I stopped for a moment to talk to an elderly man that was sitting along a bridge just outside our compound here in Argentina. The man had gotten there just prior to my arrival and was still setting up his gear; he was using an old aluminum pole with a small, open-bail reel, that, although well-kept, was really showing its age. While talking to him, I noticed something that truly amazed me. The man reached into his tackle box and pulled out a handful of small splints of wood. After carefully fingering through them, he selected about six of them and pinched them to his line about 16 inches above his hook. He then took a piece of kite string and wrapped the splints securely to the line.

It was a really interesting method that, although it caught me off guard, taught me something very interesting about the fishing culture down here: that although the people here may not have even the most simplistic gear that we tend to take for granted in the US, they are perfectly content finding other ways to effectively fish.

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As we all know, Northern cold-water fishing is a very popular passtime, and can become very competitive as fishermen attempt to get that last big one in before the season ends. Due to this, fisherman are always seeking advantage, and therefor the use of waders, throughout the entire season, are very popular, however, it is important to keep some very obvious things in mind.

Firstly, waders are undoubtedly a great advantage over having to stand along a bank, however, they are not entirly secure, regardless of weather the bottums of your boots are felted, or assisted by ‘corgers,’ it is important to remeber that they are not hiking boots, and you always face the risk of slipping and hurting yourself. This leads to the next, and probably more important caution I have for all of you is that waders are only waterproof from the sides and the bottums.

I have heard, and witnessed countless scary stories of fishermen being seriously injured, and in some cases drowing do to a simply slip up. What it is important to realize, it that if you fall while standing even in relatively shallow water, your waders have the potential to fill up rather quickly, and it can be increadible difficult to find footing, or tread water with that much extra weight, and therefore can have some very horrific consiquense. Although this is true, there is one very simple way to aviod such a problem.

When using waders, ALWAYS wear a strap-belt. A belt along the bellow, or waiste depending on design, will keep water from being able to so readily fill the waders, giving you more time to react to falling, and will give you opportunity to regain footing and refrane from the effects of the fall.

Anyways, I say all this to say, be careful this fall, and stay safe. All of the problems that we face throughout the rest of the season seem to become that much more dangerous as the temperature of the water drops. So be careful, and happy fishing!

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Although the simplistic method of “cast and wait,” is less advanced than others, it is typically reserved for young children who are perfectly content fishing with a stick and shoelace, which begs this question to be asked, “who enjoys fishing more?”

I have had the opportunity to go fishing with a number of great fishermen around the world, and have taken countless adults fishing, and have seen a number of different attitudes arise while fishing with them. I have worked with men that have had a great attitude, and who i have thoroughly enjoyed spending time fishing with. However, I have also been fishing with men who have had bad attitude and seem to have a gift of finding things to complain about.

Regardless of the above, I have also had the opportunity to take a number of children fishing, and have humbled myself to fish with them using a piece of thread attached to a stick, and, although we may not catch a thing those days, I have never gone fishing with a kid who has not completely enjoyed themselves. In this, these kids have taught me a lot about fishing, that it is not about how many fish you catch, or how large those fish are, fishing is all about enjoying yourself, and due to that, I encourage all of you fishermen out there, if you can find a child, two stick, thread, and some worms, you will find happiness.

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Furthermore, the targeted fish is a large bottom-feeder in the carp family, making bottom-fishing very effective. The setup that is used by most fishermen is very simple, it consists of a steel leader attached to a heavy lead weight. Along the steel leader there are two tag leaders that each hold a large hook.

On each of the two hooks there are two typical baits that are used by that Argentine fishermen, white rubber jigs, or live minnows, typically two or three minnows per hook.

To fish such a unit, the fisherman casts the line as far as possible, places the rod in a holder along the waters edge, and just waits. Although it seems like such a simplistic means by which to feed your family, it was very interesting to see the talent that it took to reel a fish in the air from a dike that is twenty feet in the air.

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This increase has had some drastic, direct affects on shoreline fishing. Due to this rise, the population of feeder fish has had an inverse affect, creating a drop in their numbers, causing the larger trophy fish to remain off-shore, no longer coming into shallow water to feed.

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The method was simple, wade into the muddy waters near the oceans edge, and tread water so that your feet just barely settle below the mud. After you have properly established your position, and have become familiar with the smell of the manure-like mud, slowly squish your feet around just below the mud and feel around for any hard objects. When you have stumbled across target, usually marked by a stubbing of a toe, or a cut along the bottom of the foot, use your toes to bring the object in question to the surface to reveal if you did, in fact, find a Quohog.

After a number of hours, and the recovery of many glass bottles, shoes, and golf balls, did manage to fill our two pecks of Quohogs, and had a wonderful evening of scrubbing and boiling those disdained creatures.

