G&G Caption Contest Winner

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The past weeks Photo Caption Contest was a huge success. Louis and I were blown away by the large amount of participation from our readers, and we thank you all for providing us many good laughs. With well over 50 entries, I found it difficult to pick a winner, so to be fair, I dropped these seven hilarious entries into a bucket and drew a winner. Top 7 Entries that Stood Out Among the Rest 1. Winner: Fish camp, Day 4: Having left his toothbrush on the float plane, Ed wakes to the haunting realization that the repercussions of this mistake are only starting to emerge…  2. After a long winter of PBR and venison Sausage….the “Stash hatch begins”! 3. Victims of the almighty Sarlacc, his excellency hopes you will die honorably. But should any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hut shall now listen to your pleas. 4. That’s the last time I let Louis cook breakfast. 5. She didn’t know if it was the stale whiskey on the breath or the warmth of the untended beard that cast all of her inhibitions aside the night before, but in that sober, waking moment, Suzy realized she’d given away trout secrets that had been passed down from generation to generation. And she would now rather chew her own ass off than wake this wild beast up. 6. I wonder if he will notice the 60 babies I just dropped in his chute? 7. Twice a day I have to crawl out of this hole to clean the crumbs out of this guys beard. A thankless job. Congratulations to Brad Wallace for winning the caption contest. Please email us your full name and mailing address and we’ll gladly ship your: Scientific Anglers 5wt Trout WF Fly … Continue reading

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A Closer Look / The Venerable Stimulator

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One of my favorite summer patterns seen from a new perspective.   Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com   Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!  

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Sunday’s Classic / 6 Saltwater Fly Patterns You Should Stock

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Are you new to the saltwater flats game? If you’re like most fly fisherman you’re confident in your trout game and fly pattern competency. But when it comes to your saltwater game, you probably find yourself a little less unsure of what saltwater patterns you should stock. Capt. Joel Dickey is a veteran Florida Keys fishing guide, and he’s laid out six must have saltwater fly patterns you should load up on, before stepping onto the skiff and hitting the flats. Take these six fly patterns and tie them up in different color variations, size, and weight to round out your saltwater fly box. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com   Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!  

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Saturday Shoutout / Streamers365.com

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Darren MacEachern is the man behind Streamers 365. He’s an avid fly fisherman and fly tier who currently resides outside of Toronto, Canada, spending his days fishing many of the great lake’s rivers and tributaries. For those of you who’ve not visited Darren’s blog, he’s pledged to showcase a different classic feather wing streamer every day of the year for 2012. I find the blog very interesting and I wanted to learn more, so I decided to interview Darren over the phone. He was super cool and more than happy to answer my questions. What made you decide to start Streamers365.com? I found that there wasn’t a lot of information about classic feather wing streamer patterns out there. Most of what I found were self-published books that are expensive and hard to find. I also wanted to find a way to give back to some of my favorite fishing causes. 100% of the money generated by the blog through merchandise sales and auctioning of the fly patterns will be donated. Do you tie many of the streamer patterns showcased on the blog? Yes, it looks like I’ll be tying 50-70 of the streamer patterns this year. However, I’ve been very fortunate to have received support from several outstanding fly tiers willing to contribute and donate their fly patterns to the project and cause. The classic feather wing streamer patterns are very cool. What fishing application were they originally designed for? Classic feather wing streamers were originally designed to troll on long lines behind boats on lakes. They aren’t your typical pound the bank streamer or intended for heavy fly casting. Many are tied for show as artwork, and end up framed. They’ve become very popular for collectors and sell at premium prices in auctions. What’s the most money you have … Continue reading

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Caption Contest – Gink & Gasoline Gear Giveaway

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I thought it was about time we had another contest to giveaway some gear as a thank you to all our wonderful followers. We hope many of you have fun with this and take the time to participate. Give us your best caption for this image and if we pick yours you’ll win the following: Caption Contest Winner Will Receive Scientific Anglers Trout Taper Fly Line (Olive) – WF 5 wt Scientific Anglers Fly Line Backing 250 yards – 20lb. Book: Fly Fishing for Bonefish, by Dick Brown We figured a lot of you are past due to replace the old backing and fly line on your trout reel. As for the book, we strongly believe you can never have enough reading material on hand. The winner will be announced March 9, 2012. Make sure you fill out your Name and Email Address in case we need to get in touch with you. Please limit one caption entry per person. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com   Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!  

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Sunday Classic / The Fisher at the Gates of Dawn

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Syd Barrett Dan Flynn does the misty mountain hop in the early A.M. on Rock Creek. Not that Rock Creek, the other Rock Creek. Coming soon: “Several Species of Trout Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict” & “Careful With That Rod Tip Eugene”   Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com   Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!  

