Focus and Determination Make It Happen
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU STARTED YOUR DAY WITH A KICK IN THE NUTS?
That’s exactly what happened to Mike Pyle the other day. For those of you who haven’t been following, I’ll give you a little background. Mike Pyle is a professional UFC fighter, fly fishing ninja and founder of Fish On Energy. G&G recently became one of his sponsors and it’s been really exciting being part of the team.
Mike had a tough fight on the card. Squaring off against a challenger eleven years younger than himself. I was fired up when I turned on Fox Sports and saw Mike with the flaming fish hook on his shorts. Mike’s technical fighting style was serving him well when, early in the first round, he took a knee in the groin. His young opponent was unbelievably strong and a good wrestler. It was clear that Mike had his work cut out for him.
Mike took a beating for most of that fight. It was only his skill and technique that kept him in the game. In spite of physical pain and a powerful opponent, he stayed focused and determined and in the last round turned the tables. The young challenger lost focus for an instant and Mike was there with the presence of mind to take advantage of it. Mike got him in a submission hold and almost ended the fight there.
In the end, his opponent broke the hold and won by a narrow decision. Regardless, I was impressed by Mike’s performance and proud to have my logo on his shorts. What’s more, I think he fought like an angler and there’s a lesson there for all of us.
The day after the fight I was telling Mike about a tarpon trip I went on recently. It felt a lot like that fight. Like a kick in the nuts in fact. Six of us went to fish Bocca Grande and found some of the most frustrating tarpon fishing I’ve ever encountered. We saw hundreds of fish but none that would eat.
The conditions were challenging. Very windy and, as we were fishing on the beach in heavy swells, it was a lot like bull riding. Waves crashing, some times knee high, over the bow. Time after time, I fought the wind and waves to made textbook presentations, only to see them refused. These fish were lock jawed and I couldn’t buy an eat.
After three days of that, it’s easy to lose your focus. To give up. To expect every fish not to eat. The funny thing about fly fishing, and a fight for that matter, is you tend to get what you expect. If you embrace the futility of the situation, your confidence is gone and it starts to show. It shows in sloppy presentations, half-hearted retrieve and lack of focus. I can tell you this from experience. If you don’t believe it’s going to happen, it isn’t.
You have to know there is a fish out there for you. You have to believe that every fish you see could be that fish. Every time you cast, you have to believe it’s going to happen. If you don’t believe in it, the fish damned sure will not.
Near the end of day three
Read More »Choosing the Lens That’s Right You
The most common camera question I get from my friends is “what lens should I buy.”
My usual answer is, “the one that costs the most.” It’s a joke, but there is some truth to it. Here are a few tips on choosing a good lens that’s in your budget.
First of all you do get what you pay for and it’s better to save up and buy a good lens than to buy one that you will not be satisfied with and need to replace. Be wary of third party manufacturers. If you have a Nikon camera you are likely better off with a Nikon lens. The term “prosumer” means amateur. These lenses have poor glass and good marketing.
Modern zoom lenses are very good but no one lens can do it all well. Choose a zoom with a modest range like 24-70 not 18-200. Lenses with fast apertures like 1.8 can be wonderful for freezing action but a zoom lens with that kind of aperture will be very expensive. If a fast aperture is important to you you might consider a prime lens like an 85mm f 1.8.
Special purpose lenses like fish eyes are fun but a fish eye is a one trick pony, even if it is a pretty cool trick. A lot of guys see a cool photo taken with a fish eye and run out and buy one. They shoot with it all the time for the first month, then it lives in the bag. If you’ve got the cash, why not, but if your on a budget put that money towards a better quality wide angle.
The other question I get all the time is, “What’s your go to lens for fishing?” Hands down it’s the 12-24 zoom. I like to be close to the action and a wide angle helps with that. It’s great the boat where you can’t
Read More »Information VS Knowledge
By Louis Cahill
A wise friend of mine always says, “Information plus experience, equals knowledge.”
It’s a concept as simple as it is brilliant. A teacher can give you information, but until you have the experience and the context to have real understanding, you don’t have the knowledge. True knowledge will always trump information. That’s just common sense.
I see a lot of anglers who get stalled in the gap between information and knowledge. Anglers who catch a lot of fish with the information they have but could catch a lot more if they really understood what they are doing. These folks are stuck at an intermediate level in the sport, and some spend their whole lives there. I’m going to give you some examples of specific ways this happens, but understand, it applies to every aspect of fly fishing…and everything else in life, truth be told. This is a little on the esoteric side for a fly fishing tip, I admit.
MY GOAL IS TO TRY AND HELP THOSE INTERMEDIATE ANGLERS LEARN A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT FLY FISHING, WHICH WILL HELP THEM REACH THE NEXT LEVEL.
