Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Boredom Begets Innovation

It's the middle of Whitetail season in PA. I didn't go out this year, but my father did, just as he does every year. This year he ended up with a buck and two doe, kind of like he does every year.

And just like every year, we kick around an idea, kind of smile and laugh when it's brought up, then go about the butchering as we have done time immortal. What's the question?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Good-buy, Mr. Scott

One of my favorite online retails, Scott's Fly Shop, has decided to hang up the sign for the last time.

I know, I know, you're supposed to support your local shops, and all that jazz. But I'm a poor young(ish) fisherman and some of those prices are a little too steep. So I use the wonders of the interweb to keep me in fish and the bill collectors at bay.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

iPad Apps - A non-exclusive rundown.

Given a laundry list of unfortunate events (hurricanes, colds that don't seem to go away and wonderful bouts of pink eye) it's been a few weeks since I was able to get any water-time. So in the interim I've been messing with some fly fishing apps for my iPad. Here's the good, bad, and ugly.....

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Well.....

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Nor did I experience a delayed rapture from this spring.

I would like to say that I was busy doing exciting stuff, an extended fishing expedition, or even that I broke both my arms wrestling a Bigfoot and couldn't type. I could say that, but none of it would be true.

Life was suddenly turned upside down and a lot of things had to be put on the back burner for a little while. Unfortunately this was one.

To put things in a nutshell, my contract expired at the college I worked and and due to budget constraints and such it couldn't be renewed. Then, after 5 years the girlfriend and I decided that we needed some time apart to sort some things out and she and the girls moved out.  Thank God I didn't have a dog; he would have been a goner.....

On the plus side I finished my last two classes for college. I'm not collegically graduamatated and am waiting for my fancy paper to prove such.

And then, after all this, we found ourselves in the middle of a heat wave where fishing was not going to happen. So instead of blogging about how much I hate the heat and wish that I could fish, I waited until the temps became more agreeable. They've been so for that past few weeks and I even got to get out a time or two (caught my fist smallie on the fly none-the-less), so I thought it would be time for my triumphant return.

And there it is.

Things are still kind of hectic, but not so that I can't get on here a time or two a week. Who knows, I might even get to fish once or twice before the year is out......

Tight lines!!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th!!

Happy 4th of July. I hope everyone has a great holiday and stays safe. Let's not forget that this is the Greatest Nation on Earth, but if you need a reminder, here's one:


Take that Terror Bear!!!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Foam Hopper

With the dog days of Summer nearly upon us, I thought that it's only fitting to do a FotW on that Summer fly favorite, the foam hopper.

I found this video on YouTube that shows a foam hopper that is not only easy to tie, but also uses this cool little tool called a "Beaver Tail Foam cutter" that makes cutting the foam bodies almost remedial.



And if your interested in getting the foam cutter, down there it is on Amazon.


Tight lines!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Angling Across America

I think that it's safe to say that many people in the fly fishing world know of one Mr. Owl Jones and his escapades in fly fishing domination. Love him or hate him, you've heard of the SOB at least a few times.

Recently he's been planning a trip to fish cross country he's calling Angling Across America, which he's tying in with another trip to Montana on TU's dime (lucky bastard.)

But he needs our help. Fishing across the country ain't cheap or easy, so he's made a call out to anyone and everyone that can help, to do so. And while I think it is appropriate to feel blinding jealousy and rage (I mean seriously, who wouldn't love to spend a few weeks loafing about and trout bumming it up??? WITH TU paying for the very last leg of it!!! ) we can also live vicariously through him, and in order to do that we probably should help the guy out so that he can at least get there and milk it from TU.

So if your interested in finding out what he all needs, contact him at owl@owljones.com. He's been working his tail off to get this ready so I'm not sure what all he needs, but even if it's a hollowed out log to crash in, I'm sure he'd be appreciative.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Natural Guides Fly Fishing App

I had such a good experience with the Freshwater Fly Fishing Tips from the Pros app that I wanted to see what other fly fishing apps are available for my iPad. I downloaded a bunch and will be reviewing them over the coming weeks. The first one that I wanted to review, mainly because it is such a small app is the Fly Fishing app by Natural Guides LLC.

As I had posted before, I won the FFFTP app in a contest by suggesting an app that would help to match the hatch. Well, the Fly Fishing app by Natural Guides stated that it shows the typical life cycle of the mostly widely known bugs (mayflys, caddis, stoneflies, etc) and says what flies would be a good imitation. That's almost spot on to what I had said. So I splurged the $0.99 and downloaded it.

Now I did look at the ratings and saw that people either loved it or hated it. The only written review is that it needed more flies. The app page stated that it only has 17 flies in the app so I already knew this.

When I opened it, the content opened in a screen that was the size of an iPhone. But you do have an option to make it larger for the iPad screen. A little annoying that it doesn't detect what I'm using, but OK.

Then I looked through the flies. With those 17 flies, you can theoretically fish almost every trout water in the country, just vary color and size. I also figured that it would give some generic suggestions for imitations, such as an elk hair caddis for an adult caddis, an Adam's for a mayfly adult, etc.

Yeah, not so much. I clicked on the Caddis fly (larva) tab. It opened to a window that tells me what kind of waters it is found in, (slow to fast moving) It describes the protective casing around the larva and that fish only feed on it when the casing comes off (interesting....) Suggests fishing after heavy rains and colors rang from white to green. (OK, good idea.) States that this fly can be fished all year long.

Now the clincher. What to use to match the hatch. "...match with a nymph patter."

A nymph pattern. A nymph pattern? Really, would never have guessed it...... And every other fly in this app is like that. Looking at an adult... match with a dry. And, to top it off, all of the pictures are illustrations. No nice clean pic of the caddis larva to help match it, you get a watercolor rendition of it. Same with the "suggested fly."

I can't even begin to describe the mixture of disappointment and humorous ridiculousness of it all.

I then decided to check a little deeper. The app was last update is June 15 2009. Kinda old in my opinion.

So what was my walk away? The app is cheap at $0.99, and if you have less than a year of fly fishing under your belt this might be a good resource for you in determining what flies to keep in your box, where to look and where to fish them. And it does come with a couple nuggets of gold that may make the price a minimal investment for even an semi-experienced angler.

