New Fly Rods At Affordable Prices, From Echo
2016 brings us a bunch of new Echo fly rods.
Tim Rajeff is always pushing limits. That’s what made him a champion fly caster and it’s what makes him a great rod designer. He designs Echo fly rods on the idea that a great casting rod doesn’t need to be expensive. This year’s line-up makes a pretty good case.
The Carbon and Ion rods have been around for a while. They are the workhorses of the Echo brand. Both lines have been redesigned, as Carbon XL and IonXL, with new materials, fine tuned line weights and making them lighter overall.
There’s a new line of fiberglass rods in 8 1/2 and 9 foot lengths. These rods have powerful butt sections and are designed with larger water in mind. There’s a very cool new nymphing rod and new Gecko kits for kids that come out of the tube ready to fish.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FOR ALL THE DETAILS ON THE NEW FLY RODS FROM ECHO.
Read More »Review: The Tacky Tube
By Justin Pickett
Tacky Tube, what are you supposed to do with that?
I was recently perplexed when I saw Tacky Fly Fishing’s newest product, the Tacky Tube. My initial reaction to its appearance was, “what are you supposed to do with that?” Other than just being oddly shaped, what was it supposed to do that a regular old fly box can’t do? Intrigued, I went to their website and watched the introduction video. After hearing the first few sentences out of Tim’s mouth about the Tacky Tube, it became more obvious that this will be more of an alternative to the traditional fly patch. I think it’s certainly a great idea. Great hook holding power. Small, light, and portable, as well as being completely enclosed so that flies don’t get brushed off, or snag branches and vines while you’re walking the banks and trails. Sounds awesome. Then I had my “Ah Ha” moment…
When I’m wading my local streams and rivers, I prefer to carry as many flies as I can, as well as several different types of flies. This means that I will just about always have streamers somewhere in my pack. The problem that I often run into is that I don’t really have a great place to carry my larger streamers. I’m not going to lug my MFC boxes around with me. That would just be ridiculous. I often end up hanging them somewhere inside my chest pack, leaving them free to puncture holes in my pack and my fingers, or get tossed out when I’m pulling fly boxes and other gear from my pack. Also, once I’ve finished fishing with a streamer, the chances of it making out of my pack in order for it to dry appropriately are slim. “I just love finding rusty hooks on a six dollar streamer stuck in the bottom of my pack,” said no fly fisherman ever.
ENTER THE TACKY FLY TUBE. CLICK. PURCHASE. BOOM.
It turns out the Tacky Tube will definitely fit the bill as a great alternative to a fly patch. I’ve used it several times now with various flies and found that
Read More »Buster Wants to be a Fly Fishing Guide
Every couple of months, for about the last ten years, I’ve been contacted by recreational fly fisherman around the country, asking me to give them advice on how to go about becoming a fly fishing guide. Choosing to become a full-time fly fishing guide is a big decision to make, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yes, there’s lots of perks that come with the job, but there’s also plenty of hardships. For starters, guiding can prove to be very stressful at times, so don’t think by you making the move to step away from your current job (to become a fly fishing guide), that you’ll be saying goodbye to all the stresses of everyday life (remember, it’s up to you to get fish in the net). There’s no doubt, as a guide, you’ll have the luxury of calling the beautiful outdoors your private office. It beats the hell out of crunching numbers in a tiny cubicle or doing a job that you absolutely hate, but it still doesn’t change the fact that guiding is still a job.
Read More »The People Have Chosen
We have a winner in the People’s Choice- Instagram category.
As you probably know,we,introduced a new category in this year’s Fly Fishing Photo Contest. The photos were posted on Instagram and the photo with the most likes is this awesome redfish photo from badfishtv with an incredible 1252 likes.
You can see all of the entries by going to Instagram and searching #ginkpeopleschoice.
You can more from badfishtv HERE.
Thanks to everyone who entered. The judges are making their selections for the main photo contest. Stay tuned, we’ll post the results next week.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Hyperfocal Focus
SOMETIMES TO GET IT ALL IN FOCUS, IT HAS TO ALL BE OUT OF FOCUS.
Shooting photos you often find yourself wanting an object in the foreground and an object in the background both in focus. This can be a frustrating situation. Inevitably, focusing on either the foreground or the background leaves the other out of focus. There is a way to make it happen but it requires putting on your thinking cap.
It’s called hyperfocal focus and yes there’s going to be math, sort of. You may have noticed that on the barrel of your DSLR lens there is a scale that shows how far from the camera your point of focus falls. That tool is handier than you might think. Here’s how you use it to get the shot.
First focus on the foreground object that you want sharp. At this point it doesn’t matter whether you use auto of manual focus. Take a look at the scale. Let’s say your foreground focus is at three feet. Now focus on the background object that you want sharp. Let’s say it’s at nine feet. We now know we need to carry six feet of focus.
That six feet of sharpness is called depth of field or DOF. Literally the depth of our field of focus. We control the DOF with our aperture. Smaller apertures like F16 or F22 carry a wider DOF. Larger apertures like F2.8 or F4 have narrow DOF. If you’re confused don’t panic. Stay with me. The higher the F# the smaller the aperture. It’s a mathematic formula and I could explain it but it’s not important for this exercise and it’s frankly too much information.
