Category Archives: Beginner info

Miss Manners would cross herself and back away slowly

The Bible of good breeding It’s one thing to be early and lucky enough to stumble on fish no one knows about – but that happens so infrequently – it’s time to “soldier up” and plan on fishing betwixt other anglers.

Most anglers prefer the solitude and quiet, but it’s an antisocial luxury we cannot count on in semi-urban settings and with migratory fish.

Anything coming up the river is at the mercy of the first dam upstream, diminishing their historic range and concentrating them in whatever free-flowing portion remains. It makes fish accessible and breeds anglers in uncomfortable proximity. Rumors of fish fly as fast as the Internet, and like Stripers  running on the beach, a crowd can form in minutes.

There’s a big difference being the first guy on the fish versus being the last fellow to arrive. We’ve all lamented the boorish angler who makes our good fortune less so – some assistance in how to avoid being “that guy” can be useful.

If you’re the lucky SOB that got there first – you’re not keeping those fish, enjoy them in solitude as long as possible, but when the avenging hordes of fellow fishermen arrive, and they will, suck in the lower lip and share. It’s expected of you.

I really like fishermen, as they’re one of the few groups of humans that don’t seem to have boundaries. You can make small talk with a “gang-banger” or swap flies with a religious zealot, somehow vocation and color, class, sexual orientation, and political persuasion all take the day off.

I try to share my fish gracefully and recognize they’re not mine. If I’ve got a couple of stalwarts scanning the water, I’ll motion them over and put them onto the meat bucket with little reserve. It’s always more fun to fish with friends – and by doing so, I’ve made two more.

If you don’t they’ll be edging closer anyway – and I’d rather be whooping it up with new pals than endure those sulking predator poses as they “crab-walk” closer, hoping I don’t notice.

It’s different if you’re the last fellow arriving, greeted by a line of fellows casting like synchronized swimmers. There’s good reason for precision and a smart fellow spends a few moments observing what’s going on before blindly wading in at head or tail.

I want to know who’s doing the catching, and where are they in relation to the rest of the line? This’ll give a clue as to whether the head of the group or tail is closest to the “money.”

I always prefer to wade in at the head, it’s easier for me to judge whether I’m crowding the man below. Watch his casts to see how far upstream he’s quartering, then pick that limit as the entry point. You can guess how far the lowest fellow’s swinging his fly – but you can’t see it, so it’s much harder to judge.

Learn to be the gregarious outgoing type as a means of introduction. Ask the fellow below you whether you’re too close. Nobody likes a silent standoffish prick in their midst, so don’t act like one.

You will always crowd someone, there isn’t enough room in the Solar System to be far enough away from the fellow who arrived earlier, don’t expect to be greeted warmly – and thaw the SOB to the best of your abilities without seeming chatty or obnoxious.

If you’re in the middle you’ve got two obligations, to watch the man above and cast when he does, ensuring your fly lands downstream of his. The fellow below will be watching you, so don’t dawdle or screw around when in the thick of things. If either fellow hooks up yank your line in smartly and hang fire until he’s reaching for the net.

If the fellow loses it, mention how enormous it was and he’s fortunate not to have lost a hand to razor sharp teeth. If he’s a friendly type consider mentioning his questionable ancestry, and how your 3 year old could have done it in half the time…

Never squander an opportunity to insult your fellow angler.

Always “Belly up” to the line of anglers, wade out until you’re making a straight line with the fellow above and below. If something happens and you’re late in making the next cast your line will be directly downstream of you – no sense making friends by pulling your fly into the leg of your neighbor.

Always fish barbless, it’s not an option when “cheek to jowl” with a press of humanity in proximity. Some fellow is going to get a cell phone call reminding him where he should be, will lose track of his surroundings and walk into your cast, or some interested jogger will wander too close and take one in the face – he won’t know better, but you will.

We all wish it otherwise – but the combination of too few fish and too many fishermen requires refining those dormant social skills, it’s like a cocktail party with fish hooks and no liquor.

One Olive or two, Sweetpea?

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As half your paycheck is involved, you may want to kick the hooks and check the floatant level

Fly tiers have it a bit easier come Spring, all those rainy days allows us to address holes in the fly box – we always wait till the last minute, but the theory of “winter tying” is sound.

