Sunday Classic / Do Bonefish Eat Popcorn?
I LOVE POPCORN CLOUDS. PUFFY, BILLOWING WHITE MARSHMALLOWS FLOATING ACROSS THE SKY.
Like huge mounds of cotton candy picking up the green, blue and gold of the flats. Nothing says, “it’s going to be a beautiful day” like popcorn clouds. Who doesn’t love them, well, bonefish actually. Popcorn clouds can be tough but you can beat the game and have a great day by fishing smart. Here are a few strategies that pay off.
Saturday Shoutout / A Search For Balance
Balance, Isn’t that what it’s all about?
When I first became aware of the rising tide of grass roots fly fishing writing on the internet, one of the first sites I found, and fell in love with was Fontinalis Rising. I’m happy, and proud, to now call Jason Tucker my friend. One of the things I enjoy most about Jason, as both a writer and a friend, is his authenticity. If you spend any time with him at all you’ll here him casually drop some simple truth and it will stick with you.
This post caught my eye. I think i like it because he has my number. Balance has never been my long suit. I’m way too fired up for that. While Jason doesn’t speak for me in this post, I think it will speak to a great many others, and might be a good lesson for us all. In fishing and in life.
CHECK OUT, A SEARCH FOR BALANCE
Read More »Sunday Classic / Listen to the Fish
Sometimes all fly fisherman need to do to find success when their not having luck is slow down, and take the time to listen to the fish.
Trout can’t speak to us in words, but they do often provide us with subtle clues from their behavior that can help us catch them. That is, if we’re paying close enough attention to pick up on them. Not long ago, I was on the water guiding one of my favorite clients during an unusually cold early fall overcast day. A cold front had rolled in the night before and it had completely shut down all bug activity on the surface. There wasn’t so much as a single midge in the air, so we opted for drifting nymphs below the surface and began catching trout. As we broke for lunch, I noticed the clouds beginning to break up and the sun starting to find its way down to the ground in spots. Refueled, we headed up to a productive bend in the river to resume our fishing. As we crept down to the waters edge, I saw a large slurp from a big fish on the surface. It came at the tail-end of the bend, from a bath tub sized spot where the sun was shining down on the water. Both of us froze in total shock and amazement. It was the first surface activity we had seen all day and we waited with anticipation to see if the big fish would rise again. A few minutes went by with nothing. I scanned the water to see if I could see what the big fish had taken on the surface, but I saw no signs of food drifting in the current.
Convinced, the big fish rise was an omen, I snipped off the nymphs, added a couple feet of tippet and tied on a big black foam beetle. I handed the rod to my client and instructed him to quietly get into position and present the beetle slightly upstream of where the big fish rose. He obliged with a perfect cast and we watched the beetle intently as it began slowly drifting through the big fish’s kitchen. Nothing happened at first, but just when both of us were about to give up on the drift, we saw a large wake heading downstream towards the beetle. Next, a huge head broke the surface with jaws wide open and the beetle was devoured. God save the queen, the hook was set and we battled the fish up and down the river for several minutes before bringing that vibrant red-striped 24″ rainbow trout to the net. That fish was absolutely beautiful but the take was even more. I’ll never forget being abel to stare down the mouth of the fish just before it chomped down on the beetle. It was a front row seat to an amazing rise that you don’t see very often.
Here’s the funny part.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Venturing to IFTD
We are still recovering from the annual International Fly Tackle Dealers show in Orlando.
IFTD is a serious case of sensory overload. This years show in Orlando was no exception. G&G will soon be publishing our in-depth video coverage from the show, but in the meantime here’s a test of some of the new products from Tim Harden of The Venturing Angler.
Notable New Products at IFTD 2016
Read More »I think We’re On To Something
By Louis Cahill
You have to admit there is a family resemblance.
There’s no debate that Kelly Galloup has had a huge impact on fly fishing. He certainly has on my personal fishing. I had been tying and fishing a handful of Kelly’s patterns for several years when I first met him. I stopped by Kelly’s place on the madison and fished a day with one of his guides. Kelly offered my wife one of his horses to ride. We had a blast and were well taken care of.
I spent several hours hanging around the shop BS-ing with Kelly and the guys. If you’ve been by the Slide Inn you’ve probably had the same experience. Kelly is always generous with his knowledge and certainly his opinions, which I value. What you don’t get from his videos and books is what a funny guy he is. I remember Kelly telling a story about a fly fishing company, which I won’t name.
“The problem with those guys,” he proclaimed, “is they were all a bunch of drunks who didn’t want to work.”
He took a look around the room at the host of skeptical faces and added,
“OK, we’re all a bunch of drunks, but these guys didn’t want to work.”
Thanks Kelly. For all that you do.
Enjoy this classic Kelly Galloup video and feel free to share the meme of Kelly and Chuck.
Read More »The Douglas SKY Fly-Rod Review
Over the past handful of weeks I’ve been trying out a pretty awesome new stick that will be the new flagship offering from Douglas Outdoors.
“Who is Douglas Outdoors?” is usually the raised-brow response I get when I mention their name. Not everyone has yet to hear of them, but I’m sure that’s going to be a very temporary thing. However, for our readers that may not be aware of Douglas, let’s go ahead and address this question.
