It Smells Like....

 

 It's time to tie up a bunch of these....

Maybe attempt to tie a few of these....(notice the teeth marks)

Ok...a few of these too.

Because it's time to get ready for the best time of the year.   And back to the title of this post, it's starting to smell like Steelhead Season

With 15 days till the epic trip northward and the summer runs making their way inland, we're about to hit the sweet spot of the year.

Hells Yes.

Tegan Vs Steelhead

Marty and Mia Shepard of Little Creek Outfitter's are giving their daughter Teagan an amazing gift.

Love for the Outdoors.

My childhood mirrors a lot of what Miss Teagan experiences, but this little lady is a river veteran well before I ever was.   If you read their blog, you will continually see that their daughter is always along for the ride.  Down the John Day, even in Baja, her parents are doing the right thing and not leaving her with the babysitter all the time

So in summary, good on you Mr and Mrs Sheppard......and

I bet she never spends times with video games.  I'd put money on that

The Last Thing You Want To See In Your Inbox....

Is your buddy holding a 25+ pound Permit in an email entitled

"Wish You Were Here"

Yes Doug, I DO wish I was there.

Check out Doug's Fly Fishing Operations and Travel Guide Services at FLYTREKS. 

Despite the photo, he's a great dude, loves to fish and can get you to some world class amazing places around the world to fly fish for little swimmers like the one above.

The Sportsman's Challenge For Bristol Bay...

Through the end  of 2012, we have the opportunity to double our impact in raising funds to protect the worlds greatest remaining intact salmon fishery. 

Bristol Bay, the great artery of salmon in the heart of Alaska.

An unnamed donor to Trout Unlimited has stepped forward with the offer to match donations up to $200,000 for the remainder of the year.

Time to step up everyone.  NOW.

Visit the Trout Unlimited page dedicated to this amazing event and give what you can.  Whatever it is, consider it doubled with double the impact for good.

Click HERE to donate.

Hunt Deer This Fall with Reevo....

Last fall I got the opportunity to go afield with a great father and son team to chase geese, as detailed in this blog report HERE.

It was a tremendous experience to say the least.

Mark and Cody Reeves are some of the finest outdoorsmen that I have ever had the experience to hunt with.  Ever watch "Duck Dynasty" on TV, well Mark is their long lost brother and Cody has taken the 45 years of experience from his father and taken it up one notch further.

Besides waterfowl, the Reev-o team has deer hunts available this fall.  Archery and modern firearm, I highly suggest you give these guys a call if you'd like a guided whitetail, and or possibly mule deer hunt on private land.  These guys will provide you with an experience that you wont forget.

Their pre-hunt preparation is top notch.  Lets just say they have some evidence that there's some big boys on the land they have access to hunt.

Lastly, their rates for this fall's deer season are WAY less than most and VERY affordable. 

If your interested, give Mark Reeves a call at 509-220-3040.

I have a strong feeling you wont be disappointed.  There are no guarantees, but you will be left with an experience that you will absolutely, positively never forget. 

The Steelhead Ate My Phone...

One of the more impressive offerings in the non rod-reel department at the IFTD trade show a week ago was the Iphone 4 case lineup coming from Montana Fly Co.

Currently there's 14 cases for the Iphone that rests in your hand, but there's whole metric ton of new offerings coming soon.  

Line yourself up with the Montana Fly Co.'s Facebook page to learn more about their 2013 offerings.

To me this phone cover just solidifies my craziness for steelhead another level towards nutbag status.  
I figure I will be breathing through gills soon enough.

Burlesque to Wading Boots, She Needs Your Votes.

My good friend Jeremy from the Great White North, aka, The Land of the Canadian Tuxedo needs our help, or namely, his girlfriend does.

Lets just say she's a multidimensional lady.

1.  Elizabeth puts up with Jeremy

2.  Is a burlesque dancer named Lula Bliss

3.  Fishes the 2 hander, and overall loves to fish

Right now, she's in the running for a big prize in the photo contest sponsored by the Fly Shop in Welches, Oregon

Here's Jeremy's account of the battle

This fish was caught in Campbell River, BC about a week and a half ago. It was caught by my girlfriend Elizabeth. She was fishing with an 8/9, 11' RST switch, and

an Abel Super 7 loaded with a Airflo scandi and ridge running line.

The fish was caught nymphing a fly tied on a Tiemco 2457, sz6, with pink polar ice dubbing, and pink crinkle flash, under a thingamabobber.  It was her first salmon ever on the fly rod that she cast, mended, hooked, and landed by herself.

So if you have it in your heart, visit the contest page HERE and help her win some great fishing schwag 

The Tongass Comes Alive....

"The Last Salmon Forest" The Drake awards submission from Detonation Studios on Vimeo.

