Wifely Duties

While the husband / Editor is away in Las Vegas, hard at work, sitting in meetings and going to banquets and receptions with "premium open bars" I, the Editor's wife, thought I might tell you about this past weekend's shopping trip.



We were out running errands so that my husband could complete his extensive "honey do" list before his trip. Since part of our errands took us past our local Gander Mountain store, I told him we should stop in and look for deals on clothes. He didn't put up much of a fight and reluctantly accompanied me into the establishment. He went his way and I went mine, finding some excellent deals on clothing mark downs. He did an excellent job of holding clothes and nodding appropriately when I tried things on.



As we were about to check out I told him he really should go and look at the fly rods on display just in case there were any deals. He reluctantly agreed and walked down the aisle giving the fly rods a only a cursory glance. I suggested he take a look at the rod that had the clearance tag on it marked down to $49.97. He took a quick look at it, did a double take, picked it up and immediately headed for the cash register. He said something about it being a five piece, 9 foot, 9 weight rod, by a famous company and with a lifetime warranty. From his haste I thought that it must have been a pretty good deal.



As he walked from the store to the truck in the parking lot (the one I bought him last year) he looked glassy eyed and kept mumbling something about Captain Ahab and a Lake Norman white whale.

There is a new Sheriff in town....

FlyFishMagazine's Editor and Middle Tennessee correspondent Jay Moore are both being forced to travel to Las Vegas for a series of grueling meetings, lasting no less than 18 hours per day, having to do with their day jobs. In their absence the real boss around these parts will be taking control of all things FlyFishMagazine! In case you don't know who really runs things around here allow us to introduce you to the Editor's lovely trophy wife, Larissa. Larissa dabbles at fly fishing and has a love for the mountains. She is also witty, highly intelligent, and darn cute.





Please be kind to her and do not, under any circumstances, let her know how much we have lost at the tables or how much fly fishing equipment we actually own.



Note: The opinions of Larissa are not necessarily the opinions of FlyFishMagazine.com. However, we pretty much do as we are told.

Ethanol or Groundwater?

Could the E85 in your tank leave you feeling a bit thirsty? According to this article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune it might.

The issue was brought into focus last year in Granite Falls, where an ethanol plant in its first year of operations depleted the groundwater so much that it had to begin pumping water from the Minnesota River.

It takes between four and five gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol at a biofuel plant, and with 17 ethanol plants now operating in the state, six under construction and 10 more proposed or in the planning stages, the threat of more drains on underground water are rising.

With water woes becoming an ever increasing issue across the US. Anglers might wish to pray for rain.

Teardrop Campers

Tail water Editor, Jeff Paisley shot a a couple of new pictures of his teardrop camper build. This time he has dressed up the front end with a diamond plate tool box. We are still pulling for a brown trout paint job.

Send us photos of your fly fishing / outdoorsy DIY projects

DVD Review: Equilibrium - The Last Frontier

Recently we received a copy of Castaway Films short film "Equilibrium - The Last Frontier." Equilibrium's producer Dr. Grant Wiswell seeks to tell the story of the Bristol Bay region of Alaska and the fight to prevent open pit gold mining operations in the home of the largest salmon run in the world.

In addition to the magnificent scenery one comes to expect from any film about Alaska, the film's maker enlists such fly fishing notables as Gary Loomis and Gary Borger to tell the story of both the region's fishery and the danger it faces if mining operations are allowed to go forward.

The highlight of the film for the fly fisher comes in the footage of massive native rainbow trout and huge numbers of giant salmon. In this remote region anglers compete for real estate only with grizzly bear.

Watching the beauty of this unspoiled place is almost enough to make you forget about the danger the fishery faces in the event mining operations are allowed to go unchecked. Dr. Wiswell snaps us back to reality ending with a sobering presentation of how things just might be if we allow the quest for precious metal to invade one of the earth's last great unspoiled areas.

Equilibrium - The Last Frontier is available from Castaway Films for $20.00. The film has been selected for inclusion in the 2008 AEG Media Fly Fishing Film Tour and is endorsed by the Federation of Fly Fishers.

Extra 15% off from Sierra Trading Post

Our affiliate partner Sierra Trading Post dropped us a line today to let us know that their warehouses were filled to the brim with excess fishing and hunting gear. Since they get no pleasure or profit from watching excellent fly fishing gear sit around and gather dust, they have presented the readers of FlyFishMagazine.com with an excellent gift, a coupon code good for 15% off Sierra's already deeply discounted prices on select items in the fishing and hunting categories.

There is no minimum purchase to take advantage of this discount! The checkout code is: ASPORTSMAN8

The code will only work if you use the link to the special landing page listed below: 15% off Coupon for Hunting, Fishing, and Work Gear! Must shop through this landing page!

There are around 1000 products included with top name brands like Columbia, Browning, Redington, and Sorel. Also, check out the Albright Fly Rods—they’re great rods for a great price.
Remember that Sierra's prices are already cut 35%-70% off of retail so an extra 15% off with no minimum purchase is huge. This offer is good until February 15th, 2008 but the folks at Sierra tell us they might extend the offer if the response is good.

NC Trout Stocking for 2008 to be "Compressed"

From a press release issued by the NCWRC:

RALEIGH, N.C. (Jan. 24, 2008) - In response to drought conditions forecasted for this spring and summer, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will compress its trout stocking schedule for 2008, stocking the majority of fish in March, April and May, and limited numbers of trout stocked in June and July.

