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[FR] Je viens de mettre en vente une canne Sage Z-Axis 9 pieds soie numéro 6.
Cette canne m'a permis de prendre de magnifiques poissons, mon plus beau souvenir restant une truite brune superbe prise au streamer dans le nord de l'État de New-York. J'ai ressorti la photo de ce moment qui restera gravé dans ma mémoire. Je suis un peu triste de m'en départir mais je ne n'ai pas utilisé cette canne durant la dernière année, lui préférant une 10 pieds en soie 5. Elle fera je l'espère le bonheur d'un autre passionné de pêche à la mouche!

[EN] I currently have a Sage Z-Axis 9 foot 6wt fly rod for sale. I have not used it during the past year, having fished primarily with a 10ft 5wt. This rod has been a real gem to cast. It allowed me to take some wonderful fish, with my best memory being a superb brown taken on a coyote streamer in the Adirondacks. I have included a photo of this great memory. Hopefully this rod will now provide some memorable experiences to another passionate fly angler!

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[EN] Two years ago, I was doing the setup of my very first gear dedicated to Great Lakes migratory fish, a z-axis 7110 switch rod paired with a 4280 reel. I went to see fly fishing expert and friend Roland Morin at a favorite local store north of Montreal. I intended to go for a RIO Steelhead/Salmon line with 200 yards of 30 lb Dacron backing. Roland kindly suggested that I would substitute Dacron backing with a new backing material, he referred to me as gel spun. He explained to me that, for the same volume of backing in my reel, I could increase strength up to 50 lb thanks to the significantly thinner diameter of Polyethylene used in gel spun. I would not only get a higher strength but also a significantly higher abrasion resistance. Gel spun would also get less damaged by water and UV than Dacron hence its better durability.

All these points were very convincing but the price tag of 50 lbs gel spun was prohibitive. I decided to stick with the less pricey 30 lbs Dacron....  

This setup did extremely well during subsequent trips to the Great Lakes. Although the line and backing had been taken by salmon and steelheads around rocks several times, I continued to be 100% confident with my 30 lb Dacron....  

This remained true until a recent snowy mid-November day....

It was mid-afternoon. I was high stick nymphing a riffle area in the Salmon River Upper Fly Zone. The day had been hit and miss until then with sporadic success on a dead-drifted #12 three-loop pink lady fly.

At the end of my leader was the largest steelhead of the day. After a few minutes of fight, this fish was following me towards the bank. When I thought I was closing the deal this nice steelie started a strong rush downstream and made it to some heavy current. Within seconds I had 60-70 yards of backing out....HOLY S*@$# !

The first photo of this post was taken a few minutes later....the line was gone with 1/3 of my backing....

These steelheads were already driving me crazy! It will be even worse from now on....

HEHE...I can say I got a good lesson! I am just back from Roland's store with 500 yards of 50 lb gel spun....

Tight lines! Bonne pêche hivernale à tous! - Bruno.

 Première neige de l'année – First snow of the year!

 Paradise pool

 Dernière prise de la journée sur ma soie #8 – Last catch of the day before I lost my line

 Nouvelle ligne de réserve – New backing

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[EN] When I fish Adirondacks streams, I typically have a lot of action on small to medium size trout. Creating opportunities to connect to a larger specimen often requires a lot of effort and a repetitive attention to a collection of small details. When it happens, and such a fish is eventually brought to the net, it is always appreciated like an immense gift.

During a recent trip to Upstate NY, I had the chance to connect to 2 fish that I would place in that category.

The first was a really nice bow taken mid-morning while french nymphing a double nymph rig through heavy current. At the end of my 5wt, this bow made me feel like I had hooked into a little steelhead! WOW...9AM and this fish had already made my day!

The second was a brown....a HUGE resident brown in the 24+in range! It took a #14 copper nymph dead drifted through a feeding lane that had already proven to hold some solid fish in the past. After 3-4 minutes following that fish a good 150ft upstream and then downstream again back to his hole, my 5x tippet was still up to the challenge.

It is the fisherman who was not.

I was moving backwards towards the bank to try to bring that fish to some slower water, with the net in my left hand. This magnificient male brown was just a few feets in front of me in crystal clear water. I clearly saw what was the fish of a lifetime!

A few seconds later, I was sitting in 1 feet of water with my 5x tippet ondulating freely in the air.....

My feets had accidentally got stuck against an exposed rock....

It has been a week now....my bottom does not hurt anymore.....but this fish has not gotten out of my head....

Don't do like me, and keep your lines tight! ;)

Tight lines! Bonne pêche automnale à tous! - Bruno.

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[FR] Lors de la première partie de 3 semaines de vacances passées en France au mois d'août, nous avons eu la chance de pouvoir faire un séjour en bord de Loire dans un hôtel troglodyte dans le petit village de Turquant. Nous avions choisi de nous déplacer à vélo, et je dois dire avec le recul que cela nous aura vraiment permis de nous connecter au rythme de cette rivière sublime qui nous a offert des paysages sauvages et d'une exceptionnelle beauté! Je ne saurais que trop vous conseiller de vivre la Loire à vélo (www.loireavelo.fr/‎).Vous allez adorer!
Voici quelques clichés de ces belles lumières de la Loire.

[EN] During a recent 3-week family vacation in France during the month of August, we were fortunate enough to spend a few days in a Troglodyte hotel in the small village of Turquant. We were using bikes for our displacements, and this really gave us the opportunity to better connect to the rythm of this sublim river, with exceptionnally beautiful and wild river lanscapes! If you have a chance, experiment the Loire à vélo trail (www.cycling-loire.com/‎). Sure you will enjoy it! Here are a few captured Loire river lights.

