Lehigh Valley Limestoner

12 Years a Slave...to capitalism and it's inability to give us a local fly shop.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 11:12:00 +0000

First off, holy shit I'm writing in this thing again. Why?

But more importan...oh for fuck's sake none of this is important. It's a glorified girl's middle school diary where a fatman cries about fishing or some shit.. but.. Whatever.. On topic, just over 12 years ago I complained about the only fucking fly shop our shitty location can hold.

And now I want to complain about it again.

Because it's been gone for years, I don't even know how fucking long it's been gone but it's sure as shit not there anymore. I went to the Little Lehigh for the first time in I dunno, a decade, and there it sits.. the old Heritage Fly Shop.

I regret not taking a closer picture of the front door where you used to step down into the steps now filled with weeds. The flower bed/rod holder is still partially there, but slowly rotting as is the bench and one last picnic table.

How is this the best we can do, Lehigh Valley? How is it that there's nothing left but the empty shell of this place, which admittedly was doomed from the constant flooding, or we drive 45 minutes to Bass Pro/Cabela's? There's still a couple up north in the Pocono's, I recently discovered Classic Fly Fisherman in Lansdale but... the Lehigh Valley, the third largest metro area in Pennsylvania... Nothing.

Not only nothing, less than nothing. A string of failures.

Heritage, formerly Little Lehigh. Again, a labour of love but doomed by sitting on a fucking flood plain where everything is developed now and the waters run hard and high and with every rain.

There was that shitty Orvis place with the shyster by Dorney Park. Charlie, should you ever read this: Fuck off. There was another Orvis store in Bethlehem in the old Orr's building once, too. And that, as far as I can remember, is it.

The thing is, even though the Little Lehigh Fly Shop was run by a legendary curmudgeon (who, admittedly, was always nice to me and seemingly really liked my kids), it was dependable. It was a labour of love by Rod to keep it up and running, and when Rod retired and moved off to go play trout bum and Dave picked it up it was the same thing.

Those guys fought to give us something more, more than just an Orvis shop. And it was ours.

And now it's all gone. And its sad to see it there just empty. I'd take it back under either one of those guys again, even if it was a slog to get through, kinda musty, and small. I'd like to have a place to sit down wither other guys who fish. Talk about dumb crap. Watch cute girls in jogging shorts. Etc.

Speaking of, I didn't remember the plaque in the picture there to the right, but evidently in the old image it was there. I was surprised that it was in that old picture in the old entry, but more than reminiscing on Al Miller, who's Al's Rat I still tie and use (using original brown monocord and muskrat bought from Rod at the original shop!)

But it reminds me of someone else. Ed Mauer, aka Heritage Angler on the various Internet forums, and general fixture (not unlike Al) at the Little Lehigh for a long time. Ed passed away when I was off and gone. I don't know the details, but I know the last few times I was out fishign this year, since I learned, that everytime I think of Ed.

He was a good guy. If it wasn't for him, I would never have kept at this. I'd never have met multiple famous names. I'd never would've had a chance to help others or myself, and now he's gone and I'll never get that chance to thank him.

We could all stand to be a lot more like Ed. I miss ya, buddy. I'm sorry we didn't have more time together, and I'm sorry I wasn't around when you needed folks.

I. Went. Fishing. (was Kabuto 8053, pt 2: A "review;" and vulgarity laced musing on dry fly purism and gearsnobbery.)

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 11:24:00 +0000

Yesterday was April 20th, 2024.

I went fishing.

I forgot what it's like to go outside the house. Also, holy FUCK did I get fucking FAT. And my feet hurt. And I don't know where any of my shit got to so I just grabbed random shit that was all teh worst shit ever for a fat fucking fuck stuck on the banks because I cant' fit into my waders and I didn't wanna wet wade coz its fucking cold and I'm a baby.

But.. I went fishing. So that counts, right? Shit, I still know how to do it!

Also here's something that was waiting as a draft from 1/10/18. I'll never complete it. Hell, I won't even READ it, but I'm gonna fuckin' post it.

So there you have it.

---------------------------------

After my first year or three of fly fishing, I'd settled into patterns. I only fished dry flies, or a dry/dropper with an unweighted fly 18" or so under a bushy dry, and I frequented 20' to 30' wide tree lined creeks. I was, I think, moderately successful, at using these flies and setups and was only getting better at it. At the time, I was busy formulating my fishing timearound these two styles.

Traditionally speaking, "dry fly action" rods were fast, tip, action regardless of the material. If you look at current dictum, assholes say you fish dry flies with slow rods, and this is why they're assholes. Slow rods don't dry your flies on a cast. Slow rods aren't precision tools that generate tight loops into small targets. Slow rods don't set the hook with aplomb when you're fishing up stream and with mended line across braids. Those are all attributes of faster rods.

What slow rods do well, though, is provide that tactile and great feeling of a rod loading and unloading. They provide a more visceral enjoyment in casting your line, which is arguably the draw to a dry fly purist. The thing is, a fiberglass (or bamboo) rod can provide that feeling as you get to enjoy the feeling of the rod's loading and unloading due to the mass in the tip, the way you can feel the energy roll out your arm and down the rod and line.

Home, sweet home.

I'd spent some time looking for the right rod to fit the criteria of how and where I fish the aforementioned dry fly purist thing in small, usually forested, creeks. I'd gone from an 8' 4wt Versitex rod (fished with a SA GPX 4wt line, making it essentially a 5wt rod) to a Fenwick 756, 7'6" 6wt rod which really helped me understand that fiberglass didn't mean limp. In usage, the two rods basically handled the same, the two (or, really, one) line weight difference being lost in the way the material itself handled casting (glass versus IM6 graphite).

All of this long-winded preamble shit basically sets up my preferred choice to fish these flies in these waters: A rod that's a true medium (to med-fast, if you must), 8', AFTMA 5wt, and (for me) fiberglass. It also had to look fucking stellar because this was going to be my perfect rod. So, I ordered a Kabuto 8053 blank; based on word of mouth, it met my requirements. Now I've finished it, and fished it quite a few times, and I'm willing to tell others what I think, because I'm a big enough fuckin egotist to assume you give a shit.

And its my blog, so whatever.

Normally, people talk about build, finish, quality of parts, etc. That doesn't really apply here, as I bought a blank only and did the work on it.

I think I waited about two months after placing my order for the blank. Yasuyuki Kabuto routinely posts threads to Fiberglassflyrodders.com (home of the "what reel goes with this rod" thread, I'll speak negatively of their hivemind a little more down post), he also has a website at http://kabutorods.com/ which may or may not be a source for blanks. It arrived in a stout piece of Japanese PVC, wrapped in bubble wrap, reasonably priced and with an acceptable shipping time considering the international travel and Customs.

The blank itself is a flawless three piece affair. Each piece was arrow straight, and includes a perfectly set glass spigot. Its certainly not clear (I own fully transparent save for tinting rods), but a sort of translucent, ethereal affair. A friend of mine refers to it as "lemon popsicle." He's right. His build will also do justice to it unlike my shitty hack job.

The rod is rated for a 5wt line, and while some people suggest you need a 6wt line its important to note these people are stupid fucks. They are, simply, obsessed with having a rod that bends into the cork and is thus overloaded. There's a time and place for rods that do that, and this isn't it. Its a 5wt rod. Its supposed to be "crisp" to use parlance and shit. That's how it was designed. If you want a floppy rod, then there's plenty of people who will sell you one.

So, then, the reason someone who plunked the words "kabuto 805 review" into Google was for the following few paragraphs, which come in three types: Good, bad, and the fuck-if-I-care.

