Sunday Classic / How To Become A Badass Angler
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WAS A BAD PHOTOGRAPHER AND A BAD ANGLER.
I got to thinking about this the other day when my brother called to tell me that Leon Townsend had died. I hadn’t thought of him in years. Leon was the man that gave me my first job as a photographer, at the local newspaper in 1978 when I was seventeen years old. He was also the first, and only, person who ever fired me. I honestly didn’t learn much from my time there at The Register and Bee, but firing me was quite possibly the best thing anyone has ever done for me and I will always be grateful to Leon for that.
I had enough pride that being told I wasn’t up to the job stung. It motivated me. I realized that Leon was right. I wasn’t very good and it was on me to make myself better. I have been told many times that I have talent and I have often insisted that I do not. I realized early on, that I would have to work twice as hard as the talented people around me to succeed. What I have, what I learned, is not talent but tenacity. It has served me well. If you want to pay me a compliment, call me tenacious.
In time I became a good photographer and a good angler, and I did it in pretty much the same way. I won’t bore you with a chronology of my photographic career but I will offer you some insight on how I learned, and continue to learn, to fish.
HERE’S HOW YOU BECOME A BADASS ANGLER.
Read More »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 »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 »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 »Drift Boat & Car Renting Tips Abroad
When you’re traveling abroad on a fly fishing trip that you’ve meticulously planned out for months in advance, the last thing you want to deal with is equipment problems. That was exactly the case Louis and I ran into several years ago heading out to Wyoming for a week long fly fishing trip with our good friend Bruce Wayne, a.k.a “Batman”.
Read More »A Beginner’s Guide to Catching Bonefish
John Byron
Yup, I’m a real bonefish beginner.
Been chasing bonefish for just 3 years. Half-dozen trips. Lifetime of fly fishing and fly tying, couple decades in Florida saltwater, but new to bonefish. Thanks to some patient guides, I’ve caught a fair number. But not as many as I want and not as big as some I’ve lost. You’ll see me on the flats.
As a buddy says, “when you’re fishing, you’re learning.” These are some of the things I think I’ve learned.
The Fish
Bonefish prove evolution. Their entire genome is built around two imperatives:
Find lunch.
Don’t become lunch.
A year and a half ago I was in the room with the late great Lefty Kreh as he held forth in a day-long session at our fly-fishing club.
One of the members asked this question: “Lefty, you’ve fished the whole world, for just about every gamefish there is. If you could only fish for one species, what would it be?”
Lefty paused a few seconds and then gave his answer. “Bonefish!”
Fishing
Beginners catch fish! Go to any good lodge (nearly all are) with any decent guide (nearly all are) and you will get shots and you will catch fish. On a decent first day with typical luck fishing, you will see backing flying through the guides.
Get the right fly in front of them the right way and bonefish will hoover it up with no hesitation. Chase it, even. Fight to see which fish gets the fly.
Or … splash too much wading, line the fish, false cast once too often, hit the fish on the head with your fly, and the fish won’t wait around to see if you’re a barracuda or an osprey … it’s gone.
Your learning efforts should go to getting more shots and blowing less of them.
Catching bonefish is easy.
Catching bonefish is hard.
The flats give you time to think. And yes, you will see barracudas and sharks. Turtles. Rays. And if you squint hard enough, more different kinds of little critters than you ever knew existed. Bonefish flats teem with life.
The right books will improve your luck:
The basics: Dick Brown’s Fly Fishing for Bonefish; Chico Fernandez’s Fly-fishing for Bonefish.
Best for fly patterns: Dick Brown’s Bonefish Fly Patterns.
Best for seeing life through a bonefish’s eyes: Aaron Adams Fly Fisherman’s Guide to Saltwater Prey (noting that Chico has some good stuff from Aaron in his book too).
There’s a ton of good writing and videos online too, on every aspect of bonefishing.
Check out windfinder.com for the likely conditions where you’re going. You’ll learn the weather and wind patterns if you look at the website daily in the weeks before your trip.
You’re likely to catch more fish wading than from a boat.
But you can’t wade everywhere.
Soft bottom is treacherous. Be careful.
And the farther you wade, the farther it is back to the boat.
You’ll prefer sun to cloud shadows. Watch the clouds for breaks and really scan hard when the sun comes out. Morning and afternoon, looking with the sun at your back is ideal (lunchtime most places, it’s pretty much overhead).
Look for dark shapes, shadows, flashes, tails, nervous water, a push ahead of fish, a big troubled patch of water in the distance.
Look for fish close, mid-distance, and way out there. I’ve seen schools at a quarter mile … and missed fish ten feet away. Ghost of the flats? You betcha.
Take a 360-degree scan fairly often.
The fish will often be coming towards you. Think about it: if they were going away, you’d never see ‘em.
Should you move or let the fish come to you?