I have been a regular an MANY forums on the net, and there are many that are good, many that are bad.

What do I mean by Good, Bad?

There are some forums that you can join, where you can get a TON of information, and others where all that goes on is a bunch of  whining and bitching!!

I can say, out of the 30+ forums that I have been a part of, there are only a hand full that I have found to be worth attending on a regular basis. This being said, there are MANY the I do not attend or that I even know about, but for me in the area I live in, there are a few that I am attend on a daily basis.

FlyBC.ca

Fishing With Rod

FlyTyer

FlyTying Forum

I have found that these are the types of forums where not only one can learn, you can turn and help others, even if you are a beginner.

-For the fly Fisherman in western Canada/North Western USA there is no better forum than FlyBC!! 

-For the All round Fisherman (Gear & Fly) there is non better than FWR (Fishing with Rod)

-For the fly tyer, The Fly Tying Forum and it’s data base is AWESOME!!!

-For the Fly Tyer who want AWESOME advise and great patterns for great people, Flytyer is GREAT!!

Now, there are a few others that I do attend, but just not a daily basis, not because they are not good, but because I prefer the ones listed above (Personal Taste)

-FishBC 

-Sportfishing BC 

-Washington FlyFishing

-BC Fishing Reports

Many of the people on these forums are the same, you can go to 5 different forums and see the same people, that is why I like the ones I listed, many of the people are different, and the same (If you understand that). This way, we ALL get the chance to learn from each other.

There are a few forums that I would not be caught on, EVER!!!!! but I will not list them as I think that is up to the individual to find out, just because i don’t like them, does not mean that it may not be good for you.

I would say in general, about 85% of the people on the forums are GREAT, 10% are OK, and 5% are complete jerks!! The issue is, there are a few forums out there in where the Mod’s don’t keep up with what is going on, and the 5% get going and really make the whole forum a real waste. I really don’t understand why some people get so “Tough” on some forums? They act like they are all tough, and start being “Internet Bullies”, but as soon as someone happens to see them on the flow, they are all “Mr nice guy”. Why? If you want to be a jack ass, fine, but don’t be offended when you are out on the flow and people don’t help you out!!

As for the 85%, what can I say, the fishing community is AWESOME!!!! Most of the people will give you the shirt off their backs, others are willing to share their knowledge, and then there are others that are willing to take you to their “Honey Hole” as long as you keep it quite!

Man, I LOVE the forums that I go to, and really can greatly for MANY of the people that I have had the pleasure to meet through these forums!

So, again I ask, good? Bad? What do you think?

Rick Passek “The FlyFish Fanatic”

Wow, I can’t believe that it has been this long since I have put up a post!!!

So much has been going on in my life, I have been so busy, that being said, that is no reason to not post at least once a week.

I have been preparing to go to UVI netx year, so I have been at school upgrading so I have the qualifications to attend the university. I will be taking classes until the end of June, so this will be hectic until then.

Fishing, well that is a different story. I hurt my lower back quite bad in June and did very little fishing in the months of June, July & August, but since then I have gone fishing or scouting at least 2 times a week.

This years Pink Salmon Run was AWESOME, check out the pic’s below;

Couple of my buddies with a double header (One of MANY on the day)

After the Pink Season ended, I did quite a few days on the water hunting coho, some GREAT days, Some Slow!!

I even got a chance to hit my favorite river (The Skagit) for Bull Trout (Char) a few times in Late Aug/Sept

My Buddy Paul with a nice Skagit River Bull!!

I only had a chance to do a few days of lake fishing this year due to the fact that I could not sit for long because of my back. I was able to attend the FlyBC.ca “Fall Fish-in” and had a BLAST!!! the Fish-in took place near the town of Merritt at Lundbom Lake;

Nice little Lundbom lake "Ghost"

Just starting to really ramp up now for cutthroat trout & Steelhead fishing, so i will try to keep you all posted on how things go.

I Hope everyone had a GREAT X-Mas and will have a GREAT fish filled new year.

Rick Passek “The FlyFish Fanatic”

WOW, it has been a while.

I have been having some real issues with the site. First it got hacked, then we tried to fix it with the help of the server and it got temporary deleted, man what a tough few months!!!!!!

Oh well, here is a post for those of you who chase Coho in Fresh waters.

It is getting late in the season, but there are still PLENTY of chances to catch Coho in our lowermainland Rivers.

I have caught Fresh Coho as late as Mid January, sooooo………..

