The New Jackson Mayfly Kayak
Jackson Kayak is known worldwide for making some of the best kayaks on the planet.
Be it for fishing, whitewater, or freestyle, performance and quality are two words that come to mind when you lay eyes on a Jackson.
Jackson Kayak has been in the fishing game for almost as long as they have been in business. Boats like the Coosa, Cuda, and Big Rig have all been proven on the water as serious fishing platforms. With numerous products available to the kayak angler today, there are a million ways to outfit each of these platforms to best fit your fishing needs. However, one of the techniques that still didn’t have a niche in the kayak industry was fly fishing. Sure, there have been accessories developed to help make toting fly rods a little easier, but that was much of the extent of fly angling accessories. Jackson saw this missed opportunity and has developed a kayak meant to cater to the fly angler. And this thing is ALL ABOUT FLY FISHING!
By now, especially for you kayak fishing enthusiasts, you have probably seen the new Jackson Mayfly on social media platforms, or maybe even on the water. For those of you that haven’t, if you are in the market for a solid fly fishing boat, this is the kayak that you want. For starters, forget all of the little accessories you thought you would need to get started as a fly angler chucking flies from a kayak. There are numerous fly-friendly features that have been thoughtfully built in to the platform of this awesome kayak which take a lot of the headaches out of fly fishing from a kayak.
Going through the kayak, several features have been built in to the Mayfly to accommodate fly equipment. The biggest difference seen on the Mayfly is the modified footrest system. Jackson ditched the pedal-style, side mounted footrest system for a new, center mounted footrest that eliminates line snags while also providing several inches of adjustability forward and aft. If you’re not a fan of footrests, this footrest is easily removed and affords the angler tons of free deck space, and leaves plenty of room for activities. The seat system also gets an upgrade with an adjustable, sliding seat bracket that allows for simple seat position adjustment on the fly. Just forward of the seat, on each side, are two fold-down fly boxes for storing flies on board the Mayfly which are secured with a bungee cord. On each side of the kayak is a new, molded-in, tubular rod storage system that allows you to safely store your rods while fishing, as well as during travel. To coincide with the rod storage, each side also has padded fly reel wells with bungee straps so your fly rod can be stored securely without having to either remove the reel, or place it precariously and hope it doesn’t get damaged. The rod storage system is setup for nine foot rods. Longer rods can be stored on the kayak, however the reels will not sit inside the reel wells. Behind the seat is a large area for storing coolers and other gear. I can easily fit my Orion 35 cooler in this area and still have room for a few smaller pieces of gear or a couple large fly boxes. New latches have been added to the forward and aft storage compartments which provide a solid seal and help keep water out of the hull, and a drop in tray has also been added to the forward compartment to allow easy access to other gear that may come in handy. Just like with many of Jackson’s vessels, there are numerous rails mounted along the kayak to allow for smart placement of various RAM mounted accessories, like
Read More »Sunday Classic / Tapping into your Subconscious Thinking
For years, I’ve felt like my subconscious has put me in a zone on the water.
One of the most stimulating and interesting TV shows that I take the time to watch every chance I get is “Through the Wormhole” on the Science Channel. Go ahead and call me a geek, I find the show inspiring and can’t help to think if I’d been forced to watch this show as a kid I’d probably be three times as smart as I am today, and would have made it much further in my advanced education. “Through the Wormhole”, is hosted by the great actor Morgan Freeman, and it runs segments on all facets of life, discussing such topics as advanced science and mathematics, space travel and the human brain. The other day couch surfing and flipping through channels on the TV, I stumbled upon the show and quickly found myself glued to the screen as it talked about the mysteries of our subconscious, and how it’s used every waken moment of our lives.
