Winter 2012/2013

Here are a few pictures sent to me from one of good friends, Ayr Miller, who is one of the regulars at Patterson Lake in Manitoba. The upper picture is a nice bull trout while the lower picture is of a cutthroat trout. The fish were from a lake in the Canadian Rockies. Pictures by Ayr Miller

Club Officers and Directors for

2011/2012

President: Bob Morenski rmorenski@dakotaflyfishers.com 701-862-3124 Vice President: Scott Renfandt srenfandt@dakotaflyfishers.com Secretary/Treasurer Clint Baxter cbaxter@dakotaflyfishers.com Board of Directors: Mark Olinger molinger@dakotaflyfishers.com Randy Olson flycast@gmail.com Murray Greer Greer3@srt.com Mike Kroh mkroh@dakotaflyfishers.com M. Byron Grubb blackdog@srt.com Lee Brend shirley_brend@hotmail.com Editor: Bob Morenski rmorenski@dakotaflyfishers.com Webmaster: Ethan Renfandt webmaster@dakotaflyfishers.com

Schedule of Events:

December 8, 2012: Meeting at the Minot YMCA 1:00 to 3:00 PM

Election of Officers and Directors for 2013/2014

Program: Practical Lake Fly Fishing Using Strike Indicators by Bob Morenski

January 12, 2013

Program to be Determined (See President’s Message)

February 9, 2013

Program to be Determined (See President’s Message)

March 9, 2013

Program to be Determined (See President’s Message)

Winter is here! In the Morenski household that

means one thing, its remodeling season! I think

that I need to find my wife a job so that I can retire

again. While it is only early November, I already

long for the spring thaw. Winter always seems so

long here in the Dakotas. Never the less, it is a great

time to get back in touch with our local club

members and start getting prepared for next season.

Our regular club meetings will start on December

8th

at our new meeting location, the Minot YMCA.

We will be moving to a once a month schedule

which will be the second Saturday of the month

starting in December and ending in March. I will be

doing the first program [See our program

Schedule] but I want to leave the next three slots

open and tentatively line up another program. For

the other two spots, I would like to devote one to a

species orientated meeting. We did a couple of

these a few years ago and they were very

successful. I will let the club pick the species. We

have a lot of new members and I am sure many of

them would like to learn the basic fundamentals of

fly tying. I will put these items to a vote and let the

membership decide what they want to do. For the

schedule, I will list the last 3 meetings as To Be

Determined [TBD].

I just purchased a used projector which I will make

available for club use. This will eliminate the need

for the club to rent or purchase a projector. I do an

occasional program out of state and I have a need

for a projector. So, I bit the bullet. I will make this

projector available for club meetings. It will also

come in handy when we have group fly tying. We

can use it in conjunction with a video camera and a

screen to allow an enlarged bird’s eye view of the

tying process.

We have a number of great articles in this

newsletter. Within the past week I have received

articles from Chuck Loftis. Chuck is a member of

our club who currently resides in Colorado. For

many, he will be remembered as the voice of fly

fishing in “Dakota Country” magazine. Mike

Andreasen who is an honorary member of the

Dakota Fly Fishers from Bountiful, Utah, has also

supplied us with an article for this issue. Mike is the

co-author of 2 books, “Effective Lake Flies” and

“Productive Stillwater Flies”. Finally, James

White who is another member of our Colorado

contingent and is the author of “The Round Boys”

also supplied an article. It is a little large for the

newsletter; so, I am going to place it on the website.

While I am at it, I would like to thank Ayr Miller

for the pictures that he supplied for the newsletter.

Ayr and his wife Lori are from Edmonton, Alberta.

They are friends and are some of my great

neighbors at the Patterson Lake campground in

Manitoba where I reside around 3 months out of the

year.

We will be hitting a new milestone this winter. It is

the Dakota Fly Fishers 30th

Anniversary.

Everybody said that it was impossible to start a fly

fishing club in North Dakota. Never the less, I was

too stupid to listen to anybody and forged ahead

with the idea. The members of this club plowed a

lot of new ground. For the most part, lake fly

fishing was in its infancy 30 years ago. In the

process, we have turned a lot of heads and we have

caught just about every species of fish that swims in

the state. We have led the way with many

innovative fly patterns and techniques. Through the

life of the club, I have served 7 two year terms for a

total of 14 years. I have been spelled by the

following individuals who have also served as Club

President: John Gillis, Mark Olinger, Clint

Baxter and Todd Pope. Remarkably, we have had

only 3 treasurers during our club history. They are

the late Art Ellis, Jim Harris and Clint Baxter. I

would like to take this time to thank all of these

people and all of the other officers and directors that

have guided us and kept us afloat for these years.

