UPSTREAM

End of An Era

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:57:00 +0000

"All good things must come to an end." So must the bad ones and so-so ones. I don't how everyone feels about UPSTREAM, and I'm sure there are sentiments that range across the middle third of the spectrum of emotions. I doubt anyone has very strong feelings one way or the other.

This is the last UPSTREAM entry. I'm going to turn out the lights and lock the door on my way out this afternoon. I'm migrating all of my stuff to Wordpress and consolidating my blogging on FishCampRehab.com. You can also read my monthly column and feature articles in Florida Fly Fishing Magazine.

Thanks for reading! Remember: it's just fishin'!

Ken Morrow Joins Navionics Pro Staff

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:28:00 +0000

Ken hoists a nice Redfish from a canoe in Gasparilla Sound

When you mention charting and plotter software brands like Navionics, guys in kayaks or canoes waving fly rods back and forth don't usually spring to mind. But Navionics' award-winning, global coverage, real-time updating charting software isn't just for commercial navigators and big-time tournament anglers anymore! Through its state-of-the-art UGC data collection system and a web-friendly platform, Navionics has brought nautical chart and recreational mapping software applications to the masses. By developing slick and aggressive value-packed smart phone application versions of their software, they can deliver the goods to consumers with amazing affordability, speed, portability, and versatility. This isn't your grandpa's nav chart!

When I first saw a demonstration of the Navionics Mobile Marine & Lakes USA app on TV, I still did not own a smart phone. I was very happy with my Milspec phone and unlimited package with AT&T. I took a certain "retro" pride in the fact that I didn't have a smart phone. But that thirty minute show on one of the outdoor sports channels changed all that. I emailed my nearby fishing friends and asked if any of them had smart phones with the app on it. Two of them did. I drove over and played around with it on one of their phones that afternoon. I was sold. The next day I began shopping for smart phones.

I use my Navionics Mobile Marine & Lakes USA more than all but about four or five other apps on my phone - including the phone, contact list, and calendar. It is the best $9.99 I have ever spent to improve my safety and enjoyment of my kayak fishing. That is why I have joined the Navionics Pro Staff. I am one of the very few, if not the only, Navionics pro staffers who exclusively fly fishes from paddle craft. I don't own a plotter/graph. I use the mobile apps, canoe and kayak, and fly fish - that's it. Navionics thought it would be good to have someone with my unique bent on the team, and I couldn't be more enthusiastic about helping introduce kayak and canoe anglers to the many ways that Navionics products can improve their fishing activities.

Sea Level Tempest III Fly Reel Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:07:00 +0000

Lay into a twenty pound Striper on a fly rod and you've got a fight on your hands, right?

Fly fishermen along the central and upper East Coast and out on the West Coast of the US have a reputation for being a hearty lot who demand rugged performance and durability from their tackle and gear. Rocky coastlines, rough weather conditions, hard-fighting fish, and barnacle-encrusted structures that place extreme demands on leaders and reel drags are the norm for saltwater anglers from these regions of the country. From the original Korkers crampon-style sandals developed for jetty anglers in the Pacific Northwest to the best foul weather gear, many products in the history of American fishing trace their roots to the parts of the country where anglers head to the salt in pursuit of Striped Bass and Salmon.

One of the bright spots in our move to Savannah was the prospect of immediate access to a coastal Striper fishery. Georgia's coast occupies a unique location in the Atlantic marine ecosystem. The southernmost saltwater Striper fishery exists here alongside the northern range of good numbers of migrating Tarpon and even Manatees. You could rightly say it is where cool meets warm. This geographical reality sent me looking for some new fly tackle. I needed some light Tarpon and Striper tackle that would handle both the one hundred pound class Tarpon we get here in the summer months and the thirty pound class Stripers anglers catch here in the winter months. A good reel would be critical.

I always do a lot of research before making a major purchase. To me, a good fly reel is a major purchase. Anything that is going to cost me more than $200 is worth doing my homework for before I spend money. I want to avoid trial-and-error if at all possible, and I hedge my bets against the odds by pouring over tons of literature and product reviews, talking to both amateur and professional anglers whom I trust, getting my hands on as many of the products I'm interested in as I can, and comparison shopping for price via the Internet. My budget for a reel was $300, and I knew enough about fly reels to know that I was going to have to squeeze the market like crazy to get what I needed on that budget. However, recent advances in production technology and changing attitudes toward outsourcing in the fly reel sector have put some high quality reels just within reach. I still thought I might end up buying a used reel.

A couple of months before the Striper season began, I stumbled upon a review of a reel that caught my attention. The review was from an amateur angler with decades of Striper fishing experience in New England. It was followed by comments from a few Striper enthusiasts out on the West Coast who were fans of Dan Blanton's. They were all speaking very highly of a reel they all owned or had owned and wanted to purchase again - a reel that had just been reintroduced to the market by a new company with which I was a bit familiar. One of my good friends and top gun Boca Grande Tarpon guide, Captain Al White, had introduced me to Sea Level the last time we were Tarpon fishing together via his new stripping bucket. The bucket was a high quality and very handy large stripping bucket of foam construction, but these men were talking about the Sea Level Tempest III fly reel - a reincarnation of the former Albright Tempest, a staple among budget-conscious Striper fishermen. These guys swore by them and were apparently glad to see that Ray Hutcherson, the owner of Sea Level, had bought all the rights to the Tempest reel and reintroduced it to the market.

I ran a Google search for the Sea Level Tempest reel and found more reviews, Internet chatter, and the Sea Level website. Then I ran another search for Albright Tempest and got a lot more background on the reel. The reviews were virtually unanimously impressive: an economical workhorse more than capable for Stripers, salmon, and most anything else you wanted to throw at it. Many people were still using their old Albright versions on a regular basis with no problems and only routine maintenance. Folks told stories of dropping them down the rocks, backing over them with their pickup trucks, and other things you hope never to do to your fly reels, and picking them up and going fishing with them. They spoke of the huge fish they landed on them. They all spoke of the high value for the dollar spent, claiming the reel was comparable to reels sold for twice and three times the price.

Going back to the Sea Level website, I found that the Sea Level Tempest III sells for $250...within my $300 budget. The Tempest III is a 9/10 weight fly reel machined from 6061 barstock aluminum with huge cork and draw bar adjustable disc drag. It is a large arbor design with spool dimensions of 3 3/8" x 1" and frame dimensions of 3 3/4" x 1 5/8". The Sea Level Tempest III weighs 9.2 ounces and holds 200 yards of 30 pound dacron backing according to the manufacturer's specifications. However, I was able to put about 230 yards of 30 pound dacron backing on with 2 different 10 weight floating lines and 250 yards with an Airflo Intermediate Tarpon 10 weight line without coming close to binding the line inside the frame. The Tempest III comes in black, blue, or gold hard anodized coating with an all-stainless steel internal construction. It has a very easy right/left hand adjustment that requires no disassembly. The reel also comes with a very nice neoprene reel case. Each Sea Level Tempest III fly reel is laser etched with a good looking picture of a Striper on the frame.

I ordered my Sea Level Tempest reel in black. I use it with my TFO BVK 10 weight fly rods, and I considered getting it in gold. It would look good, but it would also flash in the sun on bright days. I just don't like that kind of stuff. So common sense got the best of me (as usual) and I went with function over form. The black anodized finish is very slick and glossy. The reel is far more handsome than I anticipated.

I came into a little birthday money, so I also ordered an extra spool. Spools for the Tempest III sell for $125.00 each. Have you ever bought a reel...especially a "bargain price" reel...where the spare spools just didn't quite feel the same as the original spool when you swapped them out? Maybe they didn't slide on/off the spindle quite as smoothly, or there was something else just a bit hinky about how it sounded or felt compared to the spool that came on the reel. I've experienced this a few times. This didn't happen with the Sea Level Tempest III. The spools fit and function identically.

The Tempest III's bearings are butter smooth, construction is rock solid, tolerances are plenty tight, and the drag is almost infinitely adjustable. I was extremely impressed - right out of the box. By the time I had both spools rigged with backing and fly lines I could not wait to put this reel to the test!

Before I could get out and chase Savannah's Stripers I would put it to a test on a different species altogether. I do a lot of in-shore fishing for Redfish and Sea Trout. So I kept the rod rigged and ready. Eventually, I got my shot and hooked up with a Jack Crevalle over ten pounds. He took off on a bruising run and put up a tremendous fight for his size, but he was no match for a 10 weight fly rod and the Sea Level Tempest III. He wore out quickly and I brought him alongside the boat. However, he had chewed through the 20 lb. leader and I lost the fly right at the boat, so I don't have a nice grip-n-grin picture of me, the fish, and the rod-n-reel to show you. The best made plans...

