Italy - an unknown jewel?

I've been to Italy several times. Never travelled with a fly rod, but that might change next time.

Flies shipped

Destination: Germany

Mouse order

It has been a while I did some serious deer hair work. Here's a mouse I just tied this afternoon for a friend.

I think it turned out okay. I'll probably burn the eye area to get the eye sink a little bit deeper. Just need to look for some glue to keep the doll eye in place.

Usually I'll use natural grey deer hair for my mice, this time I used bleached hair for the top with some brown hair stacked. The underbelly is white.

Click on the picture to get a larger view.
Enjoy!

Update:
Shipped!

Orvis Superfine Glass (II)

The new Orvis Glass rods are making quite a dimple in the fly fishing scene.

Magic fingers

I rarely fish after dusk. Why? I think the main reason that I don't fish after dusk is I don't have this 'home river' which I know every inch of the banks, tree or rock in the water. And that's actually a pity because I've often heard how good the fishing can get after dark. Not sure if fishing after sunset is permitted in the rivers and streams I fish, so it might even be forbidden.

Probably everyone has this fear of slipping or stumbling over a rock in the dark. With a home river, one can focus on the fishing rather than wondering where you are and whether you are about to end up in a nasty current.

I remember this one evening with my buddy Dave during a moon lit night, a few miles away form his house on the Bow River in Calgary. Big browns were cruising along the banks sipping spinners. I can say it was something new to me yet very exciting. Minus those nasty mosquitoes which bugged me the whole evening...

Fishing in the dark means one needs a light to change a fly or even untangle a messed up leader.

Here's an unusual little LED light that I ran into. It's a LED light that is used to make light shows in the dark (probably on the dancing floor in night clubs) while wearing them on several fingers. It has a rubber band around it so you can tighten it around your finger. It comes in several colors including white, but the red one seems to be pretty useful since red light doesn't destroy the night sight as much as white light does.

I don't know when I'm going to end up in an evening rise, but I'll keep one in the back of my vest just in case.

Melody on bamboo

Here's a nice video made by a bunch of young Swedish guys who built some bamboo rods together and decided it would be nice to capture their efforts on video.

Too bad the video quality isn't fullHD (1080P)…

RISE Fly Fishing Film Festival 2014

The RISE Fly Fishing Film Festival 2014 is planned for 21 April 2014. This year is the fourth edition in The Netherlands since 2010. This year we're back to only one venue in Rotterdam at Cinerama.




The feature film for 2014 is Leviathan.

Tickets (€16 per seat) is only available here.


Program of the venue:
Tributaries 
Blood Knot 
Blackwater – Devil’s Gold 
Alaska - La Frontera Norte 
LEVIATHAN (feature film) 

Teaser of Leviathan:

The South African innovation: the Palm grip

South Africa is not the most obvious destination for most fly fishermen from Europe or the American continent. It was the book called 'The South African Fly Fishing Handbook' which showed me some truly unique streams in South Africa. No trophy fishing, but fishing in a very rural and amazing background that looks like a mix of New Zealand and the Montana.

For severals years I have been getting the marvelous newsletters by Tom Sutcliffe, a South African author of fly fishing books. Over the years, I noticed something in Tom's writings and pictures which caught my eye: the 'palm grip'.

Especially the articles in Tom's newsletter in November 2010 and more recently in June 2013 turns out to be epic reading. This quite unusual grip form evolved from the search for the ultimate small stream rod by Tom's friends Ed Herbst and Steve Boshoff.

The Palm grip was developed to keep the weight of the reel close to the hand while eliminating the gap between the end of the grip and the reel. Early versions of the palm grip looked a bit odd at first, but the more recent versions look unusually handsome. Sage made a few models of the SPL rod series using a very similar idea: the Center Axis rods.

South African rod builder Koos Eckard has been building rods with his interpretation of the palm grip and one of his recent rod built using the Orvis Superfine Touch blank looks pretty awesome. Yes, it does take a while to really appreciate the grip form, but the more you look at it, the more the grip form starts to settle in.