We are the only surviving fishing club in the Minot

area.

Last but definitely not least, we have election of

club officers and directors. I will be stepping down

as club president at the end of this term. I am out of

the state for an average of four months per year.

Now that my wife is also retired, that may be

increasing. I will stay on as newsletter editor which

is the more time consuming of the two jobs but it is

one that I can do from any location. I stepped down

four years ago for the same reason. I ended up back

in the job when Todd Pope moved to Bismarck and

stepped down as President. I will still be very active

and try to serve the club as needed.

Bob Morenski

By Bob Morenski

Above is an olive Ice Leech tied in the balanced style using 15 lbs. TyGer Leader wire. The fly was tied on a size 6 standard, 2X heavy wet fly hook. This method of balancing a fly provides the option of fishing the fly as either a balanced version for fishing under an indicator or fishing it the conventional manner. This was my killer go to fly on Patterson and Tokaryk lakes during my October 2012 trip. Photo and fly by Bob Morenski

This fall I had an inspiration that I would like to

share with all of you. For the last couple years, I

have had articles about tying and fishing balanced

flies under strike indicators. I was fresh off an

afternoon of fishing at Tokaryk Lake. While

fishing there, I caught a lot of small fish plus a few

that were in the low twenties. The best fish that I

hooked that afternoon bent one of those blackened

Mustad jig hooks that we use for tying balanced

flies in two different directions and sprung the

hook. Right then and there, I decided it will be a

cold day in hell before I waste my time tying any

more balanced flies on those jig hooks.

The next day, Ron Granneman came over to show

me his latest inspiration. He had tied a balanced fly

using a monofilament loop knot. It burst his bubble

when he was told that there were people already

doing that. I did not particularly like that method

and we had a conversation on alternatives. TYGer

Leader wire came up in that conversation. For

those of you who do not know what TYGer Leader

wire is, it is a coated 21strand wire that is used for

toothy critters like pike or toothy saltwater fish

species. It holds a knot well and they claim that you

can use any conventional knot with it.

I had bought some TYGer Leader wire this past

winter from Feather Craft. I knew that I had it

somewhere in my camper; so, I started looking for

it. I found it right away in the first draw that I

looked into. I sat down and tried several methods of

attachment. On my third attempt, I hit pay dirt. The

method was simple, easy and best of all quick. I

found it no more difficult or time consuming than

weighting a fly. The big question, however, was

6

“can a fish pull it out?” I quickly received an

answer to this one. I went out fishing to test it. On

my second cast, my indicator went down and I

landed a 23 inch brown. I missed a fish on the

following cast and then hooked up in the reeds.

After retrieving my fly, I stuck a good fish which

ran through the reeds and out to deep water. I

somehow freed my line. (It sometimes is better to

be lucky than good!) When it was all over, I had a

26.5 inch brownie in the net. I pulled up to the boat

ramp and got Dave LaFrance out of his camper to

help me measure the fish and to take a few pictures.

Above is a head shot of a 26.5 inch brown that fell for my prototype TyGer Leader Wire balanced Olive Ice Leech. The big fish made for a great test for the strength of the TyGer Leader wire connection. In all, several hundred fish were

landed using this fly with zero connection failures. Photo by Dave LaFrance

After that, I tied up around fifty flies using the

TYGer Leader wire technique to balance the flies.

I quickly found that the TYGer Leader wire

offered many advantages to the other methods and

techniques that I have used. They are as follows:

1. For starters, you can use stronger hooks. I

really love the ABI 2X heavy standard wet

fly hooks. This is one of my favorite hook

styles and for the price, you can’t beat them.

When you compare them to the strength of

the Mustad 32833 BLN jig hooks, there is

not even a competition. If you are fishing

around the edge of the reeds and you hook a

big fish, you will appreciate their strength.

(You can buy ABI hooks at Dakota Tackle

in Bismarck or at the Fly Desk. Bryan

Jenson who is the current owner of the Fly

Desk is a member of the Dakota Fly Fishers

and sells ABI hooks at a very reasonable

price. You can also get slip strike indicators

there and he has the best prices around on

Airflo Fly lines.)