I'll do the bad first, its a shitty rod to cast a brace of wets down and across. Period. You want a glass rod to do that and if you have Popeye-like arm strength, let me suggest the South Fork C9052 (read about it here). Sure, you can flip out a wet fly or two when needed (and I have, alot), but if its what you want to concentrate on, this isn't the rod for you. I'd make a golf club reference about wedges and irons or some shit, but as you've probably just figured out, I don't know what any of that means and golf is an even stupider pastime than fly fishing, so fuck off and figure it out yourself.

Also in the "bad" side is its a stout rod. Its not that its leaden, but its not exactly what I'd call lithe, either. Its a pretty chunky rod down in the butt, and you're gonna need a bigger reel to balance it out, so if you've got Tyrannosaurus forearms, there's probably better choices.

I tried to ~~bobber fish with jigs~~ indicator fish with nymphs, but I couldn't really be bothered to give a fuck about it. Yeah, you can throw an indicator rigs. Whatever. Sure. I dunno, probably not with a kilogram of tungsten attached to it. What the fuck do I care? I don't. See, I just dismissed it like that. Watch how I blow off streamers, next: You can throw streamers, its a 5wt rod. I hear Kelly Galloup has some fascinatingly named flies for you to look at if that's your thing.

So, what about the good shit? Well, the 8053 excels at dry fly fishing, though. Its everything I wanted it to be: Fast, "crisp" action that feels good to cast and excels at propelling a dry fly into tight places. Its not so limber as to cast with just a 12' leader out the tip, but you wouldn't want it to be as everything else would suffer. With only a foot or two of line, its vaguely do-able, but once you raise it to about four feet you can have actual casts, and with eight feet out the tip, you're able to have an actual

but with a foot or two of line, it'll do-ish. If you extend that to four feet of line, you can have an actual cast, and from eight on up, you're into tight forecasts with the accuracy to slip it under branches or through holes. It bends on a good cast into the upper-middle of the rod, just the right amount of limberness

glade squires sounds like a dick.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 07:55:00 +0000

I dunno, I go do a thing and not some things and I guess there's some sort of new level of dickery about a local creek. So like, I read more and it appears that there's a guy who's parents actually named him "Glade Squires."

I mean, don't get me wrong, "Squires" is pretty badass as far as names go. I mean you've got.. what, a popular misspelling of a guitar manufacter and Chris Squire, who played a guitar but is only singularly named, and not plural. Actually, I guess "Squires" isn't very cool at all, other than the q.

So duder's some sort of guy of importance in the fish commission, and now he's all hot to stock local creeks in strange new ways:

Commissioner Glade Squires, of Chester County, suggested the commission stock the creek within the park boundaries with rainbow trout and allow all-tackle fishing for them specifically. The commission could maintain the existing trophy trout rules in regards to brown trout, he said.

Such a change makes sense because Saucon Creek represents “a significant opportunity” to provide fishing in an urban setting for families, he added.

So, I guess that's an idea.

And holy shit, did we even talk about the name "Glades?" Who names their fucking kid "Glades?" How goddamned douchey is that name? Can I say that without it being libel or something? Anyways, Glades. Holy crap.

So, yeah. Glades has strange and awful ideas. He also had support from people with far more common names. These are the people who are responsible for our shitty sport continuing, and fuck knows Saucon Creek has enough problems without crap like that; like the coop hatchery the local mouthbreathers keep trying to open on the banks of this place, a hatchery that ole Glades was also in support of.

So, I dunno. Maybe it's not the place you go, but the thing is if it starts in one shitty stream in my backyard how do you know the next one won't be in yours? http://fishandboat.com/inform.htm

flyfishing hipsterism.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Thu, 22 May 2014 04:49:00 +0000

i did it before it was cool.

Holy shit, lehigh valley local topical shit and what not.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Them there local TU types along with some sort of artsy shit thing here in the Valley are bringing one of them there fancy fly fishin' kinda movies in for the townies.

The fine people at Monocacy TU have a full article here, but the short of it is on December 17th, they'll be presenting "Kiss the Water," a documentary (I guess) about reknowned (I guess) salmon fly tier Megan Boyd.

OK, so there's not much I can go on there... Deal with it. How about I parrot more copy from the PR campaign for the film, itself?

....

Oh fuck that, I don't know. I saw shit about movie festivals I never heard of, and all sorts of nonsense. It doesn't matter. You know what does matter... The fact that someone is doing something of note about our little sport in the third largest metropolitan area of Pennsylvania that somehow has no fucking presence or note at all in the larger fishing community. I mean, seriously, how much of that sort of thing actually happens here? None. None at all. We live in a fucking black hole of that sort of thing despite the fact that you'd think those fly fishing film tours should swing right the fuck through here.. I'm not sure I ever need to see the latest and greatest gopro'd hero shots of someone's fishing trip in Timbuktu, but fuckall if I wouldn't at least like the option to say "no" to that nonsense.

So how about you take $10 out of your wallet and head down to the Artsquest building on the 17th and watch this shit? Think of it, you'll get 80 minutes or so of entertainment in the middle of an otherwise shitty cold season of little to no fishing and a lot of holiday assholery.. Furthermore, the more of us who show up at this, the more likely someone will do this again, and furthermore, the money they raise goes to shore up the shitty state of our local streams.

Its win all around. You win. Our blasted landscape wins. The people putting this on win. Winning!

Shit starts at 6pm; a pre-game warmup if you will, with the local fry frishing champions out in force doing what we do best (presumably standing around, orating and issuing grandiose statements on the superiority of fly fishing over gear; you know there's gonna be some tweed up in that bitch).

More info at www.monocacytu.org and www.artsquest.org.

I buy shit.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 05:30:00 +0000

But sometimes it can turns out OK.

Before.

After.

Its still junk, but worth more than I paid for it.

With the exception of a vinegar bath for the spool, I cleaned the other parts off with Boeshield to protect the bronzing. Ready for use, except I need to loctite the pawl screw into place.

Fucking off the CWA, historians, and a select population of stringer janglers.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 17:49:00 +0000

Now you see it...

...Now you don't.

Thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Monocacy Creek TU Chapter, the City of Bethlehem, and the many people who are responsible for the festering sore of shit known as Musikfest (coz flooding is bad for business, and you know they cried about it endlessly, lost revenue, etc etc etc; Money is our God), the dam in Johnson Park along Monocacy Creek is now gone.

Actually, it has been for awhile now. I just don't care to do updates because, honestly, this is pretty lame and I realize now. Not "this" the dam removal, "this" a ridiculous egocentric blog wherein I tell you all about whatever shit I've done gone and bought (that'll be the next few installments).

Anyways, let's get on with the good bits. I tried to be useful, and tried to take some before/after pictures, and figure we'll just post them because that is interesting.

That said, lemme specify when I say "I tried," I sort of forgot to take more corresponding pictures of further up the damed section, which was basically a long, slow, flat and shitty pool unsuitable for anything other than the poor bastard stockies which hadn't been slaughtered, some fat carp, and more ducks than you'd know what to do with.

No more frog water.

Now, however, about two weeks after the breaching, and after the work crews have completed and moved on there's some great riffles, some holding water, and the newfound ability of fish to move further up the creek rather than be stuck at a lowhead dam and able to be murdered easily by the creeling masses of the greater Bethlehem area. Ha ha, fuck you and work for it, assholes.

So, after the cut, way more fucking pictures of things that aren't very important to most people, including alot of very-nearly-the-same perspective pictures.

About four days before breaching.

During the operation.

The day after.


Three weeks.

About four days before breaching.

During the operation

The day after.

Three weeks.

About four days before breaching.

The day after.

Three weeks.