But what really kills this for me is the lack or real life visuals of the bugs and the flies. Or hell, even actually naming a fly to go with. If I have to look up the name of an appropriate fly to fish a mayfly larva, I can look up all the other bits of info that this app presents just as easily.

So to call it, I say this app is a bust. Which is a shame because it has a lot of potential, the idea is good, it was just developed in a half ass way. Like I said, if your a noob then the $0.99 might be worth it to you, but once you can convincingly lie about how much you know about fly fishing, you've already moved past it.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Must be Fly Friday

Got home today and lo and behold there was a small package waiting for me. I tear into it wondering what I bought now that I don't remember buying, and there is a nifty little box with some flies in it. I look at the return address and shake my head.....

And then it hit's me! I won flies a while back from OBN and hear they are in the flesh...er, dubbing. It's a dozen+ flies from Montana Fly Co as well as a nice little Plano case.

There are some princes, some stones, some stimulators and two friggin sweet hopper patterns that I'm almost afraid to use they look so nice. And then there are some I'm really not sure what they are. Some types of emergers, a dry and what looks th be a G Gnat but has rubbery do-dads instead of hackle.

All are great quality and look like outstand (and creative) ties. I've never had a MFC fly in hand, but these are nice enough that I may be tempted to buy a few, which I never buy flies anymore. (Did I mention those hoppers are SWEET?)

The Plano case is nice, light, and small enough to fit in a back pocket. They sent 17 flies, but you could probably fit in two dozen before it starts getting cramped.

Between these flies and the one's from Brian Davis, I'm real tempted to through responsibility yo the wind and hit some water tonight. Hmmmm.......







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Fly of the Week and some Epic Failure

I have to apologize for being late with the fly of the week, but this week I wanted to try something different. I received a couple dozen flies from Brian Davis and thought that they were so stellar I would post them up as a fly of the week. I can't give out the recipes, but Brian said that if anyone is interested in buying some, they can contact him at davis.audio@verizon.net and he'd hook them up. 

The flies are wonderfully tied and he gave a ton of color combo's. These look to me to have bass and panfish written all over them. 

Thanks again to Brian for the awesome flies. I'm already looking forward to giving them the old college try next week (sooner if I'm lucky.) If you haven't checked out his blog yet, you should. He has some great stories and a lot of fish porn over there. 

And here's the epic failure part..... I took a bunch of pics and thought that I'd put them in a nice little slideshow, using Flash. Well, apparently Blogger doesn't allow Flash files to be uploaded and to host it elsewhere slows down the whole process, so I'm just going to have to post a very boring series of pics. 

Wordpress is looking better and better......

Here you go. The flies are a lot better than my crappy pics suggest. I really need to break down and get a better camera. Or maybe clean my lens. Someday....










Tuesday, June 21, 2011

My top blogs, with a spin

A couple of bloggers have thrown out there top blogs in the past couple days, so I thought I'd add my .02 to this list. BUT........ I'm not going to mention any fly fishing blogs. And there's a reason for this, although probably a pretty lame one.

If you haven't noticed, I don't give shout outs to blogs. It's not that I don't read blogs; I have a follow list longer than my leg. And it's not that I'm a pompous jerk (well, maybe.....)

There is a lot of high quality content out there. I mean, top quality stuff. So to figure out who to mention...... I wouldn't know where to start. There's a lot of great blogs out there and I would hate to even look like I was placing one above another. So I will give this one shout out. Ready? "Look at my blog roll."

Those are the top of the top. I add people (and need to add more pronto) that do two things: have great content and update their blog regularly. I know of a lot more blogs, but they may only update every few weeks or so, so I haven't added them since they would never be on it anyway.

So take a minute and check the blog roll, and check it again every once in a while. Hopefully you'll find some good reads.

So for my blog list, I'm going to list some of my fav blogs that have pretty much nothing to do with fly fishing. I like to keep my interests varied, and these help me do it. So, in no particular order:



Lessons from a Sifu at Large- Sifu is the term for a teacher of the Chinese Martial Arts. I studied martial arts on and off for about 10 years, and his writings are insightful and entertaining.

Cappy and Pegody's World - This is a blog started by an older couple from Louisiana. I don't know why, but every time I read this blog, I get a smile on my face.

Flickr Blog - I'm not really sure what this one is, but I go here and nose through the photos. It's a blog on Flickr, but it looks like it's made up of a bunch of posts form various members..... kind of confusing but the photographs are stellar, so it get's a mention. Hopefully I'll figure it out and can pinpoint some of the posters, or something.

The Strength of Faith - I found this site via her husband, Bruce's blog. Sarah is an ordained minister, and this blog is just the whimsings (I think that's a word...) of her day to day as well as recipes, photography and I don't know what all. A lot of things. But it's all good.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Allen Xa rods are on their way

Allen Fly Company is finally done testing their rods and are getting to release them. First to be released is the all-purpose Xa.

According to their newsletter:

"Our rods are all finished testing and finally on the way! The Xa series will be the first to arrive in early August.

The Xa rod was specifically designed as an all purpose rod that outperforms anything else in its price range! The med-fast action is well suited to anything from fishing dry flies, streamers, and nymph setups.

The first run will include the following sizes:
Line Weight Model Sections
3 6'6" 3
3 7'6" 3
3 10' 4
4 8'6" 4
4 10' 4
5 8'6" 4
5 9' 4
5 10' 4
6 9' 4
Fighting butt models:
6 10' 4
7 9' 4
7 10' 4
8 9' 4
8 10' 4
9 9' 4

The retail price of this rod series will be $219. We are considering doing a pre-sale at $180 if there is enough interest. Contact Evan at evan@allenflyfishing.com with any questions about the rod series, or just to express your interest in any of these sizes to aid us in making enough. If you are interested in us offering a pre-order, send us those comments as well. Every bit of feedback helps!"

If their rods are on a par with their reels, I think we're all in for a real treat. And if they need someone to give one a test drive, it is my sworn duty to raise my hand and accept the challenge. In the name of science and all that.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Montana Fly Swag

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was part of a Focus Group for the Montana Fly Company. While we were blood sworn not to talk about the things that we were witness to, I can say that they are going to have some pretty cool offerings in the future, so keep an eye out.