2. You do not have to use a pin to extend the

fly to get it to balance.

3. You do not have to try to bend the eye of the

hook down like we have done in some of

our alternative methods in an attempt to use

heavier hooks.

4. It is just as fast as or faster than tying on a

pin to your hook shank.

5. The distance from your bead to where you

line attachment point never varies like when

you use a pin. You will be able to eye ball

the proper distance after a couple flies.

6. The coating on the wire allows the tying

thread to cut in and bind. It makes for a very

secure connection without having to double

the wire over to lock into place. I got to test

out the strength of the connection

unintentionally when I cast a fly deep into

the reeds. I broke 12 pound Seaguar

AbrazX fluorocarbon line before pulling out

or breaking the TYGer Leader wire

connection to the fly. If I had any lingering

doubts, this was the final sale.

7. You do not have to have a separate fly box

for flies balanced with this method. If you

want to fish the fly in the conventional

manner, you can tie your line directly to the

eye of the hook in the normal manner. There

are several flies like the Beaver Leech that I

have been tying both balanced and standard

versions. With this method, I no longer have

to do this.

7

Here is how you attach the TYGer Leader wire

to balance your fly.

1. Slide on a bead using the larger opening

toward the eye. This helps placing the bead

in a consistent position

2. Wrap your thread and secure the bead in

place with thread. Lacquer the thread.

3. Take a length or TYGer Leader wire. Do

not cut it into small pieces first! You would

only be wasting material. Make a loop

coming up from the bottom of the hook.

Position the wire so that the smaller tag end

faces away from you and the balance of the

wire is toward you.

4. Make a few wraps of thread. Then pull up

the wire loop to the desired length. This can

vary with the fly pattern.

5. With the two stands of wire sitting on the

top portion of the hook shank, wrap over the

wire back toward the hook end and stop

where the hook starts to curve.

6. Wrap back toward the where the loop is and

then clip the off the excess wire.

7. While you were securing the rear portion of

the wire, the loop portion will pull in along

the bottom of the hook shank facing the

bead. With hook end of your whip finisher

or tool of your choosing, hook on to the loop

and pull in down. Wrap in front of it with

thread to position it facing down.

8. Throw a few wraps of thread at the base of

the wire loop.

9. Lacquer the thread heavily.

8

That is all it takes. The process sounds lengthy but

it can be accomplished in just a few seconds with a

little practice. I am fully sold on this technique for

the reasons that I have already provided. Those

people who have watched me demonstrate this

technique are also sold. It is fast, simple and makes

a very secure loop. Besides balanced flies, you can

use this wire make tandem hook articulated flies

such as those tied by Kelly Galloup or Ray

Schmidt or maybe even use it for its intended

purpose which is catching tooth critters like pike,

musky, kingfish or barracuda. While I know that

you could use this technique with other types of

wire or materials, I do not think it that it would

make as secure of a connection. TYGer Leader

Wire comes in various sizes from 2 to 120 pound

test. For most balancing applications, the 15 pound

would be best. I would probably go with 10 pound

test for balancing smaller flies. The stuff is a little

pricy but if you hook on to big fish near the reeds,

you will appreciate every penny that you spent to

make that connection secure. You will especially

love being able to use a heavier hook.

Like I mentioned earlier, TYGer Leader is

available at Feather Craft. You can order it on line

at www.feather-craft.com or order toll free by

calling 1-800-659-1701. If you want to buy it in

larger spools or in full range of size and colors, you

can also order it directly at www.tygerleader.com. It

is available on larger spools in nickel, black or

bronze.

If you are in Bismarck, you can buy ABI hooks at

Dakota Tackle, 2005 E. Bismarck Expressway,

Bismarck, ND 58504 (701) 222-3092

Another source for ABI Hooks is the Fly Desk you

can find them on line at www.flydesk.com or by

calling Bryan at 801-557-6182. Bryan is a member

of the Dakota Fly Fishers and I am sure that he

would appreciate your business.

Above is a big Patterson Lake Rainbow that took an olive Ice Leech that was balanced using TYGer Leader wire. Photo by Bob Morenski

9

By: Bob Morenski

Ayr Miller of Edmonton Alberta displays a typical Patterson Lake brown trout. An Ayr Miller picture

One day this year in early June, I woke up and saw

that conditions would be great for a run to the north

end of Patterson Lake. I cranked up my trolling

motor and headed straight up to the north end

without bothering to fish. It was if I had a

rendezvous with destiny. Approximately ¾’s of the

way up, I reached the location where I planned to

start fishing for the day. On the first cast, I hooked

up on the second strip. I knew right away that it was

one of the big boys and fortunately for me, the fish

headed out to deep water. About five minutes later,

I put the net to a 27 inch Patterson Lake brownie.

