Watchin HD on Vimeo

The brown trout have been cooperating very well throughout the winter, particularly this weekend. Other species are a bit lethargic, but not the browns. A couple nice 12-14″ fish while throwing predominantly streamers. The fish on this creek are consistently tarpon-esque in their jumps when hooked, more so than any other trout I’ve seen. Early afternoon a few bugs were coming off but no fish rising, so the streamer onslaught continued.

Music:
February Stars – Foo Fighters

Casting Rio Mainstream Fly Line

First Impressions:

It was about a year ago now that I relined my 6’6″ 3wt. small stream fly rod with accompanying 2/3wt. reel. I waded through a lot of different brands of fly line, but I settled on Rio and eventually the Rio Mainstream WF3F fly line. Upon receiving the line and loading the reel, I noticed that the line was very supple, and didn’t retain much memory from the shipping spool. Rio claims the Mainstream line features “Supple self-lubricating coating, memory-free in cold water” and “Easy casting taper designs.”

Pros/Cons:

Rio Mainstream on Reel

P: Price – The price of the Mainstream fly line is one of its best selling points. At just under $40 at most retailers, it is one of the least expensive yet quality lines available. Before buying I researched higher priced lines by Rio as well as other companies, but decided to go with the ‘budget priced’ Mainstream line.

P: Easy Casting – The Mainstream line is one of the most supple lines I’ve used in quite some time. It has virtually zero memory, meaning it casts smooth and easy, and lays out flat on the water instead of coiling up like some lines tend to do after being on the reel for a while. Rio claims that the line is easy casting and a great line for beginners. I agree, and would recommend it to any beginner fisherman looking for their first line, but I would also recommend it to an experienced fisherman looking to load a spare spool.

P/C: No Loops – Some people much prefer loops on their fly lines to allow easy leader changes with all loop-to-loop connections. For those people, the lack of a loop at the end of the fly line is a con. However, I prefer to have no loop at the end of my fly line because I make my own loop with Sunset Amnesia red monofilament. I learned this technique from Zach Matthews of The Itinerate Angler, whose video is embedded at the end of this review. I prefer this over welded loops in my fly line because the bright red monofilament line acts as an indicator when fishing nymphs and streamers.

P: Made in Idaho USA – Enough said!

P: Durability – I typically expect my fly lines to last about a year. Currently, I’ve been using this line for a year now, and I’m going to try to push it another 6 months to a year if I can. So far, I’ve had no reason to question the durability of this line.

Summary:

Rio Mainstream & Rainbow Trout

The Rio Mainstream fly line is a great entry level product by a made in USA company. I prefer to buy American made, and it makes it even better when it’s a great product. The price of the Mainstream line is on par with most budget or entry level fly lines, making it a good purchase for beginners as well as spare spools for the experienced fisherman. When it’s time for new line, I plan on purchasing another Rio line, if not the Rio Mainstream.

The Verdict:

Buy it… If you are a beginner fly fisherman looking for your first fly line or looking to improve your casting skills, this is the perfect fly line for you. It is reasonably priced and very forgiving to cast. Accurate roll casts are required in the small Western North Carolina wild trout streams, and this line performs very admirably with all size flies from dries to streamers.

Disclaimer:

All reviews here at Foul Hook are my honest opinion. I purchased the product in this review myself and have not been compensated financially or otherwise for writing this review. At the time of publication of this article, I have no affiliation with the Rio Products.

Watch in HD at Vimeo.

It was about a year ago now when I was looking for some flies to stock my fly boxes for the coming late spring and summertime hatches that occur here in the southeast. I found Ben’s Mini Hopper post at Arizona Wanderings, and have never looked back.

You won't get red in your set, but they'll look just like this. Photo courtesy AZ Wanderings.

First Impressions:

Brookie & Mini Hopper

After ordering my Mini Hopper set, they arrived quickly considering they shipped from Arizona to North Carolina.  Well packaged and cramped from their travel, I unpacked the little foam hoppers and began analyzing them.  Well tied and full of color, I couldn’t wait to try the out.  I found that they weren’t very effective early in the season.  I tried them throughout the early spring and had only a few takers.  Then, as the days got longer and the nights got warmer, I began using the Mini Hopper more and more, until it was  the only dry fly I used for about 6 weeks, July through August.  It was easily the most effective summer fly I’ve used.

Pros/Cons:

P: Quality – Each fly was tied with excellent quality and attention to detail.  I sometimes get picky about the quality of the flies I use, even though the fish seem to care less than I do. I often times tie my own flies so that I can control the quality of the flies, but I had no problem filling my box with these.

