Saturday’s Shoutout / MidCurrent Talks Musky & Towee Rivermaster SRO
This week’s Saturday Shoutout we bring you two great reads from MidCurrent. One’s a fly fishing musky primer and the other is a really cool Q&A piece with Captain Todd Gregory (Towee Boats master builder). It talks about the ins and outs of the boat company and talks in great detail about the Towee Rivermaster SRO (this boat I totally dig). I enjoyed reading both the articles written by Dave Karczynski. He does a standup job on the content he writes for MidCurrent. Thanks for supporting Gink & Gasoline with your readership we hope everyone has a grand weekend.
Read More »RIO Perception Fly Line Review and Product Video
RIO has made a big splash for itself this year with its new RIO Perception fly line. It was awarded Best New Fly Fishing Line for 2014 at the European Fishing Tackle Trade Exhibition (EFTTEX) and it also took home the award for Best New Freshwater Fly Line at the International Fly Tackle Dealers show (IFTD) in Las Vegas.
For the last few months I’ve fished it a good bit and I’ve guided with it as well. So far, I’ve been really pleased with the performance of the Perception fly line. Some of the new features have even made my guiding easier. For example, the SureFire tri-color system has made it quicker and easier for me to explain to my novice clients about the anatomy of the fly line (front taper, belly, rear taper, running line). Furthermore, I like that the SureFire system allows my beginners to look down at their fly line and quickly know whether they have too much line out to begin their cast or need to strip in. And I’ve taught my more advanced clients to use the color change in the fly line as distance markers. Doing so, it’s much easier for them to make the same distance cast over and over again, whether they’re pounding the bank with a streamer or trying to hit the tiny feeding lane of a lone riser on the far bank.
Read More »The Bite Of The Venomous Brown Trout Or, Stopping Fishfinger
WE THINK OF TROUT AS PURE.
Perfect creatures born of virgin waters. Incapable of anything unclean. So, I wasn’t especially concerned the other day when a nice twenty-one inch male brown, from the Delaware, bit the ever living shit out of me.
I knew I was likely to get a piece of those gnarly teeth when I stuck my thumb in his mouth, but the fish was bleeding a little from the hook and I needed to pour a little Coke down him to stop it. (Yes, it works. Read more HERE) This fish surprised me though. He clamped down with a vengeance. I applied alcohol generously, internally of course, and forgot about it.
The truth is that fish, even pure wild trout, carry lots of things that are not so nice. Bacteria, parasites, man made pollutants. Many of them can cause the malady known as fishfinger. Known well by Alaska guides, fishfinger is the infection that sets in after an open wound is exposed to fish bacteria. It’s often a result of mishandling a knife while cleaning fish. It’s nasty stuff. Very unpleasant.
So, I wasn’t exactly surprised when I woke up in the middle of the night with my thumb bright red and throbbing. When I pressed it against my forefinger, blood spurted from the wound. I knew I had to do something fast or the next days fishing would be torture.
Fortunately, ever since my life-threatening brush with
Read More »Fly Fishing for Carp – Kirk Deeter Book Reveiw
With technology moving forward at a pace that’s constantly increasing, it’s having a huge impact on the way readers acquire and digest information. Some argue that hardcopy books are soon going to be a thing of the past, and electronic book purchasing and the internet will be the future for readers. Although I won’t argue against this notion, for me personally, I’ll never give up on hardcopy books unless they disappear completely. I take pride in my book case located next to my fly tying table that’s crammed full of all kinds of fly fishing and fly tying books. Those hard and soft bound books are my trophies. They’ve done wonders for teaching and guiding me to fishing success on the water, and I hold a personal attachment to many of them. I like that I can highlight important gold nuggets of fishing information in the hardcopy books and I love the freedom of scribbling notes in the side margins when I feel the need (example: try this tactic in december on the tailwater or use this tactic on points 4 and 5 on the lake in the spring). You can’t do that kind of stuff when you’re reading a book on a tablet. For those reasons, and for the simple fact that you can’t easily pass on electronic copies of books to your kids with your added touch, I’ll always support authors that make a point to publish their writings in hardcopies when I have the option.
