This Year IFTD Is More Relevant Than Ever
You know the old Chinese curse, may you live in interesting times?
These are certainly interesting times in the fly fishing industry. The business landscape seems to change under our feet faster than we can react. In just the last week we’ve had news of Sage and RIO selling direct online and the likely nationalization of the Bahamian bonefishing industry. No matter what part of the business you’re in, it’s likely you will need to think very hard about the future of your business. We’re all going to have to work a little smarter in coming years.
That’s why I think this years IFDT show (July 14-17) is more important than ever. IFTD is the beating heart of the fly fishing industry. The one time of the year when we all come together to exchange ideas and plan for the coming year. This year, more than ever, a good plan makes sense.
There has never been a more important time for retailers, guides, lodge owners and manufacturers to focus on relationships. The fly fishing industry is a relationship business and there’s no better place to do that networking than IFTD. Attending the show has been the most important thing I have done for my career.
I spoke to Gary Merriman, owner of The Fish Hawk, the largest Sage dealer by volume in the US. I knew that Gary had not attended IFTD since it was held in Denver but heard he was attending this year.
“For me it was never about buying,” Gary told me, “it was about
Read More »Cicada Fly Patterns – 4 Gink & Gasoline Favorites
You don’t have to be an expert fly fisherman to find success fishing a cicada hatch. It’s probably the least technical hatch I’ve ever fished. All you need to do is get yourself a good cicada fly pattern and fish it on waters where the hatch is occurring. The only thing you really need to know is go big with your tippet (2X-3X) and don’t be too quick on your hook sets. Below are some of my favorite cicada patterns.
Read More »Is Flats Fishing In The Bahamas Over?
I don’t mean to be alarmist but I just finished reading a draft resolution for new Bahamian flats fishing regulation and I’m shocked and heartbroken at what it says.
I’ve been bonefishing in the Bahamas for some time now. Over a decade anyway. Twice a year, I take groups of ten anglers for guided fishing at a lodge and at least once a year I do a DIY trip. If you’ve been reading Gink and Gasoline for any time at all, you know of my love affair with these beautiful islands, their people and their fish. Today I am wondering if that is all coming to an end.
Flats fishing is a key engine for the Bahamian economy. Not so much for Nassau with its choked streets, barred windows and shirtless frat boys. But on many of the family islands, fishing is the economy. Islands like South Andros would be destitute without the tourism flats fishing brings.
I know I drop a lot of coin with the locals when I’m in the islands. I go out of my way to do it. I have a huge pile of shells and doodads I’ve bought from my buddy Lindon who keeps the dock at little creek. Not because I need or even want them but because I appreciate that Lindon keeps the place tidy. I remember what it was like before and I know how hard he works at it. I also know that he’d be destitute without that job and the little extra cash he makes off the shells. So I’ll pay him $20 for a shell I could pick up off the beach myself and I encourage others to do it.
I drink in Joe Sands bar, I tip Kermit the bus driver and I donate money for homecoming and I feel good about doing it. More importantly, I introduce people to Bahamas bonefishing. Lots of them and, as a group, we drop a collective $60,000/week in the local economy. Apparently, that’s not enough for the ministers in Nassau.
Here’s where the trouble lies
The Bahamian government is apparently getting greedy. They have proposed dangerous, protectionist legislation, which if passed will drastically limit access to the Bahamian flats by foreign anglers. Here are a few of the proposed regulations that seem especially damning.
No unguided fishing
That’s right. Been thinking about taking the family down for a week and slipping away to fish for a couple of hours? Forget it. Not without a licensed Bahamian guide. At least if there is any kind of boat transport involved, it’s a little unclear. Are you one of the many Americans who have bought a second home in the Bahamas so you can take trips to fish? You might want to sell it. Under these proposed regulations, fishing without a guide can get you (hold on to you seat) a $3000 fine and three months in a Bahamian prison. Oh, and they’ll take all your gear, your boat and your truck. Maybe I’m overreacting but that’s how it reads. How good does bonefishing in Mexico sound right now?
2. No foreign-owned lodges
Read More »Sunday Classic / 8 Common Fly Line Mending Mistakes
I SPEND THE MAJORITY OF MY TIME TEACHING FLY CASTING WHEN GUIDING MY CLIENTS, BUT THE ART OF MENDING FLY LINE IS A CLOSE SECOND.
