Ted Leeson

The Nine Best Places to Fish a Pond During Ice-Out

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

YOUR FAVORITE TROUT streams may be running bank-full and turbid, but melting ice means that ponds and small lakes are ready to roll right now. Best of all, with oxygen confined to the surface layer, most prey is in depths of less than 10 feet. Trout are rarely far away.

The most effective tactic may be to fish from the bank when so many trout are within easy casting range. Start early, because the period during and just after ice-out can be absolutely hot.

The Sweetwater Guide School: Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Fishing Guide?

fieldandstream-editor — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Sooner or later, in idle daydream or secret fantasy, every serious fly angler wonders What would it be like to guide for a living? The idea holds a distinctly off-the-grid appeal, for nothing about the job is conventional. It's a seminomadic life of irregular hours and seasonal work, hinging on the whims of weather and fish. There's not even a formal career path to follow. You can't major in guiding or join a union. Learning to guide is more like becoming a triggerman or a topless dancer—you make the most of your native assets and pick up the rest on the job.

How to Catch Trout on a Fly Rod with Dragon- and Damselfly Imitations

fieldandstream-editor — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

There's something simmering beneath the surface of lakes and ponds right now, and most anglers will blast right past it in a lather to hit the more glamorous, and less predictable, spring hatches on rivers and streams. But the "dungeon bugs" of still waters can offer plenty of action, and comparatively few anglers bother with them.

10 Tactics for Catching More Trout on Flies

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:00:00 -0500

In fishing, change is sometimes a matter of babies and bathwater. New gear and methods, fresh ideas and approaches replace existing ones, and in the general rush to the cutting edge, older techniques get pushed aside, the priceless along with the worthless. Here are my votes for 10 flyfishing practices that have fallen out of general favor in the past few decades and are worth reviving.

How and Why to Fish for Headwater Trout in the Spring

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:00:00 -0500

One of trout fishing's Ironies is that just when the spring angling urge is hitting, your favorite rivers are high, muddy, and unfishable. Your options? You could wait for better days, but why not fish the headwaters and tributaries? The opportunities, you'll soon discover, abound.

1 POCKET WATER Stretches above or below a pool frequently hold trout because of the proximity of safer deep water. Concentrate on current tongues and slower water behind rocks. Work pocket water with short, controlled casts.

Fly of the Month: The Partridge and Orange

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:15:00 -0500

MATERIALS
Hook: Wet fly, 1XL shank, size 10Â¿Â¿Â¿16 Thread/Abdomen: Hot Orange Pearsall's Gossamer silk thread Thorax: Hare's ear dubbing Hackle: Grouse hackle

DIRECTIONS
Step 1 Attach thread behind the hook eye and make three wraps toward the bend. Peel the fuzz from the base of a grouse hackle and strip off the fibers on its right half (as you look at its convex side). Use the correct hackle size. The lowermost fibers should be as long as the hook.

Step 2 Mount the hackle atop the shank, with the concave side up and the tip over the eye. Clip the stem, and continue wrapping the thread in close, touching turns to a point on the shank just above the barb. Reverse direction and wrap back, stopping a third of a shank-length behind the eye.

Step 3 Dub a ball-like thorax halfway to the hook eye. Position the thread in front of the dubbing.

Step 4 Take two wraps of the hackle toward the bend. Then capture the hackle tip with one wrap of thread.

Step 5 Wrap the thread forward once through the hackle. Secure it with three half hitches, clip off the hackle tip, and dab tying cement to the head.

Reaching for Success

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:05:00 -0400

One of the most useful presentations in the fly angler's repertoire is the reach cast. The two variations below deliver the line across the stream at an angle; the portion in the fastest current is placed farthest upstream, buying it some additional "free-float" time and delaying drag on the fly.

The upstream reach The target is in a slow flow across from you, beyond a band of faster current. Make a conventional overhead cast. On the forward stroke, as your rod reaches the 11 o'clock position, shift the direction of motion 90 degrees, swinging the tip upstream through a big quarter-circle. As you do so, reach the rod as far upriver as you can, ending with it held parallel to the water. The line now forms an angle, from the rod tip upstream and then across and down to the target.

The downstream reach To cast across a slower current to reach a faster one, simply swing the rod in the opposite direction and reach downstream. -Ted Leeson

Tips
1.) Work out enough line to extend beyond the target. The angle of this cast effectively shortens its range, and overshooting the mark compensates.
2.)End your forward delivery with a high rod tip for maximum upstream reach.
3.) As your rod reaches the 11 o'clock position, swing the tip in a quarter-circle upstream.

Reaching for Success

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:05:00 -0400

The downstream reach To cast across a slower current to reach a faster one, simply swing the rod in the opposite direction and reach downstream. -Ted Leeson

Tip: Use Steam to Revive Beat Up Flies

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 20:00:00 -0400

Restoring mashed flies to their original operating condition is as simple as boiling water. Just put a teakettle on, and crank up the heat to produce a healthy jet of steam. Grip a fly at the hook bend in a pair of pliers and hold it in the vapor stream, rotating slowly so that the mist penetrates wings, tails, and hackles. Heat and moisture will relax the kinks, massage out the crimps, and return the fly into fishable shape. When it looks refreshed, shake off excess moisture and lay it on a paper towel to dry. —TED LEESON

The Proper Way to Fish a Pool

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:00:00 -0500

Pools on a trout stream are a lot like whitetail bucks—they vary some in size, conformation, and peculiarities, but all share the same basic anatomy. Understanding that structure is the key to finding and taking fish. Consider a pool as the "tenderloin" of a trout stream: Charging in without a plan is the surest way to butcher it badly. Instead, carve the water into separate, fishable portions.