This was not only, my best brown for the 2012

season but also, my personal best brown for the

lake. I had hooked a lot of big brown trout over the

years at Patterson which would have equal or

exceed the brown that I just landed. I can think of at

least a dozen fish. At least two of these would have

topped the former Provincial record. But you know

what they say, “The 13th

time is a charm!” With

that fish under my belt, I can start focusing on my

next losing streak. It is sad to say but I already have

one notch in the belt towards topping my record.

It was the lure of big brown trout that brought me

across the border to Manitoba in 1987. At the time

William Lake in the Turtle Mountains which

10

Author with a 26.5 inch buck brown that he caught on a TYGer Leader wire balanced Ice Leech. Photo by Dave LaFrance

straddle the Manitoba/North Dakota border was an

awesome brown trout fishery. It was subsequently

ruined by the introduction of perch. Never the less,

this started me down the road to my love affair with

the fisheries of our northern neighbor. I had been

hearing rumors of outstanding brown trout in a

place called Tokaryk Lake. On the Canada Day/4th

of July weekend in 1995, I decided to check it out

and I have been a Manitoba Parkland junky ever

since.

The brown trout fishery waned on Tokaryk Lake in

the late 90’s but Patterson Lake filled the void.

From 2005 through 2008, we saw a lot of big brown

trout in the lake. Like many newly aerated lakes, the

water was a little more turbid than it is today. In

2008 we had an explosion of browns in 20 to 23

inch class but by 2010, the brown trout fishery

seemed to drop off. I think that part of this was due

to a decline in the dominant year class of browns

that the lake contained, a rise in a dominant year

class of rainbows and high water. I have had an

annual camp site at Patterson since the campground

opened. Between 2008 and 2011, we saw the water

levels raise a good 3 feet. This created a brown trout

super highway between the shoreline and the

bulrushes. I forage for oyster mushrooms in June on

the dead timber along the lake shore. I would see

large brown trout cruising in this region of the lake.

This made them almost untouchable to fly

fisherman.

Drought gripped Manitoba from July of 2011 to the

present. This dropped the water levels in most of the

area lakes. Patterson Lake dropped at least 20

inches from its high levels of June 2011. This

eliminated the open water region between the shore

and the reeds and moved many of the brown trout

back into the normal feeding zones of the lake. We

had exceptional brown trout fishing all year which

11

reached its zenith this fall. I am glad to report that

there is a huge population of 19 to 23 inch browns

in Patterson Lake at present with excellent

population of smaller browns. Larger browns are a

little tougher to come by but they are there. I landed

browns to 27 inches this year. I got gooned in the

reeds by one fish this fall that popped my 0X tippet

like it was sewing thread. I believe this fish may

have topped my season best. As a consolation prize,

I landed a beautiful 26.5 inch buck and another that

was somewhere close to 26 inches.

A nice brown around 26 inches caught by the author this fall. Picture by Bob Morenski

Below: Author shows off a 24.5 inch brown. Picture by Dave LaFrance

Tokaryk Lake was another surprise. Dave LaFrance

and I caught a lot of browns this spring. This fall we

witnessed the full spectrum of year classes on

Tokaryk. Like on Patterson Lake, there seems to be

a very large class of 19 to 23 inch browns. Ayr

Miller landed a fat 25 inch hen brown trout on

Tokaryk. He did not get a picture of it but said that

the weight was close to 10 pounds.

Above and below are pictures of some typical Tokaryk browns. Pictures by Bob Morenski

Above: Author doing the Ernie Schwiebert pose with a small Tokaryk brown. Why is the author so happy? It is because the future brown trout fishery on Tokaryk may soon return to its glory days of the 90’s. Pictured snapped by Ayr Miller

Other Manitoba Parkland lakes contain browns.

Persse Lake has a small population but some of

these should be huge starting in 2013. Like many

newly aerated lakes, Persse has some turbidity

problems at this time. Patterson Lake went through

the same issues. It has been further compounded by

two super bright summers which aided a spurt of

algae growth. The food supply in this lake is

unbelievable. I suspect that by next fall we should

be seeing some super chucky 25+ inch football

shaped browns and browns and even some 20+ inch

brook trout.

