G&G “Christmas On The Fly” Tying Contest
Alright all you fly freaks, it’s time to get festive!
Christmas is just days away and we’ll all be decking the halls with tinsel, garland, and all sorts of shiny, colorful décor, making this the perfect opportunity to take advantage of these gaudy materials to manufacture new masterpieces of majestic splendor!
We want you to show us your yuletide tying talents by sending us a photo of your best creation using holiday decorations and materials. Of course your efforts will not go unrewarded. In this winner-takes-all material mash up, there is a nice grab bag of swag to be won by the tier with the most Christmas creativity, including gear from Rising, Simms, Cortland, Sight Line Provisions, Plan D Fishing, Whiskey Leatherworks, Appalachian Leader Co., and more!
Please see the contest rules below! We look forward to seeing all of your fantastical creations! Winner will be announced on the site Christmas morning!
Contest Rules
Read More »Sunday Classic / Elevate Yourself to Increase the Distance You Can High-Stick
Most of the time when your fly fishing for trout, the last thing you want to do is elevate yourself. In most scenarios, that will usually do more harm than good, by increasing the chances of trout spotting you and spooking. Notice I said “most scenarios”, every once in a while, an angler is forced to go against traditional principles to find success. The other day, I found myself trying to fish an eddy and slow water seam on the far bank. Making the cast wasn’t the problem, it was getting a long enough drag-free drift to get my fly to the fish. Even with my best high-sticking efforts, every cast the super fast water between me and my target water would grab my fly line and suck my flies out prematurely. After a couple minutes of struggling with my drifts and failing to get any bites, I decided to climb up on a boulder next to me. This elevated me three feet, and allowed me to keep 100% of my fly line off the water and get that long drag-free drift. I caught three trout after
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / The Drakecast Goes Social
One of the best discussions I’ve heard about social media.
Social Media is a hot button topic in the fly fishing community. Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay and it is changing fly fishing. This podcast by Elliot Adler is the most considered conversation you’re likely to hear on the subject. You’ll hear from anglers like Tom Bie and Kelly Galloup on the subject and some of what you hear may surprise you. No matter how you feel about social media, this podcast will challenge you to think.
ENJOY, CROSSROADS: SOCIAL MEDIA AND FLY-FISHING
Read More »5 Tips To Stop Breaking Off Bonefish
By Louis Cahill
If you’re breaking off bonefish, there’s probably and easy fix.
Someone asked me not long ago about losing bonefish due to tippet breaking. It happens to the best of us but there are only a couple of ways for it to happen and each has a pretty simple fix. If you follow a few simple guidelines you can cut way down on the number of bonefish you lose.
It’s fair to say that several of the potential problems I’m going to talk about apply to almost any species of fish. Some are much more common in the environment where we find bonefish and others just happen more frequently because of the speed with which things happen in bonefishing. It is a demanding game but breaking fish off should not be a problem.
Keep in mind that tippet strength is always a concern and in no way a constant. The weight of your tippet has everything to do with where you’re fishing. In locations where bonefish see a lot of pressure, you will need to fish lighter tippet and you will have to be much more diligent. Regardless of the strength of your tippet, there is no reason not to fish to the best of your ability and each of these tips is relevant.
How bonefish break off and how to stop them.
THE HOOK SET
One of the most common ways anglers break fish off is on the hook set. Bonefish behave unpredictably. Often a fish will eat your fly and make an immediate turn away from you. Sometimes even before you strip set. This is most common when a fish charges the fly while it is still high in the water column. Even small bonefish are powerful and failing to give them line when they need it will result in a familiar popping sound. You need to
Read More »Traditional Old-School Nymphs Catch Trout, Don’t Forget It
By Kent Klewein
Are you fishing the hot new fly?
Every year, I spend quite a bit of time scouring the interweb and flipping through numerous fly company catalogs, all in the effort to stay up to date with the latest new fly pattern creations. Many are just variations of already existing fly patterns, but quite often it’s a new fly tying material that’s created, manipulated, or that’s managed to stay under the radar and discovered, that’s used to develop these new fly patterns. I usually spend my time reviewing the new flies and their recipes, and hear my inner-voice chattering over and over, “why didn’t you come up with that fly pattern, dumby”. But even after purchasing and tying several dozen of the new fly patterns, many of them ultimately fall short on the water of producing trout numbers like my traditional old-school standby nymphs do. Why is that?
I think the the fly tying world is very similar to the rod manufacturing world, where a company builds a great fly rod that 90% of fly anglers love, and then a couple years down the road they discontinue the rod line, to make room for the introduction of the next innovative fly rod. Quite often, in my opinion though, that new rod design’s performance falls short of its predecessor. I know this process is called product life cycle, and it will continue to happen again and again, but it sure seems like we’re in way too much of a hurry to move on, and should instead be more content with sticking with a great product longer.
It’s the notion that great isn’t great enough, and that we should retire the greats, in the hopes we can find something, for lack of a better word, that’s perfect. The problem is
Read More »Gink And Gasoline’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide
By Justin Pickett Here are some great Christmas gift ideas for the fly fishing enthusiast on your list. The tree is up, the elf is on the shelf and the Holiday shopping panic is in full swing. If you’re like me, you need a little help with your Santa duties this time of year. We are lucky to get the chance to try out tons of cool fly fishing gear each season. Here’s a list of stuff we love and are sure the anglers on your list will love as well. Umpqua LT Fly Boxes The new fly boxes from Umpqua use an injection molded TPE interface to house your flies. Not only is this TPE material lighter than silicone, but the low memory of the material allows for better grip of your flies. The LT boxes are slim and come in a variety of styles! Fishpond Quick Shot Holder If we’re being honest, the Quickshot Holder from Fishpond was designed predominantly for flats fishing where a different species might present itself and require a lightning fast rod change. Made to attach to Fishpond’s waterproof packs, the Quickshot is also perfect for the angler who can’t decide whether to throw dries, nymphs, or streamers on a trout stream. We’ve lugged extra rods around on trout streams and it usually results in frustration and sometimes a broken rod. Never again! Orvis Nippers In the increasingly more populated nipper world, Orvis dropped in from the top rope with the hardest blade steel in the business. Machined and assembled in the United States and not quite as expensive as others on the market, these new Orvis Nippers are one of our favorite fly fishing accessories for 2017/2018. Sightline Provisions Trout 2.0 Bracelet Looking for a unique, hand-crafted way to show off your passion … Continue reading
Read More »Sunday Classic / Dreaming of Steelhead
I WOKE THREE TIMES LAST NIGHT DREAMING THAT I WAS FISHING FOR STEELHEAD.