The whole deal was run by Sammi from Outside Media, who did a great job of keeping everything on track and fun at the same time.

And as a thank you, MFC sent everyone some pretty cool swag. Everyone got different grab bags, since Tom from Dispatches from the Middle River, who was in my Focus Group, has some different items than what I have.

So I want to send out a big Thank You to Sammi, Outside Media, and MFC for letting me take part in the group as well as the cool goodies. Trust me, they will be well used.


The nippers have an eye spike on the bottom that I couldn't  get in the picture.


Plastic fly box with a river rock motif.


This bottle has the Elk Camo pattern. Someone from the group posted that they gave it a durability test and it passed with no dents or scuffs to the coating. 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

A Call to all Fly Tiers

So I will have to admit, I'm starting to run out of ideas for the Fly of the Week. Coming up with a fly every week sounded like a great idea a year or so ago when I started this, but my mediocre skills can only go so far.

So I'm sending out a call to all the fly tiers out there and opening this up. Do you guys have some killer patterns that you don't mind sharing? If so, email me at flyfishinado(@)yahoo.com and send me a pic along with the pattern and I'll post it. Conversely, if you already have the pics and the recipe on your blog, I'll just put up a link to it.

I know I have some really talented tiers that (for some reason I really can't explain) read my ramblings on a regular basis, so I'm hoping that in the coming weeks we can showcase some great talent in fly tying.

Tight lines everyone, and thanks!

A little quiet lately...

I know it's been a little quiet lately around here. I've been busy with work, my last semester started this week and some other things that have been going on, so I took a little bit of a break from this here blog.

I plan on coming back full force starting this week, with some gear reviews, showing off some flies, and whatever else is sitting in that pile in the corner that holds all my "This would be great for the blog" things.

So stay tuned......

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Electric Minnow

I had found a streamer quite some time ago, and after re-finding it in my fishing vest, I sat down with it to play with the design. This streamer was little more than a hook with a wad of silver tinsel attached to it. After some thinking and a couple spins, I came up with the Electric Minnow.

the Electric Minnow
Hook: Size 8 nymph hook
Body: Gold Tinsel
Hackle: guinea hackle, attached via the pull-through method
Wing: holographic lite-bright.


Until next week... and I promise that fly with have 0% guinea hackle in it. Even I think it's getting ridiculous.

Tight lines.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Freshwater Flyfishing tips from the pro's iPad app: a review

I've spent the past weekend checking out the Freshwater Flyfishing Tips from the Pros app that I received from Howard over at Windknots and Tangled lines. I have to say, it's a nice little app.

The interface is very clean, but in a no frills kind of way, which makes it very easy to use. After the opening screen, there is a menu of vertical tabs that you scroll through. When you see a topic that strikes your fancy, you tap it. This opens up a sub screen which has the content of the subject. Also on many of the sub screens are galleries of some very beautiful photography or links to videos on YouTube demonstrating a technique.

I've viewed about half of the chapters so far, there has to be about 50 of them, and some of the subjects are geared toward the novice fly angler. But not all. The idea that the app presents to create sit bubbles around your nymph like a natural is worth the price of the app itself ($2.99 I believe.)

Other subjects touched on include picking rods, tipping guides and a few topics on kids and Flyfishing.

I will have to say that I wished that some of the videos were included in the app and not reliant on youtubes servers. I had a problem with my network this weekend and could read the content but not view the videos. My thinking is that if the videos were embedded then this app could become even more of a stream side companion.

Overall, I have to give this app a good ol' thumbs up. The content is short and sweet, there is info that will teach everyone something and the interface is pretty intuitive.

I'm also using another app BlogPress, to make this post. Supposedly this App links in with Blogger and let's me upload posts, albeit without any pics, which works for this posting. I would like to link to Howard's blog as well as the app, but I have no idea how I would do that. I'll just pop in later for that.

In the meantime, let's hope this works.......


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

National Fishing Week (or Get Your Brat Outta the House)

This week is National Fishing and Boating Week. It coincides with some states free fishing days and is a great excuse to get out. "Sorry hun, but I'm sure it's a national holiday..." Or you can do like I do and slip out before anyone else is up.

I wanted to take my daughters out this past weekend, but that didn't happen. So when I asked my youngest who's 3 (the older one's still being in school) if she wanted to go fishing, I wasn't expecting much. But not only did she say yes but she bugged me the entire time we were out doing errands.

We got back and I got everything ready. "Are you ready to go?"

"YEA!!" she yells, bursts out the screen door and is jumping up and down at the van before my second step. Now that's enthusiasm to make a Papa proud.

Friday, June 3, 2011

More things to do that I know what to do with

It appears that I have my work cut out for me. I downloaded the Freshwater Flyfishing Tips from the Pros app that I won from Windknots and Tangled lines, I have a couple dozen flies coming from Brian over at the Fishing Journal, and yesterday I received my Fishpond chest pack that I plan to review, along with a couple other products that I haven't done more than glance at.  And I want to take my kids fishing this weekend.

And yes, I know. I said I did not have an iPad or an iPod or any other iJunk. So how am I reviewing the app, you ask. Well, through serious pondering, zen-like meditation, praying and consulting the magic 8-ball, it became apparent that I was in dire need of an iPad. And by that I mean I wanted one.

It's more convenient for casual surfing the net (people still "surf the net", right???) I'm also a web designer, so having something that runs on iOS (the operating system of the iPhone and other what's-it's) is something very convenient to have.

I've had it about a week and, without getting all nerdy on you, it's pretty friggin sweet. The only thing that irritates me is that on the Blogger Dashboard, for some reason I can't scroll through my blogroll.

But anywho...... what was I talking about..... Oh, yea. Fishing.

So keep an eye open for a brief pause and then a flurry of activity here at Flyfishinado. So if you don't hear from me, have a good weekend, stay safe and cool (or wet or warm or whatever is your fancy) and I'll see ya next week.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Fly of the Week: WBD

I almost didn't post this, thinking that today was Friday. Then I panicked a second thinking that I missed posting the FotW, then after about 30 seconds realized that today was indeed Wednesday. That's the kind of week it's been......

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Luck be a lady tonight

Not to come off as braggardly, but I've been pretty luck this past week or so. I've won not one but two contests on various blogs and and working on reaping the rewards of my hard not-work.