This issue is a bit under the radar.  Pebble get's the lionshare of press and it should, but right behind it is the battle for protection in the Tongass National Forest in SE AK.  Watch this video and salivate like me for the finished product.....cause it's what we should be working to help

Kudo's to BG and IM for their quick work to get this into the Drake Film Awards last week, taking home the award of best cinemtography.  In talking to the filmmakers, it was a whirlwind 11 days of filming as well as a massive 6 day crunch to get this teaser together.

Can't wait to see more

Some Companies Care...Some Could Give A.....

A few days back from the International Fly Tackle Dealers show in Reno and it's allowed me to reflect on the show, at least from a trade show rookie prospective

There is so much cool new and innovative gear coming out, good gawd.  I literally could post for two weeks on a daily basis and still would have more info to cover.  The show was a tremendous networking experience and the trip will pay dividends for years to come when it comes to contacts within the industry

The issue I keep coming back to is that some companies care about bloggers and social media outlets, others could really give a shit.

At least that's the impression they gave.

Maybe it's the fact that they dont know me, my blog or why the hell I was there, but I could tell within 1 minute if a company wanted to deal with me.  I wasn't a fly shop, I'm no traditional media outlet, just a little outpost on the internet called a blogger.

Interestingly, some of the biggest companies....we're talking the big boys and girls, were so cool.  They'd walk us through the entire new lineup, show us what they're excited about, so on and so forth.

Another set of firms looked at the name badge and really didnt care to "waste" any time with us.  Not wanting to tuck tail and run, I'd fiddle with a few products and roll out like a red headed stepchild.

The smaller companies, the hungry ones, were excited about what they were doing.  They wanted to tell their stories, give you a picture of what they were all about.  They made me feel so excited to see the direction they were going.  One owner told me a story of with his last 700 bucks...he took $600 to purchase materials and equipment and kept the last $100 to keep his internet on.  Now, he's rolling and there wasnt another person I talked to who wasnt ultra impressed with his efforts.  That guy's going to be a classic American success story.  From the ground up, there's a groundswell of good opinion.

Another company just about had everyone eating out of their palms.  It seemed that 90% of show attendees had an Iphone, and that company had most of the Iphones covered in their product.

Let me reiterate, I wasn't there for freebees.  I was there to meet and greet.  "Kiss Babies and Shake Hands", you know what I am saying?

If you search out there in the internet land, look for the companies that have the good reviews from the show.  Those are the ones that made everyone feel like a million bucks.  Truthfully, the difference between Label A and Brand B isnt in the gear itself, it's the attitude of the company.  The attitude of the company and how they interact with their customers is how brand loyalty and brand evangelists are made.

Can't wait to go back to the show next year to see if anything changes.

Hopefully it's somewhere again that has showgirls....

Olive Hits the Big Time--She's an App

Olive has hit the big time.  From the book series by author Kirk Werner of Duvall, WA.....Olive is has now been transformed into the digital age as an Itunes App.

So ditch Barney, let Bob the Builder go to the wayside and pick up the app for Ipad, Mac and Iphone

Your kiddo's will thank you....or at least Kirk will.

Click HERE to start learn more and download instructs.

Doing It Right...Recycled Waders Profile

When you spring a hole in your waders (done that a time or two myself) and because you bought them from a good, reputable company, what happens when you return them?

Usually, they send you a brand spanking new pair, smelling of wadery goodness, right?

Ever think of what happens to your old pair?  Before you ask, there's no wader fairy who magically takes them away and we never worry about the waste ever again

The answer lies in a very innovative company out of Seattle called Recycled Waders.

Owner, operator and chief bottle washer Patrick Jenkins is the man behind the vision to take all of that waste and turn it into functional fishing gear, as well as pieces for everyday life

And here's the deal, they're really damn cool.

Also, 941 pounds of waders were re-purposed and stayed out of the landfill in 2011.  Double Cool.

At the Chucking Line and Chasing Tail house, the wife loves this piece

The Eddy Roll Top Tote.   This is what a majority of groceries come home in.  It's bloody huge and fits a ton.  It also works well for a baby bag, and lets face it....way cooler than some Coach baby/manpurse that you're forced to wear when out with the kiddo.  Am I right, or am I right?

This fall, as I chase Steelhead, I am really excited about using this

The Big Fanny hip pack.  Yep, I also have one of those two.  They should meld well on the river.

There are 11 different products currently available on the Recycled Waders web site and more in the R and D pipeline according to Patrick.

Oh, for you hipsters out there.....check out the messenger creel.  You might even say you can put a bird on it (ahhh, shoot, Portlandia reference)

To sum it up, here's a company that's doing a solid for everyone in the industry and turning it around with a healthy dose of American angling ingenity.  Good on on ya Recycled Waders.

To find their products at a retail location across the west and some internationally, click HERE

This Sticker Eats Your Sticker for Lunch...

One of the perks of the trip to Reno is that all the vendors let the stickers flow like wine. 

Stickers are like Olympic pins to dorky fishing bloggers.  They attract us like flies.

