Abercrombie and Fish

Another week of fishing, another week of awesomeness...
The week began with a trip to my favorite local pond at Marble Cliff. The weather was shaky all day and pop up storms were prohibiting my fishing from going from morning till dusk. Every time I loaded up the car, I'd have to take notes from Patches O'Hoolihan in hopes of avoiding the downfall of rain that stood between my Jeep Cherokee and my garage. Dodge, duck, dip dive, and...dodge. After an hour of disappointment, I literally said "F*** it", and threw on a raincoat and hopped in the car. With the possibility of more storms popping up I decided to stick close, and so I snuck into lovely Marble Cliff and threw out a line. Five minutes in of casting a white closer minnow and I landed my first picture worthy fish. Bluegills were off the charts with my small bead headed nymph so I decided to throw on a bigger fly and go for some of the hogs I knew lurked in this community pond. A couple casts in and got a hit. Missed it but knew the fish were beginning to pick up activity. Started stripping the fly again, letting it sink more than usual, and got a strike from a good sized bass. Line went tight and I was in for a fight. Off of a 4 wt a good sized bass really puts on a fight, and as raindrops began to drizzle down, I landed this good sized bass about thirty minutes in.

(I'll take it)

Off to a good start my morale was high and I continued to toss the streamer. I thought the luck would continue, but with the off and on rain and the high winds, both casting...and catching...became a little more difficult. I was able to land a few more gills, all around 7-8", but nothing huge. I decided to put away the fly rod and get out the spinning rod. With a rapala crank bait on the line, shit was about to hit the fan. First cast, boom! Reeled in about a pounder, and tossed the line back out. Ripping it right through the path of my first fish, I snagged the lure on something on the bottom of the pond. As I tried to maneuver the lure out of the possible log or branch, the log began to move. Wait...what the hell. It wasn't a log....it was some goliath of a fish. I was speechless. Rod was bent over and I had to let the fish run a little, and after one hell of a fight, I pulled him onto shore and got my thumb in his mouth. I was alone, and as embarrassing as it may sound, I legitimately jumped up and down when I had the beast on shore. Trying to take selfies on my phone, I propped up my "ifin" and took a video, and as I posed for the camera, my heartbeat was close to 200. A new personal best, which measured right at 22", and had to be near 5 lbs, I held the fish with more joy than a hockey player with the stanley cup. 

Fuckin' A dude...

As bad as I wanted to get it taxidermied and have it hanging above my bed, I gotta support catch and release so hopefully some other kid can catch this pig of a fish. Soak it in people, soak it in...

Now back to family and friends. First off, went fishing to a friends private pond in Dublin and was able to catch some good sized bass. Accompanied by my girlfriend's father, he was lucky enough to catch this big 13" crappie, a fish we were not expecting to catch. Using a rubber minnow, he was on fire, and the crappie were all over it. Such a fun fish to catch. 

Lastly, previous LOTF legend Garrett Powers' brother was lucky enough to head west and fish the Green River in Wyoming. With guide/friend Dan Kloos, Petey Powers was able to connect on some beautiful browns and bows. I got this picture and couldn't help but share it...

Another week in the books, and another week of excellent fishing. To conclude the post I have two things for you. 

1. Watch this video, has nothing to do with fishing but it's just a classic :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1-oquwoL8

2. Thought I'd take the whole MW Fly/Suburban Fishing to the next level and customize possibly the first shirt of many. Definitely a test run but hope to make more. Any thoughts on color combos, logos, etc, just let me know. If anyone is interested in getting one just let me know! Text or FB, whatever works. Watch out Hollsiter, here comes Abercrombie and Fish.

Till next time...

Tight Lines,

-CL

MW FLY

Been a while since the last Life On The Fly post...
...and as much as I love the name LOTF, I googled it and saw about fifty other fly fishing websites and blogs, so I went a little more basic, lacking more creativity than a 2Chains rap verse, and thought MidWest Fly fit nicely. I'm drawing some BS logo as we speak, but I don't know, LOTF seemed more sought after than a case of budweiser at a West Virginia family reunion. So, MW FLY it is..for now...

Another week in South Carolina resulted in some more insane catches. For family and friends, it was a busy week on the water. Start out with a buddy of mine, and Georgetown football star Gary Powers who was able to snag this 18 pound lake trout up in Lake Erie...

The gleam shots continued as my father, Derrick Layer, better known as D-Rock, was able to snag a 6 lb, 24 inch Red off the shore of Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Located just 20 minutes outside of downtown Charleston, the areas canals and marshes are known for their redfish, and off a chunk of cut mullet, D-Rock was able to connect with this beauty:

(Stud^)

The catch of the week also belongs to the gimp monster known as my father (Torn Achilles and possible torn meniscus), who was able to reel in a 40 lb ray also off a chunk of cut mullet. As tempting as it was to get a lovely shot with the prehistoric monster, D rock bailed and cut the line, but we were able to catch a pic of this badass creature head-on...enjoy...