Lost Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:52:00 +0000

Apparently, when you try to remove the photos that Google + automatically sucks into your profile and displays to the whole world without your permission from your Google + account, it deletes them from wherever they may reside on their host servers as well. Fuck you very much, Google!

To my readers who may be wondering why they're staring at a bunch of black boxes all over my old blog articles, that would be why.

Saltwater Flies for Fishing Florida's Gulf Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:43:00 +0000

Flashtail Whistler

I'm just tossing up some photos of several examples of the more recent saltwater flies I've been tying.

I'll be heading back to Florida in January to stalk the skinny water of the Florida winter's negative low tides and backcountry creeks and canals in search of Snook, Sea Trout, and Redfish. If Mother Nature cooperates and sends me some fair seas, I may hit the Gulf to see if I can find some Little Tunny, Mackerel, or Jacks. So I have some holes to fill in the Cliff's Bugger Beast that carries my Florida saltwater flies.

Gold Epoxy Spoon.

What you see here in no way represents the complete arsenal of flies I carry for fly fishing saltwater in Florida. I'm simply sharing some snapshots of the fly patterns I'm tying to replenish stocks and to make some improvements. Then there are some seasonal favorites that change about twice a year. Of course, the Bugger Beast is well stocked with staples such as Clouser Deep Minnows in various colors, a few crab patterns in rust and black/gray, a wide array of bait fish flies such as EP Minnows, bendback flies of various types, Lefty's Deceivers in a variety of colors and sizes, Tarpon Toads (never forget the local residents), and a hodge podge of other fuzzy stuff on hooks.

Ron Whiteley's Estaz Marabou (Pink)

Winter is a good time to fish for Snook in the creeks, rivers, and canals of the backcountry in Florida. Often times, weather fronts will shut down fishing out on the bigger water of the Intercoastal Waterway, bays, and the Gulf, but the tighter confines of the creeks and canals will be sheltered from rising winds and waves. Fish seek this shelter as much as it provides functional and safe conditions for fishermen. And winter is the time of year that Snook are in the backcountry most of the time anyway. Fishing the creeks and canals after any amount of rain is usually a good idea if you're looking for Snook, and white flies with some flash tend to ring their dinner bell.

Ken's Lucky Penny

Grassy flats with a lot of sandy pot holes in them are where you find the Sea Trout and Redfish on the rising tide. In many of the areas that I fish in Florida where this habitat is abundant, the spin tackle anglers who are "in the know" these days often cast a DOA Shrimp in a color called New Penny. I fooled around with some materials and a 3X long Gamakatsu saltwater hook until I got the color and profile right. I call this fly Ken's Lucky Penny. It's a very effective spot-casting or searching pattern for deep grass flats or fishing skinny water when casting into sandy potholes. On the deeper flats, I fish it on an intermediate line with a 7-8' leader. In skinny water when I'm spot-casting it, I go to a 10' leader and a floating line.

UV Pink Gotcha

I catch some of the biggest surprises on Gotcha flies along Florida's Gulf Coast! I tie them in several different color combinations, but the wing is always plain white fur - the real thing. There are no substitutes. Take it very easy on the flash in the wing, too.

You always want to carry a variety of bait fish and shrimp patterns, but I've got it narrowed down to a few that always work, are fairly uncomplicated, and are plenty durable. I fish spots along a stretch of coastline that stretches for about 150 miles as the crow flies and transitions from one climate zone to the next from the northern end to the southern. So there is plenty of variety in both conditions and habitat to choose from, but the fish species and forage are the same.

Lefty's Deceiver in Steelhead synthetic yak hair over UV white syn-yak.

Winter is a great time of year to head to Florida for a fly fishing vacation. Escape the chill of winter, warm the bones, and stretch a fly line in a beautiful sub-tropical setting. Catch a few fish you don't have a shot at every day. Yet, it's not the highly-charged, high cost, high-humidity and temperature experience that is chasing Permit and Tarpon in their prime seasons. I think winter fishing in Florida is the best of what Florida has to offer the fly angler. Don't get me wrong! Hooking into a Silver-sided freight train that weighs more than most men and moves as fast as most cars is an experience of a lifetime. But it is just that: one of those things most folks want to do once...maybe twice. Most of us can't afford to do it without saving up for it for quite some time, either. But the in-shore fishing that is best in winter is an "every man's game" sort of experience.

Rattle Shrimp

Freedom Hawk Kayaks Pro Staff

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14

Hinesville, Georgia. Freedom Hawk Kayaks of Newburyport, Massachusettes is rolling out the first production run of the new Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14. Sporting a modified hull design with more freeboard, an over-hanging splash lip on the bow, and self-bailing scuppers in the deck, the Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 is a fourteen foot version of the famous, award-winning Y-design pontoon fishing kayak which has become an instantly recognizable icon in the kayak fishing world. The Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 was designed to improve the "big water" experience of Freedom Hawk kayak anglers by making the boat drier and more seaworthy in rougher conditions without changing any of the fundamentals of the proven Freedom Hawk design.

The Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 includes the patented three position outrigger pontoon system for which Freedom Hawk is famous, a ton of dry storage, an integrated battery storage and trolling motor transom, paddle holders, the unique Freedom Hawk stand-up bar, a high-back seat, flush mount rod holders, and more standard. The trolling motor mount kit, a variety of push and stakeout poles, two seat upgrades, paddles, and various rod holders are all optional accessories currently available.

I've been fond of Freedom Hawk kayaks ever since I fished out of one the first time a few years ago. The design concept is just plain old-fashioned brilliant. But I've been testing boats and searching high and low for the best possible adaptive kayak fishing platform for almost four years. And there were a few minor features and one major one that I didn't see on the previous Freedom Hawk models - at least not in the right combination. David Hadden, Freedom Hawk's owner, came out with a 12 foot version of the kayak a couple of years ago and a trolling motor mount accessory, but there was none for the Freedom Hawk 14. The Freedom Hawk 12 just wasn't enough boat for saltwater, in my opinion. More freeboard and a self-bailing hull are big advantages for big water and adaptive kayak fishing applications, too. But the trolling motor provides an alternative means of propulsion that is nothing short of a must-have for a serious adaptive kayak angling program. You're going to have some program participants who can't paddle or who can't paddle well enough to keep up or complete a trip. Your primary goal in adaptive outdoor recreation is to provide the participants with as much independent function as possible without compromising their safety. So you don't want to be towing them around or putting them in a tandem and having someone else paddle for them if that can be avoided. So I haven't accepted any of the various partnership, pro staff, dealership, or other endorsement offers that have come my way from paddle craft manufacturers before now. But with the roll out of the new Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14, all of these attributes have come together in one competitively priced paddle craft from one of the industry's most respected manufacturers. And it just so happens that my good kayak fishing buddy and fellow adaptive kayak fishing enthusiast, Cory Routh of Ruthless Fishing, LLC recommended me to David Hadden as an addition to the Freedom Hawk Kayaks pro staff about two weeks ago.

Pathfinder in Y configuration

So I am proud to announce that, after spending some time over the past few days talking to David Hadden, I have accepted his offer to join the team at Freedom Hawk Kayaks. Look for my detailed reports on the new Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 and the line of Freedom Hawk accessories in the coming weeks and months. I'll be taking delivery of my Pathfinder in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, you can take a look at this slightly outdated video of the Freedom Hawk Pathfinder prototype introductory video. Don't pay too much attention to the stuff about what accessories are standard and what is optional. That's the part that isn't quite accurate. And there are actually more accessories available than David demonstrates in the video.

Synthetic Yak for Deceivers

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:48:00 +0000

Deceiver in neon yellow and UV white with chartreuse pearl Flashabou and rainbow Crystal Flash

It is hard to find a reasonable substitute for natural hair such as bucktail when tying flies. In recent years, a few have come along, but they are still pretty rare. I generally put them in the cliched category of "few and far between." Enrico Puglisi's EP Fiber, Cascade Crest's CCT Body Fur, Steve Farar's Flash Blend, and the very best of the synthetic yak products on the market are notable examples of the good stuff. For long streamer hair of the type needed for Deceivers and Clouser patterns, synthetic yak is a clear winner.