Superfine Touch 904-4 build.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 01:53:00 +0000

Last rod project completed, I'm done building shit because I don't really foresee much less I don't own, I didn't really need this one, either, but I wanted a longer rod that would also be light, which meant graphite.

There's not much out there in the way of slower action, full flexing, graphite except for the venerable Orvis Superfine, except I couldn't afford a $500 rod, hence building and the sudden burst of activity (I'd been sitting on those other blanks for a long time).

The blank is an Orvis Superfine Touch 904-4, only Mudhole.com sells Orvis' blanks, and they Superfines are built-to-order, so prepare to wait 3 to 6 weeks. Like the last two rods, I used a cheap Fenwick-style half wells grip, an aluminum featherweight downlocking seat, and PacBay lightwire snakes and TiCH stripper. Orvis provided spacing, and guide size was determined by expanding the data provided by Tom Morgan Rodsmiths in his guide charts (st8-2-1-1-1/0-1/0-1/0-2/0-2/0-2/0-tip). Thread was PacBac midnight black nylon, and Gudebrod red/black twist both in size A with two coats of Flexcoat CP and finished with two coats of Flexcoat Lowbuild.

Now, if only I could find free time during the day to use all these new toys.

Four turns of twist for trim.

Handle and seat.

Signature wrap, as always.

Yearly trico fuckstory.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 09:37:00 +0000

Its 5:34am on a Monday morning when most people are heading into work.

I could be standing in the middle of a well regarded trico stream fishing banty drakes to stupid fish in about 30 minutes from walking out my door.

I have a fully rigged rod, plus a spare leader, a little jar of trico spinners, and everything I need sitting in the car.

The entire thing is ready to go for my yearly trico ritual.

And... I don't care. Its a stupid hatch for stupid people. Tricos are assholes. I'm going to bed.

Also, only assholes fish 8x tippet for fucking fish in 90 degree summer heat. Go ahead, argue it asshole.

Kabuto 8053, pt 1.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 23:45:00 +0000

The second rod I've started is done, a Kabuto 8053 in the translucent white.

I think I ordered the blank nearly two years ago, and was probably sitting on it for 18 months. I decided I needed to finally do it, and put it together.

I was, honestly, originally planning on making this some sort of magnum opus for me, the ultimate rod, one rod to rule them (etc).

That was when I only fished dry flies. Shit, now I only fish wet flies, so, well, fuck that one rod shit, huh? That said, I only had it out a little bit, but I'll wax poetic on it after I've used it for awhile.

There's few times I feel like I'm doing a public service with this shitty blog, but talking about an obscure fly rod you'll never see in a shop might be one of them. I'll do that after I've had some more time (and fish) with it.

Anyways, build details follow.

First off, I gotta be honest, for my third rod and my most expensive blank, I did a really shitty time with the thread. I don't know how it went so terribly wrong, but all the black got really fucked up looking and fuzzy. I'm pretty pissed off about that. I also originally planned to wrap with silk, and opted for the less intensive nylon in the end. I knew it wouldn't be as transparent as silk wraps, but I was hoping for more than I got, which is less "candy coated purple water ice magic fly rod fuck yeah sea king" and more Wonder Rod. Anyways, Pacific Bay Dark Purple wraps with Midnight Black tips. It wasn't NCP thread, and I used two coats of Flexcoat Low Build.

Guides were all Pacific Bay brand, as well, lightwire snakes and a TiCH stripper. I used Yasuyuki Kabuto's recommended guide sizes and spacing, figuring no one would know his rod better than he. I admit, I fudged the spacing slightly. I'm all for doing it right, but I wasn't exactly able to get down to the precise milimeter placement he sent me.

I used a Fenwck style half Wells handle, cheap cork but fuck it, it'll look like shit after a few months of use whether I used REC cork or the Cabela's special. Coring that fucker out was a chore, because the diameter of the blank down there is far bigger than what one would've expected. This is one of the reasons I left the "super, no expense spared"rod concept behind: Trying to core out a wooden spacer (made by a friend from a home stream's tree branch) would've been fucking unpossible, so the next best thing were vintage featherlight styled aluminum downlockers from Ebay. Durable, light, and big enough to easily accept the butt of the rod.

All that aside, its just about impossible for me to capture the look of the rod blank and do it justice. Even without the thread finish being what I wanted, there's soemthing striking about the translucent blank how it catches the ambient light. The best I could do was try to hold it up to the sun and let it flow through, but its just won't translate to pictures.

To the left is a picture of three different blanks, the Kabuto is at the bottom (obviously). Above it is a Quick Finessa 6186, and next down is a Daiwa VIP 43. To put it simply, they are transparent rods, the Daiwa so much that you can almost read through it. In comparision, the Kabuto doesn't even show the contrast of the knife blade very well beneath it, but it has a way of picking up ambient light and almost glowing.

One orange provides 116.2% of your daily dose of vitamin C.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 04:12:00 +0000

And complete.

Second one I've made, it got easier than the last.

I bought the "unknown manufactuer" blank for $15 off a guy on a forum. He told me it was brown.

Its not. Its orange. Its very fucking orange. But, whatever. I've been planning to make it for more practice, and then just selling it off for what I paid for it.

Pacific Bay silicon carbide stripper and lightwire snake guides, using a the sizing and spacing provided by Tom Morgan for a 7' 3wt rod.

I used Pro Wrap Tiger thread, basically their name for a twist nylon thread, in orange and black. PacBay black nylon thread for tips (are they tips if they're that thick, still?) and a single coat of Flex Coat colour preserver, with one coat of Flex Coat low build finish.

My wraps still suck, though, but they are better than the last one. I did a better job at packing and burnishing, plus burning off ends, but there's still plenty of mistakes to be found.

An vintage Pac Bay featherlight style aluminum seat, and a dirt cheap Fenwick-style half wells seat. In the end, all cork is gonna look like shit when you use it, why pay a premium? I own rods to fish, not to look at.

Wish I knew who made this orange abortion, though. Turns out it fishes like a champ. Perfectly roll casts, can fish three small soft hackles to 20' without an issue, which is all I need, and bends to the cork with a 10" Lehigh Valley trout on the end. Turns out, even the hideous orange looks pretty good once you add some thead to it, too.

Fuck it, I'm keeping it.

Anything to avoid the responsibilities of life.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 05:45:00 +0000

I think I've had the Kabuto 8053 blank for nearly two years, the unknown carrot only slightly less. I figured it was time I did something with them, if for no other reason than I ordered a Superfine 904 blank should be delivered in July and it seemed a bit asinine to sit on the Kab, at the very least.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:06:00 +0000

South Fork Rod Company C9052.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 06:53:00 +0000

Steeped in olde timey, bitches.

In the fall, I decided I'd finally put the time and effort into making wet flies work. I've thrown myself into it, preferring them to all things (although I haven't tried them through a major hatch, yet, mostly because there haven't been any), but I've been assured that I should do so by someone who's opinion I trust.

Amongst things devoted to wet flies has been an interest in obtaining a rod to fish them correctly. At this time, I have little interest in the North Country, tight line method espoused by such notables as Oliver Edwards and Davy Wotton (a personal note to Mr. Wotton: Please consider a manicure before your next video. For the love of God, your nails are revolting, and since you're tying flies I'm forced to look at the disguisting things. Yes, this matters), but am much more focused on the more traditional cross stream methods most commonly associated (and derided) with wet fly fishing.