First off, Howard the Cofisher (not to be confused with Howard the Duck) over at Windknots and Tangled Lines had a contest on who can come up with a good ol' fishing app for the ipod-a-pad-a-phone. I threw something together and low and behold, I was one of the winners along with Luke and Owl Jones.  I won the Freshwater Flyfishing Tips by the Pros app and last I heard, Luke and Owl were having a bear shaving contest on who would get one of the other prizes, either a print by A Year on the Fly or a Wheatley Style English fly box. 


Then I was checking some emails and saw one from Brian Davis over at the Fishing Journal letting me know that I'd won 2 dozen flies. I shot off a thank you and my address (actually, I inadvertently deleted the email, posted on his blog,  he re-emailed me and then I shot it off.) If you've never been to Brian's site, stop on by and say hello. 


So in the coming weeks keep an eye out. I plan on doing a review of the app and a posting of the flies once received. 





Get a Hook Out - the British Way

Stumbled on this video on how to remove a barbed hook on someone else. Not sure how well it will work if your doing it on yourself, but it's worth a go.

Oh, an you may need to crank the volume in order to here what he's saying overtop of the crazy getup he's wearing.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Happy Memorial Day

While we're all chowing down on burgers and dogs today, let's take a moment to remember what this holiday is about, honoring out servicemen and women. We had this conversation at work yesterday on the meaning of different holidays (Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc) because some of the young-uns didn't know. Apparently these aren't the things that are taught in schools much now.

A few of us tried to explain that it's to honor those that sacrifice for our everyday freedoms. The service members that died in the Middle East over the past decade. Those in Korea and Viet Nam have disappeared with a trace. And, long a go, those that fought and died to create this nation in the first place.

My uncle service in the Marines and my great-grandfather was in the navy during WWII. My ex-es brother is currently in the Marines and I have a few buddies from high school that are currently serving as well. Thank you.

Feel free to thank anyone you know serving in the comments below. Stay safe today.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Night fishing, a couple firsts and Swamp Thing on a fly(with crappy photos!)

 I was up to late and up to early this morning(I guess technically it would be yesterday morning. Saturday. Whatever.) I worked a solid 8 hours, standing, in 90 degree temps. So on my way home what is it that I'm thinking of? Some night fishing at the lake, of course.

After getting home, getting showered so that I'm clean to get dirty, and driving past a guy wearing purple pants and on stilts (The roof of his car didn't even reach his waist!!!) I finally get to the lake at 10:15PM. I was a little worried that there might be a crowd, with the holiday weekend, but I only saw a handful of lights around the lake. I rig up at the van and head out.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Fly Fishing App

The wonderful Mr. Howard is having a contest over on his blog in correlation with Fishing our way across Colorado 50 days 2 writers. For the contest, you must post about what kind of fishing app you would create for an iPod/iPad. 


Before we get started, I will say that I do not own an iPod and I've used iPad and wouldn't waste my money. But to each his own. 


For the app...... I would design a Hatch Matcher. Actually, you would need two versions. With the earlier generation of iPad/iPods you would have an app that contains a database of images of insects in all stages of life. You could then compare an insect that you found streamside with one in the database to get a match. There would also be suggestions on what fly to use to match it. 


But, for the later generations of the iPod/iPad's that contain a camera, you could take a picture of the bug and, using image recognition technology, the  machine would be able to detect traits and chose which insect (or insects) that closely resemble the one that you took a picture of. And it would have the fly suggestions. 

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Tenkara fishing and the Magical Shrinking rod

When it rains it pours. And for once I'm not talking about the weather.  PA seems to be done with it's biblical flooding, at least for now. I'm talking about the kick to the ribs while your down that life gives us all every once in a while.

I will spare all from the boring details but I will mention the cherry on top; last night my wallet went MIA. My bank cards, my license, my permit to carry weapons, my Social Security card..... all the way of the dodo.

So I took off work and spent all day today canceling this card and getting another of that license and by then end my brain was swollen. And since I had an impromptu day off, I decided to spend the rest of it cursing at fish.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Spotted Popper

Yes! The camera has been found sneaking around in my pack and we are back in business. This week I'm doing a popper. Now before you start ragging, yes I know it's not the best popper. It's probably not even mediocre. but it's my first one, so bugger off (I'm still not counting that one I tried to make from the wine cork. Man did that get ugly....) It is most defintely not on the par with this guys, but I'm pretty sure he's half cyborg to begin with.

Some Red Truck super deals

In the past year or so, Red Truck Fly Fishing seems to have shot from relative obscurity to a well known name in the fly fishing world. Lots of good gear with lots of good prices.

And those prices are, for a time, a lot better. Right now Red Truck is having their End of Summer Sale. Now I know what your thinking, "Who the f@#^% has an end of summer sale in May?!?" Apparently these guys do.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Super secret ninja things.

I've been hand picked (by myself via signing up on facebook) to be in a focus group for Montana Fly Company. We've been reviewing some top secret stuff and I'm excited to see some of the stuff that they're throwing out there.

I can't go into to much detail, on pain of death, but I can say that I would keep an eye on these guys.

On a personal note, you may have noticed that things have been a bit quiet in the Flyfishinado camp (or you haven't. That's cool too, I guess....) Well, I've had the good misfortune of picking up a part time job. While that's good news for Mr. Bankaccount, it's really digging into my time for Mr. Blog.

I'll post what I can, when I can, but if you don't hear from me for a few days on end, don't worry. I still got love for ya'lls. And I'm still looking for that damn camera.......

Tight lines, and I'm glad to see you on this side of Armageddon.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Fly of the Week ---postponed for technical difficulties.

Due to technical difficulties (i.e. losing my digital camera. It's within the house......somewhere)  I'm having to postpone the Fly of the Week.

In the interim, check out the fly library over at the North American Fly Fishing Forum. It's ridiculously extensive and a great place to get some fly candy.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Alpha II release

Those guys over at Allen Fly Fishing have been working on the Alpha II: "The Next Generation" (quotes are my own) for a couple of months. Well, the wait is finally over.

The Alpha II becomes available next Monday. I have two of the Allen reels and I can't say enough good things about them, especially in the price point that their products are at.

