Fly Fishing for River Stripers with Buck Ernst

I thought I'd share a little multimedia presentation (HD video and still photos) with y'all from a recent trip with our buddy Buck Ernst. We were searching for river stripers in late April and we managed several along with some white bass and largemouth... all on the fly. What river were you fishing? you ask? Well, I don't believe I said. I hope you enjoy the video!

Lanier Striper Report 1/21/10

This just in from our ol' buddy Henry Cowen:
   

Okay so the big chill is hopefully gone. The past 12 days has been a tough go as I have continued to find the fish BUT the cold weather has got them lounging as tree potatoes. Yep…….most of the fish are just being lazy fat and not so happy (kind of lethargic) just hanging in the tree tops. I had a few decent days of a couple of fish caught but for the most part the past 12 days has been a stinker! Finally on Tuesday the fish decided to play fair again. The key is to find the warmer water……..Normal January temps for Lanier’s surface is 45-46 degrees. Most of the creeks we found the fish in were 41-43 degrees and that just won’t cut the mustard. Found some 45 degree temps yesterday further south and got some of our striped friends to eat feathers. Today I sent Unicoi Outfitters trout guide and casting guru Rex Gudgel to some of my holes with warmer water and he nailed 7 stripers from 10-16 lbs on small grey and white Clousers. It sooooo nice when a plan comes together. He found the warm water and the fish were waiting for his offerings. Nice going Rex! Now keep where I sent you a secret……. I am off the water now until Tuesday Jan 26th as I will be up in Somerset, NJ doing a bunch of salt & fresh water presentations in the motherland. Somerset is the BEST fly show in the USA. Will report back by end of next week. See you on the pond!  
--HC

Hartwell Stripes Dec 27.2009

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Today I went out with Rex Gudgel. We stayed out all day fighting the very windy conditions, determined to find hungry fish. Needless to say, it was tough: high winds, bluebird skies - standard post-front conditions. The water temp has dropped to 50 and the fish have gone north, most of which had lock-jaw today. We did make 4 fish eat: boated 2, broke one off and missed one. If you are looking for a great way to end the year, this would be a good choice. Most fish we are catching run from 9-15 lbs. Intermediate and sinking lines are the choice right now. As you can see in the pics it was freezing, my face looks like I went snow skiing for a week from wind burn.

Dan Blanton at Frog Hollow

We were very excited this past week to host one of fly fishing's true legends, Dan Blanton. Dan is one of the pioneers of west coast salt water fly fishing and was inducted into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame in 2002. He was in town as a guest of the Atlanta Fly Fishing Club and Henry Cowen was entertaining him with some good old southern fishing for a couple of days: stripers and trout. Dan couldn't have picked a more miserable weather situation to try fishing in Georgia but, as you can see from these pictures, he had a very successful couple of days. We thought it appropriate that we let Rex Gudgel, Unicoi's flower child from California, guide Dan at Frog Hollow.

To find out more about Dan and his fishing exploits, writings and fly designs, you can visit him at his website. If you'll check out his Bulletin Board, you'll find his comments on fishing with Henry and Rex here.