While I am still convinced that natural hair such as bucktail and yak will produce more strikes, they simply don't hold up to the rigors of fishing in saltwater or to the teeth of some larger freshwater predators. This is where the quality synthetics become valuable. For years, saltwater anglers have had to choose between poor synthetic substitutes or flies that constantly shed natural hair and were spent after an encounter with one or two fish. In the past few years things have been improving. One of my personal favorites is high quality synthetic yak. Not all synthetic yak is equal! There is some pretty poor stuff out there that looks, feels, and moves like plastic string; and there is some out there that looks, feels, and moves about as much like natural yak hair as you could tell unless you were a yak. It just doesn't smell like yak hair and comes in colors and treatments you could never get by dying natural yak hair. I honestly don't know who makes it, but I buy mine from Bear's Den under their store label.

Photo courtesy of Bear's Den

The photo of my Deceiver at the top of the page was taken in haste with my Samsung Galaxy S smart phone without proper lighting or background. So the color and contrast aren't true to life. The neon yellow synthetic yak looks like the belly of the upper left fly in the image at left. These images at left were also tied with Bear's Den Syn-yak.

Synthetic yak fiber is generally at least 12" long and otherwise as easy to use as natural bucktail or yak hair. It keeps your bait fish and hair wing flies very light, but gives them a full profile. They'll trap a lot of air, make a lot of vibration, and move very enticingly in the water at the slightest twitch! One of the neat things about yak hair (natural or synthetic) as a tying medium is that you can get bulk without density much easier than you can with EP Fibers, which allows you to tie in three dimensions far more effectively than you can with Puglisi's products (and most other fly tying materials) to create some very complex and convincing patterns. If you tie a lot of saltwater streamers, pike flies, etc. give the Bear's Den a call or click the link above and tie a few flies with this synthetic yak. I think you'll be glad you did. Here's the recipe for my Deceiver.

Neon Yellow and UV White Deceiver

Hook: Gamakatsu SC15 size 1/0

Thread: Danville Flymaster +, chartreuse

Eyes: Mirage stick on eyes (m)

Flash: Chartreuse dyed over pearl Flashabou (orig limp), Rainbow Crystal Flash - about 4 strands of each tied on shank before any other materials and run between the 2 feathers. (Tip: cut flash so that it will extend just a bit beyond the feathers and yak fibers and stagger the tips individually)

Feathers: White streamer hackle (stiff) - 2 identical feathers tied tips in/touching and running the length of hook shank to 1/4 to 1/2" short of the desired length of fly.

Body: Neon yellow synthetic yak tied in behind the eye of the hook and cut to taper, ending just beyond the feathers.

Belly: UV silvery white synthetic yak tied in behind the eye of the hook and cut to taper, ending even with the feather tips.

Adhesives: Super Glue Professional (used for tacking down materials at tie-in points), Super Glue Control Gel (used to glue on eyes), UV Knot Sense or 5 Minute Epoxy (used to coat thread head).

Tip: For better body tapers with bait fish patterns wait until the glues are all thoroughly dried, then give them a good shake. Trim any wild hair to basic outline with scissors again. Now run fly under tap holding by the hook so that eye is up and tail of fly is down, simulating the fly being stripped through the water. Turn off water without removing fly from stream of tap. Carefully pad dry with towel or paper towel by laying flat. Now trim off any stray hairs and make corrective trimmings to any abnormalities in desired profile. Allow fly to dry before storing.*

* This is one of the reasons I charge a premium for my custom ordered bait fish flies. I spend as much time on each saltwater bait fish fly as most barbers do on a haircut.

Dr. Aaron Adams featured by Orvis

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:54:00 +0000

Dr. Aaron Adams of Mote Marine Laboratory and the
Bonefish & Tarpon Trust releases a nice Bonefish.

My fellow Contributing Editor at Florida Fly Fishing Magazine, Dr. Aaron Adams (who is also the Exec Director of the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust and the head marine biologist at Mote Marine Laboratories at the USF in Sarasota, FL) , is featured in the current Orvis newsletter. Orvis also just put some of his saltwater flies in their catalog. Check it out. I can personally attest to the efficacy of his Big Ugly (featured in this article). A slight variant of it is one of my most productive flies for tailing Redfish!

NOAA's Saltwater Recreational Fishing Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Captain Al White is a full-time recreational fishing charter operator in Florida.

"NOAA estimates there are about 12 million saltwater recreational anglers in the nation, who take about 85 million trips a year, spend about $31 billion dollars and support half a million regional jobs. In 2008, anglers in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic spent $19 billion, the agency said."

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has a good overview of the new saltwater recreational fishing plan just released by NOAA.

Side Seisan: Expanding the Foundation of Your Fly Cast

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:53:00 +0000

Martial artists use side stances to reduce their vulnerability to attack. [Photo courtesy of Black Belt Magazine]

In the last fly casting article, we learned about the Seisan stance and how we can apply the principles used by practitioners of karate to improve the fundamentals of our fly casting by solidifying our stance. Taking a lesson from Seisan, we make significant improvements in our balance, traction, and stability. This reduces the variability in our casting stroke and increases our kinetic efficiency.

Next, we're going to build an addition to our foundation - so to speak. We are going to orient ourselves to our target in such a way that we can dramatically increase the amount of line we carry in the air and the speed at which we move that line with the rod. We will do this using a modification of the Seisan stance known as the Side Seisan in which the martial artist points one shoulder toward the opponent and shifts one foot back, such that the shoulders, hips, and feet are at about 30 to 45 degree angle to the opponent. Usually, the foot furthest away from the opponent is positioned such that the heel lines up with the toes of the foot that is closer to the opponent, but this can be done either way. When the leading foot is back like this, the stance is an "open stance." When the leading foot is forward of the back foot, then the stance is referred to as "closed" because it defends the vital organs on the front side of the torso, throat, and eyes better from the opponent's attacks. But this variation gives up a certain flexibility of response. The open version provides better lateral mobility in response to attacks. So martial artists will switch back and forth between the two depending on the situation, often instinctively.

The Side Seisan is not a truly traditional karate stance. It is a modern adaptation of the Seisan stance based on decades of practical application of Seisan Dachi in kumite, or free sparring. That is why there is no formal Japanese name for Side Seisan...only an English-Japanese hybrid. In traditional Japanese karate, the instructional methods make a very clear distinction between training the body for karate (conditioning), the teaching of techniques, the basic application of techniques, and the advanced application of techniques. Each of these different modes of the learning process is highly regimented and separate. Conventional wisdom sees no reason to establish a separate name for Seisan when the opponent is standing off to the side a bit than when he is squarely in front of you because the stance is taught in conditioning and technique modes, while the applications are taught separately. It is only in the West, where we have a strong tendency to condense and combine the training in fundamentals and move far too quickly to applications, that it makes sense to give a name to a universal stance (the other name for Seisan) based on where the opponent is standing. Luckily for us, this phenomenon serves our purposes well as students of fly casting.

Competitive distance caster using open Side Seisan type stance. [ Photo courtesy of wustv.com]

When a good fly caster wants to open up his or her range of motion, pointing the line hand shoulder toward the target and angling the casting arm shoulder away from the target at about a 30 to 45 degree angle off of straight (shoulders squared up on the target) and dropping the casting arm foot back to mirror the shoulders, keeping the casting side foot heel aligned with the toes of the off-side foot to keep the stance open, will greatly expand the caster's range of motion. Situations when this is often desirable are:

Long distance fly casting
Casting with the rod in a deflected plane such as at a 45 degree angle to the ground or side-arm
Casting heavier tackle than your body is conditioned to cast
Trying to carry more fly line in the air than your body is conditioned to carry in the air consistently

Let's take a look at each of these scenarios in turn and examine how a Side Seisan style casting stance may help our fly casting.

Long Distance Fly Casting

Generally speaking, when we're fishing fly anglers really don't have make terribly long casts. Most fish can be caught at closer ranges than many anglers seem to think. Moreover, many fish are often far closer to the bank than many walking and wading anglers realize. Finally, it is generally far easier to learn to approach and present flies with the necessary stealth than it is to cast flies a hundred feet accurately in the wind. I've heard many anglers who, frankly, should know better say that you can't wade or get a boat within seventy-five feet of various species of fish in this or that scenario without spooking them, and that's why you simply must learn to cast a hundred feet accurately to fish with them. Some of these folks are even professional guides who are limiting their own income by saying such things. What they are really saying is that they don't know how to approach these fish any closer than that without spooking them. So they are placing the responsibility for putting their clients in position to present a fly to the fish they are targeting on their clients instead of accepting that responsibility themselves - like a professional. Of course, quite often these same people are also professional casting instructors who charge for lessons and sell books and videos about how you too can learn to cast a hundred feet. Go figure! With that said, there is a time and place for making very long fly casts.