I tried a couple of rods to start, first a 10' TFO Jim Teeny 5wt (with a 6wt line), which turned up the myriad of shortcomings, both expected and not: Tight loops and high line speed are not ideal for wet fly fishing. You want to keep loops open to ensure your droppers don't tangle each other (which can be done somewhat by simply changing stroke), but the line speed issue is more or less integral to things due to the intrinsic power you put into a stiff rod. The thing I didn't know ahead of time is that fast line speed turns fuck ups into catastrophes, meaning if you tangle your line against itself in a bad cast, you're gonna end up cutting and retying alot. When your cast hits a branch, it tends to wrap itself tight, and you'll loose a lot more flies, whereas a slow rod allows your tangles to be unwound without constant recutting, and you can retrieve flies without having to clomp across the stream.

So, the Teeny was out, and a $20 eBay (including shipping!) Silafex 022985 was in. We're closer, as its slower, fuller action seemed to prevent alot of the issues, but its basically a 6/7wt (emphasis on 7wt) rod, which is a bit too much for the small fish I frequent. I may have resolved the issues of a fast rod, but it was definitely overkill for the smaller waters I frequented.

Come the Somerset Fly Show, I met with Cameron from TFM, and mentioned what I'd been fishing. He suggested a rod I should try out, and said he'd send a loaner up my way.

Three weeks later, I came home to a surprise at my door.

A path to wet fly taper perfection.

First impressions, at 11:30 at night, was that it was slow as shit, and was a giggle inducer when waved in that sort of way assholes wave fly rods when they first picked them up.

You know what I mean. You do it to. We all do it. Its an entirely unscientific and stupid metric that means jack shit, but fuck if you want sit there and wave rods above your head in the store, anyways.

Fortunately, despite the fact that its February, and the heart of winter in Pennsylvania, I had a weekend of upper forty degree weather ahead of it, so I was able to get out and enjoy it in decent weather (not that I won't fish the ever loving hell out of it til he makes me send it back).

SFRC offers two lines of fiberglass fly rods, the Classic and the Fiberglass. The latter are evidently rolled in house by Margot Redington, and the former are made by Lamiglas to SFRC's specifications. The C9052 is a 9', two piece blank that comes in that trade mark ~~peanut butter~~ honey colour Lami blanks are known for.

Only the stripper and ferrules featured the brown tipping.

The model that I'm currently using features a different thread colour than the standard blue, an almost transparent golden yellow that matches with the blank, with brown tipping and silver metallic accents. These were finished without CP, so its nicely transparent and shows off the guide feet below. Just below the understated yellow fish logo are what I assume to be David Redington's initials. I'm not sure if he wraps all the rods, or just this example, but that's kind of a nice touch.

The cork is exceptionally smooth, with a nice black metal winding check at the top. Its a standard Western grip to hide the uplocking reel seat hood. While the rod is already on the heavier side (its a 9' fiberglass rod, so that's not unexpected), I really wish it had a reverse or a full wells. Maybe that's personal bias, but I think that helps with holding and using a heavy rod.

The seat is plain black, but very nicely machined. A single ring will cinch the reel in place against a nicely matte finished wood thingy. I'm not a fucking carpenter, so don't expect me to know what the wood is, but its nice and sort of light brown, and certainly not obnoxious to look at. The nicest little touch is the SFRC name etched into the lower band. Evidently the insert is not SFRC standard fare, but the seat is.

The whole thing comes in at a non-ridiculous $300 sticker, and its completely made in America, which is nice. Blanks are also available at $147, so you can be a cheap skate and change what you want on the rod.

So, of course, the questions that really matter are how does it fish? In a word, sublimely.

Its the little touches that make it cool.

It is a true 5wt rod, full flexing and will toss a lazy loop as long as you don't push it too hard. I think you could safely put a 4wt line on it (and maybe I should try that) and get some more distance, but in the small 20' wide creek I've been fishing that's not something I've had to explore. It will happily cast just a leader without more than a foot of line, as well as an easy 30'+ (again, small creeks and barely there weather haven't given me much desire to push it). As per its design of long, slow, and full loading, it roll casts like a dream, and it'll let you do what I can only assume are "single hand spey" techniques (don't ask me, I just flip the shit around like a 12 year old gymnast with one of those ribbon sticks. Which, in the interests of proper blarg research I figured I'd find out what its called. Its called "ribbon." WTF? Why doesnt it have a fucking fancy French name or some shit? can I suggest "ruban fille à peine légal virevoltant merde danse?"There. Lets call it that. Make it so!).

So, it casts like a champ. Its also easy to mend due to its length, as well, letting you flop line around like a fat kid with cupcakes, making it really fun to fish with. It handled a three wet fly cast admirably, without a single accident incident of the line crashing into itself and ending up a jumbled mess. I also was able to shorten the leader, and flip a bucktail streamer out to either strip it back, or swing it down and across with ease. I'm not sure how it would handle a heavy monster streamer, but I don't really expect that to be the domain of a real 5wt rod, anyways, it would certainly be workable with one that's got some lead wraps under the body, though. It was also happy indicator nymphing, again, with reasonably weighted flies but it did get a little floppy when you started to crimp shot on the line. Then again, maybe that's shitty leader design. Its not exactly my forte.

Maker's mark.

Dry fly fishing is another matter, entirely. Personal opinion is to the traditional school of thought where dry fly rods are better as tip action fast affair, unlike most people who want a noodle to fish a dry. That said, it reasonably fulfills the requirement, but it wouldn't be my first choice. It just doesn't have the power to really turn over a longer, softer leader, effortlessly for me, due to the slow, full flex, but still being a shit ton of fun to cast and thus probably pleasing people who think slow rods are dry fly rods. Where I really struggled was setting the hook on takes, though, where it seems like my timing was consistently off due to lack of response and length of rod (I usually fish shorter, and seem to gravitate to tippier rods do to a preference to dry fly fishing above all things).

¥ou know where els it didn't work so well? Wind. Again, there's a time and a place for tight loops and fast line speed. It would not be my first choice on a windy day. Matter of fact, casting into a moderate breeze is a shit show. Period. There's no flowery way to say it, it just flat out sucks ass.

Its also a bit heavy in the hand. Its to be expected, and on day one I definitely felt a little strain after using it. By the end of day two, either my muscles had needed to get used to fishing again (its been a shitty, cold winter), or I had found the right stroke, as it was alot less strenuous on my wrist and hand. That said, I prefer a rod with some weight in the end of it, as I think that's what makes fly fishing fun, and it gives you the necessary life and soul to the rod that is, really, my whole point to being out there. I don't necessarily care about catching fish, as long as I'm having a fun time in the process of attempting to.

Fly fishing hipsterism in action: The wet fly wallet.

As to actually catching fish on it? It will, as you expect, bend nice and deep with only a moderate fish on the end. While it makes you feel pretty badass to see it flex so far, I can't help but wonder how much backbone it would actually have with a large fish on the end of it. Even with fish in the area of 12", it seems like its awfully hard to control them due to lack of backbone. Its a mixed blessing. It definately has the giggle factor to see that big ole 9' rod bend down deep into a nice C curve. I suspect a real trophy fish could be an issue, but its not exactly a problem I suspect I'll have to worry about any time soon.

I'm probably supposed to send it back someday, which is a shame. I'm half thinking about telling Cameron that I've been held up by pirates or some shit, although since I've now stuck that plan out there for the world, I don't imagine he'd believe it anymore. That said, its exactly what I've wanted since I've decided I've wanted one (how's that for roundabout logic), a perfect, and true, 5wt rod suited for the down and across fishing I've come to really enjoy in the last six months, and for a very reasonable price considering its American made.

(ps, since I suspect you'll read this at some point: completely sober, beginning to end, you can tell due to lack of unfocused anger)

Stewart's OTHER three flies.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 04:50:00 +0000

The spider, a dubbed wet, and a hackled wet. This is all the direction

we were left with.

Before you read this, realize I'm not a historian, an artist, or really very clued in. I just needed something to occupy my mind this extended weekend, and I decided this was something that I found relevant to my interests.