During a year with normal precipitation and weather conditions, Commission personnel stock trout throughout the summer and fall. However, Commission biologists determined that a compressed stocking schedule would help minimize the continuing drought’s impact on hatchery fish, particularly the fish that are now being grown out for stocking in 2009.

In addition to helping protect the 2009 fish, the compressed schedule will ensure that the majority of this year’s fish are stocked when stream conditions are more favorable than they would be later in the summer when water temperatures typically are higher and flows lower.

“With much of North Carolina in an exceptional drought and drought conditions forecasted into the summer, the aquatic habitat and environmental conditions for hatchery-trout production likely will continue to decline,” said Kyle Briggs, statewide hatchery production coordinator for the Commission. “However, we have every intention of stocking all of the trout scheduled for release in 2008 and will continue to target the normal sizes for those trout being stocked.”
“By removing a high proportion of the trout scheduled to be stocked this year before July, we can maximize the water and space we’ll need to produce the trout for the 2009 season,” Briggs said. “Given the anticipated drought conditions, this is a proactive, rational and equitable plan to address our trout production and stocking program for the next two years.”

Briggs doesn’t want to see a repeat of the fish kill at Armstrong last August when more than 103,000 brown and rainbow trout, the majority of which were schedule for stocking in 2008, succumbed to too much heat and too little rain.

While the Commission’s other two cold-water hatcheries produced enough trout to make up for the loss at Armstrong, Briggs doubts that could be accomplished again this year, particularly if there is no significant rainfall between now and the summer.

“Without this compression schedule, we could stand to lose substantially more fish than we lost in 2007,” Briggs said. “A loss of this magnitude would seriously impact both 2008 and 2009 seasons, and we would not be able make up that number of fish from other hatcheries.”

The compressed stocking schedule should not affect anglers fishing in delayed-harvest waters, as enough fish will be retained for stocking in these waters in October and November. Likewise, anglers fishing in hatchery-supported waters shouldn’t notice any effects of the compressed schedule. According to a trout-angler survey conducted by the Commission last spring, hatchery-supported anglers spend a majority of their time (75 percent) fishing during the spring when the stockings will be at their peak.

Found in the urban wild

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# 2 But They Try Harder....

Mountain Home, Arkansas has been named the second best fishing town in America by Field and Stream.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the United States premier outdoor publications, Field and Stream, ranks Mountain Home, Arkansas, as the second-best fishing town in the country in its February 2008 issue. The magazine created its list based on each town's year-round fishing opportunities, cost of living, fishing culture, outdoor-related economy and overall quality of life. To qualify, each town had to have a resident population of less than 100,000.

Mountain Home, Arkansas is also the home of this year's FlyFishMagazine spring conclave hosted by tail water Editor, Jeff Paisley. We await the press release from the first best fishing town in American because based on our experiences in Arkansas it must be a heck of a river.

Highbrow Odor Eaters

Keep the stink out of your wading boots with a pair of these Bamboo Charcoal Shoe Pads available via DealExtream.com.

Google Watch: Internet's Most Expensive Fly Reel

According to Google's Shopping search the award for most expensive fly fishing reel goes to the Hardy Zane Ti Saltwater Fly Fishing Reel available for purchase from StreamsideFlyFishing.com for the paltry sum of $9,700. Don't worry, for that price they will include free line, backing, and fly rod.

The design and the features of the Zane Ti are shared with the Zane and they are exceptional. It’s in the Letters Ti, though, wherein lies the difference. Consider this. The creation of the highest grade aluminium reels demands around six minutes of engineering on today’s machines. With a titanium reel, this process takes six whole days to hand craft one reel. The result is a stronger, lighter reel totally impervious to corrosion.

Hardy only makes six of these reels each month and they are hand polished by the Hardy Girl herself. We would be pleased to review one if they feel the urge to send it. We mean the reel not the girl...

Fish Porn for the Common Man

Could a renewed interest in the sport of fly fishing be fueled by the digital camera? Without affordable digital cameras, many fishing photos might be relegated to an undeveloped roll of 35mm film in some anglers camera bag. What's better than spending the first few minutes of your Monday sending photos of your Saturday catch to all your buddies?

According to this article in the Worcester Telegram Barry and Cathy Beck say the digital camera has had a bigger effect on the sport than most people think.

Photos in the industry’s leading magazines and most recent books often upstage even compelling text; they show the sport’s excitement and adventure in a way that was not possible before digital photography. “Digital has really turned people back to photography; it’s instantly gratifying,” said Barry Beck, who had just finishing giving a standing-room-only seminar on the subject Friday at the annual fly fishing show in Marlboro.

“You take a picture of a fish you’ve caught on a stream
you’re on, and you can see it right away, and you can instantly share it with
your friends,” Beck noted.

“Look what the Internet has done for our industry (fly
fishing); you can Google anything: you can find water temperatures, water
releases and what flies are hatching on any river in any state in a second.”

How many anglers among us consider the digicam to be a vital piece of fly fishing equipment? Come clean by posting a comment.

Meth Heads Active on South Holston Again

Word has it that another fly angler has fallen victim to car / truck thieves on Tennessee's South Holston River. This time the late model Chevy truck was pinched from the TVA parking lot beside the well know grates below the weir.

Anglers fishing for the area's trout are advised to keep their insurance premiums current.

Link to a post via the Southeast Fly Fishing Forum.

This weak economy is going too far!

The Associated Press reports: "Consumers Retrench as Economy Weakens."