A classic example of this is the subject of leaders. I know lots of anglers who obsess about leader formulas. I think anyone who is advanced in the sport knows that the leader is incredibly important. Arguably the most important piece of tackle in the system. I’d personally rather fish the wrong fly on the right leader than the other way around. That said, I do not believe in leader formulas.
Sure, if you have a leader that works in a familiar fishing situation, you may never need to stray from that formula. As long as you always fish the same way, with the same type of flies, and the conditions never change, and the fish never get any smarter. If, however, you understand how a leader functions and how to
Read More »Presenting Your Fly to Migrating Tarpon
There’s definitely some strategy involved in tarpon fishing.
Migrating tarpon offer the fly angler a great opportunity for a close in counter with the silver king, but you have to play your cards right. Many anglers have watched big schools of tarpon vanish right before their eyes, leaving them to shrug and ask, “what’d I do?”
Often there is nothing wrong with the fly,or the cast, except that it was shown to the wrong fish. Migrating tarpon play a curious game of “follow the leader.” when you see that school coming its tempting to lose your patience and cast to that big lead fish, but that’s not the way to go.
That lead fish is out there on her own, blazing the trail for the whole school. She’s wary and quite cautious, that’s her job. Almost anything will spook her and the school will follow her lead. Her followers however are a different story. Generally male, they are focused almost completely on her. Sound familiar guys? Ever made a bad decision while you were focused on a female?
Those males feel secure because the lead fish is their lookout. If she isn’t spooked they feel like everything is as it should be and if a careless bit of food gets past her they have no problem scarfing it down. Those are the fish you want to target. It’s possible to get many shots at a school of tarpon as long as the lead fish keeps her cool and the more shots you get, the better your chance at a hookup.
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AND OUR BUDDY JOEL DICKEY WILL SHOW YOU THE BEST PRESENTATION FOR A MIGRATING SCHOOL.
Read More »Tenkara Presentation, Really “Fishing” The Fly
By Tim Harris
One fly, but many ways to fish it.
In a play of words, it is said that “tenkara” means “ten colors” since the kanji is the same – テンカ ラ. This means ten tenkara fishers have ten different styles of fishing. This could be that they use ten different flies or that they fish ten different techniques. Either way, tenkara is more about presentation and confidence in the fly than it is about the actual fly used, sort of like steelhead fishing.
Last season, and this season so far, I have used one fly only but have employed different techniques to catch fish in different conditions. I believe these techniques are not only applicable to tenkara but also to standard western fly fishing in small streams where you can probably present any fly with the right technique and get fish to eat.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE BASIC TECHNIQUES THAT I’VE INCORPORATED OVER THE THE LAST YEARS TO CATCH TROUT CONSISTENTLY WITH TENKARA.
1) Dead Drift – This one is easy enough and is the standard nymphing or dry fly technique common in western fly fishing and is usually how I start any given stretch of water. Tenkara has the advantage over a standard fly rod in that you can get a true drag-free dead drift since often no line is on the water, which must be mended, only the fly and tippet are in the current. Cast upstream or quartering upstream of a trout or potential trout holding location, keeping the line off the water as much as possible. As the fly drifts downstream, slowly lift the rod to keep contact with the fly and keep the fly drifting naturally. This can be done with the fly in the water or on the surface, depending on the type of pattern you are using. If you stick with one fly, like I do, you can dry out and dress or put on a fresh kebari to keep it on the surface if there is a rising trout you are going after.
2) Pulsing the Fly – This is one of my favorite techniques and goes against all convention of western fly fishing where the dead drift rules. Yet how often is a bug just tumbling with the current. Often they may be struggling to swim or move within that current, and this is where pulsing comes into play. Cast quartering upstream again, but this time
Read More »Bonefishing: Getting Ready To Fish
It’s time to catch a bonefish! Here are some easy steps you can follow to set you up for success.
Effective saltwater fly fishing, for bonefish or any other species, is all about making clean presentations. The more you can control the variables, the more fish you will catch. It’s as simple as that. An angler who is methodical and pays attention to the details always has the odds in their favor.
In this video I share with you the steps I take to insure a clean presentation every time I take the bow. It’s a deeper dive into how I prepare for success and why. I hope it helps you catch more bonefish.
BONEFISHING: GETTING READY TO FISH
Read More »Float Tube Tour: Video
By Herman deGala
In mid-March and everyone is in the middle of their tying season.
But for me bass season is right around the corner when my local reservoir opens for fishing. If there is any ice on the water they won’t let us launch boats or float tubes but we can still fish from shore. They still need to launch the Rangers boat and place the Off Limits buoys.
