Category Archives: Fly Fishing

Supercatchables & Shovel Ready: Spending 5000 dollars to catch you

Fish_Education Angered over the recent contest won by Roscoe, New York as America’s Fishing Town, the principality of Dunsmuir, California, decided to squander precious treasury dollars to become Home of the Mashed Fin Fatty.

With its long history as a fishing destination, the town is tossing a fly of its own onto I-5, hoping to lure oodles of free spending fishermen. It plans to purchase $5000 worth of two foot long Rainbow trout and sprinkle them within the confines of the township hoping they’ll get caught.

“Every week we’re going to see a picture of some kid holding a fish wider than he is. It’ll be in the newspaper. It’ll get on the internet.”

Figure a couple year’s worth of sodden flesh draped over the arms of beaming tourists, a couple videos gone viral, and word spread on all that hatchery goodness.

Hookers might have been cheaper …

Should a town really wish to be a magnet for fishermen, it needs to put in the appropriate infrastructure, including; at least two adult restaurants open after 10PM (adult is defined by the cook being so in deed as well as name), a breakfast stop open before dawn, a fly shop off Main Street, a source of 24 hour ice and gas, ample sleeping arrangements from posh to outdoors, and a Laundromat open both Saturday & Sunday.

… and it is easy to hate the Trout Underground, given all the current riches he enjoys being so tawdry and commonplace as to need an upgrade to Fish X, and Fish Y, and with his connections to Councilman Raine, I’m sure they’ll drop a couple of fish within casting distance of his verandah.

… specially  trained, dry fly only …

A change of heart is fine, just drop the shoe price by half and we’ll like you again

vibram As mentioned this morning in Angling Trade, SIMMS has apparently pulled the plug on its self imposed felt ban, and will be making all manner of felt soled wading shoes for 2012.

Naturally we’ll assume that’s it’s the suddenly decreased threat of Didymo that’s the root cause of this change-of-heart, or it may simply be the recognition that angler behavior is the key to invasive species spread, and like prostitution, it’s tough to legislate morality.

Me, I think their holy oath resulted in being spanked smartly in the retail aisle, given any discussion on rubber soles amongst anglers brings great froth, dissent, and much vitriol over their efficacy. Adding additional burden has been the lack of reliable information from shoes owners, given that the same boot is mentioned both as slippery, useless, and wonderful, depending on who’s doing the pontificating.

One industry insider said it best, “Simms tried to score green marketing points at everyone else’s expense, and after they largely succeeded, now want the brown dollars to go with them…”

Nothing like the potential for a downward slide of the sales graph to make folks rethink their commitment to the Pristine.

“We know felt is not the only material that has spread invasive species and disease,” Walsh said, “but felt is surely part of the problem. At Simms, we’ve decided to be part of the solution.”

The SIMMS “solution” being to orphan your current shoe, sell you a new rubber variant that is less reliable in slime, then have a sudden change of heart, hoping us anglers follow blindly and buy another set?

Fat chance of that happening, you’ve mortgaged what faith your public had already, Lumpy.

I say SIMMS should drop their shoe price by half, allowing us anglers to purchase two pair, which will allow us to be less infectious as we can swap wet for dry, and potentially restore some of that good will we once had toward vendors.

You can get some good will…  I love SIMMS already – due to the panic caused by their earlier announcement, I scored three sets at $40 when the shops unloaded all that tasty felt  …

It was Big, Awkward & Black last year

As SMJ so eloquently reminded us Monday, “… where them fuggin antz at?”

I have the luxury of fleeing the fishless and flooded creeks in my area for our traditional twice yearly pilgrimage to Manzanita Lake. It’s become ritual at this point; once to mark the opening of the season, once in the fall to mark the close, and the fish always playing second fiddle to the real prize of a year’s worth of bragging rights.