Douglas Outdoors is a newer company based in upstate New York that manufactures and distributes quality fly fishing gear, focusing on rods and reels. The company was founded by the Barclay family in 2014, a prominent conservation family and owners of the famous Douglaston Salmon Run in Pulaski, NY. Their goal was to bring together some of the most innovative rod and reel designers and create a NY-based fishing equipment manufacturer. In just a few short years their products have won many awards, with the Upstream series seeming to lead the way. Today they have five series of fly rods covering entry level to premium performance price ranges, including the SKY, DXF, Upstream, DHF and LRS series. They cover every specialty technique including nymphing, saltwater, ultra-light and spey. They also designed and manufacture a great click-check reel, called the Argus, right here in the U.S.
Back to the rod… I was given the opportunity by Douglas Outdoors to try out a new SKY 905-4 and hit the water with it as soon as I got it. At first glance, the rod is well-made and the blank is sleek and straight. One of the first things that I noticed when putting the rod together were the alignment dots on the blank. Oh boy, here we go. Alignment dots are a peeve of mine. I can’t tell you how many rods I’ve owned, both inexpensive and crazy expensive, that have had alignment dots that didn’t align the rod correctly, some having been just atrocious. However, I was pleased to see that once the rod was together the dots had the rod dead straight. The blank is a matte slate blue/silver that Douglas calls Platinum, which is a nice departure from the greens and browns that tend to dominate within the trout class of fly rods. The finish is neat, with black wraps trimmed in silver. The half wells cork has a dense feel and is very comfortable in the hand. The grip feels like it may be a touch slimmer than most half wells grips you’ll find. The reel seat is anodized aluminum with a nice burl wood insert, finished up with double uplocking rings, but (as I mentioned) it is very comfortable and has a great feel. Along the blank you’ll find a new Fuji Torzite stripping guide followed by titanium REC, single-foot guides. The rod comes with a nice aluminum rod tube and rod socks. The tube is powder coated in slate blue with a contrasting Douglas logo imprinted along the side. The rod sock isn’t your traditional sock. It is made from a thin, mesh-backed foam with the rod model sewn onto a label. Douglas strayed from the traditional route with the goal of providing improved air circulation for rods that are still wet when placed back into the rod tube, as well as a little more cushion for the rod.
The performance of this rod is, of course, the most important part of this whole thing. You can make just about anything look the part, but you had better be able to walk the walk as well. As is usual nowadays, I expected this rod to be on the fast side, so I strung the rod up with a Rio Grand WF5F line with a 7ft practice leader. The rod would certainly be considered
Read More »Sunday Classic / Bonefish Flats Revealed
IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW YOUR OPPONENT, AND TO THAT END IT’S GOOD TO KNOW HIS NEIGHBORHOOD.
When we look at a bonefish flat we tend to perceive it as two- dimensional. It’s right there in the name, flat. The truth is, it’s far from flat. The bonefish’s world is as three-dimensional as ours. It’s a landscape full of hills and valleys, mounds and burrows. The crabs, shrimp and such that bonefish feed on use these features to hide or escape from the hungry predator. Knowing this can give us an advantage.
Saturday Shoutout / Dam The Corp
“Anyone who believes our dam-managing agencies can do the right thing when it comes to salmon recovery is kidding themselves.”
It’s a familiar story. The stark disconnect between the people’s mandate and the government’s actions. This excellent piece by Jim Waddell discloses what he saw during his time with the Army Corps of Engineers as deputy district engineer at the Walla Walla District, which operates the four dams on the Lower Snake River in Eastern Washington. If you care about the future of wild salmon and steelhead, it’s worth your time,
“DAM-MANAGING AGENCIES WON’T DO THE RIGHT THING FOR SNAKE RIVER DAMS”
Read More »Sightline Contest Winner
Someone’s getting their Sightline on!
The entries are in for the Sightline contest on Instagram and francoisnadeau is the winner. Looks like he’s doing a little atlantic salmon fishing and he’ll be looking good on the river in his new Sightlines gear.
Thanks for your entries and a big thanks to Sightline for donating the prize. If you haven’t seen their stuff, check it out HERE.
What??? You’re not following us on Instagram? Are you crazy? Fix that right now!
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Best Way to Improve Your Trout Game
The single best way to improve your trout game is to fly fish on trout water that challenges you.
I’m talking about super technical water where trout are wary and extremely educated. The places where the smartest of trout live, where all you get is one or two shots to hit your target. These trout streams force you to maintain the highest level of discipline in your fly fishing. You have to think out every step of your approach and presentation to find success. If you fail at executing these strict requirements, you’ll almost certainly be skunked on the water.
It’s really easy for many of us with our busy schedules to focus our time fly fishing locations that allow us the most success, or should I say the easiest success. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy these easy trout streams myself, where I can immediately start catching fish within minutes of wetting my line. Just remember, if all you do is fish easy trout water, you’re going to have a rude awakening when you finally get around to stepping foot on a truly technical trout stream. You won’t find success, your confidence will shrivel, your pride will take a beating and you’ll probably feel like crawling off into a hole when it all said and done. Not only that, but you’ll also be impeding the improvement of your fly fishing skills in the process, and you’ll be no different than a kid refusing to take off the training wheels on his/her bike because it’s easier and safer.
So change up your routine, step away from your comfort zone and the rookie trout water for a while. Next time you go fly fishing, choose trout water that requires you to bring your absolute best to catch fish. Be prepared for there to be a learning curve, and some very slow days. But continue to
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