Saturday Shoutout / Terrace Chrome
Maybe it’s because I love steelhead so very much.
Or maybe it’s because I just got home from a steelhead trip and wish I was back there. For whatever reason this beautiful film on wild steelhead of British Columbia really hit home. It’s soulful and beautifully shot and I just can’t stop hitting the replay button.
Take a ride with guide and steelhead bum, Darren Wright. Chase some wild steelhead in Terrace, British Columbia. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself in a whole new state of mind. God! I love steelhead.
ENJOY TERRACE CHROME
Read More »GoPro Hero 4 Session, The Next Generation
GoPro gets smaller and better.
GoPro cameras are quickly becoming standard equipment for a lot of anglers. Their compact size, simplicity and rugged, waterproof design make them perfect fishing cameras. It’s no wander they are showing up on rivers, lakes and flats everywhere.
The new GoPro Session, the latest evolution in the Hero-cam lineup, offers the same great image quality and features as earlier models in a remarkably small package. Roughly the size of an ice cube, the Session is even easier to carry and mount than earlier GoPro cameras and has some new functionality that I really like.
Simple one-button operation makes the Session easier than ever. Built in wifi and smart phone control makes it remarkably powerful and the waterproof body no longer requires a housing. That makes the camera easier to mount and conceal and solves some problems, like fogging and poor audio, that comes with camera housings.
I have a couple of GoPro cameras including the Session. The Session is now my go-to GoPro. It’s simply a pleasure to use.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO, SHOT WITH THE SESSION, AND LEARN ABOUT WHAT’S NEW FROM GOPRO.
Read More »3 Tips for Swinging Flies for Trout & Other Species
A couple weeks back, for one of my Saturday Shoutouts, I showcased a great fly fishing article on MidCurrent titled, Beyond the Swing by John Likakis. It was a fly fishing techniques piece packed with tons of information about the how-tos of swinging flies. It’s a great read for any angler wanting to become more competent and effective at swinging flies for trout and other species. If you happened to miss reading this one, please check it out after today’s post. After I read John’s article, it inspired me to share three swinging fly tips of my own. Each tip is meant to help the anglers out there who’ve just recently started swinging flies on the water.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Rookie Mistakes Cost Fish
IT’S SUCH A SIMPLE THING TO CHECK YOUR FLY.
It’s 6:45 in the back country of the Florida keys. It’s mid summer and the water is like glass. I can feel the sweat running down my neck and legs. I’m trying to be as quiet as possible as I frantically strip line off of my reel. My buddy Joel Dickey has cut the motor and is on the platform before the prop stops turning. As our wake bends the clouds reflected in the water, we coast silently toward a school of rolling tarpon.
The set up is perfect. I feel a little breeze pick up. It feels wonderful on the sweat soaked back of my shirt. The breeze, the light and the tide are all coming from behind me. Joel puts me in position. A fish rolls at eleven o’clock fifty feet ahead. I drop the fly just in front of him and strip once, twice and the line comes tight.
I strip set hard with my left hand, then lock the line against the grip and stick him again with my right. The light off of the scales is almost blinding when the fish comes up for its first jump. A brief flash and it’s over
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Hendricksons
“YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT THIS SHIT WHEN YOU’RE YOUNGER.”
This piece by Steve Zakur for Hatch Magazine is one of the nicest I’ve read in a while. A frank story about fish and flies, friends and failing health. Proof that things don’t always work out like you’d expect and a poignant reminder to make every cast as if it were your last.
You don’t think about this shit when you’re young, but you should.
Hendricksons
Read More »New Wet Wading Boots From Simms
The Simms Intruder boot is made just for the wet wader.
This is one of the coolest wading boots I’ve seen in a while. It’s kind of a special purpose boot but if you do a lot of fishing without waders, it’s worth checking out. Simms has been working on these boots for a while now and it shows in the design.
The fit of these boots is not your standard wading boot fit. No more piling on extra socks to make klunky boots fit without waders. They feel like hiking boots. Snug uppers and stiff shanks. Lots of support for hiking and fishing. Some innovative sole options as well.