Maybe Justin will throw a few my way to be reviewed (yeah, breath being held) but until then, I will wait with the world to get a look at the new additions.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Fly of the Week postponed

I'm going to have to postpone the Fly of the Week for this week. This is the last week before finals and it's getting pretty "crunch time"-ish. I was going to quickly throw something together, but in all honesty it would be a very obvious half-ass patch effort. So instead of putting out some crap, I'll plow through this week and come back alive and kicking next week with some thoughtful and laborious badly tied flies.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

For all those Ohio fishers

The Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife is conduction a survey for the Mad River so that they can find a better magic wand to manage the trout population.

Whenever you fish the Mad, just head over to the link down yonder and fill out a report.


www.mvff.us



Saturday, May 7, 2011

Support Project Healing Waters via the Cofisher

Howard Johnson of the restaurant and hotel fame, aka Cofisher, posted a blog regarding helping out Project Healing Waters with a "custom order rod, built exclusively for Fly Fishing Crazy, by the TL Johnson Rod Company. "


This is a very good cause, but I will with hold repeating the same info and just send you over to the posting


And while there, I recommend the pancakes. 

Recycled Fish Membership

I blogged a week or two ago about the Sportsman's Stewardship Pledge  from Recycled Fish and signing up for this non-for profit organization. You can also become a member with varying degrees of membership correlated to the amount of money you donate.

I opted for the $25 membership that included the membership kit as well as a free T-shirt. I received my kit in the mail yesterday and, after making sure that I wasn't the target of a bin Laden retribution move from Al Qaeda, I opened it up and gazed at my plunder.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Swinging big rods.

Yea, I know. The title of the post could go in several directions, each more low-brow than the last. But thankfully we're talking about fly rods.

I took the 11' Cabela's rod I scooped up over the weekend out for a trial cast at one of our local lakes, Blue Marsh. Blue Marsh was created by the Army Corp of Engineers in the 70's as a way to stop the flooding of the Tulpehocken (not really sure how to spell that one, we call it the Tully.) And how do you stop the flooding of a stream? You flood a valley, of course!

MidCurrent Fly - a new look.

MidCurrent Fly Fishing just launched the redesign of their site. It's a nice clean and simple design that works well with the style of the site. I really like the slideshow on the photography page, I might have to go and swipe that for a "client."

If you've never checked them out, click the link below and head on over. And don't forget to subscribe, nothing better than info that will track you down so it can be seen.

MidCurrent Fly Fishing


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Purple Plopper

Wow, did Wednesday sneak up on me. Here is a flymph that I came up with. You can treat it up and float it like a dry or you can add a little weight to the leader and fish it under the surface as an emerger. If using as a dry, it's pretty big so it will "plop" into the water, getting those trouts attention (and if done right, not spook them.)

Oh, and sorry about the bad photo. This one was the least worse and I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

God Bless the Big Box

I made a trip up to Cabela's today to nose around and grab some popper bodies. For some reason I have it in my head to start tying poppers. I don't think I've ever fished a popper before, but I want to tie up a few for panfish and some bass. Spread my horizons and all that junk.

Casting for recovery - fly donations

I'm going to repeat a posting that I found on Fishing Journal because I think it's such a great cause.

Ever hear of Casting for Recovery? If not, they are a non-profit organization that teaches women that are recovering from cancer how to fly fish. Like most non-profits, they fund themselves with donations. What is unique about CfR is that they take not just monetary donations but donations of the fly variety. They have a list of flies that they are looking for to distribute to the women that the help.

So if your a tier, why not send them a dozen or so flies? I know that I am.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Free Fishing in NY

I've been interesting in fishing the Delaware River for a while now. It's headwaters start in NY and as it works it's way south it creates PA's eastern border, until it reaches the Atlantic near Philly.

The upper reaches of the Delaware are supposed to be some fine trout waters, with holdovers as well as wild born browns and rainbows.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Fly Casting,The Belgian Cast - MidCurrent

Having trouble throwing multi-fly rigs, big streamers, sinking lines or some other get-up with a lot of beef at the end of the line?

Try the Belgian cast..... (no, there are no waffles involved.)


Fly Casting,The Belgian Cast - MidCurrent



Tenkara, pink PFD's and jigs made of corn.

I bought my 3 year old a new rod the other day, as her current rod (of Dora Explorer make) took quite a beating last year and I'm pretty sure it no longer works. So I bought her an electric blue and hot pink (yes, the color combination that hurts your eyes the worst) Shakespeare. For $15 it's kind of a nice rod.

As soon as we bought it we had to try it. We only had about 10 minutes, so I tied on a jig with a pink head and chart body and we sat at the closest stream and tossed the jig. No takers but that's ok.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Fishing today?


Nah, I think not. The trees on the right side are usually a few feet from the bank.  And this is after the stream came down. Earlier in the morning the water went to about 50 feet behind where I was standing. 

Take the Pledge

Those fine folks over at Recycled Fish have post a Sportsman's Stewardship Pledge, meaning you take a pledge to be a concerned and water friendly guy or gal, sign up, and they will email you all kinds of info. You also have the option to join and, depending on your level of membership, you can get some pretty sweet goodies.

Recycled Fish is a non-profit organization that advocates a "lifestyle of stewardship" in regards to fisheries and waterways. Check em out, join if you'd like, but I would ask that even if you don't become a member, try and take away at least a little of their approach to conserving your local fishery.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Fly of the Week: Bird of Prey Caddis

Today I picked up the book Fly Fishing Guide to Upper Delaware River by Paul Weamer. The majority of this river is fairly close to my house (between an hour to Philly at it's mouth to about 3 hours to the border with NY.) I have never fished it but have always wanted to. And since a three hour drive is a little far for a scouting trip, I figured this book would be the next best thing.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Here Comes the Sun…..block | Shes a ManiYak!

Stumbled on this blog, and post today while trolling the OBN. Post contains some really good info on skin protection from that fiery bugger, the sun.

I hate to say it but I rarely put on sunscreen; namely because I never remember to buy it. But, after hearing story after story of anglers getting skin cancer, I've built up a wardrobe of lightweight pants, long sleeved shirt, and a goofy floppy hat.

