Raleigh Fly Fishing Show
The Raleigh Show was a great success. Lefty Kreh, Joe Humphries, Bob Clouser, myself, and others offered classes, gave tying and casting demos, and spoke with PowerPoint presentations. Sunday morning I had a couple of hours to tour the show, and bumped into my old friend, Jay Bergan, who owns and operates the Five Rivers Lodge in Montana: www.fiveriverslodge.com. As we were chatting, he showed me some photos of Jason that I had taken several years back when he and I fished with Jay. To my surprise, the first photo he showed me is the one that appears on the cover of Reading Waters—Jason fishing a particularly nice pool on the Big Hole River! Rather amazing, indeed.
I also had the chance to talk with the guys at Fish Skulls. They have a new product called Articulated Shanks—a hook shank with a loop at each end. One serves as the eye of the fly, the other end serves to connect this shank to the hook behind. Great idea! I also picked up some of the new Sculpin Helmets from them. These are a variation on their original Fish Skulls that give the fly a flat-head, sculpin look. They make great jigs! See more at their site: www.flymenfishingcompany.org
Articulated Shanks from Fish Scull come in three lengths, allowing the tyer to build the exactly right-sized, articulated fly.
Sculpin Helmets from Fish Scull come in a several sizes and colors. They make great sculpin , minnow, leech, and crayfish imitations that ride hook-point up and can be bounced right along the bottom.
An olive Down & Dirty Sculpin with an olive Sculpin Helmet is a great bottom bouncing imitation.