JUL
27

Judas Fish, Summer Mayflies, & RIO Products

What is a Judas Fish?

This article comes to us from MidCurrent. We had not heard of a Judas Fish before and it's quite interesting how it got the name and how the National Park Service is using it. We think you'll enjoy the story.

http://discovermagazine.com/2016/oct/the-judas-fish

Summer Mayflies: Slate Drakes

Here on Fishing Creek, and in most of the northeast, we are having one of the wettest summers in recent history. Actually just yesterday we had a flash flood in our valley which surprised everyone. Usually by this time in July we're hoping for rain – not so this year.

The good water levels mean that summer fishing will continue to be good and it's time to think about our summer mayflies and in particular the slate drakes. The slate drakes on Fishing Creek are pretty much a true size 12, and a comparadun imitates the actual insect very well, and that's why it's in our online store. The red brown spinner in a size 12 is a pretty good slate drake spinner imitation. The flies have been hatching for awhile, but the fish are still hungry and eager for them.Dark Green Drakes Fly Fisherman

Here's a link to an interesting “Drake” article by Pennsylvanian Paul Weamer. If you live or fish on the east coast, and haven't fished any of the “Drakes,” this is a good year and a good time to try it. They're big, fish love them, and they provide lots of fun at a time of year when otherwise we'd be fishing the really little stuff!

http://www.flyfisherman.com/how-to/match-the-hatch/matching-the-drake-hatch/

WINNER WINNER!

We are delighted to announce that RIO made a clean sweep of every single possible new product award. Read more here
http://mailchi.mp/rioproducts/winner-winner?e=8b5f86f70f  

 

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3016 Hits
JUL
20

Summer Ants, Brown Trout Kill on Yellowstone, and ICast 2017

Summer Ants

antsAs early summer moves into mid-summer, fishing terrestrials becomes a more important part of the game. Many of the mayfly hatches are over for the season and trout will turn to what is available and that is often a grasshopper, beetle, or ant. While we have had some very good fishing, at times, with craneflies, caterpillars, and other less popular terrestrials, it is often an ant that will please a finicky fish. The photo shows a number of ants that were found in the stomach of a trout.

While ants are often hard to locate on the water a winged ant is easier to see, and if that doesn't work, an ant is a good choice to fish as a dropper behind a larger dry fly that is easy to find and follow. Use your hoppers and large beetles in the pocket water and riffles, but when you find a sipping fish in a pool, consider an ant or a small beetle. It might just fill the bill.

Our black fur parachute ant and our winged cinnamon ant are good choices and the wing will aid in locating the fly. Also, Jim's Real Beetles in brown and black are excellent choices at this time of year too because the flies are smaller than most beetles and have a spot of orange yarn on the back to help in locating them on the water. Check out these and other terrestrials in our store.

Brown Trout Kill on Yellowstone

Biologist samplings on the Yellowstone River have recently turned up an unexpected brown trout fish kill along with expected whitefish kill. Read More.

chuck

 

Our friend and Fly Fishing Show founder, Chuck Furimsky, sent this photo from Gangler's Lodge (Canada) where he was recently.  Beautiful pike.  Good job Chuck!  

 

Farbank Runs Away with Awards

Sage, RIO, and Redington (all Farbank brands) ran away with Best of Show awards at the iCast/AFFTA show last week in Orlando. The annual IFTD (International Fly Tack-le Dealer) show recognizes manufacturers for outstanding new products. Sage won for the new Salt HD fly rod, RIO for new innovations in leaders and tippet, plus the Big Nasty fly line, and Redington for the Minnow. Sage also won Overall Best of Show. Quite a year, congratulations to everyone at Farbank who helped make this possible!

sage  sage10

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2929 Hits
JUL
06

Reflections on Ireland, 2018 Trip Schedule & RIO's How to

Reflections on Ireland

0306 IRELAND 2017 We had a wonderful group of people join us on our recent Ireland trip. Our fishing started out in the Conmel area with Andrew Ryan and his guides from Clonanav Fly Fishing. We stayed at the Hotel Minella and fished Andrew's water for three days and caught lots of beautiful brown trout. On the fourth day we took the scenic coastal route to Galway and Ballynahinch Castle. The Owenmore River flows through the castle grounds and we fished for Atlantic salmon for three days. The salmon were not as cooperative as the trout, we saw lots of fish roll and show, but were only able to put two in the net. The castle accommodations were elegant, food and service over the top, and we all loved the estate grounds and the river. We will be back to try again. This is a great trip for the non angler as they have their own guide and itinerary. Please let us know if you're interested in joining us in 2018.

