Korkers SnowJack Boot Review
The first impression I got pulling the SnowJack out of the box, is these boots were like extreme foot armor. They were boots you would want to strap on to make your last stand in, reach the top of a ambitious summit, or go into a lengthy battle with. The SnowJack boot brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Built like a brick shithouse”. In fact, it looks pretty clear to me that the designers at Korkers did everything in their power to make sure the SnowJack will outlive you. I’m being for real here. I thoroughly examined the boot and there’s nothing on it that has subpar quality. The best way two understand what I’m talking about, is breaking the SnowJack down into two parts. The lower half of the boot is built with an ironclad design that’s ready to chew up and spit out whatever terrain you throw at it, while the upper half of the boot is fitted with a waterproof / breathable leather bootie that’s tough, yet flexible enough to keep you nimble and mobile. This two part working team design gives you ultimate protection an durability without jeopardizing the boots functionality in the field. Even if you somehow manage to where out the soles, don’t get your panties in a wad. You can simply replace the sole for $24.99 and you’ll be good as new, ready for the next thousand miles of adventure. Heck, I forgot to mention Korkers already provides you with two Omnitrax soles with your purchase. You’ll get an aggressive rubber lug sole, and the IceTrax sole with both carbide studs and rubber lugs. As you can see, it’s going to be a very long time before you have to worry about purchasing new soles, and you’ll be ready to quickly change … Continue reading
Read More »Awesome Fly Fishing Photography, Get Some!
This image and many others could be yours! If your not aware of the Colorado Greenbacks, you should be. I’m not talking about the beautiful and delicate native cutthroat, rather the enthusiastic group of anglers dedicated to saving them for the future. The Greenbacks are a sort of subchapter of Trout Unlimited. A group of young and energetic anglers that have grown tired of business as usual and taken off in their own vibrant direction. These guys are the future of TU, if not the future of Fly Fishing on the whole. On February 2nd the Greenbacks are are throwing a party. The second annual Surface Film fly fishing photography show. Prints will be on display, and for sale, from the best fly fishing photographers in the biz. I’m honored to be on the list. There will be eating and drinking and music and all the cash goes to conserving the wild trout water of Colorado, which is a national treasure. If you never fished Colorado get off your ass and get to it! It’s amazing, and it belongs to all of us not just the good people of Colorado. So please support the Greenbacks. The fish and the guys working so hard to protect them. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / How To Make Your Fly Rod Cast Like A Dream
What Fly Line Matches Up Best With Your Fly Rod? It always amazes me that there’s very little talk in the industry about how important it is to match your fly rod with the appropriate fly line. My recent visit to the ITFD Fly Fishing Show in New Orleans, I witnessed on more than one occasion, fly rod company’s matching their fly rods up with what appeared to be the wrong fly lines. If you spool up the wrong fly line on your reel, that $700 fly rod you just purchased will end up feeling awkward, and won’t perform the way the fly rod designer intended it to. Below are some quick tips on how to match your fly rod with the correct fly line so it ends up casting like a dream. Fast Action Fly Rods Stiff, fast action fly rods require fly lines with a more aggressive head design for optimum rod loading and casting. Since fly rods are generally meant to load at 25-30′ of fly line out the end of the rod tip, anglers often find it difficult to load fast action fly rods, particularly at short distances, unless they’ve matched their rod with the appropriate fly line. Both Rio and Scientific Anglers manufacture fly lines specifically for fast action rods. Try Weight Forward (WF) Rio Grande Fly Line or WF GPX Scientific Anglers. These two fly lines in laymen terms, are about 1/2 weight heavier than traditional fly lines by AFTMA standards. Pairing up one of these fly lines with your fast action fly rod will allow you to load your rod with less effort and it will perform much better at all casting distances. Medium Action Fly Rods Medium action fly rods call for fly lines with a more conservative and well rounded tapered design. Loading … Continue reading
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Fly Tying by Hans Stephenson & Surface Film 2
This week’s Saturday Shoutout brings you a killer fly tying archive with over 70 popular fly patterns tied by Hans Stephenson with Dakota Angler. We also give a shoutout to the second annual Surface Film photography event. Fly Tying Archive by Hans Stephenson This is sure to get you your fly tying fix for the day, hell the year probably. The seventy plus fly patterns are all fish catching machines, and Hans Stephenson does a very good job in his videos teaching you how to tie these bad boys up. Check it out if you’re wanting to learn some new patterns. I’ll be right there with you tying along myself. The Greenbacks of Trout Unlimited are excited to announce the 2nd Surface Film event showcasing top professional fly fishing photography across the courntry at the Anthology Fine Art Gallery (635 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204) on Feb. 2, 2012. Framed prints will be available through a silent auction to benefit Trout Unlimited. If everything goes as planned this could turn into a traveling show. We encourage everyone to check it out if the event falls in your neck of the woods. Facebook Invite Eventbrite Page Website Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »Sunday Classic / Tell a Story
Here’s another tip on taking better photos on you next fishing trip. Everyone wants a hero shot with that monster fish but lots of people don’t think about all the details that go into a fishing trip when they are shooting pictures. These kind of detail shots tell the story of how you got to that fish. That’s what will really make your buddies who didn’t make the trip jealous. Take the time to get shots of the flies, the gear in the back of the truck, your buddies getting off the plane. When you get home, make a slide show and show it off. You will be surprised how many more invitations you will get for fishing trips. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Fontinalis Rising Ice!
