Saturday Shoutout / Brookie Genetics
USGS Scientist have some interesting new findings on Southern Appalachian Brook Trout.
Fly anglers in the south love their brook trout. While many western anglers see these fish as an invasive species, here in the southeast they are our only native trout and our southern fish are genetically unique. It turns out they are more unique than we thought. Their habitat is so fractured that there are as many as ten-thousand separate populations.
There is some good news and some bad, but one notable finding is that native brook trout have suffered less hatchery introgression than expected. In this article USGS researcher Dave Kazyak’s sits down for a conversation with Keith Curley, of Trout Unlimited, to share some of his findings.
FASCINATING BROOK TROUT GENETICS WORK
Read More »Echo Fly Rods For 2018: Video
Some dynamite new rods from Echo fly-fishing.
It’s always fun for me to talk fly rods with tim Rajeff. This year Echo has three very cool new offerings. A premium trout-spey family that’s one of the lightest two handers I’ve ever held, The new Shadow X competition euro-nymphing rods and a whole new lineup of River Glass fiberglass rods.
If you are in the market for a great fly rod and you don’t want to break the bank, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Echo.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THE SCOOP ON THE NEW ECHO FLY RODS FOR 2018.
Read More »Is Fly-Fishing a Cult?
I’m starting to wonder if I have joined a cult.
I picked up a copy of “The Mission” magazine at IFTD. It’s a nice looking book. Good printing, nicely bound, free, everything I like in a magazine. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read it past the cover but that’s what got my attention. The subtitle of the book is “The Cult of Fly Fishing.”
I was intrigued by that. I instinctively felt like that was a fair assessment. As I flipped through the pages I noticed the grandiose way the images portrayed anglers and their quarry. It did look suspicious. In a lot of ways fly fishers act kind of cultish, and the deeper you get into it the more cultish it becomes. I think I may have fallen into this, and even contributed to it.
Let’s be honest, we are an odd lot. There is an awful lot of dogma surrounding fly fishing that has very little to do with catching fish. I tried a test. When I found myself in a group of avid fly anglers, I tried listening to the conversation as if I were an outsider, knowing nothing about the subject. I determined that we sound bat shit crazy to the uninitiated.
I became concerned, so I did a google search for “Identifying a cult.” I found this check list.
6 tips for spotting a cult.
Pressure
There is always some kind of pressure to join. This often involves the idea that your belief system in invalid and that you are missing out on some kind of enlightenment or deeper spiritual experience. “CHECK.”
Brainwashing
Once recruited, members are subject to an organized program of thought reform, or what most people refer to as brainwashing. “CHECK.”
Divine Leaders
Cults usually have charismatic leaders who proclaim themselves as having special powers or special insight. And, of course, divinity. “DOUBLE CHECK.”
Read More »Streamer Retrieves For Different Current Speeds
I’ve talked in great detail about streamer fishing since I began writing articles for Gink & Gasoline. Most of my time has been spent talking about color and pattern choice, streamer gear/rigging for both big and small water and how to locate and target prime trout water with streamers. One area of streamer fishing I’ve yet to talk about in detail is retrieve speed and candor with streamers.
Read More »Black and White Bahamas
The Bahamas are beautiful, even without the stunning colors.
One of the things I love the most about fly fishing in the Bahamas are the stunning colors of the flats. I never grow tired of scanning that beautiful horizon. Still, over the years I have taken a lot of black and white photos, many of them infrared, that I love. I thought I’d share a few here. I hope you enjoy them as well.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Fly Fishing: Don’t Overlook The Trout Water Close To You
When you fish your home waters day after day you get pretty good at knowing where the trout like to hang out. But if you let your big ego convince you into thinking you know it all, that’s when the fish will put you in your place. The other day guiding, I approached a honey hole with my client and gave him the break down on where I thought he should make his first presentation. I backed up my preaching by telling him about all the big fish we had landed there in the past. I insisted that all he needed to do was land his flies off the big rock on the far bank, and he’d get a hookup. My client promptly responded, “That sounds good Kent, but let me ask you a question? Shouldn’t I make a cast on the close side first? That water looks good too?” I replied, “That’s probably not a bad idea. It definitely could hold a fish, but if it was me fishing this spot, I’d land it off that big rock and drift the far seam first.”