A perfect cast can quickly become obsolete if you don’t understand the concept of mending fly line. When mending is timed correctly and executed properly it allows fly anglers to maintain a drag-free presentation, keep their fly in the target zone, and prolong the length of their drift. Developing good mending technique my friends, translates into more fish being hooked and landed. If you’re lucky enough to already have the basics of fly casting down, I highly encourage you to next focus your time on understanding and mastering the mechanics of mending fly line.
Throughout this post I’m going to try to touch base on the most popular mending mistakes I see on the river, but before I do so, here’s an intriguing question for everyone. Why is it, that fly anglers seem to always get their left and right mixed up when mending fly line? It happens to me guiding all the time. I’ll instruct my client to mend to the left and they’ll do the opposite, by mending to the right. One of the most common four word phrases out of my mouth is, “no, your other left”. This will probably hit home with more guides than anglers but I had to bring it up, since we all do it. I’ve tried using upstream and downstream for instructing mending direction, but that seems to be even more confusing. That being said, here are the most common mending mistakes I see on the river.
1. Anglers Wait Too Long to Mend
Everyone deserves props when a perfect cast is made, but don’t make the mistake of admiring it, and forget to follow it up with a good mend. Most often, but not always, a fly angler should make their first mend within a second or two of the fly landing on the water. Why you ask? Because it’s the most critical mend of your drift. It sets up your entire drift, and will eliminate the need for extra mending.
2. Anglers rod tip does not travel high enough in the air during the mend
The majority of the time when mending you’re trying to mend as much of your fly line and leader without moving your flies. The longer the cast or more fly line you have on the water, the higher you’ll need to move your rod tip in an oval shape path. “Give me a superman mend”, I say to my clients, when their mending a bunch of fly line. What I’m meaning by this is giving me the biggest mend you can.
3. Anglers mend their line by
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Vise Grip
The words and wisdom of John Gierach brought to you by the folks at F3T
I never grow tired of John Gierach’s voice in my head. His writing is so earnest that, when I read it, I can see him across the table, a cup of coffee between his hands. In this great piece, written for Stonefly Magazine and published on the F3T blog, John talks about flies, fly tying and traveling to fish. But, as always, there more to the story.
“The burning question is whether there’s even such a thing as the “right” fly. During a flavilinea hatch, it’s nice to have a pattern that exactly matches the size, color, and silhouette of the naturals, but it’s even better to get an accurate cast and a flawless drift, even if you’re using a Parachute Adams that’s a size too big.”
Check out, Vise Grip: Fly Tying and Travel With John Gierach.
Read More »The Nautilus Silver King, An Apex Predator
We put the Nautilus Silver King fly reel in a head-to-head comparison with the Hatch Finatic. The results were dramatic.
I was lucky enough to catch the palolo worm hatch in the Florida Keys this year. If you’ve never witnessed 10,000 adult tarpon in a full-blown feeding frenzy, you should mark it on your calendar. It’s straight from the pages of National Geographic and your best bet to hook up a ridiculous number of huge tarpon. It was the perfect opportunity to put the new Nautilus Silver King big game fly reel to a drag torturing test.
THE SILVER KING IS THE LATEST EVOLUTION OF THE NAUTILUS CCFX2 FAMILY.
It uses the new Dual Action drag system created for the CCFX2 line, which offers over 20 lbs of drag with virtually no startup inertia. I have watched this drag assembly put together and can tell you first hand that it is an amazing piece of engineering. The attention to detail is remarkable. Kristen Mustad has left nothing to chance here.
The reel itself is elegant. A slim XXL arbor spool holds a twelve weight fly line and 250 yards of backing. It picks up a full 14 inches of line with every turn. You’ll always be tight to the fish with that on your side. The drag adjustment is twice the diameter of the NV series reels and takes 6 1/2 turns from minimum to maximum, making it safe to tighten on a running fish.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the Silver King is the weight. Or lack of it. At 9.1 ounces it’s the lightest 5″ diameter reel on the market. That’s huge. I’m always shocked at how anglers will obsess about the weight of a fly rod, then fit it with a brick for a reel. The lightness of the Silver King is an upgrade to the whole system.
HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE GOING GOT TOUGH.
Read More »Fly Fishing with Stealth – 8 Common Mistakes
How often to you think anglers miss opportunities catching trout because of the lack of stealth? The more educated trout populations are in a stream, river or lake you’re fly fishing, the more important it is for fly anglers to mimic the way a hunter stalks game in the field. I estimate that I give away upwards of 50% of my trout catching opportunities due to my lack of stealth. Below are 8 common mistakes fly anglers make on the water that blow their cover and success.