12

Laurie Lake in Duck Mountain Provincial Park

has a good population of brown trout and also some

nice lake trout and splake. Laurie currently holds

the Provincial record for brown trout with a 30.88

inch specimen. I do not get up to this area very

much anymore. So, I do not feel comfortable giving

any specifics but fishing after ice out and again

October can be very good here. A good person to

contact would be Ryan Suffron. Ryan is a guide

who lives in Benito, Manitoba and guides in many

of the lakes north of Roblin. I have incorporated his

business card if you are interested in fishing this

area. If you are with a small group and plan on

fishing Duck Mountain Provincial Park, you should

check out Childs Lake Lodge. Bryan and Joan

Forbes are good friends and FLIPPR supporters.

They have nice clean cabins and Joan is an avid fly

fisher. For more information about Child Lake

Lodge, check out their website at the following link.

www.childslakelodge.com

Flies:

There are a lot of real good flies that work on

Parkland brown trout. Most represent either leeches

or minnows. Right after ice out, I like to use a

Beaver Leech. We tie these in quite a few versions.

We use it plain or with gold, silver or black bead

heads. We have been fishing them both in balanced

and regular models. In the last issue of the “Dakota

Fly Fisher”, Summer/Fall 2012, I stuck in a fly

created by Nick Laferriere called the Chocolate

Peanut Butter Cup. It is an excellent early season

brown trout pattern. I take a lot of fish on both

Patterson and Tokaryk on black Matukas. Last

spring, it was dynamite on early season browns. It is

a perpetually good pattern to use throughout the

season at dusk. The Purple Beaver is frequently a

hot fly; so are Pine squirrel Zonkers. I have had

exceptionally good luck on black with Kelly green

body. Every fall, one of my top patterns is an Ice

Leech tied with Fire Fox Peacock Lite Brite body, a

red rib, silver bead and a black marabou tail. This

fall, I hammered the browns on a balanced olive Ice

Leech. I had one package of material that was

significantly lighter in color than the other olive Ice

Dub packages that I have. It would be called a

golden olive if they actually made that color.

Variation in batch color is something that I have

seen a lot in products from Hareline Dubbing. I am

going to leave a bag of olive out in the sun to fade

it. I think that I can get close to matching the color

in that manner. In addition to these flies, just about

every leech pattern and wooly bugger pattern ever

invented will turn browns on these waters. Make

sure that you have patterns in black, brown and

olive. When fish go deep in late June, magnum

version Dark McGregor, UV brown/Olive Pine

Squirrel Zonkers with sculpin olive strips work very

well and on cloudy days, UV lavender Ice Leech

with a black tail can be hot.

13

The Future:

Above: Author doing the Ernie Schwiebert pose with a small Tokaryk brown. Why is the author so happy? It is because the future brown trout fishery on Tokaryk may soon return to its glory days of the 90’s. Pictured snapped by Ayr Miller

The future of Parkland brown trout fishing is bright.

In fact on Tokaryk Lake, I think they are now the

dominant species. They have had several very

successful stockings of brown trout in recent years

and there is just a huge number of 10 to 12 inch

browns in the lake. Since Tokaryk has made a

resurgence, I have been hoping for the brown trout

fishery to return to the glory years of the mid 90’s

and the lake looks to be on track to that.

The brown trout fishery on Patterson Lake is just as

bright as Tokaryk. In 2012, the lake was double

stocked with browns. No browns were stocked in

2011 because the browns were too small and the

decision was made by Manitoba fisheries to hold

the fish over the winter to help get a little more size

to them. This stocking is doing very well. In

October, another load of around 6000 browns were

planted.

So, if you love fishing for browns as much as I do,

you don’t have to fight the crowds out west in

Montana to get into some trophy fish. Some of the

best lake brown trout fishing in North America

awaits you just a couple hour drive north of the

border.

14

By: Mike Andreasen

One of the hottest items in fly tying over the last

two years has been ultra violet or UV products.

Several companies have come out with them and

they have been a very pricey profit item for them. I

have questioned whether or not they are really UV

products, because all of them seem to contain a lot

of purple plastic material in their makeup.

For years manufacturers have sold us fluorescent

materials that really were not fluorescent but rather

were just much brighter colors. We were led to

believe that they were something they are not. I

wondered if this was the case with the UV products.

