The Fly Fishing Show came to Pasadena again this year amidst a heavy storm that dumped a river of water into the valley and coated the hills with snow The roar of the crowd was strong as they over-ran the booths, poured into the lecture halls, and stuffed the destination and adventure theaters and filled the fly tying demonstrations. One thing that can be said about fly fishers is that they are an enthusiastic bunch, to say the least. The crowd at the casting demo had a great time, and were most cooperative–learning all the nuances of the Foundation Casting Stroke, the Reaches, Shooting line, and whole bunch more. You were a most enthusiastic crowd–thanks!

The most-cooperative audience on the right side of the casting pond using their "six-shooters" as they learn the Foundation Casting Stroke.

Those on the left side of the casting pool giving the "six-shooter" signal right back to their cohorts on the other side of the pond.

The Badger Fly Fishers held their spring opener On February 5th at the Raddison in Madison,. It was a fun filled day of talking, tying, and getting to see old friends again. The presentation room was filled with winter-weary Badgers looking for little virtual fly fishing experience.

One half of the crowd waiting for some winter relief.

The other half or the Badger contingent. For those of you who have had communications with my great friend, Henry Kanemoto, that's him giving the Star Trek victory sign--sorry Henry but there's still 6 more weeks of winter. sign

My very good friend and fishing buddy, John Beth, had a booth at the Show–the first time in the all the years (25?) that he has not been the Show MC. He featured his wonderful hand-made knives–about 40 of them. John is a craftsman of unusual quality, and his knives reflect not only his attention to detail, but his ability to achieve that detail. Here are three samples of his work. If you want to get John’s knife newsletter, email him at johnbeth@rucls.net.

The perfect gift for your Valentine.

A white hunter's knife for sure.

John makes dozens of knife blade shapes and lengths using everything from railroad spikes to harrow spring teeth to stainless Damascus and all the finest high-carbon steels, flint, and beyond. This is an example of his culinary skills.

The past few weeks have brought sad news of the deaths of three friends in the fly fishing community. My old pal, Syl Nemes, died on February 3 in Bozeman, Mt. Syl was the author of a big handful of books on soft hackles—everything form the history of their early development to the use of soft hackle for spinner imitations. He was as soft and gentle as the hackles he espoused, and we had many laughs and good times together. I’ll miss you old friend. Our deepest sympathies to his wife, Hazel, and their family.

Chuck Tryon, who wrote several books on the fly fishing experiences in Missouri, died on February 7. In addition to his where to books and texts on fly patterns, Chuck wrote the definitive book on fishing for Bream—bluegills, sunfish, and the like. He sent me an early copy, and after reading it I agreed to do the forward to it. He was always an inventive and forward looking angler. Our sympathies go to his wife, Sharon, and his family.

Then yesterday February 20, 2011) while I was at the Pasadena Fly Fishing Show, I heard that another long-time friend, Dick Talleur had just died. I saw Dick at the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ, in November, and he seemed as bright and alert as always, as he sat and tied his beautiful weather-wing wet flies. Good bye, old friend, and deepest sympathies to his family and friends in this tome of mourning.

Here’s one fine pair of nippers! These are not your momma’s nippers, and they’re not your daddy’s nippers. These are decidedly the Humvee of the nipper world. Abel has always built superb products and these beasts are no exception. There’s heft, there’s superior nipping power, there great looks, there a needle to clean the hook eye that won’t poke unwanted holes in one’s digits. All I can say is Wow, it’s about time someone turned their attention to such an important part of our fly fishing accessories. See these and more of Abel’s great products at www.abelreels.com.

Top view of the Abel Humvee nippers

Side view of the Abel Nippers--note the heft of these beauties.

My friend, Captain Jake Jordan, recently landed what would most certainly have been a new world record Blue Marlin on the fly rod. He refused to kill the fish, and so it will have to stand as an unofficial record. He deserves praise and thanks for this unselfish act.

Here’s the report from his skipper:

“Another notable day was on January 17^th 2011 which was the finally day of a Jake Jordan Fly Fishing School. In the closing hours of a day of catching several sails on the fly, there was a huge explosion on my flat teaser. There was no doubt it was a marlin. As Flaco began to tease the fish in I saw that not only was it a blue marlin but a Big One. Jake quickly got the marlin fly in the water. The fish teased in and we got the cast off, but she didn’t bite. It took several re-teases and recasts and then Jake got the bite. It was an amazing fight that lasted an hour and twenty minutes and then we got the legal release (being able to grab the leader–GB). Ten minutes later the fish was tired out and laying on her side swimming behind the boat (Jake was actually able to reel down on the fish and touch it with his rod tip–GB). This is when I saw actually how big she was, a good 400 lbs or more. This is the largest marlin I have caught fly fishing and if we would have chosen to kill it, it would have been at least 100 to 150 lbs larger then the current world record. I have many great memories fishing aboard the Intensity and have caught many marlin but this one is up there as one of the very best.”

–Captain Mike Sheeder

Not only is this a noteworthy accomplishment, but the fighting sequence was unique. Jake has been fighting these huge blue-water beasts for years, practicing on large tarpon in between blue-water trips. He fights the fish strictly from the reel, never bending the rod, using the boat to help in positioning and line retrieval. His technique will be detailed in my forthcoming book, The Angler as Predator.  Watch this site for announcements on all the forthcoming books, and time-to-time excerpts from them.

Jake's Blue Marlin showing off its size.