… and with all well known lakes and the best laid plans, it always comes down to “mystery meat” that determines the Victor…

… the puff of breeze that dislodged all them awkward carpenter ants, or the hot midge color is florescent orange (even though last year it was Chartreuse), and while most of the day you’re flinging or dragging everything you thought would be there, the perversity of Mother Nature means every day becomes an episode of Monty Hall’s “Let’s Make A Deal.”

I’m dating myself surely, but as every episode ended he’d glance down at the Grandma squealing in her clown suit and say, “I’ll give you $500 for every clothespin you brought in your purse … Two? Okay, I’ll trade your thousand dollars for what’s behind door #3 …”

A Lifetime of Cheese slices or …

… and has you scrambling for the darkest recesses of your fly box hoping you can cut up something normal to make what you really need.

…kind of like Granny felt when she paid a thousand bucks for a metric ton of CheeseWiz.

 Black_Double_Humpy

A fistful of moose hair tied in and double folded in both front and back to make a comely lump, with the remnants pushed upright and wrapped as a parachute. Moose being tough allows me to dress the fly on a #10 hook without a single fish tearing everything to pieces.

After a couple of fish I should have the rough look necessary, broken fibers trailing under the fly to simulate legs.

Ants are always accompanied with a stiff afternoon breeze, and with the water surface roughened nicely it’s a rare opportunity to fish the dry with OX. Typically by that time you’ve got a few scores to settle and are less mindful of hurt feelings …

Fly tying materials that grow on trees

I thought of it as answering one of many questions I’ve always had about watersheds and how soon they recovered from obvious trauma.

Travelwriter had spied some rising fish in a stretch of the river that was normally bone dry this time of year. Adding 170% more water to the stream means the farming community can’t suck it all down, and would as soon avoid doing so given the mattress springs, dead bodies, late model stolen-everything – all of which is tumbling in the current, surely to foul pumps and pipes alike.

Huff's Corner at 40-50 feet

BEFORE

That additional volume makes banks vanish, holes get created, and sandbars move miles overnight. Understanding who survived all that carnage would fill a big hole in my understanding of floods, fish, and who wins what …

Huff's Corner post flood

AFTER

Note the shrubs, trees, and grasses are completely vanished off the right side of the creek, leaving only a single innocent looking tree that isn’t quite as innocent as it would seem … as I found out later …

The water was about 40-50 feet deep here a couple weeks ago, now it’s only a foot to 18 inches in most spots.

I went down the next evening to investigate, as I skeptical of “mystery rings” and whether anything could have survived given the above circumstances …

Pikeminnow survives Tsunami

The stretch had become repopulated with about a dozen 4-6 inch Pikeminnow. Last season, the second since water was restored, the Pikeminnow fry had grown to three inches in length. The length of these suggests they’re second year fish.

Making these survivors of two massive earth moving floods (last year was wet too) I’d guess these fish survive by staying near the bank – despite the bank being a hundred yards from its historical norm.

I managed to land three or four fish – all similarly apportioned and nary a mark for their ordeal. 

Unfortunately they’ve survived only to die due to evaporation – which will start shortly. I may bring down a bucket and relocate what I can catch –  the creek is still starved of citizens and I don’t mind getting dirty. I’ll call it “Pee You” for Pikeminnow Unlimited – as I’m the only SOB willing to stick my neck out for a cockroach …

As I was there for a scienctific purposes, I hunkered down largely oblivious to my surroundings. I’m tossing cottonseed dander imitations and small nymphs into a small, deep hole in the wide part of the bend.

After pulling three or four fish out of  it’s depths I’m satisfied they’re all Pikeminnow, so I ease down the bank into the shallows below just to see if there’s any other activity .

The wind shifts abruptly and I get a faceful of meat decay. It’s close and I’m thinking big animal, yet dreading turning around and finding someone’s kid wedged in the crotch of a tree, victim of some upstream flooding accident.

I’m backpedaling while attempting to hold down the evening meal – all the while scanning the riverbank, underbrush, and everything else nearby, and nothing.

rotting_turkey

I ease around the tree and find Big Bird, the wiliest of all Mother Nature’s game birds, slammed into a fork of the tree at speed, and becoming more fragrant by the moment.

