A Closer Look, Blood Red
THIS AMAZING NORTH CAROLINA RAINBOW TROUT WAS CAUGHT BY MY OLDEST AND DEAREST FRIEND, JOHN GIRARDEAU.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a fish with color like this. What a remarkable creature. John hails from Denver CO, but I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in NC after landing this beauty.
Read More »The 2014 Gink and Gasoline Fly Fishing Photography Contest Is On!
IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN!
Time for you to hit us with your best shot…of 2013.
The annual Gink and Gasoline fly fishing photography contest is on. Send us your best fly fishing photos shot in 2013 and win one of these fabulous prizes. (I just love saying fabulous prizes!)
PLEASE PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCEPT INCORRECT SUBMISSIONS.
•All submissions must be in by midnight EST on Feb 8th 2014.
1st Place An Echo3 590-4. 9ft four-piece fly rod for a five weight line. Value $350
Echo
2nd place A Fishpond Westwater Boat Bag. Value $220
Fishpond
3rd Place A RIO Perception fly line. Value $90
RIO
Last year’s contest was amazing and we can’t wait to see what you and that camera of yours have been up to all year. We have a panel of rock star judges lined up, so get those entries in.
This year’s esteemed judges include:
Brian O’Keefe
Brian needs no introduction. Co-founder of Catch Magazine and one of the true heavyweights of the fly fishing industry. Whether he’s wielding a fly rod or a camera, Brian is pure perfection.
http://www.brianokeefephotos.com
Andrew Bennett
Founder of Deneki Outdoors and godfather of the fly fishing blogosphere, Andrew is a true pioneer in fly fishing media. In addition to being a Skagit Master and king of the bonefish, he knows a thing or two about great photography.
http://www.deneki.com
Whitney Ott
Whitney is one of the brightest rising stars of editorial lifestyle. One of the most talented and prolific photographers I know, this girl makes it look easy. Her clients include Garden and Gun, Entertainment Weekly and The Bitter Southerner. And her Instagram feed is not to be missed!
http://www.whitneyott.com
HERE’S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET IN ON THE ACTION.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Better Posture For Line Speed
REMEMBER WHEN YOUR MOTHER TOLD YOU TO STAND UP STRAIGHT?
Yeah, forget all that. Posture matters but so few people think about the basics, like how they stand when they cast. The basics are exactly what makeup great casting technique so today Bruce is going to explain how your stance can put power into your cast. It’s a simple tip that will really help you punch that line into the wind so watch and practice.
Saturday Shoutout / Low Country Lournal
REDFISH! REDFISH! REDFISH!
I just got home from a week of muddy water, high winds and spartina grass on some of the souths best low country. Even though all I can boast about is one good day of fishing, four days of driving and three soggy frozen boat rides, I’m still pumped up on all thing redfish. I’m just not ready for it to be over, so this Saturday’s shoutout continues the redfish fever!
If it’s cold and blowing or there are no redfish where you are, slip on you’re sandals, open a beer and take a ride with Doug Roland and the boys from Lowcountry Journal. Life is good in the lowcountry.
These boys know redfish. Check out Lowcountry Journal
Read More »Fly Tying Contest: Subsurface Frog Pattern Entry Finalists
Last week, I dropped a bombshell, announcing a fly tying contest giveaway intended to challenge our readers to come up with a Subsurface Streamer Frog Pattern that could be used for trout and other warm-water species (fished on a floating or intermediate fly line). It’s a pattern concept that I’ve messed around with for a while now, but never came up with anything that fully blew my socks off. Knowing that the Gink & Gasoline community is comprised of many talented fly tiers, I thought it would a perfect opportunity for the participants to show off their tying talents, and have a chance to win a rare, Mona T. Van Riper sterling silver trout money clip of mine.
We had a couple fans complain that I didn’t provide enough time for them to participate in the contest. After talking with Louis, we both agreed that the short time frame was acceptable, and that’s what made the contest challenging and intriguing in the first place. After all, a cool prize, that’s worth considerable coin, shouldn’t be a cake walk. This past week, I’m proud to announce that we’ve received quite a few really cool frog pattern entries for the contest. I’ve put together a list of the finalists for all of you to see.
In the coming weeks, Louis and I will be fishing each of them on the water and we’ll pick a winner. Thank you to everyone that participated in the contest. This has been one of the coolest contest and giveaways I’ve put together and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m very thankful to have such a great community of readers that aren’t afraid to step up to a challenge.