And, again, tied as I interperted the pattern descriptions with modern

materials.

What I'm getting at is if I'm wrong, fuck off, I followed the instructions in a 155 year old book. So, y'know, its pretty much open to interpertation. Deal with it. That aside, I'm not going to bother writing a biography of WC Stewart, because frankly all I'd do is plagiarize others, anyways. Its not like he's not a hugely pivotal figure in fly fishing, more or less advocating the use of the upstream wet fly, and helping push the spider technique of tying into the lime light.

So, whenever anyone really discusses Stewart, its all about the three spider patterns we were left with (black, red, and dun), but we were left with three additional patterns as well as these words:

The three following are the winged flies to which we are most partial... An immense number of killing flies may be made by varying the wings and body, but nothing is gained by extending he number beyond those just mentioned, and we do not believe six more killing imitations can be manufactured.

Now, he's referred to six flies, so its important to note the first three are his spiders. More interestingly, though, is that Stewart clearly believed in the appearance of life over strict imitation, and furthermore (as well documented), was so willing to put preference of technique and design over imitation, one of his famous spider descriptions (the dun) didn't even bother to note the thread colour.

Anyways, the short of it is that the guy was able to reduce his pattern collection to six, which is in stark contrast to guys who carry six different boxes of nymphs, alone. Maybe we can learn something? Let's look at all six patterns in turn...
Let's get the usual bullshit out of the way, and just list the spiders for completeness:

Stewart's Black Spider:

Brown silk.
Starling body feather.

Pretty complex, huh? There's a trick in how its tied, though, which is to do a very short body (to point, or less, really) and bind the thread and feather together, spin them around into a sort of chenille rope, and wrap the length of the body that way. This is standard for all of Stewart's spiders, in direct contrast to a "North Country Spider" which is generally a turn or two of half-stripped hackle collar only. Stewart's version is "buggier" (asshole term) and vastly more durable than a flimsy north country spider.

Stewart's Red Spider:

Yellow silk.
The small feather from the outside wing of a landrail.

Tied like the black, be damned if I know where to find a landrail feather in America, but it would appear a gingery-red feather should do the trick.

Stewart's Dun Spider:

No silk colour listed. Dave Hughes suggested yellow or gray.
The ash or dun coloured feather from the outside wing of a dotterel.

Dotterel?! Evidently, Leonard West says the inside of a starling wing provides an ample sub for this in his 1912 book, The Natural Trout Fly and its Imitation, so sure, why not?

So, as noted, we've got three more fly patterns to talk about, and these are the three that aren't constantly bandied about by everyone, and are likely every bit as important as his spiders.

1st form, light silk.

1st form, dark silk.

1st Pattern:

A woodcock wing, with a single turn of a red hackle, or landrail feather, dressed with yellow silk, freely exposed on the body. For fishing in dark coloured waters, this fly may be dressed with scarlet thread.

2nd form.

2nd Pattern:

A hare lug (hare's ear) body, with a corn-bunting or chaffinch wing. A woodcock wing may also be put in the same body, but should be made of the small light coloured feather taken from the inside of the wing.

Notice, again, no notation of silk colour. I think its safe to assume, or at least err, to go with the same colour as the prior fly, that is yellow. That seems to be a safe bet in almost all wet fly patterns, as it will darken its tone when wet, as well as taking on a slight translucence when its wet. In the 1961 SI Guide to Wet-fly Fishing, Pete Hidy's dressing for the Leisenring Spider indicates one should use primrose thread, a pale yellow. Its suggested upon completing the tying of this fly that some of the dubbing be picked out to suggest life.

3rd form, dark silk as written.

3rd form, light silk variation.

3rd Pattern:

The same wing as the last fly, with a single turn of a soft black hen hackle, or a small feather taken from the shoulders of a starling dressed with a dark coloured silk.

We're back to this missing colour thing, but we're now being told to use a dark coloured silk. It is, essentially, the same fly with the addition of the black hackle turn, so I think we're safe to also make assumptions here and go with scarlet, if for no other reason than, again Leisenring and Hidy favoured this and primrose in the Art of Tying the Wet Fly, and we've already gotten a tenuous tie with these colours in the first form.

In addition to hare's ear, he also lists the fur of the "water rat," or more likely what we now call a European water vole. Like so much else, its now protected. Whereas muskrat is grey, water rat was brownish. That said, I'm pretty sure by Stewart's standards it would matter if you fished it right, anyways.

Greenwell's Glory from Brook and River
Trouting, with a bunched and split wing.

On tying them, contrary to placing individual slips of feather quill, Stewart suggests a different method, more akin to rolling a wing, that is bunched and split. Take the feather with which you intend to make your wing, strip off as much as you intend to use, and then fold it half, and then do it again insuring that the outside of the feather is facing out rather than in. Bind it down, split the bunch, and then draw the silk up between the split.

Finally, to simply prove you don't need an assload of fancy shit to take pictures of flies, I thought I'd show you how quickly one can make an impromptu studio out of tying supplies. I've got an old vice holding a piece of grey foam for a back drop (grey is neutral coloured and will help calibrate the white balance as well as not taint the colours of your image), with another piece of white foam to reflect light back up into the bottom of the fly. Admittedly, you might not all have a long ass zoom to raise the level, but I suspet most of you are smart enough to find something (I couldn't find another c-clamp or I'd have used another vise). Overall lighting is provided strictly by the Ott light that sits on my desk. It ain't rocket science.

Anyways, its cold and wintery and I'm pretty sure I don't give a fuck so I think the great content blitz of the last few months has drawn to a close. Hope you enjoyed the high point of the year for this blog which happened on the first of the month. Huh.

I stole this for my own records, it ain't mine. Deal.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 04:49:00 +0000

I admit, I'm lifting this wholly from another source. Its a bullshit move, and I'm a dick for doing it, but I'm doing it for my own personal records.

Someone has posted original scans of the feather plates from Leonard West's "The Natural Trout Fly and Its Imitation"(pg 73 through 91).

To you, Mike Conner, I say thank you, as well to the posting at the Fly Fishing in Maryland forum I lifted this from. I highly suggest the original post as Mike Conner, the poster, added many very helpful. personal notes that I don't feel is right to steal. The descriptions and plates are PD, but his information is not, please view it at its original site as long as its there.

Plates and annotation after the jump...

1. This is from the wing of a cock pheasant, and is one of the feathers commonly used for a march brown ; it is an easy feather to manipulate.

2. No. 2 is also a secondary wing feather from the wing of a hen pheasant, and is used
for march browns, and also for sedges.

3. Is from the tail of a cock pheasant, and is very good in colour and speckle, but not
good to work, as the fibres do not marry well ; the aider wing is sometimes made from this feather.

4. Similar to No. i , but from a lighter coloured bird.

5. Tail feather from a hen pheasant, a useful sedge colour.

6. From an Orpington cock ; a fine cinnamon, and easy to work.

7. This and many other varieties of finely speckled feathers are obtained from the capercailzie.

8-9. Were taken from a game hen, and are fine in the speckle, and good working feathers ; alders and march browns are sometimes imitated with this feather.

10-11. Are Bittern feathers, which have a great variety of colour and marking ; no finer imitation can be found for some of the sedges, &c. The fibre is soft and silky and marries very well.

12-13-14 Are Jay feathers, fine and transparent in the fibre, and very good in colour the cinna-mon for sedges and the grey for Ephemera.

15. Is from the wing of a French partridge, and very useful for sedges. Easy to work.

16-17. Tail feathers from a partridge, good in colour but long in the fibre, and very apt to break up rather badly.

