Sunday Classic / Working a Steelhead
I had the opportunity to watch my friend Jeff Hickman work a shy Steelhead the other day and his effort was exemplary.
Swinging flies for winter steelhead is a game of numbers, very small numbers. It’s a given when chasing winter fish that there may be limited numbers of fish present in the river. Even fewer of them will be willing to eat a swung fly. You can not afford to miss putting your fly in front of every fish. These fish are on the move so you never know where they will be. You have to be methodical and know that it could happen at any time.
When you really think about it, the mathematics of the system are remarkable. For those not familiar, the idea is pretty simple. You cast across the current far enough to cover any possible holding water and swing the fly down and across until it hangs directly below you. Strip in your line, make the same cast with exactly the same amount of line, step down stream the length of a fish and repeat. Granted, this is a gross oversimplification of a very nuanced technique but that’s the general idea. If you take the time to draw a picture, using a drafting compass you will see that the concentric circles your swinging fly makes cover the water with amazing efficiency. It’s a bit like Tai Chi. You are always striving for perfection.
After hours, or days, covering water in this way it can be heartbreaking when you find a fish who’s interested but won’t commit. Often a single tug is the only evidence that you have found a player. I had the opportunity to watch my friend Jeff Hickman work just such a shy player the other day and his effort was exemplary. Here’s how it went down.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Red Legg’ed Devils
THE TRUTH, THE DIRTY TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, ABOUT “THE RICH MAN’S PARADISE CLUB”
A little off topic but right on target. Red Legg’ed Devils may be a hunting blog but this issue is right at the heart of fly fishing. RLD doesn’t spare the rod when it comes to calling out the crooked bastards in Washington for stealing our public lands. This is an article that every sportsman should read and act on.
“We came for the truth and a drink, and there ain’t nothin but sober lawyers here.”
I love this guy!
CHECK OUT “THE RICH MAN’S PARADISE CLUB”
Read More »The New RIO Line Selector App
THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID APP.
The coolest thing I saw at IFTD this years isn’t even a piece of fishing gear. At least not in the conventional sense. The new Line Selector App from RIO is simply brilliant. It’s never been easier to find the right line for your fly rod. This app, available for iPhone, iPad and Android, breaks down RIO’s vast product line into a straight forward flow chart that let’s you find the perfect line for any rod, location, species or style of fishing.
The app is highly detailed and surprisingly streamlined. It anticipates a wide array of fishing options and walks you through the process of narrowing down the hundreds of complicated choices. It an amazing piece of work, with Simon Gawesworth’s finger prints all over it. It’s like having Simon on speed dial!
I’m sure this will sell a lot of lines for RIO but it’s also great as an educational tool for anglers who are overwhelmed with option paralysis. Watch the video to see the full lineup of features, then head over to the App Store and get this free app for yourself!
Read More »My Most Memorable Bonefish
By Kent Klewein
ISN’T IT FUNNY, HOW CERTAIN FISH WE CATCH DURING OUR FLY FISHING TRIPS CAN END UP PROVIDING US WITH TEN TIMES THE SATISFACTION OVER ALL THE OTHERS.
Sometimes, the size of our catch has little at all to do with the amount of reward it brings. I love catching big fish just as much as the next guy, but for me at least, it’s often more about overcoming the challenges along the way that’s what really makes one catch end up standing out amongst all the rest.
For example, my most memorable bonefish to date, only weighed around four pounds. I’ve landed much larger bones over the years, but what made this particular bonefish so special to me, were the extremely difficult fly fishing conditions I had to work through to hook and land it. Before it all unfolded, and I found myself feeling that special fish tugging on the end of my line, I was holding onto the last remaining tidbits of hope I had left inside me for dear life. I thought success was just about impossible. Never give up when you’re out fly fishing. For when you succeed when everything is stacked up against you, it will provide you the feeling of complete bliss.
I’ll never forget that day of fly fishing in the Bahamas. It started off beautiful. The water was calm as can be, and there was barely a cloud in the sky. Louis and I were both confident it was going to be our best day of bonefishing for the week. Forty-five minutes later though, that all changed
Read More »Sunday Classic / How to Stop the Dreaded Fly Fishing Birds Nest
DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR?
Just about every angler has created this tangled artwork at some point, some more than others. I’m pretty good at untangling knots because I get more practice than the average angler from my guiding, but even this one required me to break out a fresh leader and completely re-rig. If you find yourself untangling knots more than you’re fishing, try fixing the problem by following these five helpful tips.
1. Watch your forward cast and backcast when false casting.
“In the film A River Runs Through It”, Jerry Siem (one of the casting stuntmen) never watched his backcast. It’s important to note that his fly casting skill level ranks among the best in the world, which allowed him to get away without doing this. It’s also pertinent to point out he was casting a single dry fly in the movie scene, not a tandem nymph rig with split-shot and a strike indicator. Could he have made the same casts in the movie with a tandem nymph rig without tangles, of course he could, but that doesn’t mean every other angler out there should try to mimic him. The majority of the best casters in the world watch their backcast, especially when they’re fly fishing in areas where casting room is limited. Your first step to limiting the number of tangles you create on the river is to watch your forward and backcast diligently. Your timing will be better, you’ll find you won’t need to make as many false casts, and you’ll keep your flies out of the trees and bushes.