The rest of you will procrastinate as well, but that initial outlay of cash for flies each season is a mixture of fear and dread; fear that the spouse will see the bill, and dread that all the #18 Pale Olives are gone.

Every fly shop is a mixture of flies, typically the traditional patterns are tied overseas and the flies unique to the area are tied by staff or local talent. Like everything else, flies can be hellishly expensive, so it pays to know a little about their construction – so you can be discriminating with your hard earned, inflation damaged, dollar.

Clean and tight, testament to the skill of the tyer When examining another tier’s work I look at the head of the fly, it tells me everything I need to know about skill and degree of craftsmanship. The shape and size of the thread finish, the amount of debris trapped by the final knot are testimony to proper execution of proportion or whether he was crowded for space.

Crowding often leads to weakness in the finished fly, it’s a simple thing to check as you select from the hundreds in the bin. Too many final steps have to be tied off in too short an area – tempting the tier to use less thread to secure materials, and leading to bulbous knots that are weaker due to the buildup of thread and materials.

The material will wick cement into the eye, note crowding Head cement is thinned to water consistency, materials trapped in the finish knot will wick head cement into the eye closing it completely. It’s a personal peeve of mine – 15 minutes of light left, fish slurping all around – eyesight failing – and your last #16 Elk Hair Caddis is a glue lump, nothing makes me swear louder.

You can clean them beforehand, but we’d rather suffer than be proactive.

Flies can fall apart for dozens of reasons – most are legitimate as we bounce them off rocks on the backcast, snare them in trees on the forward cast, skitter them through debris and if blessed, subject them to rows of fine fish teeth.

A fly that shows signs of wear may even fish better than the pristine flavor, we’ve little issue with failure after 4-5 fish, and may give the tattered remnant a place of honor in a hat band.

You can test dry flies by gripping the hackle between thumb and forefinger and wiggling the fibers in any direction. The hackle opposite your grip should not move – if it does the fly won’t last long, perhaps after it’s rapped on a couple of rocks behind you or after the first fish.

Nymphs can be tied in weighted or unweighted flavors and are often not marked when loose in the bin. If you want to know whether the fly is weighted, the lead will be located under the wingcase of the fly, you should be able to feel the lump between your fingers. The above assumes a “standard” mayfly style nymph – and wouldn’t be true of a giant stonefly nymph which may have lead along the entire hook shank. It’s still a good rule of thumb – simply pinching the fly should reveal a bulge somewhere along the shank if it’s weighted.

The fly shop may be midway to your destination, a helpful tip would include doing all your barb pinching in the parking lot before saddling up for the back country. Many dry fly hooks are forged making them slightly more brittle than a round wire nymph hook. If you’re headed for special restriction water, pinch the barbs down in the shop parking lot, there are always one or two hook points that snap with the pressure, and knowing your casualties up front is easier than destroying your last fly deep in the forest after a two day hike.

Many fly shops have moths, and nothing is tastier than natural fiber. You may not know the “dust” in the bin is the eggs of a thousand voracious fly eating demons, you’ll find out next season when you pull your vest out of the closet, but now they look like sawdust. When your season closes toss your fly box in a cedar drawer to prevent unwanted surprises – at two bucks each it may save you some heartbreak.

Dry flies are especially prone to damage – not just from moths – but pressed together in tight confines can set hackle askew or flatten it completely. Part of your pre-Opening Day ritual should be to examine the box and steam the hackles back to their original shape with a teapot.

Make yourself a pot of tea and hold damaged dry flies into the stream of steam from the whistling pot. Held for a couple moments with forceps will allow the hackle to return to its original shape. It’ll also allow you to examine the hook point and touch it up with a hook hone for the coming festivities.

Most of you are getting a little antsy by now, as we’ve less than 60 days before the season starts, this exercise is a sure cure for cabin fever. Remember that a bystander will not understand when you cackle like Scrooge McDuck as you count the number of #16 Adams you possess…

Earl Gray, no sugar please.

For them with questionable social skills

I get to be insensitive until tomorrow, you need practice Set the beer down and back away slowly, you insensitive brute.

Tomorrow, Thursday, February 14th, is Valentine’s Day, and “Ma” craves a little action. It’s one of the three or four holidays that require you to think about someone else’s “tackle” rather than your own.

Why I want to save you is unclear, a reminder of your obligation is warranted however.