It’s a fact that when colored items are placed in the

water , they lose their appearance of color and fade

to gray or black, depending on how deep in the

water column they go, and on how turbid the water

is. Red appears dark gray or black at about four feet

deep in turbid water. Every color after red in the

spectrum will show the same dark gray or black as

red does as each of the colors goes deeper into the

water. The last colors to disappear are blues and

purples.

It’s for that reason that I’ve used purple flash and

materials in my flies whenever the water has been

dark, or the fish have been deep, or when their

wasn’t a lot of visible light present. EG: dark

cloudy days. It has been very successful for me and

my friends over the years. I’ve discussed this at

many seminars, fly tying demos and fishing shows

with many people who feel the same way.

One of my good friends David Larson happens to

be a superb fly fisherman but is also involved with a

company that produces chemical sprays for the

treatment of many health issues. They also make

major non-toxic disinfectants and germicides for

sterilization of medical facilities and other places

requiring germ free environments. In short he has

access to major chemists and lab facilities to test his

theories.

15

David reasoned that sight is the major perception

that game fish use to locate their prey and food

items, and that scientific research has shown that

trout and salmon and most other game fish perceive

light in the ultra violet spectrum as well as in the

visible spectrum.

David was thus lead to develop a product

that when sprayed on a fly causes the fly to absorb

radiation in the ultra violet region of the

electromagnetic spectrum and to re-emit light in the

ultra violet and visible regions of the spectrum.

Colors with shorter wave lengths such as

purple and blue penetrate the water more effectively

and are thus seen from farther distances by game

fish. These colors are greatly enhanced by

Spectrum Response.

Spectrum Response causes the fly to radiate more

light in the shorter wave lengths and causes the fly

to be more visible from farther distances by the fish.

When David first showed me the product he took

two identical flies out of my fly box and treated one

of them with the product. He then placed both flies

under an ultra violet light. The treated fly was so

bright and radiant compared to the untreated fly that

I got totally excited. I also had lots of questions.

The first question was, “If you still have to place

your fly where the fish is located or you won’t

catch him anyway, how can you prove it works?”

The answer was that they had taken two identical

lures, one treated and one untreated and put them on

down riggers on both sides of a boat. After thirty

minutes of trolling they traded sides of the boat.

The treated lure consistently out caught the

untreated one by seven to one.

That was enough to get me started testing the

product. I still believe if you haven’t worked on

your knowledge of how fish relate to structure and

how they feed and travel through the water to and

from their feeding areas, that Spectrum Response

will not suddenly make you become a better

fisherman. I do believe however that if your fly is

in the area of the fish it will increase the fish’s cone

of visibility making your chances better to hook the

fish.

A one ounce bottle sells for $12.95, and a two

ounce bottle sells for $19.95 from spectrum

response.com. A bottle will treat dozens of flies.

All the instructions and scientific data is on the

website.

The product is hydrophobic and will not clump up

the materials on your flies. It dries in about 30

seconds and is very user friendly.

My friends and I are using it regularly and it has

become another tool in our arsenal of fish attracting

weapons. We have even been spraying it on so

called UV materials.

One of my friends said he was going to use it and

not let his partners know about it. He caught 17 fish

to their 4. Did it make that much difference or was

he just that much better that day? I don’t know but

to me if it will give you an edge over the fish it is

worth the investment.

Editor’s Note: Mike Andreasen is an Honorary

Member of the Dakota Fly Fishers who lives in

Bountiful Utah. He is a well-known and sought after

demonstration fly tier and is the co-author of two

popular stillwater fly tying books, Effective Lake

Flies and Productive Stillwater Flies

16

By Chuck Loftis

Snow! Cold! Trick-or-treats! More snow. Teeth

begin to chatter! Deeper cold! Heavier snow! No

one even considering "gratitude" by Thanksgiving

weekend! Intense cold! Teeth chattering

uncontrollably! Heaviest snow of the season!

Christmas cancelled! (Santa stuck in a snow drift;

reindeer refuse to work anyway.) More cold!

Eskimos seen heading south with "Brazil or Bust”

signs on back of their parkas! Cold from ground

to moon. Dentures involuntarily leaping from

mouths, refusing to leave full coffee cups. More

snow! Moderating temperatures! Hope for spring

renewing. Snow begins to melt. Equinox still

scheduled for March 20. Northerners perplexed at

appearance of strange glowing orb in the sky.

