The Gloved One

It's that time of year again...the time when people start cringing and commenting when they see my hands. Yes, I'm hideous. Look away. My fisherman's hands make sense considering the activity--cracked from wind and water, grooved from stripping, scabbed from mosquito bites, rough from grip-n-grin, hookjabbed, peeling from sunburn, claw-shaped, calloused and cramped from casting. Super sexy. You know what I'm talking about--just look at your own nasty hands. Yikes, right?! What doesn't make sense is that I wait until the end of the summer to address the issue. With my hands at their worst, I finally put on my fabulous Buff, Inc. Pro Series gloves while shooting and episode of Trout TV on the lower Big Hole River in Twin Bridges, Montana a couple of weeks ago.

They are amazing, and I always find instant relief, especially with my hand cramping, since the accordion finger grip provides more surface area which means less hand energy is lost by gripping the flyrod. However, this glove is a whole 'lotta glove. I realize that while everyone should have a pair, they might be too warm and more glove than is necessary for people proactive (smart) enough to wear gloves throughout the season for everyday fishing or watersports.

So, imagine my stoke when my coworker Sammi went to IFTD and brought me back two pair of Buff Sport Series Water Gloves to test on Trout TV.

Here's Kate from Buff high-fiving with Sammi at IFTD.

At a lower price point ($27 MRSP) Buff, Inc. says these lighter water gloves “help anglers stay protected from damaging UV rays, fatigue and general wear and tear associated with poling. Power Stretch fabric keeps hands comfortable and protected by deflecting UV rays from the sun and reflective water.”

Um, wait...so, I don't pole. But still. More research reveals it's truly made for any water sport, including paddling and rowing. Here are more features of the Buff Sport Series Water Gloves:

• UPF 50+ ultimate UNV protection
• Brethable and durable stretch fabric
• Naturally contours to your hand
• We/dry silicone grip palm
• Longer cuff for UV protection
• Easy-on wrist pull
• Easy-off finger-tip pull

I'm excited about them because while I do love the Pro Series Gloves, I feel like something lighter and more acceptable for everyday (yes, I love the solar orange color every day) is the simple ticket to protecting my hands earlier in the season and keeping my skin healthier longer. And, I am planning a trip to Andros South early December, so I'm excited to put the Buff Sport Series Water Gloves to the test on the flats. Of course, no matter how great they are, my career as a hand-model is not promising.

Girls Gone Wild on the Elk River

Oh, Elk River. We love you. I recently traveled with Trout TV to visit our neighbors to the North in Fernie, B.C. We fished with Elk River Guiding Company, and had the fine fortune to be guided by Beckie Clarke, a seasoned pro and a creel of fun.

We put in about 16 miles north of Fernie at an access called The Aquarium. We got on the water before the fish were ready to rise. Beckie warned us things wouldn't heat up until after lunch. And while mid-morning brought us a few big, beautiful, pure cutties, Beckie was right--the real action started just after noon. And HOW! She easily got me into some serious cutthroat...just take a look at the pictures.

The big guys liked the olive mayfly patterns. Everything was hitting on top, and the larger fish took their time slowly rolling over the fly. It was all I could do to contain my excitement enough to let the fish hit and not rip the fly away from them too soon.

Mostly Beckie and I think we drove dear Bob the shooter nuts with our dorkiness and tongue-in-cheek high-fives. "Knock it and LOCK IT!" (Knuckle bumps, baby!) We turned the "Shop Stop" segment of the episode into a tour of the fly shop that was right out of MTV Cribs. Thanks for putting up with us, Bob!

Beckie and I fished a couple of holes together, and it was so fun to fish WITH someone instead of just for the camera. And a double hook-up with her is a good time, let me tell you.

After a slammin' couple of hours, we got slammed by an epic rainstorm and hailstorm. Bob had to put the camera away, of course, and Beckie turned the boat around to pull downstream through the deluge. Still, the laughs kept coming, and it turned out to be one of my favorite days on the water this year.

I highly recommend to EVERYONE that if you love dry fly fishing and catching big native cutthroat in an amazingly gorgeous setting, go see the folks at Elk River Guiding Company in Fernie, B.C. They are fun, knowledgeable, passionate, and they have a fridge-ful of Molson.

http://elkriver.ca/

Toll Free: 1.877.423.7239 PO Box 568 791 - 7th Ave Fernie, BC, Canada V0B 1M0

Confession: A bad day of fishing...it happens

The saying goes, "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day doing anything else." Hmmmm. I think this is true only 99.5% of the time, as proven by a recent experience on my beloved North Fork of the Flathead in Northwest Montana. It wasn't THAT bad...only half-a-percentage bad. But that half-percentage will be hard to forget.

I started the day excited to shoot an episode of Trout TV with Glacier Raft Company on my home river. The North Fork is the western boundary to my stomping grounds, Glacier National Park. I know how to fish this river. Well, it's an easy river to fish. It's beautiful, clear and full of native Westslope Cutthroat trout that aren't too picky or spooky. I generally know which bugs to use and how to present them, since I guided fishing trips at GRC many years ago on the North Fork, and I still fish there often. I felt confident that we'd come away with an amazing episode. Plus, my friend and GRC veteran Marc Evans was our guide. He's among the very best in the biz, and is the most requested guide at the Company. So I knew he'd get us into fish and help me iron out the many crimps in my angling ability along the way.

That's what getting cocky gets ya.
A half-mile into our day, I boated a gorgeous 17" cutbow--the nicest fish I've caught on that stretch in awhile. I don't have any still pictures, because the biggest beauties are reserved strictly for video. Shortly afterward, Marc got me into a fat 15" cutty. Great start.
Then I missed a lunker.
Then I missed a LUNKER.
Then I caught no fewer than 45 8" cutbows.
Then I ate nine Nutter Butters and drank a Miller Lite.
Then I caught a bunch of whitefish--considered trashfish in our area.
Then I set the hook on what I thought was a fatty and ended up yanking a four-inch cutty up out of the water, over the boat and onto the other bank. I rescued the wee flying fish, jumped back into the boat and proceeded to whack a Batman Nymph on the rod in a frenzied back cast.
Then I BROKE one of Marc's shiny Winston rods in what can only be classified as a terrible quagmire of ego-shredding errors.

Then it got windy. Not tourist-fisherman windy, but legit windy. 30-mile-per-hour steady winds and even harder gusts made it impossible to get any good sound out of our microphones.
I kept casting. And despite the beefiest doublehaul I could muster, I tangled droppers. I over-mended. I under-mended. I sucked.

At one point Marc said, "Um, Hil, what can I do to get that look off your face?" I said, "Um, tell Trout TV to hire a host who can fish."

I'm definitely not the meltdown type. I've always felt privileged and grateful just to be on the water and fish. I swear I'm not a negative person, a whiner or fit-thrower. And I don't' think I'm a river diva... But that day, for just a moment, with my arm twitching as I threw as hard as I could through the angry wind, I remember pouting, a bad day doing anything else would be better than this day of fishing.


We rescheduled the shoot. We're going back to the North Fork later this month.
It will be another day. A super day. A day that will hopefully cancel out the stinkin' half-a-percentage that briefly ruined the old adage.
But I'm going to bring extra Nutter Butters and Miller Lite just in case.