The most disturbing fact from the article is one that we, living 1.5 hours from our favorite trout water and driving a big honking truck, know all too well.

"Frank Krystyniak, 65, director of public relations at Sam
Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, said the uncertain financial
environment and the effect of the upcoming presidential election has him worried
that his savings could take a big hit.

So he recently moved his nest egg out of stock and
bond funds and into a fixed-rate account that should yield about 4.75 percent a
year, he said.

He's also wary of rising gasoline prices, which could
curtail his driving to Colorado to visit family and indulge in his hobby of
trout fishing."

My fellow fly fishers. Go ye forth, do thee patriotic thing, and strike oil or perhaps buy a house or two. The curtailing of fishing is totally and unequivocally unacceptable!

Capt. John Kumiski: Florida Fishing Report

Capt. John Kumiski is a Florida fishing guide and the author of several books on fly fishing in Salt Water. He sends us regular fishing reports from his home waters on Florida's Space Coast.

Space Coast Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1/20/08

Upcoming Events:

-On January 22nd I’ll be giving a presentation to the Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers in Sarasota, Florida. Contact John Freeman at 941.228.5938 for information.

-From January 25 through 27 I’ll be a featured fly tyer at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey. I always enjoy that freezing weather they have there.

-On February 2 I will be holding a Show and Tell Seminar at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Visit http://www.spottedtail.com/show&tell.htm for more information.

-On February 12 I’ll be speaking to the Backcountry Flyfishing Association in Orlando. Contact Paul Norton at 407.620.7639 for more information.

-On March 30 I’ll be giving a program at the FFF Flyfishing Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

Well! It has been quite the miserable week weather-wise. As a result I got out only two days. Sunday last (1/13) Chris Pederson and his six year old grandson Sebastian joined me in Karl Dienst’s Hewes (Many thanks to Karl for letting me borrow his skiff!). We fished the Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was overcast and threatening rain all day, wind about 12 out of the west. We found pretty much the same thing wherever we looked, which is to say very little. When you have a youngster in the boat you especially want some action, but it just wasn’t happening. We got two slot trout all day. We did find a few tailers late in the day but couldn’t buy a strike. On top of that we got caught in a thunderstorm at the end of the day and got very wet, and of course scared to death by the frequent and nearby lightning bolts. At least that part of the day was eventful! And, we didn’t get fried, always a good thing. Hey, I had fun!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I watched the trees rock back and forth while I worked on putting up the stock photo images into www.johnkumiski.com. That process is not completed, but many of the pages are up and working. I am very excited by this site! Cheryl Kumiski, official sister of John Kumiski and therefore not necessarily an unbiased observer, wrote, “nicely impressive. i am in love with the skyscape page. you need more animals. good job and well done. i enjoyed a few hours there.” I am proud to say that Cheryl is an artist working in glass. Her website can be visited at http://www.cherylkumiski.com/index.html

Thursday evening, the weather forecast for Friday was for overcast skies and northwest winds at 5-10, with a high of 70 degrees. Sick to death of looking at a computer screen I loaded a kayak on the roof. Friday morning found me paddling in the no motor zone.

It never got close to 70 degrees, and it was overcast with occasional drizzle. The wind was as predicted. Not ideal conditions, but I had to look. I started just after 7 and was out for almost two hours when I spotted my first fish, a single tail sticking out of the water. It was weird because it wasn’t moving, it was just sticking up out of the water. However, nearby another tail would appear sporadically. I staked out the yak and waded over.

I tossed the redfish worm a dozen times, didn’t get a sniff, and the tail disappeared. While I waited, hoping it would reappear, I changed flies to a Merkin. The tail reappeared a few yards away, and I tossed the fly several more times. I couldn’t see the fish because of the clouds, but you just know when you’re dragging it right by their nose. No response, and the tail disappeared again.

By this time there had been enough water movement that I figured there were a few other fish around. I took a blind cast away from my target fish and started crawling the Merkin along the bottom. Suddenly, “thump.” Real solid. I set the hook, and the tractor pull was joined.

I battled that fish hard for about fifteen minutes. I tried to keep him from taking any line, and although he got close, he never reached the backing. On the other hand, he wouldn’t let me move him either, and I never did get a look at him. Then the hook disengaged. I pulled in the fly, expecting to see a bent hook. It was, but only a little bit. It just came unbuttoned. Based on the time I spent connected via the five weight I would guess that it was the biggest fish I’d hooked in a year or more (yes I had a crappy tarpon season least year, one that lasted less than a week and that was plagued by terrible weather). Anyway I can safely guess that because I lost the fish!

I was out until after 1 PM and never got another shot. I hardly saw anything else, just a couple mud puffs and wakes as I ran over an unseen inhabitant of Neptune’s kingdom. Yesterday I picked up the now-rigged Mitzi. Today the forecast high is 57 degrees with 20 mph winds. And, there are two championship football games starting in less than an hour! The Mitzi’s maiden voyage will have to wait until tomorrow.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiskiwww.spottedtail.commember Florida Outdoor Writers Association (www.fowa.org), Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (www.seopa.org), Indian River Guides association (www.irga.org)

Proposed Interstate brings opposition

The Stop I3 Coalition opposes a proposed interstate highway that would connect Chattanooga, TN with Asheville, NC by going right through the middle of several southern Appalachian mountain trout streams.

The road would cross many high quality streams including trout streams and streams feeding into Fontana Lake, Lake Santeelah, and the Valley River.