I recently picked up a copy of Kirk Deeter’s book, The Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing for Carp. If any of you are familiar with the author Kirk Deeter, it should be of no surprise to you that I read this book cover to cover in one sitting. For a guy that struggles with a serious case of A.D.D., that’s an accomplishment that happens very rarely for me, and also a huge compliment to Kirk’s writing. I know it’s probably going to sound like a horrible cliche, but The Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing for Carp in my eyes, is a book that’s written by a fisherman, for a fisherman. There’s a fishing story here and there, but for the most part, it’s packed full of the how to’s of chasing carp on the fly. Its well organized, carries an inviting writing style cover to cover and it has tons of detailed illustrations throughout the book to help paint a clear picture of the author’s explanations.
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Bimini Twist
The Bimini Twist may be the the most mysterious knot in fly fishing. I love the look you get when you tie one. It’s as though you pulled a rabbit out of your fishing hat. In reality, the Bimini Twist is not a difficult knot. Once you understand it it’s very easy to tie and it can not be beat for strength. It is the best method for attaching you backing to your fly line and a knot every angler should know how to tie. Here’s Capt. Joel Dickey to show you how easy it is.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / The Sage Light Saber & A Bloggers Wager
Although totally worth your time, this weeks Shoutout is admittedly self-serving.
I have a little wager going with my good friend Andrew Bennett at Deneki Outdoors. Kent and I feel like our readers are the best and most loyal readers on the web. We did a Shoutout to Deneki a while back, and felt pretty sure that we would show up as Andrews #1 referring site. Sadly, we are stuck in the #2 position.
WE DON’T LIKE BEING # 2!
I made a bet with Andrew that we could change that and I’m counting on your help. Please, let’s show these boys what the G&G family can do. Follow this link to read Andrews awesome review of the new Sage Light Saber.
Thanks!
Read More »2014 Redington Waders
2014 BRINGS WITH IT NEW REDINGTON WADER LINES FOR BOTH MEN AND WOMEN.
The Super Dry Fly Waders for men feature nano-technology and come in standard, zip front and pants. These options have you covered for every wading scenario. The new Siren waders and boots for women offer style, performance and more options for fit with the Marilyn and Kate models.
Cool new wading products with the quality and innovation you expect from Redington. Check out the video for all of the details.
Read More »Fly Fishing the Trico Hatch & Spinner Fall
The first major spinner fall that I ever witnessed and had the pleasure of fishing took place many years ago on the South Platte River in Colorado.
I’ll never forget the excitement I felt as I watched countless trico spinners floating downstream in the surface film. Never in my life had I seen so many bugs on the water. With one scoop across the surface of the water with my hand, I held dozens of tricos. I was so amazed by the density of bugs on the water that it put me in a frozen trance. Unable to wet a line, I remember thinking to myself, “This must be what fly fishing in heaven is like.” Growing up in the Southeast, I’d never seen a spinner fall of such magnitude. I’d only read about them in books. Looking back on that day now, I believe my reluctance to start fishing that morning had a lot to do with me just taking it all in, and appreciating the true beauty of nature at work. Only after I took the time to pay my respect to the bugs and wild trout, did I feel worthy enough to begin fly fishing such a beautiful place.
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / Flathead Mayfly Nymphs Rule
If you take the time to to flip over enough rocks in moderate moving water you’re bound to find lots of Flathead Mayfly (Heptageniidae) clinger nymphs of various sizes. These three and two tailed flat bodied nymphs, with robust legs and broad heads are very important for fly anglers. Quill Gordons, March Browns, Hendrickson, Light Cahill, Pink Quill and Gray Fox are some of the popular species that belong to the flathead family. To date, there’s been fly patterns created for over 45 different species in 10 different genera of the flathead family. Because there’s usually multiple species found in any given watershed, I typically find trout keep them on the food menu year round. The subsurface nymph patterns seem to produce nice trout for me even when fishing conditions are really tough. Oddly enough, I rarely find a good variety of patterns that imitate the nymph stage in my local fly shops. Below is a pattern I tie as a general all-around nymph imitation for the flathead “clinger” mayfly. It’s designed to mimic the bold features of the flathead, and it’s landed many big fish for me the past few seasons.
Read More »Saturday’s Shoutout / Fly Fishing Guide Trevor Covich
This week’s Saturday Shoutout we showcase Trevor Covich, a veteran Alaskan fly fishing guide at Alaska West. Trevor recently put together a really cool fly fishing and tying video about one of his signature sculpin patterns. We also have provided links for two other fly fishing articles written by Trevor that we think you’ll find very informative. I hope one day I’m able to fish with Trevor. I know I could learn a great deal from him.
Read More »