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / You Can Mouse Just About Anywhere
Nine years ago, I got fed up with reading articles about people all around the country and abroad fly fishing with mouse patterns and landing truly giant trout. It seemed every medium I read or watched, there were people showcasing how productive mouse fishing could be. The only problem was, where I lived in North Georgia, as well as the majority of my neighboring states, I heard very little about anyone fishing mouse patterns. You’d find a few patterns here and there in the fly bins at the local fly shops, but in actuality, I think most of those were being fished on farm ponds for bass not for trout. I couldn’t take it any longer, so I decided to go on a mousing binge, strictly fishing mouse patterns on my days off. My goal being to figure out if mouse patterns would work just as well on my home waters as they’ve proven to work so well on the blue ribbon caliber trout streams and rivers across the globe.
It didn’t take long to find success. My second trip out I landed a 26 1/2″ wild brown trout on my home tailwater. It was one of the biggest documented fly caught brown trout on the surface that anyone could remember for quite some time (many have been landed by other anglers since). I then moved on to some of my favorite small mountain trout streams where I’d never heard of anyone tying on and fishing a mouse pattern. Again, my mouse experiment yielded incredible success, and I quickly turned into a mouse fishing enthusiast. I didn’t know if I was having luck because no other anglers were fishing these big mouse patterns, or if it was simply that very few anglers in my area were willing to accept mice were regularly being preyed upon by our local trout. I didn’t know for sure, but in all honesty, I didn’t really care, because success was success, and I was going to milk it as much as I could before everyone else caught on.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / SCOF Issue #10
I enjoy nothing more than reading the quarterly fly fishing magazine by Southern Culture On The Fly. It has a perfect mix of humor, more humor, how-to and plenty of grand photography. The boys at SCOF are great friends of ours, they’re always just a call away if we ever need anything and they’re solid and dependable as they come. Show your support for the good ole North Carolina boys (Steve Seinberg & Dave Grossman) as they continue to drop it hot with the latest SCOF #10 Winter Issue. In my opinion, SCOF is one of the most unique and influential fly fishing magazines in the present day. Congratulations boys, you never cease to amaze us with your raw talent and creativity. Most of all, we love that you two aren’t afraid to be yourselves and have absolutely no desire to follow the tails of others, no matter how quaint and popular they are.
Read More »Fly Fishing: Does Your Fly Patch Look Like This?
Do yourself a favor and clean out your foam drying patch on your pack, during the cold months, when you’re not going to be on the water for a while. You’ll be surprised how much your fly boxes will fill back up once you’ve done a thorough cleaning, and also just how much trash you’ve accumulated over the past season in the bottom of your packs. I’ve got a horrible habit of leaving my flies on my drying patch day in and day out. I use my drying patch as a fly box in itself and although it saves me some time on the water when I’m guiding, it ends up destroying dozens of flies during the season. That translates into quite a bit of money thrown down the drain, and significant time lost at the tying bench that could have otherwise been avoided. Don’t let your fly drying patches get out of control. They’re not meant to be used as permanent fly storage, rather, they’re a place to organize flies for your day out on the water or for drying fly patterns out until you can safely put them back in the appropriate fly boxes.
Read More »Fly Tying Pattern Contest & Gear Giveaway
TODAY’S YOUR LUCKY DAY BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT A CHANCE TO WIN AN EXTREMELY RARE, MONA T. VAN RIPER STERLING SILVER TROUT MONEY CLIP.
I’ve had this fly fishing money clip for a number of years and I love it, but quite frankly, I never use the darn thing. This handcrafted work of art, is far too beautiful for it to sit on my bedroom dresser unused gathering dust. I’d very much like to pass it on as a thank you to one of our Gink & Gasoline loyal readers that will appreciate this rare gem, enjoy using if for many years, and hopefully pass it on to a family member down the road. I genuinely mean that, so if you don’t see yourself as the money clip type, I’d really appreciate you opting out of the contest. After all, I could have easily put it on ebay and it would have easily brought me a few hundred dollars, probably much more, since I can’t find another one like it for sale.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Bruce Chard’s Double Haul Drill
Today begins a special five part video tutorial on building blinding line speed. Line speed is the most important component in successful salt water fly fishing. There’s plenty of finesse involved but line speed is the cost of admission. If you can’t build the speed you need, you can’t catch the fish you want.
My good friend Bruce Chard is a certified master casting instructor and a truly inspiring caster. The first time, hell the first hundred times, I saw Bruce unload my jaw dropped. It’s humbling to watch what this guy can do with a fly rod. Bruce has a rare blend of skills. The technical know how of an engineer and the physical prowess of an athlete. With that in mind I asked him to help me create a set of videos that can take you from beginner to rock star. We’re calling it the Ultimate Line Speed Series. There’s a lot to cover but we’re starting here with everything you need to know about line speed.
We’re going to start slow, with the double haul. The basic building block of a dynamic cast. By day five we will be into some seriously advanced technique that is going to take serious practice. Follow along and in between videos practice what you learn and at the end of two weeks your going to be a lot better caster.
So to start, put down that fly rod
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