Trout Grass DVD on Youtube

The DVD Trout Grass is now on Youtube. Not sure it's uploaded with permission from the publisher. It's not DVD quality but still very watchable.

I love this documentary on the origins of Tonkin bamboo as material for making bamboo fly rods and have watched it numerous times. The explanation about fly tying and what it's for starting at around 38:30 is simply poetry.

Enjoy!

Download the video before it disappears (again)!

Update May 2015:
It's (obviously) gone again…

Update Jan 2017:
Use this link to watch it!

Here's another video on bamboo and it's magic:

What is wrong with the weather (again!)?

End of May, early June is usually one of the nicest time of the year to fish in my favorite region of central Europe: southern Germany and Austria. Well not this year. Again?...

I have been writing about unstable and unpredictable weather patterns during spring and summer the last 5-7 years. This period used to be quite predictable and very stable. Planning fishing trips were usually done around new year. Nowadays that's useless. The past couple of years my fishing trips are planned at the most 3 weeks ahead.

This region has recently been pounded by heavy rain for days on end causing flooding rivers, cities drowning with record levels and even casualties.

Even the highway (highway number 8) between Munich and Salzburg has been temporarily closed down due to flooding! That's unheard of...


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Good thing I didn't have any plans to do some fishing during this time of the year because I would have been washed away together with all the fish and luggage... The rivers and streams will probably need some time to recover. I doubt it's any good at least till end of June or even mid July? And I seriously need to hook some nice fish!!!


Update June 21, 2013:
Well, it looks like the other part of the globe in Alberta, Calgary is having problems with flooding caused by enormous rainfall during a very short period (and looks like more rain is to come). The Bow river and its tributary are flooding the city and area.

The news on various news sites are showing epic flooding like small towns under water, people getting evacuating and small creeks turning into raging rivers.

During my trip in fall 2005 to Alberta I remember friends in Calgary talking about the worst flooding of the Bow river area has ever seen in 2005. This years situation looks a magnitude larger. I hope my friends in Calgary are okay. I'll try to get in touch with my buddy Dave, who owns a fly shop.



Update 22 June, 2013:
My buddy Dave is okay. This is what his wife wrote to me:

"... So far we are dry (including the basement) and are fingers are crossed that it will stay that way.
... It is hard to focus on anything other than local news coverage and social media sites! Things are crazy in Calgary. 

Shop is open today - being "manned" by staff that don't have to cross any bridges. I think it's been pretty quiet other than folks stopping in to share news."

Finamore

Love the shirts from the Neapolitan shirt maker Finamore.

Especially the cutaway collar is what I think has a true sartorial look which Finamore shirts stand out.

A new rod - the Classic G.Loomis IMX

Anyone remember the G. Loomis IMX rod series?

G. Loomis (pre-Shimano era) launched rods using the(ir) new IMX graphite in 1987. The IMX graphite, together with Sage's Graphite III (released in 1989) used for the RPL rod series, was the start of a whole new generation of fly rods. These rods made of high modulus graphites were more resistant to stress which resulted in much lighter and faster actioned rods than before. These days we'd call these medium-fast rods. Perfect rods for fishing, not parking lot rods. My trusty 8ft #4 IMX travelled with me on my first trip to Montana in 1992.

Recently someone showed up with a G. Loomis IMX (9ft #4, 4 piece) blank. This blank was kept in the closet for at least 20 years! I just couldn't resist it and bought the blank. The IMX blank needed to get the best treatment it could possibly get, so I asked the Romanian rod builder George Minculete to finish the blank. Check out the two postings on the progress of this rod on his website here and here.

George understands the beauty of proportions. So many builders and rod manufacturers completely lost their touch because they don't understand the essence of proportions. Take a look of the grip size (and shape!) George made for several different rods. Simply perfect.

I've been admiring George's work for some time now and every rod he built looks better and better. The workmanship of George is out of this planet. I asked him to make the grip similar to my Sage 490 LL. Just take a look at the cork grip he sculptured for this rod. George advised me to use the Pacbay light wire low profile guides. The Joel Lemke nickel plated aluminum reel seat is combined with a California Redwood spacer. The wraps are rusty red silk.

