Neil Young Covers Benefit Casting For Recovery

A group of talented women artists have released an album of Neil Young covers with all proceeds going to Casting For Recovery. Casting for recovery is an organization that promotes fly fishing as a means of recovery for vicitms of breast cancer.

CINNAMON GIRL - WOMEN ARTISTS COVER NEIL YOUNG FOR CHARITY!

Tanya Donelly, Britta Phillips, Lori McKenna, Jill Sobule with John Doe, Veruca Salt, Kristin Hersh, Josie Cotton, and The Watson Twins are just some of the outstanding artists covering Neil Young's most popular songs for charity on this 21 track Double-CD.

All proceeds from CINNAMON GIRL will be donated to CASTING FOR RECOVERY in memory of Norine R. Spadaro (ALR founder, Joe Spadaro's mother). CASTING FOR RECOVERY is a national non-profit support and educational program for women who have or have had breast cancer. Casting for Recovery provides an opportunity for women whose lives have been profoundly affected by the disease to gather in a beautiful, natural setting and learn fly-fishing, "a sport for life." The weekend retreats incorporate counseling, educational services and the sport of fly-fishing to promote mental and physical healing.

If the samples from their myspace page are any indication these sultry sounding ladies are making music that even a southern man wouldn't mind having around.

Fly Fishing Smokies Style - Jim Shepherd

Yesterday's article about fly fishing the Smokies by Jim Shepherd appears to be your standard fishing article fare but dig into it and you will find some great one liners.

"Once, when I flicked an effortless cast out and then realized I'd hung my line in the tree, Tony smilingly looked at me and said "they don't usually roost until closer to dark."

and...

"So I put my attention on the task of landing my first fish of the day and cranked away. My reward? A small trout. Really small. So small that his parents probably have reported me to the trout police as a child molester."

Don Barone Outdoors

We just got a heads up about a new website from our ESPN pal Don Barone. Don is pretty closed mouthed about it but rumor has it that whatever lurks behind the homepage DonBaroneOutdoors.com will be pretty off the hook.

Watch for Don's site to go live January 1st. Check out some of DB's previous work by following this link.

Network trouble - Outfoxed behind the dumpsters

Some water must have gotten into the Internet tubes last night as our connection was down for pretty much the entire evening. We will return to our regular posting schedule (subject to the whims of our provider) later today.

I did manage to go fishing last Friday and intentionally left the digicam behind so as not to worry about taking pictures and concentrate on fishing. I met up with my Dad and we had a great time.

Our first stop was a creek that runs behind some roadside dumpsters. As soon as we arrived we saw a large trout holding in a pool just below a small bridge. The water was very low and extremely clear but he did not see us. I put on a camo jacket, tied a tiny copper john on 6x tippet, and literally crawled to the opposite side of the bridge to get into position for a drift. As I was creeping, Dad was watching the fish from the bushes so as to alert me of any sign of piscatorial spookage. He assured me that the fish was still holding as I made a blind drift to the fish.

Due to the current, my drift ended up about two feet too far right so I gingerly pulled the fly back into position. Dad indicated that the fish hadn't so much as moved an inch. My second cast was on the mark but as the drifting fly approached the fish he decided that he didn't like what he saw and bolted for the shadows without ever looking back. Opportunity lost.

I wasn't sure what I had done that spooked the fish. Maybe it was the glint of the sun off of my fly rod, or maybe an errant shadow. It might even have been the ever so slightly unnatural look of the copper john. All I knew for sure is that this trout would most likely not be caught that day.

We moved on to other more forgiving waters and did manage to catch several nice trout that day. More importantly we were away from work and standing knee deep in icy mountain water for most of the time.

(slightly post related photo credit 20th Century Fox)

My favorite non fly fishing reel name

With the same name as the Editorial Wife.

Sighted in the urban wild

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Friday: Gone Fishing

Credit crunch and housing crisis be darned, I am taking a vacation day and going fishing. With any luck as you read this I will be de-stressed and standing at least knee deep in an icy Carolina trout stream.

In my absence be sure to check out today's additions to our exclusive 2007 Holiday Gift Guide. Today's lucky gear purveyors include Panoptx polarized fishing glasses, ExOfficio boxer shorts, and gear from the anglers at Reel Pure.

2007 Gift Guide Part III: Editor's Picks

It is still very much a work in progress but I have posted the third segment of FlyFishMagazine.com's 2007 Holiday Gift Guide. For my personal picks, I have tried to choose items that represent an excellent value for the fly angler regardless of price point. So far this includes luggage and gift items for the fly fisher from Filson and a very nice wading jacket from Patagoina.

Look for more "Editor's Choice" items tomorrow.

Wednesday Links

A splitting headache kept me from getting part three of our holiday gift guide out last night so I thought I would point you to some of our fellow bloggers recent postings:

Those troublemakers over at the new Buster Wants to Fish blog have published a list of 25 of the "The most pathetic things a fly fisherman can do." They get only a small argument from us as to number 23.