Snow really melting fast now! Flooding in Red

River Valley! Seven state blizzard! Though it's

April, a return to double-digit below-zero

temperatures! Spring rescheduled to begin third

week of August! Clinton administration declares

Fourth of July observances to be held in

conjunction with Labor Day!

Yeah, I'd say that accurately describes the winter of

1996-1997 anywhere within a 20 state area east of

the Rocky Mountains and north of the Mason-

Dixon line.

But a curious thing happened in central North

Dakota on New Years Day 1997: the temperature

climbed to a gray-yet-balmy 40F. Winds were calm

and it actually rained in several counties January

1st. I found these to be perfect conditions for

nabbing crappies, largemouth bass and bluegill

from the olivine waters of Nelson Lake in Oliver

County near Center, North Dakota.

The Fishery

For those new to Dakota Fly Fishers or those

unfamiliar with the situation of Nelson Lake, allow

me to describe this unique angling opportunity: the

dam thrown across Square Butte Creek created a

sizable lake from which water is drawn in order to

produce steam-generated electricity at an adjacent

coal-fired plant. The water is returned to the lake

after use and usually comes in at around 70F. When

both units are up and running at the plant, the water

runs heavy and hot (relatively speaking) and so does

the fishing!

Consequently, while all other area stillwaters are as

stiff as an ironing board, Nelson Lake is open for

business... whether from shore (near the inlet or the

dam) or in some conveyance on its open waters.

My first trip on that New Year’s Day 1997 came at

the behest of a friendly Texan who had learned how

to fish it three winters prior. He invited me along

and I obliged, anxious to get the rust off my elbow,

a line in the water and see this curiosity (if not

"oddity") of a lake. It didn't take long after arrival

and, despite shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, we were

sniggling fish as fast as we could get our lines in the

water.

We managed several eight inch bluegill and a few

12 inch bass, but it was the 11-13 inch crappies that

had us most entertained. We fished "the other fly"

under floats that day (read: marabou jigs) and they

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worked like a charm. Of course, a fly angler's mind

is usually stuck in fifth gear and mine was no

exception: I recalled standard minnow patterns that

would do the trick and began formulating ideas for

new ones.

As winter 1996-97 ground on, I made it back a

couple of times to Nelson Lake when the air

temperature approached 20 degrees in Bismarck.

That temperature failed to hold as I reached the lake

and it was only 10F outside. No matter. Having the

entire west shore near the inlet to myself, to cast

Zonkers produced crappie after crappie and bass

after bass. Eventually, when March came around

and the snow was melting from the surrounding

landscape, small creeks developed bringing with

them a demarcation between warm and icy water

and it was along the edges of the frigid flows that

fished stacked up. Please don't ask why, but if I had

to guess, it likely had something to do with where

the minnows were staging. Fish - like any other

carnivore - are generally found near food.

Before You Go...

Here's a list of things to consider before heading to

Nelson Lake...

1. Check on the immediate area's weather

conditions and/or forecast. Just because there's a

70% chance of snow with highs in the 20's, don't get

too worked up about it unless that includes winds

exceeding 15 mph. Sure, the wind chill will be

tough but, more importantly, this is BIG water and

if it is going to be windy, leave the pontoon or float

tube in your automobile and try casting from the

west shoreline. Short lining is fine, by the way, as

90% of the fish are often within 10-50 feet of the

bank.

2. Call ahead to the MinnKota plant's office. If the

generation units are shut down, it pays to ask how

long it has been since they were last running. If the

answer is "a couple of days" then stay home and tie

flies. If they say "a few hours" then there's still a

good window of opportunity as the warm waters

will still have the fished turned on. If one unit has

been running consistently, then the angling will be

fairly good near the inlet. If both have been up and

running for some time, then action should range

from "good, everywhere on the lake" to "Forget the

wife and kids... I ain't ever going back!"

3. No need for finesse here... simple tackle is fine.

Floating lines with varying lengths of leader and

tippet to accommodate the depth at which fish are

suspended will work easily. If you want to get e

little technical, intermediate sink fly lines work

fabulously, too.

Fantasy Fishing a Real Possibility Over the years, friends of mine and I experienced

several outings at Nelson that are the stuff of

legend. When it came time to get off the water,

there was weeping and gnashing of teeth; shouts of

protestation; little boys having to be pulled from

their float tubes or boats and shoved in the pickup

truck just to get them back home.