I'd like to see how the proportions of the grip changes if the grip was made a bit slimmer around the mid and lower section of the grip as well as bit less pronounced like the Orvis Superfine grip. Koos also finished a Sage Circa blank with the palm grip which looks a slightly more slender. According to Koos the palm grip is tremendously comfortable. Maybe I should try one of his rods with the grip in the future!

Update: Feb 6, 2014:
Koos says the Circa grip is the same as the one he made on the Orvis blank. Probably the angle of the photo. Well anyway, I think the grip looks very nice.

Just add some money… (II)

Looks like the Patagonia region is filled with amazing fisheries run by exclusive lodges. Here's another one in patagonian Chile with mouth watering fishing, food and scenery.

Got money? Book your trip here.

Just add some money...

… and book a week in paradise? I've never had the urge to book a fishing lodge, but this footage sure look tempting. The blue sky, the clear water and amazing scenery are definitely doing the magic together.

Got money? Book your trip here.

Yellowstone Angler's 2014 shootout 8 weight rods

Yes, here we go again: Yellowstone Angler's yearly shootout. This time they are looking at 8 weight rods.

The usual suspects are in the top rankings.
The winner is the G. Loomis' butt ugly NRX again. Surprisingly the Orvis Helios 2 did very well and ended second.

What did surprise me is that the Sage Method didn't do as good as I expected. Probably what I was afraid of: too damn stiff. Another surprise was the Hardy rod. As George says “it sucks!..”

American made Orvis CFO reels

The Orvis CFO reel is a modern classic. Introduced just over 40 years ago, no other reel is more considered as the Orvis reel as the CFO. The last couple of years Orvis changed the design of the CFO as well as having them manufactured in the far east. It just doesn't look right and I'm not the only one…

Recently Orvis decided to go back to its original looks but this time the reel is built in the USA rather than in England as they used to be. It is rumored that Abel builds the current CFO reels for Orvis. The most striking difference with the older Hardy (around up to late 1980's) and BRF built CFO reels is the shinny anodized finish.

The new reels doesn't resemble with the older numbering. The original CFO was available in a lot of sizes (II, III, IV, V and for a brief period the 123 and I). The new CFO is now only available in three sizes. The smallest version being slightly larger than the original II, which was impossibly small. The new II is the same diameter as the less known 123. The largest version is the same as the most popular sized CFO III. Maybe Orvis will introduce larger sizes soon.

The capacity seems the same and probably the spools are interchangeable, but this is yet to be confirmed. The new CFO reels are still very lightweight reels but slightly heavier than the original CFO's.

The new CFO reels are $325 to $345, which is surprisingly 'affordable'. I have yet to take a look myself, but I'm very curious. I won't be ditching my original CFO's anytime, but these new CFO's could be a big seller. A CFO with Abel quality sure sounds very solid. One thing I notice on these reels I don't 'like' is the wooden handle.

To make things even more complicated, Orvis also sells a real Hardy made CFO III as a limited edition version. It's a beauty obviously, but priced at almost $700 it's probably only interesting as a collectible rather than a fishing reel. There were several limited edition versions of the CFO reels in the past, so probably this won't be the last one...

Dry fly fishing for brown trout in sweden

Here's a very nice video about dry fly fishing for native brown trouts in a nice stream in Sweden.

Unlike many other videos on Youtube I watched the whole video without skipping parts. The pace and footages of this video is very relaxing and exciting at the same time. The close ups of the wild life between the fishing action really gives the video a very enjoyable flow.

Sunglasses on a brim?

We've all seen those magnifiers that attaches to the brim of the hat. Here's a new twitch to the theme: sunglasses that clips to the brim. I saw these at an on-line fly shop that's located in Luxembourg.

My favorite magnifier for old eyes is the Flex Spex. These flexible arms clips to the side of the hat and can be moved out of the way when you don't need them. I've used them on my last trip for the first time and it works like a charm.

Redington Practice rod

Practicing on your casting can be done best using a regular fly rod. What's the alternative when it's not possible to cast outside with a rod? Use one of the many practice rods! As of this moment there are three real practice rods available: the Echo Micro Practice rod, the Orvis PractiCaster and the Redington Form Game.

