Saturday Shoutout / The Cobra Climbs A Tree
Having trouble getting your fly into those hard to reach trees?
The Limp Cobra can help. This post strikes the perfect balance between humor and solid information. Even if trees are not a problem for you, you’ll get a couple of good laughs. If they are, you’ll learn something.
The Limp Cobra is quickly becoming one of my favorite stops on the fly fishing web. If you’ve never seen it, take time to browse through some of the older posts. There’s a lot of goodness in there.
“HOW TO LOOSE YOUR FLIES IN TREES.”
Read More »Simms Bags It In 2015
No, Simms isn’t going anywhere.
But you probably are and no matter where you go Simms has a bag for your gear. The new line of bags from Simms is one of the most impressive I’ve seen. Some of the highlights are waterproof zippered bags for travel and wading, gear bags made to hold Plano boxes and other real-world fishing gear and the long-awaited boat bag redesign.
It’s an impressive line up that’s durable, functional and thoughtful. Whether your flying around the world or stepping out the back door, Simms has you covered. Several of these are on my wish list and I’m sure they’ll be on yours.
Watch the video and see how I’m not quite as smooth as I think I am.
Read More »2 Alternatives for Attaching Your Split-Shot
You’ve been fishing hard all day long searching for that perfect honey hole. You know the one I’m talking about, it’s the one that holds that trophy trout that keeps haunting you in your dreams. It’s getting late, your tired, and you know you should be heading back, but there’s a bend just up ahead, and your curiosity keeps pushes you forward with those powerful words, “This could be it, just see what’s on the other side”. Sure enough, as you round the corner you lay your eyes on a picture perfect run, offering everything a trophy trout could desire. You get into position, make the cast, mend your line, and begin following your strike indicator with your rod tip, when out of now where, it shoots under the surface like it was just attached to a iron dumb bell. You set the hook and feel the heavy weight of the fish thrashing its big head, and you’re immediately on cloud 9. The adrenaline rush doesn’t last long though. It’s quickly replaced by painful heart ache when you feel your tippet snap, and watch your rod go straight. The excitement is all over…, you won’t land that trophy fish or even be graced with a quick glimpse of it for that matter. The only memory you’ll have to remember that trophy trout by is the few aggressive head shakes. You bring your fly-less rig to hand and find the tippet broke at the split-shot.
Has this ever happened to you before?
If you attach your split shot too tight on your tippet it can weaken its strength significantly. Most anglers try to avoid this by tying a triple surgeon’s or blood knot above their tandem nymph rig, and attach the split-shot above that. The knot keeps the split-shot from sliding down to the flies during fly casting, and it only has to be snugly secured, which limits the chances of it damaging the tippet. It’s not 100% full proof, but it’s the most popular method used by experienced nymph fisherman. To limit the break offs during fierce fights, anglers should get in the habit of regularly checking their nymph rig for weak spots and abrasions throughout their day of fishing, particularly after each catch.
Attaching Your Split-Shot on Tags
Read More »Sunday Classic / Fly Anglers Sixth Sense, Fact or Fiction?
Do you ever feel like you’ve got a sixth sense working for you when you’re out fly fishing?
I’m talking about an extra sense that seems to give you the power and clarity to sense future fishing success moments before it happens. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it’s one of the sweetest feelings I think a fly angler can witness; calling his/her fish before the cast. You’ve just rounded a bend when your eyes are immediately drawn to a perfect looking stretch of water. It’s a wide and fast riffle a little to shallow to hold fish, but there’s a fallen tree that’s condensing all the current into a tight six foot wide flow. Even better, that condensed current is flowing right over a drop-off, into a deep blue pool. A light bulb in your head goes off as your sixth sense kicks in, and you’re certain when your fly hits the water it will only be a few seconds until a trout rises to your fly. All you have to do is
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Romano on Love and Loss
VERY FEW OF US EVER HAVE TO LOOSE A LOVED ONE TWICE.
I’m not too proud to tell you that I balled when I read Tim Romano’s “The Sad Story of a Boat.” Having restored an old wooden boat I know the effort that goes into it and the personal attachment that goes along with it. But this story goes beyond anything I’ve had to live through and I hope that never changes.
This is a story everyone should read. It is impossible to not be touched deeply.