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Saturday Shoutout / The Dead Drift

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I recently got my hands on a copy of “The Dead Drift” the latest offering for Stealth Films of New Zealand. There are a lot of fly fishing films out there. Lately the style of film that has been popular is the intense fish porn variety. Lots of music and jumping fish, slow motion takes and screaming reels. Nothing wrong with that, and it makes you want to fish but you don’t learn much from those films. “The Dead Drift” is not that kind of film. It’s beautifully filmed and full of great fishing moments but what sets it apart for me is the educational value. Host, Dean Bell, does a remarkable job of explaining his strategy as well as tactics while vacuuming some lovely New Zealand rivers. If your like me you don’t need a DVD to tell you that you want to fish New Zealand but there’s a lot to be said for one that tells you how to make your trip a success. If your planning a trip to this amazing fishery this film is a must. However, it strikes me that the skills taught in this video are in no way unique to New Zealand. What Dean Bell has to teach will make you a better fisherman on any continent. With an emphasis on sight fishing, planing your presentation and tactical fish fighting anglers at any experience level will find some gems on this DVD.   Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com   Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!  

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Sunday’s Classic / 5 Reasons Why Pocket Water is Suited For Beginners

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In case you missed it back in September, this weeks Sunday Classic is all about pocket water and why it’s great for everyone to fish, especially newcomers to the sport. 1. Pocket water provides more trout habitat than any other type of trout water. The easiest way to define pocket water is that it’s an entire trout stream in itself. Pocket water encompasses all water types: riffles, runs, pools, and tails just on a miniature scale. The multiple current seams, eddies, and structure found in pocket water creates an abundance of habitat for trout to position themselves and feed. Quite often it provides anglers the opportunity to catch trout from one side of the stream all the way across to the other side. This is rarely found on other water types in a trout stream, and it provides fishermen much more opportunity and should increase his/her confidence that their fishing where there’s a high volume of trout living. 2. It doesn’t require anglers to make long casts and drifts. You don’t have to be able to make long casts or sustain super long drag-free drifts to catch trout in pocket water. Because everything is on a smaller scale, anglers can get away with making shorter casts and drifts. Both mending and line management aren’t as crucial, and anglers often have the luxury of choosing which casts and techniques their most comfortable fishing with to catch trout. 3. Trout are generally opportunistic feeders in pocket water. Pocket water is usually found on sections of river with steeper gradients and descending elevations. Water moves faster in most cases on pocket water and since trout usually don’t have as much time to inspect the food moving downstream, they often have to become opportunistic feeders to grow and thrive. Trout found in pocket water … Continue reading

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Saturday’s Shoutout / Tie One On Athon & Fly Tying w/ Davie McPhail

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This weeks Saturday Shoutout goes to S.C.O.F’s Tie-One-On-Athon for Project Healing waters and a nice stash of 58 fly tying videos by Davy McPhail. http://www.southerncultureonthefly.com/tooat2012.html Tying for a good cause on Feb. 26, 2012. If you live within driving distance to this event we highly encourage taking the time to make an appearance. There will be a boat load of professional fly tyiers and guides at the event, that you can get to know over a cold beer. I planned on tying at the event this year, but dates were changed at the last minute and I’m on a week long fishing trip in the Florida Keys. Big Props to all who have donated their time and gear for giveaways. I’ll be there next year. Fly Tying with Davie McPhail I stumbled upon this website that has a huge step-by-step stash of fly tying videos by Davie McPhail. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s a very popular fly tier from Europe that has serious fly tying skills. We can all learn something from McPhail. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com   Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!  

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Why Aren’t We Talking More About Angler Positioning?

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COUNTLESS FLY FISHING ARTICLES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT MATCHING THE HATCH, SETTING UP YOUR RIG CORRECTLY FOR THE WATER YOUR FISHING, AND HOW TO CAST TIGHT LOOPS.

It’s very true these are all areas in your fly fishing game you should always have covered, but what about angler positioning? Why aren’t we talking more about how important angler positioning is for fly fishing success. Have you ever wondered why there are trout fishermen out there that can’t cast forty feet, yet when they’re on the water fishing, they literally mop up every fish like a vacuum. There’s a simple reason for this folks. Great fisherman, that suck at fly casting, usually figure out really quick how important angler positioning is for ensuring they get presentations that produce hookups.

Listen up all you competition casters out there. I’m happy you can reach the far end of the casting pond with your fly. It’s not easy shooting fifteen feet of backing out the end of your fly rod. That’s impressive, but if that’s how you choose to spend your time trout fishing, you’re probably going to catch few fish. Oh, and remember that guy that you just laughed off the casting pond with his pathetic forty foot cast? He’s going to out fish you nine times out of ten, because he’s figured out, presentation trumps distance casting.

Forgive me if I came across a little tart there. Sometimes it’s helpful for driving the point home with my target audience. The fact is, I consistently find fly fishermen of all skill levels struggling with angler positioning. Most have problems determining where they should position themselves when they first approach a stretch of water. The problem lies with them not first thinking about where they need to be standing, so they can make their best cast and presentation. Instead, they’re thinking, “I”m not going to waist my time wading upstream, if I can reach that spot with my fly where I”m standing right here”. This usually doesn’t pan out very well for them. Two scenarios usually play out with this fishing approach. The first scenario has the angler landing the fly short, right on top of the pod of fish, very often resulting in alerting or spooking the fish. The second scenario, the angler does manage to get the fly where it needs to be, but because they’ve chosen to stand in the wrong spot, they have conflicting currents that compromises their drag free drift. In both cases, anglers that ignore the importance of angler position, remain fish-less.

BELOW ARE 3 TIPS FOR BETTER ANGLER POSITIONING.

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