Fighting The Wader Funk
DO YOUR FRIENDS TWITCH THEIR NOSES LIKE RABBITS WHEN YOU SHOW UP TO FISH?
Do they have to rub camphor under their noses like Quincy just to run shuttle with you? Does your dog roll in cow shit before before he jumps in the truck to go fishing with you?
You might have wader funk.
It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Millions of anglers…well, lots of them anyway, suffer from wader funk. It’s not you making those G-4s reek. It’s bacteria growing in them and it doesn’t just smell. It’s silently killing your waders.
The primary cause of wader funk is storing your waders wet. It happens to me. I travel with waders, sometimes for months at a time, waded up in a plastic bag in my luggage. It’s sometimes tough to get them dry. Before you know it those tiny black spots start to form on the inside and it smells like a badger crawled in there to die.
Fortunately, there’s an answer. I discovered a
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / Bugs, Bugs Everywhere, And Not A Fish To Be Seen
BUGS, BUGS EVERYWHERE, AND NOT A FISH TO BE SEEN
Have you ever thrown a party, sent out the invitations, bought the onion dip, and in the end it’s just you and your onion dip? Now imagine the river is the party, the bugs are the onion dip, and the trout are your ungrateful, good for nothing, no-show friends. If you spend enough time on rivers, you have either seen or will see a situation where the hatch is out in force, yet not a single one of our finned friends is so much as poking a nose up to say hello.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / SCOF ISSUE#9, Waypoints Trailer & Showings
This week’s Saturday Shoutout we spotlight the fly fishing magazine, Southern Culture on the Fly (Issue #9) and the fly fishing film WAYPOINTS (and it’s upcoming Colorado Showings).
Read More »Korkers Boots 2014: More Durable, More Technical, More Effective
KORKERS 2014 – “MORE DURABLE, MORE TECHNICAL, MORE EFFECTIVE”
If you talk with the Korkers team about their 2014 product showcase, you’ll find out real quick they’ve been busy finding ways to improve the performance of their boots from top to bottom. In my opinion, one of the greatest improvements Korkers made for 2014, was deciding to do a total overhaul on the BOA LACING SYSTEM used in their boots. The new and improved M2 BOA design works flawlessly and is significantly more powerful than the old version. No longer will you have the feeling, “I wish I could crank it down a little tighter.” I’m proud that Korkers realized that speed isn’t everything, and that it’s not the end of the world if it takes an angler a few more seconds, and a couple more turns of the BOA knob to boot up for the day. What matters to me, at least, is starting my day on the water comfortable, and secure in my wading boots.
Read More »Gink & Gasoline: Glass Bead Guess Contest Winner
With well over 300 submissions I believe the “Guess How Many Glass Beads Contest” was a huge success. Thank you to all of you who took the time to participate in the Loon Outdoors Streamside Kit Giveaway.
CONTEST WINNER: KEVIN WITH THE GUESS OF 2,890.
The exact number of glass beads in the container was 2,864 and Kevin’s guess was the closest of all the entries. Kevin, please drop us your mailing address and I’ll get your Loon Outdoors gear in the mail as soon as possible.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Standing in the River Carrying a Torch
Standing in the River Carrying a Torch
A different kind of love story.
Men and fish parted ways a long time ago. You couldn’t call it an amiable divorce. The fish got everything. The mountain streams, the lazy winding rivers, the deep blue sea, everything. Men had to pack their bags and crawl, with their heads hanging, out onto the land and they were not happy about it. They learned to breathe air and walk on two legs but they never stopped dreaming of swimming in the dark oceans, nor of the long and lovely fish that had sent them packing. They thought about fish all the time. They made their homes near the water and lurked around the shore, peering into the depths. Men wondered if the fish ever thought about them. Probably not. They saw fish from time to time, sliding gracefully through a pool or leaping a waterfall. They seemed happy. They seemed to have moved on, forgotten about men altogether. Men knew they should be happy for the fish, but they weren’t. They were bitter and moody and often cried at night. Men invented alcohol and that helped. It didn’t take their mind off of fish but liquor is a good listener and it doesn’t judge or mind if you cry.
“Who needs fish, Fuck ’em”, men decided. They turned their back on the water and
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / “Itu’s Bones” & This Is Fly
I DON’T KNOW HOW I NEVER RAN ACROSS THIS AMAZING FILM BEFORE. NOW THAT I HAVE, I’M ECSTATIC TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.
“Itu’s Bones” is more than a fly fishing film. It’s a visionary undertaking with remarkable results. In the film, New Zealand angler and film maker Carl McNiel travels to the island of Aitutaki (located in the South Pacific between New Zealand and Mexico) and convinces Itu, a gill netting bonefisherman, to put down his nets and become a fly fishing flats guide.
Carl teaches Itu the skills he needs and converts his fishing boat to a flats skiff. In time, Itu makes the transition from gill netter to flats guide. But wait, the story doesn’t end there. Itu affects real change from inside the community. Eventually gill netting bonefish is made illegal. A fishery is forever changed right before your eyes.
Read More »New Fly Reels From Sage
FOR 2014 SAGE AS UPDATED THEIR EXISTING FLY REEL LINES AS WELL AS INTRODUCING SOME NEW OFFERINGS.
The updated 2200 series dye cast reels (starting at $129) and 3200 series billet machined reels (starting at $200) both feature sealed carbon fiber drag systems, and offer performance and durability. They are a new take on some trusted Sage reels.
New this year is the Evoke. This big game reel (starting at $575) offers a very different design and a bold look. Designed with the saltwater angler in mind, the Evoke is the flagship offering from Sage.
In this video Kara Armano shows you the features of the new Sage fly reels for 2014.
Read More »Gink & Gasoline: Fly Fishing Contest & Gear Giveaway
It’s been a while since we’ve held a contest on the blog and gave away some fly fishing gear. For a good while now, we’ve been sticking with using photo caption contests for our giveaways, and I’d like to change it up this time around, to keep it fresh, if everyone is ok with that. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m horrible at coming up with witty one liners that make people laugh, and I’m sure there’s a least a few of you out there in the same boat as me, that often don’t even bother to participate because they know they have zero chance of winning.
For this contest, we’re going to make it a level playing field and allow everyone who wants to participate to simply guess the number of glass beads in this plastic container. It will only take a few seconds to make your submission.
The closest to the exact number of glass beads on the container will win. If for any chance we end up with multiple participants in a tie, I’ll provide a trivia fly fishing question that will have to be answered in a designated time period.
We like to thank LOON OUTDOORS for sponsoring this months contest and gear giveaway. They’ve donated a Loon Streamside Kit, which is a sampling of some of there most popular stream-side accessories, and it retails for $70.95.
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / 4 Worm Patterns I Always Carry In My Fly Box
WORM FLY PATTERNS THAT CONSISTENTLY CATCH FISH
It’s no secret worm patterns are super consistent most of the year for catching both stocked and wild trout. They work especially well for stocked fish, after a big rain, and during the spring, winter, and fall seasons. I’ve had days when the only thing I could get trout to eat was a San Juan worm. There’s a bunch of haters out there that will not fish them, claiming it’s the next closest thing to fishing a real earthworm, but look in their fly box and I bet you’ll find a few. I on the other hand, have no problem fishing worm patterns, because they do a great job of keeping my clients rods bent, which in turn, pays my bills. To top it all off, worm patterns are among the cheapest and easiest fly patterns for me to tie. I can rip out about a dozen in less than ten minutes, for about $2.50 worth of materials. Choosing to put worm patterns in your fishing line-up, will almost certainly put more fish in your net. Below are four worm patterns I always keep in my fly box.
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