Redington Sonic Pro Wading Jacket Review

Into the 8th hour of our float on the Olympic Peninsula, it was pretty easy to say that this jacket is bombproof.

If there was ever a place to test rain gear, the Oly Penn is the place to do it.  In this years excursion to the land of Twilight and Sasquatches , we were treated to just about every form of liquid downfall..but mostly, it just poured on us in a rate I had previously never experienced.

I stayed 100% dry.

Brand new to the Redington lineup this year is their redesigned wading jacket.  OMR has the previous edition and lets say that I think they threw that old one away and started from scratch.

Smart Choice.

Here are the top 6 reasons to love this jacket.

1.  There's a billion pockets.  No, seriously....there's enough on this jacket to stow away so much gear you're going to forget what you put in there.  Nothing like finding a snickers bar a month later.  That's called a bonus

2.  It's Thick.  As in solid.  As in 4 layer construction.  As in blocks the crap out of the wind

3.  The Flask Pocket.  A bit of a addendum to the first one, but on the left inside, there's a pocket that I have to believe was specifically designed for a device that holds whipskey....

4.  The Waterproof Cuff.  When releasing a fish and your hands dunk into the water, the secondary bonus is that your sweatshirt or whatever you have on underneath stays dry.

5.  Sizing.  When they say it's a XXL, it is.   For a big dude, correct sizing is a must.  They really nailed this one

6.  No Stitches.  Yep.  Less opportunity for me to break, rip or tear it.  I do those things well.  Any guard against that is a damn good thing

The one negative--the hood
It's really, really big.  As in huge.  Expect some time trying to dial it in to fit your noggin.   According to Redington their design team is in the midst of fixing this issu.

The positives on this jacket are a mile long.  With the hood fixed, this jacket completely gets the Chucking Line and Chasing Tail stamp of approval. 

James Redden--"Take The Dams Down"

From Save Our Wild Salmon Inland Northwest Director Sam Mace--

"Perhaps more than any other individual in the history of the Pacific Northwest's dam building era, Judge James Redden altered the course of salmon recovery on the Snake and Columbia for the better. From his position as a US District Court Judge in Oregon, Redden has presided over much of the long running legal battle which has pitted fishing groups, tribes and conservationists against the federal government and the entrenched economic interests in the Columbia Basin. With wild salmon populations in the Columbia teetering on the brink of extinction in the 1990's Redden took the case during a time of crisis and the decisions he's made during the course of the last decade, including court mandates for spill during the spring outmigration, increased monitoring and adaptive management, and improved habitat mitigation efforts have led to dramatic improvements in many populations of wild salmon in the Snake and Columbia Basin. Now in his early 80's, Redden stepped down from the case last fall, leaving behind a tremendous legacy of holding the federal government to the highest legal standards with regards to their responsibility to endangered salmon in the Columbia.

Having stepped away from the case, Redden is for the first time making his personal opinions public, and in a recent interview with Idaho public television Redden stated emphatically what many have long known; we need to take the four lower Snake River dams down."

Watch his interview here with Idaho Public Television HERE

Weird, let a river behave like a river and the fish respond.  Classic case of letting nature do it's deal, and look what happens....

Thank goodness Redden was around to force the powers that be to become good stewards of our rivers.  Here's to him, and his judicial legacy he's leaving behind

River Characters--St Joe Daina

On or around the river, you really run into some amazing people.

Case in point, the best damn shuttle driver in North Idaho, St Joe Daina.

Living in the tiny town of Calder, Idaho, Daina is always ready to hop in your car and provide a timely shuttle down the river. 

Every year when we see here again as trout season gets here, she gives us a great update of the ongoings in the St Joe Valley and funny stories from her year so far.  She tends to laugh at us when we say we love to go out in the rain to fish.  "You guys are crazy" tends to be her refrain.

To the point, Daina is a salt of the earth lady who's a pleasure to do business with.  You can tell she appreciates us nutty fishermen.

Last time out, OMR and I discovered she has one heck of a hidden talent.  During the winter and her free time, she devotes her time to the canvas. The picture above is one of her originals she dubbed "Old Man" 

Looks a hell of a lot like OMR, but non the less is exceptional work.

The worlds best shuttle driver on the St Joe has prints to sell if your interested, or if your looking for a shuttle, we here at Chucking Line and Chasing Tail suggest you give her a ring

Give Daina a call at 208-245-1279

New MIllsfly Partner--Recycled Waders

We here at Chucking Line and Chasing Tail couldnt be happier to bring Recycled Waders into this little outpost on the internet.  Based out of Seattle, this company is doing an amazing job of re-purposing waders that would have otherwise been sent to the dump.  Their site says they recycled over 941 pounds of defunct waders.

While we're going through and testing a few of their products, tune back in soon for a Recycled Waders giveaway to some lucky reader.  We wont even make you go on some lame scavenger hunt, I promise

Until then, check out what's going on with is company by visiting their website HERE

Dry Flies Baby, Dry Flies--Headhunters Video

Spring Training from scumliner media on Vimeo.