One of the best arguments for being able to make a long fly cast (let's say something along the lines of 75 feet or more) is when you are confronted with wind. If I had $10 for every time I have heard someone tell me they can't fly fish if the wind is blowing 10 mph or more I could probably take a nice trip to the Bahamas this winter to fish for Bone Fish. I have news for you: there are far more days on the calendar when the wind is blowing 10 mph or more than there are when it is not across most of the planet. If you cannot cast accurately to effective fishing distances of fifty or even sixty feet in a ten to fifteen mile per hour wind, your available days to enjoy fly fishing are extremely limited. I couldn't live with that. To make good fifty or sixty foot casts in the wind, you need to be able to make seventy-five foot casts in ideal conditions. One of the tools you need to have in your tool box to counter the effects of wind is high line speed, and you achieve high speed with a combination of minimizing slack in your loops, keeping your loops very tight, achieving maximum acceleration of the rod during each stroke, and adding well-timed hauls to the cast with your line hand. You are likely to find it far more comfortable to achieve maximum acceleration and apply good hauls with your line hand if you open up your stance into a Side Seisan type of stance and drop your rod tip to something approaching a forty-five degree orientation to the horizon. The other benefit of lowering the rod tip is that you are getting your loops down out of the wind a bit. At first, you will find that this technique yields two obvious results. Your line speed with increase and your accuracy will decrease. It takes practice to regain your accuracy, and you will probably always be a bit more accurate with a true overhead cast from a squared stance when there is less wind and the targets are within easy casting range.

Competitive distance casters almost all cast from some form of open side stance. A few cast from a closed side stance. They carry a lot of fly line in the air compared to a typical angler...or even compared to their own fishing casts. When fly casters are keeping a lot of line in the air during false casts, they have to lengthen their casting arcs (strokes). To compensate for the resulting introduction of slack and influence of gravity and air friction, they have to add rod speed and long line hauls. The amount of physical motion required for these tasks mandates a very open casting stance. But I'd like to make a couple of points based on recent observations of things I see going on in the fly fishing community.

First of all, there has been a proliferation of low-level casting competition at the local and regional level in the past few years where a lot of relatively untrained and under-skilled competitors are getting the opportunity to compete. In many instances, these competitions are being won with distance casts in the open divisions of less than eighty or even seventy feet. I've seen some of these firsthand. When I talk about a competition fly caster, that isn't what I'm speaking of. Most competent fly casters can make a seventy foot fly cast with a minimal single haul, very accurately, with a four or five weight fly rod. That's not a difficult cast for a decent caster. Real competition fly casters win or lose one-handed distance competitions at ranges in excess of one hundred twenty feet and the top two to four finishers will be within a foot of each other. These folks can cast a hundred feet or more with one hand and no hauling. Yet, the "be like Mike" mentality has taken a heavy toll on the younger generation of fly anglers out there today. A great many of them are using these wide open stances and huge casting strokes with monster hauls to make their sixty to eighty foot casts. To make matters worse, they don't have the knowledge or experience to realize that their "casting heroes" don't cast that way when they are fishing. So these guys and gals are out there casting that way when they are fishing, too. So what's the harm in that, you ask?

The first problem with what some of us lovingly refer to as the "YMCA fly shop parking lot hero" casting style becomes obvious when you compare the average casting tournament day to the average day of fly fishing. In a casting tournament, you generally get three attempts for each event you entered. Typically, there are no more than six events or so. Therefore, these competitors are going to make about two dozen casts, including a few practice casts, in an entire day of competition. In sharp contrast to the competition, a typical day of fly fishing consists of hundreds of casts. All of this extra energy expended and wear and tear on the body may not hurt them when they're in their twenties, or even in their thirties. But by the time they've done this until they are fifty or sixty, fly fishing will no longer be a "life sport" for them. They'll be crippled, with blown out shoulders, backs, elbows, and so forth.

Secondly, fly casting competitions don't occur on a flats skiff or drift boat, or in a kayak or canoe. They take place on a grassy field or beside a concrete pond in a city park. Some even take place in gymnasiums. Competitors in fly casting competitions don't have to worry about scaring fish or annoying the heck out of their guides or fishing buddies by rocking the heck out of the boat or thrashing the water with all those crazy cheerleader moves. I put a certified casting instructor in the bow of my canoe one day and floated him down the river just to prove this point. He darned near threw himself out of the boat twice before he started to catch on. Then he kept getting himself so tangled up in his own fly line that he gave up and quit fishing half way through the four hour float. When we got back to the lodge and pulled out, I tied the canoe to the dock and told him he needed to sit in the canoe and cast with no hauls until he could smoothly make a sixty foot cast, retrieve it, and do it again without rocking the boat or getting tangled up. I said, "You're a good casting instructor, but you need to learn to fish." People have forgotten that life isn't about how you look. Life is about what you can do! Under-promise and over-deliver. Don't be a poser.

Casting with the Rod in a Deflected Plane

There are other reasons to cast with the rod tip lowered at an angle in relationship to the horizon (45 degrees, for example). One reason for casting this way would be when overhead space is limited by obstacles like high power-lines, overhanging trees, and so forth. Another time that an angler might want to cast with the rod angled to his or her side is when he or she wants to watch the back cast loop to ensure their timing is right or that they don't foul their leader in some obstacle behind them. Another good time to cast with the fly rod at a forty-five degree angle is when two anglers are fishing from a small boat and one is right handed and the other is left handed (or ambidextrous). By taking up appropriate positions in the bow and stern of the boat, each angler can cast on an angle with their rod tip out over the water off the bow or stern. Both can cast at the same time with no concern for fouling their lines or tipping one another's fly rods. This principle would also apply to fishing from a dock, small island, or peninsula. Finally, strong winds may dictate that in order to cast safely you must cast off to the side of your body by bringing the rod tip down, positioning the fly rod at an angle. In any of these situations the fly caster is likely to find the Side Seisan style of casting stance far more comfortable and useful to their purposes.

Casting Heavier Tackle Than Your Body Is Conditioned For

Far more than anyone cares to admit because it accounts for a lot of revenue in the fishing industry and little bit of business for the healthcare industry, fly anglers make a very common mistake when it comes to taking those "dream trip" fly fishing vacations. Anyone who has worked in a fly shop and every fly casting instructor who has taught fly casting for more than a year or two knows exactly what this one looks like and how it plays out. An angler walks into the shop or contacts you as a casting instructor. They're going tarpon or salmon or sail fishing in two to four weeks. They need a heavy rod and reel combo and want you to teach them to double haul. They've never done anything but catch trout on a four weight wading in a stream. It happens all the time!

If you're the fly shop employee or owner, you enthusiastically sell them the best big game rod, reel, and fly line they can afford. If your shop offers lessons, you hook them up with those too. If not, you refer them to a casting instructor. If you're the casting instructor, that's when you get the call and you get to be the bearer of bad news.

Armed with their shiny, new, expensive big game outfit, a high-gloss brochure from the outfitter they booked their trip with, and a credit card bill for the whole shooting match, they come to you...the miracle worker who will teach them everything they need to know to fish with this heavy tackle in any weather conditions from a boat for several days in a row and land that fish of a lifetime...and several more along the way. Right? You bet! Certainly, this is completely doable. That's why we pay casting instructors. Nobody should be advertising themselves as a professional casting instructor who cannot do this. But the problem is to do this for a guy or gal who works a full-time job in two to four weeks without them getting hurt. Now that is a feat that nobody in their right mind would make any commercial representations about!

