The Scott Fiberhammer and Naha River Alaskan steel

The plan was simple, portage my kayak a qaurter of a mile to the inside bank of the large 2 mile saltchuck (lagoon) that procceeds the mouth of the Naha, go to bed early, jump out of bed at 4 a.m and cork the whole river before the rest of the guys even mugged up, I could picture it in my mind.. them, all sitting around drinking coffee waiting for the 20 degree air tempature to warm with the sun, joking and laughing, speculating on the caliber of fishing that awaited them, while I hit my fourth or fifth run or slot.. racking up numbers and putting my new Scott Fiberhammer through the strokes, feeling it out and getting to know it better. My plan was going pretty good, Kayak deployed to chosen cache, bed early, out of bed at 4, then I stepped out of the door and was instantly crushed by the cold air that filled my lungs like a sucker-punch... wow, ALOT colder than I had anticipated, back inside and turned on the coffee, plans were made to be broken, this is how great days often start. At the first sign of dawn I made my way the short distance to my Kayak and was not to suprised to find a thin layer of ice on the lagoon, as I paddled in the pre-dawn darkness the ice broke as the yak cruised through the water giving the whole enviroment an edgy erie feel ( there's no such thing as lake monsters... right? ) A short time later I found myself at the mouth of the Naha and started paddling up hoping to make it at least half a mile before the current stopped me. The river was much lower than I had expected it to be, as was the snowpack, my snow shoes would not be required.. relief. Stowing my kayak on the bank of the lower river I set up my new Scott Fiberhammer, shouldered my pack and quickly headed up for the first slot I had dreamed of all winter. After tying on a sexy black steelhead muddler I made my first cast, as the muddler slid past a submerged log I stalled the fly and then dropped a loop rolling it along the bottom at the root ball.. the four foot long flash of a fish caused an aggressive false hook-set that landed my fly in the trees behind me..Damn! Kneeling in a foot of water I quickly switched to a purple muddler and swung at it again.. stall...drop.. roll, fish on! the four foot long fish that had resided only moments before under the root ball had shrunk down to an 18" rainbow.. happens to me all the time, must be some strange physical ability for steelhead to shrink themselves after being spooked.. becouse it sure seems the flash of every steelhead is four feet long... bank shrinkage I guess. I tried the slot for a few more minutes before wanderlust got the best of me and I continued on to the next slot. As I walked through the fog streaked river popping the ice out of my guides with my fingertips the radio came alive " boat to scout " I smiled, no way.. radio silence.. " Bradley.. answer the F****** radio" oh, gonna talk dirty to me now.. buy me dinner first I snickered " ok, well.. do we need snowshoes? " I keyed the mic.. "negative" The radio went silent for a moment.. " alright, guess we will see you up there" doubt it.. I broke into a brisk walk.. the river is mine. I skipped the next four or five runs and slots to be a good sport and headed for my go to spot, a wide 3'deep turn in the river where a rock garden transitions into swing water and then a heavy tailout with a small falls below it.. the resting run, the steel stack in the heavier water on the far side, easy swing and very little garbage to lose flies and fish on. The heavier fish in the 34-38 inch range prefere the deep notch on the tail end of the heavy water, a flat rock rests on the bottom there and the fish love to lay on top of it. I wanted the Fiberhammers first steelhead to be a trophy fish, in Alaska a steelhead is 36" before the state considers it a trophy fish.. only 8% of Alaskas steelhead reach this size.. I was swinging for the fence. I sat and stared at my flybox... 98% black flies, with a few Morish flies and a couple Black and Royal blue muddlers.. South East Alaska steelhead love blue, and the sun was now out.. I,ll give em a little color, and on went the two toned muddler. Five casts in I was starting to have my doubts, "what gives?" and what is that annoying thunk in my cast? I felt all of my guides but the icing conditions had passed with the morning sun and no fresh ice was apparent. I ran my fingers down the shooting head of my Royal Wulff Ambush line, 10 feet into the head my line was perfectly broke in the plastic coating and only the braided core held my line together " WHAT THE F.......?" I can't belive it.. a two month old line.. broken..thank God im only 300 miles away from a fly shop.. but don't worry, all was not lost, instead of 4 miles of 20 lb backing I have 30 yards of backing and then carry a Rio steelhead and atlantic salmon wf7f as my backing, so all I had to do was pull the Royal Wulff off, and put the spare tire line on the outside and away I went ( a special thanks to Aaron Shook for that trick ) I switched to a Morish Trailer Trash and still nothing.. this run has never failed me.. something is wrong. I looked up into the rock garden at a large boulder that has never been there before, behind it some deep slower water in the otherwise turbid rock garden. Walking up I put the two toned muddler back on and sent her thru, my line vortexed and spun, stopping and then moving, impossible to read... and then bam! fish o... off, crap, just not getting the hook set I needed, the fiberhammer takes amuch more aggresive hook-set than any rod I have fished before.... to be continued

