iPhone Survives 7 Hours Underwater Without Waterproof Case
I’ve dunked my fair share of cell phones in the water since I started guiding. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but my first year of guiding alone, I had to make four trips to the AT&T store for new phones because of water damage. I was notorious for jumping out of my drift boat with my cell phone in my pocket. Thank goodness, back then, I had phone insurance. Other than that first painful year, I’ve managed to maintain a pretty respectable record for keeping my cell phones dry while fly fishing. So when I got a notice by email from AT&T recently to upgrade my iPhone to a 5, for a nominal fee, I took them up on the offer. This time, however, I passed on the insurance coverage to save some cash. At the time, it seemed like a good decision, but those thoughts quickly vanished this past week during a guide trip when I thought I’d safely dropped my cell phone into the front pocket of my waders, but instead lodged it between my waist pack and my waders.
Read More »How To Become A Badass Angler
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WAS A BAD PHOTOGRAPHER AND A BAD ANGLER.
I got to thinking about this the other day when my brother called to tell me that Leon Townsend had died. I hadn’t thought of him in years. Leon was the man that gave me my first job as a photographer, at the local newspaper in 1978 when I was seventeen years old. He was also the first, and only, person who ever fired me. I honestly didn’t learn much from my time there at The Register and Bee, but firing me was quite possibly the best thing anyone has ever done for me and I will always be grateful to Leon for that.
I had enough pride that being told I wasn’t up to the job stung. It motivated me. I realized that Leon was right. I wasn’t very good and it was on me to make myself better. I have been told many times that I have talent and I have often insisted that I do not. I realized early on, that I would have to work twice as hard as the talented people around me to succeed. What I have, what I learned, is not talent but tenacity. It has served me well. If you want to pay me a compliment, call me tenacious.
In time I became a good photographer and a good angler, and I did it in pretty much the same way. I won’t bore you with a chronology of my photographic career but I will offer you some insight on how I learned, and continue to learn, to fish.
HERE’S HOW YOU BECOME A BADASS ANGLER.
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / 4 Tips to Get You Roll Casting Like a Pro
You’ve just spotted a big head break the surface on the far bank, gulping down a struggling mayfly drifting in the foam. The excitement of discovering the trophy trout feeding triggers your body’s adrenaline glands, and almost instantly, you feel your heart begin to pound, thump thump….thump thump. With the confined quarters and lacking room for a back cast, you realize your only viable option to reach the fish is going to be with an accurate roll cast. As you quickly try to present your mayfly imitation in the feeding lane, hoping that the big fish will mistake it for a natural, your fly shoots left of your intended target and lands in an overhanging branch above the fish’s lie, immediately putting down the big fish. With the fishing opportunity blown and the disappointment setting in, you find yourself asking, “What did I do wrong?”
As an avid small stream trout fisherman, I’ve lived out this exact situation many times, and felt the disappointment followed by a poorly executed roll cast. It wasn’t until I took the time to understand and learn the mechanics of proper roll casting, that I began finding myself capitalizing on fishing situations that called for precise roll casting. Looking back now on my past roll casting insufficiency, it’s clear I wasn’t at all, alone. There’s many anglers that struggle with roll casting, and that’s why I’ve decided to provide a short list of tips that’s intended to get anglers roll casting like pros.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Anglers Tonic, Unity in the Universe
This week for our Saturday Shoutouts we showcase Anglers Tonic with an informative piece from Greg Thomas about his recent fly fishing trip to the Gaspe Peninsula for Atlantic Salmon. Our second read, is an emotional, yet inspiring series of essays written by Wright Thompson about the famous fly rod builder Tom Morgan, who continues to fulfill orders for his high end fly rods with the help of Gerri Carlson, despite battling Lou Gehrig’s disease. Check them out and have a great weekend everyone.
Read More »Scott Radian Fly Rod
Scott Fly Rods had a great showing this year at the IFTD show in Las Vegas with the unveiling of their new Radian Series fly rods. The series not only took home the award for Best New Fly Rod but it also won Best New Product for 2013. In all honesty, I was really happy for Scott Fly Rods, because I felt like in a long while for a change, a fly rod that should have won an award, actually did. Furthermore, Scott Fly Rods marketing slogan for the Radian Series “Fast Meets Feel” is an accurate and meaningful description that’s truthful. If you don’t believe me, go out and cast one and see for yourself.