This is where my client put me in my place and showed me tat even though I spend hundreds of hours a year on this trout stream, I’m no physic. Despite my coercion, my client went with his gut feeling and made his first presentation to the water close to him. Then, two-seconds into the drift, his line went tight and a behemoth trout came shooting out of the water like a tomahawk cruise missile. We landed the fish, and my client looked over at me with a “I told you so” grin. I smiled and said, “What…? I told you it probably wasn’t a bad idea to fish that close water.”
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Streamer Giveaway!
IF YOU ARE ANY KIND OF SELF-RESPECTING STREAMER ADDICT, THEN YOU KNOW BRIAN WISE OF FLY FISHING THE OZARKS.
Brian consistently drops high quality streamer tying vids backed up by delicious techno-mixed tracks for your viewing pleasure. He typically ties up three or four examples of each pattern that he showcases, and one could only assume that they end up in his meat locker to one day become the victim of a White River shark attack. Until now anyways…
From now on, or at least until his streamer box starts looking thin, Brian will be giving away the flies that are tied for each video that he produces. All you have to do is go to his YouTube channel, which you’re going to do anyways because you want to watch his latest awesome video, and then give Brian some feedback in the “comments” section. That’s it! After the video has been up for thirty days, Brian will randomly draw a winner from those who commented on the video and ship his newest spin-ups straight to your door! Who doesn’t want free flies?!?! Go check out his latest video HERE and be sure to comment so you’re entered in the giveaway!
NACHO HEREDERO’S B.I.L.
Read More »Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth: Video
The new Amplitude Smooth fly line from Scientific Anglers may be the longest lasting fly line ever made.
Lats year SA introduced its Amplitude fly lines. These lines have been very popular but SA wasn’t content to leave it at that. This year the Amplitude series gets an update with a smooth textureless finish and new and improved AST Plus integrated slickness additive. The line is 50% slicker than any line SA has made before and last up to 8 times longer than a standard fly line.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FOR THE DETAILS ON THE AMPLITUDE SMOOTH FLY LINES FROM SA.
Read More »Restock My Box Contest Winner
Somebody’s getting a whole bunch of trout candy!
The winner of the Restock My Box Instagram contest gets 120 primo trout magnets courtesy of Badass Bob Reece of Thin Air Angler. I have to admit, I’m a little jealous when I think about all of the fish that are going to taste these babies!
Quadesherwood, fear not. Help is on the way! That squirmy worm wont be alone for long. Shoot us an email at hookups@ginkandgasoline.com with your shipping address and we’ll get a care package on the way. When you catch those hogs, we expect to see them on Instagram with #ginkandgasoline!
A big thanks to all of you who participated and especially to Bob Reece for making it possible. Check out Thin Air Angler for the best trout flies money can buy and great guided fishing in Wyoming.
Read More »Give ‘Em A Rest
By Justin Pickett
It’s Summer.
What that means for most of the country is low water and high temps. And while those two factors will vary from year to year, and region to region, one thing should stay the same…
We need to be keeping a close eye on water temps.
Just about every year in the Southeast, you can count on most trout streams rising well above sixty-five degrees. Here in Georgia, when June rolls around, the state-run trophy waters and privately held waters begin either shutting down, or limiting the fishing to the early morning hours when the water temps are at their coolest.
We all know trout are extremely susceptible to succumbing to the rigors of a fight in warm water conditions. It can be impossible to recover a trout once those water temps start creeping closer to seventy degrees. There is just not enough oxygen contained within that warmer water to revive them. And even if that trout does swim off initially, it’s more likely to go “belly up” in the minutes that follow.
That is why I typically switch to warm water species, such as largemouth bass and carp once the hot temps of summer settle in. There are a couple north-facing streams here in Georgia that can offer year ‘round trout fishing, but even then I will cut it off around 11 o’ clock. Past that, I don’t want to be out there anyways. It’s hot and muggy as hell! Fishing in high elevations can be a great alternative option. These headwater streams and alpine lakes offer up cooler temps and don’t warm as quickly during the summer months. And there is some great fishing that can be had if you’re willing to put forth a little effort to get there.
Aside from that, it’s just a good idea to give trout a rest this time of year. I know, it’s hard to get up on a beautiful morning and resist the urge to toss a few bugs, but the trout will thank you and the fishery will be better for it. Be sure to carry
Read More »