18. Partridge wing ; fine in colour and easy to work, just right for a grass moth or a small sedge.

19. A quail wing feather, used whole to imitate the big sedge "Grandis."

20-21-22 Grouse feathers. There are also several other shades on a grouse, equally good and useful, both in colour and texture.

23-24. Woodcock wing feathers; probably about the easiest to manipulate as wings, and useful in quite a number of flies, e.g., oak fly, sedges, etc.

25-26-27 Are from a brown owl. For sedges they are very good, especially the larger ones, but they must either be tied thick or supported, as they turn very soft after getting soaked.

28-29. Good in colour and markings for dark sedges, but all night-jar feathers soon knock to pieces, being so soft and fluffy, but for wet flies they are very good indeed, while they last.

30-31. Are from a Landrail, which is a grand bird for the fly dresser. The feathers are pleasant to work, and very attractive to the fish.

32-33. Are from a golden pheasant. No. 32 is used for wing cases {Elytra} in dressing beetles, where a dark colour with a metallic gloss is required. The orange and black provides a very good imitation of the soldier beetle. Single fibres are also useful for the tails of Ephemera, &c.

34. Is from a tern or sea swallow, which has a number of hackles as well as wing feathers of a very delicate pale blue grey, decidedly suggestive of a variety of small duns. Grayling esteem this colour highly.

35. From our old favourite the starling, which, although one of the commonest, is among the most useful of birds, providing also small dark glossy hackles of fine quality.

36. Blackbird ; good alike in texture and colour for a dark coloured dun.

37. Coot or Waterhen wing ; a fine texture, and possessing just the right brownish tinge for many of the stone flies.

38. Peacock sword. Having been frequently asked what was meant by a sword, and also where the best green body herls are obtainable, we decide to illustrate this feather.

39, 40. Heron feathers, rather course in the fibre. Excepting the smaller feathers, all beautiful in colour, and the herl from a large feather makes a fine grey blue body.

41. Indian Runner duck, which, like all the other ducks, yields some very beautiful feathers.

42. Teal ; a beautiful black feather with white lines, more useful for sea trout than for brownies.

43-44. Widgeon duck (No. 43), of a rich velvety black with white edge ; makes good sedge's wings, and also Elytra for beetles. No. 44 has a strong showy marking, and is sometimes used for May-flies.

45. The brown mallard, which was at one time used for the wings of a great number of flies. The amateur may find difficulty in tying this and other duck feathers when used in sections. The best way is to cut out the desired section with a piece of quill attached, and cut this quill off after the wing is tied in position on the hook not before.

46. This is a rather expensive feather from a bustard, It is a great favourite, and a couple of fibres are very attractive as tails to almost any fly. The feathers are, unfortunately, soft, and the fibres break off short with continuous use.

47. Breast feathers from a teal ; although almost any duck will yield feathers like this.

The feathers having the finest speckle are those obtained from the Canadian Wood Duck, the Egyptian Goose, or the Indian Runner Duck.

1. Cochybondu Cock (neck).

2. Furnace Cock (neck).

3. Red Cock (neck).

4. Red with White List, Cock.

5. Red Cockerel.

6. Yellow or Brassy Cock.

7. Dark Badger Cock.

8. Yellow Badger Cock.

9. Pale Badger Cock.

10. Brown Badger Hen.

1 1. Game Hen.

12. Pale Game Hen.

13. Dark Game Hen.

14. Dark Cinnamon Hen.

1 5. Cinnamon Hen.

1 6. Dark Buff Hen.

17. Buff Hen.

1 8. Cree Hen.

19. Yellow Cree Cock.

20. Yellow Cree Cock.

21. Fine Cree Cock.

22. Black Cock.

23. Black Hen.

24. Green Black Cock.

25. Dark Blue Cock.

26. Dark Blue Hen.

27. Light Blue Cockerel.

28. Rusty Cock.

29. Rusty Hen.

30. Dark Honey Dun.

31. Medium Honey Dun.

32. Honey Dun.

33. Merlin or Blue Hawk.

34. Coot or Water Hen.

35. Dark Snipe (under wing).

36. Starling (under wing).

37. Grey Partridge (breast).

38. Brown Partridge (back).

39. Woodcock (dark back).

40. Light Woodcock (under wing).

41. Brown Owl (back or wing).

42. Grouse, Cinnamon.

43. Grouse, Speckled.

44. Grouse, Barred.

45. Landrail or Corncrake.

46. Curlew.

47. Golden Plover.

48. Ibis.

49. Parakeet or Love Bird.

50. Green Plover or Pewitt
Topping.

51. Dyed Hackles.

Your granddad's weird shit: Thompson Wing Former.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Not pictured: Sea King.

I don't know where I saw this thing first (actually, not true, but I'm not giving them the traffic), but I knew upon seeing it, I wanted it.

I love your old school wet flies. I bought Bergman's trout strictly to have access to plates upon plates of painted wet flies I knew I'd never actually be bothered to tie, and I enjoy trying to tie them. I also have a hard-on for stupid gadgets, so a press that would shit out perfectly formed quill slips?

Fuck yeah, Sea King.

And with that, I started on a quest for a D.H. Thompson Wing Former, so, I enlisted the help of fellow forum degenerates, and within a few weeks I had one winging its way to my door.

The patent for the Wing Former dates from 1951 (and is viewable online), and can be found on EBay in remarkably great shape, and for minimum amounts of cash. I think I paid about $20 for mine, with three combs, and with all pieces in impeccable shape, including the box.

Clamp feather.

Cement and add comb.

Original units include the press, a number of combs, instruction sheet, and two bottles of what was once liquid, one cement and one thinner, all encased in a red cardboard box. The only real difference in the models is the number of cutting combs included. I've heard of units with from one to seven combs, with the bulk of them having three or five.

Its a pretty clever idea, you lay your feather down into the press, and use the clamp to lock it in. Lay what was once the cement (head cement, Sally Hansen's, etc) over the quills by the rachis and then slot the comb into the cut on the press.

And there you have it.

Let dry, remove comb and release press and.. well, that's it. Perfectly formed little slips, with conveniently set spaces to clip them off.

Its actually pretty ingenious, and like many other oddball shit from the past suggests at first that a really great idea was lost to time. The reality of it is that, well, maybe its not much simpler to operate than just clipping off slips.

Tell ya what, though, I've used the shit out of this thing since I got it. I've been using lacquer based head cement in lieu of the original cement, and it seems to work remarkably well.

Flies of our Fathers

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 00:47:00 +0000

The "Hardhead." It looks "fishy." Don't you hate people who say that shit?

This is a delightful post about bullshit fly tying, an activity that should be confined to the winter when its generally too shitty to go outside, but if you want to go outside, lemme mention an "event" that a friend of mine, who does not have an ugly American flag coat, likes to have this thing he terms the "Eastern PA Flyfishing Tying [Event]." That's not actually what he calls it, but unless you're versed in idiocy, "jam" makes it sound gay.

And not the good sort of life-of-the-party, occasionally catty, usually well dressed fun to be around happy gay but the seedy van-in-a-parking-lot creepy gay that no one wants to think about.

Anyways, he's doing this for the second year and its mostly a byproduct of a "local" forum getting together and shit. Not unlike that flag jacket guy thing, there'll be lots of assholes tying shit, but its not a trade show or a sell shit event, the format is geared towards the idea that a newbie will show up and learn, even though its basically a bunch of guys from said forum sitting around in a room. Y'know, tying flies. And shit. FWIW, its nice to put a face to your Internet nemesis once in awhile. Read more, if you want (or not, that's the same link as before), or fuck off... Y'know, whatever.

Anyways, Awhile back, I was killing time in a used bookstore when I came across a copy of Taking Larger Trout (pub 1950) by Larry Koller for $2.