Ice! Having never been an ice fisher I found this story riveting. Compelling and wonderfully written. My hats off to the guys who are crazy enough to do it. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »Why My Redington Sonic Pro Waders Make Me Cool
OK, this is a gear review, but first I’ve got a little something to get off my chest. There are fly fishers out there who are always on the lookout for a way to distinguish themselves as cooler than everyone else. If you’ve read much of my rambling you know that this makes me crazy. One of the latest fads is the “too cool for waders” crowd. I don’t know how this got started but I hear it more and more. Some how the idea got out that “real fly fishers” don’t wear waders. I had a kid working in a fly shop in Wyoming this summer tell me he doesn’t even own waders. “Waders are for tourist”. I sarcastically replied, ” well, you must be one tough SOB if you wet wade all winter out here!” Call me a tourist if you like, but I fish every month, hell every week, of the year and for most of the year I’m pretty happy to be warm and dry doing it. Get over yourself and buy a pair of waders hipster. If you feel like a tourist put on a damn Radiohead tee shirt or something. Now that’s out of my system, on with the gear review. I have always had a fairly pragmatic view of waders. A view based in the belief that all waders eventually leak and they can leak for $600 or for $200. For years I wore Orvis silver labels, until Orvis willfully ruined the design. Say what you will about Orvis and their dog beds, they have great customer service. Still, I can’t stand their new waders. So a few years ago I started wearing Redington waders and I’ve been very happy with them. They are well made, the fit is comfortable and they hold … Continue reading
Read More »Sunday’s Classic / Soft-Hackle Hares Ear
This Week’s Sunday Classic post showcases the Soft-Hackle Hares Ear. Don’t just load up on soft-hackle pheasant-tails, do the same with soft-hackle hares ears. Photo By: Louis Cahill Guiding has allowed me the opportunity to examine lots of my clients fly boxes over the years. Quite often I open a fly box and just find a bunch of bream poppers and traditional old school attractor wet flies. I know it sounds crazy but it’s the reality in my region of work. I pause for a few seconds scanning their box intently, and try to give the impression they didn’t waist their money trying to stock their fly box at the local Walmart. I then quickly reply, “No worries, I’ve got plenty of flies that will work today for you”. Seriously though, even when I actually get an angler with a decent selection of usable fly patterns in his/her fly box, I consistently notice one fly pattern that’s absent time and time again. The soft-hackle hares ear is the missing fly I’m referring to here, and although it’s just as deadly at catching fish as its cousin the soft-hackle pheasant-tail, for some reason rookie and intermediate level fly fishermen aren’t being told to stock them. Try fishing a tandem nymph rig with a soft-hackle pheasant-tail trailed behind by a soft-hackle hares ear next time you’re on the water. Day in and day out one of these patterns will be on the trout menu because of their impressionistic buggy features. Once you find out which pattern the fish prefer you can then fine tune your nymph rig further. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Buster Wants To Fish & Trout Underground
This week’s Saturday Shoutout goes to two blogs we follow religiously. Both Buster Wants to Fish and Trout Underground weigh in on Hatchery Steelhead in their own ways. Buster’s friendly reminder – Hatchery Steelhead are Tasty We give mad props to Buster Wants to Fish contributor G_Smolt, for his creative photo and interesting read about hatchery steelhead. It was by far one of the most unique reads for me of the week. More Proof: Hatchery Salmon & Steelhead actually damaging wild fish populations Tom Chandler of Trout Underground never disappoints with his superhuman ability to find the latest news and intriguing fly fishing reads. This post really gets you thinking about fisheries as a whole and what’s the best option. After-all, some rivers just aren’t suitable for wild reproduction and can only provide recreational fishing through stocking programs. Others seem they would be much better off if we would drop the stocking efforts all together and give the wild fish a chance to reproduce and increase populations on their own without us interfering. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Read More »The Steelhead Bullet
The Steelhead bullet is a controversial fly. Some people don’t even think it’s a fly at all because it’s tied on a jig head. You may be able to argue it’s pedigree, but you can’t argue with the results. On a recent steelhead trip we were faced with tough conditions. The water was high and stained and the temperatures were low and numbing. I spoke to my friend Rick Whorwood who had just fished out target water and he described the trip as a waist of time. This had me worried. Rick is a much better Spey fisherman than me and if it was tough for him, it was tough. I knew I’d need to be creative, so I decided to tie up some steelhead bullets. This fly gets down quick thanks to the 1/16 oz jig head and will produce fish nymphed under an indicator or on the swing. The bright color and great action are hard for a fish to resist. This 31″ steelhead couldn’t and she made my trip. Watch the video to learn how to tie this simple but effective pattern. It just might save your next trip. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
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