Cold Steel

long cast, uphill mend and slack... the line moves, hook-set the black muddler burys, the hook sets.. the fight is on, glass bends into the cork.. me and it.. alone in a snow covered wilderness.. we greet, photo.. and im alone once again, God and the Fiberhammer have been good to me. 56 steel since the first cast in April.. I adore my new friend.. best money ive ever spent.

Your Rod has no Soul...

Sometimes late at night I sit in my Lab ( man cave for fly tyiers ) and take a fly rod out of it tube and just hold it, putting it carefuly together, lining the guides up perfectly.. then twisting my wrist admiring its guides and reel seat. Then I turn and look at my reels and like a mans barbie I try different ones on in a strange game of grown man dress up, that ones too heavy.. no not that one its too small, the balance is wrong.. there ya go, perfect. Then I put them away and walk softly up the stairs and climb into bed, often the wife inquires as to what ive been doing.. cleaning, arranging,reading... anything, you name it, anything but " ive been playing dress up with my flyrods " frankly sound a touch creepy just writing it. You see, I love my gear, flyrods in particular almost as much as I like fishing, in fact I may fish just so I can play with them, im not sure.. the verdict is still out on that one. I hate comments like "reels are just line holders" or " any rod can get the job done just the same" shit... sensless shit spoken by men who love the trout, steel or carp more than the gear. Some rods are lifeless, cold, stiff..absolutely bankrupt in the department of charm or soul. This is why I love Glass, glass the class clown of blanks, the game changer.. I am not fond of your T.F.O... or your z-axis... I donot want to hear about your Cabelas 3 forks package.. and yes, that reel is infact just a line holder. We won't talk about lines or leaders here becouse thats worse than religion or politics in a bar. I love rods with soul, heart, character... testicular fortitude is not a requirement for my rods simply becouse we will win with tact and strategy.. I have added a new rod to the RIVERKEEPER stable, I have recieved a great deal of guff and criticism over what I paid for " an outdated material " I find it funny that all of us will someday somewhere find that 2x2 foot square where we will be standing when the bullet hits the bone.. age overcomes us, or the cancer wins the fight. And you will be gone, they will dress you in expensive clothes you never would have worn in the world, and plant you in the ground in a box that cost more than the combined total of every mattress you ever slept on in your life... and then the Government will tax you for dying.. Uncle Sam will be getting $625 less of my money when my big show ends- Readers please welcome the Scott Fiberhammer to the RIVERKEEPER family... I hope it makes it into the family album many times in the coming years-

Guest Writer's needed

In Just 3 short weeks I will once again be heading to Alaska for 8 weeks, in the past I have allowed the blog to just lay dormant while Im away. Lately Ive been thinking what a great opportunity it is to allow other bloggers to give my page a new or different face, so if you are a reader, you need not have your own blog, just something to teach or say, or maybe you have wanted to try your hand at blogging but just haven't pulled the trigger on your own creation yet. I would love to see this place spruced up with a different perspective or maybe a little different content. So if your feeling up to the task please feel free to e-mail me or just leave a comment and we can work it all out- Thanks for reading, Tight lines- Brad

WTF?