Neuroscientists have prooved that the human brain constantly uses our subconcious to guide us and sway our decision making. The show talked about how it’s our subconscious that allows musicians to memorize and perform extraordinarily difficult pieces of music perfectly by keeping their mind and muscle control in harmony. I assume it’s very similar to how professional athletes are able to put themselves in a zone during a game by using their subconscious, then making game winning plays. It was explained that our subconscious always stays two steps ahead of our conscious thinking, and that it’s a major driving force that keeps us out of danger and allows us to use our gut feelings to make spontaneous decisions correctly when we lack the information needed. The show went on and on, in great detail about how humans benefit from their sub-conscious, and then backed it all up by doctoral research and testing. In the end, the show concluded that in the future, if humans can learn to regularly tap into their subconscious we’ll be able to be more healthy, become significantly smarter and more creative than we can possibly imagine.
After I finished watching that particular episode of “Through the Wormhole”, I began thinking about what degree our subconscious plays in our fly fishing.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Bear Necessities
Summer fishing season brings anglers and bears together and not always for the best.
Bears are a fact of life for fly anglers. Trout country is often bear country and a smart angler will be prepared for a run-in. Most bear encounters which end in an attack happen in close quarters. Bears have poor eye sight and are surprisingly easy to sneak up on. They are also surprisingly quiet and just as often sneak up on you. Most anglers who encounter bears say something like, “I just turned around and there he was.
Luckily most encounters end peacefully. One day, Kent and I were fishing from a gravel bar for a good forty-five minutes. Two other anglers stopped across the river for a while and watched us. We bumped into them later that day and one of them said,
“You boy’s are pretty bold. I can’t believe you just kept fishing with that bear.”
We never even noticed that a bear had wandered onto the gravel bar behind us and was apparently there for some time. We were so focused on fishing that we missed it. Most bears are that generous but once in a while you run into a bad one. Often an adolescent male or sometimes an injured or elderly bear will challenge or even charge a human.
The best way to protect yourself is with bear spray. Statistically spray far out performs a gun in a bear attack. If you carry bear spray you should know how to use it. Below is a link to a great post on the topic from Orvis News. There’s a video too. It’s a little cheesy but has a lot of great information. Have a look at both and stay safe out there.
CLASSIC PRO TIPS: HOW TO STAY SAFE IN BEAR COUNTRY
Read More »The Moth Larva Hatch
By Kent Klewein
AS I RELIVED LAST YEAR’S SPRING FISHING SEASON IN MY HEAD SEARCHING FOR THE PERFECT HATCH, THE COLOR OF BRIGHT GREEN BEGAN ENTERING MY CONSCIENCE, AND BAM! LIKE A SLAP TO THE FACE, IT HIT ME.
Every year we get a month-long trout feeding frenzy, as moth larva burst onto the scene by the tens of thousands. Yes, I’m talking about the green weenie, the inch worm. The tree limb-repelling caterpillars that every trout in the stream will gorge themselves on through the month of May, and well into summer. Multiple species of moth larva ranging from 1-2″ long annually coordinate a synchronized blanket hatch during late spring that ends up packing the bellies of trout with protein-rich, green gummy goodness. Anglers smart enough to take advantage of this late spring phenomenon can find themselves fooling the biggest trout in their waters.
Timing the Moth Larva Hatch
For the hottest and most consistent fishing, the best time by far to target the moth larva hatch is during it’s early stages. The blanket hatch usually begins the first week of May in North Georgia, but can start a little later depending on how far north you live in the Southeast. Because this hatch unfolds and gains momentum so quickly, it takes very little time for trout to recognize the new food source and begin keying in on it. As soon as I spot the first moth larva of the year, I begin working the larva imitations into my fishing within days. This way I can monitor their effectiveness, and do a much better job of timing the hatch during its peak periods. When most of the trees have gotten the new years foliage, you should start anticipating the hatch to begin.
Fishing the Moth Larva Hatch
There’s basically three ways you can go about fishing the moth larva. The best technique and rig depends on the size and depth of water you’re fishing. It’s also very important to pay attention to how the fish are feeding on the hatch (surface or subsurface), and where you’re locating the concentrations of trout. Here are the two main rigs I use when I’m zeroing in on the moth larva hatch:
Rig 1. Buoyant Dry Fly with Inch-worm Dropper
You can fish a floating inch worm pattern solo like a dry fly. Most of these patterns are tied out of deer hair or foam. They float well, but it can be hard to find the correct shade of tying materials to match the color of the naturals. Because of this, I generally opt for dropping a simple, bright green ultra-chenille inch worm pattern 18-20″ off the back of a buoyant dry fly. You can tie them up in a third of the time of the deer hair patterns, and if you add floating, it floats well enough.