Click here to see a few of the photos from our trip

 

2018 Hosted Trip Schedule


Next year is coming together for us. We have a couple dates to confirm and some finishing touches to put on the itineraries for a couple of the destinations, but overall this is what 2018 is going to look like:

January 13-20   Estancia de los Rios, Chile (trout)
February 6-21   South Island, New Zealand (trout)
March 3-10   Estancia Tecka, Esquel area, Argentina (trout)
March 11-17   Hosteria San Huberto, San Martin area, Argentina (trout)
March 17-24   Limay River Lodge, San Martin area, Argentina (trout)
May 8-18   Grand Slam/Campeche, Mexico, (baby tarpon, etc.)
June (TBA)   Ireland (and hopefully Scotland), (trout/salmon)
August 3-12   Reel Action, Alaska (silvers, pink, chum, etc., trout)
August 18-25, 25-2   Kingfisher Lodge, Bighorn River, Montana (trout)
October (TBA)   Spain, E. Pyrenees (trout)
December 1-8   Tres Valles, Argentina, Esquel area (trout)

We hope you can join us! Please let us know if we can answer any questions or provide additional information on any of these destinations.

RIO's How To: Terrestrials from a Drift Boat

Welcome to Episode 9 of the RIO How To series. RIO ambassador, Rob Parkins, shows how to fish large terrestrials from a moving drift boat. His tips and information reveal how easy and effective this big flies are in the heat of summer. Enjoy.

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2493 Hits
MAR
08

Thoughts on Streamers, Reading the Gauges & Up Jeep Creek

Barry's Thoughts on Streamers

streamerMy rule on streamers is: They can save the day and I put a lot of faith in that rule. I know that everyone enjoys an insect hatch and rising fish but what if the stream is off color because of rain or snow run-off? Perhaps it's early morning and no sign of a hatch or rising fish? Or the water is high and cold, as in early season? The list goes on, but one thing is certain – if you fish streamers you can cover a lot of water and, in my opinion, streamers produce bigger fish. Big trout don't usually grow big on a diet of small insects. Streamers provide the angler with the perfect search-type fly which generally imitates a small baitfish, crayfish or sculpin minnow – something that a larger trout will want to eat. A meal.

Most of the time I like to fish streamers with an across and down stream presentation. Retrieve speeds are important, if you have super cold water temperatures the trout may be lethargic and sitting on the bottom so it's important to get your fly down to them. Keep your rod tip low and close to the water surface. Learn to slip strike by setting the hook with your line hand. If you have a strike and miss the fish you have only moved the fly a few inches and the trout has the opportunity to pursue the fly again. If you set the hook by lifting the rod tip you pull the fly up and out and the game is over. And, make sure you have the best line for the job. A favorite of mine is the RIO Outbound short. It turns over large streamers easily and comes in a variety of sink tips to get your streamers down.

Super Buggers continue to be my go to fly; black for off-color water, tan or olive if the stream has a crayfish population. After that fur leech patterns in white, black or olive; and articulated streamers are always in my fly box. If the pattern is not producing, change patterns. Make sure your fly is down where the fish are and vary your retrieves. Fish your streamers with confidence and you may catch that fish of a lifetime.

Shop for streamers & other flies here

Reading the Gauges

This piece comes to us from MidCurrent and is a topic that we all hear about, but can everyday fluctuations in fish catching be triggered by a morning-to-afternoon change in pH? Boots Allen gives us some interesting information on this old but still very important subject. Worth reading.

http://midcurrent.com/science/reading-the-gauges-ph-levels/?utm_source=MidCurrent+Fly+Fishing+Email+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f0aebda8a8-MidCurrent_March_8_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8efbf3b958-f0aebda8a8-18929377

Up Jeep Creek

We stumbled across this video and do you know what we like best about it? Well, the star is not a young rearing-to-go young guy. We think you might relate. Anyway, it doesn't teach or make you a better fisherman, it's just nice to watch. Enjoy.

TECKA 2017 2563And as promised, here are the links to the photo galleries of Barry & Cathy's most recent trip to Argentina. 

Jurassic Lake

Tecka

 

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3869 Hits
FEB
02

Farbank President Moves On, Winter Fly Fishing & Fly Fishing Show Season

Farbank President Moves On

Travis Campbell with King0003

Travis Campbell, president of Farbank Enterprises for 8 years, has accepted a position at Smart Wool. Travis is a long time employee with Farbank, owner of the Sage/Redington/RIO brands. He will be missed by all of us. Good luck with your move and your new position, Travis. Read More.

