I suppose it was only a matter of time before I tried my luck at the Great Lake Steelhead.

Good friend Paul Castellano with Cast Adventures (www.castadventures.ca), a guide on the Niagara River in Ontario, had been busting my chops for the past year, trying to rid me of my wild steelhead snobbery to give his fishery a try.

Castellano with a nice Niagara River Steelhead.

I’d always wanted to see the Niagara River; it’s monster rapids and multitude of species intrigued me, so it didn’t take too much persuasion when it came time to choose a destination for an episode of Fly Nation.

Never would I have imagined that I was about to witness one of the most incredible rivers I had ever seen…..

The pictures of Niagara Falls truly do not give it justice.  It’s bright blue water, and majestic water falls leave me at a loss of words (yup, that‘s actually possible).

I had two missions on this trip.
1)  Catch Great Lake steel using West Coast swinging tactics.
2)  Get my casting certification (CCI) at the Spey Clave that was being held that weekend.

On the first day, Castellano brought us to a magnificent fishing spot.  Like a scene fresh out of Jurassic Park, the water swirled in a dangerous pool and the lush green brush cascaded down towering rock walls.  It was incredible.

Truly spectacular.

It was hard to get a swing with the ever changing water levels and deep swirling water, and it soon was clear to me why I was the only knob at the pool with a Spey rod and sink tip.
Indicators, glo-bugs and split shot seemed to be more of the theme here…..
Damn.

Stubborn as all hell……Tying streamers when I should have been tying……

……These!  (Josh Nugent photos)

The East Coasters put on a clinic!  I couldn’t believe how many fish these guys brought to the beach.
It was evident why Castellano was said to be one of the top guides on the river.

The next day, Castellano loaded us into his boat, and we hit the river again.  I was determined to get one on the swing.
An hour, two split shot, and an interesting snake roll off the bow of the boat later, I had finally hooked and landed my first Great Lake steelhead caught on a swinging fly.  It was awesome!

It’s on!  Swing vs. drift…. (Naoto Aoki photo)

The highlight of my trip though?  Freakin’ carp!!!
Never did I think seeing a carp would have me fumbling so bad that I’d forget how to cast, but a school of 40+ pounders did exactly that.
I wasn’t able to hook one, but you can be damn sure that I tried!

With mission one accomplished, it was off to the Grand River Spey Clave.
I’d spent the entire week sweating bullets, as I had registered to take my CCI exam through the Federation Of Fly Fishers.
Friend and fellow angler Neil Houlding had opened his home to me and had spent the evening helping to keep me relaxed and confident.  But with Simon Gawesworth as one of my testers, it was hard not to be nervous.  Blowing head winds, a crowded park, and rolling cameras didn’t do much to help my nerves either.

Almost four hours later I passed my exam.  (Sigh of relief….)
A swig of whiskey with Gawesworth and a celebratory dinner with the guys ended my trip with a bang and, before I knew it, I was on a flight out of town.

The steelhead got my respect and the anglers got my attention, but it was the Niagara that got my heart and the Niagara that will keep me coming back.

Eoin Fairgrieve’s My First Trout, is a refreshing and inspiring book written to educate children about fly-fishing and the importance of the environment.

The book is aesthetically pleasing with beautiful illustrations and practical, easy to follow diagrams.  Most importantly, however, is the abundance of informative content that the author was able to fit into forty pages of large-font print.

Information on safety, fly-tying, fly-casting, knots, entomology, fish handling, trout anatomy, bird and other interesting wildlife facts, make this book not only great for the young angler, but for the beginner fly fisher as well.

(On that note, I would like to state that I highly recommend My First Trout to any aspiring fly fishers who don’t know where to begin.)
Only a twenty minute read, Fairgrieve’s book is the epitome of “fly-fishing made easy”.

A personalized first page and a detailed fishing log template, makes the book even more appealing to children looking to grow into competent fly fishers alongside the inviting pages.  From it’s unique shape, to it’s clean and crisp presentation, the book is a joy from beginning to end.  It’s simple layout and informative text rank this book as one of the best beginner books that I have ever read.

Considering the future of our environment lays in the hands of our children, I am ecstatic that this author has taken a constructive step towards improvement.  Furthermore, 10% of the profit of this book is donated to the Tweedstart Angling Program (www.tweedstart.org.uk).

Eoin Fairgrieve is a fully qualified casting member of the A.A.P.G.A.I. and World Team Speycasting Champion.  He is a renowned conservationist who owns a highly regarded fly fishing school in Scotland known as the Center of Excellence, where he has put through numerous pupils.

Visit www.centre-of-excellence.co.uk or email eoin@centre-of-excellence.co.uk for more information.

Yeah.  The whole fishing show thing never really much did it for me.

Standing like a dork beside another angler, asking questions I already knew the answers to, shaking my head like a bimbo, all the while making sure the light was hitting my face at the right angle……  No thanks.

In a television world starved for independent women who “brave the harsh conditions of a man’s world”, women (whether they be legitimate or trained to look as though they are), are highly sought after to be the face of television, posters, magazines, and everything in between.

This said, I would hope that no one hears any ego in my words when I write that I’ve been offered a show or two throughout the course of my angling career.

See, the truth is, I couldn’t fathom being the girl to contribute yet another painful fishing show to the networks.  Host oriented and, often times ego driven, I opted to stick to guiding and writing the occasional magazine article, focusing mostly on morals and conservation.  I had no desire to be the star of a series.

Faces and casts like these simply don’t belong in show biz….. (Yos Gladstone photo).

Then things changed.  Nick Pujic of the Canadian Fly Fisher magazine and I had a sit down on a rainy night during one of his short visits to BC.

Fishing television and its unfortunate demise somehow became the subject of our conversation.  I made reference to the agony sitting through most episodes caused me and he laughed in agreeance.  That was all it took.  As usual when the two of us are paired together, we got to thinking….

What if we had a show where there was no star?  No dialogue even!?  What if we could capture the experience on tape?  Just straight up, hard-core fishing buddies who fished their asses off to funky music, delivering authentic fish porn to the viewers.  No nonsense, no fluff, no lessons, no eye-rolling endorsements.  Simply 100% pure fly-fishing.

The result?  Fly Max Films was born and Nick (and co-partner Paul Langford) created a monster.  www.flymaxfilms.com

As the years have passed, Fly Max has added anglers (upwards of 50 now), adventures, episodes and way cooler cameras to the list.  The show is a success on WFN (The World Fishing Network), and is a breath of fresh air from the standard fishing shows.

But, I still envisioned more……

So, on yet another late night, only this time in Denver, Nick and I sat down to brainstorm.  I had an idea to do a show that captured personality, education, travel, and most importantly, a no-frills/no- gimmicks experience.

Nick pondered the idea, and took some time to think about it.  He’s quite possibly the busiest man I know, and I felt awful asking him to take on yet another project….

But true to his workaholic nature, he took the bull by the horns and has teamed with myself, Naoto Aoki, Paul Castellano, Paul Langford and cameraman Tim Myers to create a new and unique show called Fly Nation.

Ape and fellow angler, Naoto Aoki, playing with rods before hitting the river to film.

We’re filming Fly Nation this year, and will be airing in 2010.  Networks will be announced and adventures will be shared…..

Puj gearing up (Josh Nugent photo).

The first load of several (Josh Nugent photo).

April booting up (Josh Nugent photo).

It’s going to be an interesting journey and we would love to be able to share it with you!

Hope to see you on the water,

Ape.