This rig works really well on small streams where
Read More »Happy Independence Day
Let’s take a minute this July 4th to think about what we have.
The image you see here is one of my most popular. I regularly get emails about it. Folks commonly download it and plaster it on their Facebook pages. It seems that every US based angler who sees it has a visceral response. Why do you think that is?
I think it’s pride. Here in the US we anglers have a lot to be proud of. I have fished all over the world and I can tell you that we have a remarkable and unique resource here at home. We have water and land that make anglers around the world envious. The thing with makes me the proudest of my homeland is our vast public lands. Like those anglers who email me about my photo, I too have a profound and visceral response. I think we should all be proud of what we have and what we have been able to keep. It’s a very rare thing in this world and it sets our country apart.
Problem is, we aren’t doing a very good job of looking after it. We take it for granted. We neglect it and we are, at this point in our nations history, the closest we have ever been to losing it. That’s not something we should be proud of. Ask yourself this. Do you want to be part of the generation who lost our public lands? If not, you’d better start doing something about it.
So let’s take a minute this Independence Day and ask ourselves if we are proud. Are we proud of our heritage? Proud of our country? Proud of our public lands? Most importantly, are we proud of what we have done to protect and preserve them. Take that seriously and be honest. It’s easy to put your chest out and say you’re a proud American. It’s not so easy to do something for America that you can be proud of.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM GINK AND GASOLINE
Read More »Sunday Classic / Weight is Great
I’ve hesitated to write on this topic because it seems so elementary. Sort of a fly fishing truism but I’ve been encouraged lately after reminding several of my friends who are highly experienced anglers of this simple fact. If you’re fishing nymphs for trout and you’re not catching fish, the odds are very good that you aren’t using enough weight.
My split shot gets me laughed at. Fly fishermen have ideas about weight. I carry a box of the polite little split shot, made for fly fishermen, but I seldom use them. I go straight to the stuff made for the gear guys. I carry size B and BB but I also carry #7 (1/4 inch diameter) and I’m not afraid to use them. On several occasions lately I’ve been fishing with friends and come to deep runs where neither of us have been able to find fish. After we each fished the run thoroughly, I added one of those #7 shot to my rig and caught a fish on the first cast.
The fish are there in those deep runs but in the early spring with water temps still low, they’re hugging the bottom. They’ll eat a fly, they just won’t move for it. You have to put it right on their nose. It’s a changeling way to fish and dealing with heavy rigs requires making some adjustments to your casting but it gets results. I’ve always thought that the art of fly fishing is in showing the fish what he wants, not expecting him to eat what we want to fish. That often involves weight, lots of it.
The other day I found myself fishing a rig consisting of:
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Wicked Mr Pickett
Get to know Justin Pickett on the Guided Lines Podcast.
If you read Gink and Gasoline you know the name Wicked Justin Pickett from his awesome articles and videos. You likely don’t know just how hard he works to help G&G reach all of our fans on social media. If you follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, that’s Justin.
He’s also a badass guide a dedicated dad and literally saves lives in his spare time. It’s about time he got some recognition. So if you’d like to take a few minutes and get to know Wicked Mr. Pickett, check out the podcast he recorded with Guided Lines podcast.
CLICK HERE FOR WICKED MR PICKETT
Read More »April Vokey Speaks In Atlanta on July 16 To Support The Chattahoochee
This is a rare opportunity to spend an evening with the Fly Gal herself at Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta.
Gink and Gasoline is very proud to sponsor this awesome event, along with Sweetwater Brewing Co. It’s an opportunity for anglers here in the southeast to hear from one of the most prominent voices in fly fishing. In addition to April’s presentation there will be some great prizes, live music, a short film on the Chattahoochee and lots of great Sweetwater beer.