P: Selection – Ordering a set of a dozen Mini Hoppers gets you 4 colors, 3 flies of each color; brown, green, orange, and tan.  This is one of my favorite parts of the Mini Hopper set of flies.  It wasn’t so much that the fish cared about the color, but I felt the color helped to visually see the fly in all lighting conditions.  My favorite colors to use were orange and green, and they are easily visible in low light.  The brown and tan work well in good lighting or where the sun is located in front of you, it’s easy to spot the dark fly on the bright, light reflecting water.

P: Tying Instructions – If you prefer tying your own Mini Hoppers, Ben has posted a step-by-step tutorial on his website.  I think this is a great addition, even though it possibly takes away from the sales.  You won’t find tutorials for tying flies at typical online shops that sell flies.  I could have tied my own set of Mini Hoppers, but I felt it was well worth it to buy a set and support the Arizona Wanderings site.

C: Size Options – At the time of ordering I was only able to order size 12 flies.  I usually fish smaller flies and would have liked these in size 14, but after fishing them, I feel that is a negligible size difference and the fish didn’t care too much.

Set of Mini Hoppers. Photo courtesy AZ Wanderings.

Summary:

The AZ Wanderings Mini Hopper set is an excellent dry fly option for fishing in the Southeast.  It has become my go-to fly during the hot summer months and is the best dry fly for a dry-dropper rig.  The foam keeps the dry floating high all day with minimal floatant required. I will be buying another set to begin my 2012 summer fishing campaign.

The Verdict:

Buy it! You won’t regret it. These are excellent flies, good quality, and highly effective.  This should be your go-to summer fly as well as dry fly for dry-dropper or hopper-dropper set ups.

Brookie and Hopper. Photo courtesy AZ Wanderings.

Disclaimer:

All reviews here at Foul Hook are my honest opinion. I purchased or tied the flies featured in this review myself and have not been compensated financially or otherwise for writing this review. At the time of publication of this article, I have no affiliation with the AZ Wanderings shop.

Here’s to some sun in May!

vise |vīs|

noun

a metal tool with movable jaws that are used to hold an object firmly in place while work is done on it, typically attached to a workbench.

New Oxford American Dictionary

Fancy... Too Fancy

There you have it; the definition of a vise. Pretty simple right? Well, when you start talking about fly tying vises, it gets a little more complicated than that. They do “hold an object firmly in place while work is done”, but they also do so much more. Too much more.

Not long ago, I was tying on a newer vise and feeling frustrated with the lack of quality in the flies that resulted from it. The hook would move or not even set properly, the jaws were too large and cumbersome with smaller hooks, and overall the fly tying experience was best described as annoying. No, it wasn’t the “cream of the crop” $600+ vise pictured here (and for that much I’d expect it to tie the flies for me), but it was about a $100 vise which I expected would get the job done just fine.

I’m not saying all modern vises are horrible, actually they are quite good. What I am saying is that they maybe a little too much. In fact, there are many good vise reviews.

So one day after rummaging around in a bag of old fly tying materials I stumbled upon an old vise. I’ve seen it before, and often laughed at the idea of it, but the recent frustrations experienced with my “newer” vise pushed me to give it a try. There’s a reason some things never die; they work, and they work well. Some people still use really old bamboo rods, and now I use a really old simple vise to tie flies. This bad boy will hold any size hook I’ve tried to put in it’s jaws; no wiggle, no falling out.

I’m not sure where it came from or how old it is. Research has turned up very little. There’s no branding anywhere marked on it, so I can only guess at its age. What I do know, is this simple little vise is absolutely amazing. No, it doesn’t spin the fly around, it doesn’t hold my thread for me; but it does do one thing hold the fly steady and secure, which is really all I need it to do.

Microslit Foam

Update: Bruce is almost done with one fly box, but now he’s gonna have to fill this one too. Congrats to owr winner (as deemed by random.org) Bruce (check your email)! Thanks to all who participated, I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of your fly boxes and hope to do it again soon.

It’s about time to start reorganizing the fishing gear and get ready for old man winter to pass away. The good ol’ Spring cleaning of the fishing gear is a welcome milestone each year. It’s usually marked by the first hint of warmth in a mid to late February afternoon.

On to the good part, to aid you in your efforts of preparing for the first spring fly outing, we’re giving away one Irideus Butte Micro Waterproof fly box! Capable of holding a whopping 222 flies in its secure “microslit” foam, this bad boy is ready for whatever you’ve got to throw at it (or in it).

Doubles as phone case?