The first thought that popped into my head after I cast the Radian, was harmony. It’s an unbelievably crisp casting (fast action) fly rod. The taper design is spot on. When you cast the rod you can feel the butt, mid and tip sections of the rod working flawlessly together. It provided me with a deep feeling of connection to the rod, and gave me the confidence I could hit any target I wanted to with it. A lot anglers claim that a good fly rod should feel like an extension of your arm and hand. Not all rods provide that feeling, but in all seriousness, that’s exactly how the Radian made me feel. It casts well at long and short distances, and unlike most fast action rods, it roll casts pretty damn good. The aesthetics and components of the Radian series fly rods are top notch, providing everything you would expect to see in a high end fly rod, with some added extras. Below is a video with Jim Bartschi who talks in detail about the Radian Series fly rods.
Read More »RIO Fly Line Cleaning Towelette Wipes
Routine fly line maintenance and cleaning is something all fly anglers should get in the habit of practicing. Taking the time to clean a fly line after every 2 to 3 uses will greatly increase the life of the fly line, and it will also keep it performing at its best on the water. Remember, it’s not just the dirt and grime that builds up on fly lines while fishing that degrades the performance and life of fly lines. It’s also the harmful chemical residues that we often involuntarily bring our fly lines into contact with, such as sunscreen and bug repellent that cause the real damage.
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Albright Knot
The Albright Knot is a great knot for attaching a metal bite tippet to your leader. It can also be used to attach the leader to the fly line or any time you are attaching materials of very different size or stiffness. Here’s Capt. Joel Dickey, in the last of his three part series on better salt water knots, to teach you the Albright Knot.
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Weird, The Secret Lives of Fish
I AM NOT EVEN GOING TO OFFER UP AN EXPLANATION,
rationalization or even a critique for these wonderful and twisted works of art. I’ll just say that I love them. Especially the ones I ‘kind of’ understand. And I call myself a fishing photographer?
So for today, suspend your catch-and-release ethic and enjoy,
WEIRD THE SECRET LIVES OF FISH.
There are 22 in all.
Read More »New Spey Products From RIO
FOR 2014 RIO HAS TAKEN ON REINVENTING THEIR SPEY CATEGORY OF LINES.
With new offerings in Scandi and Skagit heads as well as a couple of new running lines it’s an impressive undertaking.
The driving goal for RIO’s redesign is to simplify Spey lines and make them accessible to the angler who’s new to Spey. Selections have been streamlined with the goal of combining the best characteristics of some of RIO’s best lines. All of the new products feature a color coding system that make swapping heads simple and fast. Several of the new offerings use RIO’s new Connect Core technology for lines that have very little stretch.
My favorite of the new products is Grip Shooter. It’s an updated version of the hard nylon running line Slick Shooter. It has the same oval profile and shoots like a bandit but the first fifteen feet are coated with a positive grip coating, making it easier to handle when casting. Especially with cold wet hands. I got the chance to fish it recently and I really like it.
In this video Simon Gawesworth walks you through the new line of RIO Spey products.
Read More »Tenkara, the new Bamboo
A GUEST POST BY TIM HARRIS OF NORTHWEST-TENKARA.COM
Fly fishing began in both the west and east with a long supple rod, a fixed line, a leader and a fly.
This is how Dame Juliana Berners, Issac Walton and Japanese commercial fisherman fished. Time went by and man created the reel and split bamboo rods which were shorter and lighter than the old greenheart long rods. Fiberglass and then graphite replaced split bamboo and modern fly fishing as we know it came into being.
Then a backlash started, a move toward the vintage. Many fly fishers, myself included, began embracing the bamboo rod again and waxing poetic about the lovely reed, its natural beauty and soft feel. I fished bamboo rods for years on small streams and rivers and figured that this would never change.
Then came a real move back to the past, back to days before the reel was invented and people fished with a long rod and a fixed line. I discovered tenkara. Tenkara is a traditional form of fly fishing that began in the mountain streams of Japan. It was used by commercial fishermen to catch their daily load of trout, char and salmon found in these streams. Now tenkara is catching on in the west and seems to be the hottest thing since the bamboo renaissance.
Tenkara is fly fishing in its most minimal form. A modern tenkara rod is
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