Bahamas Poon
There’s no such thing as a bad day of flats fishing in the Bahamas.
There are however, exceptional days. The G&G hosted trip to Abaco Lodge this March had it’s fair share of exceptional days. We had a great group of anglers, beautiful weather and great fishing. You couldn’t ask for more, but we got more anyway.
Anglers Shane Maybush and Peter Olsen both got nice tarpon. Shane was doubley blessed to have lodge manager Christiaan Pretorius, and his pile of cameras and drones, on the boat when it happened. Chris put together this stunning short video of the event, which features some pro-level fish fighting and line dancing by Shane. Shane guides for Mossey Creek Outfitters in VA. If you’re in the area, look him up.
CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME VIDEO BY CHRISTIAAN PRETORIUS.
Read More »Catching Air
By: Alice Tesar
My outdoor gear is always put to the test when I take it for a spin with my toddler. Recently my partner and I were fishing with him at a local spot that has a wide rocky bend. We let him play around, eat a few rocks, and investigate sunbathing snakes while we got some casts in. I paused to tie on a new fly and he hobbled over to me to inspect my choice. He gestured to hold my rod and while I repeatedly offered him to hold my net instead, he insisted on the rod and began to throw a tantrum. In a moment of trust or parental weakness — it is all a blur — I let him hold the rod. In a split second, he had run two-rod lengths down the shoreline and was jamming my 4 wt. Winston Pure under the water, bent in a right angle, back-and-forth in the freestone river bed. As fast as he got away, I was bear hugging him, the rod, the net, and, well…the fly was hugging my thumb with its barb. To my surprise, the rod and all its guides were still intact. Everyone talks about the Winston Feel but I think the Winston “Durability” also needs some credit. The three of us regrouped, removed the barb from my thumb, the tantrum prone toddler went back in the pack and we cast on.
I was relieved to see that the rod was casting fine given its recent assault. The Pure is a dry fly rod made for precise presentations and light flies and it is spring in the Rockies which means deep nymph rigs. Nevertheless, it was a new rod and I was looking to put it to the test. With some effort it cast my weighted nymph rig sufficiently but the true magic of a rod like the Pure is its presentation of a dry fly. Feeling the flex in my palm, the nearly weightless rod shoots a size 18 CDC Midge to the top of the riffle. A long, slow drift made effortless by the rod’s flick-of-the-wrist mending capacity. We did cast dries to a few rising fish as the morning went on, but as happens more frequently now due to the wandering toddler, I’m not paying as close attention to the river’s hints nor the trout’s take. We left skunked but with our rods intact.
When we became a family of three, we were gifted a book that we condemned to the shelf immediately.
Read More »Developing Your Target Picture Means Catching More Fish
What does skeet shooting have to do with fly fishing?
MORE THAN A DAY OF CAST AND BLAST, FOR SURE.
Target picture is a term skeet shooters use to describe the visual cue a shooter uses to tell him when to fire. Since the shooter is leading the clay, rather than firing directly at it, it’s important to visualize the lead for a given shot and fire when you see that “picture.” It’s a skill that separates a real shooter from a novice.
The same principal works in fly fishing. Being able to visualize the presentation before making it pays off big. It’s a simple idea when you are casting a fly to a rising trout. The actual target is well up stream of the rise form, since the fish will actually be holding upstream of where you see him rise. The current carries him downstream as he comes for the fly so, depending on the current speed and how deep the fish is holding, it can be quite a difference. Of course, your goal is to land the fly just outside of the fish’s field of sight, so you may need to lead him upstream a good ways.
What is simple on a trout stream usually becomes devilishly complex in the salt and leading a fish is no exception.
When casting to saltwater species there are a lot of variables to take into account. The fish’s speed and behavior, of course, but also the movement of both tide and boat. The angle and intensity of the light and wind come into play too. All that is to say that you never cast directly to the fish. Like a skeet shooter, you need a picture in your head of the right lead for a given situation.
DSCF3588-2bI’m not going to dig into the minutia of figuring every variable. The truth is it’s mostly gut feeling when the time comes to make the shot. Doing it right consistently only comes with
Read More »What Every Fly Angler Can Learn From Tenkara
I DIG MY TENKARA ROD AND I’M NOT ASHAMED OF IT.
It seems like there are only two camps when it comes to fishing tenkara. Those who love it and those who hate it. I think the general sentiment of the haters was summed up pretty well by good friend Dave Grossman of SCOF.
“You know the hardest part about tenkara?…Telling your dad that you’re gay.” – Dave Grossman
Well, my father passed away years ago so I guess I’ll tell you. I think I’m gay for tenkara.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting all of my two handers on eBay or chucking out the bonefish rods. I will continue to carry way too many flies and a bag of split shot but I’m taking this willowy little rod seriously and I think you should too.
I’m new to tenkara. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. We have an expert (Daniel Galhardo of Tenkara USA) writing tenkara content and I encourage you to submit questions for Daniel to answer. What I am prepared to do is tell you why I’m excited about tenkara and what I think it offers to every fly angler.
You’ve probably heard that tenkara is fun. That’s very true. It’s also simple, affordable, convenient and aesthetically pleasing. Those are all good reasons for the sudden popularity of tenkara but there is a whole lot more going on in this ancient Japanese art of angling. Tenkara is making a whole lot of people better anglers.