Redington's practice rod called the Form Game rod is different from the others that it comes with a real fly line made by Rio. The fly line is modified to be able to cast with this 5 foot rod and comes as close as the real deal. It's not the best casting rod and line combination, but it's functional.

The other practice rods use some kind of poly yarn rope to emulate a fly line and it works excellent in living room or indoor type of situations. When used outside, especially when there's a breeze the yarn rope has some trouble keeping its path. The Form Game rod is more of an outdoor (lawn) alternative due to the length of the line (30 feet) and the speed of the fly line. I've even heard that some folks use the rod as a real fishing rod!

I have both the Echo Micro Practice rod as well as the Redington Form Game. Both rods are pretty identical in length, build and action. The Redington rod looks a lot nicer because it has a nice cork grip rather than a foam grip (Orvis has a cork grip as well). In fact, both rods will cast the yarn rope that comes with the Echo as well as the fly line that comes with the Redington rod.

The Echo rod comes with a line that's made up of two different kinds of material. The main part looks like a piece of material that's used in outdoor gear while the last part is made of a long piece of glo bug yarn. There is no 'fly' attached to it. The Redington rod comes with a big fluff of yarn knotted directly to the tip of the fly line as a 'fly'. I revised this part with a loop connection and a piece of 2x tippet which makes it a bit more durable.


So, which one to get? Both rods do a pretty good job as a practice rod to improve ones casting. The Echo rod setup works amazing in the living room without needing a lot of space to cast. The yarn line has enough drag in the air for a fairly accurate feedback. But I'd say get the Redington Form Game. It's just more versatile as a teaching tool and a practice rod. Both rods make a great set up to get kids into casting because it's a lot of fun trying to knock down a row of empty cans using the 'fly'.

I do hope both Redington, Orvis and Echo will offer replacement lines because eventually the lines will get wasted with a lot of use. Especially when used outdoors on pavements etc.

The team behind the iPhone development

The introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 was the best product launch I've ever seen.

Here's a very interesting article about the team that developed the iPhone and how the iPhone became the game changing product as we know.

Why do fly fishermen make so many false casts?...

One day fishing for brown sea trout in Tierra del Fuego, John asked (former President of the United States) Carter why he was catching more fish than the rest and he replied, "I don't false cast."


Update Aug 15, 2014:
Here's a nice posting on Gink & Gasoline about the benefits of limiting false casting to a minimum.

Orvis Superfine Glass

It has been a while Orvis had a fiberglass rod series. Orvis is releasing three fiberglass rods in 2014 with their new Superfine Glass series (still made in the USA). I have always loved the Superfine grip shape on old Orvis rods. I'd love to see a dual reel ring version on the lightest rod. Probably possible as a custom build? Looks promising!


Update Dec 11, 2013:
I just ordered a 7ft #3 Superfine Glass at Orvis.
I asked if the rod could be finished with dual reel rings, but the diameter of the blank at the grip doesn't allow such a reel seat. Bummer….

We decided to keep the (aluminum) up lock reel seat as used in final production model. I asked for a shorter grip. 5 inch instead of the 6.5 inch which will come on all three production models. 6.5 inch grip on a tiny 7ft is too much in my view. Should take a few weeks I guess.

Update Jan 16, 2014:
I received the rod today and did a quick test cast outside.

The finish is good, not exceptional. Functional and typical of Orvis as I know. The pea color blank reminds us of the Golden Eagle glass rods (blanks were made by the Phillipson rod company) Orvis sold during the 1970's.

The blank is quite thick at the grip. The shorter grip and the slightly shorter up lock reel seat keeps the proportions nicely compact.

The rod casts very smooth (I strung up a reel with a Sage Quiet DT #3 line) as could be expected of a fiberglass rod. It has a lot more back bone than I thought it would have.

I also tried with a SA's XPS (SA stopped with the XPS series in 2012) WF3 line. The rod really shines around 20 - 25 feet of line. It's really nice to feel a rod that doesn't 'invite' to cast 80+ feet like most graphite rods today. Forcing the rod does make the tip jump a bit.