George mailed me today that my rod is finished. He sent me some marvelous pictures from sunny Transylvania. He also did some test casting and his words are: "... today I fell in love with the smooth med-fast IMX rod". Well, that just confirms what I was hoping for!

I can't wait until I can check out the fine work George did on the rod. And yes, I'll give the rod a wiggle and give it a cast in my back yard. I'll take the rod on my next fishing trip to give it a christening it deserves.


Update summer 2018:
I sent the rod back for a check up and asked George to make the grip slightly smaller.

Yes, this rod is still my favourite 9ft #4!


Update May 22, 2013:
The rod arrived today. The workmanship is superb. The cosmetics are so understated yet without compromise. So much more classy than most factory built rods. The reel seat is stunning. Almost jewelry without being too much.

I did a quick cast at my back yard. The rod is so smooth! The medium-fast action already comes to life with just 2-3 meters of fly line. I can cast smooth tight loops all the way without any effort. Can't believe why rod manufacturers are making such stiff rods these days?...

The best 5 weight of 2013?

Yellowstone Angler, the famous fly shop in Livingston Montana, has published their annual shootout on the best rods of 2013. This time they took a good look again on 5 weight rods.

The big surprise is that the best 5 weight rod this year isn't another Hardy Zenith (2011 and 2012 winner)  but the G. Loomis NRX Light Presentation. The second place was (another big surprise) taken by the Loop Opti Stream. The Hardy Zenith ended third this time.

It's nice to see that Loomis made an effort to design a smooth rod rather than the stiff rod as the original NRX rod series was. Although I've never cast one yet myself, the description on the NRX series sounded just like that: powerful, stronger, bla bla... And Loomis (or Shimano) need to hire someone who takes a look at the cosmetics (and color scheme) of their rods because they are butt ugly...

I've cast the 9ft 5 weight Hardy Zenith recently for an extended period and it is indeed an amazing rod. It's very light in hand, it's sensitive yet has a powerful mid and butt section for longer casts when needed. The rod casts super smooth at 20 feet all the way up to 70-80 feet. Just one pick up back cast and delivery at 70+ feet is easy!

Very unlike the Sage One which is in my view a broom stick. Can't believe the raves it's getting... Yeah, it's probably a nice stick for tossing streamers to the banks from a drift boat.

Finally George and his men decided to make a video of the shootout. I always want to see if the guy who reviews a rod is capable of casting a decent tight loop. I just can't take a fly shop owner (or a sales representative of a rod company) who can't cast a decent tight loop serious...

Too bad the video quality is, if I may say so very mediocre... George, please use a Full HD (video) camera next time because I can't see the line at all! We want to see you casting that tight loop.




Update March 2015:
A buddy of mine has the 8.8ft #3 version of the NRX LP and good heavens it's a superb casting rod. 3 weights are supposed to be delicate rods but this rod is a casting machine. Casts of 50-60 feet is effortless.

The cork on the grip feels a bit rubbery and I'm not sure I like it. The cosmetics of the LP (dark green) is a a much more pleasing to the eye than the original NRX, which is in my view one of the ugliest rods I've ever seen.

I've yet to cast the 4 and 5 weight rods. I'm sure they are pretty amazing too. Too bad Loomis doesn't sell blanks of these rods. I'd love to get a 5 weight finished by a top rod builder like George from Tightloop.

Another hopper video

Here's another nice video on hopper fishing on a lazy summer day.
Wow, I love the scenery, the stream and the nice browns that grab their meal.

Women in fly fishing

I rarely run into women when I'm out fishing. I do know a few wives of fly fishermen also fish with a fly rod, but generally fly fishing is a male dominated hobby.

April Vokey is one of the very few female fly fishing professionals. April runs a business which includes casting classes and guiding.

