Unabated Thievery...

I hooked and landed the first fish of the day.

Decorum gives OMR the jump on each new piece of water until his line goes tight.

Of course, that takes about 2 casts in the next run....

Returning the favor, OMR jumped back in line

The rest of the day, he picked my pocket 4 times.

I'd like to say I was mad about it.....but the truth is, I couldnt be happier.

Ridiculous Sunset...

A great day on the big river ended with a bang....

with one of the most brilliant sunsets I've ever seen.
.

It's winter.  So what.  Get out there, now.

The Choices Inside Your Dog's Head...

While I am standing thigh deep in the flow, Murph Dog is left to her own demise.

Passing the time between casts and the occasional hookup, I start to think about what in gods name is going through the dog's brain while she watches me fish....

It's all about choices

Eat and roll in the dead, rank and rotting salmon, or.......Hang out on the beach

Find the deer carcass, ripe a leg off of it and chew it to bits and in turn, smell like decaying flesh for two days or.......swim out to me, anchor in the current and perform the doggy treadmill (see below)

Jump into the run first and spook the fish, or.....fall asleep standing mid river

She's a dam fine lab with a good enough bird nose to boot, but there's always a a bit of hijinks involved when all she has is time on her hands.

Of course, when a fish is hooked...she's right there as inspector general.

What's your best story of dogs on the bank?  We'd love to hear about them.

Felt and Snow...

Sometimes, you just have to get out of the freaking house

Dropping Hammers with the Method...

Time for another test drive, and this time the Sage Method 12'6 8wt

Before we dive into anything,

The elephant in the room....

A year after the "One", what's Sage doing releasing another $1,000 rod?

It's my belief you cant stay stale in anything.  Sit on the same lineup forever and you're going to get passed and surpassed.   In any business you can go from industry leader to also ran in a second.    Our little fly fishing community tends to get stuck in a baseball like position where we have a terrible time letting go of established dogma and accepting new items.  I myself love vintage reels, but on the same hand wouldnt know what to do if I had to nail knot everything.

For that, I have no problem with Sage pushing for a little bit more, another edge, another innovation.

For that, the Sage Method is the shit.

My test drive for the Method was primarily in the part of my steelhead season that focuses on Clearwater River in Idaho.   The set up was made complete with the new Evoke series reel and the Rio Short Head Spey

The Clearwater is big, in both runs and the size of the steelhead that return.  It's one of those rivers that begs for the long dryline and that's why this set up excited as we focused on the Clearwater August through the beginning of October

Here are my top 5 reasons why I dug this set up.

1.  Extra Crispy--The Method is all types of fast action.  If you like a progressive flex, this isnt your stick.  I tend to cast better with a faster action spey rod

2.  It's Purdy-- Finally a fly rod that's not muted grey/black/blue/green.  The wife has shoes, I have fly rods.

3.  Beautiful Cork--I used it for a solid 7 days on the river and it continued to feel like I just unpacked it for the first time

4.  The Line Combo-- Having only cast shorter Scandi and Skagit style heads, the transition to the 10ft longer Short Head Spey by Rio was made a lot easier by this rod.  It was forgiving and powerful enough to get it going.  Once I got the anchor placement down, it all came together nicely

5.  Lightness--ALthough it's really powerful....after a day of spey casting you'll love the lightness of the stick

Yes, it's a lot of money.  If it's part of your budget, have at it with out any reservations because if you like spey rods for the same reasons I like them, you're going to love the Sage Method Series

Fly fishing will always hold onto traditions and traditional gear.  Every now and then, it's ok to check out what's on the forefront of development of our sport

#Infernoflies Round 2

With Eastern Washington crushing Jacksonville St 35-24 in last weekend's FCS playoff, that gives us two things

1.  Another killer home game this Saturday versus Towson at Roos Field in Cheney

and....