 Quel bonheur de parcourir les bords de Loire à vélo!
 Reflet d'une barque de pêcheur
 Bateau de Loire
 Déambulation dans une rue de Montsoreau
 Chateau de Montsoreau
 Promenade sur les quais de Montsoreau
 Pont de la départementale D952A tout en lumières
 Quand eau et ciel ne font qu'un
 Pêcheurs de la Loire au couchant

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[EN] Warmer than normal water conditions in Upstate NY imposed a very early entry into the water to find some good trout fishing conditions. A few nice fish in the 12-15in range took dead drifting nymphs in deeper and well oxygenated feeding lanes. The rest of the day was enjoyed catching a mix bag of different species on nymphs. Several of them were super fighters, especially smallmouths!

[FR] Avec une température de l'eau plus chaude qu'à la normale à cette période de l'année, j'avais les deux pieds dans l'eau de très bonne heure pour malgré tout trouver de bonnes conditions de pêche à la truite. Quelques beaux poissons étaient preneurs de nymphes dans les sections les plus oxygénées et profondes. Le restant de la journée, je me suis fait super plaisir sur une variété d'espèces de poissons d'eau chaude les plus combatifs les uns que les autres!

Tight lines! Bonne pêche à tous! - Bruno.

 Iridescent rainbow
 Posing for the camera
 #10 copper nymph well planted!
 Shining wild trout under morning light
 I thought I had hooked into a 20+ wild brown...
 Bright sky mid-day brown, a few seconds before release
 One of many hard fighting smallmouths!
 Magnificient Adirondacks stream
 Released to live another day

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[FR] Mon père étant en visite sur Montréal, je nous ai concocté une sortie père-fils dans les Adirondacks au pic de la saison à la truite...ma première sortie truite de 2013! Une occasion à ne surtout pas rater car c'est la première fois en plus de dix ans que nous sommes réunis lors de la fête des pères!
Après les crues récentes et des débits quasi-records, on a eu une fenêtre en milieu de semaine, la veille de son départ pour la France. Même si les rivières étaient encore à un débit qui nous a limité dans nos déplacements, on a eu de l'action en masse! Les petites arcs et farios nous ont donné beaucoup de fun! Les sublimes farios sauvages de belle taille que je souhaitais faire découvrir à mon père ont été par-contre plus récalcitrantes.... plusieurs suivis sur streamer et quelques coups de gueule plus sérieux avec des imitations de perle sur hamecon #8... mais je n'ai pas réussi à en faire poser une pour une petite séance photo!! Je crois qu'elle s'étaient déjà bien gavées de perles bien dodues...la rivière en était pleine!
À ma très grande joie, c'est mon père qui a pris la plus belle fario de cette sortie. Un poisson magnifique!!
On a passé de si bons moments que je n'ai que très rarement pensé à sortir l'appareil photo. Voici quelques clichés....

[EN] Third and last trip of the winter to the Great Lakes region. Fished the Salmon River tributaries and the Upper Fly Zone. I wanted to try the recently purchased light spey rod. It actually performed beyond my expectations for both high stick nymphing and indicator nymphing techniques. Although 12’6″ in length, the rod felt ultra light in hand with a perfect smooth progressive action to handle rude steelhead head shakes. After a few cast with the new rod, a superb buck took a dead drifting white Crystal Meth egg pattern. Perfect way to inaugurate this new gear! Here are a few photos...

[FR] Troisième et dernier séjour de l'hiver dans la région des Grands Lacs, avec de la pêche sur les tributaires de la Salmon River ainsi que la Upper Fly Zone. Je souhaitais essayer une canne spey achetée tout récemment. Cette canne s'est comportée au-delà de mes espérances pour les techniques de dérive morte en nymphe. Malgré sa longueur de 12’6″, j'ai trouvé la canne super légère en main avec une action progressive idéale pour amortir les coups de tête des Steelhead. Après seulement quelques lancers avec cette nouvelle canne, un superbe bécard a pris une Crystal Meth blanche en dérive morte. Parfaite façon d'inaugurer ce nouveau matos! J'ai joint quelques photos de cette journée....

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[EN] Since I started to fish the Great Lakes tributaries a couple years ago, migratory trout have haunted my mind. With the distance from Montreal, professional obligations and 2 young children at home, these trip west are rare and would never exceed one day of fishing. This is short but so much worth the effort each time!!

After a memorable fly fishing trip for chinook, I was able to make a second trip to the Oswego County last fall to fish with pro guide Tony Gugino. The whole morning was spent French nymphing pocket water and short runs. Being my favorite technique for nymphing for resident trout, I was very excited to give it a try for migratory trout. Four hours nymphing with a sighter produced many medium-sized fish....and also a lot of fun!

The afternoon was spent fishing longer and deeper runs with an indicator using a second switch rod with a medium-fast softer action. The switch rod had the job done but I realized how a longer light spey rod would be the tool of choice for this technique, especially to throw stack mends at great distances with accuracy. Both browns and steelheads were giving tremendous fights in this area with strong currents. I lost several of them.

We also managed to bring several of them to the net. :)

Perfect river flow, many active fish. All fish caught & released unarmed.
I do not think it could have been a better day.

Under the sunshine, these migratory fish looked like true Great Lakes Chrome and Gold.

 Beautiful hard fighting hen

 Lit up with sunshine
 One of several nice buck browns caught that day
 Spectacular fish!
 Strong rainbow caught indicator nymphing