April’s trip to Atlanta is for a great cause. She is here to support the local angling community in our efforts to save the Hooch. The proceeds from this event will go to the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the Chattahoochee River, its lakes and tributaries for the people, fish and wildlife that depend upon them.
I’m personally pretty excited that our effort to save our local river is getting attention at an international level and attracting support of this caliber. If you are in the area, please come out and help support the Hooch. Our river need you now more than ever.
THE EVENT IS SUNDAY, JULY 16TH AT 6:00PM AT SWEETWATER BREWING: 195 OTTLEY DR, ATLANTA, GA 30324.
TICKETS ARE $40 AND CAN BE PURCHASED ONLINE AT HTTPS://CHATTAHOOCHEE.ORG/APRILVOKEY/
The price of your ticket includes beer and food and goes to save the river we love.
I hope you will be able to join us. I would personally like to thank April Vokey, Sweetwater Brewing, The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and all of our sponsors for their good work and generosity.
Read More »Rising Rigging Station
By Justin Pickett
Get yourself organizized.
There are plenty of accessories and gadgets on the market that are meant to somehow make your angling experience more convenient, or organized and, recently, I ran into what I would consider the mother of all such accessories.
Rising has fast become a well-known name in the fly fishing world as their bomb-proof, metal framed nets continue to find their way into anglers’ hands across the globe. And while their nets may have put them on the map, Rising has a full line of made-in-the-USA products that are cleverly designed while still providing solid performance at an affordable price. Rising’s Nippa is hands down the best six bucks you’ll spend.
Thanks to Rising, I was able to get my hands on one of their Rigging Stations and, over the past several weeks, it has fast become one of those pieces of gear that I will not leave home without. It’s designed to hold spools of tippet and leader material, nippers, hemostats, pliers, and just about any other small accessory you might need on the water. Best of all, it’s portable and compact! It comes with a mounting bracket that is easily mounted onto your drift boat, truck bed, or the wall of your garage. With four zingers built in to the body of the Rigging Station, there is plenty of reach to work. The bottom of the rigging station can be used as
Read More »Join G&G At Abaco Lodge March 1-6, 2018
Join Me For Some Amazing Fishing In Abaco, Bahamas
The G&G South Andros Bonefish Schools sold out almost immediately this year. If you missed out on those great trips, never fear! Here’s your chance for some amazing bonefishing and maybe even a permit or tarpon.
Abaco Lodge March 1-6, 2018 $4750
If you’re looking for the absolute best Bahamas experience available, you’ve found it. I can honestly say that Abaco lodge is the best fishing lodge I’ve ever visited. On every count it exceeds expectations. The facility itself is ridiculously nice. Huge single occupancy rooms with big plush beds and fine linens. Luxurious baths with every amenity. Doors that open onto decks overlooking the water. A beautiful pool and fire pit, large covered communal deck with a superb bar.
The whole place shines like a new penny, including the sweet new Mavric skiffs. Best of all, it offers access to the most diverse and productive fisheries in the Bahamas. Anglers can expect great numbers of bonefish as well as quality shots at permit and tarpon. Abaco offers a legitimate chance at the grand slam.
All lodging is single occupancy and the amenities are on par with any luxury hotel. Fabulous meals and a well stocked bar are included. The lodge has it’s own fly shop and a selection of fine cigars. The skiffs can be easily trailered to any part of the island, eliminating long painful boat rides. It’s an amazing 4-day, 5-night trip.
Travel to Abaco is easy, with some major airlines offering direct flights to Marsh Harbor from the US, and the lodge only 10 minutes from the airport. Half days of fishing are possible on arrival and departure days, if your flight schedule allows.
I hope you will be able to join me and the other fans of Gink and Gasoline on this amazing trip. Don’t hesitate to email me if you’d like more detailed information about any aspect of the hosted trip program. I’m happy to help in any way. If you’re not sure how hosted trips work, follow this link to learn all of the details. https://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing/how-do-hosted-fishing-trips-work-and-is-it-right-for-me/
Drop me a line at hookups@ginkandgasoline.com to reserve you spot.
Read More »