Many years ago, when gut was the leader material. anglers could connect one piece to another with a simple Fisherman’s Knot. It was simply an overhand knot in each end, and they were slid together. In todays’ world, that knot is too weak for monofilament, and cannot be used to tie two very different materials […]
No, not the mafia—real sharks. My old friend, Chuck Furimsky, recently returned from a toothy critter trip for Northern Pike (which see). He then decided that pike teeth are not nearly toothy enough. So out on the big water off the coast of New Jersey to catch some big sharks—yes you have to use wire […]
Joe Kissane (Drag-Free Drift, 2001, Stackpole Books) recently sent me a great photo, shot by his brother Mike, illustrating the not so invisible nature of fluorocarbon. Mike is a professional photographer and eco-tour guide in Iceland—see here— (the land of huge brown trout, by the way). Joe likes fluorocarbon because of its long shelf life, […]
Granddaughter Brooke had her first fishing outing with Jason (dada) on Sunday (July 24, 2016). She used her Echo Gecko rod-7’9” for 4/5 line–to cast to and catch bluegills and bluegills and bluegills. She selected the flies to use-all dries-and cast two handed. The Echo is designed so that young kids can use it two […]
I just received a note from my friends at Hardy regarding the live tour of their factor that was scheduled to happen on May 6th and didn’t:
This weekend I am at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ. But before the show, I am taking a day to be with the Mainline Fly Tiers, near Philadelphia, PA. We will have an afternoon fly tying workshop from 2-4 and then an evening program at 7. My friend, Jay Kapolka, picked me up […]
Nancy and I are moving west—to the Portland, OR, area to be closer to Jason, and Kelley, and Brooke. We need to get more family time and fishing time together. Amidst all the sorting, packing, tossing, trips to GoodWill, and all the other assorted agonies of moving, John Beth sent me this photo of an […]
I’m headed to Alaska with my friend, Dave Graebel, in search of some big rainbows on the dry fly. This is the time to do it. The trout are not yet so fixated on eggs that they will take nothing else. And, the mayflies are on the wing—both the Western Green Drake and the PMDs. […]
I’m always looking for new equipment items in fly fishing, and I’m always looking with a bit of a jaundiced eye. Not because I’ve seen it all or heard it all, but because my background training is as a research scientist. In science we set a null hypothesis that says something can’t happen, and then […]
Thing-A-Ma-Bobbers are great, especially in very rough water where other indicators are next to impossible to see. But, they have one serious fault, two if you are to believe what everyone says: (1) they score the leader rather seriously, and (2) they kink the leader. The scoring and abrasion comes from the metal eyelet that […]