American Float

This summer i was invited on a float with Wilderness Adventures on the Middle Fork of the American River. They offer white water rafting trips on some of the best rivers around Northern California. This trip they wanted to explore some of the fishing opportunities in the MF canyon so they invited some fishing professionals including Ralph and Lisa Cutter, Cal Kellog the editor of the Fish Sniffer Magazine as well as myself and 8 other spin fisherman.

Ralph and Lisa staying calm in the tunnel shoot rapid as guide Grady pulls the oars.
Brian rows Cal and his niece down the gnar gnar.
Whip Tail Lizard. They are the fastest lizards in California.
Ralph and Lisa casting into a beautiful pool.
My first rainbow on the Middle American.
Ralph and Lisa bombing out some perfect casts.
On day two i got a really nice brown. We were the last boat so 9 spin fisherman had just hit this water right before i floated through and got this girl on a size 2 jig head streamer i tied up.
Ralph enjoying a killer spread of great food. We were totally spoiled for two days.
Grady in the heavy water of Rucka Chucky Falls. He lost an oar on this one but made it though alright.

High Sierra Music Festival

20 th annual High Music Sierra Music Festival

3 stages. Too many good bands to list.
This year i helped work the Cal Trout booth with the wonderful Shannon Moon.

We had some interactive games for the kids including some painting. I brought some canvas and donated some paints to the cause. Also worked on one of my own paintings of some leopard sharks throughout the weekend.

Holding down the fort.

Merchison Falls, Uganda

Some photos and a report from my friends Craig Smith and Jonathan Boulton's recent trip to Merchison Falls in Uganda. Might be the biggest Nile Perch ever caught there on fly.

Hi Guys - Don't want to bore you with too many details.

Just got back from a trip to the Murchison Falls in Uganda. It is a

fascinating rift valley where over millions of years some of the rivers have

changed the direction the used to flow in. It is rich in culture - Ernest

Hemingway, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Queen Elizabeth have

all hunted there. It was a real adventure as few people have fly fished this

area. It was hot - over 40 degrees in the gorge, humidity was 100%, the

river pumps, tsetse flies were all over you all day, hungry crocs, hippos,

snakes, colobus monkeys, etc. We stayed at the Red Chilli backpackers where

we were fed bacon with nearly every meal. The accommodation was really

sparse and the ablutions were shared by over 50 people. But, the beer was

always cold and plentiful.

Jonathan checked my equipment every evening replacing broken lines and

retying all my knots. We fished at the bottom of the falls at the start of

each day. The Victoria Nile is channelled into a gap of 6 meters and drops

down 40 metres spilling 300 cubic meters of water a second - not sure what

that is in feet. I fished hard about 8 hours a day for 6 days and landed a

total of 4 Nile Perch. One of these happens to be the new recorded record on

fly - 25kg's. It fought me for about 35 minutes (with a lot of instructions

being shouted by Joanthan - I think he panicked for me) on a 10 weight rod -

I did not know fly rods could handle that amount of punishment. Length 1.23m

and girth of 82 cm's.

Our guide was the renowned wildlife expert Paul Goldring who was fascinating

and taught us a lot about the bush. He also showed us a lot of unusual

things we would never have seen if we had been on our own - for example:

fresh leopard tracks on a path we had walked on the day before, a royal

python in the papyrus (something he said we would never see in our lives

again - he has picked up a dead one which he has in a jar in his house, and

then the one we saw with him). The rocks you see us flyfishing from always

had crocs on them and we had to chase them away to get a spot.

We also experienced the true Africa in Kampala where we had to bribe a local

traffic officer for an alleged offense - even having to give him 2000

shillings for his taxi ride back to his post after he had fleeced us for 60

000 shillings. I loved his response - either put up with it or leave - this

from Paul, not the policeman. He was not planning to leave.

Craig Smith

Go Rafting

Summer is in full effect and California's rivers are roaring. It's a great time of year to try rafting. White water rafting is one of the best ways to spend a hot summer day. It's a great thing to do with family and friends or co-workers and chances are there's a killer river not to far from where ever your at. You can float down a mellow class 2 or 3 and check out the canyon walls, wildflowers and wildlife or fish. Or you can get the heart pumping a bit with some class 4 rapids like i did last week on the North Fork of the American River. Check out this little promo video i put together for O.A.R.S. with the help of Steve Markle their marketing director, his wife Nicole, Lauren De Remer, the trusty O.A.R.S. guides and a great group of clients.