 

Winter Fly Fishing

We found an interesting perspective and short story in MidCurrent by Michigan guide, Tom Hazleton, on winter fishing. We hope you enjoy it. We're having a mild winter here in Pennsylvania – a good winter to continue fishing.  2010 Winter fly fishing0682

http://midcurrent.com/techniques/walking-the-line/?utm_source=MidCurrent+Fly+Fishing+Email+Newsletter&utm_campaign=97a2dbd9e1-MidCurrent_January_25_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8efbf3b958-97a2dbd9e1-18929377

Fly Fishing Show Season

It was great to see so many of our readers and friends at the Somerset, NJ, Fly Fishing Show over the weekend. Unlike many years, the show had great weather and no interference from play-off or Super Bowl games, so we enjoyed record attendance and lots of new interest in tackle. The star player in the Sage booth was the new "X" rod. RIO was busy helping anglers match proper lines, explain tapers, weights, presentation, spey, etc. Of course, Redington was showing new waders, boots, rods & reels. The show is an excellent opportunity to see new products, ask questions, and to test rods. Thank you to everyone who attended.

The Fly Fishing Show moves to Atalanta, GA, this weekend, Friday & Saturday. If you're in the area, stop by. For location, hours, presentations, and seminars, go to flyfishingshow.com

001  SUMMERSET 2017  029  SUMMERSET 2017  111  SUMMERSET 2017

 

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3012 Hits
NOV
03

How to Fish a Soft Hackle & Trout Lives Matter

This month RIO is kicking off a series of short educational videos that show ways and techniques that will make us better fishermen. There are 12 episodes, one will be released each month for the next year and you can see them right here.

The first one is "How to fish a soft hackle," narrated by Simon Gawesworth. You may be like me, I thought that I had soft hackles pretty much figured out, but I learned a couple things that I want to try and which, hopefully, will make me a better fisherman. I hope you do too. Let us know what you think.   -Cathy

 

Trout Lives Matter

1478 FALL IMAGEOn our annual trip to the Bighorn this year we stopped by East Rosebud Fly & Tackle (www.eastrosebudflyandtackle.com) to say hello. East Rosebud is a Sage dealer and our favorite fly shop in Billings. On the counter were stickers that said Trout Lives Matter. The Yellowstone and its tributaries had just recently been temporarily shut down due to a parasite issue brought on by low water and high temperatures. A real threat to the fishery. We thought the stickers were clever, appropriate and a great idea. It was amazing though that some anglers were furious because they couldn't fish. Angry comments like "Your sticker's a joke" were heard in the shop. It seems they weren't taking into consideration that they might put unneeded stress on the fish. It was more like they paid for a fishing license and that gave them the right to fish. Then we were told that the new sticker was politically incorrect, it shouldn't say Trout Lives Matter, that line is reserved for another issue. We never thought that a simple 4x4 sticker would attract such negative attention so we bought three more. Heck with them!    -Barry

One room left at San Huberto

We have one room available at San Huberto, Argentina. Patagonia is a favorite destination for us and the Rio Malleo is an all time favorite. With miles and miles of spring creek flowing through Estancia San Huberto, you may not want to go home! Private beats, super guides, great accommodations. Come with us for a week of beautiful fall fishing. View the itinerary and let us know!

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7118 Hits
JUL
29

RIO Tippet Rings Reinvented

Where has summer gone? While the thermometer says that summer is still very much with us, the calendar says otherwise. In just a few more weeks we'll see the school bus stopping for our grandsons each morning. Summer vacations will be over and fall will be on the horizon. For us, it means fall fishing kicks in. This week we leave for Alaska and so we are thinking about rainbow trout and silver salmon, our favorite of the Pacific salmon species. After that it's Montana and more trout fishiBIGHORN 2015 16ng. We won't have to worry about water on the Bighorn, there's plenty of it. Our home stream, Fishing Creek, has had a tough season. It fished well into June, we had just enough water and no days this year when it was too high to fish. But since the beginning of summer, we've had low water and drought conditions. We're looking forward to fresh fall rain and a good fall fishing season, perhaps the prettiest time to be on the stream.

Speaking of the fall season, it's always a good time of year to run a dropper behind a large dry, maybe a caddis, stimulator or super beetle. We learned of a new fly while in Ireland that is perfect for a dry/dropper set-up and a new trick that makes it easy work. Barry is going to tell us about it.

RIO Tippet Rings Reinvented

Andrew Ryan, fly shop owner and guide on Ireland's River Nire, asked if we used tippet rings. We have used them, they have been around for quite some time, and we IRELAND 20160107even wrote about the rings in an earlier blog. We were aware that RIO was now offering them in different sizes and we even had a selection with us. The rings are most often used by attaching it with a clinch knot to the end of the leader. It then becomes easy to change your tippet. But Andrew wasn't talking about using the ring for tippets, instead he showed us a Klinkhammer fly tied with a hi viz wing and a RIO tippet ring attached at the rear of the hook shank. The tippet ring works great for attaching a tippet and fly for a dry dropper combination. Actually, it worked incredibly well.