Naturally a moment of introspection was needed, especially as the little Angel on my shoulder was in heated debate with the little devil on the other …

The little angel claimed, “Dude, forget the bragging points, your girl is arriving tomorrow and the use of refrigerator or any other storage on your premises is completely out of the question!”

The little Devil snorted in contempt, “Dude, call yourself a Man? Don’t think of the rotting and swollen beached seal you cut too deeply, this time you’ll be able to get the stink out of your clothes easy, by tomorrow even!”

… just the thought of the rotting seal episode was enough, even if I was doing it for Science …

Wherein we profess a weakness for four letter fly rods .. and their makers

The entire idea of a much ballyhooed “lifestyle” brand is largely lost on me, my shortcoming entirely, nothing wrong with the rest of you. Guys love wearing other people’s advertising, and I don’t – insisting that Jim Beam pay me for the privilege.

( … and due to the vast expanse of my pasty and sodden flesh, it better be at billboard rates …)

But I get the idea in theory – whose intent suggests you like something enough to buy their other products, or recommend them across the board, or that you’re branding your arse cheeks with some companies logo because you are committed to their policies and neo-industrialist war mongering products …

Or there’s the nonchalant fly fishing variant, bastardized of any real nobility by changing it into a “support my feet up, beer swilling, fishing lifestyle by dumping large coin for my washed out tee shirt that we’ve emblazoned with a cool logo.”

Naturally all this is going through my head as I’m suddenly confronted with a rod company claiming it’ll sell me the graphite rod of my dreams for $233, featuring an extra tip, a case and sock, with the additional promise of weregonnadonate20%oftheproceedstothefish …

Case, Sock, And Extra Tip

That’s rarified turf by any means, and I simply had to support them for no other reason than give Harvard Business School some heartburn …

So I ordered a 9’ #4 to replace my backup trout rod – which was starting to show the wear of real abuse, given its infancy rattling around the boat followed by rattling around the back of my truck.

The rod arrived in January and while both of us were largely idle, we managed to dance outside in between squalls and beat the lawn to smithereens. It felt responsive and supple, so we took it to the creek and tormented ourselves by roll casting over the late model Nissan’s breaking apart in the chocolate water …

Rise Instream 9ft #4

It’s a nicely apportioned rod, with a crisp action that smacks of the RPL III days of Sage. The picture above gives you a glimpse of black wraps on brown blank, and the simple block-letter label.

It has a simple “Made in China” label on the reel end, which made me pause not at all.

This is a fishing rod, not a garish streetwalker, this is that “lifestyle” tool that suggests, “if the #4 was rock solid, I bet the #7 is tasty too.”

… and it’s about time for an inexpensive rod that you’d feel brokenhearted if you sat on it sudden-like, but wouldn’t break you to replace it . It’s the rod you give your kid on his fourteenth birthday hoping he’ll take it up permanently, knowing the rod won’t be an issue until he’s expert … and then only maybe …

I equipped it with an LRH Lightweight which was a nice pairing

Sage-like action that I’d call  “crisp,” neither too slow or too fast to alter your casting stroke, and when you suddenly change direction because of a rising fish or low hanging limb, it responds quickly without feeling slow or overburdened.

With my known preferences on rod speed and recovery rates, it would be a #4.5 in your language. Enough power left in the spine to throw a #4 with authority, and it wouldn’t feel awkward with a line size heavier.

The fittings are sturdy and unremarkable, like the gleam of a new Craftsman hammer. Solid, business-like and competent.

Cork work was better than average – with few filled crevasses and no unsightly color mismatches.

Rise Instream #4 cork gripTypically a rod maker fills any gaps in a cork handle with sanded cork mixed with adhesive. Poor cork quality yields overly large areas that need to be repaired, and can result in a color mismatch, which persists as handling oils and dirt will color them slightly different due to the adhesive being present.

