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


Saturday, February 12, 2011

Poor Man's Lanyard

A while back I post about a DIY that I found for a lanyard. Total cost was about $10-15. Not to shabby. I thought that I would make one, but as I rummaged around the house, I came up mostly empty handed. I did find a few things that I could improvise, so after a quick stop at the craft shop I was ready to go.

I used 75 lb hemp string for the lanyard that I had laying around the house. I then added some wooden beads that I bought, 70 beads for a buck. Intermixed these with a few swivels and a knot of the back and I was ready for the water! I made the tippet holder out of some Dacron backing and two more swivels.  Total cost? Somewhere between $3-4. Gotta love being cheap. :D

Friday, February 11, 2011

Another reason to head west, young man - Arizona's First Gila Trout Season

Due to a surplus of Gila (hee-la) Trout in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mora National Fish Hatchery New Mexico, Arizona will now be having it's first official season for this species.  It's a native species but was decimated prior to any fishing regulations being set in place.

Fishing in style! Fishing chairs.

Are you one of those people that loves to fish, but hates to stand? Do you also thinking fishing from the bank is for schmucks? Then today is your lucky day.

If you happen to go out to Pyramid Lake, make sure you stop by the Crosby Lodge.  For it is there that your new fishing chair awaits.

It swivels... it's green.... and you can fish from it while in the water. What more could one demand?

I think that this baby speaks for itself. If you want to see it in action, click the chair page.  Make sure you check the lower right pic, proof positive that everyone is using one.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

GPS in cameras and phones creates privacy issue | Video | 7online.com

While this not only spot burns, this also raises issues for safety. Please, make sure you click the link below if you use smartphones to take and post pics.


GPS in cameras and phones creates privacy issue | Video | 7online.com

Chuck Tryon and the BUB fly

A friend of a friend, Chuck Tryon, has recently passed away. He authored several books, as well as originated the BUB fly: shown below. 



Here's to hoping that there are wild browns in the sky!

Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show - Recap

I just got back from the Easter Sports and Outdoor show. I must say that it was purdy nice. It was hosted up at the PA Farm Show Complex, which in and of itself was interesting, given some of the.... decorations.

We arrived there a little later than I had wanted to (my three year old daughter was with. Ever try to leave the house on time with a three year old? 'Nuff said) and traversed the off site parking lot that must double as a skating rink. But a quick 5 minute walk after that and we were there.

Tenkara on a Budget

I'm sure many of you have heard of Tenkara by now; it's the simplistic, Japanese version of what we know as fly fishing. Essentially, what you have is a 12 foot rod, the fly line that attaches to the end of the rod (no reel!) a leader and a fly.

These are good for smaller streams (presumably with no overhang.)

There is the offering from Tenkara USA, which I've been hearing rave reviews about, but it's about $150 for the rod itself. You then need the special line, etc.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Bass on The Fly Tournament - Texas

Does anyone have a couch I can crash on? It'd be kind of a long commute from here.

Bass on The Fly Tournament

New URL

I finally got around to registering FlyFishinado, so the new "official" URL is http://www.flyfishinado.com. Make sure to update your bookmarks accordingly... or not. You'll still be redirected here using the blogspot URL, so it's all good.

I just didn't want to wait and then have some guy in Istanbul get it to steal my clout. No free rides...

Gear Review - the New Simms Fly Boxes

Pull up a chair as I review the new 2011 Simms Fly Boxes. 



Look ma, I've gone viral!

Sylvester Nemes Passes Away

Sylvester Nemes, one of the greats in the world of softhackles, passed away on 2/3/2011. RIP.

Here is his Amazon page for his books, if your interested.

Sylvester Nemes Obituary: View Sylvester Nemes's Obituary by Bozeman Daily Chronicle

It's Time! the Great Outdoors shows have arrived!

For those in and around PA, just wanted to remind everyone that the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show is taking place right now! It runs until Sunday. I'm gonna stop by tomorrow and see if I can't get wined and dined as a prestigious member of the outdoors journalists (please don't burst my bubble quite yet.)

Then, next weekend is the Philadelphia Sports Show. This is there first year so if you can make it out, please do and make this show a success. It would be great if this one would become an annual thing (if only so I don't have to drive to Jersey.)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Fly of the Week: RS2 by Rim Chung

For this week I'm going with something a little different. I'll admit that this week I was scratching my head on what fly to tie up for the FotW, and lucky (for me) someone posted about this fly on one of the forums. I've never fished it, but everyone is coming out of the woodwork on how this fly is the bee's knees, and is consider by many to be the official fly of Colorado (hell, it could be the official fly of CO for all I know; it seems to be that good.)

Monday, February 7, 2011

At Last - the Cabela's CGR! - a gear review

I decide today was the day; so I drove up to Cabela's to see if they were stocking the new CGR fiberglass rods in their stores yet. These are the new fiberglass rods they came out with as a 50th Anniversary deal and there's been quit a buzz about them

I was in luck! They had about half a dozen sitting in the rack.

I picked up a few and gave them the old wiggle test. Very nice. Just for comparison I grabbed on of their Traditionalist II rods that were next to it; it felt like a broom handle compared to the CGR.

Fly Fishing without the rod

Someone posted this on one of the boards, and it's the funnies/most impressive things I've seen in a while. Enjoy.


Saturday, February 5, 2011

Grizzly Adam's out over 3 months at sea

While this article isn't about fishing, it's still great. (And no it's not the real Grizzley Adams. This guy is looks more ragged.)

It's about 64 year old Polish man, Aleksander Doba, doing a solo kayak voyage from Africa to Brazil. It took him all but 99 days.

The kicker was that after he landed and rested a bit, he said that he was thinking about paddling up to the USA.

I hope when I get to be this guys age, I have half of the grit that he's showing.

Kayaker, 64, completes marathon paddle across Atlantic

Friday, February 4, 2011

We're back online! Fly of the Week: The Goldbeard

We're back online and ready to go! Due to the monster storm that hit, well, most of the country, we were without power on Wednesday and then yesterday I spent all day trying to bend jQuery programs to my will, with mixed success. So by the time I got home the last thing I wanted to stare at was another computer screen.

So the fly of the week is a little late; I apologize. But I hope that the wait was worth it.