They say you're never to old to learn a new trick and maybe I'm out of touch, but I have always attached my dropper tippet to the rear of the hook shank and have often had the clinch knot foul with the tail materitippet ringal on the fly. The tippet ring solves that issue and Andrew claims that the dropper fly moves more naturally through the water with this method. He made believers out of us. Give it a try. I think you'll be a believer too. RIO tippet rings are available from any RIO dealer.

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3719 Hits
MAY
05

Spring Guiding & Sage MOD

Hendricksons, Caddis & March Browns

Our guiding is off to a great start here on Fishing Creek. With light drizzle for most of this week, the fishing has been very good each day with Hendrickson spinners, grannom caddis and the beginning of the March Browns. The weather has been cold and we're dressing warm, but that comes with the season and it won't be long until we're hoping for some of the cooler spring temps!

spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of the early spring hatches, we can't hardly write about the fishing without mentioning the new Sage MOD fly rod. Paired with a Sage 4250 reel and the RIO InTouch Perception fly line, it's been the perfect rod for our eastern Sagespring fishing. The MOD has just enough backbone for handling light streamers or a couple of small nymphs, but switches easily to a beautiful presentation when the hatch starts or the spinners fall. It's accurate, sensitive, and an absolute joy to cast. If you haven't tried one yet you should the next time you visit your local fly shop. We're pretty sure you'll fall in love all over again.  Check out the video of the rod here

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3305 Hits
FEB
12

The Becks are in New Zealand

Riverview Lodge, New Zealand

Cathy sent us some photos from Riverview Lodge in New Zealand where they have been for almost a week. The weather is warm, bright and sunny almost continuously and the fishing has been some of the best ever. Lots of big fish (7 pounds and up) caught on big dry flies — cicadas and beetles, along with some nymphs. The biggest so far? 10 pounds, 2 of them! Fresh strawberries from the garden and sight fishing to big browns. Does it get any better?

nz collage

Great RIO Product!

Picture this - the South Island of New Zealand, what we call the Everest of trout fishing, we're on the Hope River with our friend and guide, John Gemmell. We've just finished landing our third trout from one pool. The largest was 10.5 pounds, followed by an acrobatic 9 pound fish, and finally a smaller 7.5 fish. All were landed on the new RIO 4X BECK IMAGE 0662Powerflex Plus tippet material. This stuff is absolutely amazing. John said in all of his years of guiding he's never seen
anything this thin or this strong. We agree. If staying connected to the trout of a lifetime matters to you, you owe it to yourself to try RIO Powerflex Plus

 

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4288 Hits
FEB
04

Somerset Show Follow-Up

Somerset2016

Somerset Show

The Somerset Show was a great success with record attendance. It was a good weekend for traveling and a lot of Sage rods were tested on the pool. We talked fishing, travel, and tackle. The presentations were all well attended and everyone had a great weekend. We'd like to say thanks to everyone who stopped by the Sage, Redington, RIO, and Frontiers booths. When you can't be on the water, the next best thing is being with a lot of other fly fishermen sharing stories, talking about new products, new destinations, and great memories yet to be made! 

 

Also, we came across this little story on MidCurrent and want to share it with you. Lefty needs no introduction, nor does Joe Brooks. We might add that Lefty was here on Fishing Creek last fall with his friend Mark Lamos enjoying the unusually warm weather. Enjoy.

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/museum-pieces-a-fly-fishing-icons-first-reel?adv=352841&cm_mmc=linkshare-_-je6NUbpObpQ-_-1-_-352841

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3022 Hits
JAN
19

Chile & RIO Blogs

Coyhaique River Lodge

Barry & Cathy just got back from Chile and the photos are stunning (see below).  Here's what Cathy had to say about the trip...

   We had a very good trip to CRL last week. Beautiful warm summer weather, lots of great rivers, streams, spring creeks, and lakes which all fished very well, great guides, great lodge.This was our second trip to CRL and we are hoping and planning for many more.  

PicMonkey Collage

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking about Iceland?

We have a client who would like to share a room and guide for our June Iceland departure.  Please contact us if you are interested.

Also, Barry's blog Windows of Opportunity is featured on the RIO Blog today.  Click here to read his story of a recent trip to Erie to look for steelhead.  Also, if you scroll down a few blogs, you'll see Cathy's December Blog on Strike Indicators.  Both are worth reading!  Let us know your thoughts... 