Nothing but dinner is saying, “I forgot.” Girls know this – but she’s much too polite to mention it, instead she’ll wash your fishing vest and empty a bottle of starch into the pockets. Dinner out after acknowledging the event that morning, is a different story.

Gals require you to suffer and since they smell good, it’s okay. Flowers and candy, dinner out, all of these are viable tools, but it’s the delivery that sets them apart.

Candy and flowers in the morning says, “I remembered.” She’s not expecting some lavish diamond, she might not even care for candy or traditional stuff, all she craves is a little attention. The undivided kind.

Don’t thrust a Snicker’s bar at her when she steps out of the shower, pretend she’s a large trout – and kinda stealth up to your gift. Ditto for flowers, you don’t hurl them like the morning paper, hand them to her with all the petals intact for once…

Remember, this is the grand old gal that raised your idiot kids and packs your lunch without a thought for herself, and she’s damn well worth every drop of sweat required.

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If you manage to get more on the material than you do on the floor, you’re successful

My gal was out of the house this weekend so I made melancholy until her car left the driveway. Seizing the opportunity of her absence is important, if she knew what I was up to she’d swivel her head 360 degrees and chase my ass with a butcher knife.

Beaver Frisbee, Dogs love ‘emThe trick is in hiding your tracks and getting most of the chores done – all without leaving a hint that you’re in her kitchen splattering noxious dye in every direction.

I had snuck a couple of Beaver “Frisbees” into the garage, intercepting the package before Madam got wise, fortunately Coffin Creek Furs ships in a plain brown wrapper, and at $15.00 for 4 square feet of hide, it’s a deal that can’t be beaten.

I destroy plenty so the extra fur is useful. Chalk it up to artistic license, sometimes the color is unsuitable, the dye bath too weak, or the phone rang and you boiled it past the color you wanted, it’s all part of the fun.

Yep, that’s her sink, make sure it’s spotless“Fun” if there’s no evidence in the sink when done, one small hint of mischief and I’ll endure the water torture and glaring incandescent bulb, it’s worse then living with Columbo..

Cloth dyes like RIT work fine on fur but the color will not be vibrant. Salt fixed dyes yield a more somber pastel color, fine for earth tones but unsuitable for bright colors.

If you need vibrant colors like red and orange, you have to use “acid” dyes, also called “aniline” or “coal tar” dyes. These were available under the Veniard label in the UK fly shops. Don’t be scared by the “acid” term, regular white vinegar (5% Acetic acid) or Muriatic (10% Hydrochloric acid) is used to fix the colors. Muriatic acid is what you cleanse a swimming pool with – you may even have some in the garage.

Now you’ve got four colors completed, Olive and it’s componentsToday it was “olives” I was interested in – not simply olive, but a range of olive colors from dark to light. Olive is a mixture of yellow, green, and black, and the proportion of each determines the final color.

I always use a mixture of colors to make the final dubbing rather than using a single dye color, yielding fur that looks like the desired color, but has fibers from all the component colors to add variation. It’s doubly useful because you’ll get dubbing for all the component colors and the final color, yielding an assortment of 5 or 6 colors per batch.

The final assembly is done with a coffee grinder. I trim the fur off the hides after they’ve dried and mix them using a blender. I’ll use Angelina fibers to add some sparkle to the blend, both similar colors for the true olives, and try some wild combinations to see the effect on the finished fly.

Because of the “tinkering” I do with color, I always dye much more than I need, this gives me plenty to play with and gives leftover pieces to tuck into the drawer should I need to restock the colors later.

I try to make about 1/2 to 1 oz of dubbing per color. This will be a dense ball of dubbing slightly larger than your fist. I’ll start by trimming 50% off the green hide, 50% off the yellow hide, and 10% off the charcoal beaver. No need to be delicate, carve it off with scissors or a razor blade, guard hairs and all. I run each through the blender to fluff them up, then start mixing the final color.

A standard coffee grinder cannot handle long filaments as they’ll wrap around the center shaft and burn up the motor. Keep all of the materials used to about 1.5 inches in fiber length, trim the components as needed to prevent binding. These small grinders cannot accommodate an ounce of fur at a time, so do small batches 1/3 to 1/4 ounce at a time.