North Fork American River with O.A.R.S. from Mikey Wier on Vimeo.

The North Fork of the American is an intense class 4 run through a seldom visited Wild and Scenic canyon just outside of Auburn and right off the Hwy 80.

O.A.R.S. is a great company that offers rafting trips on some of California's best white water as well as other incredible destinations around the world. Stay tuned for some video from Fiji soon.

Ice out with Doug and Sam

Ice out is one of my favorite weeks in the Sierra's. It's a short and unpredictable window when the lakes start to thaw out and the ice begins to break through. The best time is when there is just enough open space between the shore and the ice to make a cast. As the ice melts back the fish see sun light for the first time in months. Lots of bugs that have been frozen in the ice all winter begin to appear and create a fish buffet. It's a great time to try and jump a big fish feeding close to the shore and something i look forward to every year.

Two weeks ago I managed to catch ice out just perfectly with a couple new clients. Doug and Sam Reese from Chicago I.L.
Sam at 15 is on his way to becoming a darn good angler. Here's one of many nice browns and rainbows Sam got throwing his home tied streamers from the shore.
To top the night off we stopped by a smaller lake in the area known for it's LT cutthroats. Here's Sam with a nice one. There was only 5 or 6 feet of open water between the ice and the shore. Fish were cursing right on the ice shelf and spooky so presentation was difficult.
Doug topped the night off with the fish of the day. A beautiful 24" LT.
The fish were very active the last hour of light. Cursing the ice shelf looking for any food they could find.
Even i got in on the action with a decent LT.

Bass N Fly 2010

Spent a couple days on the Delta again this year for the Bass N Fly Challenge. I gave a talk for the Tracy Fly Club on Wednesday night. Then pre fished with Robert Johnson on Thursday. Competition on Friday the 21st. There were 44 teams this year. Way to go team Bass N Fly!

I love all the funky houses and crazy old run down boats and stuff floating all around the Delta. It's like a whole different world out there.
For those who might recognize this slough and are wondering, we did NOT fish here during the comp. Just poking around in pre fishing and checking out all the trippy houses.
Ripping around the Delta with Robert on his bad ass bass boat is always a good time.
Fishing conditions for the comp were tough this year. Super windy. We only managed to get two fish in the boat on game day. I hooked three others but couldn't seal the deal. One was a monster. It was so windy Robert had to just control the boat while i fished a wall. I hooked up a good fish and pulled him out from some weeds. It took a huge jump right in front of the boat and shook my fly in the air. Robert and i both let out a yell. I fell to my knees on the deck of the boat. The knee of my jeans ripped out and my oakley sun glasses fell off my head and i watched them sink. It was basically a huge bass kick to the nuts. It would have been the big fish of the day for the comp. Oh well, that's how it goes. Makes you hurt but keeps you wanting to come back for more. See you next year bass lips.

Truckee Brown

The Truckee River kicks down. There's a few places on the river i love to visit in the spring. On a recent trip down to Reno i stopped by the good old Truckee. After walking for a while i spotted this brown feeding in shallow water. I could tell it was a fish, but i couldn't tell how big it was. Luckily the wind was blowing hard and the water was chopped up. The fish stayed around and let me fish to it for over an hour. I threw several drys and got a couple looks but not commitment. Finally i hooked him on a size 18 nymph on 5x tippet dropped off of one of my hoppers. He gave me a good head shake and poof, was gone. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so i slept in my truck and went back the next day. He was still here. The wind was blowing again and he looked happy. I threw at him a few time and bam, he ate the dropper again. This time i finessed my way through the fight. He went up and down and all over the show. As i was fighting the fish a couple people stopped to watch. When i landed him there was a stimulator hanging out of his mouth. He had busted someone else off earlier that week. What a brute. He broke some poor dudes 4 x. I was jealous they got him to come up for the dry. What a specimen. I'm a brown trout fiend and this guy made my month. It's so rare to have the chance to sight fish to a fish like this around here. This was totally NZ style right in my back yard. A passer by Robert Miller shot this photo for me with his camera. He also was nice enough to film with my video camera. Keep an eye out for this shot down the road. It was a great take.