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3023 Hits
NOV
24

Tippet & Leaders 101

Tippet & Leaders 101

We often talk about tippets and leaders in our blogs. It is a constant learning curve partly because the products we use keep getting better, more diversified, and more refined. RIO leads the race in product development and education. Every time I watch a RIO video clip, I learn something. The link below makes available a selection of short clips, made by the guys at RIO, and covering a number of topics starting with Choosing the Right Tippet Material. Once there, check out the other clips uploaded earlier. The clips are interesting, educational, and well done.

http://www.pitchengine.com/pitches/37f9e089-45e2-4813-abc9-c135f1ffa8f1

Thank you Simon, Zack, and Jesse for helping us become better fishermen.

 

 

We also just wanted to take this opportunity to say Happy Thanksgiving to each one of you. 

We all have so much to be thankful for and we hope you each have a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving

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3032 Hits
MAY
21

Twisted Fly Lines and Fishing with Jay Green

Does Your Fly Line Twist?

Russ Miller of the Far Bank family has a great tip for untwisting fly lines. Not everyone experiences line twist, but if you are with us and have been frustrated with this problem, here's the solution.

 

Also, Barry has been out of the office quite a bit the last few weeks and when I asked him what he was up to he told me a little bit about his time with Jay Green.  I asked him to type me up a story for a blog and he did.  Enjoy!

Sage's Jay Green

We watched the big rainbow in awe, sitting dormant on the stream bottom, it showed no sign that it was feeding. "That's a big fish" Jay said and I quickly agreed. But, with no signs of movement, it looked like he had lock jaw. I had little hope that we could interest the big fish but hope springs eternal so I said to Jay "Lets give him a try". The water was gin clear and I knew our first cast would have to be perfect, one mistake and it would be over.

Jay quietly slipped into the water and found an angle to make his presentation. On the end of his fourteen foot 4x leader was a bead head pheasant tail nymph. I watched as the fly line moved through an arc as Jay delivered forty feet of line leader and fly. It was a perfect cast and I watched as the small white strike indicator floated toward the fish. I could see the white mouth open and close as the strike indicator paused. I yelled "Strike!" but Jay had alread3049 BECK IMAGE 2014y started to lift the rod. Fifteen minutes later a beautiful twenty inch plus rainbow lay in my net, the pheasant tail nymph hooked in the side of the jaw. Together we watched the rainbow swim back to freedom as I congratulated Jay on a job well done. He smiled and said that single fish was worth the trip. 

The trip was a long plane ride from Seattle to our Fishing Creek valley but Jay makes the trip each year and we get to spend a few days together fishing and talking about the fly fishing industry. It's always something that I look forward to, for Jay is at the helm of a company called Far Bank which owns Sage, RIO and Redington, three of the top brands in the fly fishing world. The name Green has long been associated with Sage as Don Green was the founder and today we have Jay, no relation, but both men with a commitment to building and offering the best fly rods out there.

Jay has traveled the world fishing both fresh and salt, and has brought to net just about every species available to a fly fishermen. An extremely focused and well disciplined angler, Jay is the perfect individual to lead Sage into the future. For those of us who love our Sage equipment it's nice to know that Sage is in the safe and capable hands of Jay Green.

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4804 Hits
APR
09

Spring Time Sink-Tips & Super Buggers

I don't know about spring where you are, but here in northeast Pennsylvania it's been slow in coming. And even though nice weather is sure to come, we're expecting the early season to include a lot of high water, cold temperatures, and late hatches. That could all change, of course, but it's looking that way at the moment. We're still getting snow run-off from the mountain and our nights are very cold. With these conditions, it might be wise to make sure the sink-tip lines are in the gear bag and ready to go in case you run into high, cold, water this spring.  Spring fly fishing0020

A sink-tip will get the fly down deeper and faster than adding split shot to the leader of a floating line. When the water is deep and the current is moving along at a good pace, the leader and fly will often be swept through before it can get deep enough to reach the fish. If the fish are sitting on the bottom, as they often are in these conditions, you've got to get the fly down to where they are. It won't work if your flies are continually going over their heads. By using a sink-tip the fly line sinks and the leader is pulled down with it. For instance, a RIO 15' Type 3 WF6 Sink Tip has a sink rate of 3" per second. By using a weighted fly like a Super Bugger, the cast will sink quickly and the fly will get in front of the fish. The fish won't want to move quickly in cold water temperatures, so a slow, deliberate retrieve will often produce results. At the end of the retrieves, try wiggling the fly up to the surface before lifting the cast from the water to recast. You might be surprised to find that a fish has followed the fly in and as the fly is wiggling toward the surface, he will often take it here at the last second. If the water is off-color, you may otherwise pull the fly away from the fish that you can't see.