Several area chapters of Trout Unlmited have joined with the Stop I3 Coalition to voice their concerns.

South Korea's Sancheono Festival

From the "festivals we'd like to see here in the states" file:

The annual Sancheoneo Festival, named after a trout also known as "Cherry Salmon", is a popular event which sees participants brave the cold to wait for the fish to bite or have a go at live-fish catching, where participants grab the trout swimming in a pool and stuff them into their shirts.

Link to the ITN article and and video

Bass Pro Founder Named Retailer of the Year

Bass Pro Shops and Tracker Boats Founder Johnny Morris Named Retail Innovator of the Year

Retail’s Most Innovative Leaders Honored at 97th Annual NRF Convention

New York City---January 15, 2008---The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution named John L. (Johnny) Morris the Retail Innovator of the Year.

Johnny Morris, founder and creator of one of the most beloved and recognizable brands in the world, created Bass Pro Shops simply because of his love of bass fishing and the outdoors. After using his own bait and stocking it in his father’s liquor stores, John quickly began to recognize sports fishermen’s need for specialized equipment and grew the idea into what has become a major tourist destination in virtually every store location. Three decades later, Bass Pro Shops continues to invoke the fantasy of every outdoor sportsman.

Other recipients were Terry Lundgren, Chairman and CEO of Macy’s, Inc with the Gold Medal Award and Lane Crawford, an Asian retailer, with the International Retailer of the Year Award.
“This year’s retail award winners have continued to keep up with their customers by providing some of the most advanced, innovative ideas around to handle their demands,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “We are thrilled to honor these visionaries for all they’ve accomplished in the ever-changing world of retail.”

Friday Fly Fishing Deal-O-Rama

Our affiliate partner Sierra Trading Post dropped us a line today to let us know that their warehouses were filled to the brim with excess fishing and hunting gear. Since they get no pleasure or profit from watching excellent fly fishing gear sit around and gather dust, they have presented the readers of FlyFishMagazine.com with an excellent gift, a coupon code good for 15% off Sierra's already deeply discounted prices on select items in the fishing and hunting categories. There is no minimum purchase to take advantage of this discount!

The checkout code is: ASPORTSMAN8

The code will only work if you use the link to the special landing page listed below:

15% off Coupon for Hunting, Fishing, and Work Gear! Must shop through this landing page!

There are around 1000 products included with top name brands like Columbia, Browning, Redington, and Sorel. Also, check out the Albright Fly Rods—they’re great rods for a great price.

Remember that Sierra's prices are already cut 35%-70% off of retail so an extra 15% off with no minimum purchase is huge. This offer is good until February 15th, 2008 but the folks at Sierra tell us they might extend the offer if the response is good. Now is the time to spend that Christmas money you got from Momma!

Big Plans For South Mountains State Park

South Mountain State Park is the home to one of the state's delayed harvest trout streams (and also some large rattle snakes). South Mountains is a large park with only one access point that does not involve some serious hiking to get to. The Charlotte Observer is reporting that all that might change in the near future.

The state Division of Parks and Recreation last week updated its 29-year-old master plan for South Mountains, which lies in southern Burke County and is the largest and one of the most rugged parks in the state, said parks spokesman Charlie Peek.

The new strategy, according to documents from the state, will eventually bring new hiking, walking and equestrian trails, dormitory-style cabins, an environmental education center, a eco-friendly dining hall and a second entrance to the 17,832-acre park.

Currently, Peek said, the only access point into South Mountains is at Jacob Fork, on the park's east side, and much of the terrain in that area is rough and often used for longer and intense hikes and fishing trips, backpacking excursions and camping trips.

"South Mountains has a wonderful backcountry experience," Peek said, "but it's not easily accessible for the casual traveler."

The new facilities could include cabins, trails and an environmental education center. Here is a link to FlyFishMagazine.com's review of South Mountain's State Park.

Thursday Fly Fishy Cage Match

As you can tell we here at FlyFishMagazine are feeling a bit combative today. All of our posts today pit something vs. something else. In keeping with that theme we point of some of the more competitive posts from our blogging pals:

We start with Buster Wants to Fish vs Fly Fisherman's web forum. Let's just say Buster takes aim at the notion that magazine articles don't contribute to fishing pressure. (We never give away the good spots).

Next we move to Pete from Fishing Jones vs our old nemesis, fly tying. "I'm considering selling off my vise or smashing it into pieces with a ball peen hammer and taking up something a little less engrossing, like mastering super string theory." We feel your pain.

Over at Trout Underground it is Tom vs the Kalmath Dam, and then after that, Citigroup who lost 10 Billion last year and according to Tom should have "just gone fishing."

Finally our friends from Moldy Chum pit Cabela's vs Orvis in their 2008 Fly Fishing Catalog Smackdown post. "Best use of Neoprene - Cabela's -Because everyone loves a chick in neoprene."

Trout Stream vs Sewer Plant?

West Virginia's Elk River might just become home to a 1.5 million gallon per day waste water treatment plant to support the Snowshoe Mountain Resort area. The plans for the plant put it in the middle of the Elk River's flood plain.

The Elk River is famous for its remote and uncorrupted waters, as well as its remarkable geological nature. Four miles downstream from the confluence of Old Field Fork and Big Spring Fork, the Elk River itself disappears into the limestone-laden ground where it flows in secret for some 5 miles before uprising again through the Elk Springs—a series of large springs that provides cold water to a well-known trout hatchery nearby.

