The Simms Fall Run Jacket: Review
By Louis Cahill The Simms Fall Run might be the most versatile jacket I own. I love my fall run jacket. I wear it all the time, on the water and off. If summers were not so hot where I live, I’d probably wear it year round. I’ve owned one for over ten years and it’s as durable as it is comfortable. watch this video review for all the details on the Simms Fall Run Jacket.
Read More »Big Salmon and Rock N’ Roll: An Interview With Eric Clapton
The name Eric Clapton is synonymous with rock and roll, but in certain circles he’s just as well known as a fly angler.
Clapton has been fishing his entire life but didn’t get into fly fishing until his status as a rock star was well confirmed. He even planned tour dates around famous rivers he wanted to fish. There was a time in his life when Clapton lived the ‘Rock N’ Roll Lifestyle’ like few have done but, since putting down heroin and alcohol in 1987, his life has been more like a John Gierach book than a rock and roll memoir.
Clapton’s recent angling obsession has been Atlantic Salmon. In August of 2016 he landed a fish measuring 42 1/2 inches on the Vatnsdalsa river in Iceland. That would be the fish of a lifetime for any angler, but Clapton returned in 2017 to land another salmon measuring 41 1/2 inches and weighing in 3 pounds heavier than the first. Not content to rest on his laurels, the rock and roll icon is heading back to Iceland this year and is predicting a personal best, if not a record.
I AM DEEPLY HONORED THAT ERIC CLAPTON TOOK THE TIME TO SIT DOWN FOR AN INTERVIEW AND SHARED HIS THOUGHTS ON FLY FISHING WITH G&G READERS. BELOW IS OUR CONVERSATION.
G&G: Eric, may I call you Eric?
EC: Absolutely.
G&G: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk. It’s ridiculously exciting for me, I’ve been a big fan since I was in high school. I was in several bands and my buddies and I used to cover your songs, so I apologize for that. We were awful.
EC: (Laughing) Well, thank you just the same.
G&G: I renumber seeing the photos of that big salmon you caught in 2016, good lord what a fish that was, it was easily the biggest salmon I’d ever seen. What went through your mind when you hooked that fish?
EC: Oh, it was total panic. The first run was like nothing I’d ever experienced. You know, that fish took me nearly a half mile downstream.
Read More »Tandem Fly Rigs The Easy Way: Video
Fishing two flies is almost always better than one, here’s the easy way to set up a team of flies.
I almost never trout fish with a single fly. Whether I’m using a dry-dropper, a pair of nymphs, a streamer and nymph, or even two dry flies, I like to double my odds. There are several ways to set up a team of flies. The simplest solution to tie and fish is to tie your dropper to the bend of the hook on the lead fly. It’s fast and easy to tie and less likely to tangle than more complex setups.
If you are not accustomed to fishing tandem rigs, you should give it a try. It’s highly effective. Don’t be intimidated by the rigging or by casting teams of flies. With a little practice it becomes second nature.
WATCH THIS VIDEO TO LEARN THE EASY WAY TO TIE ON A TEAM OF FLIES.
Read More »WTF Is A Steelhead Anymore?
By Louis Cahill
Is all the arguing over steelhead hurting the fish?
I’ll probably be sorry I started this, but I have a point to make. It seems you can’t say the word “steelhead” without starting an argument. The fighting points are numerous. Are beads flies? Are hatchery steelhead killing wild steelhead? Is nymphing wrong? But the most contentious and, frankly, mind bending disagreement is over what a steelhead actually is.
There are historically two sides of this argument, although lately there seems to be a third, I’ll get to that later. It’s a classic East vs. West conflict. Eastern anglers refer to fish running from the Great Lakes as steelhead and western anglers insist that only fish running from the saltwater are steelhead. Yelling and name calling ensue. Here’s why both sides are wrong.
First, let me be blunt about this, a steelhead is by definition an anadromous fish. That means it runs from saltwater to fresh. End of story. No fish which lives its entire life in fresh water is a steelhead. It’s not my job to make definitions so don’t blame me.
Here it is from Webster.
Steelhead—noun, plural steel·heads (especially collectively) steel·head.
a silvery rainbow trout that migrates to the sea before returning to fresh water to spawn.
anadromous —adjective
(of fish) migrating from salt water to spawn in fresh water, as salmon of the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus (distinguished from catadromous ).