Here's a very nice video of April giving a casting demo at a fly show in Germany earlier this year. I think it's also a bit embarrassing to see how passive the public reacts to April's attempt to get them involved with her demonstration... People are probably baffled seeing this nice looking lady casting miles better than they do! :)

Go April!

Update July 2024:

Here's a podcast that gives a good overview of April's career.

Update Nov 2023:

I did a humpy tying demonstration for April Vokey's Anchored Outdoors.

 

Update 26 August 2013:
A message from the Fly Gal herself: "Thanks Jay, I appreciate the kind words.  :)"

Beef up your old wading boots with aluminum bars!

Patagonia rediscovered the traction power of aluminum. Their Rock grip wading boots has aluminum bars on the soles to provide the traction when fishing over slippery rock surfaces.

These boots are probably not for every situation. For instance on a drift boat, the guide will probably not allow you wearing one of these to prevent his boat from ripped up by the bars. Forking out $200 for wading boots that's for every once in a while?...

What if you have a pair of worn out wading boots, preferably with some kind of rubber sole like Vibram? By adding these aluminum bars you can turn them into wading boots to use with ultra slippery conditions. This way you give your old wading boots a second life!

Here's a great 'do-it-yourself' guide from Yellowstone Angler how to add Patagonia's replacement bars to your old wading boots. $40 for the replacement bars from Patagonia and some spare time and you get the real deal. Thanks George for the instructions!

Also check out the 2013 wader shootout at George's website.

Fly tying lamp

I have been looking around for the ultimate tying lamp for many years. One that's bright and easy to carry. Not that much to ask for, right?

Initially the ones that fit this description were halogen lamps. The bad thing with halogen is the heat. The halogen bulbs have a relative short life span and replacements are pricey. Then the lamps using LEDs started to appear. LED has low energy consumption, stays cool, have a long life span and give very clear white light.

So lets talk LED lamps for fly tiers. So, what are the options?

The best looking LED lamp for fly tiers at the moment is made by Marc Petitjean. This lamp is very well made, comes with an aluminum arm to attach the lamp to the vise. Unfortunately this lamp comes in at a hefty $280!

The next candidate is one made by Peak. This one doesn't look as sexy as the one by Petitjean, but it's still very nice. The one by Peak comes in at around $140. A lot less than the Petitjean but still no pocket money.

But tying lamps have one problem: the light coming from above the head of the vise cast a shadow on the side and bottom of the fly. No matter how bright the light is. A minor problem is the physical part: the lamp hanging above the head of the vise sometimes gets in the way with the tying.

So, what's the solution? A lamp with a longer neck? Even brighter lamp with dozens of LED bulbs? This would result in a heavy and not very portable lamp. Why not forget the idea of a lamp attached to the vise and look for something that doesn't come near the vise at all? Like a LED head lamp!

Mountaineers have been using LED head lamps because of the versatility, long stamina and you have your hands free. The best part I like is that the light goes where you look at. So no more shadows as you move your head around to inspect your fly.

I just looked up for an affordable LED head lamp and it's ridiculous but I ordered one that's just $3 including shipping!

Hat for a special guy

I just ordered two hats at Thomas & Thomas. These newly introduced hats come with the iconic hand-drawn (by Thomas Maxwell) casting man figure that originates from the early days of the company.

One of these hats is for a special guy.

Here is a nice little note by Marc Aroner on Maxwell's drawing.


Update March 10, 2013:
Thanks to Jonas Aroner, here's a link to Tom Maxwell related articles at Spinoza Rod Company.

Interview with Tom Dorsey

Here is a nice, yet short, interview with Tom Dorsey. Dorsey founded the Thomas and Thomas (T&T) rod company together with his (late) brother-in-law Thomas Maxwell in 1969.

They started building bamboo fly rods only with a brief experiment using fiberglass blanks from the Phillipson Rod company.

Tom Dorsey: "The first graphite rods were not built until 1978 when we purchased our graphite manufacturing equipment."

T&T switched owners several times the past decade. It was even briefly owned by a Scottish investment company. Now it's back to American ownership.