Not epic, fish hoisting, hero shoting, steelhead fishing but, ass backwards, pointless, penitent steelhead fishing. Swinging tiny flies on floating lines in the turbid, chocolate waters of spring run off (and this is my favorite part) in Colorado’s Black Canyon. If you’re not a steelheader, I’ll break this down for you C.G. Jung style.
The steelhead is, in freshwater at least, the iconic challenging fish. The “fish of a thousand casts.” If you were forced to fish for them in high, stained water, and I have been, you would use big flies and heavy sink tips or better yet a steelhead bullet and an egg pattern and it would still be very, very tough. Lastly, the Gunnison river which flows through The Black Canyon does not contain steelhead. So, in my dream I am fishing for the hardest fish I know of, using tactics and gear that I know are wrong, in a river where this fish does not exist. Clearly I need professional help. A psychiatrist or a guide at least.
This dream was so vivid and persistent that I couldn’t help but wonder what it meant.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Denali
One of the most moving videos you’re likely ti find.
Admittedly today’s Shout Out doesn’t directly have a lot to do with fly fishing, but if you have watched many fly fishing videos you’ll be familiar with the name Felt Soul Media. They have made more than a couple of outstanding fishing videos but this film about a very uncommon relationship between a man and his dog is something truly special. I will warn you, it’s a tear jerker.
ENJOY, “DENALI”
Read More »Don’t Fly Fish With One Arm If you Have Two
BETTER HIGH-STICKING TECHNIQUE
Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about how important it is when high-sticking a fly rod to always utilize both of your arms during your drift. Perfect line management while high-sticking, often boils down to managing inches of fly line and leader. In many cases, it only takes a foot or less of fly line or leader on the water to catch current and destroy your drift. Many of my novice clients, and even some of my advanced clients, regularly high-stick with only one of their arms; choosing to keep their line hand and arm positioned down by their side during the drift. I don’t like high-sticking with only one arm for two reasons.
Reason #1 – High-Sticking with two arms promotes better line management
When high-sticking, you often need to micro-manage your fly line with small strips to keep 100% of your fly line and leader off the water during your drift. If you keep your non-rod arm straight down at your side, you’re not able to strip any additional line in during your drift. When high-sticking correctly, fly anglers should only have their strike indicator or dry fly on the water during their drift, keeping the rest of their leader and fly line off the waters surface. Done correctly, it will minimize the ability of conflicting water currents (currents flowing at different speeds) to have negative effect on your drift. If your nymphing, your flies will sink quicker and stay down in the strike zone longer, and if you’re dry fly fishing, your dry fly will stay drag-free and float the same speed as the current throughout your drift. With both fly fishing rigs, high-sticking correctly can consistently double your drift time in the prime trout water, and that means your flies will stay in front of the fish longer and hookups will increase. Utilizing both of your arms and hands when high-sticking will promote better line management and give your flies a more natural looking drift. Keep in mind that the closer you keep your stripping hand to your fly rod the more accurate and precise you can be with your strips and line management.
Reason #2 – High-Sticking with two arms puts an angler in better position to fight a fish
The second reason anglers should utilize their second arm and hand when high-sticking is they will be much more prepared after a hook-set to quickly strip-in if tension is lost. Quite often, trout wil
Sunday Classic / 2 Ways to Determine the Sex of a Trout
By Kent Klewein
Is that trout male or female?
One of the things I love most about being a part of Gink & Gasoline, is educating our readers. Today’s post, talks about two ways to determine the sex of a trout. Over the years, I’ve found that the majority of my clients have a hard time determining whether a trout they catch is a male or female. Below are two ways to quickly identify the sex of a trout.
1. LOOK AT THE MOUTH
One of best ways to distinguish the sex of a trout is to examine the mouth. Female trout all have a short rounded nose or upper jaw, while male trout have a more elongated snout. If your trout has a lower jaw with a kype, it’s a male for sure. Although the mouth of a female trout will grow larger as it ages and increases in size, the mouth will never grow a kype (hooked lower jaw). Upon becoming sexually mature, male trout will begin to grow a pronounced kype. At first, it will just be a tell-tale sign, but as a male trout ages, its kype will become more pronounced. It’s important to point out that even for trout that aren’t sexually mature, an angler can look at the mouth of a trout and see either a uniform mouth with a short rounded nose (female), or a elongated snout with a slightly longer lower jaw (male).
2. LOOK AT THE ANAL FIN
(Left) Male, (Right) Female
Sexually mature male and female trout for both rainbows and browns have different looking anal fins. A male will have a slight convex anal fish “(“, while a female trout’s anal fin will be slightly concave “)”. I’m not sure if cutthroat trout are in the same boat. I’ll have to depend on the community who regularly catch them, to provide us their insight and confirm this.
IS THERE A THIRD WAY TO IDENTIFY A TROUT’S SEX?
When I was writing this post, I ran across a couple references that claimed
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