WHAT'S NEW
AUGUST 17, 2022
the covid pandemic put an end to any aspirations I had to host a trip to mongolia in 2019. that trip may be possible in 2023. watch for more info and updates.
With Covid and everything else it’s been three years since I’ve done anything with my website. I’m hoping over the next few weeks I can bring you up to date on what I’m doing. Covid put an end to any aspirations I had of hosting the trip to Mongolia that I mentioned in my last post on September 8, 2019. That could be changing for 2023. I’ll keep you posted.
This spring and summer I’ve been fishing a lot in Colorado. I’m working on ideas to simplify your fly fishing. This isn’t easy for me. I like tying flies so I always ended up with a fishing vest full of them. This was particularly true when I was actively guiding. Somehow I thought if I carried thousands of flies I’d be more successful. That’s all changing now. I’ll let you know how it progresses on my Lone Angler Blog which I also hope to get up and running soon.
I’m still dedicated to fishing and tying small flies, but I’m looking into terrestrials, attractor patterns and streamers with increased interest, too.
For those of you who go to the Fly Fishing Shows, I intend to attend all of them in 2023 if possible. I’ll be tying flies, teaching classes, signing books and giving seminars.
That’s it for now. I’ll get to work on a post for the Lone Angler Journal. I’m not a tech guy, so I have to figure all this out again! Stick with me.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2019
Ed engle holds a Siberian Taimen caught and released back to the shishged River.
Earlier this summer I spent the better part of a month in Mongolia and am headed back in September. My first trip wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t shared the author’s booth with Tom Boyd at the 2019 Lynnwood, WA Fly Fishing Show. Tom had fished in Mongolia the previous summer and asked if I’d like to go with him and his son, Jeff, when they returned in 2019.
Cam sigler and guide AMaraa Pavyel hold a close to 40-pound Taimen..
Tom and Jeff are spearheading the effort in the first ever government sanctioned research project to collect fishery data in the National Park of the Tengis/Shisged River Basin located on Mongolia’s north central border with Russia. The goal of the program is to catch as many of the endangered Siberian Taimen as possible, tag them and take scale and fin clip samples to determine the fish’s age and genetic makeup. Building a data base through these samples will help biologists determine why taimen populations are declining.
My job was easy. I just had to catch fish and tag them. However, there was a bit of a snag when we got on the river. An unseasonably high amount of rain earlier in the season had raised and dirtied the Shishged River.
To make a long story short, we did catch and tag some taimen, but conditions were difficult. Nonetheless, I was completely seduced by the watershed and the fishing. I knew I’d have to return. and the sooner the better.
That’s why I’m heading back in September. The most recent reports I’ve received from the river indicate that the water is low and clear now. It should be perfect for spotting and sight fishing to taimen.
I’ll be sure to post a report when I return.
The Fly shop Mongolia shishged River camp in the National Park of the Tengis/Shishged River BASIN..
MONGOLIA 2020 TRIP: I plan to return to Mongolia in 2020 and hope to host a trip for up to six anglers. We’ll fish for taimen, lenok and Golden-tailed Grayling. The trip is sponsored through Fly Shop Mongolia which in conjunction with the Save the Taimen Tengis-Shishged watershed initiative is sponsoring the taimen tagging project.
I’ll post more details on the Tengis-Shishged trip and other angling options later.
JULY 22, 2019
The second edition of FISHING AND TYING SMALL FLIES is out. The release date was June 26, 2019. I’ve looked forward to writing a second edition of my FISHING SMALL FLIES and TYING SMALL FLIES volumes because it gave me a chance to clean up some misconceptions I had when I wrote the first editions and I’ve been able to add some new material. As you can see we decided to combine the two first editions into a single volume for the second edition. This should make things a little handier and the index is much better than the first editions. We also got rid of the black and white photos contained in the first edition of FISHING SMALL FLIES and went to all color photos.
I’ve retained most of the info in the first editions except where I updated or corrected it and added a new tying chapter on Pale Morning Duns and their relatives. I’ve also sprinkled in new fly recipes and tying instructions in various chapters throughout the tying section of the book. A number of these patterns come from fishing and tying friends that I really respect. All I can say is a few of them are dynamite. I’ll let you find them. And hang on when you fish them…..