The largest crevasse in the handle is shown at right, about half an inch, the balance of the handle was immaculate. This is indicative of quality cork and quality control.

Rise Instream 4: Reel seat threading

If there’s any component on a fly rod worth cursing it’s the reel seat and its thread. You’re unwrapping a bad cast from the tip of the rod instead of the water, and while doing so – dragging your reel and reel seat in the sand on the bottom.

Rise Instream #4 Reel seat beautification trimNaturally we’ll find out it’s jammed once its black dark, the assembly rendered balky due to grit in the threads.

The Rise reel seat has a broad thread that made it difficult to tell whether it was sharp or dull (triangular or square thread), sure sign of some rounding. A single knurled sleeve fastens reel to reel seat – and while I’m more comfortable with the second locking sleeve, it’ll do on a light rod.

I may rethink that on the first 12 lb carp I hook – but for the moment I’m content …

The balance of the fixtures include a knurled hood imbedded under the cork to complete the remainder of the reel seat, shown above.

A Hook keeper, someone thought of me But the biggest surprise was finding that the low price included a hook keeper – which due to habit, I find to be an essential component of my scramble up banks, brazen dash through bramble thickets, and for quick and lazy disassembly of rods for that drive to the next hole.

Guides are two footed; two carbide, 7 snake, plus the tip.

Below is an example of the finish on one the largest carbide stripper. Laid on thickly as is customary, nothing out of the ordinary.

Rise Instream #4, Stripping Guide detail

Testing the four pieces of my rod shows the blank is not aligned on a single spline prior to the guides and grip being mounted. Two of four pieces  lined up, the remaining two placed the spline on the sides of the rod.

My preference is for all  component splines to line up, but as this is a hotly debated issue amongst rod makers, I’ll leave you to the opinions and mercy of your local rodmaking Sensei.

Buying a rod on another’s say so is a tremendous leap of faith, yet after four months of fiddling around trying to find something I don’t care for on the rod – the best I can do is the block lettering is unsuitable, fly fishing should have something light and airy – and in cursive …

All I’m suggesting is that the nice people at Rise have earned my admiration, mostly because I adore an action like those early Sage or Echo tapers.

… and while the rest of the crowd lusts after “hedge fund” rods from the perfumed darlings of yesteryear, I’ll stick to my Asian imports and continue to make payments on my house.

High priced painted strumpets we’ve got a plenty, and I’ll let their fanbois argue their respective merits, what’s been sorely needed is the “Craftsman” rod – a rod that costs commensurate with a hobby, a lifetime tool – one that won’t take a lifetime to pay off ..

Full Disclosure: I purchased the above Rise fly rod at full retail, which should have been $233, but I was volunteered to save New York state to the tune of eighteen dollars. It was later refunded.

Fishless fishing streak broken abruptly, as were all the Opening Days jitters

It wasn’t overflowing its banks, it was mostly transparent, it was largely wet, completely private and I managed to commit most of the Opening Day sins on my tackle to exorcise me of later demons.

While the first fishable water of the season made it feel like Opening Day, and the jitters that come with throwing your first cast in anger added to the growing body of evidence, Opening Day isn’t till next weekend, where the rest of you will feature all these same highlights hundreds of miles from your home …

I shipped water into my waist highs, right about the crotch area.

I bollixed a cast badly enough such that it combined with the feathery weed it gathered on the return, required me to cut away everything and start over …

I imbedded a fly in a soft and flaccid area of my frame – that can’t be rubbed in public.

I added color to both face and pallid forearms. Bright red.

Peeled a tick off my neck … and had to eyeball every square inch of gross fatbody for fear I was hosting creepy crawlies. I peeked between clenched fingers, recoiling at the doughy expanses of blindingly white flesh that were proof of winter’s excesses.

… and left most of a double sawbuck in bankside vegetation. Which was required of me.

I got ate which was the important thing

But I also got ate. Which breaks one of many long and dour spells, where unruly weather makes finned prey the scarcest photo on a supposed fishing blog.

