Dear Sirs, Your recent week-long West Yellowstone clinic on “Long Lost Secrets of Fly Fishing Returned From the Grave and Brought back with Us,” was ill conceived, disgusting and worthy of a refund. While both lodge and private streams are Orvis endorsed, neither of your featured speakers were licensed or bonded, and neither said much [...]

There is a place in every burgeoning entrepreneur’s repertoire for daytime soaps or Judge Judy … Some hideous repetitive task looms, and as you eyeball the points, run your hand over the assembly for burrs, loosen or tighten screws, and whack a chunk of whatever is close by, the Good Judge is sending some sobbing [...]

The prototypes for the next generation of Sixth Finger scissors arrived on my doorstep yesterday. I’d asked for them to add a zipper so I could change it each year and obsolete everything you already own … I figured I could offer it as a fetching facsimile to the Royal Canadian Mounties and the cord [...]

If you’re as uncomfortable with the building storm of Xmas advertisement, cognizant that the undeniable forces of consumerism lack the courtesy of waiting for Thanksgiving, you’re not alone. The only difference between this year and last is all the stock market pundits poised to declare the recession is here here over based on the retail [...]

A German company unleashes tiny winged advertising on conventioneers, is this a portend of what fly shops will be springing on us come Opening Day?   The exploitation of farmed mayflies, each dancing about with a gaily colored banner, “A #16 Royal Wulff would’ve caught that fish, now on sale at Big 5.” Bug activity has [...]

My childhood was interspersed with some family member saying, “Hmm” and disappearing into the basement to craft the “John Wayne Super-Sport Rubberband Gun” – allowing me to cut a swath through the opposition forces which were armed with antiquated single shot muzzleloaders. … as Hisself was the local paperboy with access to millions of rounds [...]

Mel Krieger Tribute Event Thursday, September 24, 2009 MarketBar – One Ferry Building, San Francisco 6:00pm Reception, 7:30pm Dinner Ticket Price: $150 per person or $2,000 for a table of (8) Mel Krieger (1928-2008) Mel Krieger is considered to be one of the top fly fishing and fly casting instructors of the twentieth century. Mel [...]

In the last installment we looked at the Scientific Angler and Airflo brands and pointed to similarities of taper and how advertising didn’t always correspond to the line’s attributes. Without a standard we suggested every change to a fly line could be spun into a benefit, and how advertising artfully avoids using the same superlatives to describe features and capability. Admittedly [...]

With specialization in fly lines comes unwanted redundancy and a paucity of superlatives left to describe the latest offering. We examine fly line tapers to determine, “are all these disparate fly lines warranted, or are we being beguiled by a lethal mixture of engaging box art and plastic polymer rhetoric?”

Other than presentation, fly fishermen are rarely concerned with delicate and the “feed bag” should counter the lost time of the evening meal. Any dry fly fiend recognizes the awkwardness of dining while the hatch is ramping up, and Yum Brands has been listening – “multi-tasking professionals” are us – and for an extra half dollar, [...]