Read about the project and its issues via 8RiversSafedevelopment.com. Any readers with knowledge about this area feel free to comment.

TU vs ATVs?

A curious article on the Vail Daily website talks about support from both hunters and all terrain vehicle owners alike, (at least some of them) that would propose fines for people who ride their ATV's where they shouldn't. The curious thing is that the quoted comment in the article is from a Trout Unlimited representitive.

Dave Petersen, a bow hunter who lives near Durango, said he saw plenty of elk on a scouting trip in August.

When he returned with his bow a few days later, Petersen didn't find any elk but he saw tracks from the ATV he figures scared them away."It completely ruined my hunting trip, and that just happens all the time," said Petersen, who works on off-road issues for the conservation group Trout Unlimited.

Personally, I would hate to see ATV's running up and down my favorite trout stream or have to endure their engine noise while trying to thread a size 22 midge.

Sand Coated Cased Caddis Hooks

We might just have to order some of these sand coated cased caddis hooks available from Siman Ltd for 7.38 Eur per box of 6. Siman is a good source of Czech nymping supplies and was recommended to us by North Carolina Fly Fishing Team Organizer, Eugene Shuler .

Ninja Style Fly Fishing Gear

O'Neill Ninja Split-Toe Boots - 3 mm (For Men)

Unleash your inner fly fishing Ninja with a pair of these split toe neoprene booties from Sierra Trading Post. They are a steal at only $8.95 a pair. You will thank us when the day comes where you need to pick up your fly rod with your toes.

Remember we do all the hard work for you and maintain links to all of Sierra Trading Post's fishing gear via the Deals on Gear section of FlyFishMagazine.com.

Found in the urban wild

The editorial offspring has decided to tie up some baby seal flies for a great white shark fishing trip later this year. Now to find a 50 weight rod and a reel that holds a mile of backing.
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Speaking of Orvis....

Our inner James Bond almost drowned in his own drool over this tiny Minox Lecia M3, Five Megapixel digital camera . Orvis is offering this to fly fishers as an mondo-elegant way to photograph everything from your next fishing hero shot, to those top secret documents you might find lying about.

The newest camera from Minox combines state-of-the-art technology and a classic, vintage look. The compact style houses a powerful 32 MB internal memory, up to 2 GB of storage space on SD cards, 1.5" color monitor, and 5 megapixel resolution for images of brilliant quality. Extremely easy to use, the Minox Leica M3 is a great choice for those just getting started in the field of digital photography. It's also small enough to fit in a fishing or shooting vest pocket, so it's ideal for sportsmen. Film sequences can also be recorded with the DCC in AVI format. Imported.

Now if only we can snag one at the warehouse sale...

photo via Orvis.com

Fly Fishing People: Jane Seymore

Who'd of thunk that Dr. Quinn was a desciple of the long rod. See an excerpt from a recent MSNBC article about her world travels:

I love fly fishing in Alaska. There’s a place called Kulik Lodge. It’s literally in the wild, with bears and salmon. I took my kids fishing for trout there.

We can never resist when these come in the mail...

The Orvis Warehouse Sale will be in our hometown this weekend. We will be one with the throng of fly fishing humanity in search of piscatorial bargains.

Check out this link for a sale near you.

ebay Watch: Rainbow Trout Cremation Urn

For the angler who has everything but still can't take it with him, we have locatd this handcrafted, trout emblazoned, porcelain cremation urn.

Rainbow trout swim around this porcelain urn. The scene has been high fired after airbrushing and is a permanent part of the finish.

This 200 cubic inch urn is intended for the complete remains on one adult. It has been created by ceramic artists, David and Suzanne Enna and signed. It is 10" high and 7" in diameter. The lid lifts off and can be sealed with a hardware variety silicone sealer. It comes with felt on the bottom and a heavy plastic bag for holding the remains inside the urn. This urn meets the accepted standards of the funeral industry and is appropriate for burial or display.

Buy it now priced at $189.

John Kumiski: Florida Space Coast Fishing Report

FlyfishMagazine's newest associate, Capt. John Kumiski, sends news from Florida's sunny space coast.

Upcoming Events:
-On January 22nd I'll be giving a presentation to the Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers in Sarasota, Florida. Contact John Freeman at 941.228.5938 for information.

-From January 25 through 27 I'll be a featured fly tyer at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey. I always enjoy that freezing weather they have there.

-On February 2 I will be holding a Show and Tell Seminar at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Visit http://www.spottedtail.com/show&tell.htm for more information.

-On February 12 I'll be speaking to the Backcountry Flyfishing Association in Orlando. Contact Paul Norton at 407.620.7639 for more information.

-On March 30 I'll be giving a program at the FFF Flyfishing Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

-News Flash! I have a new skiff! A brand new Mitzi 17 is at Central Florida Marine getting rigged as I write this. It is not the boat I've been waiting for. That one is still under construction. When it is ready I will be selling this one and buying that one. If you have any interest in a slightly used Mitzi 17 let me know. More information will be forthcoming when I'm ready to sell.

Another news flash! I have a new website up, http://www.johnkumiski.com. The site is still under construction and is still in a testing phase, but it is useable. My goal is to put all my writing and much of my photography on this site, to make it a resource for anglers and outdoor adventure travelers, both individuals and magazine/newspaper/website editors. If you visit the site and find any mistakes, please let me know at john@spottedtail.com . The first ten people to do this will receive a mini prize pack!

On to the fishing!