That said, west coast anglers can be real assholes about it.
I’ve had this argument over more beers than I can count, and I’m sure I’ll have it again. One of my west coast buddies will start railing about lake-run rainbows and the knuckle- draggers who fish for them and I’ll tell them that their attitude is killing steelhead. Here’s what I mean.
Look around yourself on any western steelhead river.
Read More »All That Glitters
By Louis Cahill
About once a year I get an email from the editor of a fishing magazine saying, “I heard you have photos of golden trout.”
The answer is yes, but better than half the time the question is completely wrong. There seems to be a lot of confusion over exactly what is a golden trout, and the media has done it’s part to foster that confusion. In reality, the jury is not, in any way, out on the subject but more than half the time what they are referring to is actually a palomino trout, not a golden.
I say this meme on Instagram the other day and it made me think this was a good subject to help clarify. A palomino trout is actually an albino rainbow trout. though they do accuse in small numbers in the wild, they are most commonly raised and stocked as a novelty in pay-to-play private waters. Feelings are widely split on these fish, who never asked to be called into existence. They are at once kind of cool and the highest level of bullshit. I’ll let you decide where you land in that debate. You can read more about palomino trout here.
Golden trout on the other hand, are something truly special.
Native to the Kern River drainage in California, this unique and rare subspecies of rainbow trout is one of the most beautiful fish you will ever see. They exist a few places outside their native range, notably in the Wind River Range of Wyoming and are known to be extremely elusive. The golden trout likely tops the list of
Read More »My Most Memorable Bonefish
sn’t it funny, how certain fish we catch during our fly fishing trips can end up providing us with ten times the satisfaction over all the others.
Sometimes, the size of our catch has little at all to do with the amount of reward it brings. I love catching big fish just as much as the next guy, but for me at least, it’s often more about overcoming the challenges along the way that’s what really makes one catch end up standing out amongst all the rest.
For example, my most memorable bonefish to date, only weighed around four pounds. I’ve landed much larger bones over the years, but what made this particular bonefish so special to me, were the extremely difficult fly fishing conditions I had to work through to hook and land it. Before it all unfolded, and I found myself feeling that special fish tugging on the end of my line, I was holding onto the last remaining tidbits of hope I had left inside me for dear life. I thought success was just about impossible. Never give up when you’re out fly fishing. For when you succeed when everything is stacked up against you, it will be invigorating to your very core.
Read More »Trailer Tires And Dog Logic
What could be better than a beach vacation with my wife and my dog?
I can barely remember the last time Kathy and I took a beach vacation. We are both far more comfortable with the idea of work than relaxing on the beach. It was certainly long before we had Josie, our little potcake dog I brought home from the Bahamas. This would be Josie’s first trip to the beach since I scooped her out of the sand of South Andros. It’s hard for me to picture this trip getting any better, then my buddy Scott offers his flats skiff.
“You should take the Silver King.”
Generosity is Scott’s defining character trait, and although I am reluctant, it’s an offer I can’t refuse. I know he needs hours on the boat to keep it in shape and the idea of spending a couple of half days casting to redfish is just too good to pass up. I don’t protest too much before accepting his offer.
As usual, the day of our departure sneaks up on us. We respond to being unprepared by over preparing. A last minute Costco run yields more food, wine, and liquor than a Mardi Gras Krewe could use. We pack my Sequoia to the gills. I lube the bearings on the trailer, do a little last minute work on the trailer lights and we are on the road by lunch time. Everything is smooth sailing until we get nearly to the Alabama state line and I feel a vibration coming from the trailer.
Ten seconds of vibration, then nothing for another ten and the tire explodes. Not a flat, a total explosion. I’ve never seen a tire go off like that. Josie nearly comes out of her skin. I ease over to the shoulder and start digging through the food, liquor, snorkel gear and fishing tackle for a jack. I always carry a handful of tools on the road, so I’m pretty set for the job. A bottle jack under the axle and a quick tire change. Thank God Scott has a spare. We’re back on the road pretty quickly. I stop at the first gas station to check the air in the spare and top it off. A minor hiccup and everything seems fine until a few minutes later the trailer starts to shimmy side to side. I call Scott on the phone.