Like everyone else I am stocking up on flies so that I won’t have to tie during the middle of the season. I also know though that I need to make sure all of my equipment is in top shape and ready to go especially my float tube, rods and reels.
I’ve included a short tour of how I have my float tube rigged and some of the reasons behind the equipment I use. My tube is setup for stillwater fishing and for chasing bass and trout.
Float Tube – Outcast Super Fat Cat
I love this tube. I have fished it for over 10 years and I put a minimum of over a hundred days on it each year. The best thing about it is that it keeps my okole out of the water so that I don’t get as cold in the early Spring. I also love it because it fits perfectly in the back of my Subaru Forester. I can have it fully inflated and completely rigged. I just pull it out of the back, place my rods in their holders and launch from the side of the ramp in no time at all.
Pressure Gauge – Kwik Check Pressure Gauge
It never fails. 95% of the fishermen launching from the ramp have under inflated tubes. I always offer to check the air pressure of their tubes and also offer to help them to top it off. First off it is safer to fish from a properly inflated tube. Also, you can travel faster with a properly inflated tube because there is less surface area touching the water. Having a properly inflated tube also allows you to fight fish more effectively. When you are fighting a 5 lb. smallie the last thing you want to do is to fight your tube to hold position in the wind.
I also admit that the last thing I want to happen is for someone to get hurt just because their tube was under-inflated. I have seen guys that looked like they were wearing a life jacket because their tube was so under-inflated.
Read More »Tandem Streamer Rigs Catch More Trout
There’s no doubt that Louis and I are both hardcore streamer junkies.
We never leave home without our streamer boxes packed full. One thing we do a little different from some streamer fishermen on the water is fish a streamer dropper rig. Quite often we’ll tie on a nymph dropper off the back of our big gaudy streamer to increase hookups. Big fish are smart, especially during the busy season when their getting pressured, and they can sometimes get a little gun shy eating big streamers. If you’re on the water and you’re getting a bunch of chases or short strikes on your streamer, try tying on a dropper nymph. It will serve two purposes. First, it will be less intimiating to spooky trout. Secondly, it will often tempt a trout to eat that has turned off your streamer at the last second.
Case in point, last year Louis and I were on the Madison River streamer fishing with very little luck. Instead of giving up on the streamer bite, Louis tied on a size 10 golden stonefly nymph dropper and began putting on a clinic. Every fish ate the golden stone like it was candy and he brought numerous twenty plus inch fish to the boat that day. Experiment with
Read More »Rev Up Your Double Haul During Practice!
By Justin Pickett
Practice your casting. Practice your casting. Practice your casting!
That’s what any good flats guide will tell you prior to stepping foot on the bow of his or her boat. And if you’re smart, you will do just that. After all, you didn’t spend good money to spend all day coming up short, or dropping your fly too close and blowing every shot you may have during the trip, and you don’t want your guide cursing under their breath all day either.
One of the things that I have clients focus on when they ask for casting tips is their double haul. So often I see fly anglers with weak double hauls, or double hauls that aren’t proportionate to the distance they are trying to achieve. Whether it’s a flat calm day, or the wind is howling, you need to have an appropriate double haul for the job. This brings us back to practicing.
One thing that I have noticed during casting instruction and fishing is that the double haul is never as pronounced during fishing as it is during practice. I’ve noticed this while guiding clients, as well as in my own casting while I’m out on the water. This can be the result of many things, such as distractions keeping your focus off your cast or fatigue, which can cause poor casts, coming up short, or failure to penetrate into the wind.
One way to combat this from happening, or from being so profound, is to exaggerate your double haul when you’re practicing.
We are able to repeat the fly cast
Light, Composition and Action
THERE ARE A LOT OF ELEMENTS TO A SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPH. MANY ARE TECHNICAL, BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ARE AESTHETIC.
A technically perfect image is worthless if it doesn’t capture the eye, and the imagination, of the viewer. Unfortunately, most new photographers get so wrapped up in the science of photography that they totally miss the art. There are as many aesthetic choices to be made when shooting a photo as when building a house but a hell of a lot less time to make them. It takes time and experience to master designing a photo on the fly but to help you get started there are three element so crucial to a great photo that they deserve your attention every time you lift the camera. They are: light, composition and action.
Light
Light sets the mood. When you sit down for a romantic dinner do you turn on the overhead fluorescents? No, you light a candle. When the police interrogate a suspect do they do it by candle light? Probably not. Of all the choices you make, light has the biggest impact on the emotional tone of the finished photograph.
You may be thinking, “How is light a choice?” I have been a studio photographer for more years than I like to discuss. In the studio I control my lighting by moving the position of my lights and changing their intensity. Shooting on the river you don’t have that luxury but you do still have choices. You can’t move the sun, but you can
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