So as I sit here tonight catching up on all the great reads you folks produce daily I came across a post from November Rains, ( check my reads list to the right of the screen if you wanna check it out.. and you should ) Brian, a very skilled pin fishermen from americas heartland managed to perpetrate the fraud of photographer for a pretty high caliber sporting publication, ( great job man ) now, being a typical man I decided I would compliment him, and possibly throw in a jab or two about lake run trout or beading.. when you buy a license in Oregon you actually have to sign an agreement that if you ever meet a steelhead alley boy or a New Yorker with a six weight and a steel addiction that you must instantly shout out.." lake run trout" and as they begin to froth whisper " beads.. really? "... flosser.. so I was gonna try and do my part and fulfill my stately obligation when after I hit the post button I was thrown to the ground by a sucker punch called a capchka? ( is that even right?) three tries... yea, I said three, first one was in Gaelic, im pretty sure the second one had a picture of a bird in it and the third one was Greek but luckily I was able to use a translater.. its getting pretty labor intensive for my small wester mind to work out googles "code" soooo... google, WTF?

Your Help Is Needed-

Good Morning, I have a request for all 6 of my readers, Recycled fish is in steep competition for a grant to help with their grass roots clean up campaign, if you would like to read what recycled fish is all about please go to http://www.recycledfish.org/ Their One Million Stewards program is competing for a grant at Boatus.com You can follow this link to place your vote for them once a day untill March 15th. They are the bottom right option with the name One Million Stewards by recycled fish. As your reward here is an adoreable picture of who we are doing this for- Good fishing

Wright & McGill Medium Drifter 8-12 Review

length 9'6 Line wt 8-12 Power Medium Action Fast Reel Shimano Symetre 4000FJ Target Winter steelhead Ive thought alot about this review, Mostly becouse I am so conflicted as what to say about this rod.. How to describe my true opinion after 52 hours of fishing and 16 steelhead ranging from 6 to 15 lbs. Here it is... a Porche with a Ford paint job and Walmart tires. At 9'6 this rod is a perfect length for throwing spinners and spoons which is how I fished exclusively, the butt is shorter than other rods from Lamiglas and St Croix in its class.. sheer brilliance from the eye of a spin fisherman who is tired of overly long butt sections on similar "over built" rods. The tip flips spoons incredibly easy, and the sensetivity to strikes and bottom contact resonates like a crisp bell, its very easy to feel the difference between a rock and a fish. Now the not so polite points.... this rod is finished and built horribly. At $100 bucks, which is what this fool paid for it I expected more qaulity. Ive since seen the rod on sale for as low as $59... its real value in my book. The clear coat is literaly globbed on around the guides, to the point of feeling sharp when the fingers are ran over it, I noticed this in the store but chose to overlook it based on the overseas build and the price point. No matter how much clear coat they globbed on it still didn't stop the coating from cracking at most of the guides after a 20 minute battle with a 15lb chromer.. that also caused two of the liners of the guides to pop out. I think what bothers me most is Wright&McGills sensless pandering to a younger crowd, while its been decades of fishing rod manufactures designing rods for fishermen, not fishing, I had hoped the only glass spin rod on the market wouldn't do it.. they did, the grip is rubber with an exposed blank butt with a tarpon ball styled end cap.. Is this a bass rod? real men want their hands on cork, this grip and reel seat is extremely cold with a bare hand and miles of hiking banks and setting the rod down to re-rig or work with a fish has resulted in the finish chipping all over the exposed blank. The paint job is trendy and lame, something I also chose to overlook just to get a Modern glass spin rod.. I overlooked too much at the time of purchase just to have something I wanted, I would not buy this rod again. I sat the rod next to my $65 Penn spin rod with over 4 years of fishing time on it and the Wright&McGill looks twice as old already. Now, the sweet thing is the rod has a great warranty, a warranty I will not be using. I plan to take the rod to a builder and have it stripped and built into the best glass rod ever

, becouse they did build the best glass spin rod blank I have ever fished- Good fishing-