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The WEW can be used as an imitator of the damsel nymph, which makes this pattern particularly effective on those hot summer days when there seems to be no other hatches rising. The WEW can also be used as a wooly bugger supplement when fishing on those last few cold months of fishing toward the beginning and end of fishing season.

The WEW is most effective in dark, murky areas of rivers, or the outside edges of bends in the river. The reason for fishing this fly on the outsides edges of a turn in the river is because that is where drift wood and leaves will tend to wash ashore in the most abundant amounts. These sticks and leaves sink to the riverbed and rot, creating an ever growing area of black mud where these damsel flies make themselves at home.

When fishing the Wild-Eyed Wooly, it is best to use a quarter turn sweep, and then retrieve it in short smooth bursts of movement, allowing the fly to bounce along the riverbed. It is important to remember to never let the WEW lay dormant for any period of time while in the water. The WEW’s tail and gills, being comprised of black malibu, gives the WEW the realistic appearance of having moving body parts. What you must keep in mind, however, is that on a real damsel nymph, these body parts are almost continuously moving, and therefore, your imitation should keep moving as well, not giving the fish a chance to inspect the fly before making the choice to strike, which they tend to do during the pause directly after the head of the streamer hits the riverbed.

Another important thing to remember is not to back-cast this fly unless it is weighted with lead! I have tried before to back cast this fly in order to achieve a greater distance to fish, and found that if you back cast more than one cast rotation (once back-then forward), the fly becomes to dry that it can take excruciating amounts of time to sink. If you prefer to not roll cast, and enjoy the art of back casting, as do I, you can tie the fly using copper beads for eyes, as opposed to plastic, and add further weight using lead wire. This will allow you to back cast, and still have the WEW sink efficiently.

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Because of how vast the ocean is, it can be a difficult task to keep all of your bearings, such as the distance and windage location of your line, and the times of strikes. Furthermore, due to offshore currents it can be very easy to miscalculate how much line you actually have in the water. Most inland fishermen are able to judge the amount of outgoing line by relating it to another distance, such as the width of the stream, or the distance to a specific rock. However, with such vast expanses, there are very few ways to calculate this.

When fishing during daylight hours, it can be very effective to simple take a number of colored, permanent markers, and systematically color code the float line, marking out different lengths of reference. This can be very effective, and will allow you to keep from overextending casts, as well as will keep you from falling short or desired distances. Although this is very effective during the daytime, there is one problem; it is only useful during the daytime.

For night fishing, there is a similar technique, involving thread instead of marker. Simply tie a small piece of thread, or preferable yarn, to the distances of the line. As the line masses through your fingers, it is possible to count how many feet of line you have released into the water. This method is only advised for fast moving fishing, where a disturbance to the flow of the line will not be noticed by the targeted fish. Furthermore, this method may lead to a hindered flow of line from the reel, as the float line may become caught on the yarn markers. If one has a reel large enough that the line is not too constricted, this problem will not occur.

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Just as bass tend to make their way from hiding, and enter to now warm streams, trout tend to find their place in dormancy, seeming to disappear from nature entirely. In reality, trout simple lay low during the heat of the day by avoiding unnecessary exhaustion, primarily by laying still, and not eating.

Furthermore, when fishing for ‘lates,’ it is best to fish under in the shadows of overhanging trees, typically large pines that are growing along the bank. As well as these shadows, there are two other key locations to find trophy lates: in deep holes, and at the deltas of tributary runoffs.

In the late summer, it is not uncommon to find masses of trout sitting at the delta of a tributary, the place where a mountain runoff meets the main stream. It is at these places where very cool water enters, and where fish have a place to lay without being subject to warm water. Also, these runoffs tend to have a very high oxygen level, and therefore are able to support the trout far better that the slower moving body of the stream. It is in these deltas that one can be guaranteed to catch late trout. So, when approaching a stream, keep an eye out for tributary water, keep you distance, and land those lates.

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Due to the rise is the water levels, as a result of the rainy season, the banks of the rivers become submerged, as do the homes of inumerable mud worms, such as the Tubiflew worm, an aquatic worm that closely resembles the common earthworm, although red in color. The rising water forces these worms from their homes, resulting in a buffet for local trout. Fly fishermen capitalize on this natural occurance using patterns that mimick these worms, such as the San Jaun Worm, discussed earlier on the website.

From speaking with other fishermen along the Rio Grande, I learned that many New Mexican fishermen prefer darkwater fishing due to the fact that the murky waters, coupled with the loud rushing water, make it almost impossible for the trout to see or sense the danger of approaching fishermen, giving the fisherman the upperhand when trying to land ‘the big one.’

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