Poor, Brian Barrett. He was almost as bad as Bill

Mitzel!

At any rate, I sympathized with these li'l fellas

because, between the three of us, we tallied plenty

of days in excess of 350 crappies, bluegilll and bass

in about 4-6 hours of presenting leech and minnow

patterns. For crying out loud, many was the time I

would simply lower my flies and jigs right in front

of my pontoons because fish were schooled up

beneath me like I was a courtesy dock.

Given the right conditions, a 100+ fish afternoon is

a breeze at Nelson, but you have to be on the fish in

order to enjoy such results. They school there just

like anywhere else; they move from spot to spot.

Get them figured out in optimal water temps and

you'll be talking about that outing for the rest of

your life, too.

In addition to what I mentioned before about the

fish often hugging the shore, don't overlook getting

out on the lake. Many are the times I worked 60-70

yards from shore and slightly north of the west

shore boat launch. Fish often schooled over that

shallow area and could be nabbed right at the edge

where the water deepened oh so slightly.

Even a slight change in the bottom can be

considered "structure" that attracts fish.

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Available Species

In addition to the plentiful white crappie, bluegill,

largemouth bass and carp, there's a fair number of

black crappies, the odd northern pike or two and a

rare walleye.

Flies

Effective patterns are as follows:

1. Any streamer patterns, in sizes 2-10, 3-4X long,

incorporating white and/or chartreuse materials.

Good combos of contrasting dark and light

materials do a good job of imitating baitfish.

2. Woolly Buggers, sizes 2-10, 3-4X long...

especially in white or olive. Heavily weighted with

lead or beads allows for good jigging motion.

3. Mohair leeches, sizes 2-10, 3-4 X long, in olive,

blood, black and gray. Tie weighted for jigging

motion in retrieve.

4. Marabou jigs in small to medium sizes. All white,

yellow, chartreuse, white/blue, white/red,

chartreuse/red combos just to name a few.

For Sale: 2007 17’ Casita Travel Trailer.

My wife retired this year and I bought a new travel

trailer to accommodate us. Casita is a rugged and

better built version of a Scamp. These things last

forever and maintain a very high resale value. It is

light weight and can be easily towed with a ½ ton

pickup.

I have not really tried to sell this thing. I finally

cleaned it up this fall. I still would not mind keeping

it for use around here for when my other camper is

up north.

For more information, contact

Bob Morenski

rmmorski@rtc.coop

701-862-3124

The Classified Section of the Dakota Fly Fishers

is free to all paid members of the club. Submit

your listing via email to:

Bob Morenski

rmmorski@rtc.coop

Chuck Loftis is former resident of North Dakota

and a member of the Dakota Fly Fishers who

currently resides in Littleton, Colorado. He was

one of the founders of the Missouri Valley Fly

Fishers in Bismarck and wrote the fly fishing

column for “Dakota Country” magazine.

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By: Bob Morenski

Above is a nice brown trout caught by Dave LaFrance on a Ruby Eyed Leech. Right is a TYGer Leader wire balanced Ruby Eyed Leech. This version can be fished normally or under an indicator. Photos by Bob Morenski

In the fall of 2010, Ron Granneman had a very

successful day using a fly that he bought on the

internet. He was fishing up on the west end of

Patterson Lake along the bulrushes and using the fly

under a strike indicator. Doing a little research, I

learned that the fly was developed by stillwater fly

fishing guru, Brian Chan, who is a fisheries

biologist from British Columbia. We tied a few of

these up but never fished them.

This past fall, Dave LaFrance caught many trout

on the pattern fishing it around the edges of the

reeds. For those of you who do not tie your own fly

patterns, this fly pattern is available commercially

from Feather Craft and many other fly shops around

the US and Canada and comes in several colors.

Materials: Hook: size 6-8, 2X long

Bead #1: Cone head Gold or Copper

Bead #2: Red mirrored (silver lined) bead

Thread: Your preference

Tail: Arizona Simi Seal

Body: Arizona Simi Seal

Ruby Eyed Leech tied with “Black Red” Arizona Simi Seal Dubbing. Below Ruby Eyed Leech tied with “Spectrum Olive” Arizona Simi Seal Dubbing. Both flies are tied in the balanced fashion using TYGer leader wire.

A balanced Ruby Eyed Leech blank balanced using black 15

lbs. TYGer Leader. Flies & Pictures by Bob Morenski

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