Not that it is total protection, but it's better than nothing. but after reading this post, I may go out and get a bottle of sun screen to throw in the back of the van. Maybe one of these days I'll even use it.....

Here Comes the Sun…..block | Shes a ManiYak!



Thursday, April 21, 2011

Favorite Outdoor food.

The OBN has put out the prompt asking what our favorite outdoor/camping food is. Burgers, steaks, corn on the cob..... how is one man to chose?

I guess if I had to lay the chips down on one thing, fresh caught fish is tops. Steak and burgers always taste good, but when your dining on a fish that was getting it's swim on an hour ago, that's a slice of heaven.

My favorite way (because I suck at cleaning fish) is to gut it, chop of fins, tail and head and then wrap it in aluminum foil and toss it on the edge of the fire, flipping every 10 minutes until done.

Delicioso!

Trout Unlimited Photo Contest

I just received word that TU is having their yearly photo contest, with the winner being included in next years calendar. You also get your choice of some pretty cool gear:

The grand prize-winning photo will be featured in the 2012 TU wall calendar and the winning photographer will win their choice of personalized Winston BIIIx fly rod, a Ross Vexsis fly reel and their choice of a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses. 

There will also be some runner up prizes in the form of  Costa Del Mar sunglasses for the top four in the categories of Wild Fish, Landscapes/Scenics, Young Anglers and Anglers in Action. 


Deadline is May 1st, so you better get out there and get clicking. Camera's still click, right? Well, mine does anyway......



Earth Day Sweepstakes from the Sierra Club

Want a chance to win a trip to Vieques Island? Then take an Earth Day pledge to register! Even if you don't win, you'll still be doing something cool and only moderately hippie-esque.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Going Viral with Examiner.com

I guess since this is a blog on the internet, I'm already viral. But I'm getting even more viral-er, without needing $10 or a darkened alley.

I've been selected to be the Harrisburg Travel Outdoor Examiner for Examiner.com. I'll be writing about local outdoors destinations, as well as news, tips, et cetera.

Fly of the Week: the Pompous Jerk

I was flipping through last Falls issue of Fly Fisher and Fly Tier and they had an entire article on purple flies. I think that purple flies are great producers, along with blue, as most flies have very little to none of these colors in them.

The fish haven't seen a plethora of these flies, don't know what they are and as such, hit them up because they just don't know any better.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Fly of the Week Archive

I just created a page that will be the final resting place for the fly of the week. There's 31 of these bad boys to date (I'm honestly astonished at the number..... how the time flies.) So if you've just recently decided to join my on my misadventures and would like to see all of the flies that I've posted so far, just click up top and behold the plethora of semi-efficiently tied flies. Some even catch fish too!

I'll be updating it monthly, so if you miss a week and can't find it in the older posts, just sit tight and it will pop up in the archive pretty soon.

I might also do a gear review page, so that the reviews can be found easier.

Any other pages you folks think I should add?

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fly of the (last) Week: the Black Ghost

Finally, I have it. As good as it's gonna get any time soon, anyway. The Black Ghost is one of those streamer patterns that I've always loved but a) had no idea how to tie and b) didn't know where to start.

BACKPACKER First Aid Center

From the people at Backpacker.com, here is a series of slideshows and videos on first aid treatments.

From blisters to treating a fractured bone is here, good stuff for those of us that like to go stomping about far from civilization (and help.)


Backpacker Magazine - BACKPACKER First Aid Center




Thursday, April 14, 2011

Tenkara: the first cast

I cast the Tenkara rod for the first time tonight. I had a few issues, but I'm pretty sure most of them were my fault.

For starters, I tried to use a knotted leader likeI normally use for fly fishing. On the western rig, they turn over really well. On the tenkara, not so much. I made a 13' knotted leader, using 2x/4x/6x. Cast after cast the leader just piled up.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Fly of the Week: check back this weekend

I've been working on the Fly of the Week, the Black Ghost, for a bit and it's not quite ready for prime time. It's a matter of a) not knowing what I'm doing, b) not having the right materials, and c) really not knowing what I'm doing.

If your really dying to see the Black Ghost, you can see the pics and the step by step on NAFFF right here. I've never tied a streamer like this before and it's proving a little more challanging that I thought (stupid feather wings....)

I plan to have this up on Sunday, when I have time to really sit and work on it.

Also, this is the last in the NAFFF series. While I have a few other flies in the wing (get it? wings? fly humor......) if anyone has any suggestions of a fly to post, or one they would like to see tied up, drop me a line at flyfishinado(at)yahoo.com. Even better, if you have a fly you wouldn't mind sharing, send it over. Sharing means caring.....

Tenkara has arrived.

I'm already impressed with Tenkara Fly Fish, the company I ordered the Fountainhead 11' Tenkara rod from. I ordered it on Saturday. By Sunday I had an email saying it would be in the mail on Monday. And today I had the package at my door. That's some speedy deliver, especially since some of the big box stores, oh, let's call them Cadela's, usually takes around two weeks. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Contacting Me

I've received a few emails from people contacting me through the site. Most of these emails have been very short blurbs that, to be honest looked a bit like spam so I treated them as such.

If you are trying to contact me legitimately, please give me a little bit of info to go off of, ie who you are and why your contacting me. You will be more likely to get through my spam filter and get a response from me than a "hey, I like this, can you contact me."

Monday, April 11, 2011

A Gear Review: MSR Water Filter

If you do a lot of hiking in to a fishing spot, you know you need a bit more gear than the average fisherman does. One of those things is either enough water to last the day (which can be over a gallon on those really hot days. Holy Burdens Batman!) or a way to filter the water that you find there.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sunday Morning Service

Decided that today was a good day to cross that first item off of this years Bucket List. I had found a stream last year on state game land that had a few trout in it while scouting for whitetail season. It was hot, a drought, and I thought better of fishing for 10 trout in a puddle that was 3' by 4'.  I didn't get a chance to get back before winter but today was going to be my day.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Need to Roll Cast?

I will freely admit, that I have probably one of the worse roll casts around. It's pretty much a downright disgrace. Every now and then I try to improve it, but no such luck to date.

Tonight was another night of perusing videos in an attempt to not suck at this any more, and I found a video by Mel Krieger, one of the best casting guys to hold a fly rod. It was his video that really made the connection for me on how to haul, so hopefully this will help with my rolls as well.

