: We've got two coming up: FLY TYING EXPO DEC 1st. This is a free trip we're road tripping to Michigan to go to this event. If you're interested there's details at the link below: http://www.fishinfatman.com/sys-tmpl/flytyingexpo/ The ARKANSAS BROWN TROUT: We're still on to go and nail the big ones down south. I can't wait to get out of the cold and into the south. Someone pass me the grits and FEEESSH ON! http://www.fishinfatman.com/sys-tmpl/fattrips/ Hope to see you all at the river, on a FAT TRIP, Tuesday Fly Tying or anywhere else our paths my cross. God Bless America, you and your families, Rich |
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