The big design feature is the built in neoprene sock with an elastic closure at the top to keep debris out of the boot. It’s super comfortable Simms pro staff have been testing them for a couple of seasons now. All the reports are very good. It looks like a game changer for the avid wet wader.
WHAT THIS VIDEO WHERE RICH HOHNE WALKS US THROUGH ALL OF THE DETAILS.
Read More »Fly Fishing: Being Outfitted Properly Should Always Be the #1 Priority
MANY CAN ATTEST TO THE FEELING OF PURE EXCITEMENT THAT COMES OVER US RIGHT AFTER WE’VE PARKED THE VEHICLE AND ARE FIXING TO HIT THE WATER FOR A GREAT DAY OF FLY FISHING.
It’s an awesome feeling, one quite frankly, that I never get tired of, because it opens the door for each of us to experience true freedom, solitude and adventure. And there’s nothing like the anticipation of not knowing how the day is going to play out for us. This feeling has gotten me into trouble many times over the years, and I’m sure that I’m not alone. Look back on some of your past trips and I bet you’ve had a time or two where you got in way too much of a hurry, and forgot to pack critical gear. We tell ourselves, “the sky is blue and there’s not a cloud in the sky. I don’t need to bring my rain jacket”. We leave that granola bar or bottle of water in the truck because we hit a food joint on the way into the river and sucked down a 20 ounce bottle of water. Sometimes, we get lucky and we don’t wind up needed the stuff we’ve left behind. Unfortunately, if you get in the habit of doing this too much, eventually it’s going to bite you in the butt. It happened to me on a recent wade fishing trip with Louis in WY.
I was chomping at the bit to get on the water. It had been two years since I’d made a trip out west fly fishing. My late flight into Jackson had got us off to a late start. Since fishing time was limited I decided to do something I never do, which was slap on my waders and hit the water in just a light weight t-shirt. I didn’t second guess myself since Louis told me that we’d only hit this one spot upstream, and then we’d head back to the truck and drive further up river. I took a few seconds to look at the terrain. It was primarily made up of only scattered sage brush and there was a clear path to the water, so I moved onto my important gear, threw on my chest pack and strung up my fly rod. With both of us with our wading boots wet and midway into our first drifts, we doubled up on trout. The hot fishing continued on well past our target hole, our fishing plans changed in transit, and the next thing I knew, we were a long damn ways from the truck. The once wide open terrain, that made it so easy for us to hike-in from the beginning, had somehow transformed
Read More »Hammock Camping For Backcountry Adventures
The further off the beaten path you go, the better the fishing.
Much of the best fishing I’ve ever done has involved some long hikes. There’s no mystery, most anglers will not walk more than a mile to fish. If you’re willing to do the leg work, you will be rewarded. If you really want to see what fishing was like in the ‘good old days’ you’ll have to hike farther than is practical for a day trip. Even if the fishing isn’t the stuff of legend, nights spent on the river are their own reward.
I love camping. My wife and I used to spend a month of every year in a tent. I’ve done it right and I’ve done it very wrong. I learned early on that you can make a backcountry camp trip as fun or as awful as you like. When you’re on foot there are two ways to make your trip really miserable.
1 Be unprepared for the elements
2 Carry too much weight
Here’s the dilemma. Being prepared means carrying more stuff and more stuff means more weight. Ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain. The trick to making a great trip is not to carry more stuff but to carry the right stuff. My goal is to have a manageable load and a good night’s sleep so I can fish hard and rest easy, to borrow a phrase from my friends at Deneki.
I recently made a backcountry trip into the mountains of North Carolina for Southern Appalachian Brook Trout. The hike in covers some notoriously rough terrain and the weather forecast was far from certain. I decided that this was the perfect trip for a camping hammock.
I had a little experience with hammock camping from my youth. Again, some good experiences and some not so much. My favorite being the night I woke up rocking wildly and found a curious raccoon doing pull-ups on the side of my hammock. Lesson one, don’t take food in your hammock.
Lots of folks are curious about hammock camping and most are pretty nervous about it. I read somewhere that hammock camping is like your first kiss. You’re riddled with anxiety over it and once you start, you just want to do it again.
