One Man's Trash...

As kids, they were carp aficionados.

Down from their house, the slough off the Columbia was full of them.  A quick detour to the slaughterhouse where they collected their bait of dried cows blood directly off the killing floor and they were ready.  Armed with cane poles and baited hooks, they laid siege.

They caught carp after carp after carp in that slough.  

I wish I could tell you that they were nice to those fish, but in those days they're quarry weren't well thought of.  Cut the tails off and chuck them back in the water.  What did they know? There were thousands of them in that smelly, gross water.   They were boys being 10 year old boys.  Lord know we all have some sort of story like that in our recesses of our childhood.

60 years later and here I am finding gold in another generations trash.   The first time I asked my father to go carp fishing with me it caused more than just a chuckle and a raised eyebrow

His mind changed when the backing knot cleared the last guide and kept going out.

Purple Fly Eater....

Chopaka Lake Rainbows may or may not have an affinity for Purple Haze Mayfly Emergers...

Just saying.

So Honored...

A small fish in a very big pond, I feel extremely honored to have a piece I wrote featured on the Patagonia Fly Fishing Blog today.

Read it HERE, and thanks for reading!

Promont Late Spring 2014 Lineup

Weston and the crew at Promont Outdoors is back at it with killer additions to their late spring lineup

Take a peek at the preview video and give them a look on their website

Especially cool is the collaboration starting between Promont and Bozeman Reel Company

Sometimes the little guys are the ones driving innovation and customer service levels to create a better customer experience.  I'd have to say that this is especially true with Promont, as their products are worth every penny they cost.

Give them a shot.  You'll love what they have to offer

Paper Mouth Party...

I was instantly 5 years old again, fishing under the dock lights at a neighbors lake cabin where crappie congregated close to a downed tree

The fish were a willing participant in the memory throwback and we laughed and did our best North Dakota/Midwestern accents as each fish was hooked and played to the boat

We as fly fishermen and women can tend to get a little too uppity about fish we go after in our time afield and this week's afternoon trip to a local lake loaded with crappie was a great reminder that trout arent the only game in town

After all, dipped in panko and pan fried, crappie are a hell of a lot tastier than those Oncorhynchus Mykiss

The Rod In The Garage...

"Here, you should have this"

And with that, a piece of history was handed to me.

There' has always been the rod tube in my grandmother's garage.  Of course I had opened it over the years but my eyes were never open to what it was.

Graciously, my uncle gave me a piece of angling history, and I cant wait to restore

As the Fiberglass Manifesto says, glass is not dead

It's just waiting to be reborn

RIO CamoLux Line Review

Sitting on the shore of Chopaka Lake, I looked over to another angler getting ready to launch his boat and I couldnt help but notice...."that dudes got it dialed"

You see I had the requisite chironomid rod and the full sink line, but at that point I hadn't yet realized that I was missing a key piece to really getting after it on a lake

An intermediate sinking line set up

Back to that day on Chopaka, and all the normal tricks were not working and that guy was railing on fish.  Fishing on the slow drop, the intermediate line ending in a scud pattern was the ticket that separated the frustrated from the laughing.  

Enter RIO's Intouch CamoLux line.  Boom, spot filled.

This line has it's game down.  Here's the top 5 reasons why this line is a very welcome addition to my bag of tricks

1.  Castability--Normally, lines with sink are like casting a bag of hammers.  This one feels more like a floating line than a intermediate, with a heavy front taper that allows the line to rocket out

2.  It get DOWN--but not too fast.  Up to two feet per second

3. Line Color and Texture.   3 colors to create the weirdest line color I've ever seen, and the texture allows for great sensitivity

4.  The Hang Down Marker-- Seems kind of funny, but it gives good reference to when you're ready to roll again.

5.  Low Stretch--When you've got a pile of line out, it's pretty easy to loose a fish because the line has so much belly and stretch to it.  Earlier this year on Coffeepot lake with 95% of the line out, the fish I hooked stayed right on and I could feel each nibble till the full connection.

---

So in conclusion, this line gets a full stamp of approval from the staff at Chucking Line and Chasing Tail.  Searching for a the intermediate line to complete your lineup, time to order up the RIO InTouch CamoLux line

The Juice...

You know, sometimes when you sit down to the pile of feathers

What pops off just has it,

The Juice....

Nothing's worse than after 15 minutes of grinding away on a fly than to realize you have what amounts to as a steaming pile of shit you'd rather burn and start again than swim it in the water

But alas, there's the time the alchemy rolls together and you finish with a piece that you say to yourself

"Gaw Damn"

This baby's got the JUICE

Cant wait to swim this fly in front of a fish.  I have a feeling the results will match the expectations.

Mills boys....

There's something special about a grandpa dropping a little fishing knowledge in the ear of your first born son.

Settling a 3 year old down at a newly discovered urban pond is next level impossible,  but each time a fish was hooked he bolted over and wanted to "weel it in"

OMR and I gladly obliged.