7ft for a #3 is a very nice rod for small mountain creeks and streams. Just what I intend to use the rod for. $395 is a very decent price for a well made rod (incl. a fiber glass rod tube!) from the oldest mail order company.


Update June 2014:
I sent the rod back to Orvis. The rod had a ferrule clicking which I couldn't fix with candle wax. Orvis asked me if I wanted the rod fixed or a refund. I opted for a refund. I guess missing out the dual reel rings just bugged me more than I thought...

One can dream, right?...

Nice August

This year has been a pretty busy year so far. I really needed a few days to relax, straighten out a few ideas and empty the head. I didn't get a chance to cast a line out all year, until the end of August. It's probably the last time this year too, but it turned out to be some fabulous three days of fishing.

The area was hit pretty severely earlier this summer, yet all seemed to have recovered pretty well. The weather during the three days was wonderful. A few days before my trip there was some light rain giving the river that slight amount needed to get in shape. By the time I arrived the water cleared up. The level was a bit lower than I expected but it was perfectly fishable. The day I traveled back home was extremely wet. So, talk about being lucky!

I always wear a vest when fishing, this trip I exchanged it for a hip pack. I wanted to see if a hip pack is a serious alternative to my trusty mesh vest. Organizing a hip pack is more work than I thought.

Here's a verdict after three days using a hip pack. What I liked: keeping my boxes and accessories organized in one place. What I needed to get used to: keeping the belt snuggly to prevent the pack from wobbling but this also meant that turning the hip pack from back (when fishing) to front (when changing tippet, etc.) was a lot more difficult than expected. What I hate: the bag hanging around my waist means that it can get wet (although the inside stayed perfectly dry) when I kneel down to approach the fish quietly.

A hip pack keeps all the weight around an area you hardly feel the weight, but I think I'll still go back to my trusty mesh vest. The hip pack will be kept in 'pole position' when I decide to give it a try again, but within hours I missed the ease of use when wearing my vest.

I also finally got the chance to try out my new 'old' rod. This rod performed way above expectations. The rod feels so light in the hand and it casts so smooth, yet with authority, I was utterly amazed. In fact I liked it so much, the other rods I also brought to give them some flight time stayed in the tubes.

I wonder why rod companies keep pumping out ultra stiff rods while fishing a smooth moderate-fast rod is such a more pleasant fishing experience. Rod that loads well from 10 to 40 feet yet with reserve power to get past 60 feet when needed.

I tried to shoot some more footages (alone!) but the great fishing resulted in ending up with only a few useable video clips. To watch the video in HD, click here.

Innovation in fly rods

Innovation in fly rod design is the enemy of high end rod companies.

Why? Because innovation means revolution rather than evolution. Innovation comes with (too) large improvements on existing ideas or concepts. This is where the trouble is: revolution might result in consumers not buying it because it's too extreme.

An example of true innovation in fly rod design is ArcticSilver's idea to ditch the cork grip for an integrated plastic handle. Hmm... Their idea certainly makes sense but I doubt this idea will be a big success. It's just too extreme. There's very slight resemblance to Sage's Center Axis rod series. The idea is nice but the Center Axis rods wasn't a huge success either. Mainly because you're stuck with the reel that came along with the rod and the price was pretty stiff too.

High end rod manufacturers like Sage want to keep on a slow evolutionary path so they can release a new rod every two to four years. This way, they can keep making money and don't risk alienating their loyal customer base.

Rod companies that comes on a level below the high end companies (Sage, Winston and Thomas and Thomas, etc.) are probably more willing to experiment with true innovations. Mainly because they don't have a big customer base as well as the financial effects of failure is smaller.

Echo is a low to mid range price rod manufacturer. And it's no surprise that they came out with a very innovative idea with their new Shadow 2 rod at the recent IFTD (International Fly Tackle Dealer) show. I like the idea behind the Shadow 2 and the price point is amazing!




Revolutionary innovation isn't always a failure. Apple released the revolutionary iPhone in 2007 and the phone industry changed completely. Same goes for the iPad.

Circle of life