Casting sink tip lines is not difficult if you remember a couple things. Unlike a floating line which is on the surface, a sinking line is — well, sinking. This makes it difficult to recast unless you've stripped in most of the line. A trick that will make it a little easier is to roll cast the sink tip back up to the surface before recasting. Don't give it time to sink again, as soon as it turns over on the roll, pick it up to recast. (Shoot a little line to add to the amount of line you're recasting during the roll if you can.) You will also find that as the amount of sink-tip increases that you are casting, you'll want to slow down the speed of the casting stroke so allow the rod to load. A fairly fast action rod will help with this. You want to be able to feel the rod load but at the same time you want a rod with enough power to keep the line moving without collapsing. A very fast action rod might be good in a strong wind when you're chucking heavy flies, but in general spring conditions, a rod that allows you to feel the cast is best. Since you're not looking for delicate presentations, a shorter leader, maybe 5 or 6 feet, is often all you need. If you find that the leader is landing in a pile upon delivery, keep the rod tip up a couple inches higher on the last cast. This will give the leader time to unroll before landing on the water.

When the fish are sitting on the bottom, you have to go to the bottom to get them. Using a sink-tip line will help make the job easier.

Until next time.  -Cathy

super buggerWe also wanted to share with you that we are putting our Super Bugger Selection on sale for the start of fishing season.  For the next month we dropped the price to $24.95 plus shipping so you can replenish your streamer supply.  Click here to go to our store site to order. 

 

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4142 Hits
MAR
31

Leaders for Spring Time Fishing

This is a busy time of year for us. We just got home from an almost month-long trip to Argentina, Easter is this weekend, Mexico next week, and opening day of trout season here is April 18. Thinking of opening day, our stream Fishing Creek is in really good shape. We've had a nice slow snow melt with no high water or ice jams. Water level is perfect and we're looking forward to a good season.

Although the weather is still very cold here, the forecast is for warmer weather toward the end of this week and we know that soon the little blue quills and black stoneflies will be hatching followed by the Quill Gordons, Grannom caddis and Hendricksons. There will probably be some high water from spring rains so if you're headed out to fish anywhere in the northeast, don't forget your streamer box. Our super buggers are ready and waiting!FW Leader Powerflex Trout

Thinking about spring fishing and all the different types of flies and rigs that one uses makes me think about leaders, fly casts, and presentation. I'd like us to look at three RIO leaders, the Powerflex Trout, Suppleflex Trout, and Steelhead/Salmon. The Powerflex and Suppleflex are favorite designs for trout fishing anywhere.

FW Leader Suppleflex TroutThe beefed up butt section on the Powerflex helps turn over heavy indicator rigs while still allowing delicate precise follow through for dry flies. The Suppleflex though is made of a very soft, supple copolymer material with excellent knot strength. The supple nature provides featherweight presentation and does not impede the natural movement of a fly in the current, perfect for dry flies and soft hackles. If your nymphs and strike indicator are not turning over, it may be because the leader material is too soft. On the other hand, if your sulphur spinners are landing too hard on the water or if you're getting refusals the fly may not be floating naturally because the leader material is too stiff. The diameter may be correct but if it's too stiff the fly won't act naturally.

When throwing big streamers or heavy split shot you may find that the leader doesn't turn over the cast. If the leader lands in a bird nest at the end of the cast, the fish won't untangle it to get to the fly. Not only that, but the bird nest can result in knots in the leader which can break when a fish strikes. If this is happening to you, make sure FW Leader Steelhead Salmonof three things: (1) Is there enough line speed to deliver the cast? (2) Keep the rod tip a little higher when throwing this type of rig so the cast has time to turn over before falling on the water, (3) Is the leader material too soft to support the weight? Within the last year or two, we've discovered the beauty of using a RIO Steelhead/salmon leader with big streamers. The heavier stiffer butt section makes it easier to turn over heavy flies and deal with wind. If you're a serious streamer fisherman, you will want a couple of these leaders in your pocket.

There's nothing like early season trout fishing. We can enjoy this special time of year more if our tackle is properly matched and using the best leaders in each fishing situation will help us do that. We hope you get out often this spring, it will be over before we know it.
Next time we'll talk about rods for each of these situations.


And lastly this week, I stumbled across this video clip of Jack Gartside and enjoyed seeing it again. It has been around before, but if you haven't seen it, or simply want to enjoy it again,here it is. It's a good reminder of what was important in Jack's life. There's a lesson here for us too.
                 http://midcurrent.com/2014/10/12/video-hatch-fly-tying-legend-jack-gartside-forever-a-boy/

 -Cathy

 

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5824 Hits
MAR
05

Brass and Steelhead

It's no secret that Barry and I feel very fortunate to be aligned with the Farbank companies, Sage, RIO, and Redington. NRuss Miller1910ot only because we think the products are the best, but because the "brass" are really serious fishermen. These guys care about the sport, the resource, and the future. It's what they do on their days off, just ask Russ Miller, Far Bank Pro Site Supervisor, who is holding the beautiful steelhead in the picture. 