Maybe it's the dry fly action...

Maybe it's the fact that tossing a dry after a fall and winter lobbing nymph rigs is really sexy...

Maybe it's because I've been so steelhead obsessed that I'm having fun rediscovering trouskies...


Or maybe, the deal is this.  This video rules.....

Thanks Headhunters!

Look through the Lense with Detonation Studios-Depuy Spring Creek and Simms

SIMMS Spring trip to DePuy Spring Creek, MT from Detonation Studios on Vimeo.




Um, yes.  Double yessssss

And oh yeah, for more kick ass tunes from that band you just heard, go HERE.

The Truck Visor Fly Box

It all starts with one....just one.....

You end the day fishing and forget to stick that swing bug into it's usual home in your fly box

Two weeks later, the menagerie of flies emerges and you've created the Truck Visor Fly Box.

The collection of flies up to says a hell of a lot about who you are as a fisherman.

In the case of the photo above, you can probably tell what Dave McCoy of Emerald Water Anglers spends a lot of time chasing.

Sometimes, you never would guess what the hell is going on with some, and that brings us to another entry from the illustrious Rick Matney

All that weaponry above means that Rick catches some of the biggest browns in the state of Montana.  Advanced tactics kids, advanced tactics!

After a while if you're not careful your collection will grow like vines and take over the cab of your truck, as Tyler Treece submits.

Not much more to say here than HOLY SHIT!

Its my guess that there's countless other truck visor fly boxes out there and we here at Chuckling Line and Chasing Tail want to see them.   We will compile them up and send out different versions here and hopefully soon we'll have a contest to award some killer swag to the most crazy example that comes in

Send your pics to
jmills 81 at hotmail dot com

Thanks in advance!

Villano's Trailer Works--Our Raft's New Chariot

After you buy the raft, there's a one more big purchase that you shouldnt take lightly

The trailer....

There are plenty of options out there, but I wanted to take the opportunity to shed some light on a small operation  that we worked with to custom build our trailer to the specs we were looking for and the end result was fantastic

Enter Paul Villano of Villano's Custom Trailer Works in Coeur D'Alene, ID.

Friends with trailers have all had stories of trailer failures and we spent a lot of time researching what route to go.   I found Paul originally on craigslist and you could tell right away he was great at what he does and takes a lot of pride in his work.

Our raft is a 14 Ft Super Duper Puma with a NRS Frame.  Key items for us were a strong construction built to take a beating, heavy duty wiring, multiple areas for tie downs, big tires and a pressure treated lumber decking.  7 ft by 12 ft was the size we were looking for

Paul did all of those for us at a great price, much less than comparable trailers

From start to finish, the build was very fast.  He kept us updated with the process and the photo's detailed his attention to detail.

One more for ya..

Working around other friends trailers over the years, there were a few items that Paul added that makes a lot of difference when loading and unloading the boat.

Elevated Roller Bar--this really makes the boat crank up easily and slides off without much effort

Elevated Winch System--it creates a lesser angle on the crank up and puts less stress on the boat and the dude winching it up

More than anything, Paul listened to what we wanted, took our suggestions and incorporated it perfectly in our trailer.  Even after it was done, we had to take it through Washington State Inspections (sham) to get it licensed.  They denied it at first because it was missing fenders (again, sham) but Paul welded a pair on at no charge to see that we were ok to roll on our state's roadways
(double sham, thanks WA State Dept of Licensing). 

Now time will tell the ultimate durability, but I have a feeling it will hold up well.  Also, it's great to have a personal contact with the guy who built the trailer that we can go to if something does go awry.  You certainly cant get that at Harbor Freight, can ya!

So if you're looking for a trailer for your  raft, I highly suggest you call Paul.

Villano's Trailer Works

201 N 17th st.

Cd'A, ID 83814

(208) 964-5878

pwilliam101@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Mexican American River Relations

The report is that the meeting was amicable. 

The Confidence Boost...

When winter steelhead grind you into submission....

When work and life get's as nutty as you can stand....

If your last several trips were not as you wanted...

If any other maladies plague your life,

As if you were a computer, hit reset and find yourself on a cutthroat river. 

One thing is for sure, they make you smile every time they rocket up and snap up a dry fly.  In this particular cutties case, it was the first dry fly fish of year for me.

God bless these little confidence boosters.

The Prophecy of The Take Out...

Well, why yest it is

You see the craziest shit at the take out......

The Effect of Steelhead Season On a Trout Nymph Box

It just plain get's neglected....

Time to get on the vice.

Oh Hello There....

I'm back baby!

Amazing isnt it how much we depend on being on the interwebz......gone for a 2 weeks and holy hell the blog's gone to sheet.

Not really, but we're all systems go for a big ramp up

Stay tuned this week for several items

Gear reviews from Redington and Sage

A write up on the classy new rack that we use to transport our raft, aka...our brand new custom trailer

Fishing reports, even though its, ahhh hem, lake season

So again, thanks for coming back and get ready for a big run here at Chucking Line and Chasing Tail.

Cheers Brosefs!