Monday Capt. Chris Myers had me get up ridiculously early to join him in a Mosquito Lagoon escapade. The sun was just rising as we left the ramp. He said the fish would be tailing. We got to the spot, and they were, not hard, not lots of them, but tailing fish are tailing fish and you’re not going to sneer at that any time.
Chris poled first and I got a slot red, a tailer, on a black redfish worm. We switched ends and Chris got a slot sized tailer on a small Merkin crab. Between us we blew at least a dozen shots. By this time the sun was getting up into the firmament. The fish had stopped tailing and we decided to look for laid up trout.
We found quite a few. Were they spooky! Mr. Myers finally hooked one on a bend back, only to have it shake off at boatside. I couldn't get a sniff. Chris thought he knew where some drum were, so we went looking for them.
I was on the bow when suddenly there were at least a hundred fish in front of me. I tossed the redfish worm out there a number of times. It was obvious it wasn't sinking fast enough. Part of what made it so was the fact not a fish touched it. I tied a Merkin on, and got an upper slot red on the first cast. His thrashing scared all the other fish away.
We looked for them for a while without success, although Chris picked up another red on a Merkin.
Rain clouds were moving in from the south, so we bailed early. It was about 1 PM as he put the boat on the trailer, just as the first drops started to fall. Good timing!

Tuesday I drove to Titusville to deliver the kayak I had sold. I took the opportunity to take another kayak out on the Indian River. The water was kind of dirty and it was windy. I blindly cast a Dupre Spoonfly for an hour or so and caught two slot sized trout.

All this week I couldn't get last week's no motor zone trip out of my head. Thursday I went over there for a solo trip. I was out seven hours, looking hard. I probably paddled 12 miles or more. I had seven shots in that time, all at slot reds. I didn't see a big red or black drum, although I did see four big seatrout. The fish were very scarce. I had three bites and released two fish. I will say that I don't think I've ever seen so many hardhead cats up working in shallow water and tailing. I saw a fish in a white sand hole at the limit of my vision. I couldn't tell what it was and threw the redfish worm over to it. It jumped all over it and to my surprise and dismay, it was a catfish. There were quite a few sheepshead, too, but none of them were fooled by my offerings.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski

www.spottedtail.com

member Florida Outdoor Writers Association www.fowa.org

Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (www.seopa.org), Indian River Guides association (www.irga.org)

Don Barone's ESPN Outdoors Debut

One of our favorite outdoor writers is Don Barone. Don recently made the switch from ESPN feature producer to ESPN Outdoors web columnist. Don's debut article for his new bosses reminds us that "There's and outside out there."

I actually remember the first time I knew there was an outside: It was Christmas Day, 1959. (I was 7.)

And I was standing in it — The Outside, that is. And trust me, for a kid from Buffalo to be outside on Christmas Day in SHORTS with all my knees, ankles and elbows all wiggling around in the air was, as my Grandma Tess used to say, "A damn miracle, Donny … just a damn miracle."

Years later I found out the "Damn Miracle" was actually Florida.

Jay Moore catches fish, decries editorial fishing advice

Saturday Jan. 5th I got the opportunity to try the Caney Fork river in Middle Tn. I was fishing by myself this trip and got to the river about 20 minutes before sunrise. It was cold, overcast and rain was in the forecast, in other words, perfect conditions to have the river mostly to myself.

I tied a size 20 zebra midge on with the help of my headlights and headed to my favorite spot. I tied the small midges the night before because my editor refers to the flies (midges) I typically use as freakishly large. I hooked up with two nice trout very quickly and had a few strikes then the activity stopped. I switched to a woolly bugger and landed two more fish, but the action could not be described as hot and heavy. After two hours and four fish I switched back to my trusty size 16 (editor's note: they look more like 12's to me) zebra midge that I tie with a copper wrap. I was drifting the midge beneath a grasshopper dry fly and things changed quickly. With this set up I was able to reach the fish holding in the shallow waters near the banks and to make a long story short; an hour and a half and twenty four more fish, I loaded up my gear including my freakish flies and headed to the recliner.

I’ll take a 30 fish day anytime even if I am fishing with all the wrong flies.

"Best" Fly Fishing Media Reference of the Week

Headline in the sports section of the Plain Dealer via Cleveland.com:

A.K. Rates 'Best' in Fly Fishing World

A gem of wisdom from the article:

Most credit the movie "A River Runs Through It" with rejuvenating fly fishing.

"Everyone says the movie was the cause of double-digit growth in fly fishing," he said. "We were enjoying double digit growth before the movie came out - but the movie got the blame.

"Because of the movie we thought we'd have more people to protect the resource. All we got was crowds, a feeding frenzy on the western streams. It might be the old timer in me speaking, but fly fishing was better when things were much simpler."

Capt. John Kumiski: Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1/4/08

Photos this week worth seeing! Visit this link: http://www.spottedtail.com/ThisWeeksFishingReport.htm

This is my first fishing report of 2008. The weather so far this year has been wintery, can you imagine? We actually had temperatures dip to the freezing mark, and I’ve heard some reports of fish kills from around the state. Being a totally acclimatized Floridian, I don’t like to go fishing when the high temperature for the day is in the 40’s or 50’s, especially with 20 knot plus winds. So, I only ventured out one day this week.

My friend Rick DePaiva has been threatening to come fish with me for black drum for years now. Since he has never actually done it I figured he was just talking. Yesterday, however, he actually showed up. His friend David McCleaf was with him. So around 830 AM we launched an Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 containing David and his stuff and an Old Town Camper containing Ricky and me and our stuff. Since the Camper’s crew was focused on getting Rick a black drum, I handled the push pole and Rick manned the fly rod.