“THE SAD STORY OF A BOAT”
Read More »Put Some DeYoung on Your Yeti
There are few artists as immediately recognizable as Derek DeYoung.
Derek’s bold images have changed the look of fly fishing. Now he’s looking to change the look of your Yeti cooler. These new Yeti cooler accessories are styling and tough as nails. They’ll give your cooler, and your boat, a full custom look, DeYoung style.
In this video Derek shows off the features of his new Yeti accessories.
Read More »Why I Always Carry a Backup Gear Box
By Kent Klewein
Have you ever made it to the river after a two hour drive and realized when you got there, you had forgot to pack one of your crucial pieces of fishing gear?
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been that unfortunate angler plenty of times, and it can ruin a day of fishing. A few years back I was forced to spend a day on Depuy’s Creek in MT wading around in a pair of my Justin cowboy boots. It was really ironic because I spent the morning packing all the gear for my virgin fly fishing buddies, and I was the one that ended up leaving my damn wading boots on the front porch. Those Justin boots were surprisingly comfortable wading in but they had zero traction, and I looked like a moron. I’ve never forgot my wading boots on a fishing trip since.
These days I always try to keep
New Cigars Just For Anglers
By Daren Hearsch
IF YOU’RE LIKE ME, YOU FORGET THINGS.
Not important things, like birthdays and anniversaries, but things that tend to make fishing trips challenging. Things like rods, reels and leaders. I try to keep a bag packed with all of the essentials so I can just “grab-and-go” when the urge to wet a line strikes.
This is all well and good for gear, but certain aged leafy combustibles can’t sit for months in a bag waiting for a trip. At least that was my thought until, on a recent fishing trip, a friend introduced me to General Cigar’s new “Locked In Humidity” packaging.
Most individual cigars nowadays are packaged in cellophane, which provides a minimal level of physical protection but doesn’t inhibit loss of humidity. Forget about taking an unscheduled swim. This new packaging (think sealed, rigid foil pouch) increases the physical protection factor but also keeps the cigar in a properly humidified environment, as well as protecting them from water damage.
General says they will keep for three years
Read More »Sunday Classic / Guide Dos And Don’ts
I FULLY EXPECT TO CATCH SOME HEAT FOR THIS.
When I wrote the list of client dos and don’ts I quoted my friend Kirk and agreed whole heartedly with the glowing things he had to say about fishing guides. I took that one step farther by emailing a bunch of my friends who guide and putting together a list of the stuff they would like to tell their clients but don’t feel like they can. I’m sure there were some things on that list a lot of guys didn’t want to hear so, in the interest of fair play, today the guides get their list of dos and don’ts.
I fully expect to catch some heat for this, so please try to understand where it’s coming from. I’m a big fan of fishing guides. As I’ve said most of my friends are fishing guides and I have a great deal of respect for the men and women who do that job. I will quote Kirk Deeter again, “I think the sun rises and sets on the fly fishing world where guides collectively say it does. They are stewards of their rivers. They are the innovators, and the teachers. And a good guide is, for fly fishing and trout conservation, worth his or her weight in gold.” I have however fished with guides who were less than stellar, for one reason or another. Since I did a list of dos and don’ts for clients, it seems only fair to do the same for guides.
I expect most of the guides who read this will agree with what I have to say. Most of it is very obvious and simple. If you do not, I encourage you to look at it from the other side of the boat. I’ve seen everything on this list happen, so there’s somebody out there who needs to hear it.
GUIDE DOS AND DON’TS
•Don’t assume your client is an idiot
Your last hundred clients may have been complete idiots but that doesn’t mean today’s guy is. Even if he is he deserves the chance to prove it.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / MT Matt Keeps It Real
Montana Matt hits this one out of the park!
The message from this Montana fishing guide is one of the most positive I’ve heard on the subject of fly fishing. I read this and thought, “Here’s a guy who actually gets it!” I’m sure there is a backstory on this but Matt doesn’t fall in to the negative trap. Instead he lays out some solid and practice advice for keeping your head up when others try to tear you down. These are words for every angler to live by.
READ IT, LIVE IT!
How to keep your head up in the hobby of fly fishing that is filled with jealousy and competitiveness (Fly Fishing is awesome why be so uptight?)
Read More »