Being a fan of old shit, and books with meticulously hand drawn colour plates (can someone explain the difference between a plate and a picture, besides classiness of term?), I bought it and promptly stuck it on a shelf and forgot about it.

This weekend, I found a really striking, and forgotten, fly in the back pages of it, the Hardhead.

A fly so striking I was immediately taken by it, and promptly tied, the shimmering swords and contrast in body materials came across immediately in print, that even if I never catch anything on it, I had to at least take an interest in making it.

It appears my lens is caked in vaseline.

Tail: Peacock swords.
Body: Silver flat tinsel for the back half, green floss for the front half.
Throat: Peacock swords.
Underwing: Yellow dyed bucktail.
Overwing: Peacock herl.
Thread: Green (I used Pearsall's as it seemed more fitting).

The author notes that it can be wound with lead for weight.

That said, I should probably clean my lens because ole Ed's got me taking pictures of his peoples' flies again. I bet that I not only forget to clean the cruft off, but I spend 15 minutes before I leave running around the house constructing an impromptu studio for fly photography the day off, eh?

Marc Petitjean wunderbobbin: You want how much for this nonsense? Eff you, Swedish Dude. Eff. You.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

(please note "eff you" as a stand in for "fuck you" in the title, that's my little acknowledgement that the shit I spew ends up in many others' feeds)

And now, part 2 of a two part series of shit I'd never fucking bother with if it wasn't dirt cheap, or free, the Marc Petitjean Magic Bobbin. Shit? Maybe its just Marc Petitjean Bobbin? There's a Magic Tool, right, so is this shit magic or not? Well, definatly not, but is it suggested that its magical? I just checked the Official Site, it's MP-TT Bobbin. WTF does that even mean?

Magical? Uhm... You know what its not? Cheap. Not by a long shot. Said official site suggests its $63 in proper American cash. Sixty-three!

Yeah, you're goddamned right I didn't spend that much. Shit, even at list price (thank you very much), I agonized over dropping the coin, but knew I'd be able to sell it for what I paid if I didn't like it.

So, what do you get for $63?

Built-in tensioner.
Quick threading capability.
Built in dubbing loop hook thingy.
Pettyjean Inc claims, "perfectly balanced." Sure. OK.
Smug sense of look at my bobbin, my bobbin is amazing..?

Is it worth it?

Tensioner and bottom half of

threader.

Sure, if you're in a tax bracket above mine.

The thing is, I love fucking gadgets. I eat that shit up like you can't imagine, and I love dubbing loops, so that right there should come together to make this fucking thing a religion to me, right?

We'll come back to that. Let's start smaller: Bitch threads up faster than you can imagine. You hook some thread under a wire, up the open channel of the "tube" (which is a U here) and then under a sort of wire that surrounds the tip.

Top of threader, and loop

hook.

Which is funny because I see outside of Finland or wherever this thing comes from, I see the latest craze is fucking ruby tips or some shit now. Yet, in fucking Poland its, "oh no, loop of wire Comrade" and everything's forgiven. The thing is, I've had some mysterious thread breaks on me, and not from pulling on that shit too hard. I believe the thread is getting caught and snapped on the end of the wire ring in the tip, mostly because I thought I wasn't supposed to be buy anything less than ceramic bobbins anymore, and yes, you're goddamned right I'm harping on this because it seems fucking nuts.

Shit, thought, bitch threads up fast. On the other hand, you can buy ceramic bobbins from cheap dealers for like $8 now, and this costs you $63 because its basically price controlled and that's fucking 8 fucking bobbins for the price of one. Do you want 8 prethreaded fucking bobbins rolling around, or not? Your call.

Looks clever, eh? Also, I did it wrong here. Fuck it.

How about that tensioner? Its clever. Its...I dunno, quick to use? I've never actually adjusted tension in any of this shit, but I suppose maybe you have. It'd be sweet if I could close it down to fit a spool of Pearsall's, but ain't happening like that. So, yeah. Tensioner.

So, we're onto the big deal, or at least what was the big deal to me, and its selling point, the built in dubbing loop hook. I fucking love dubbing loops, and I've amassed a large collection of different tools to make them, so this was what won me over. Two years ago, I watched Gary Borger make magic with a dubbing loop (admittedly, not that pattern, but look at that shit), and I bought his preferred tool and never looked back. Of course, this is another tool, and people would have you believe that swapping tools back and forth is akin to beating puppies or some shit, so yeah, the Uberbobbin and what not would save me time and puppy beating.

Just buy this thing.

The actual use of the tool is, unfortuantly, not as slick as one might hope if they've gotten entrenched in their way. Actually, it seems downright fucking obnoxious. Making a loop is quick and easy, but the thing is, its not very easy to open or manipulate it with yoru fingers, as its pretty much locked into the end of the bobbin, period. Wanna open it? Well, let's hope you don't want to make it more than like a 1/4" or whatever the size of the gap is. Wanna close it? Only chose is to flop the bobbin down, and then spin it shut. Done with your loop? Gotta try to pry it off the hook and then sort of fidget with it til you can pull the tag and cut it. Don't believe this is the Right Way, go watch fucking the head Lapplander in Charge on this shit. Yup.

Truth is, its a whole lot more fidgety and fucking annoying than the extra tool. Not only that, but you're pretty much locked into using a rotary vise, which I have and strongly don't care for. Maybe you do, but fuck off, its my blog so make your own and drunkenly ramble about dumb shit.

How about perfectly balanced? Let me call you when I get this bitch up on the ole centrifuge and spin it up a couple thousand RPM.

So, we're left with the smug sense of amazing bobbin, I guess. Fuck it. I sold it.

What's Cortland suggesting..?

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Trannies.

Couple years back, I bought some shitty ass China cane on megaclearance from Cabela's. One of the guys in the Fly Cave (am I making that up, or is it actually referred to as a Cave?) said that Cortland Sylk was the bee's knees for those sorts of rods.

He's right. With a lone "speciality" application, my last four fly line purchases have all been Cortland 444 Sylk DTs. Each one's been fished hard they've all lasted really well, with only one complaint (they crack at the whipped loop every single time, wish they'd do a welded loop).

All, except my last one which cracked and fell apart for about 3' straight, generally about where I figure eight retrieve. And after maybe six months.

So, I complained, and Cortland very quickly, and nicely, sent me a replacement line and didn't ask for the old one back (dual taper, I'm just gonna flip that shit around and fish the other end before I put the new one on). Who can possibly complain about their customer service? It was awesome.

What confuses me though was the use of a German newspaper to pad the box.

The sex classified section, none the less.

Explain.
(update: oh, shit, they did a welded loop, i guess if i wasn't baffled by the packaging i'd have noticed that, go cortland! bet it snaps off in a month)

A Redington CT Classic Trout Rod review in one word:

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Meh.

Yes, I'm taking it back. Even at 50% off, I don't care. Meh.

Tales of Adventure.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 07:28:00 +0000

I'm aware its the banner, now. But it won't be

some day, now will it?

Every so often I wonder what the point of doing this nonsense is, until I'm relating some sort of rambling story to someone and I think, "oh, that's why."

See, I'm vain enough to figure someone finds it interesting. Probably because its not happening to them.

This is one of those stories.

I fished a section of local stream recently, and I fished it at its lowest possible section, the confluence with our big boy river, I'm on this wet fly thing, and so I'd swung my shit down and across 'til there was no more down to across.

Well, shit. I mean, I'm here, I might as well fish big river, right? It'd be a nice end to the day to pick up a smallie or something.

I look through my box, and the only streamer I have is a ratty old Mickey Finn. Fuck, make it worse, a super shitty job I bought from Walmart 7+ years ago when I first got started. But, y'know, run whatcha brung, and it was either that or a cast of size 14 wets.