The famous picture (probably somewhere in the early 1970's) shown here shows the two Toms testing a new bamboo rod.

Also check my previous posting with a nice video on how bamboo rods are made at T&T.


Update Nov 20, 2013:
Here's the best article on T&T and interview with Tom Dorsey I've read so far.
The brief history on T&T up to the the current owner of T&T, Mark Richens, is very well done.

RISE Fly Fishing Film Festival 2013

The RISE Fly Fishing Film Festival 2013 is planned for 12 & 13 March 2013. The third edition in The Netherlands since 2010.

The feature film for 2013 is Predator. Predator explores the globe for the largest and most powerful fish that can be taken with a fly rod.

These large predators employ all sorts of techniques to maximise their chance of catching prey. Some, like the queenfish use pure speed to outrun and crush their prey in the surface film. Others like the mighty barramundi of Australia’s North use brute power to get a feed. Predator is going to be a visual extravaganza.

We changed the Amsterdam venue from Tuschinksi down town Amsterdam to Pathé Arena for easier access by car as well as parking facility nearby. The Rotterdam venue is still held at Cinerama.

Tickets for either of these venues are only available here.



Update Feb 16 2013:
Here is a preview snap of the announcement of RISE in the March 2013 issue of the Dutch angling magazine BEET.


Update March 14 2013:
Two shows done.

The ticket sale for both venues were about 30% down from previous edition(s). The Rotterdam venue turned out to be slightly more filled than the Amsterdam venue.

The reactions on this year's show were great. The three short movies before the feature movie were well received.

Especially the search for the illusive (300+ lbs!) Arapaima in Guyana (South America) turned out to be a very enjoyable one. As of yesterday (March 13 2013) this movie, Jungle fish, won the Sustainability Film Award at the 2013 Sundance Film festival.

Here's an (favorable) article on the BEET website about the show we did last evening. Thanks to Rudy van Duijnhoven again for the pictures of the show!




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Hopper fishing

I love fishing with a hopper. The very visual take is just an amazing sight.
Here's a very nice video on hopper fishing in Alberta, Canada by the Jensens.
It seems it's the Red Deer river, not far from Calgary.

How the west was won: a success story

Sports Illustrated is probably known to most as the magazine that publishes the famous annual swimsuit issue with the most fabulous women on earth. But they also seem to cover more than just chicks in bikini's.

Like this article from the April 30, 1956 issue about the successful introductory of the brown trout in America.

The story starts with a shipment of 80,000 fertilized brown trout eggs from Germany in February 24, 1883.

The start was quite bumpy as fishermen considered the brown trout was an inferior spices that just wasn't was easy to catch as the native brook or rainbow trout.

As the Fish and Game commission from Montana said: "The brown trout is a good fish, but the average fisherman is not skilled enough to catch it."

A week in Montana

So, there's a lot of rubbish videos on Youtube. And there are some jewels on Vimeo.

Here's a fantastic video, albeit shot with a professional quality DSLR. Check out the usage of sliders (also shown in the video itself) making the footages really pop out. Also notice the length of the video.

Hmm... I miss Montana.

New Patagonia Lightweight wading boot = Chota Caney Fork?

I was just watching a video on the new 2013 wading boots from Patagonia. I especially like their new Lightweight wading boot. It looks a lot more sturdy than their previous boots.

The Simms Freestone boots I have been using since they came out in the early 1990's (they were called Firehole boots back then) are true bomb proof boots. I still have a pair with felt soles almost gone but the boot itself is still going strong.

I haven't tried any wading boots from Patagonia yet, but I often read they are very lightweight (great when traveling by air), comfortable yet not very durable. Most of the problems came down to stitching coming loose. I hope these new boots are a lot more durable.

After watching the video I thought they have this look that looks a bit like Chota boots, in fact they look very similar to the Chota Caney Fork boot! Well, my guess is that Patagonia buy their boots from Chota.

Here's a good picture of the new Lightweight wading boot from Patagonia.

What do you think?

Fly fishing videos on Youtube are horrible...

Boring...