“Have you had any issues with the trailer? We blew a tire and now I have a weird shimmy going on.”
“Yeah, those tires are only good for about a year and they are four years old.”
Read More »The Stowaway Fly Reel Case from Fishpond: Review
By Louis Cahill The Fishpond Stowaway reel case is a versatile piece of gear for the traveling angler. I’ve stored and carried my reels for years without a dedicated solution. The Stowaway reel case has changed that. This incredibly tough and versatile case makes traveling with fly reels and other gear a breeze. I also like storing my reels in the case for added protection. It’s a piece of kit I should have invested in years ago. Watch this video review for all the details on the Fishpond Stowaway Reel Case!
Read More »How Louis Got His Groove Back
IT’S HARD TO OVERSTATE THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFIDENCE IN FLY FISHING. IT’S OFTEN THE SPECIAL SAUCE ON SUCCESS.
I squint into the sun. My eyes burn from sweat and sun screen. I take a few deep breaths and puff them back out. I stretch my neck side to side, it pops and cracks. I close my eyes for a second, though I know I shouldn’t, I squeeze the cork in my hand and try to slow my heart rate. I open my eyes and I see an army of tarpon. I am loosing my cool.
There must be fifty or sixty fish in this school and plenty of them are a hundred pounds or better. I’ve seen it before but it’s a sight you never get used to. You can easily spend a whole day on a flats boat staring at the water without seeing a fish. I’ve done that too. Moments like this have to be savored and at first I was doing a pretty good job of it but now things are getting weird.
Normally in salt water fly fishing the presentation is what matters. That’s not to say that you don’t need the right fly but it’s not generally like fishing to a educated brown trout who’s only eating the females among the emerging mayflies. Not generally, but this afternoon is different. These fish are being really picky. Normally, you get a shot at a fish and it’s either interested, or it’s not and you are left to wonder why or just assume that fish isn’t eating and move on looking for the next fish. You don’t get the luxury of sitting there and sorting it out. This afternoon we are sitting in the midst of a huge school of tarpon, who are clearly eating all around us, and I have made a dozen good presentations, each to be met with a follow and a refusal. It feels oddly like trout fishing. My buddy Joel Dickey is working thru every fly in his box trying to put me on a fish while we watch tarpon busting the surface all around us. These fish are keyed in on something and we are trying to match the hatch.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of confidence in fly fishing. It’s often the special sauce on success. The thing that gives one angler the hot rod while his buddy fishes the same fly and goes fish-less. I felt real confident when we rolled up on these fish. How could you not? A school of fifty feeding fish, surely you’re going to get one, right? But with each nerve-racking follow and heart breaking refusal my confidence is eroding. My presentations are getting rushed, my casts becoming less and less accurate, my
Read More »7 Tips for fishing from a SUP
By Ethan Smith
Fishing from a Stand Up Paddleboard can be daunting for the uninitiated. Here are 7 tips to get you up and fishing.
1. Wind
Always think about wind in advance and use it in your favor. No matter what body of water you are fishing, wind will be a factor, especially flats fishing. If you are working against it, It can cause headaches on a Stand Up Paddle Board if you don’t think ahead. Do your best to find spots where you can paddle out and use the wind to float your back along likely looking holding spots you can pick apart. The wind WILL blow you around, so why not use it to your advantage?
2. Don’t be afraid to wade
Fishing from a SUP is fun and exciting, but if you are in a spot with a hard enough bottom to wade, do that. Even in waist-deep water, your chances of landing that trophy fish go up if you are off your board. Don’t be a hero, getting off the board decreases the numbers of variables involved in fighting that fish. It’s easy to just jump off your board, leash it to your waist and wade fish for a bit. Then jump back on your board to move across the channel to a new spot.
3. Keep it simple
Keeping your terminal tackle rig simple on a SUP reduces variables, too. Stick with tried and true attractor patterns on a simple leader. Keep the flies mid- to small-sized and easy to cast, Christmas island Specials or Clouser Deep Minnows are my go-to saltwater patterns and they produce fish and cast easy in smaller sizes. Doing goofy open looped casts with deep diving monstrous flies just isn’t as easy on SUP, so keep it simple and small.
4. Don’t expect to
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