This is a coffee grinder purchased specifically for making dubbing, if you use the “production” grinder in the kitchen you’re a dead man.

Once the color is blended I add guard hairs from a Hare’s Mask, to add spike and contrasting color to the nymph blend. If you’re making dry fly dubbing, no guard hairs are needed.

Last step is to add some Angelina fibers for flash. I’ll divide the finished color in half and add the trimmed Angelina (cut to 1.5 inch) to only half of the product. This gives me two flavors, “flash enhanced” and regular.

The completed color on a fly, now clean the sink before she gets wise

If you are making multiple shades of the same color, just change the proportions, a lighter olive will have less green and charcoal, a darker olive will boost the charcoal, warmer olive – increase the yellow, colder – increase the green, etc. Use the artist’s color wheel to determine the components for each color.

I hid the dye pot in the garage again, and acted completely angelic when the “cops” showed. If you try the “I missed you, Sweetums” gambit she’ll know somethings amiss, always leave one chore on the list incomplete that way she assumes you lounged around watching football. It throws her “crime scene” radar into complete disarray.

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Insect Porn, Entomology is like food additives, stuff you need to know, and can’t pronounce

Beware entomologyFor the newly christened fly fisherman entomology is one of many disciplines that you didn’t know you needed to know. It’s all part of the initial onslaught that demands attention; learning how to cast, accumulating an outfit, where to go, what to do when you get there, then suddenly bugs, and even worse, Latin and bugs.

If you were like the rest of us, there were only two kinds of insects worthy of note, those that sucked blood, and those that left the pretty yellow fresco on your windshield.

You figured something was amiss when you spied your first fly table at the shop; big ones, little ones, red, olive, black, dry, wet, damp, weighted, unweighted, and all completely necessary. When you asked for a little assistance, the clerk started throwing dozens of little expensive fluff motes into a container, each at $2.00 or better.

You followed him well enough through the preamble; “…there will be some Pale Morning Duns in the morning, maybe fish some Stonefly Nymphs at midday, but it’s too early for the October Caddis..” But were thrown badly by his reference; “a small Black Gnat might pass for a Trico Spinner, and that creek is loaded with Little Yellow Stones, get some with the red egg sack..”

Your questions just got you deeper, because the only “Infrequens” you’ve encountered to date is a urinary problem.

The answers don’t answer much at this stage, and the couple of magazines you’ve read suggest that bug knowledge is key to everything. They’re right, but like government, they have an agenda in keeping you fearful and ignorant, they want you to buy their next issue.

Most magazine references are for the accomplished angler, they rarely cater to the fellow attempting to make sense of it all. The real story involves two of your favorite topics, where you’ve acquired vast skills already, sex and drinking.

The sex angle is simple, remember when your Poppa had “The Talk” about girls in High School? It went something like this, “kid, you’ll spend 10% of the time in bed, and 90% of the time having to live with them, pick a good one.”

Entomology translation: Fish feed 10% of the time on the surface, and 90% of the time underwater, you want to catch fish? Do likewise.

Caddis LifecycleThe drinking portion is equally simple, Vodka is a clear alcohol, if you fill some small vials with it, you can collect bugs and bring them home. Isopropyl alcohol is a 70% solution available at any drugstore, it is the preferred bug marinade, but is not near as much fun to drink.

Dry fly fishing is an addiction, more importantly it’s a luxury. It’s visual therefore easy to understand. You can see the naturals and can make intelligent decisions on which imitation to use. Nymph fishing is feel, not sight, it’s harder to learn, and confronts the angler with baffling complexity, which bug should I use?

It’s important to wean a new angler off of dry fly fishing quickly. They don’t yet understand the hellish consequences of dry fly purism, or the social consequences of floating fly addiction, they need a nudge to get them slinging lead.

Textbook Trout Entomology:

In a typical freshwater stream, 90% of the trout’s diet is underwater insects comprised of 3 major groups; Mayflies, Caddis flies, and Stoneflies. These insects can be further broken down by their behavior; clingers, crawlers, burrowers, and free-swimmers.

Burrowers and free swimmers are nearly impossible to observe without diving gear, so the bulk of the insects available to you for collection will be the clinger and crawler groups.

Mother Nature always uses the same camouflage scheme, light belly and dark back. As a rule the better the camouflage the better the survivability, you can assume that the insect’s dark back will be roughly the same color as the stream bottom. Note that in dense weed, the weed acts as the stream bottom, you will see local adaptation of color on the insects that live there.

