Save Your Night Eyes With The Right Headlamp
By Justin Pickett
Having the right headlamp makes a world of difference.
Whether you are floating the river at night or find yourself tying knots in the twilight hours of a spinner fall, one piece of gear that you’re likely to have with you is a headlamp. And if you don’t, you should. During the twilight and moonlight hours, a headlamp can be an invaluable tool to make tasks, such as knot tying, navigating, and casting, much easier. Having said that, the most important piece of gear is still your eyes.
Even on the darkest nights, there is usually enough ambient light to find your way around. The human eye is an amazing thing and is designed to react to lighting conditions and optimize your vision. Your eyes are vulnerable, though. At night, just one quick flash of a flashlight or headlamp in the eyes can take you out of the game.
High intensity light (especially white light) bleaches the chemical held inside the rods of our eyes (rhodopsin), which allows us to see at night. Once hit with high intensity light, it can take several minutes for this chemical to regenerate allowing you to see and function, and up to a half hour for your night vision to completely recover.
On the river, losing your vision for only a few seconds can be disastrous, several minutes is not an option. Treading around water after dark can be a risky endeavor. Falling off of a boat or losing your footing and taking a dive into any body of water can certainly put an end to your trip, or worse.
To avoid ruining your night eyes, and crippling your vision when you need it most, make sure to
Read More »Bob Stays Out Late
Bob isn’t a quitter, even when he should be. Maybe there will be a hex hatch…where’s my truck?
See more of Bob and the angling art of Andrea Larko on Etsy.
Read More »How To Make Your Fly Rod Cast Like A Dream
What Fly Line Matches Up Best With Your Fly Rod?
It always amazes me that there’s very little talk in the industry about how important it is to match your fly rod with the appropriate fly line. My recent visit to the ITFD Fly Fishing Show in New Orleans, I witnessed on more than one occasion, fly rod company’s matching their fly rods up with what appeared to be the wrong fly lines. If you spool up the wrong fly line on your reel, that $700 fly rod you just purchased will end up feeling awkward, and won’t perform the way the fly rod designer intended it to. Below are some quick tips on how to match your fly rod with the correct fly line so it ends up casting like a dream.
Fast Action Fly Rods
Stiff, fast action fly rods require fly lines with a more aggressive head design for optimum rod loading and casting. Since fly rods are generally meant to load at 25-30′ of fly line out the end of the rod tip, anglers often find it difficult to load fast action fly rods, particularly at short distances, unless they’ve matched their rod with the appropriate fly line. Both Rio and Scientific Anglers manufacture fly lines specifically for fast action rods.
Fly Fishing for Brown Trout in the Summer and Early Fall
Over the years, I’ve made the mistake many times of walking past trout water that I thought was too shallow to hold trout. Most of the year trout prefer depth transitions where shallow water flows into deeper water. These transitions provide shelter from excessive current and increased safety for trout, and locating them is usually the ticket to finding and consistently catching trout. However, during the summer months, brown trout particularly will often disregard these areas, opting instead to hold tight to the banks in extremely shallow water. They do this to take advantage of terrestrials falling into the water, but I think they also do it because there’s generally shade available and they instinctively know it’s a good spot for them to remain largely undetected.
Read More »A Truck Vault Can Make Your Truck The Bat-Mobile of Fly Fishing
IT’S HUMAN NATURE, I SUPPOSE, TO ADMIRE IN OTHERS WHAT YOU LACK YOURSELF.
As I look at the chaotic pile of fly rods, reels and fly boxes in the corner of my office, I am not at all surprised that one of the things I admire most in others is organization.
Organization is a skill my good friend Michael White takes to a new level. Whitie is a sales rep for Simms which means he pretty much lives in his truck. What’s more, wherever that truck is headed, there is usually some great fishing. That was the case the other day when work, and fate, brought Whitie and me both to the Jackson Hole area. Fortunately, we both had the same day off and were able to get out on the water together.
Whitie’s truck is nothing short of the Bat-mobile of fly fishing. In addition to upgraded off road suspension and the best car audio system I’ve ever heard there is an intense gear organization system. In the back under a huge pile of Simms samples that any angler would kill for there is a weatherproof, fireproof, combination locked Truck Vault.
Pull out the two bed length drawers of the Truck Vault and there, perfectly organized, is every piece of fly fishing gear you could ever need. Rods organized by single and double hand. Reels by line weight. Flies by hatch. Waders, boots, packs, everything you need to fish anywhere there’s a road to get you there. It’s a thing of majestic beauty.
The gear never needs to go in the house. It lives there in the truck, ready for action 24/7. There’s even enough room
Read More »Why Are We Out There?