So, it doesn't surprise us to read that Travis Campbell, president and CEO at Farbank, began talks with TU brass earlier this year and has added Far Bank to the list of Wild Steelhead Initiative supporters. The Wild Steelhead Initiative
(WSI), will eventually encompass east and west, wild and stocked. The Great Lakes steelhead introduction program has been hugely successful and offers us easterners a place close to home to fish for magnificant steelhead. At the same time, no one can argue the value and sheer beauty of a wild, free, northwest steelhead, there is nothing like it. With organizations and people working together on both sides of the debate, maybe we can find common ground and move
forward - for the sake of the fish as well as the future of the sport.

And that brings us to two very good recent articles in our industry magazine, Angling Trade News, about wild steelhead, the WSI, the issues at hand, and the organizations and companies who are coming together to find that common ground.
Look for "Why Wild Matters" and the "Currents" column. It's good reading. Click here to read the current issue.

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FEB
10

Report from the Field

We just got an email from Barry and Cathy, currently in New Zealand.  It sounds like they are having a great trip although anywhere with some sunshine sounds good to us in NE PA right now!  The snow, ice & cold have settled in here, however I just keep reminding myself that February is almost half over and Spring is right around the corner.  Below is Cathy's summary of the week.  I'm also including a link to RIO's Blog which Barry wrote.  It's a fun story about his recent trip to Erie where he joined up with two fishing guides.  We hope you'll take a look.

Report from the Field

We have finished our stay at Riverview Lodge in Hamner Springs, New Zealand, and are now at Owen River Lodge, near Murchison. Both on the South Island. Our group finished up a great week at Riverview despite tough weather the first day. After the wind and the rain, the week turned out to be a beautiful fishing week with enoNewZealand1ugh breeze to keep the sand flies down and lots of sun to make spotting fish easier for the guides. Four 11 pound browns were landed in our group of 5 anglers and a lot of 5 to 9 pound fish. The most common size this week seemed to be 6-1/2 pounds as almost everyone caught fish in that range. Of course, we all saw fish bigger than 11 pounds and that's what keeps us coming back to Riverview. Our favorite rod has been the 590-4 Method with an In touch RIO Grand WF5F line. We've got two of them and they make a perfectNewZealand2 outfit for NZ, turning over long leaders and big flies in the wind. John & Robin Gemmell are wonderful hosts and we look forward to our next visit with them. If New Zealand is not on your to-do list, it should be! We now look forward to 8 days fishing at Owen River Lodge.    -Cathy

 

 

Barry's RIO Blog

Click here to be taken to the RIO Blog

 

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JAN
15

Cathy's Report from the Field

We're having an interesting week here at Coyhaique River Lodge in Chile. Our first day was rainy, chilly, and windy and we all suffered through it and hoped for better weather ahead. And we got it - As it turned out the first day was our worst day and now we are more than half way through an absolutely beautiful week of weather, guides, and fishing. Our group chile1is fishing an interesting combination of rivers, spring creeks, and lakes.  We've seen winds gusting up to 40 mph (first day), beautiful mayfly hatches, big rainbows on the lakes, and lots of fish landed. After the first day, the weather straightened out and we've had lots of sunshine and moderating breezes. The dry fly fishing has been very good using a lot of parachute Adams and today we caught a number of big fish on Super Buggers on the lake. It's been a perfect week for the Sage Method and ONE rods throwing foam flies. We've put both to work evchile2eryday. It's nice to have a rod that steps right up to the plate when a little more backbone is called for in these Patagonia breezes! On one lake we found big rainbows cruising just under the surface and had a lot of fun casting big beetles to them. The take was very slow and gentle, but immediately upon being hooked they would explode and take off across the lake. Great fun. Actually our guide, Gaston, asked what line we had on the ONE. It was the RIO Perception, a beautiful line on either rod. In addition to the interesting fishing, Coyhaique River Lodge is new, spacious, and comfortable with an excellent staff and amazing guides. I suspect this will be a week we won't soon forget and we'll look forward to coming back.

Thinking of new destinations, we're working on two new trips for 2016, Ireland and the Seychelles. Our itinerary for Ireland will include several castle stays with private trout/salmon fishing at each. This will be much more than a fishing trip, we'll tour the castles, enjoy the accommodations, and take advantage of the fishing. Timing will be summer. Details will be forthcoming. Please let us know if you're interested. It won't be a big group.

