Are There Really Any Trash Fish?

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I don’t know about you but if a fish will eat a fly I generally have no problem fly fishing for it. And I don’t consider there to be any trash fish, because they all provide enjoyment and opportunity for anglers to learn. Some people out there I’m sure would argue if it’s not completely wild, they don’t want any part. That’s cool with me and I understand where they’re coming from, I just don’t think and feel that way in my fly fishing. Heck, I remember when I was in middle school I actually got a real kick out of catching big channel catfish in my best friends farm pond with woolly buggers. Back then, it was all about getting my rod bent and watching that fly line being pulled off the reel. There was nothing pretty or serene about landing those catfish. Trash fish or not, I didn’t care because I was in it for the fight, and a 6-12 pound catfish puts up a good fight on a 5 weight fly rod. Furthermore, it was still more sporting than me breaking out my spinning rod, bobber and can of chicken livers like most kids my age. Take the golden rainbow trout, a.k.a. “Palomino Trout”, that you can find in North Carolina for instance. Many fly anglers would jump on the bandwagon to call it a trash fish. It looks like a Koi Asian Goldfish at first glance, but it’s actually a real rainbow trout created through selective breeding. It originated from a single rainbow trout that was spawned in the fall of 1954 in West Virginia. Apparently a female rainbow trout was caught that carried a rare genetic mutation giving her a pale golden color. It was then spawned with a normal colored male rainbow trout and … Continue reading

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Sunday Classic / Should Have Brought The Bamboo!

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Somethings in the air and it ain’t good. Brad Wayne rethinks his rod selection as storms roll through the Gros Ventre Valley. Graphite is a great conductor of electricity. Be careful out there. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com  

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Saturday Shoutout / Bennett & Gracie on Bonefishing

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Here’s a great series of articles written by Michael Gracie for Deneki Outdoors. How Bonefishing Can Improve Your Day on the Stream  from Deneki.com     How Bonefishing Can Improve Your Day on the Stream  from Deneki.com Part 2      How Bonefishing Can Improve Your Day on the Stream  from Deneki.com Part 3     It’s tough to beat the team of Bennett and Gracie!     Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com  

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There’s One Born Every Minute

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My good friend Will Sands of Taylor Creek Fly Shop is caught holding the biggest sucker I’ve ever seen.  I caught this brute last fall on the Colorado River just below Glenwood Springs.  If I remember correctly it meashured 26″ and fought like a log.  Thanks, for a great day Will! Will is the creator of the STD  (Sands’ Tungsten Deception) and awesome Baetis pattern. Here’s a great post on how to tie it. BTW, we did catch trout too.     Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com  

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Sunday Classic, Klewein’s Triple Trico

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Part 2 of our new weekend format is Sunday Classics.  Great posts you may have missed.   This Week it’s   Klewein’s Triple Trico I tied this pattern up on the road when I was out fishing the Trico hatch on the South Platte River in Colorado with Louis.  The idea came to mind when I saw clumps of a dozen or more Trico’s floating down the river together. Trophy size trout weren’t feeding on single bugs floating down the river. Instead they were skimming the surface, mouths wide open, gorging on as many adults as they could eat per rise. I haven’t seen any patterns like this yet in the industry, just double trico fly patterns.  Give it a this year when you run into this predominate morning hatch.  The denser the hatch the better it will work.  If the hatch is mild your better off using a single or double pattern. Anyhow, I thought it was something different that all you trout bums out there would appreciate. Klewein’s Triple Trico Hook: TMC 101 Size:  16 Thread: Uni-Thread Black 8/0 Body: Black Thread & 20lb. monofilament for the T- section Wing & Tail: Antron Yarn Tying Tips: Tie on horizontally a piece of 2olb. monofiliament onto the hook. This will allow you to tie the triple trico. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com

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Saturday Shoutout / Chandler Interviews Gierach

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We are starting something new this week.  Every Saturday we will share some of the great content from other sites.  We remain dedicated to bringing you the best original content we can but there are so many talented folks out here doing great work that it feels wrong not to acknowledge it.  This week we’re linking two gents who need no introduction and I feel privileged to call them both friends.  Tom Chandler’s wonderful interview of John Gierach.   John Gierach Talks About Trout Bumhood, Life, Fly Fishing’s Class Wars, and Extreme Fly Fishing…   Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com  

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The Nikon 1, Have We Found The Missing Link?