2.  Round of Inferno Flies.

Last week's winner comes from Laura Jenkins, who snapped this shot of boyfriend Eric Speer's recent catch, which so happened to have an all red #infernofly in it's grill.  We're suckers for great fish pictures, and having the fly in the mouth of our favorite fish pushed this entry over the top to win. Flies are in the mail Eric and Laura

Onward to this week's competition....

It runs the same as last week.  Hit the vice and create your own #infernoflies or do what week one winners did and find a shot of the red bug in action.

Make sure to either share the pic with Evolution Anglers or the Millsfly FB pages, or on either instagram or twitter use the hashtag #infernoflies and tag both @evoanglers and @millsfly33 in the post

Joe and I will be posting our week's prize fly up shortly this week and after this weekend's game, we'll pic the winner and award the bugs.

Good luck and GO EAGS!

Steelhead Staredown...

Nothing like landing a fish with Labs putting their two cents in.

But really, we wouldn't have it any other way

Pate Williams survey's the hatchery buck that has since found it's way into the brine, destined  for the smoker.

#swingstepbonk

I'm A Sucker For a Killer T Shirt

If you're looking for a gift for the steelhead fisher man or woman on your list.....may I suggest this killer shirt  from H and H Outfitters

You can bet your arse it's on my list

Big Ups to H and H Outfitters for making some really cool gear and apparel that strays from the norm.  Always great to see a cool upstart begin to get noticed and hit their stride.

Learn more about H and H by clicking  HERE.

EWU Inferno Flies Contest...

Time for a little hometown pride today on the this internet outpost

Eastern Washington University is basically in my backyard but it's always been a little under appreciated in the athletic realm.  Over the past 10 or so years, they've put an impressive run together culminating  2010 FCS national championship

This year, the team looks especially hot so in coordination with the Vanilla Gorilla of Evolution Anglers, we've dusted off a great idea he rolled with as the Eags marched to their championship in 2010

Each week that EWU is in the playoffs, Joe and I will be tying a special steelhead swing bug and giving away a 3 apiece to someone who also creates their own bugs categorized with the hashtag

#INFERNOFLIES

Drop us a picture at either of our facebook pages, via instagram and or twitter by tagging @millsfly and @evoanglers

After each game, we'll determine and winner and that Monday the bugs go in the mail.  Following each victory, our new weekly #infernoflies will start the contest anew.

Gets to tying, and GO EAGS!

A Very Glassy Christmas....

The gold standard in fishing blogs THE FIBERGLASS MANIFESTO is about to hook you all up with one hell of a contest

Starting Monday the 9th for 12 days, you have the opportunity to enter to win great items from some of the heavyweights of the industry, as well as innovative gear from stellar upstarts that are making names for themselves like Bozeman Reel Co.

Head on over to the FIBERGLASS MANIFESTO and get all the details for the contest.

Good luck!

Soul River Conservation

Conservation - Consciousness Runs Deep from Soul River on Vimeo.


This aint your average fishing video, and that's exactly why I dig it so much

Soul River is a Portland, OR based group you really should get to know, combining elements of inner city/riverscape/art/fashion/fishing/therapy for people like wounded vets and at risk youth of our urban jungles.  

They're definitely a company to keep your eye on.

Point. Flush. Miss....

It's never the shots you make that you remember, it's the ones you screw up that rattle around in your brain forever.

We approached the small patch of cover without much hope of it having a bird or two in it.  The quick stroll to the end of the tall blonde grass and the little german shorthair locked on point. With two guns into position, the crazy lab came and and combined with the pointer, up came a monster ditch parrot.

Veering to the right and into my shot lane, I gave it the two shot salute from my under over and away it kept flying.

How in the hell.....?

It was one of those shots you have no idea how you missed.  Going up and away, I've made that shot so many times it feels routine.

But alas, it wasnt.

Late season roosters are no joke.  Combine that with a bad hatch this year, easy shots are few and far between.

Misses are the shots that get you back up early for redemption.    Missed shots are the ones that keep things interesting.

If you made all your shots, birds on the ground and in the waiting mouth of your dog wouldnt be as special.