23. Edit, author or contribute to a fly fishing “blog”

However, we hope that the flaming skull warrior we are painting on our personal pontoon boat will help offset our lameness. (see #22).

Our Moldy pals at the Chum bring us a fishing guide that probably stays booked up during most of the warm months.

Tom Chandler over at the Trout Underground shows that he cares for the water safety of swimsuit clad fisher women with his recent inflatable bikini post.

Peacock bass fishing Pete from Fishing Jones lets us know that Donald Trump Jr. is going to be hosting a fly fishing show. Reports are that anglers who do not cast properly will be "fired."

Hopefully the BC powders will kick in soon and I can get back to work on the 2007 gift guide.

2007 Gift Guide Part II: Paisley's Picks

We continue our coverage of FlyFishMagazine.com's 2007 Holiday Gift Guide with today's picks from our tail water editor and Fly Fishing DIY Project guru, Jeff Paisley.

Jeff must be feeling the chill at his home in the Carolina mountains as two of his picks from this year have to do directly with staying warm while fishing his favorite tailraces. Like all good fly anglers he finishes his list big with a shiny new Tibor fly reel. Click here to see what gear caught Jeff's eye for this Christmas season.

Stay tuned through out the week for more gear guides from the staff of FlyFishMagazine.com.

In case you missed it here is a link to Jay Moore's picks.

Just for kicks here's what the gang picked in 2006.

A Successful Outfitter Must Have:

An article at BlueRidgeNow.com about Headwaters Outfitters in Rosman North Carolina, who has been in business for 15 years, offers a few suggestions:

The business plans to soon break ground on a new 3,200-square-foot paddle and fly shop."It's going to more than triple our retail space and it's going to have a lodge-like feel to it," said Nathaniel Axtell, director of fly fishing programs. "It's going to be keeping with the sort of ambiance we want to create, which is sort of a rustic mountain feel."Besides rods, reels, flies and gear, the fly shop will include a stone hearth fireplace, "an old hound dog lying around, and a fresh pot of coffee on the wood stove," he said."There's a lot of fly shops in this area, and we're not trying to necessarily replicate what they're doing," Axtell said.He said they're trying to differentiate by being a "one-stop shop, if you will, for the hiker, the paddler, the fly fisherman and the spin fisherman.

It looks like they might just be on to something.

Cyber Monday: FlyFishMagazine's 2007 Holiday Gift Guide

Around this time each year we ask the editorial team from FlyFishMagazine.com to stop fishing long enough to let us know what fly fishing products they would like to find under their Christmas tree. Not that we plan on buying any of it for them but it makes for good insight into what goes on in the twisted minds of the die hard anglers we run with.

The resulting list of gear has either become one of the most exclusive compendiums of holiday gift giving goodness in the fly fishing industry or a great tool for showing our wives and loved ones what we want for Christmas.

We start things off this year with gear picks from Jay "The Salomon Wrestler" Moore. Jay's picks run the gamut from limited edition Orvis trout knives to tropical shirts by Tommy Bahama. At the end of this email he dropped the real bombshell. It seems that our middle Tennessee piscatorial guru has himself been hooked and reeled in and is getting married in early 2008. Congratulations to Jay and Tammy!

View Jay's gear picks via FlyFishMagazine.com's 2007 Gift Guide.

Stay tuned for more picks from the other FlyFishMagazine.com editors later this week.

New Link Added: Flyfish Fanatic Blog

We have added a new sidebar link to the Flyfish Fanatic Blog written by Vancouver, BC author and angler Rick Passek. Rick is the owner of RP3 Fishing Adventures is sure to have some great insight on fly fishing in British Columbia. Rick has also penned a book titled "The Freshman Fly Fisher - A beginners guide for a new generation."

From the About Rick Passek portion of his website:

Of his passion for the sport, Rick says, “I am a die-hard fisherman who truly loves Fly Fishing.” This has led him to take numerous classes in both Fly casting and Entomology, or the scientific study of insects (key in helping fishermen understand the food sources of the fish they’d like to catch and sometimes release).

Sounds like good people to us.

Black Fly-Day

You know who you are, left at home doing yard work while your spouse spends the day after Thanksgiving draining the bank account shopping for Black Friday deals.

You don't have to just sit there and take it. While your significant other is standing in lines with the thousands of other shopping drones, you can be raiding the cookie jar and taking advantage of our Black Fly-Day deals on fly fishing and outdoor gear. Grab a turkey sandwich and a cold one and start clicking on banners!




Sierra Trading post is changing up their offer all this week so be sure and check back in from time to time. Remember we have links to Sierra's entire inventory of fishing gear at FlyFishMagazine.com. Be sure to come back here and use the coupon above to seal the deal.




The guys and gals at Joe's sports won't be left out either as they are offering big bucks off orders from their online store for two days only. The more you spend, the more you save!




Overstock.com has partnered with PayPal to offer you 20% cash back when you spend $100 or more for a limited time.



Finally, after all that hard work shopping in your underwear, nothing hits the spot like a high quality cigar. Take advantage of one of Thompson Cigar's excellent package deals.

Turkey