We only saw one fish until about 1030. At that time we found a small pod of slot reds tailing. Ricky made several good casts that I thought should have worked, and one finally did. Good thing, skunk off boat. Not what we were looking for but no one complained. The fly was a black Redfish Worm.

I suppose I should have a digression here about the weather. When we started the wind was blowing about 12 out of the east and it was about 65 degrees. The sun shone when we cast off, but a bank of clouds quickly rolled in and we could see several showers off in the distance. So when Ricky got that first red it was windy and cloudy, which it mostly stayed all day. We also got rained on several times, and saw a few patches of sun, too. Not an ideal day, perhaps, but you make the best of what you get, especially when you’re paddling.

We went at least an hour before we got another bite, although we saw David get a slot red on a DOA Shrimp. He removes the supplied hook and rigs the shrimp “backwards,” using a plastic worm hook like you’d use in a jerk bait. Good idea, young man!

Rick and I finally found a single black drum tailing. When the tail wasn’t up we couldn’t see it at all (no sun) and after a few casts the fish disappeared, never to show itself again. As it turned out this was a recurring theme.

We found a small pod of slot reds working in shallow water and Rick got one the Redfish Worm. We saw David get another one not too far off from us. So fishing was slow but there were a few around and we were getting one once in a while. We’ve all had worse days, and no one was complaining.

David decided to do some solo exploration. We could see him, looking for fish about a half mile off. I kept waiting for my phone to ring so we could go and join him on the huge school of fish he found. The phone finally did ring, but it was Rodney, not David.

Rick and I were taking a break, snacking, when I saw a single tail come up and drop again. A minute or so went by and it came up again, closer this time. Then the sun broke through the clouds. We took advantage of the light and went looking for the fish. He helped us by tailing on a reasonably regular basis. Ricky got several good casts to the beast, and he finally took the fly. Black drum on! I called David, who immediately headed back over to our location.

It took Rick several minutes to subdue what turned out to be a drum of over 25 pounds. Mission accomplished! We spent some time taking pictures, then kissed the fish and released it.

We split up again, David working up in front of us a half mile or so. He went around a point and we couldn’t see him any more. We were seeing slot sized fish with reasonable frequency, and hooking one now and then. We finally got to the point and there was David, casting at fish.

We spotted a tailer and went after it. We could only see it when the tail was up, since it had clouded over again. We worked that fish for 10 or 15 minutes and never got a tap. But David finally ended it when he paddled over to us, telling us he needed a photographer. He had a 26 pound red in the water, tethered by a Boga Grip. The photos were made, the fish released. Both gentlemen now had a big fish under their belts. Life was good.

Our rough total for the day was eight reds between us, all in the slot except for David’s bull, and one black drum. The fish were equally split between the two of them. We capped off our most excellent day by having dinner at El Leoncito.

Life is short- GO FISHING!!!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski

http://www.spottedtail.com/

member Florida Outdoor Writers Association (http://www.fowa.org/), Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (www.Seopa.org), Indian River Guides association (www.irga.org).

Editor's Note: Capt. Kumiski is the author of several excellent books about fly fishing Florida's salt water including "Redfish On The Fly" to which we gave a thumbs up in the review section of FlyFishMagazine.com.

Looking at water

My wife just doesn't understand why I always feel compelled to look at water. Many times as we drive down a road that just happens to be running along the bank of a small stream or river, I have to be reminded to keep my eyes on the road and not glued to the creek to our left or right. Often she will ask, "What do you expect to see? A trout at 60 mph?." She will be the first to tell you that punctuality is often sacrificed for the sake of stopping to look off bridges or explore paths behind buildings in search of likely fishable water.

More often than not there is no fly rod in the car and no trout, bass, or carp are in easy reach. Why then all this stopping (or swerving) to look at rivers? I think a river holds the same eye appeal to the angler that a mysterious and beautiful woman presents to the eye of a young man. They catch your eye from a distance but upon closer inspection you realize that there is a lot more involved than you anticipated at first glance. Like a woman, a river deserves a bit of study before one wades in.

More Teardrops

Paisley continues flaunting the fact that he built a teardrop camper and we have not by sending us this Youtube video about the public's infatuation with this simple and elegant place to lay your head at night.

Castaway Films: Equilibrium, The Last Frontier

The good folks at Castaway Films dropped us a note to let us know that a copy of their soon to be released film, "Equilibrium, The Last Frontier" was heading our way. We are looking forward to seeing their take on the development of the Pebble Mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay area.

In this short film, Gary Borger, Gary Loomis, and others discuss the central role of the Pacific Salmon and the threatened Bristol Bay ecosystem. Equilibrium has been adopted by the FFF and will be touring with AEG Media's Fly Fishing Film Tour this winter and spring. In addition it will be shown at The Fly Fishing Shows, ISE, and multiple venues across the country and abroad.

For a quick preview of the film please check out http://www.castawayfilms.com/

The site for the next Trout Bum Diaries?

National Geographic reports that a vast network of rivers and lakes exists under the Anarctic ice cap.

This watery environment may be more than one-and-a-half times the size of the United States, scientists say, which would make it the world's largest wetland.

"This is essentially a whole new world that ten years ago we didn't know existed," said Michael Studinger, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in New York.