Moore_Siphon

The creek still has a couple of weeks to wait. While the color is returning it’s not the placid little drainage I remember, nor can it be crossed at any point, as the bonafide white water confirms above.

I’m getting eager to walk it given that the mouth was open to the Sacramento for a full two weeks. There’s no telling what might have poked its nose into my quiet little backwater.

.. and if it doesn’t belong there I may have to start a fish rescue …

The Graphite rod with the curves of a woman

I didn’t know much of anything when I saw first saw it, now I’m not sure I know more, but I’ve certainly scratched my head enough.

Knowing that the only truism about “advances” in [insert angling gadget here] science, is that whatever the manufacturer claims can be discarded immediately. It’s up to all them other fellows who’ve laid hands on product to pick the proper tone for the superlatives … as that’s all we ever hear in any product testimonials.

But they’ve still been able to fling the SOB, and reading between the obvious gushing prose and the overtly favorable yields some small barometric differences.

Certainly an “S” shaped rod is a bit of an oddity, and knowing that the maker would have 17 reasons why it was twice as good as a straight rod, I was hoping I’d have that “ahah” moment before I read his line of speculative logic so I could follow that esoteric principle of physics which was being exploited.

I briefly entertained particle physics and quantum theory, but the fit seemed just a bit forced.

Global Dorber Ultra Wave

Seventeen guides on a five weight was easy enough to swallow, given the manufacturers belief that more friction resulted in the fly line touching the blank than anything or anywhere else in the cast. That’s plenty of epoxy and extra weight, but I could follow the scent of the physics – and could therefore nod sagely enough.

A couple of reviews suggested what most reviews do, it was great, mostly awesome, and everything else ever cast was now obsolete, landfill even.

Naturally the forums were quick to Pooh-Pooh everything – as forums are wont to do. Something about anonymity and someone else’s mother always breeds courage …

But having seen all this before, and not having one to fling to offer anything actually learned, I kept fixating on the unknowns and what it couldn’t do …

I’d love to see what the rod tube looked like. I wondered how I could toss it into a truck bed, or lash it to a pack frame, and mostly I wondered how all the scientific data suggested I needed a double recurve in the rod so I could fling enormous gouts of five weight, into a stiff wind, given that 95% of the time I’m fishing at 35 feet or less?

But that’s my fishing, which differs from the manufacturer, and all those stalwarts that fish polar ice caps, forest fires, and really arduous geography.

I figured those self same stalwarts insisted on the technology because all their aging bamboo fleet had kinks, sets, and curves rivaling women, and naturally they were homesick.

Asymmetric is a tough road to hoe, evidenced by the continued fervor over whether to match segment splines or no. Most of us have an elliptical casting stroke, because straight back brings the fly in line with them precious eyeballs. An asymmetric rod with an semi-oval casting motion and you’re going to have a rod release or jump where you’ve never had one before.

I’ll wait a bit and read more – it’s certain that it’ll foster additional forum based hot air, and perhaps we’ll all be enlightened.

Bainbridge Island being so yesterday and all

barbie dumps Ken for Boron OK, so all the free thinking types live in Utah, home to plenty of desert and even more Mormons …

Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed the bill into law this week, designating the Browning model M1911 automatic pistol as the official state firearm.

Polygamists are big on the multiple hit theory of gunplay, hence their choice of an automatic. Any real god-fearing western state would’ve chosen a Colt something-or-other if only to piss off all them Texicans – who believe all that Louis Lamour hogwash and figure they annexed Hartford, Connecticut sometime during the War Between The States.

Actually the Browning M1911 has its roots in Ogden Utah, hence a very real connection to the state and its infancy.

While rod makers showed only after most of the real estate was civilized, most states should still scramble to honor what rod makers are left, only they’re a curiously nomadic lot and like the NFL will insist on a generous stipend to keep them in their existing stadi … er … quarters.