It's been at least ten years since our last visit to the Seychelles and it's way past time for a reunion. We loved the amazing fishing and accommodations on our first trip and we don't know why we've waited so long to go back. If you've thought about Giant Trevally and the Seychelles, we'd love to have you join us. Planning is still in the very early stages, but if you've an interest in the Seychelles, please let us know and we'll keep you posted as we finalize plans. It's bound to be an exciting destination.2262 ARGENTINA DEC 2013

We also have one room still available (1 or 2 people), at Tres Valles, Argentina for March 1-8, 2015.  It's a great destination and a great time of year to be there.  Trout fishing in the Andes, beautiful scenery and lots of fish.  Give our office a call at 877-278-5638 if you'd like more information.  

We'll talk more next week.

Cathy

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JAN
08

New Year's Update

 We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year! We certainly enjoyed the time with our families and the optimism that comes with the start of a new year. We wanted to take this opportunity to give you a quick overview of some of the new and exciting things going on here looking at the year ahead.

 First of all we are currently working on improving our website. Since launching our new site 2 years ago, we have updated, changed and worked on most every part of it, and continue to do so. We are looking to make it easier for you to navigate along with adding more options to keep you in the loop of what Barry & Cathy are doing. Their trip schedule, our store, and Barry's photography continue to be our top priorities and we are always looking for ways to improve your online experience with us.

Where's Nancy going?

On a more personal note, we have some upcoming changes in the office. Nancy, who has run the whole show here for more than 10 years is looking to semi-retire. She has recently become a Grandma for the second time and is looking forward to spending more time with her family. Although we have a huge void to fill with her leaving, we are thankful that she is willing to help us through the transition and will still help us out one day a week.

Eddie & I will attempt to pick up most of Nancy's tasks. She is currently showing us the ins and outs of all that goes on here, and although I'm sure some things will change, our goal is to make this transition as seamless as possible for everyone. We are looking forward to getting to know each of you through email, phone calls, and hopefully even in person. I look forward to talking to you the next time you contact the office.officeselfie

Me a photographer? I don't think so.

 From the photography end, I know Barry is keeping up with the new technology and cameras. Evidence of this is found in all the boxes that have been delivered from Roberts Camera. I can't tell you much more about this as I'm still most comfortable with my iPhone camera (see office selfie)! I'm sure these new cameras will deliver the best in photo imaging for 2015. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos from his next trip. In regards to photos, my goal is to share more of his images with you this year. I get to "travel" to so many amazing places through his lens, and I know you would love to see what I see here while editing. I'm adding this to my to-do list.

Any new trips?

And last but not least, Barry & Cathy as Frontiers hosts have some exciting travel news for you....Cathy and Barry are currently on their way to Chile with a group to visit a new lodge, Coyhaique River Lodge, which they are very anxious to see and anticipate it being another great trip and destination for us. In March they are taking a few "regulars" along and fishing a new lodge on the Limay River in Argentina. The Limay is a favorite of theirs, but the destination has always lacked adequate accommodations - until now. In April, they will be in the Yucatan fishing for baby tarpon and snook in Campeche and dovetailing it with Grand Slam Lodge for permit, bonefish and tarpon. A combination they are excited about. And in June they will be returning to Iceland, but this time in association with Fish Partners, who specialize in customized angler excursions throughout Iceland, and are excited about seeing new water, relatively close to Reykjavik. This means lots of new photos will be coming my way!


Who is Farbank?

3067 BECK IMAGE 2014

This was one of my first questions when I started here and I am asked it often. Farbank is the company that owns the three brands that Barry & Cathy are ambassadors for - Sage, RIO, and Redington. Cathy & Barry have been with Sage, and now Farbank, for over 25 years and have recently signed a rather long term contract continuing their association. Farbank is in extremely good hands with Jay Green at the helm. The Becks have always said that Jay is the kind of owner every company dreams of, he's totally dedicated to the sport of fly fishing, has an appreciation for the history of the sport and is an outstanding angler. Barry and Jay fish together each year here on our home stream, Fishing Creek. I've looked at many photos of beautiful fish that Jay has landed on water that can be extremely complicated at times (so I'm told). On the Sage end, rod designer Jerry Siem continues to create incredible casting rods. Simon Gawesworth and his crew at RIO continue to push the envelope in fly line design and technology. I think that the Beck's relationship with Farbank and hosting trips for Frontiers is a perfect fit.

I should also mention that they have worked and represented Smith Optics for probably as many years and have a long standing relationship with Nikon camera, two premier companies in optics. We welcome your questions with regards to any of these brands and products.

Thanks for supporting us in 2014, we are truly grateful for our clients and friends. Happy Casting in 2015!
Brooke

Sage  riologo redington smithoptics-logo nikon

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OCT
21

Paying Homage to the Bighorn

2013 4106BIGHORN RIVER

 

 

 

Barry wrote an interesting blog about his take on the Bighorn River.  The article recently appeared on RIO's website and I wanted to highlight it here so you all didn't miss it.  Click here to be directed to the RIO Blog.

 

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