Three more crazy catches, none by the writer himself. So to redeem myself I'll throw in a picture from earlier this summer that was actually caught on a fly rod. Using a crayfish pattern and stripping it through the treacherous depths of Marble Cliff Crossing, (a wealthy closed off community located about a mile south of me, which I've been kicked out of many times for my homeless looking exterior), I was able to land a beautiful 4 lb LM. Although I've caught a handful of these this size in this area, one (or two) pics should redeem my embarrassing saltwater performance in which I only landed a couple 16 inch sand sharks and this lady fish:

(sweet bedhead, I know)

But now for the LMB I've bragged about:

If you like to fish, just go do it. There's no better way to just relax and enjoy all that nature has to offer than to just go out and toss a line. This week I'm planning on going to the Mad. With some serious rains this past weekend, my Sunday morning plans to hunt trout simply didn't work out, but with the rain should come plenty of opportunities to catch some fish. Terrestrials are hitting in the late afternoons, especially Japanese beetles and foam ants. Stock up on a couple of these and go snag a Brown...Till next cast...

MW FLY.

Tight Lines,

-Cam

Trifecta

Whaddup Ladies and Gents,
Hope everyone had a good fourth. Nothing represents America more than a couple beers, friends, and of course, fishing. I had the pleasure to bounce around this week, with a South Carolina vacation coming to an end, as well as plenty of time to bounce around Ohio searching for some great fishing opportunities. Let us begin with SC...
Remember those sharks we were catching off the beach? Well we took it to the next level and took out a private charter known as the Izzy A, and felt the need to slam some bigger fish out of Harbor Town in Hilton Head. Once again the target was sharks, and as we trolled shrimp boats who were basically chumming the water for free, Jaws was in sight. Dolphins splashed the surface, seagulls dove from above, and somewhere beneath the murky depths of the Atlantic, sat a predator trailing the bait eating more than Joey Chestnut on Independence Day. (Sorry for the bad pic there Joey). Like I said before, although I'm mainly a fly fisher, I gotta throw in all fishing experiences, so for this adventure we were using heavy spin caster rods and throwing live baitfish as our boat drifted with the current. Time passed then we heard it. The absolute best noise in the world (besides a perfect swish in basketball, or the sound of someone mixing mac and cheese), the spool was getting stripped. Line flew out and a fish was on. Blah blah blah, this is going to be a long post anyone so lets get to the good stuff. After several runs of the monster shark, I final brought the sucker in, and currently is the largest fish I've caught, coming in around 70 pounds. Don't judge:

 Fish #2:

After dropping sharks, I had to go back to my roots, which was fly fishing for LMB back in lovely Ohio. Boy did I miss it, swinging boogers by sunken trees, or stripping a popper on the edge of a lilly pad cluster. So I ended up at a pond located near the Big Darby Creek somewhat close to the Dublin area. Beautiful pond with algae, rocks, a spill well, just about everything. My fly of choice for bass is simply a brown wooly bugger. Never failed me, for quality or quantity. So I start throwing it and instantly get a hit, and bass #1 comes in. I quickly realize that this pond seems to be fished very little so I took full advantage, and within an hour I've got 20 bass to my name. Legitimately almost every cast resulted in a strike and 95% of the time, a landed fish. Not trying to be cocky but I almost got bored with it. Ha, who am I kidding, it was freaking insane. Here's one of my favorite catches as I tossed the brown wooly right next to where a trib entered the pond, and stripped it next to a patch of lilly pads, resulting in this bad boy:

Camo shorts anyone?

Last but not least I have to post about a buddy, Jared Sylvester who caught a beauty at Mad River the other day. Water levels were high and a bit murky so he went with a black wooly and was stripping it about two feet off the bank through some of the deeper holes. The Mad is always a tough place to fish, and with the recent rains and high water levels it has continued to stay tricky. I've never had incredible luck at the Mad, catching 5 fish there in my "career" or whatever the hell you wanna call it. But what I would do to land a fish like this....

                                              A beautiful Brown caught near the 36 bridge. 

Well, three awesome fish in three completely different locations. Three species, three fishing techniques. Let the fun continue. Trifecta.

-If you are in the Ohio area and are interested in the Mad, make sure to hit up the fishing report:

http://www.madriveroutfitters.com/t-fishing-reports.aspx

Tight Lines,

CL