Fishing a whole month out west

Ever wished dropping everything and head out to fish for a whole month in the best rivers in Montana?
Sounds like a dream, but some guys just live the dream.

Backcountry fishing in Montana

Here's a great video of backcountry fishing in Montana. Fishing the spots where rarely fishermen are seen. Pretty much fly fishing heaven!

Check out the very nice horizontal moving shots in this footage. This type of variation of filming adds to a cinematic viewing experience. Probably used a slider of some sort since it's so smooth.

Too bad most sliders are pretty awkward to carry. I'll have to see if there's a lightweight version available. Here's a Kickstarter project called AirTracks. A very nice portable slider using an inflatable air bed as the track and a set of trolley wheels on a plate to keep everything extremely portable. Still at around $300 not exactly pocket money.


Update March 22, 2013:
Here's an affordable slider that's compact enough to take it along when fishing. This Mobislyder looks like the one we have been looking for. But... it's a cheap piece of crap unfortunately. Check out this video review.

Well, the search goes on...

Notice how close fishing is done

Rod companies are eager to sell their latest and the greatest rod to the discriminating angler.

I've been wondering more and more why we judge the performance and quality of a fly rod by taking it to the parking lot and start casting 80+ feet of line?

Don't get me wrong. I love casting an 80+ feet tight looped line. However, most of my fishing is done between 15 to about 40 feet. Sight fishing with nymphs is my favorite way of fishing. This is sometimes done as close as 10 - 15 feet.

This type of fishing means minimal false casting (generally only one or at the most two back casts), stealth approach and positioning yourself for that one chance delivery of the fly.

You've probably seen those amazing DVDs and YouTube clips of trophy trout fishing in New Zealand. Generally acknowledged as the highest difficulty level in fly fishing for trout. A trophy fish is spotted first and the fisherman carefully cast to that one fish.

Notice how close the fisherman is to the fish they are after.

How to choose a fly line

There's more than just picking a line from the shelves of a fly shop than the right line weight and taper.

These days many fly lines tend to get past the bandwidth set by the AFFTA for a line weight, usually heavier than the line weight should be.

Some fly line companies (like Rio) 'overweight' nearly all their fly lines while some only make one model that's overweighted (e.g. SA's GPX). This is probably the result of ever faster actioned rods of the past two decades: to create a line that feels better on modern (stiff) graphite rods...

I prefer fly lines from Scientific Anglers because their weight is true to the AFFTA standards. I also like SA lines because the diameter of their lines 'feel right' for their line weight. My experience with Cortland and Rio fly lines are due to the larger diameter of their lines they cause more wind resistance as well as taking more room on your reel.

Here's a great posting on another blog about how to choose the right fly line for your rod.

How to tie the original Klinkhåmer Special

Here's a nice write up of the history and the way to tie the Klinkhåmer Special as the originator, Hans van Klinken, does.

I've never really fished this fly much since I fish mostly nymphs, but it's always a good idea to have a couple in a fly box.

So, if you're not using the same hook, dubbing or even turning the hook 90 degrees to hackle the parachute hackle, you won't end up with a real Klinkhåmer Special!

If you're a really lazy bum, here's a video of Hans tying his Klinkhåmer Special so you can sit back and watch the whole process. You can't get closer to the original way of tying than this, can you? Well done Hans!

Update Nov 2024:

Recently Hans van Klinken finally finished his book, just on time for the 40th anniversary of the Klinkhamer. His fly seems to have undergone a few iterations along the years as the most recent version doesn't have a dubbed body but is made of quill wraps and a ribbing of silk.