Read More »Sunday Classic / How Not To Learn Bonefishing
FLOAT TO THE BAHAMAS ON A 55 GALLON DRUM AND SAVE THE AIR FARE BUT HIRE A GOOD GUIDE EVERY DAY!
My buddy Brad went to the Bahamas for bonefish recently. I loaned him a rod, reel some leaders and a box of my favorite bonefish patterns. It was his first trip to the salt and when he got home the stories brought back memories.
Brad is a great angler. He guides for trout and when it comes to working a tough fish with a tiny dry fly he’s the man but salt water is a totally different game and, like all of us, he ran up against the learning curve pretty quickly. He came home from the trip with a photo of himself holding a nice bone and that’s better than I did on my first salt water trip so I’m not dogging my friend here but I’m going to tell you where he went right and where he went wrong.
Brad took some advice I gave him and that was a good start. First off he went to the Bahamas. There’s a lot to learn for the beginning bonefish angler and much of it is retraining muscle memory. Developing a good strip set for example. The only way you learn to strip set is by feeding fish. “Those crazy ass fish run every which way!” Brad told me. That’s true, and you only learn how to lead moving fish by getting shots at moving fish. Simply put, in the Bahamas you get a lot more shots and you feed a lot more fish.
The first way he went wrong was
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Carpocalypse
By Dan Frasier
ON THE 13TH OF JUNE 2015, ALSO KNOWN AS TODAY, COSTA, SCIENTIFIC ANGLER, CARPPRO AND THE ORVIS PORTLAND STORE HAVE TEAMED UP TO HOST A THE WORLD’S LARGEST ONLINE CARP ON THE FLY TOURNAMENT.
There is an obsession amongst carp on the fly anglers, possibly an unhealthy obsession, with introducing more and more flyfishermen to what we consider the pinnacle of flyfishing. I’m not sure why this is. It could be a way to try to justify our obsession with what has been considered an unworthy fish.
You see, we know if you try it you’ll realize they are the most challenging target in fresh water and stop teasing us for fishing for trash fish. Or perhaps we altruistically believe we’ve found one of the most entertaining ways to spend a day on the water and want you to share the joy too. Or maybe we think if the mighty carp becomes more accepted as a target, more people living in more places will pick up the flyrod for the first time, and we can grow the tent of the sport we love so dearly.
Regardless of the reason, carp flyfishermen are hell bent on getting our fish educated by others, our spots filled up with new fishermen and our flats crowded. If it seems a little insane, it probably is. We are full-grown adults that choose to chase carp with a flyrod, after all.
One of the outgrowths of all of this outreach by the carp community is the creation of many carp on the fly tournaments around the country. Dozens of places host major events with live music, food, beer, and great prizes, for anglers who chase carp. Sponsors have lined up, and continue to line up to support these events and in most ways they’ve been a resounding success.
The big drawback is that a fisherman must be able to travel to the location hosting the event. Often that entails the ability to take an entire weekend away from the family, find a place to stay and have some idea about the water they’ll be on. That’s a tall order for most and not a very good way to bring casual anglers into the fray. Only the most devoted fishermen have the ability to put in that kind of time for a carp tourney. And even if you wanted to, you have to be local.
ON THE 13TH OF JUNE ALL THAT IS ABOUT TO CHANGE.
Read More »Fly Casting Problems Are Sneaky
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR FLY CAST IT’S PROBABLY HAPPENING BEHIND YOUR BACK.
Do you know what your loop is doing when you’re not looking? It could very well be mucking up your forward cast. Tailing loops, collapsing lines and fizzling forward casts can all be the result of a poor back cast. There are definitely fishing situations when watching your back cast is not an option, but if you’re having issues with your cast it’s a good idea to keep an eye on what’s going on behind your back.
The fly cast is symmetrical. I say that so often I hear it in my sleep. The back cast is identical to, and just as important as, the forward cast. If it is not performed properly, the forward cast doesn’t have a chance. Asymmetric casts are one of the most common problems in fly fishing.
Tailing loops, for example, are very often caused by creep. That’s when you start your forward cast before your line straightens out fully behind you. Taking a longer pause on you back cast will solve the problem. Casts which fizzle out or fall apart usually start their life in the back cast. If your rod tip isn’t stopping clean, or high enough you will have a huge sloppy loop in your back cast. That kind of loop just won’t load your rod and nothing you do in your forward cast will change that.
The good news is that these are problems you can fix very quickly. Maybe even immediately.
When your cast is in trouble
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