If your roll cast could use some improvement, here's the video.


Tenkara is on it's way.

I've decided to bite the bullet and give these new fangled Tenkara rods a try. I ordered the 11' Caddis Foutainhead rod  since it was, quite frankly, the cheapest one they had and I have a little trepidation about getting new and exciting things. It has to do with explaining to the Misses why I need yet another rod while I have all those "collecting dust." Trying to tell her they, like whine, get better with age didn't seem to work too well.

So keep an eye out for a review on both tenkara fishing and these little-known Tenkara rods on the scene.

Friday, April 8, 2011

If you tie flies, you need to check this out!

Straight from the Northwest Public TV, here is Fly Tying: The Angler's Art. It's a TV show that shows how to tie 3 flies per episode.

And with about 13 episodes per season, and 4 seasons, that a lot of flies.

FlyTying: The Angler's Art on OMN



Why I Blog.....

The Outdoor Blogger Network does weekly writing prompts, but up until now I haven't joined in. I'd been waiting for one that kinda struck a chord.

Well, recently Flyfishinado hit the 6 month mark, as well as getting over 1000 visitors from 33 countries worldwide, so I thought that this might be an appropriate topic to tackle.

A different kind of Dry Fly Fishing

Maybe I'm the only one that thinks this, but waders can be such a hassle. You kick them on like a kid getting into their footy PJ's, then your pants are up past your knees so you shove your hands down try to work your pants leg down while keeping some semblance of dignity.  All to go into water that barely reaches your shins.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Leadwing Coachman

Our fly this week hails from the classic wet category. And if you've ever tried to tie a classic wet, you already know that this means it's going to be a pain in the a**......

I attempted to tie a wet fly once before. Once I realizes that it was only going to be an exercise in frustration, I promptly walked away and did not look back. So when Allen said that he was going to tie a Leadwing Coachman as one of the patterns for the NAFFF tie-a-long; I was a little apprehensive.

Monday, April 4, 2011

New Poll: what do you consider a caught fish?

I just posted a new poll to get everyones thoughts on this somewhat controversial topic. Here's a bit of background on it:

Up until recently I only considered a fish in my hand to be considered "caught" and it gets the esteem of becoming a notch on the rod. But these past few days I've had a few fish that I fought to my feet and, for one reason or another, got free.

And I started to wonder, does it really matter that I didn't bend over and grab him? A few of them I could have, but instead I let them fight for a few more moments. For a few, the only difference was a matter of distance between my hand and the fish since I was going to release him anyway.

So what do you think? Does a fish only count if is makes contact with your palm? Or are you content with fooling the fish to take your fly, fight him to you and them have him go on his merry way, no matter how they manage to get released.

I'll be honest, I was having a better thrill watching the fish hammer the fly and then experiencing that heart pumping action of the fight so much that I think getting one of them to hand would have been just a little cherry on top. Maybe I'm just getting to enjoy the art of the chase more than the catch.....

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Opening Weekend: a Pictorial Recap


A way to friendly caddis.  

CGR - My Final Thoughts

I've been using the Cabela's CGR 4/5 almost exclusively for my past dozen outings or so. I'm mostly happy with the rod. For the past few days, I've paired it with my new Allen XL reel and lined it with the Cortland Sylk line. Floating DT 6wt to be exact.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Ah, Opening Day

That wonderful time of year where we get to fish the streams that the state dumps truckloads of fish into. Where fisherman and ladies come together in a spirit of camaraderie, lovingly embracing their fellow man in the mutual love and respect of a shared sport. If only any of this was true. 



Friday, April 1, 2011

6 Key Features of a Small Stream Dry Fly | Dharma of the Drift

And excellent post by Mr. Darma of the Drift, on this Opening Day eve.

If you've never been to his blog, make sure you do. He ties some fantastic flys, and is known to drop pearls of wisdom like this one:
"When you're on a small stream, it's usually good to dumb down your entomology skills, and instead of thinking in terms of 'isonychia', 'october caddis', and 'baetis', start thinking in terms of 'little', 'big', 'light', and 'dark'."


That's so true, it should be in the Bible.


6 Key Features of a Small Stream Dry Fly | Dharma of the Drift



Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Leading up to the Big Game

Here in SE PA our opening day is this Saturday, April 2. Earlier this week I checked the weather and we were supposed to have cold rain/ snow all weekend. I was pretty happy.

Locally, opening day is a giant jamboree of two types; families and Zebco wielding spinner machines trying to fill up their creel as fast as possible. While I will keep the comments to the latter to myself, I think that it's great for families to get out and enjoy the day spent outdoors. They're teaching their kids a why of life that is slowly eroding in this country. And for that, I salute them.

Fly of the Week: Picket Pin

This weeks Fly of the Week comes from the Northwestern part of the US of A; the Picket Pin. This is the fourth installment of the NAFFF tie-a-long and so far is the first that I had never tied before. I had did a quick Google Image search before the step by step was posted, and my reaction was a bit along the lines of  "WTF..." But Mr. Pocono's great instructions made this fly almost as easy to tie as a Woolly Bugger. (Click the prior link and scroll down until you find it.)

Monday, March 28, 2011

How To Build A Fly Rod Scabbard - Fly Fish Ohio

Got a pontoon? Tired of losing your rods (or would rather not in the first place)? Check out this step by step at the fine folks at FlyFishOhio on making a rod scabbard for your 'toon, and kiss those days of sacrificial rods goodbye!


How To Build A Fly Rod Scabbard - Fly Fish Ohio



Saturday, March 26, 2011

Trearton Fly Contest

The fine blog, Trearton Fly, is having a fly tying contest. You can get the skinny here but basically you have to be a follower, shoot over an email with a few pics of the fly that you tied, and mail me a check for $50 (OK, I made that part up.)

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Allen XL 5/6

About a month ago, Allen Fly Fishing put in there newsletter that the were selling off their stock of the recently scrapped 5/6 XL project, but supplies were extremely limited. I had mine ordered about 3 nanoseconds later. (These then sold out a few days later.)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Fly of the Week: Adams Flymph

The Adam's what?! A flymph. A dry fly and nymph hybrid. Per Allan, who is running the NAFFF Fly-Tie-Along (where I've been stealing these patterns) :

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Final Countdown

In about two weeks it's opening season in PA, and then it's fish on! 