To transition from a four weight fly rod to a nine to fourteen weight fly rod (the typical range for what I described above) is akin to going from driving a Smart Car to driving a tractor-trailer truck! Sure, they're both driving: steering wheel, forward, reverse, park, rear view mirror, blinkers...what can go wrong? Right? Well, if you are used to lifting two pounds over and over again all day long and someone tells you to do the exact same job except that the weight has suddenly increased to twenty pounds and you have to do the same number of pieces per day, you will soon learn what can go wrong! That first twenty pounds probably won't seem so bad. The motion will be familiar, but it will seem a bit heavier. You will think, "Okay, I can do this." After ten to twenty repetitions you will want to catch your breath. No big deal, you'll be ready to go again in a few seconds. You'll do this again. Then you'll only do five before you have to take a break and the break will be much longer. Pretty soon your breaks will be a lot longer than your work periods. By lunch you will be far worse off than you are after a normal full day of work. After lunch you will have caught a second wind and it'll start all over again. You'll be spent half way to quitting time. The next morning you will be too sore to work, but you have bills to pay and mouths to feed. So you take some pain meds and drive on! You "take it easy" at work and your productivity is less than half of what the boss requires, but you get through the second day. You're so sore you can barely move by the time you lay down to sleep that night. The third day you call in sick. This pattern continues for a week until your back goes out at work and they send you to the doctor. You will need surgery.

In fly fishing, the body parts that bear the impact are your wrists, elbows, and shoulders. If you do it right, your wrists will be spared. If you choose well, you won't tear a rotator cuff in your shoulder. That means you will end up with one Hell of a case of tendinitis in your elbow! That's the best a good casting instructor can do for you now that you've signed up for the program. You may get lucky. If you're smart and pace yourself...if the fishing isn't really hot...and if you only booked a two or three day trip, then you may escape the inevitable repetitive stress injury. But you're also unlikely to catch that "fish of a lifetime." That doesn't mean you won't have fun and learn a lot of new stuff about another aspect of this wonderful sport. But you can't go from being a four weight trout stream angler to a world-class bill fish fly rodder in a few weeks by booking a trip, buying a rod, and taking a couple of casting lessons! You'll be disappointed and probably get hurt.

Let me share a formula with you...

To safely condition your body for fishing with a 10wt fly rod if you are currently used to fishing with nothing heavier than a 4wt:

2 months x 3 sessions/week x 30 minutes each x 6wt 9ft fly rod
2 months x 5 sessions/week x 30 minutes each x 6wt 9ft fly rod
2 months x 3-5 sessions/week x 30 minutes each x 8wt 9ft fly rod
2 months x 3 sessions/week x 30 minutes each x 10wt fly rod

Now you are ready to fish all day for a couple (maybe three) days in a row with 10-12 weight fly rods. Hopefully, you can borrow the 6 and 8 weight fly rods if you don't need them. But let me tell you a little secret. If you are going on your first guided big game or saltwater fly fishing trip, don't buy a rod and reel for it! All guides provide tackle, especially all big game saltwater guides. Use their tackle. If you fall in love with this type of fly fishing, you can always buy your own gear later. And you'll have a better idea of what you actually want and why. Your money would be better spent on lessons with a good casting instructor who will let you borrow the appropriate rods from him/her for your conditioning practice six months to a year ahead of when you want to get into this type of fishing. You'll be very proficient by then and you won't get sore or hurt. You will reap far more enjoyment out of your trip and all of your fly fishing from the day you start your training throughout the rest of your life.

Notwithstanding all of this forethought, our hypothetical unlucky casting instructor is very likely to teach you to keep your elbow low, wrist straight, rod at a forty-five degree angle, and shoulder relatively immobile and disengaged from the casting process. He/she may teach you just a tad of hip rotation to add line speed without additional strain on your arm. To do all of this, your coach is going to put you into a Side Seisan type of casting stance.

Carrying More Line in the Air Than Usual

Aerializing fly line or carrying line in the air while false casting. [Photo courtesy of Alexflyfishing.com]

The primary reason anglers try to aerialize more fly line than they usually do is when they are trying to cast further than normal, but that is not the only reason to carry a lot of line in the air. Some advanced fly casts require the caster to carry more fly line beyond the rod tip for the length of the cast than we normally would. Sometimes, we want to measure out our distance quite accurately with false casts before making our presentation (although this is usually ill-advised). Another reason is purely a matter of gear tending expediency: we want to straighten twist and kinks out of the fly line quickly. Once again, it is often helpful to lengthen the casting stroke (arc) in order to improve line speed. So assuming the Side Seisan stance can help us to accomplish this.

In summary, Seisan Dachi is the basis of everything I teach about footwork and balance with regard to fly casting. We begin with a very shallow full frontal version. Then we drop the casting side foot back and keep the shoulders squared. This opens up the body to a comfortable casting position for beginning fishing applications. Finally we transition to a 30 to 45 degree angle orientation to the target, with the toes of the forward foot on a line with the heel of the back foot to keep the stance "open." This gives us maximum range of motion and is a very natural and comfortable casting position.

In my next article, I will introduce the first traditional Okinawan karate stance that I use purely for adaptive fly casting applications.

The Foundation of Fly Casting: Seisan

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:46:00 +0000

十三手

Seisan

"Thirteen Hands"

Isshin Ryu karate Sensei demonstrates Seisan stance.
[Photo Courtesy of WholeHeartedNews.com]

In karate, when we face forward with our shoulders square and feet shoulder width apart with one foot forward enough of the other such that the heel of the front foot is even with the toes of the back foot, this is the Seisan stance. The karateka's (a student of karate) feet are both flat on the ground and the toes are as straight forward as can be without risk of injury to the ankles or knees. The knees are slightly bent and the whole lower body is relaxed, with the weight evenly distributed. Proper posture places the body's center of gravity below the belt and in the abdomen - between the hips. Seisan is but one of the high stances of karate, having both a forward and side stance application. But Seisan is...more or less...the foundation of all good fly casting.

When we begin teaching a new student to fly cast, most instructors have them begin in the squared (natural) stance I covered in my last article. We do this mostly to reduce the very common tendency of beginning casters to allow the rod to travel too far on the back cast before stopping it. The squared stance naturally shortens the back cast and makes establishing a straight line path (SLP) of the rod tip much easier. That SLP is crucial to good loop formation, an essential ingredient of any fly cast. What we are doing is setting up beginners for a higher probability of success with fewer obstacles and less frustration. We are not endorsing the squared stance as the "best stance" for fly casting. It can be the right one to choose in some circumstances, and I covered the pros and cons of the natural, or squared, stance in that article.

Once a student has progressed enough in their fly casting proficiency, a competent fly casting coach will begin to transition the fly caster to a Seisan stance by moving one foot or the other back. If the rod hand side foot is moved back, the stance becomes what we call "open." If the off hand side foot moves back, the stance becomes what we call "closed." Either way, the foot does not move back all that much for most casters. That is why I said "more or less" in the opening paragraph when I said Seisan is the foundation of all good fly casting. A true Seisan stance requires that the toes of the back foot are even with the back of the heel of the front foot. Karate is highly standardized and pretty regimented. In fly casting, the back foot can be positioned such that the toes are aligned with the back of the arch of the forward foot to as much as a full foot's length behind the heel of the front foot at shoulder width apart from each other. The shoulders remain squared to the target and the knees remain slightly bent. The legs are relaxed and both feet are completely flat on the ground with the weight evenly distributed between both legs. Care of one's posture should be taken to ensure that the center of gravity rests at or below the waist and centered over the hips.

Author's student, Rick Trowbridge, casting from Seisan stance in mangrove swamp in Florida, 2010.

It isn't as complicated as you may be thinking at this point. Seisan is one of the most natural ways that human beings stand: feet shoulder width apart, facing the focus of your attention, one foot slightly ahead of the other, flat footed, with you legs relaxed instead of tensed. For some reason, when people start to try and do something "athletic," they think they have to get into some bizarre posture. All those years of swinging at baseballs, watching football players crouch down on in three or four point stances to begin a play, seeing runners get into those awkward starting blocks before a race, and so on and so on has left us with the indelible impression that we just can't do something like cast a fishing pole or "fight like Bruce Lee" without taking up some awkward posture first. Good news, my friends! Fly fishing is a life sport. It can be enjoyed until they carry you away in a box. As such, it is actually counter-productive to approach it as if you were a contortionist, power-lifter, or full-contact athlete. But we should pay enough attention to how we stand to at least make sure we're getting the most out of it and not hindering ourselves. That's why understanding the essence of Seisan is so illuminating.

Let's start "where the rubber meets the road." Most of us are wearing rubber soles nowadays when we fish. Even the ubiquitous felt sole wading boots of the trout stream are becoming increasingly eschewed in favor of the more "Earth-friendly" sticky synthetics. So we're going to talk about our feet for a minute.