Photo: National Geographic.com

50 Pound Striper on 2 lb Line

It is pending certification from the IGFA but Jim Sheffield of Richmond, Virginia caught a 50 pound striper on 2 pound test line. If it holds up it will be a new line class world record for rockfish.

It wasn't caught on the long rod but anyone who can manage that sort of feat on that kind of light tackle must have done some skillful cranking. Read about via Bill Cochran's article at Roanoke.com

No stranger to light-tackle fishing, Sheffield, a member of the Virginia Angler’s Club, was out to break the current striper world record, which is 21 pounds, 7 ounces on 2-pound line. He didn’t just squeak by the record, “he blew it out of the water,” Ball said.

Want places to fish? Send Fruit!

GoErie.com reports about an effort by anglers to say thanks to landowners who allow public fishing access in the state's steelhead water.

A cooperative effort between Gem City Outdoorsmen Club/Fly-Tiers, Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Pennsylvania Steelhead Association distributed 40 fruit baskets to various families who own land along the steelhead creeks as a way of showing their appreciation for allowing fishing on their lands.

"They were fruit baskets, they had all different kind of fruit, nuts, grapes," said Jim Sharpe, a director of the Pennsylvania Steelhead Association. "They were $26 apiece for the baskets. We bought 40 baskets. And what we did was deliver them to landowners that have property along all the tributaries, every tributary. What we did this year was try to hit the spots that got the most angler coverage."

Saying thank you to land owners (in addition to picking up trash and respecting their property) is an excellent idea that can go a long way towards keeping streams open to public fishing.

For our single fly fishing brethren....

She is looking for a man who can out fish her...

Origin of the Merkin

The Miami Herald website posts an article that among other things delves into the origins of the aptly named Merkin fly created by Key West guide, Jan Isley.

Isley came up with the idea of a yarn fly roughly in the diamond shape of a wiggle jig, featuring a tail and lead eyes. He had only yellow and dark brown yarn to tie, and he added a couple of rubber legs ``just for kicks.''

The next day, Isley showed his new fly pattern to Del Brown, a permit-obsessed client from California. ''He said, `That's it, ''' Isley said. ``I remember the first fish he threw it at, the fish would go nuts trying to find it.''

The photo of the fly above comes from the web site of FlyFishMagazine.com endorsed Florida fly fishing guide, Captain Justin Rea of Sting Rea Charters. His website includes complete instructions for tying the fly. If you are reading this at work you should probably follow the link to his site rather than searching for Merkins on the Internet. It's just not safe!

You are only as old as you feel...

What could possibly possess a 102 year old retired dentist to pack up his belongings and move from the UK to New Zealand? Why the fly fishing of course! Via The Daily Express:

But Eric’s bout of wanderlust may be down to more than just his wife’s welfare. They first met in 1993 when he was on a fishing trip to New Zealand and Eric became hooked – in more ways than one. He admitted: “I am a very keen fly fisherman. There is very good fishing in Britain, but some say New Zealand has the best in the world.”

We are not sure how this escaped our Christmas list

The bucklehead belt buckle knife. We can see it being useful on the stream bank and also in those bar fights Zugbug continually gets into.

Click the photo above to see it in action.

Filler' up and use the high test rock snot...

Could your next fishing truck be powered by rock snot ? It just might if scientists complete their work towards turning algae into biodiesel.

Cooksey is one of many U.S. scientists who studied the feasibility of turning algal oil into biodiesel in the 1980s. The U.S. Department of Energy, through its Aquatics Species program, funded their research. Cooksey's lab made a number of discoveries. Scientific journals published his findings.

Via the Montana State University web site.

Tying the Double Bugger

Early in 2007, North Carolina Fly Fishing team member Josh Almond, gave us a heads up about some monster bass near his home town. Now he has put together a tutorial showing how to tie a fly that just might do the trick to nail one of those big bucket mouths this spring, the Double Bugger.

Step 1: Start your thread

Step 2: wrap some lead for extra weight if needed.

Step 3: Tie in your marabou for a tail (tip: try to keep tips even. Do Not cut your marabou tips!)

Step 4: After you tie in your tail, find a saddle feather and tie it in by its tip. After that tie in, dub, wrap or create your body...be creative.

Step 5: Palmer the saddle forward, stroking each fiber back as you go...whip finish. You're now halfway finished!

Step 6: Remove finished rear half from vise and grab a new hook. Tie on some barbell eyes.

Step 7: Cut a section of 12# flourocarbon create a loop through the eye of the rear fly. Thread 2 plastic, metal or tungsten beads onto the line, this will prevent fouling of the hooks.

Step 8: Now tie in the mono loop to the Lead fly, i like to add a drop of superglue to make sure the mono won't pull out.

Step 9: Repeat the steps to create rear fly, whip finish.

Step 10: Check out your finished fly

Step 11: or get even more creative add rubber legs!

Most important: Have fun and catch some fish on it! Be sure to cut of the lead hook, the trailer is all you need on these buggers!

Josh's hard work has earned him an item from our bag of schwag. Josh will receive a lovely FlyFishMagazine.com fly box. Hopefully he will fill it up and return it to us.

Happy New Year: 2008

I wanted to take a moment to wish a happy and successful 2008 to all of our fly fishing pals around the world. Thanks for all your input and help through out 2007. Let's hope that 2008 finds us all fishing more and catching bigger fish!

Plans for 2008 include:

Arkansas and the White River with the crew in April.
Alaska sometime during the year.
Adding Carp to our list of fly fishing hook ups.

Let us know about your plans in the comment section.