I will appear on Roger Maves Show–www.AskAboutFlyFishing.com tonight, February 2, 2011, Ground Hog Day, at 7pm Mountain Time. We will be discussing Fishing the Film and other topics. Let’s hope I get it all right the first time so I don’t have to do it endlessly until I do.  See you then.

Great News! The Great Waters Expo will be held in Blaine Minnesota--just on the NE edge of Minneapolis this April 1-3. I will be speaking at the event.

For more info, click here.

From the website:

Tom Helgeson’s Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo will continue this year on April 1, 2 and 3 at a wonderful new location — The National Sports Center in Blaine.

As you may have heard, Great Waters founder Tom Helgeson died in November after a brief battle with cancer. His absence left a huge hole in the Midwest fly fishing community.

Thanks to the help and encouragement of his countless friends, we are thrilled to announce that we are continuing Tom Helgeson’s Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo in the Twin Cities.

We have been overwhelmed and heartened by the enthusiasm and support to continue the expo and build on his legacy.

To become an exhibitor, contact Greg Savino at gsavino@nscsports.org.

For program suggestions or other questions, contact: greatwatersexpo@gmail.com.

For media inquiries, contact Lew Beccone at dbhsone@hotmail.com.

A word about Midwest Fly Fishing magazine. When Tom got sick, he had to devote all his attention to the grueling treatment regimen. Tom’s family is restarting the magazine and plans to continue it long into the future. We appreciate your patience and expect to have an issue out before the expo. If you have a story idea, want to place an ad or for more information, contact mwfly@mwfly.com

Remember, the Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo will be April 1, 2, 3 at the National Sports Center in Blaine. We look forward to seeing you there.

While at the Somerset New Jersey Show, I met Morten Bundgasard, Managing Director of Pro Tubefly System. Now here’s innovation. I can’t believe that someone actually has made plastic propellor blades for tubes. WOW is all I have to say. At long last, someone is thinking. In addition, they have a variety of cone head weights to give the tubes jigging action, and plastic and metal trumpet bells (placed on the leader with the wide end pointing forward) to give the tube a most enticing swimming action. There are even  bells with holes cut into them to create current flow through the bell as the tube is retrieved.

Add to the mix precisely molded tubes in different sizes that can be used without a latex hook sleeve–and which are flexible from -22F to 122F, latex hook sleeves if you want them, a very easy to use, flattened pin that is held in the vise on which the tubes can be placed while the fly is tied, and more, and you have a tubefly system second to none.

You can see all their great offerings at www.proflytyer.com. Click on “products” in the header bar.

A sample pack of Pro Fly Tyer tubes and accessories--look carefully!

A tube on the flattened tying pin--secure the thread very tightly to pinch it against the pin.

A completed Down and Dirty, black and purple, Collared Leech, Just add a hook and steelhead, browns, or salmon

At the Somerset Show this past weekend, I gave a presentation on “Nymphing,” and was asked several times about the pattern for the Snail Fly. It’s so easy that it’s almost embarrassingly so.

Here’s the pattern for the Snail Fly:

Hook: Sizes 10-14, standard shank length hook (I like a heavier wire nymph hook because I often encounter big fish and light wire hooks get straightened too often).
Hackle: Fore and Aft style, dry-fly quality brown hackle, 3 to 4 turns each at rear and front of body.
Body: 4 to 6 strands of heacock herl twisted together for strength and to build bulk; fat cigar shape. Body may also be built of peacock-0colored crystal chenille for a more sparkling appearance (the Sparkle Snail is great in deeper and discolored waters).
Rib: Bright copper wire counter-wound on body to re-enforce it and give a glint of copper color
Weight: Optional; lead wire under body or copper or tungsten bead head. I don’t weight the fly, allowing the weight of the copper wire to sink the fly slowly.

Fish the fly any and every way possible in lakes and ponded areas of streams. I may fish it with a Strip/Tease retrieve or simply cast and allow it to sink. I’ll fish it under a styrofoam indicator in the waves (Wave Bobbing) or heave and retrieve fast with long strips interspersed with short strips. I may fish it on a full floating line and long leader or use a sinking line or sink tip. In other words, get in in the water and try a bunch of different retrieves. This thing works!

The Snail Fly--just fish it!

Sunday, day 3 at the Somerset Show, sported a good crowd of enthusiastic people who attended the presentations, destination theaters, adventure theaters, demonstrations, workshops, and filled the Show floor.

I managed to visit my friend Ken Reinard, the Colonial Angler, at his “shop,” that he had set up at the show. Ken has spent a great deal of time carefully researching the olde history of fly fishing from the days of Dame Juliana and is versed in hand-making hooks from pins and nails, and then using them to tie patterns of the olde days without the aid of a vise or other modern tying tools. His book, “The Colonial Angler’s Manual of Flyfishing and Flytying,” is certainly unique among currently published texts, and gives the reader an opportunity to examine the “way it was” in accurate detail.

I also had a chance to visit with my friends Gary Edwards and Rick Pope. Gary is a fishing friend who has guided on New York’s Salmon River and in waters of the western US for many years. I videotaped Gary landing a world record king salmon on a 6lb tippet some years ago. Rick Pope is owner of TFO rods,which had a well-visited booth at the show, and featured Lefty Kreh and Ed Jaworowski.

The Day 3 crowd was a busy one with lots of questions.

Ken Reinard, Mr. (Ye Olde) Colonial Angler in his most interestingly equipped "shop" at the Show.

Gary Edwards (front) and Rick Pope posing so nicely for me at the TFO booth. We had a good time talking steeelhead and big fall run browns on Lake Ontario streams.