“It’s between the fish and the fly, man. Take yourself out of the equation.” – Tori Bevins
That quote from bonefish guide Tori Bevins is to this day my favorite bit of fly fishing wisdom. Tori wasn’t talking about tenkara, but he could have been. The lesson is the same. Fly fishing is magic. Not in the Merlin sense but in the David Copperfield sense. It is the art of illusion. The art of making someone, in this case a fish, believe with all their heart in something utterly implausible.
Read More »Sitting On Top Of The World
DAN FLYNN STALKS BROOK TROUT IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION.
Summer is here and for those of us in the southeast it’s time to beat it to the headwaters for a little Brookie fishing. If that’s your game, water falls like this one over a hundreds feet high are part of the program. No one is going to tell you where to find wild native brook trout. You’ll need a good topo map and some thick boot soles.
Just watch that last step. It’s a doozie.
Read More »Restore an Old Bamboo Fly Rod #5: Video Series
Matt Draft is back with part 5 of our bamboo fly rod restoration series.
In this video Matt will show you how to attach the guides, make beautiful silk wraps, including signature wraps, and finish all of the thread work with color preserver and varnish. We’re also including a separate video on installing the grip and reel seat.
RESTORE AN OLD BAMBOO FLY ROD #5
Check out https://www.proofflyfishing.com
Read More »The Permit Story
By Louis Cahill
Stop me if you’ve heard this one, and if you’ve spent any time fly fishing salt water, you have.
I was talking with my buddy Bruce Chard yesterday. Thank God for living vicariously through my friends! Since I’ve been dealing with multiple eye surgeries, I haven’t touched a fly rod in five months. I haven’t been five days without casting a rod in twenty years, so I’m losing my mind and talking fishing with my friends is the only thing that keeps me going.
My buddy Scott had just sent me a photo of a friend of his with a huge permit. He was holding the rod, holding the permit and grinning like a cheshire cat, was Bruce. Just by chance, Bruce called me with in the hour, so I had to get the story. The story was not only familiar but a little disheartening.
This guy had never fly fished. He was in the keys visiting family and his brother-in-law had Bruce booked for the week and gave one of his days to this guy and his wife. Bruce poled them around a little and when they started losing interest, he took them to some nice spots to snorkel and picnic. I’m sure they had a blast but it makes me want to bang my head on the wall. You booked one of the best flats guides on the planet to take you snorkeling? OK.
“We’ve got about an hour left,” Bruce told them, “Why don’t we go check out this permit flat.”
Bruce was thinking he’d at least do a little scouting for the next day when he would be fishing his client who generously offered his day to these folks. A guy deserves a permit after such a gesture, right?
Bruce poles up on the flat and, as soon as they are ready to fish, he sees a permit swimming right to the boat from six O’clock. Not an ideal shot and no time to turn the boat.
“Throw that thing out as far as you can behind the boat,”
Read More »Halfback Nymph in High Water
Looking for a great high water nymph pattern that will consistently fool trout?
Try tying on a halfback nymph, it’s an oldie but goodie that has produced big fish for me countless times over the years. The buggy profile of the halfback nymph does a great job of imitating a large variety of aquatic insects, and it’s large size is easy for trout to spot quickly in fast water. This nymph pattern screams “I’m a big juicy morsel, Come eat me”.
I always have at least a half dozen of these guys in my fly box. I often use the halfback nymph as my lead fly in my tandem nymph rig, and tie a 16-24″ piece of tippet off the bend of the hook with a smaller dropper nymph. You can also try substituting the standard peacock herl underbody with a more flashy dubbing material when fishing
Read More »Make The Straight Line Practice Rod: Video
By Louis Cahill
Here’s a video on how to make a simple tool that will take your fly casting to a new level.
A few weeks back I shared a video on how to “Stop Dropping Your Rod Tip Once and For All.” In that video I show you how to use the Straight Line Practice Rod. It’s a brilliant tool, shown to me by my buddy Tim Rajeff. It’s the most effective way I have found to help anglers understand the straight line rod-tip path, the secret to making clean, tight loops. The video was very popular, but there was a problem.
In the video, I mentioned that I though Echo Fly Rods sold this thing on their sight. Echo was flooded with calls and emails asking for it. Apparently I was wrong. Since they don’t sell a version, I decided I had to make a video showing how to make one yourself. It’s incredibly simple and you can do it in your kitchen. If you take the time to make a Straight Line Practice Rod for yourself, I promise you will see a difference in your fly casting.
WATCH THE VIDEO AND LEARN TO MAKE THE STRAIGHT LINE PRACTICE ROD.
Read More »Fly Fishing in the Winter – Getting in the Routine
I’ll be the first to admit, that the first few cold fronts of the year negatively effect my angling morale. Those initial cold fronts are always a sobering reminder that winter is quickly approaching, and the warm days of the summer and fall are long gone. Yes, this is the time of year that I find it harder to get out of bed in the morning. My snooze button gets quite a bit more love from my index finger, and I’m forced to brew my coffee extra stout. As I loosen up in the shower, with my morning stretches, and warm water hitting my back (as us old folks are plenty familiar with), I think about my next objective of the day, which will be to de-thaw my frozen waders and boots. I left them laying in the back of my truck, and yes, I know, I should have brought them inside. I respectfully ask you all to turn your cheek because it always takes me a few weeks before I wise up to the cold season. That’s why, if you peak into the window of my truck this time of year, you’ll probably find me driving around with my waders and boots on the floorboard of my truck, with my heater set to high, and blasting on my feet.
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