Mayfly LifecycleWhether you’re new to fly fishing, or are fishing an unfamiliar body of water, a little time spent in investigation usually yields some clues of what to fish. The clinger and crawler groups are readily available on underwater objects, rocks, sticks, and weeds.

Armed with the Vodka vials, sample some underwater debris in the different types of water available. No need to collect everything, just make a mental census as you take selected specimens.

If you find yourself thinking, “..there is a ton of the little brown ones.” That is a good starting point for what to use. Having some in alcohol allows you to compare the flies at the shop with the naturals. If you are learning to tie flies, they are valuable “goals” to imitate, especially if you plan on fishing this body of water many times.

Congratulations, if you have made it this far you are now angling scientifically.

The Difference Between Wheat and Chaff

It is difficult not to go overboard, as the science of our sport is why we can out fish the fellow slinging salted clams. Identification of insects down to the species level is important to entomologists, but has little value to a fisherman. Insect scientists use “keys” to determine group and species , a series of yes/no questions that result in the exact Latin name for the bug.

Our interest ends when we know the color, size, and behavior. Color and size are fairly easy, as we have a sample in front of us, behavior requires a mixture of observation and deduction.

Key features of behavior include; how does it swim, is it readily available to trout all day (clinger, crawler), when and how does it emerge, how long will it live, and what is the mating behavior.

  • How does it swim?

A white bowl that is 4-5 inches deep can reveal the swimming pattern. Toss a natural into the bowl and observe the motion, this will teach you what an appropriate retrieve should imitate. Small insects swim with small motions, a short retrieve will likely match the natural best.

  • Is it readily available to trout all day?

Chances are yes, as the nymphs that you are able to collect are likely the clinger/crawler type. Cased caddis would fall into this designation, as would stonefly nymphs, damsel flies, and many mayflies.

  • When/how does it emerge?

When is a tough question. Insects emerge based on certain conditions, most importantly; temperature and light. Underwater nymphs are vulnerable as they have to shuck the nymphal skin and dry their adult wings. Mother Nature protects them as best she can by making them emerge at dusk – low light, predators are at a disadvantage.

This is why you can have really good fishing on overcast days, as clouds can diminish the light enough to trigger a hatch.

How it emerges determines what tools are available to you in your angling arsenal. If it crawls out of the water to emerge on dry land, your only option is the heavily weighted nymph. If it swims up through the column of water and pops out onto the surface, you can fish the heavy nymph(starting emergence), the unweighted nymph (the emerger), the emerger (part nymph part dry), and the winged bug (adult).

Here’s the rub. Remember the water is moving during all of this activity. The location of each of these phases will occur at different distances from the starting point. The insect may be carried hundreds of feet from where it started swimming up through the water,  by the time it makes the surface, it may be 50 or 100 yards from where it started.

Despite all the different stages you have to imitate, some of these stages can be localized. If the insect lives in weed beds, the crawler activity will be localized there only, downstream only emergers and adults will be available. As the bulk of this activity occurs underwater and invisible to the angler, use the rise forms of the trout as a guide – did he take a dry, or something just under the surface?

  • How long will it live?

Aquatic insects live out their lives underwater, they can exist as long as three years in the nymphal form, and will only last 7 days in the adult, winged flavor. The adult is a “sex-engine” – it’s mouth parts are sealed, so it cannot survive. In fact, the longest lived mayfly is the lowly Trico, it’s entire time out of the water is about 2 weeks.

  • What is the mating behavior?

Males and females form a cloud above the water and go “Buck Wild.” Females then drop to the surface depositing egg packets, males share the human male trait by rolling over and snoring, males of any species are reluctant to cuddle.

Mating behavior doesn’t seem like it’s that important, but looks are deceptive.

In mayflies, the color of the wing tells volumes. Both emerging insects and mating insects are found on the surface, but only during an emergence will a nymph be as effective. There is no nymph activity when the insects return to the water to lay eggs.

The returning adult has transparent wings, the emerging adult has opaque wings, typically these are gray. This is a huge factoid for the fisherman, it tells him what flies will be successful.