SO I DID MY HOMEWORK, DOVE IN HEADFIRST AND HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED.
You can get a great hammock for the cost of a cheap tent.
Hammocks are like everything else, you can spend as much or as little as you like on one and to a certain extent, you get what you pay for. I decided on an ENO hammock. They are smartly designed, durable, lightweight and easy to set up. You can start simple and add accessories as you go. I’m a big guy so I got the biggest one they make, the Deluxe Double Nest. It was a good choice. It weighs just 28 ounces and is rated for 400 pounds. It has a stuff sack sewn to the edge which doubles as a caddy for essentials. It’s huge and comfortable. It costs $85 here.
There are a lot of options for hanging a hammock.
I went with the ENO Atlas Straps. The atlas straps are super easy and versatile. You can hang a hammock almost anywhere in a couple of minutes. Best of all, they have zero stretch, so you don’t wake up on the ground. They weigh 11 ounces (one of the heavier options), they are 9 feet long and have 30 adjustment loops so you can get the angle right in seconds. They are rated for 400 pounds each with no stretch. These straps were an extravagance in both weight and cost but worth it to me. The last thing you want is a broken strap. They cost $39 here.
What if it rains?
If you are hammock camping you’re going to need a tarp. You can spend more on a tarp than on your hammock but I don’t see the point. I went with a basic blue tarp, 7 X 10 feet, for just $7.00. A couple of rolls of parachute cord and for $15.00 at the Home Depot, you’re good to go. You’ll want to run a ridge line of para-cord along center. Tie the edges off to trees, rocks or tent stakes and you’re done.
Stay warm.
The notorious drawback to hammocks is that they are cold. Having air circulating under you robs you of heat in cool weather. You can
Sunday Classic / Tipping Good & Bad Fly Fishing Guides Accordingly
DESPITE ALL THE CONTENT PUT OUT OVER THE YEARS, AND ALL THE COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN FLY ANGLERS ON THIS TOPIC, THERE STILL SEEMS TO BE QUITE A BIT OF MYSTERY STILL OUT THERE WHEN IT COMES TO TIPPING FLY FISHING GUIDES.
I get many clients that tip above and beyond what’s expected of them. Other times, I’m literally crawling back to my truck with every ounce of energy zapped from instructing and putting my clients on fish, and at the end of the day I’m blessed with a cold empty handshake. Sometimes, there seems to be no reasoning at all with gratuity, most clients seem to get it, but no matter what, there’s always going to be those few that feel gratuity isn’t necessary or are uneducated that it’s customary. All I truly care about is that gratuity is determined and provided to the guide based on customer service and professionalism, and that with any service-oriented job, regardless of the industry, gratuity should be on the radar.
A few weeks ago, one of our loyal Gink & Gasoline followers sent us an email that voiced a few concerns about a fly fishing guide they hired on a recent float trip. Apparently, at the end of the day the follower and his partner were in disagreement about the amount of guide gratuity they should leave. Below is the email and question that was sent to us:
“I would like to get your thoughts on tipping guides. I just came back from a trip to Montana and mentioning no names, I spent a week with a very well-known guide. The trip went well and we caught a lot of fish but his equipment sucked. His Driftboat was a small skiff that he did not want you standing up in to cast, and his Skadden style raft frames front seat came off three times, almost pitching my buddy into the river. Any thoughts on amounts or percentages for tipping would be greatly appreciated.”
My Reply:
Here’s my opinion
Saturday Shoutout / LCP
I hope this doesn’t come off as self serving.
Honestly, I do. I’ve never thought to share my own photography site here on Gink and Gasoline. It has recently been pointed out to me that some folks are interested. It has also been pointed out that it has been foolish not to do it, since that is my profession and some of you might actually like to hire me. So here it is.
You’ll get a chance to see some of my commercial work, celebrity portraits and, of course, a whole bunch of what I think are my very best fly fishing images. Visit the portfolio page and click on the thumbnails to see the full images. Click again for full screen view.
I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SITE.
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