So, tie it on and begin a few half hearted casts, being the stupidest thing I've tried to do all day thus far and aware that it was an exercise in futility.

I didn't just get a tug, I got a massive boil, and a the rod doubled down.

I set the hook.

But, y'know, its my story so you know already its doomed to failure, and thus I missed the shit out of that fish.

At this point, its time to go, but I figured why not try again, I'll swing it through the same spot once or twice, then fuck it, I'm out.

Nothing. Last cast syndrome. Again. Again. One more. Last one, no way I'm doing it again... Again. And it was the last cast, for real, I was even going to wind the line up on the reel.

And would you fucking believe there was a massive boil, the rod bent double and sure enough, it was go time.

It wasn't a bass, either, but one of the year's best browns. Fuck, I was barely even trying.

What if I tried? Holy shit. I'm gonna try....next week. I'm gonna fish the shit out of that run, I'm gonna fucking swing big ole chunky streamers, with weight and spun hair heads, and all sorts of awesome fish catching shit, and fuck yeah, I'm gonna fucking be swimming in fucking awesome trout so I can say shit like, "buttery" and all those obnoxious words asshole blaggers fucking say about fish and shit. Fuck yeah, I'm gonna tie up the most awesomesauced fucking Mickey Finn, too, just in fucking case all the rest of this shit fails and fuck yeah!

So, the week passes by. I take the time to tie up all sorts of awesome fucking spun hair and lead fucking weighted fucking streamers, and articulated fucking nonsense with flashy shit and marabouish shit for awesome swinging goodness and fuck yeah if I don't tie up this super sweet Mickey Finn just in case the rest of it fails and shit, shouldn't I start with that because obviously lightening does strike twice, you read that shit up there fuck yeah Seaking gonna fucking buttery trout the shit out of my fucking day, fuck yeah.

So I fucking suit up, and I saunter into the fucking zone, bypassing everything else, and I get ready to swing the fucking heartache and fucking count fish like some sort of dickbag fucking Fips Mush fucking competition fucking pro spec awesome dude, and I fucking get right up on the shelf and shit, so I can swing through the river and into the structure and its gonna be so fucking awesome flick flick shoot, swing retrieve, yeap any cast now, step shoot swing, lather rinse repeat.

Two minutes into this, and would you fucking believe this shit...my leg slipped off the shelf, right into the deep bit, and sure as my fuckng life sucks ass, I'm down, in and under the fuckign river.

Completely.

Fuck that river. Fuck the Mickey Finn. Fuck streamers. Fuck spun heads. Fuck anything articulated. Fuck me. Fuck you. Fuck all that shit. This is why I don't fucking break routine.

It was a long, cold, shit filled walk of shame back to the car.

I haven't returned.

Overpriced shit that I'd never buy even though it works.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 03:02:00 +0000

This post has very little to do with
this. Also, CDC sucks. Except here.

Totally part of a series of two, which isn't much of a series, but whatever. My shit.

So, here's the deal, I think CDC is fucking stupid. Its a panacea, a magic bullet, and I'm entirely sick of it. Matter of fact, despite the fact that I have absolute bags of the shit, I've never bothered to use it.

Until recently. A friend showed me his stupid simple generic tie, which uses a few fibers in a loop wing. Suddenly, I have use for bags of CDC, and I can make one feather last for multiple flies, so, like, fuck your face corpse of Rene Harroup for controlling the world market on CDC.

OK, so maybe he's not, or wasn't, or from beyond the grave. Whatever.

Point is, along with that shit comes a whole host of overpriced toys and shit. One of them I bought, one of them I was gifted coz a friend knows a friend who may or may not get high with a dude who sells this shit.

Its good to be in the network.

And with that, I present to you my thoughts on the disguistingly overpriced Marc Petitjean amadou patch.

In short: Holy shit, it works.

But, that doesn't make words people read, so I suppose I have to go into more detail.

Before, and blurry.

I fish alot of snowshoe flies (read, everything but an Adams that floats is an snowshoe fly, and I only basically fish shit that floats from March to November). The Internet tells me I can't use Gink on flies, but I'm here to tell you (the Internet) that you're wrong. You can, because I do, and y'know what, that shit works damn well.

Wet like prom night.

But, it helps to wring that sodden mass out, first. Like most intrepid fishermen, I prefer the corner of my shirt... but I'd been contemplating using a piece of chamois, or a piece of Sham-Wow (because its made in Germany, and as Vince will tell you when he's not beating whores, the Germans make good stuff).

$40 drier.

I mentioned this on a forum, and one of my friends turned up an actual Marc Petticoat amadou patch a week or two later.

So, well, fuck yeah, believe it or not Amadou works surprisingly awesome. It'll dry that shit right the fuck out and make it look almost fresh. Not bad for a hunk of mushroom. On the other hand, its like $40. Forty dollars! That's bad for a hunk of mushroom... who considers that a good value? Granted, I didn't pay for it, but you probably would have to and all I can really say is, fuck that.

I guess there's non MP amadou out there, so maybe that's not so bad in the end, I dunno. What's it cost? $10? Maybe, but wait, what about some of the other options?

The shirt alone sucks. Period. End of story. Sure, it works, but not for shit. Shirt and Gink, on the other hand, floats like a motherfucker, but as we've noted, eventually it just won't take anymore and gives up.

As seen on TV.

The Sham-Wow...? Well, would you believe Vince spoke the truth, that shit works. Its maybe not as awesome as a Marc Petticoat Amadou patch and shit, but its cheap (you get like a million of 'em for $20), and for all I know the drying properties of the orange one are even more handsome and powerful than the blue one, I mean, yellow makes shit faster, so maybe orange makes 'em drier? Who knows!

But yeah, fucking Sham-Wow.

Now on the other hand, the amadou patches dry out pretty quickly, or it soaks in, or I dunno, but you can pretty much use it endlessly. Maybe the Sham-Wow doesn't dry out, so YMMV.

But given the choice, I can think alot of better shit to spend $40 on.

Finally, FWIW, I've been told the Wonder Patch is the shit. I don't have one of those, but its certainly more attractively priced.

November? Shit. I got nothing.

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 01:06:00 +0000

s/t

What, read more..?

dear asshole dog owners

noreply@blogger.com (gfen) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 05:54:00 +0000

This shows up when you search "asshole dog." -shrug-

Oh, I know what you're thinking, "some arrogant fishing asshole is gonna cry about us letting our majestic canines play in their stream, well fuck those cock-men-oppressors, we're gonna let Fluffy do whatever he wants, all that guy is doing is torturing fish."

You're wrong, actually. I'm not torturing fish, I can't because your asshole dog is gleefully being an asshole in my vicinity.

Look, its a public stream, and I get that, y'know? I mean, you and your stupid dog (which is technically off leash and thus violating some sort of law that you shouldn't violate because its causing you to piss me off) have the same rights that I do to go all about my day traipsing through the fucking underbrush and into the water, but maybe, just fucking maybe, you can try to respect my shit?

Its not that I walk up and try to sting your pet's ass with a fly, he can't help it that its owner is an ignorant asshole.

And while we're on the subject of assholes who let their dogs in my stream (yes, I said that), I'd like to point out common courtesy that some people at least try to do, but get wrong.

When you let your dog go rushing in and you turn the bend and, oh shit! there's a duder fishing, its cool you call your dog back. I mean, how the hell should you know I'm all lurking in the fucking shrubbery and shit? I like that you try to be respectful and make your monster back off, but just so you know, 30' upstream from me isn't a valid place to let the fucker romp back in.

How 'bout past the next bend?

kthnxbai