Stonefly LifecycleForgive the generalities, as there could be nymph activity from an entirely different insect, another hatch occurring of the same insect, or a completely different one. A watershed is a complex entity, more than one bug can occupy the same stretch of water at once.

In summary, what distinguishes the fly fisherman from all others is the application of science and deduction. Observation and collection are powerful tools to assist you over the learning curve, and will give you precious insight into the behavior of both aquatic predator and its prey.

Armed with this knowledge, you can narrow your choices of fly size and pattern, and can learn how to retrieve your imitation akin to the natural, completing the deception.

Nowhere in all of this is Latin. Latin is for pretentious dry fly purists SOB’s that are attempting to make the club exclusive. Insects are “little yellow,” or “big Olive,” or “giant mean variegated bastard.”

…and you can tell that SOB I said so.

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Casting is like Kung-fu

Jackie Chan being offered a slaw dogNo, you don’t need a $590 fly rod to learn to cast and if this is the first time you’ve picked up a fly rod in anger, it’s more of a liability than a help.

Resign yourself to your fate, as finding a live human will teach you to cast much quicker than any series of books. Yoda couldn’t describe the Force, how do you expect some knotheaded fly author to teach you the feel for a cast, when he’s using silly metaphors involving clocks and tack hammers?

All talented fly fishermen are perenially late – and don’t own a tack hammer for fear the wife will make them use it. Suddenly they know how to read a clock face and can shingle a roof? I don’t think so.

What you want to do is find a nice sub-$100 flyrod and flail away in contentment. Let skills develop before you plunk down any significant rod coin, there are too many items you need to complete your outfit – so don’t bankrupt your budget on your initial tackle.

My first rod was a Fenwick Feralite fiberglas, in those days they were sub-$50 and were a fine rod. The Fenwick company is still churning out good, serviceable tackle in graphite, and as testimony to the quality, many of their glass rods are available at flea markets, Ebay, and rod collector web sites. Their graphite line goes by the Fenwick Eagle brand, and retail for about $100 after tax.

A beginner is best served by learning from someone else. The combination of watching someone cast, and being watched, will speed the instruction process tenfold. If you are really lucky you’ll get some mean old guy that scares hell out of you, so rather than asking why – you just do it.

The best place to learn is your local fly fishing club, there are usually an abundance of opinionated old guys lusting after a captive audience, as  a  recruitment tool they’ll put on a casting clinic free to all comers. On occasion they may even provide some tackle for those that lack their own rod , typically you’ll have to bring your own. Second choice is a fly shop, the instruction will be good – but their agenda is to get you near a rod product, often they’ll teach using the $600 tackle, making you assume you need that to be successful.

You don’t.

It may behoove you to ask your local shop if they have any old fly lines they’ve replaced for customers purchasing new ones. Most of us don’t have water nearby, so a lawn or concrete driveway can be pressed into service. The old throw-away line you can flog to death with no repercussion, but don’t use a new fly line on concrete, it will tear it up quickly.

Fly casting is like Kung-fu, there are many different masters, many different schools, and all of them are right. The two most prevalent are the Shaolin Flailing Palm, which emphasizes an open arm and shoulder moving in any direction, and the Prana-Bindu Frozen-Wrist school – which relies on the elbow tucked in closely to the side, an immobilized wrist, and movement of the shoulder. Like Kung-fu, many casting videos use subtitles, or should …

Casting style does not matter, whomever your instructor is will dictate what school you belong to, all will turn out servicable casters and imbue you with predator instincts.

Allow yourself time to mature as a caster, as in any memory motion sport; tennis, golf, etc.,  it will take much repetition before the muscle memory is second nature. Go fishing almost immediately, so you can see how much time is lost untangling knots and losing flies to shrubbery, water, your nose, and all other inanimate objects. This will do more to enforce the lessons of discipline than any amount of cajoling your instructor gives you.

If you’re in the midst of a steep learning curve, the fancy tackle will be lost on you. It’s no different than when your brother in law shows up and helps himself to a waterglass of your best scotch, whether it was aged 12 or 20 years is completely lost on him. Give yourself time to mature as both a caster and angler, then move to some of the higher end tackle, but only when your skills have surpassed the cheap rod, not before.

Fishing is a kid with a pork rind and a cane pole, keep it that way as long as possible. You can practice purism later when you have the wallet and the silver sideburns to back your play.