Monthly Archives: April 2008

Jerry Garcia does Monofilament?

Jerry Garcia lived here

It must be all those damning statistics about the decline in fishermen and youth in particular…

Stren appears to have thrown in the towel and is hoping aging hippies will return to the outdoors in droves. It’s the only explanation I can think of as I don’t remember fishing with a Black Light ever..

When fishing in daylight, this thermally-fused braided line GLOWS a Hi-Vis FLUORESCENT Blue. In the dark when night fishing under a black light, it GLOWS a Hi-Vis NEON Blue. Stren® Microfuse™ Dyneema® fibers give unsurpassed strength-per-diameter.

These fellows should be easy to find, the old VW Microbus, the one with all the smoke pouring out of it..

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Let’s hear it for the "unsung" hero, as he needs some "love" as well

2008 World Fly Fishing Championship

Fips-Mouche is over and Team USA concludes this year’s World Fly Fishing Championship with a best ever eighth place finish . Overall winner was the Czech Team, with New Zealand and France as the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.

But it’s the “unsung hero” of the US Team that needs the love, some nameless fellow sitting in a stuffy hotel room tieing flies for everyone else. All them heroic anglers popping champagne corks, and the fly tyer is left to toil in obscurity. I sure hope one of them stalwarts brought him a cheese sandwich from the buffet.

It’s an old story – “Jocks take the Prom Queen to the dance”, but the bespectacled guy that helped with the Chemistry final is dateless and forgotten.

In 2005 Loren Williams from New York was chosen as the first fly tier on Team USA. He traveled to Sweden to participate. Prior to leaving he tied over 1,000 flies based on intensive research on what his team members would need. Weather conditions just prior to contest demanded all new patterns which had to be identified, designed and tied…

…Loren has subsequently decided to try out for the team as an angler for the 2006 Championship in Portugal.

I can’t find any mention of this year’s tyer but imagine his predicament; a weeklong trip to the finest trout water on Earth, and if he reaches for a rod, his hand gets slapped…

I couldn’t do it – and I love my country more’n most…

If some fellow burst into my hotel room exclaiming, “Bob says the Wooly Buggers have a tiny bit too much yellow, needs more lead, and wants 3 dozen right away!” I would pull on my vest and retort, “Tell Bob he’s a prima donna and him and his tailing loop can park it where the Sun don’t shine..”

Indentured servitude always was a contract for seven years dozen – and once on the water it’s always been Everyman-for-hisself, no?

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Maybe the kids homework can wait

Daddy will be out when he feels like it It’s not about sitting down to crank out some flies, it’s about sitting down unmolested to crank some flies.

The machined equivalent of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, and the only approved locking arrangement for your Mancave.

The “Defendius” door security has only one caveat – don’t install it unless your bathroom is part of the secure area.

Mazes are a bad thing when you’re in a panic.

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The "Shrek Trout" a merit badge for the adventurous

The Asfar (Yellow) troutAnother exotic venue to add to your list as the rarest of all trout will debut next year in Dubai.  Genetically engineered to thrive in higher water temperatures, the “Asfar Trout” (Yellow Trout) will be featured on the two community islands of The World, and also the freshwater lagoon of the new Dreamworks theme park, which broke ground earlier this year.

Strict angling regulations have been adopted to preserve the resident fish – and “no take” permits are only available to residents of the The World and vacationers staying in the penthouse suite of the theme park hotel.

The product of extensive genetic manipulation, the Asfar Trout gains it’s tolerance for warm water from the “Hamour” – a local grouper found only in salt water. Hamour and Rainbow trout make up the bulk of the genetic variant and tendencies from both species have been noted.

Fisheries biologists are keenly interested as this variant retains some of the migratory instincts of the steelhead trout, yet laboratory tests shows the “Ham-Trout” variant infertile. With ready access to salt water – the real  question is where will it migrate..

“Opening Day” will be April 2009, and if you’re staying at the hotel, you’d be a fool not to take advantage.

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