I have already mentioned twice now that the feet need to be flat on the ground. This is important. It is also a mistake that I often see casters at all but the most advanced levels making regularly. Ask any peak performer at any sport how important a solid foundation is to proper execution and you will only get one answer: nothing is more important. Michael Jordan continues to make a fortune off of Nike's Air Jordan basketball shoes many years after he retired from basketball because of the exaggeration of this fact into the "be like Mike" hype. No pair of shoes can turn Urkel into Michael Jordan, but Michael Jordan himself would tell you that nothing is more important to playing exceptional basketball than good footwork. If you are off balance, slipping, tripping, or your weight is on the wrong foot at the wrong time, you will not be able to execute anything else.

When we cast a fly we are not going to run, walk, skip, hop, dance, or shuffle off to Buffalo. We are going to stand still. Our feet need to be flat on the ground. We do not want to stand on our toes or the balls of our feet. We don't want to have our weight back on our heels. Forget what you've seen those cool tennis players do when they serve tennis balls and what you've seen Tiger do when he's on the tee box. Think instead about what you see great golfers do when they putt! They plant their feet firmly on the green, weight evenly distributed, flat-footed, and don't move them. Their weight is evenly balanced with a low center of gravity, and they putt with tremendous economy of motion. (Golf is also a life sport you can play almost until the day you die.) Increasing the surface area of our body in contact with the ground, dock, boat deck, etc. (casting surface) increases our stability. Improved stability gives us the ability to transfer power more efficiently. When we can transfer power more efficiently, we can achieve more with less effort - or get better results from the same amount of effort. Do you recall from school that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?" Take a short journey with me into some elementary physics.

In karate, we're concerned with kicking, punching, blocking, and throwing things that have considerable mass, momentum, and inertia...usually greater than our own. In fact, it is an underlying assumption that the mass, momentum, and inertia of an attacker is greater than our own. If there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action, then the karateka must realize that when he blocks an attack from an aggressor with greater mass and momentum he will be propelled backwards due to the force of the momentum of his aggressor. Right? We have ways to keep that from happening. But the same is true when the karateka attacks! When he strikes that opponent who has mass and inertia (and possibly momentum), his own body will absorb the "equal and opposite reaction" from the action of his attack. And this he can do nothing about but to absorb it. He absorbs it primarily using stance. By maximizing his traction, balance, and stability and then using his arms, legs, and torso as shock absorbers, he becomes a spring. He absorbs the energy from these "equal and opposite reactions" and coils them like a spring into his body, reloading himself for the next offensive and defensive moves. Were he to not have good traction and balance, he could not do this. Should he choose to use the more enlightened approach we call "ouchi" (avoidance), this traction, stability, and balance is necessary for the precisely timed and very quick movements and shifts in balance required to avoid the attackers momentum, redirect it, and turn his own mass, momentum, and inertia into weapons against him. Either way, if the karateka loses his traction, stability, or balance, he is at a tremendous disadvantage and his available weapons are drastically diminished. The law of inertia: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, is a cruel mistress!

The law of inertia applies to fly casting, too. Admittedly, the consequences of gaffing it off are not nearly so dire as they can be for the karateka, but if you want to improve your fly casting paying attention to it can pay big dividends. Keep some "spring" in your legs to absorb any minor deflections in balance as you move the fly rod. Don't move your feet. You won't step on the excess fly line you have stripped off the reel, get it tangled around your shoes, and so forth. Just leave them where you put them. If you move one, then reset everything before you resume casting. By keeping your knees slightly bent and your legs and hips relaxed, you will avoid long-term repetitive stress injury and have plenty of stamina to enjoy hours of fly fishing at a time. Keep your weight as evenly distributed as possible over both feet. This reduces fatigue and improves your performance as we've already discussed. It can also keep you from slipping and falling due to losing your balance or traction. Finally, remember to keep that center of gravity low in your abdomen. Breathe with your diaphragm (the stomach muscles that control your lung expansion and contraction) and relax your hips and buttocks muscles. This allows your center of gravity to settle into your pelvic bowl where it belongs. Now you're truly "rooted" in the ground.

Open Stance

The foot on the side with the fly rod is back

Editorial Note: In the martial arts, whether a stance is open or closed refers to whether or not the practitioner's solar plexus, throat, and groin are exposed to the strongest and most direct attacks from an opponent. In fly casting, the stance is referred to as open or closed in relationship to the location of fly rod.

In fly casting, we are likely to want to use an open stance when we plan to carry more fly line in the air during back casts or false casting, make longer hauls with the line hand, watch our back cast, or lower the rod plane of the fly cast (as in side-armed fly casting). These are all times when the open Seisan stance will seem quite natural and provides benefits to the caster - mostly in terms of improved range of motion and balance. On the other hand, some casters will experience a tendency to move their back cast too far back before stopping the rod, or to introduce what we call "drift" after the rear stopping point in the back cast. Drift is when the fly caster stops the rod, but then allows the rod tip to move back some more before starting to move forward again in the opposite direction. This introduces slack into the loop you're working so hard to form. And slack is the enemy! So be aware of this possibility, check yourself and/or your students for it, and be on guard. Don't pick up a bad habit.

Closed Stance

The foot on the side with the fly rod is forward

If we want to put a little more zip in the finish of our cast and don't want to add anything to our back cast, then we may want to take up a closed Seisan stance. The closed stance gives us the advantage of having a bit of built-in trunk/torso rotation that we don't have to think about. It even further controls the stopping point on our back cast to keep it high. And it has a tendency to almost force casters accelerate the rod smoothly to a very abrupt stop with pronation of the wrist delayed until very late in the casting stroke. However, some fly casters have a very strong propensity to over-accelerate the rod using a closed stance. I only recommend this stance for people who routinely face some or all of the following conditions:

Faster action fly rods with 6 weight or heavier lines.
Windy conditions.
Long distance casts.
Two-handed fly casting.
Shooting heads.

When you pick up your fly rod, take a minute to breathe deep and focus on casting. Visualize yourself making a few nice casts. Imagine your body parts making the movements they need to make to execute a good cast and that cast sailing out there the way it should and landing flawlessly and on target. Take a good look at your rod like you did in the store the first time you saw it. Clear your mind of whatever else it was preoccupied with and center yourself in the moment. This is fly fishing. You do this for fun. No matter how much you do this stuff, never forget these simple preparatory pleasures.

Now your soul, fishing rod, and body are one...

Twelve Days of Fly Fishing Christmas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:20:00 +0000

Peak Magnum Hex Stacker

On the first day of Christmas, the true fly tier's love would give them the new Magnum Hex Stacker from Peak Fishing. MSRP is $44.95. For a list of Peak Fishing product dealers, CLICK HERE.

On the second day of Christmas, all cool fly anglers will want to be wearing a Boonie Hat sporting the embroidered logo of Florida Fly Fishing Magazine. F3M Boonie Hats can be purchased on-line for $20 each.

Author sporting his F3M Boonie Hat on the bow of the Knee Deep in Florida

On the third day of Christmas, you better give your favorite fly angler the best darned lumbar pack ever made for fishing: the L.L. Bean Kennebec Lumbar Pack. This bad boy will carry everything but the kitchen sink comfortably and conveniently while providing excellent lower back support for those long days on the stream. Priced at $59.00 with free shipping from L.L. Bean.

TFO BVK Reels (photo courtesy of Cory Routh)

On the fourth day of Christmas, stuff your fly angler's stocking with the ICAST new fly tackle product of the year: the Temple Fork Outfitters BVK reel! Named for fly fishing legend Lefty Kreh, the BVK (those are Lefty's initials) reel is a full-featured, light-weight, high-tech wonder of modern fly fishing innovation. The max-arbor design, skeletonized machined aircraft aluminum frame and spools, high-performance zero-maintenance drag, and slim tapered spool design make this reel one of the most jam-packed full of performance features you can find at any price. Yet, TFO brought the BVK reel to market for $230 to $250, depending on size! Any similar reel on the market today costs nearly twice as much. Some are considerably more expensive than that. I have been extremely impressed by this reel, and fly reels really don't usually impress me that much. Purchase the TFO BVK fly reel at any fly shop near you.

Author in his Tula Pecos on the Green

On the fifth day of Christmas, anyone who fly fishes will appreciate one of the best handmade palm straw hats in the world: a Tula hat from San Antonio, Texas. You'll appreciate the affordability, too!

