Cold Weather Gear for Steelhead Fishing The recent drop in temperatures has us fishing everyday in very cold temperatures. That’s the life of a fly fishing guide. We fish in all kinds of weather. Yesterday when we got in the boat it was 17 degrees, clear, and no wind. Cold indeed. Last year […]
Entries by Chuck Hawkins
King Salmon on Streamers
King Salmon, Caught on Streamers For years most people believed that salmon could not be caught after they entered the rivers on anything but dead drift methods. When dead drifting using indicator rigs or chucking and ducking sometimes you get bit another times you are lining or flossing the fish. While fun to fight such […]
Hurricane Dorian Has Delivered a Devastating Blow to Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands in the Bahamas These two islands have been virtually destroyed by the hurricane with large loss of property and life. Below are a couple of links where you can donate to help rescue and rebuild these two beautiful places. Please lend a […]
River Temperature
River Temperature and Trout, They Can Be In Danger Hopefully most anglers realize that when water temperatures get too warm in our trout streams it is best to leave the fish alone. The reason is that warmer water holds less oxygen and therefore stresses trout. When you add in being hooked and fought by an […]
Reach Cast
The Reach Cast We are going into prime dry fly season right now. The third most important thing in your arsenal behind being able to cast accurately and picking the correct fly is the ability to execute an accurate reach cast. A reach cast is an in the air mend and, once perfected, will give […]
Tying Knots in Low Light
Tying knots in low light Like many of you as I’ve aged, knots are more difficult to tie as the sun goes down. These old eyes aren’t what the used to be. Through the years, out of necessity, I’ve discovered a few tricks to make tying knots in low light easier. I’ll share some of […]
Early Season Trout Fishing
Early Season Trout Fishing When winter breaks and water temperatures start to warm it’s time to consider early season trout fishing. Many anglers would ask, why? They are steelhead in our rivers that will probably bite better than resident brown and brook trout. The reason is that if you are a big trout hunter early […]
Top 5 Spring Steelhead Flies
Top Five Spring Steelhead Flies Many fly anglers eagerly await the start of the spring steelhead run. In this blog post I will point out what I believe are the top five spring steelhead flies. I will show you how to tie them and explain when to use them. Any list of the top five […]
Hawkins Little Rascal
Little Rascal Last spring, I was fishing below Tippy Dam throwing streamers for trout. There were lots of bank anglers fishing spawn sacks and a lot of heavy pressure from boat anglers. The trout were refusing most of our offerings of big streamers and we hadn’t had any steelhead activity. It was a sunny day […]
Dry Fly Fishing in Patagonia
Shortly after the Christmas holidays ten of us took off from the USA and headed to Argentine Patagonia. Our airport destination was San Marin de las Andes. Our ultimate goal was to arrive at Spring Creek Lodge in Junin de los Andes. As a result we would spend the next eight to eleven days pursuing […]