From Irideus.com

Irideus is proud to bring you the Butte Fly Box. The Butte is named after one of our favorite county’s in the golden state. We also find the smallest mountain range in the world here, The Butte’s. So we have named our new micro waterproof fly box the Butte after them, and the beautiful back drop they make to the scene. The Butte is another great Irideus fly box that gives the same great slit foam lay out with compact size. This box is great for the person who likes to travel light or needs a few boxes inside the vest when challenging fish. The hinge, design and construction of are very well made, sure to please all fisherman looking for a smaller size box with waterproof construction.

To enter the random drawing simply comment with a link to a picture of your fly box, because full fly boxes are oh so pretty! Or you can like and post a pic on the Facebook page (or both if you wanna double your chances). If you don’t have a fly box you must be crazy, then show a picture of where you do keep your flies (you really need this win if you don’t have one by now). The winner will be selected at random 1 week from the post date, aka 2/27/2011, and will be posted on this same article, so be sure to check back to see if you won.

I will leave an example comment below as well as on the Facebook page (don’t worry, I won’t let myself win).

Now enjoy these other people’s fly boxes which are especially attractive.

MFC. I want one!

Nice Headhunter

From Calviello Rods

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When you’re young, excited, and begging someone to drive you to the river, you can get pretty creative with your flies. Random materials and crazy colors were the name of the game back then. 10 years later, I’ve become a little more refined when it comes to tying flies, and probably some of that creativity has also faded away.

Nonetheless, I have come up with a few patterns that have been quite successful for me over the years. I thought up both these dry flies a few years ago, and have fished them quite often since.  There’s not really any “match the hatch” going on with these flies, just some observation of materials, colors, and textures that have worked well for other flies.

I like to keep fly tying simple. As far as I’m concerned, fish are more put on by the shape and color of the fly than it’s imitative pointless finite details. Sometimes I even take tried and true patterns and “dumb them down”. For example, do fish actually see wings on a dry fly? Or do they pay more attention to the hackle? After all, the wings aren’t even in the water, or even (theoretically) touching the water.

1. Pheasant Tail Dry Fly

This fly has brought more fish to hand than I can count. Big or small, they all seem to like it.  The idea behind the design of this one was simple: pheasant tail nymphs are awesome, pheasant tail fibers are an amazing material, and lots of bugs are brown.  This was somewhat close to my line of thought when I came up with this fly. Most effective at a size 14-16, it’s made up of a few pheasant tail fibers on the tail, then wrapped around the body, more pheasant tail fibers on the wings, and some brown hackle; pretty simple; pretty awesome.

2. White Biot Dry Fly

Similar to the pheasant tail dry, this fly was designed more on form and color than matching something alive. I did match the hatch to a certain extent though. I often noticed small, light colored bugs coming off the water in the evening. I never payed particular attention to what kind of insect they might be, I just knew I didn’t have anything similar in my box when the fish were keyed in on them.

So I sat down at the bench with a few materials and an open mind. What resulted was one of my favorite evening patterns in the summer, which has also produced fish in all seasons.  This fly has been a skunk buster on more than one occasion. I’ve had best luck fishing this guy in a size 16-18 (although smaller might work too), it consists of grizzly hackle fibers for the tail, white biot wrapped body (the black thread gives it a kind of grey-ish color when it gets wet), grizzly tips for wings followed up with grizzly hackle.

This is where I’m gonna need your help. If these flies are selected by MFC, their names will be lame. Please help me out by commenting with some awesomely creative names for these guys.

Now that you’ve seen my submissions to be considered by Montana Fly Company, I urge you to check them out as well as Outdoor Blogger Network.  MFC has some amazing looking gear (brown trout flask and brown trout flybox look amazing!) and some good looking flies as well. Should you be one of the millions on facebook, give them a “like” on there too.

• Montana Fly Company
• MFC Facebook
• Outdoor Blogger Network
• FoulHook on Facebook and Twitter (you know you want to)

The flies are all packaged up and on their way to OBN and MFC. Best of luck to all the other entrants!

Set amongst the spectacular scenery of southern New Zealand, a most strange and bizarre tale unfolds.  The stuff of folklore, ‘Once in a Blue Moon’ unravels the mystery of an event that occurs briefly once a decade. This strange and unreal journey takes us into some of the most remote and beautiful parts of New Zealand as we follow one anglers quest to document and unravel a childhood mystery and catch the fish of a lifetime.

The multi-award winning, top selling fly fishing dvd in the USA, short film is now freely available via Hulu. I can’t say enough about how good the cinematography is in this film. The underwater shots are incredible, and the fish are just as beautiful. If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to watch it; and if you have, watch it again.

Click to watch