Palm straw is very flexible, durable, and lightweight. This allows the Mexican craftsmen of the villages where Tula hats are made one at a time to be woven tightly to provide excellent sun protection without becoming heavy or losing breathability or becoming brittle. Tula hats age well and will take the rough use that fishing hats inevitably endure. In fact, a Tula hat looks better as it gets older - taking on more "character." Tula hats are sold at outdoor retailers across the US and Canada.

On the sixth day of Christmas, saltwater fly anglers will really appreciate a pair of Buff Angler Gloves! I was skeptical. After quite a few fellow saltwater anglers I know began raving about them, I figured I might give them a try. Due to a gnarly case of bilateral cervical radiculopathy, I've been having trouble with the fly line slipping through my fingers sometimes when trying to strip-set the hook on fish that have taken my fly. That's what got me to thinking about some sort of glove to improve my grip. For years now I've been wearing stripping finger protectors on my rod hand to prevent chafing and cutting of my fingers when saltwater fly fishing. I thought perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone with the right pair of gloves.

After listening to some anglers talk about the Buff Angler Gloves, looking at them in a couple of fly shops, and reading a few reviews on the Internet, I decided to order a pair because it seemed pretty reasonable that they would do the trick. Sure enough, Buff Angler Gloves perform as advertised! They are light, breathable, dry quickly, provide protection against sun and line chafing, and improve your grip. They also don't diminish your fine motor skills for line handling and knot tying. Frankly, they're just about perfect. Now, I did try wearing them while fishing for pan fish with a five weight fly rod and 3X tippet just to test the limits. I found it. The lighter weights and smaller diameters of the fly line, tippets, and flies for this type of fishing made wearing the gloves awkward and frustrating. But once you get up to a seven weight fly line and about twelve pound test leader or tippet material, Buff Angler Gloves are golden.

Buff Angler Gloves are also great for kayak and canoe fishermen, substituting well for far more expensive paddling gloves. Coming in at a price of about $40 anywhere you can find them, they're less than half the cost of a typical pair of kayaking gloves. And you cannot fly fish with a pair of paddling gloves on. You can buy Buff Angler Gloves at almost any store where quality fishing tackle is sold.

On the seventh day of Christmas, turn your attention to your angler's feet. You've got their head and their hands taken care of, but you have to know that every fly fisherman needs a great pair of wading boots. And wading boots just don't get any better than Korkers Chromes. Ask anyone. That's all I've got to say about that. Just lay down the $200 and be done with it. They're worth every penny and more. Good fly shops everywhere sell Korkers, or you buy them on-line at the Korkers website.

Topographic Map

If you want your fly angler to find their way home on the eighth day of Christmas you may want to buy them the gift of knowledge: DeLorme's Topo North America 9.0. Brought to you by the same cyber geeks that Uncle Sam relies upon to tell them where everything actually is on planet Earth, Topo North America 9.0 is a full set of maps, charts, aerial, and satellite imagery in incredible detail for all of North America designed for recreational users in CD-ROM format for your personal computer. It is GPS-compatible, too. I've been using this software for years and consider it an essential part of my outdoor lifestyle.

Nautical Chart

Whether the angler in your life prefers to hike trails to backcountry lakes and streams, float rivers in a drift boat or canoe, or chase big game fish across the saltwater flats, Topo North America 9.0 from DeLorme puts the world at their fingertips. The software makes trip planning a breeze and takes a lot of the anxiety and guesswork out of exploring new places. The draw tools allow your significant angler to mark the maps with their intended path, location(s), and so forth; enhancing safety in case they need assistance. Simply print a map or save a file on the home computer before leaving home - just in case - and your emergency plan is in place. It's the best $99 you'll ever spend!

On the ninth day of Christmas, give the gift of life. A Lifetime Membership in the Federation of Fly Fishers will without a doubt enrich the fly fishing experience and enjoyment of any fly fishing experience far beyond the value of its $500 price tag. The Federation of Fly Fishers is a 43 year old international non-profit organization dedicated to the betterment of the sport of fly fishing through conservation, restoration and education. The Federation of Fly Fishers is the only organized advocate for fly fishers on a national and regional level.

On the tenth day of Christmas, buy the socks. Of course! It wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't get socks. Everybody wants socks for Christmas, and fly fishermen (and women) want Merino wool socks. Our Merino wool socks come from L.L. Bean in a pack of three pairs for $29.95. In the land of Merino wool socks, that's one heck of a good deal! With L.L. Bean's free shipping it is even better. Get ya some!

Alex Bell teaching fly casting at High Hampton Inn & CC

On the eleventh day of Christmas, buy your significant angler something for the both of you: a three-night and four-day fly fishing instructional trip to High Hampton Inn and Country Club with Certified Adaptive Fly Fishing Practitioner Alex Bell, MSEd. High Hampton Inn is located in Cashiers, North Carolina, which is not too far South of Asheville and only a couple of hours North of Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of the most elegant large country inns I have ever visited. Every detail of the place is fabulous. A retired coach and high school principal from the local community, Alex Bell is a fantastic guide and teacher. The area offers a good variety of trout fishing in a beautiful and mild climate. This is truly one of those trips that even the fussiest of non-anglers will love. Check out the websites!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, wow the kayak fly fisherman in your life with the newest and most anticipated kayak to hit the market just in time for the Holiday shopping season: the Jackson Kayak Cuda! Jackson says the Cuda is the answer to the big water fisherman's dreams because it has both the speed needed to trek long distances quickly and excellent stability and comfort for standing to sight-fish once you get there. Jackson's innovative high-low seat design also has received widespread acclaim on their previous fishing kayak, the Coosa. The Cuda is too new for me to have had any first-hand experience with one. The first production models are just now being delivered to dealers and pro staffers. But I was one of several fly fishing kayakers the Jackson design team consulted during the design phase of this boat, and I must say it looks and sounds (from early feedback I'm getting from "the street") like they got it right. The Cuda was primarily designed for inshore saltwater anglers, but should do a lot of things well. This fourteen foot, sixty pound fishing kayak carries an MSRP of a little more than one thousand dollars. Hit the Jackson Kayaks website for a dealer locator.

Casting from a Squared Stance

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:34:00 +0000

八字立

Hachiji Dachi

Bob Stehwien, MCI teaching casting from a natural stance in Idaho.

In karate, we call facing forward with the shoulders squared to the opponent and feet shoulder width apart in a natural position the "natural stance." This falls into the category of open stances in the martial arts. It is generally only used as a starting position for defensive moves, based on the assumption that the practitioner was attacked suddenly. It is neither a defensive nor offensive posture.

In fly casting, this same body position is what we also call the natural stance or squared stance. It is one of the most popular and common casting postures, and is generally considered by casting experts to be the best choice for improved accuracy.

So long as the shoulders are squared to the target, either foot may be slightly back of the other or they may be even. All three slight variations are still considered squared stances. If either foot is dropped back far enough that the shoulders rotate to either side, then the stance changes to another type. So the key is actually that the shoulders are square to the target of our cast.

Let's take a look at how the natural or squared stance helps fly casters with accuracy.

When a fly caster uses the squared stance, he or she has effectively reduced their comfortable range of motion with their casting arm to a degree that eliminates a lot of potential for deviation from a straight-line path of their rod tip. The fly caster has also more closely aligned the target with the fly rod, their hand, and their dominant side eye. All of the elements engaged in the cast except for their line hand are fairly closely in line with the target because the vertical rod position is going to be the most natural rod plane. The rod and arm are naturally in a straight line in this position, so the rod tip with follow the direction that the elbow points. As the caster flexes the elbow and then stops, the fly rod travels along a very straight path towards the target. This forms a very straight line plane with the fly line, and the loop rolls out like an arrow toward the target. If the caster has the range, elevation, and windage right, the cast will likely be exceptionally accurate. Simply put, the squared...or natural...stance reduces variables. This reduction of variables enhances accuracy for most fly casters in most situations. It is very effective with light and medium fly tackle at short and medium ranges with overhead and roll casts. It is a strong choice for beginners.

The squared...or natural...stance in fly casting starts to become less than an ideal choice when the angler is using heavy fly tackle, sinking lines, or casting in strong winds where he or she needs to generate a lot of line speed to maintain proper loop form to overcome the effects of wind and gravity. Friction from wind and the gravitational pull on a fly line can be more detrimental to the accuracy of a fly cast in these types of fishing scenarios than minor variations in the path of the rod tip. It becomes worth the risk in such situations to change one's stance in order to gain more range of motion so that we can utilize it to generate more line speed to maintain tight, efficient loops for cutting through wind and overcoming the effects of gravity long enough to make effective casts.