I just tried to watch some Youtube videos on New Zealand fly fishing action. You know: trying to get some relaxation after dinner.

I selected a dozen of the most recent videos, but there wasn't one that was really watchable. Then I started randomly selecting videos as suggested by Youtube.

My conclusion is that the majority of uploaded videos on Youtube are basically terrible.

What is wrong with most fly fishing videos on Youtube:

• Low resolution. These days I won't watch anything less than 720p. Those blocky 360p videos look prehistoric.

• Shaky video. It's a major head ache watching earthquake registrations. 

• Horrendous background(?) music. Bon Jovi as background music?...

• Too much boring action(?). Who wants to watch a bent rod for 3-4 minutes? C'mon, cut out the boring parts!

• Zooming in-and-out. Zooming (unless ultra smooth) makes a video look very amateurish. Stop behaving like tourists!

• Constant panning. Unless done ultra steady and slowly or using a slider of some sort, panning is asking for an asperine.

• Too long footage. Any footage (= shot without a stop) longer than 8-10 seconds looses its momentum.

• Monotonous setting. Video with only one (background) setting is very boring.

• Too short video. That's it?!

• Too long video. Video's longer than 5-6 minutes is too much.

• Raw material. Watching unedited raw video is not exciting.

There are zillions of fly fishing videos on Youtube and Vimeo. Not all videos are rubbish. There are a few very nice, even professional (looking) videos.

Some of the absolute best are from Todd Moen. One of my favorite video by Todd is Heads or Tails. The storyline, the suspense, the slow motion and the action. Simply amazing!

Obviously Todd is a professional cameraman so we can't compare his work with folks who upload their videos on Youtube, but there has to be said something about the quality of videos that are uploaded.

Discovery from yesterdays...

It's end of december and it's that time of the year. Long dark winter evenings which are made for reading. This evening I picked out a bunch of older issues (1982/1983) of Fly Fisherman magazine.

It's nice to see what innovations we've seen since the early 1980's. Take for instance the graphite rods. The early rods were much more nimble and slower actioned rods that resembled the best fiberglass and bamboo rods that were common. Brands like Powell, Fisher and LC (Loomis Composites) were the companies that brought the best new fly rods. All three rod companies are now defunct.

Other huge improvements have been in waders and (foul weather) clothing. Most waders back then were made of rubber. Very effective but also very heavy and uncomfortable. Neoprene waders were just entering the market. Same goes for wading jackets. In fact the rain jackets we now know as wading jackets didn't exist back then. Rain jackets back then was everything that kept you dry. The wading jackets as we now know was 'invented' in 1989 by Patagonia with their SST jacket.

I like to check out the ads in the magazines. Some were on the verge of getting really big. Like the now defunct Kaufmann's Streamborn with their famous catalogs and mail order business. While others, like Leonard's bamboo fly rods, were on their way out as demand for the products diminished.

Simms, back then located in Jackson Hole Wyoming (sounds better than Bozeman Montana to me!), wasn't the big wader company we know now but they started selling fishing accessories. Sage started their journey to the current dominance in high performance fly rods.

And Orvis was big back then as it is now, maybe even bigger. Here's a nice 'discovery' I did while wandering through the magazines.

It's known that Orvis issues other companies to put an Orvis label on their product to be sold as an Orvis product. The Orvis Featherweight SSS reel is the lightweight version of their famous SSS saltwater reels, which probably didn't stay long in the catalogs.

I ran into an ad from a company called Crystal Mark who made a reel called the Stutz Estuary Reel. So it seems that this company made the Featherweight SSS reels for Orvis.

Even more interesting is that it seems that both the original Stutz Estuary Reel and the Orvis Featherweight SSS reel were sold during the same period. Here is the announcement of the Orvis Featherweight SSS in the Jan/Feb 1982 issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, while the Stutz ad was found in the December 1982 issue.

Update:
The company that made the Estuary reel asked the then unknown machinist called Steve Abel to make the Estuary reels. We all know what became of Steve Abel. Here is where I got the information.

Little (european) joke

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.