Legislatures will have to glad-hand whatever craftsmen remain at whatever political cost, overlooking the tacky epoxy and graphite dust ingrained in their suddenly firm grip, and offer both keys to the state and/or a two week stint in rehab, depending on the degree of varnish inhalation.

All them eastern states will be fighting over everyone whose ever fished in Vermont and built bamboo anything.

I’m hoping California overlooks all past glory. Winston got miffed over Hollywood’s refusal to add their star to the Walk of Fame and fled to Twin Bridges, Montana. Leaving California only the sullied Powell brand, long fallen from any real prominence.

Hopefully our now penniless legislature will skip any ties with the besotted crowd that remains and adopts China, as their lock on manufacturing and volume may be just what’s needed to introduce the boron II Barbie rod, and we’ll again assume our rightful place as trendsetters versus followers.

Considering I’ve only got twenty good years left, I figured two would be enough

It was simply the best fly line ever made, and if you were a bamboo junkie your heart broke on the announcement of their demise. The best plastic facsimile to the silk fly line, with a finer tip than any line before or since …

… that self-same tip that won’t float more than six inches unless you curse it with much vigor..

It shoots twice as far as a conventional line, and the brace on the table and message from the owner, below is testament to their being hoarded forever.

Sunset_Line_Twine

… and making the generous fellow that had a few remaining, my new best friend.

Masterline brochure Page 1

There may be a few more available, if interested drop the nice man a note.

I have a stash of old vintage Masterlines that I am going to part with. They are the Sunset Line and Twine Formula F series. Sunset is the firm that distributed Masterlines in the USA . It is my understanding that the Formula F is the identical line to the Masterline Chancellor which is the mid-grade line under the Chalkstream. However, these lines are available in creamy white (called foam white by Masterline) and olive (called surface green by Masterline) where the Chalkstream was available in grey only.  The olive lines I had have all been sold.  These are beautiful lines and some of the best casting lines ever made. I feel these lines are specialty lines that are excellent for spring creeks and rivers like the Henry’s Fork as they are not super high floaters. What they lack in high buoyancy, they make up in performance. These lines are thinner and have greater density than regular plastic lines. So, they cast really nice. They also have fine tips. They are probably the closet thing to silk. I am selling them at $50 per line, plus shipping. Considering the price of new modern line ranges from $60 to $70 and that I have seen the Chancellor selling as high as $135 online, I feel the price is more than fair. These vintage lines are new (never used) and include the original label wrapped around the line. I have the creamy white and some olive in DT4 and DT5.  The olive have all been sold.  If you are interested, please let me know via email at ffftroutbum@yahoo.com soon as I do not expect these lines to last long. I will accept check or money order and a 3 day inspection period.  Ideally, I would like these lines to go to people who are familiar with them and would enjoy them.

Masterline Page 2

I would guess these are late 80’s (early 90’s) vintage. Note the “No Silicone” warning on the above sheet. Standard DEET based insect repellants will make the surface instantly tacky, wash repellant off immediately.

… and reading the above now you understand why the new Scientific Anglers textured lines are mentioning golf balls.

Don’t let the age bother you, these lines are as supple as the day they were spewed through the extruder.

The Sharp stuff is in the mail

The last of them mean old ladies in the Post Office line have finally sheathed their brooms, irate that I keep hogging all the pretty girls in the Priority mail section. I keep telling them it’s for a good cause, but at that age anything standing between them and a nap is the enemy.

If you sent me a note for scissors, they’re in the mail.

It seems like I may have curried favor with most of the TU chapters between here and the Asian Carp, with a sprinkling of US army servicemen (which I immediately hit up for exotic Afghan flightless birds downed by drones ), and other fishing clubs. I was pleased to send nearly 300 pair to about 24 different organizations.

Figure 10% actually live through the experience without slitting wrist and that’s 30 newly hatched hoarders for next season’s reality show …

I’ll continue to hoard all that defective metal and perhaps we can do this again ..