So today it was our first day in the 70's, so I decided to take the rug rat to the park and air her out a bit. We get to the park and it appears that the park department decided that the nicest day to date would also be a great time to close off the playground and do repairs. Idiots....

(Belated) Fly of the Week: the Woolly Bugger

In following along with the NAFFF Fly Tie-a-long, this weeks fly is the Woolly Bugger. This venerable fly is most frequently the first fly anyone ties, except maybe the San Juan Worm. This fly is either weighted or weightless, bead head, cone head, no head; in as many colors as the rainbow. 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Fly of the week is on it's way!!

Lat thing I knew it was Monday, and now it's practically Friday. Where did the week go? It must have been lost in the jumble between work and all the curve-balls life likes to throw.

But fly of the week will be up tomorrow. I'd do it now, but staring at a computer for 10 hours at work is more than enough, thank you very much (and it's St Patty's day!! Who want's to be on a computer when there is some Irish guy to celebrate?)

So until tomorrow, be safe.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Partridge and Orange

On the North American Fly Fishing Forum, there is a "tie-a-long" where one of the members is posting a fly, and it's recipe, and whomever signs up for it will post pics of how they tied their fly. Pretty heat idea, I though, as I signed up.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A blog to Note

Just stumbled on this blog, and it is quite noteworthy. These flies are simply outstanding. Bad part? The entire site is in French. Not that French is bad, but I haven't kept up with my French in 7 years, and even then I wasn't conversational. I could make out enough to know I had no idea what he was saying, but either way, this chap is mean at the bench.

Bailfly

A Brief Pause

We've entered the time in PA where fishing is prohibited in "trout approved" waters so they can stock, which is 95% of the waters near were I live. The other 4.9% are warm water lakes (which in my opinion is an exercise in futility this time of year) and the other 0.1% is this small stream with no name that runs through State Game land. I haven't fished it yet, so maybe I'll hit it sometime this month. But slogging through mud to fish a stream of dubious quality..... let's just say I'm not feeling it right now.

Fly of the Week: the Orange Roughy

Continuing on with my now keenly picked interest in soft hackles... I've always been a big fan of the partridge & orange. It's simple and it's always been a pretty good producer.

I was in the fly shop the other day looking around and saw a lonely little bag of English Grouse soft hackles. Neat little brown/black mottled things.

So long story short, two flies at the vice later(I tied the hackle on backwards on the first one.Oops!) we had the Orange Roughy. I add the iridecent glass bead to it not to give it any more weight, because it really doesn't, but to add a bit more sparkle to the fly.



Orange Roughy
Hook: Nymph Hook 14-18
Glass Bead Head
Body: 6/0 orange thread
Rib: Copper Wire
Thorax: Purple Seal Dubbing
Hackle: English Grouse

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Hammer Time

This video has been circling about, but in case you've missed it..... It's a hammerhead railing into a boat. Warning: Foul Language abounds.


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Fly of the Week: Foxy Lady

This weeks fly has a little bit of an unorthodox way of being tied, so instead of just a recipe, I'll also be doing a step by step.

Foxy Lady:
Hook: #10 Nymph
Body: "Crawfish Orange" lite bright
Ribbing: copper wire
Shell/Tail: Green Fishair/holographic lite bright
Hackle: Guinea Hen
Tungsten Bead

Step One: Bead, meet hook.




Step Two: Add in the copper wire




Step Three: Add your dubbing



Step Four: Tie in the mixed green fishair/holo lite brite behind the bead.



Step Five: Take the cooper wire and wrap it around the body as well as the shell. Trim; keeping about one hookgap in the back to serve as the tail. 



Step Six: Tie in the Guinea Hackle. Fin!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

If I had some of these, I'd kill more worms.

It's not everyday that I'm impressed with a piece of wood and a feather or two, but Andrew Field somehow managed it. His custom made floats are works or art, and that's not hyperbole.

He's based out of the UK, so Lord only knows what shipping would be to here in the States, but that's still not too much of a deterrent. He even has cases for them too!

Check out his Handmand Fishing Floats Here.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Fly of the Week: the Fiery Dervish

With the recent passing of Sylvester Nemes, I thought that I would do a tribute fly and tie up a soft hackle. And I also get an excuse to play with some of my new materials scored from the Easter Sports Show.

So I present to you, the Fiery Dervish/

The Fiery Dervish
Hook: #12 Caddis style

Tail: Rust colored hackle fibers

Body: Fiery Claret Dubbing (or in real people terms, a dark red synthetic dubbing)

Shell: Mottled Orange thin skin (you really can't see it in the pic, but it's in there!)

Hackle: Olive color Partridge

Bead head.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Tying a Uni Knot

I just found this great video on how to tie a Uni knot, as well as a few applications of it, from fishing-live-bait.com.



***Video was a fail, but the link is good so I took out the video. Just click the link and enjoy.

Knotted Leaders (Very Knotted Leaders....)

I was able to get out yesterday for a few hours and had a chance to try some of those hand-tied knotted leaders that I whipped up a bit ago. I won't go into the details of my exploits, but I learned a few things. Namely:

1: a 15 foot leader does not cast well with only 8 feet of actual line out.
2: My habit of leaving tag ends on knots can be problematic. Such as taking 5-10 minutes to untie a leader on every 3rd cast that has inexplicably tied itself to itself.
3: You can get so frustrated that you cut the damn leader in half, tie on 3 feet of tippet and have some success.
4:When approaching the bank of the stream, just because the snow goes to the very edge does not mean that there is ground beneath it.
5: A header into a snow bank is only arguably better than a header into a stream.

Happy Monday

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Out of Business - Thoughts on Why Fly Fishing May Be Dying

I just want to take a moment to give a quick shout out to Joe Comwall, who wrote this poignant editorial on the "death by the drip" that fly fishing seems to suffering from, as well as providing suggestions on how we can staunch the wound.

It's thought provoking and definitely worth your time to read.


Thoughts On Fly Fishing Magazines, AFFTA, Fly Shops And The Business Of Fly Fishing