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I’ve been saying for some time that the DSLR makes no sense. It is an evolutionary half step. The duckbilled platypus of the imaging world. In reality it was, I believe, a marketing decision designed to make, frightened professional photographers finding themselves part of a rapidly changing landscape of visual professionals, trust the digital camera. It looks and feels like a film camera. Crusty old shooters who were struggling to learn the Mac liked that but with that sense of familiarity came some of the limitations of film cameras. For example the loss of the auto focus function in video mode. Slower frame rates and mirror vibration. And in return, what is this mirror giving you? Nothing but the warm feeling of looking like a “professional” photographer. Well, take a long hard look in the mirror because with the introduction of the Nikon 1 camera system, it’s gone. There are a few things I should say off the bat. It is not the first mirror-less digital camera on the market, but coming from Nikon it is big news. It is not available for a few days and I have not held one in my hand so this is not an endorsement of this camera. I’ll shoot with one before I say you have to buy it. Lastly, to my knowledge, the Nikon 1 and the Sage one are related in only 3 ways. The name, they are both on my Christmas list (my wife reads this stuff) and the price. That’s right, with a lens this camera is within $150 of what you would pay for a good fly rod. And let me say, it’s about damn time! We do not need another doctor camera. The D3X fills that spot nicely. From what I’ve read, here’s what I like. 10 … Continue reading

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Photo Contest – Name this Spot

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Gink & Gasoline has been a huge success so far, thanks to all our followers. As a small thank you we’re going to have posts dedicated to giving back to our supporters throughout the year. Today’s post is a photo contest. Be the first to Name the location correctly and you’ll win a copy of American Waters by Peter Kaminsky. What River Was This Sunset Taken On? Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com

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The Slack Tide Bar

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I’ve spent a lot of evenings with my feet in the sand and a glass of rum in my hand at the Slack Tide Bar at the Andros South lodge. The Slack Tide is just a tiki hut on the beach, but it’s the best place I know to listen to tales of woe and exaltation and bone fishing. The house cocktail goes like this: One parts Anejo rum, one part coconut rum, two parts orange juice, one part good tunes, one part great conversation, two parts lasting friendships. Add warm sand and cool breeze and enjoy. Try that cocktail, it really is good!   Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com  

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A Closer Look At The October Caddis Hatch

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When the first leaves fall off the deciduous trees at the beginning of fall, fly anglers should begin preparing for the arrival of the giant tent winged caddisfly. For it will become a major player on the trout’s food menu from September into November depending on your geographic location where it thrives. For western fly fishermen we’re talking about the October Caddis “Dicosmoecus”, and for eastern fly fishermen we’re referring to the Great Autumn Brown Sedge “Pycnopsyche”. You could argue that these guys are twins, because they’re similarities in life-cycle, behavior, hatch periods, and appearance are almost identical. The great fly fisherman and author, Gary LaFontaine, rated the October Caddis as one of the four best aquatic insects for offering anglers the opportunity to catch a trophy trout. He devoted a significant section of his book “Caddisflies”, to the October Caddis, detailing its behavior, life cylce, and effective fly pattern imitations. Over the years I’ve had mixed results targeting this hatch. Big fish have been landed at times, while at other times on the water I’ve felt like trout weren’t even aware these guys existed. It’s only in the last two seasons that I’ve corrected my flaws and learned to fish the hatch correctly. The key success factors in fishing this hatch are understanding it’s behavior, and fishing the appropriate larva, pupae, and adult imitations during the right times. If done incorrectly, anglers will find this hatch difficult to decode. Let’s get started by giving you a basic run down of the life-cycle of these two bugs. The first thing you need to understand, are these species of caddisflies time their hatch specifically during the annual leave droppings of fall. The freshly hatched larva from deposited eggs depend on the abundant leaves collected in the water as their primary food … Continue reading

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