This Gucci monster came courtesy of El Guapo himself, who put this little blogger right under his wing and introduced me to a metric ton of people at the show. 

My apologies for no frame of reference on the size of this window art, but it's a solid 5 times bigger than anyone else's sticker.

Patagonia brought home 4 best of show awards at IFTD and lets just say they were pretty damn happy about it.

Check back here in short time as we will be posting some of the other great sticker swag that found it's way back to the five oh nine.

IFTD Reno, New Sheet Has Come To Light, Man...

Sorry for the gap between posts, we've been busy.

The International Fly Tackle Dealer's Association trade show was a revelation to this fishing blogger.  The top companies in the industry put their best food forward with their 2013 lines and new products.  More importantly it's the biggest networking event I've been a part of as long as I have been writing this outpost on the internets.

It was a tremendous opportunity to speak and hang out with so many people I've only spoke of via the virtual world of fly fishing.  It's interesting when you actually meet a person you've talked with only online, through emails and in print.

"Oh, so you're that guy"  "He great to finally meet you"  "Holy Shit you're tall"  There's that moment of slight awkwardness and then go on having a good time being a gear whore and loving everything you're seeing at the show.

The connections that were made at this show have the potential to catapult the ideas I have and things I want to do, write about or be a part of so much faster than I have ever could imagined before the show. 

In the next week or two we will be highlighting a few of the products and initiatives that were discovered at the show.  There's some really great companies coming up in the fly fishing world that need some showcase, there's tension between rival companies, there's new kids coming up in the industry and mostly, there was a lot of debatchery in the lovely, ahhhhem, casino's of the biggest little city in the world.

For instance

--The line between drift boat and raft will never be the same

--There's a hell of a lot of innovation with new companies rising up fast

--Some companies really like to work with bloggers, so companies could give a shit.

--Conservation issues continue to be at the forefront

--The sense of community is really there amongst the fishing media, especially other bloggers

--The new rods and reels are bloody amazing.

--Soft goods have come a long way since I've started fly fishing

--Mostly, you get a bunch of degenerate fly fishing nut-balls together in a town with a hefty amount of beer and gambling, some hilarity and craziness will ensue.  Lets just say we might have politely harassed blackjack dealers into the wee hours of the morning on several occasions.

So keep an eye here in the next week or so, cause new shit has come to light.

Sharing the Spot...

Knowledge gained on the river is a special thing.  Want to make it more rewarding?

Share it.

My home river is a funky flow.  Funky in the sense that it doesn't give up it's secrets easily.  Wading feels like walking on bowling balls coated in snot, fish don't readily rise to a dry and lastly, as summer progresses, you have to fish some crazy spots because the fish are in search of food and highly oxygenated water.

Over the years I've put the boot work in to find the spots and ledges that hold fish, and I hold those spots dear and usually, pretty tight to the vest.   Recently, I've realized that those secrets are best shared, at least in a small capacity.

The past month or so I've been joined by a couple of great friends as the sun rises on the weekends to steal a few hours of fishing before family obligations return us back to the home front.   Watching the gigantic smiles on their faces as the rainbows took time after time out of those hard to find runs and pools has made my fishing experience that much more enjoyable.

You can get burned if your not careful who you bring.  Against my better judgement, a few years ago I took a guy who begged me to show him this spot with the understanding that he wouldn't bring the rest of the world.

Turns out he did, numerous times

But hell, that's the chance you take.

I am now more careful on who I bring.    On the flip side, now they have been exposing me to water that I was not aware of, and techniques I didn't know about. 

You get back what you give....

Who wants to go fishing? 

Nymph-Aid...Stickers for Bugs

Recently, a large part of my trout fishing arsenal flew the coup.  My prized trout nymph box filled with about 150 flies fell into the drink on the Spokane River and disappeared.

Which leads me to a great offer I shall throw out there.

Last winter, the great folks at The Wild Steelhead Coalition  and Save Bristol Bay hooked us up with a great deal of stickers for our Connect Film premier....

And when I say hooked up, I gave up out a couple hundred at the event and still have a ton left.  In the effort to get more of these stickers out there on cars, trucks, boats, rafts, trailers....whatever you may have, here's my offer

I need to restock my nymph box quickly.

You want these three stickers.

There's no minimum, there's no maximum.  Send me flies, you get a set of these babies to rock wherever you damn well please.
The main point of this, aside of the flies, is to strongly urge you to join the Wild Steelhead Coalition  and find a way you can help with the Bristol Bay fight against the Pebble Mine.  Both groups are doing tremendous work and need all the help you can offer.  I promise you this, you wont be turned down if you want to get involved
Drop me a comment with your email address and I will shoot you the pertinent details.

Let Nymphaid Begin!

The Spokane River Bannana Fruit

The elusive and rare Spokane River bananna fruit. 

Jesus H, is it that hard to find a garbage?

and to top it off....I lost my entire nymph box. 

Double FML....