I thought I would share a few of my “Goto” flies with you, some are for certian systems, others are general flies for Coho all over the place.

In this Picture, we have ;

Left side are ALL California Neil’s in different Colors.

right Side are Egg Patterns, & Fire Crackers.

In this Box, we Have;

Left Side are Muddlers in different Colors, and what I call my “The green Machine” The Green Machine has been an AWESOME all round fly for Coho, Chum, Pinks, Cutthroat Trout, Whitefish, and even Rainbow Trout!!

Right Side are Sparkle Wooly Buggers (My GOTO on a certain lower mainland  System) and a few “Christmas Tree like flies.

Depending on the System I am fishing, I use 3 different lines.

-Full Floating Line

-Type I (Slime Line) sink tip (again depending I use between 6-15′ long tip)

-Type III Sink tip (6-10′)

Some systems require a faster sink, others slower, but i tie 90% of my coho flies with Tungsten beads, so this does also factor into what line i use.

I will try (As long as the site doesn’t do another brain Fart!!) to do a few Step by Steps in the next week or two.

get out there and hunt them down, the key to Coho is first light, and don’t stay in one place, look for them!!!

Tight Lines & Fun Times!!

Rick Passek (The FlyFish Fanatic)

Well, what inspires you? Is there something that inspires you, maybe not something, maybe someone? Soooooo………..?

I would have to say, for me that would be a HUGE YES on both counts.

First off, I am VERY inspired by nature. The one constant for me in the time I have been FlyFishing is that I am not only inspired but in AWE of the natural world.

I (At any chance I get) study the food that fish eat. This could be small baitfish, Insects, Crustations, etc…….. Because of this, I try not only to mimic the food that the fish are targeting, but the movements, size, color, etc….

To do this, I employ a VAST variety of materials that help with things like movement. I would have to say, if I had to pick one material that i could NOT do without, it would have to be Marabou! I find that marabou can be used in so many different ways, and the movement that it imparts is second to none!!

Since I primarily target trout, I study aquatic insects alot to get to know how they behave, move, etc…. Because of this, I have been able to not only tie my flies differently to mimic the natural insects better, but I have also changed HOW i fish the individual flies to mimic the behavior of the insects.

I the many years that I have been doing this, I find that my success rate has increased 10 fold, and I equate this to experience but to a larger extent, the study and time I have put in to learn the feeding behaviors of the fish I target, in turn, the behaviors of the food itself.

A few of the small clues i can give to my readers to help them a bit are this;

• Use materials that move, (Marabou, Rabbit, Fox, etc…)
• Try to get as close as you can to the size and shape of the insect you are trying to copy. The reason for this is, I have found that a accurate silhouette is VERY important
• Don’t worry too much about colors, yes they are important, but because colors change SOOOOOO much underwater, this is less important than movement and shape.

Now, do you have any people that inspire your tying techniques? I Do!

I look up to MANY tyers, I am a good tier, but there are soo many people out there that are SOOO good i along with 99% of the population can’t compare. But, these are NOT the people I look up to, I look up to the people that tie to mimic the feed, and do a great job of it. This does not mean that the finished product looks like the food it it to mimic, but that it moves like the natural and that it has a similar silhouette.

Below is a tier (Graham Owen) that is AMAZING at making flies that looks like the natural:

Beautiful, but not Practical for Fishing with!

Below is a few Examples of what I would say are practical flies that do the job they set out to do, mimic movement and create the correct silhouette.

A Few Pic’s from someone I look up to in the fly tying world;

Hans Weilenmann:

GREAT Silhouette and movement on this fly

Simple, yet VERY effective!!

Hans is one of the tiers that I feel have been able to REALLY capture the elements I look for in a fly, and because of this, I really look up to him.

Another person I really look up to in regards to tying is Phil Rowley:

Great use of materials that move, Bunny, Rubber legs and a GREAT Silhouette

Phil is a tier that uses all kinds of materials that are not common in fly tying, and this is what I have really taken to heart with talking to Phil.

Well, I have many more things to say on this subject, I have not even touched on flies that are used to mimic baitfish and other foods, so I will spit this post in two and do the second half in a few days.

Tight Lines & Fun Times

Rick Passek “The FlyFish Fanatic”™

Well, the Skagit river (My Favorite river) opened to fishing on July 1st, but there is one small issue with this, IT IS TOTALLY BLOWN OUT!!!!!!

In all the years that I have been fishing the Skagit, I have never seen it this high this late! It is so far behind it’s normal level, I think we will be lucky to fish it by August 1st!

