Saturday Shoutout / Chandler Interviews Gierach
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
Read More »The Nikon 1, Have We Found The Missing Link?
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
Read More »Photo Contest – Name this Spot
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
Read More »The Slack Tide Bar
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
Read More »A Closer Look At The October Caddis Hatch
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
Read More »Now That’s A Bonefish Guide!
We were fishing along the edge of the mangroves at high tide when this big bone ate. As soon as the line came tight the fish ran hard into mangroves. Thinking fast our guide, Norman Rolle of Andros South, shouted “let him go! Loosen your drag!”. The bonefish zig-zagged thru the mangroves way into the backing. Norman hopped down off the platform and waded thur the mangroves, following the line to the fish and landing him. That’s a lesson I’ll never forget. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
Read More »This One Is Just Right
After a long day of fishing on the Kanektok River, Kevin Riley takes a nap in a bear bed on a piece of water the guides call Goldilocks channel. I wonder why they call it that? Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
Read More »I’ve Got A Chubby
Every time I head out west for some trout R&R, there’s one dry fly pattern specifically that I always stock at least one fly box with exclusively. Idylwilde’s Chubby Chernobyl is the pattern I’m referring to and it’s probably caught more trout for me the past three years on western trout water than any other fly pattern. I absolutely love this pattern because it’s durable as hell and floats all day long even when I drop a heavy nymph behind it. It does a great job imitating stoneflies and terrestrials, but it also shines as an all-around attractor pattern. For veteran fly fisherman out there, I know, you’ve been fishing them for years and wrecking fish. But here at Gink & Gasoline, it’s really important to us that we’re providing fly fishing information for all skill levels including newcomers to the sport. The Chubby Chernobyl has saved the day for me on many occasions and it’s become one of my favorite go to flies when trout are looking up. The Chubby Chernobyl always seems to bring the big boys to the surface, but at the same time it doesn’t appear to be intimidating to smaller fish either. Because of this, fishing the Chubby Chernobyl from the spring into fall generally makes for an exciting day of dry fly fishing. Try a Golden Chubby Chernobyl when targeting a golden stonefly hatch or use it as a great all around grasshopper immitation. Dub it in olive and size it down and you’ll be ready for the Skwala stonefly hatch. Tie it with a black/orange foam body and black legs and it’s a sure win for imitating giant salmonflies. The black foam body with red dubbing and legs has produced trophy size browns, rainbows, and cutthroat trout for me every time I’ve visited the … Continue reading
Read More »Striped Bass, Making The Best of Global Warming
I’ll be honest. This is not going to make you feel any better about climate change. But you’ve got to get your silver linings where you can find ’em. With temperatures in the south east going from miserable to intolerable, a lot of what used to be trout water is rapidly becoming, well, not so much trout water any longer. The upshot of this is that some of these challenged rivers are finding new life as warm water fisheries. There are striped bass in many of the lakes in the region and as water temp soar, they run up the rivers in search of cold water. Some of these rivers are getting pretty decent runs. Five to ten pound fish are pretty common but there are big boys too. Up to fifty pounds. Stripers are a great species on fly and a big one will keep you busy for a few minutes. Here’s my buddy James with a twenty six pounder. Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
Read More »How Much Money Is Your Fly Tying Stash Worth?
Flipping through the latest issue of Sky Mall Magazine waiting for my flight to depart to Jackson, WY last week, I came across this women’s accessory fashion ad. Tonytail Company Inc. sells three hackle feathers 5-10″ long for a whopping $14.95 plus shipping! After seeing this, it made we wonder how much money my fly tying stash was actually worth. Let me think, well I’ve got around 2 1/2 dozen saddles in various colors, with each conservatively having around 125 usable feathers….let me get the calculator out. If my calculations are correct my hackle feathers are worth around $18,687 in the fashion world, holy crap! I feel like I got a real bargain now buying them for $40-60 a piece in the fly shop. Thank goodness I don’t have to purchase my feathers from these guys. The Good News (You saw it here first) On the other hand, my twin sister Julie, is a fashion queen who’s always managed to stay two steps ahead in the fashion world her entire life. She says the feather in the hair gig is already on its way out. Her clue to this she said, “When I saw Tori Spelling’s four year old son wearing quail feather extensions in his hair on TV, I knew the feather fad had lost it’s coolness. Fly tiers will see the light at the end of the tunnel soon, because feathers in the hair is just a short lived fashion trend”. Let’s hope my sister is right. For real though, what’s next, are we going to see Krystal Flash and Flashabou extensions walking down the street? I wouldn’t doubt it. You better load up on these fly tying materials before the price of them sky rocket just like hackle feathers have. Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline … Continue reading
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