By Kyle Wilkinson
It’s a question as old as this great sport. Why do we fly fish?
Why do we make the sacrifices—whether it be time away from family, perhaps less money in your bank account, the risk of possible injury (I could go on)—just to catch a fish and let it go?
Now, I don’t typically do this sort of thing but I had a guide trip the other day that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. And trust me, I’m not trying to sound all preachy or holier-than-thou in the paragraphs to come. Like I said, this day has simply remained on my mind.
I had a 3-person guide trip with a good, repeat customer of mine. Our destination was the Dream Stream section of the South Platte and the group consisted of a father/son duo, and the father’s friend. As seems to be a resounding theme in Denver, the son lives here and his dad/his dad’s friend were in visiting from the Midwest.
We met up early and hit the river. Both dad/son are good anglers, however the dad’s friend had never touched a fly rod. (which happens to be one of my favorite customers to be dealt). I got him up to speed and within the first 5 minutes we were staring at a chunky 18” rainbow wiggling in the net. This was his first fish ever on a fly rod and we were all excited! As the day went on, he brought many more fish to the net, however
Read More »4 Flats Accessories From Simms That I Can’t Live Without.
When you set off on a trip to an exotic location for a little flats fishing it’s important to have the gear you need. Islands known for great saltwater fly fishing aren’t usually known for having great fly shops. It’s often a major ordeal just to come up with some sun screen or batteries. It’s smart to take what you need. Being stuck on an island for a week without essential gear really sucks. Here are four pieces of inexpensive flats gear that I love and count on, that all happen to come from Simms. Simms Sunsleeves $29.95 I am dead serious about sun protection. When I am fishing in the tropics keeping safe in the sun is job #1. I was skeptical about the Sunsleeves at first but after a couple of my buddies started wearing them and raving about them I decided to give them a try. They’ve become one of my favorite pieces of gear. With Sunsleeves you get the protection of long sleeves while you enjoy the comfort and range of motion you get from a short sleeve shirt. Plus, you can go without them in the mornings and evenings and put them on when the sun is at its worst. It’s great! And from a dollars and cents point of view it’s cheaper than sleeves. Long sleeve flats shirts cost $10 more than short sleeves, so the Sunsleeves pay for themselves. (GET ‘EM HERE) Simms sun gloves $24.95 Sun gloves are absolutely essential for me. Being able to keep the sun off of my hands when the sun gets high is not a luxury, it’s mandatory. I’ve used several styles of sun gloves and these are my favorites. Cool and well fitted with open palms these gloves have abrasion-resistant pads where you grip the rod and … Continue reading
Read More »Argentina Dream Stream
I can’t think of anything better than stalking big trout in Argentina.
There is something other-worldly about fly fishing in Argentina. It’s at once so familiar and yet so strikingly different. The fish are big and optimistic, and the angling pressure almost non existent. Condors soar above, llamas lounge on the banks, and bid trout feed at your feet. What more do you need?
I’ll be hosting a trip to Argentina in Feb of 2018. We will spend four days on the Limay river in Argentine Patagonia and four days chasing golden dorado on the Upper Parana. There are still a few spots open. If you’d like to see this fly-fishing paradise for yourself, send me an email at hookups@ginkandgasoline.com.
CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME VIDEO FROM OUR FRIENDS AT ANDES DRIFTERS!
Read More »Is There a Place for Electronics in Fly Fishing?
This is really a poll. I’d like to know what you think. I don’t often ask a straight question of my readers but I think this is a really good one. I’ll give you a little context. I recently went fishing for redfish with my brother. As often happens this time of year, we got dealt a tough hand by the weather. We had high wind, mostly poor light, and muddy water. A tough day for even a veteran flats angler but especially for my brother Tom as this was his first redfish trip. Tom is a bass guy and with all the difficulty we had spotting fish he was surprised that neither the guide or myself had every employed electronic sonar fish finders. A piece of equipment ubiquitous in bass fishing. I have bass fished with guys who use them, not that I can make heads or tails of it. I’ve never had the experience of seeing a fish on the graph and catching it. I know how I feel about it and, if you’ve been a G&G reader for a while, you probably do too but I’m not going to get into my opinions here. I want to hear yours. Is there a place for electronics in fly fishing? Do you personally use them? Do you see any benefit or risk, beyond catching more fish? Let me know what you think in the comments. Please keep the discussion civil and respectful. I will not approve any comments which attack other commenters or are simply intended to be hateful. Other than that, have at it. Thanks!
Read More »A Little Chrome Tail
There’s nothing like a little chrome tail to start this day! What a beautiful bright steelhead courtesy of my buddy Jeff Hickman. The bright chrome strips in the tail tell the story. This is a fresh fish, straight from the salt.
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