2. Cast with grace, not with power and muscle.
Many fly anglers out there cast their fly rod much harder than they need to. So hard in many cases, that they end up overloading the rod and also get a out of control sling shot effect with their flies. Let your fly rod do the work by executing a smooth pick up of the fly line starting at the 8 o’clock position (rod tip close to the water), then begin loading the rod by smoothly accelerating the fly rod between ten o’clock and 12 o’clock. Make sure
Saturday Shoutout / Flyanthropy
By Carter Lyles
FLY FISHERS, WE TOUCH HEARTS AROUND THE WORLD
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” – Helen Keller
Founders Ben Glick and Jonas Nyqvist were an unlikely match, as Ben was a fly fisherman from America and Jonas was a Swedish fishing guide who had been living in Thailand for 30 years. However, they shared the passions of fly fishing and helping others.
They banded together under the ideal that they could use fly-fishing to help others and did so with their Flyanthropy project. By bringing fly tying to the impoverished community of Trat, Thailand, they were able to supply extremely high paying jobs to individuals who were in desperate need of aid.
Trat, Thailand, is a community in which there is an extreme shortage of jobs and resources. It is very common for families to become split, as one family member will leave to search for jobs elsewhere in order to send money back to their family. However, this quest is often unsuccessful and their families are left without income in a town with little resource and opportunity to improve their conditions.
Ben and Jonas decided to bring fly tying to this community and utilize the flies created to offer high paying jobs to the broken families of this community. The salaries are much higher than any job that these people could have dreamed of having. Flyanthropy utilizes fly tying to take impoverished people and allow them to become artists.
Read More »New Products From Vedavoo
VEDAVOO HAS A REPUTATION FOR QUALITY AND INNOVATION.
That rep is well deserved. Vedavoo products are rugged, stylish, functional and down right cool. I absolutely love my Tight Lines Sling Pack. It’s the bomb for going light. With great products like that it no surprise that Vedavoo is growing fast.
This year at IFTD they introduced a hole host of new products and took home some awards. Their new youth packs were a clear choice. The coolest kids product I’ve ever seen. But that’s not all. Adult packs grew too, literally, and they even introduced a boat bag.
Check out this video to see the new goodness from Vedavoo.
Read More »The Simms Headwater Sling Pack
THIS PACK ANSWERS SO MANY QUESTIONS FOR ME THAT I’M STARTING TO THINK SIMMS HAS MY PHONE TAPPED.
I am a creature of habit. When I find something that works for me, I’d rather fight than switch. That’s never more true than when it comes to my fishing pack. The ancient chest pack that I have worn for well over a decade has become a running joke among my fishing buddies. Although I have a box full of brand new fishing packs, I have refused to change, wearing the old and busted one like a penitent. Although I tried many, I just couldn’t find a pack that have the features, comfort and organization I need. Until now.
I fell I love with the Simms Headwaters Sling Pack the first time I used it. It not only had all of the features I wanted, it had a few I hadn’t thought of. Because of all of the photography gear I carry, fishing packs are a challenge. My fishing pack has to carry all of the flies and supplies I need, as well as work in conjunction with the waist pack I use for my cameras. I look a little like a soldier headed to Afghanistan when I get all of it on and, up until now, I felt like one too. The sling pack is liberating. I swing it around to my back and I can fish without all of that gear in my way. I love that feeling. It’s like fishing naked…Not that I do that.
Features
This pack holds a lot of gear. That’s important to me. Like most guys I carry way more than I really need. The Headwaters Sling Pack doesn’t force me to compromise on how many fly boxes I carry. The main interior of the pack is separated
Read More »Fly Fishing: The Popper-Dropper Rig
Like a lot of kids, I spent most of my adolescent summers chasing bass and bream on the local creeks and ponds in my area. Most days, a single rubber-legged popper tied to the end of my leader, was all that I needed to catch fat bream and the occasional lunker bass. On days when the bite slowed, I’d put down my fly rod and head to the neighborhood pool with my best friend Ryan Evans. It didn’t take long for us to get labeled the Huckleberry Finn boys of the neighborhood. We got plenty of strange looks walking through those pool gates, fishing rods in hand, and both wearing cargo shorts with boxers hanging out the tops. Those dirty looks were well worth it, and we learned to shrug them off, because that pool was the perfect place for us to cool down in between our fishing adventures, and it also happened to be one of the best places for us to keep track of the older females. We learned reflective polarized sunglasses weren’t just good for fishing, they also were great for inconspicuously eyeing the older females, walking by in those skimpy bikinis. It was a time in my life when I was relatively stress free, and I had not yet taken on very many responsibilities. Those were the days.
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Cajun Spey Waltz
Snow is blowing in around the corners of my glasses and forty degree water is slowly making its way into my waders. I haven’t seen the sun for several days and the river is full of chrome bright steelhead. It doesn’t feel much like Louisiana. Never the less the tune that keeps dancing in my head and eventually to my lips is an old Cajun waltz, “The Big Mamu”.
I have a deep and conflicted love for Louisiana. I almost moved there once. Like I said, I’m conflicted, but of the many things I love about the place, maybe I love the music best. The Blues, the Hot Jazz, the Zydeco and the beautiful and haunting traditional Cajun music. The sound of the accordion, the fiddle and the washboard pull at my heart strings. I don’t know why but I loved it the first time I heard it. But what does it have to do with steelheading? Apparently, everything.
I love Spey casting but I don’t get to do as much of it as I’d like and consequently it takes me a while to get into the rhythm. There are three basic parts to a Spey cast. The anchor placement, the sweep and the cast. Inevitably, when my casting goes to hell it’s the timing of my sweep that’s the problem. I’ve spent so much time developing speed and strength for my saltwater casting that it takes a while for me to remember that Spey casting is the exact opposite. Slow and easy.
I’m not a Spey Guru so I’ll keep it simple. The sweep is
Read More »