Confessions of a Cutty Guide

 
During the season, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to work on another river, to be excited about row after row of neatly organized, tiny nymphs.  Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to test my skills against a species of fish that isn't so unapologetic about taking an over-sized, floating piece of foam.




















But then I realize, I just gave up the best seat in the house.




Love the fish.  Love the fishery.

Mushroom and Bear Sausage Risotto

Ingredients:


1/2 lb black bear sausage
8-10 Asparagus stalks
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups stock (chicken, or game)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 white wine
2 tbs butter

Salt and pepper to taste









In a medium skillet, cook the bear sausage until brown and crispy, rendering out the fat and flavor to build your risotto on.   Remove cooked sausage and set aside.  Add 2 tbs of butter and add rice.   As the rice cooks, make sure each grain gets coated with the rendered bear fat and butter.   Slightly brown the rice, careful not to let it fry in the pan.  Deglaze with white wine.  Then start stirring and slowly adding stock, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more stock.

In a separate pan, saute mushrooms and asparagus.

Continue to stir the risotto until it has absorbed all the stock.  It will slowly release its starch creating a creamy consistency.  Return bear sausage back to the risotto, along with the mushrooms and asparagus. Finish with parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper.

Wet Noses and Stiff Tails

Marsh Hens and Collards

Grilled Marsh Hens w/ Wild Rice and Homegrown Collards

Legs on a game bird suck.  Tough, full of tendons, too much work and not enough meat.

I'm a leg man, so I disagree.  Well, to be more honest, I'm a equal opportunist when it comes birds; legs, breasts, *gizzards, I'll take it all -sometimes even the feet.  

*If you haven't had the privilege of ordering fried gizzards from a small town, dive bar kitchen, after a a long day looking for birds, and a few pitchers of cheap beer, I would sincerely recommend it.

But the legs on a marsh hen are where it's at, which is not surprising considering they make up almost 60% of the bird's body.

Grilled Marsh Hens

A dozen marsh hens (breasts and legs separated)

     -marinate in red wine, just enough to cover the birds

         *it seemed that the longer the birds rested in the refrigerator, the more pronounced the marshy, salty flavor became.  Which is good.  It's not chicken.

Heat grill.

-A grill works in two ways:  If you can't get it above 350 degrees, it's called an outdoor oven.  If you want it to actually grill, and get a good sear, you'll need a higher temperature.

The hardest part about grilling is finding the hottest part of the grill.  Place your bird parts on the hottest part to get your grill marks.   If the grill is hot enough, it shouldn't take long.  Then flip the legs or breasts over, and move to a less hot section of the grill, close the lid, and use the grill as an oven to cook the birds the rest of the way through.

Grill in batches

6-8 minutes per bird part.

A Week Well Spent

A rail hunt, an oyster roast, chasing bobwhites with old friends at Wintergreen and G&T 's on the house (the folks' house to be exact)  - Not a bad checklist for a week in SE North Carolina.  There also happened to be a holiday in there somewhere, involving turkeys and out of control grandmothers.  Here's a few shots from a week well spent.

The old man shooting rails, but still talking turkey

Morning sky over the marsh

Don't Shoot Too Fast

Special thanks to Capt. Seth Vernon of DoubleHaulGuideService and fellow guide Capt. Judson Brock for their marsh hen expertise.

"I'll take a lot. And put it in a bucket"

The old stomping grounds

Wintergreen Hunting Preserve

Orvis No. 8's

Sleepytime Explosion Stone

Sleepytime Explosion stone?? Who named this fly... Borat?

My first day at Spotted Bear Ranch as a newbie guide was a memorable one, to say the least.  The head guide at the time walked in with a man wearing what looked like a big, palm-leaf sombrero.
"So you're the new guy, huh? " the head guide asked,  "Let me see your fly box."

I was a little intimidated.  I had never seen a palm-leaf hat that big before.

I had spent the whole winter tying flies in preparation for my first year as a guide.  I was proud of my size 18 zebra midges and hacked together pheasant tails.

"Yeah, that stuff isn't gonna work here."  the head guide quickly remarked as he assessed the contents of my fly boxes.  He handed me MFC's catalog.  "Find 10 patterns in here and put together an order for tomorrow."

The next day I shadowed him on a float down the "lower" stretch of the river and watched fish after fish come up on a Davies' Purple Explosion Stone.

Stoneflies.

Big Stoneflies, a world away from my micro nymphs.

Lesson Learned.


Spotted Bear's big goldens are typically nocturnal. (most likely shortwing stoneflies).  But unlike hungover college students, trout will definitely remember their midnight snack the next morning, without the help of a crumpled up receipt.

Here's a step by step for this davies explosion stone inspired stonefly pattern.  Honorable mentions for names include:  Nocturnal Nancy.  Golden Ticket.  The Midnight Munchie.

  Prep your hook with a beadhead and weighted wire.

Hook: Dai-Riki #270 Size 8.
           Natural Bend 3x long

Bead:  Gold 3.8mm or 5/32"

Thread:  6/0 Camel
Medium Gold Wire

Anchor your weighted wire with thread so the body won't spin.

Wrap your thread towards the back, securing the gold wire on the bottom of the hook shank.

Goose Biots:  Blonde


Secure and split two goose biots

  Tie in a good amount of pearly fluorescent material.  Enough to wrap the entire body of the fly.

   Dubbing:  Hareline  Ice Dub UV Tan


Dub the body, leaving a space behind the beadhead for the thorax.

   Wrap the pearly fluorescent stuff around the body.

Bring the gold wire forward following the segments created by the body wrap.

Tie off and clip the gold wire, leaving the pearly fluorescent stuff to use as a flashback.

 Build the thorax.  Tie in two goose biots for legs

                Dub it!        

 
 Add more goose biots for legs:  Two facing rearward, two facing forward and dub it!

    

Pull the flashback material forward and whip finish.  Then take a brown sharpie and darken the top of the body segments and barr the legs

Using Loon's UV epoxy build the wing case and articulate the legs, pinching them with your fingers then securing the bend with epoxy.

Loon's UV epoxy tends to dry a little bit tacky, so I add hard as nails to give the wingcase a nice flashy, glossy look.

There you have it.  If you got a better name for this fly, let me know.

Someone once told me,  "if you really want to get good at fly tying.  Tie for the river  you fish"