Myself and a Buddy (Paul Burgoyne) headed to check the river out on Wednesday and below are a few pictures of what we saw up at the Sumallo Grove area, and this area is normally very good to fish at this time, lower down as the river gains size can be iffy at this time of year, but I have never not been able to fish the Sumallo area unfishable after opening day.

First picture is from Wednesday:

This is looking downstream from the man Bridge. You can see the Sumallo River join into the Skagit at the upper right hand side of the Picture.

The Following is a Picture taken July 14th last year.

In this pictue, we are looking up into the Sumallo and the Skagit is to the Right coming in. the first picture is looking West at the Sumallo/Skagit confluance, the second is looking North/East at the same area.

I would say the river is about 3-4 feet higher than it was a week later last year, so it looks like it may be awhile before we get the chance of fishing it.

Below are a few more random Pic’s from this year:

And here are a few of the same area from last year.

And this is why i LOVE the SKAGIT!!!!!!!!!

Alistair with a nice Skagit Rainbow

Big Skagit River Bull

Bull close up

My first Bull of 2010

I will keep you updated to when the river is down enough to fish.

Tight Lines & Fun Times

Rick Passek “The FlyFish Fanatic”

Hey Vancouver!! Give you damm head a shake!!!

Ya we lost the Stanley Cup, ya it SUCKS, but get a damm grip. This happend in 1994 as well and because of it this city became a “No Fun Zone” for many years. As of late, the city has eased up a bit and the city was getting better for this kind of thing, and this is what a bunch of MORONS do to thank them!!!

People, the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanly Cup, it’s not the end of the world, GET A GRIP!!!

I really hope that this is just a few idiots that are doing this, if so, go away, leave Vancouver, don’t come back.  this is a GREAT city to live in, but it seems that the city does not have ANY idea on how to lose, it happens, not a HUGE DEAL.

Celibrate the year that your team had, they were Presidents trophy winners, made it to GAME#7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Have a party and a good time, don’t act like a bunch of spoiled liitle BRATS!!!!

Rick Passek (A Disappointed) FlyFish Fanatic!!

Well well, I have not had a chance to post anything since Mid January!! I have been CRAZY busy with the job at Wholesale Sports, trying to get a bit of fishing time in as well as running a non profit Ball hockey league for 850 kids from as young as 5 up to 18!

Things have been beyond CRAZY and I have been able to do a bit of fishing, but very little in comparison to the amount of fishing I have done over the past few years. I did do a bunch of Steelhead fishing as well as a bunch of Chasing of Cutthroat Trout.

So far, I can say, I have NEVER seen a Steelhead year like the one we had this year, and even though the Cutthroat fishing was slow to start, it made up for it in the past 2 months with some 50+ fish days!!!

It is now June 1st, and I have just returned from my first trip into the interior (Kamloops Region) and even though fishing was a bit slow due to weather, the time I did get to go fishing was VERY productive. I had a chance to fish one of my Favorite lakes (Salmon Lake) but die to some VERY severe weather, in 3 days, I only fished about 6 total hours.

During the time I did get to fish, I did very well by landing more that 30 fish in the 6 hours, so all in all the fishing was good, if only the weather would have been better!!

After fishing Salmon Lake, my Wife and I headed to a friend of hers on Gabriola Island. There is a small lake on Gabriola, but I decided to take my Super Fat Cat and head off to Naniamo and fish a small lake right beside the main thoroughfare called Diver Lake.

I have always wanted to fish this small lake because it is very small and FULL of weeds, weeds mean insects, insects mean fish!!. The Fishing in Diver lake was all that I thought it would be, lots of action and fish, but smaller feisty fish. I fished the small Diver lake on Saturday for about 3 hours and ended up landing 10 fish, as well as losing 3 more to the weeds.

Now that the Ball Hockey Season is coming to a close and things have slowed for me a bit, I will be doing more posts again, and I will try to do MANY more informational posts so I can help those of you with some new and/or older tips and techniques.

Tight Lines & Fun Times

Rick Passek “The FlyFishFanatic”

Group FlyFishing Class Dates;

February 19th 9:30am-1:30pm (In class Session)

February 20th  (Casting day for Feb 19th Group Class) Time TBD during in class session

March 12th (In class Session)

March 13th (Casting day for March 12th Group Class) Time TBD during in class session

For more information on these classes, go to the classes tab and read more.

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Feb 19 $150.00 March 12 $150.00