So what we need is an F# that will carry six feet of DOF. Now it’s time to set your camera to manual focus! if you spent a whole lot of money on your lens it may have a scale that shows you the DOF for each F#. If so, that’s great. Choose an F# and set your focus so that three feet and nine feet fall between the brackets. If you don’t have the scale, don’t panic, just set your lens for the highest F#. If you want to get really technical, consult this nifty DOF calculator.
OK, I promised math so here it is. The thing about DOF is it’s a
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / TFM And Things That Click
There’s something about classic fly reels.
For years I fished with classic fly reels. While those old reels are still in my collection, they made it out of the rotation for a while. I got focused on catching big fish and got tired of losing them because my reel wasn’t up to snuff.
I started getting interested again after landing a nice steelhead on my buddy Jeff’s hundred year old Hardy. I can’t drop that kind of cash on a reel right now but I have found a few nice old reels on eBay which were undervalued. Some of them for less than twenty bucks.
One of them was so full of dried mud it would barely turn, but after a good scrubbing and some grease it was running like a sewing machine. With that on my mind this post from The Fiberglass Manifesto caught my eye.
Cameron offers some good tips, and links, on cleaning and caring for old fly reels. If you’ve been buying, or just looking at, vintage fly reels it’s well worth a look.
CLEANING CLASSIC FLY REELS WITH THE “BULLDOG TREATMENT”
Read More »Simms Bounty Hunter Luggage
If you travel to fish Simms has you covered.
Fly anglers have some pretty specific needs when it comes to travel. Not every traveler has to worry about packing wet boots and waders,,for,example. So why not get your luggage from folks who understand what you need?
The new Simms Bounty Hunter rolling bag has lots of cool features designed specifically for anglers on the go. Rod tube storage that’s easy to access and lockable, a dry bag to hold waders and boots and spaces designed to carry common Simms gear. It’s a pretty smart bag and the winner of best luggage at IFTD 2015.
IN THIS VIDEO RICH HOHNE SHOWS OFF THE FEATURES OF THE BOUNTY HUNTER.
Read More »Fly Fishing in the Winter – Getting in the Routine
I’ll be the first to admit, that the first few cold fronts of the year negatively effect my angling morale. Those initial cold fronts are always a sobering reminder that winter is quickly approaching, and the warm days of the summer and fall are long gone. Yes, this is the time of year that I find it harder to get out of bed in the morning. My snooze button gets quite a bit more love from my index finger, and I’m forced to brew my coffee extra stout. As I loosen up in the shower, with my morning stretches, and warm water hitting my back (as us old folks are plenty familiar with), I think about my next objective of the day, which will be to de-thaw my frozen waders and boots. I left them laying in the back of my truck, and yes, I know, I should have brought them inside. I respectfully ask you all to turn your cheek because it always takes me a few weeks before I wise up to the cold season. That’s why, if you peak into the window of my truck this time of year, you’ll probably find me driving around with my waders and boots on the floorboard of my truck, with my heater set to high, and blasting on my feet.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Slowing Down and Casting Easier Can Improve Your Fly Cast
Read the title of this article and try to live by it.
It’s my attempt in “one sentence”, to help fly anglers quickly improve their fly casting, and it’s made me twice fly caster and fisherman I am today. There’s lots more to fly casting than slowing down and casting easier, but if anglers focus on doing both together, they often will find that it can greatly improve their overall technique and control. Ask any professional sports athlete how they maximize their performance and potential, and almost all will reply with excellent technique. It’s no different in fly casting. If you want your fly casting to reach its full potential, you have to first build a strong foundation of fly casting mechanics and principles that you can consistently live by on the water. I’ve found personally that when I take the time to slow down and cast the fly rod with less power, it’s much easier for me to focus on the most important element of my fly casting, my technique.
Let your fly rod do the work
I’ve noticed a great deal of fly fisherman over the years cast with a tempo that’s too fast (rushing their cast), and they also often apply far too much power during their casting stroke. The majority of fly anglers that fall into this category are usually intermediate fly casters. They’re generally skilled enough to fish multiple types of rigs and cast their flies close enough to their targets to catch fish, but they’re approach has them expending far too much energy in the process. Furthermore, this style of casting usually yields a casting stroke that is slightly out of control, creates loops that are inefficient (sloppy) and presentations generally suffer. Put all these negatives together and you’ve got a fly rod that’s not able to perform its job effectively. Remember to always let the fly rod do the work, don’t try to be the power house. It will only work against you in the long run.
Why slowing down and backing off the power will help your fly cast out
First, by slowing down and
Saturday Shoutout / Chrome
Some of my favorite folks have come together to deliver an important message about steelhead.
Tom Rosenbauer, Tim Romano, Kate Taylor Dylan Tomine and Todd Tanner take you to the river for some beautiful scenery, great steelheading and a sobering call to action. This trailer for “Chrome” the new film from Conservation Hawks is as riveting as sobering. If you love steelhead, take the time to watch the film and get involved.
You can see “Chrome” at this year’s F3T.
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