Another weakness of the squared stance for some anglers in certain situations can be when fishing from a boat in choppy water. Anglers in this situation may find that they need to spread their feet and angle one shoulder toward the target more than the other in order to maintain their balance on the deck. Ultimately, terrain circumstances often mandate stance choices more than simply which stance is theoretically ideal for the type of cast we want to make. If the angler cannot stand safely and comfortably in a certain position, then he or she simply must choose another option. I often find myself making casts when wade fishing or bank fishing that have no names and don't really fall into any category unless you're playing some hybrid between the game of Twister and fly fishing. It all depends on how badly you want to put that fly in front of that particular fish, I guess. Crawling on your belly, rod in hand, to wiggle into a position on all fours on a deadfall overhanging the stream; then raising your rod hand to make a sidearm roll cast backwards whence you came really doesn't fit into anyone's textbook. But I'm not the only fly angler who has ever done it!

Stance

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:56:00 +0000

Capt. Al White casts from a "closed" stance at sunset.

スタンス

dachi

In karate and jujitsu, we used the Japanese word for stance: dachi. Dictionaries define it as "the position or bearing of the body while standing." ( "stance." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 22 Nov. 2011.)

Following on the heels of my article at Fish Camp Rehab titled "Soul, Fishing Rod, and Body as One," (Ed. note: translated into English from Japanese) I will be writing a series of articles covering the basic overhead (or pick-up and lay-down) fly cast from the ground up - so to speak.

While casting coaches diagnose faults in fly casting most readily by looking at the fly, then fly line, then rod, then the hand, arm, torso, waist/hips, legs, and finally at the feet, wise ones teach or correct casting flaws in the opposite order. The lower in the body there is an error in the casting basics, the more amplified that flaw will become as it radiates out through the rod tip to the fly. For anyone who questions this reality, simply stand on one foot on a difficult place to maintain balance and try to make an accurate cast near your maximum comfortable range...the range that is "easy" for you to accurately hit consistently. Even a master fly caster will notice that his/her rod tip path (RTP) is more difficult to control, and any correction for losing one's balance will result in a massive deviation of the rod tip that translates into an even greater deviation in the path of the fly - as RTP always does. Fly path is a function of RTP x the amount of fly line beyond the rod tip.

With my last 2 casting students I have been correcting flaws and taking them from beginning to intermediate. I didn't start either one of them. They both had TONS of "junk" in their casting motions creating multiple flaws and were incredibly frustrated: line tangling in their feet, forward thrusting elbows at the end of the presentation stroke, no fixed anchor point w/their line hands, no muscle memory for stop points, tons of body sway to compensate for slack/accuracy errors, and one of them rocked back and forth and rotated the torso/hips like a golf stroke.

I spent at least a week worth of half-day lessons with each of them stripping garbage movement and bad habits out of their casting motions. I did not change their casting styles. I just calmed them down and made them efficient. But I started by making them leave their feet firmly planted in place and quit moving them. Then we moved up the legs and through the body and into the rod. By the time we got to SLP, smooth acceleration, and stops, they could actually execute them.

We reduced the amount of false casting they were doing and greatly increased the distance they were shooting line on their presentation casts, increasing their casting efficiency exponentially. The net effect is that they can fish with far less fatigue, getting more time on the water, and keeping the fly in the water where they have a chance of catching fish instead of the air where they do not.

There are many different stances one can use when standing to cast, and a whole book could be written on the subject when you add seated casting from boats and wheelchairs. In future articles, I'll address some of these and their respective advantages and disadvantages.

Soul, Fishing Rod, and Body as One.

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:54:00 +0000

Samurai Warrior

1として精神、剣およびボディ。

Spirit, sword, and body as one.

Soul, fishing rod, and body as one...

Author casts to Mangroves on small Florida key.

Read the full article here.

Teaching the Double Haul

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:31:00 +0000

"Let's Get Small!"

Capt. Al White of Boca On The Fly with Gasparilla Marina in the background

Many fly casters admit that one of the more difficult things they've done in fly fishing was learning to double haul. Likewise, a lot of fly casting instructors and guides are constantly searching for better ways to teach their students to double haul. But the great frustrating mystery of the elusive double haul really is a matter of psyching ourselves out - making things far more difficult than they need to be.

Student Rick T began trout fishing with me in 2007 in the Ozarks. Today,
he is a graduate of an Orvis guide school and teaches regular fly casting
lessons in Memphis, TN. Here he is casting to Snook in a Mangrove-lined
creek in Southwest Florida in 2010. We learn to crawl before we can learn
to run...

Cruise on over to my adaptive fly fishing blog, Fish Camp Rehab, to read my latest article. It's a step-by-step explanation of how I teach the single and double haul to beginning fly casters. It generally takes me one or two hours to put a fly rod in someone's hand for the very first time and teach them to fly cast well enough to go fishing. Within two or three two hour casting lessons, my typical beginner student could be double hauling their casts proficiently if this was an objective of our lessons. The fact of the matter is that hauling is the easiest part of good fly casting.

It's About The Little Things

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:45:00 +0000

A picture paints ten thousand words.

Chinese Proverb

Fishing enthusiasts call this type of photograph a "hero shot" or a "grip-n-grin" picture. You know the kind. Some fisherman is holding up a fish he caught in front of a camera lens. They've been around since cameras became portable enough for the practice to become feasible. With the advent of sports sections in newspapers, and later sporting and even specifically fishing books and periodicals, these hero shots became commonplace in fishing lore. In today's digital age of tiny waterproof cameras that upload remotely via the Internet right from the boat or shoreline, grip-n-grin pictures have proliferated beyond anyone's ability to absorb. Consumers of angling media are suffering from hero shot fatigue, or HSF. I've heard rumors (but cannot confirm) that a few psychotherapists have even begun treating some fishing aficionados for HSF with aversion therapy techniques and hypnosis.

Now a new kind of grip-n-grin counter-culture seems to be emerging. A few wiser, more mature anglers who treasure the true value of fishing in all its fullness and beauty have begun surreptitiously introducing photographs into the constant flow of images of behemoth-hefting braggarts - photos which remind us all that the enjoyment we seek when we pick up our tackle and head toward the water is not the fame and adoration of our angling compatriots or to establish ourselves among the legends of the local pier, but to engage ourselves with nature - to immerse ourselves in the menagerie of all the simple sights and sounds and smells and feelings of a day wiled away in pursuit of the "...elusive but attainable, a series of occasions for hope." (John Buchan)

Perspective

The goal of fishing is to be personally surprised and rewarded (even though we actually expect it) by that tug on the other end of the line when a fish bites our humble offering and we connect directly with nature unseen, shrouded from our view by the mysterious waters until we finally retrieve the fish to hand. The size of the fish really doesn't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. It isn't what motivated us to take up a fishing rod in the first place. And it isn't what will keep us fighting through the chronic pain and fatigue of old age to continue fishing until we drop dead with a fishing pole in our hands.

Trophy Trout

The number of fish we catch on any given day is no more significant than their size is to our deepest motives for fishing - the answer to the question "why do we fish" that most of us really wouldn't say out loud for fear we would be thought silly. No, it was and shall be that simple tug at the other end of the line, the view of the sunrise and sunset, the breeze on our face, the sound of the waves caressing the shoreline or of a babbling brook or rushing rapid, the sights and sounds of birds and other wildlife, and the smells of nature all around us. The feel of the fish on our hook, taught line in between, as he surges and darts to and fro - instinctively trying to evade capture is what pulls us to the water with tackle in our hands. It is a grand game with Mother Nature that we play, and it really doesn't matter much who our opponent ends up being. Numbers do not matter because the real purpose of the whole exercise is to escape the normal routines of our lives and engage in something just a little bit primal. It is really about tickling that genetically coded reminder buried within our DNA that this is where we came from, where we really belong, and where we someday will return. It restores our souls. That's why they named it "re-creation."

Sunset in FL

Those of us who spend a lot of time in pursuit of saltwater fish, or who are surrounded by those who do, easily become jaded to the simple joy of a day spent lazily beside a pond catching Sunfish on a cane pole. The most easily distracted among fishermen are off-shore sport fishermen and any type of fly angler. The complexities of the equipment and tactics, and the adrenaline and testosterone of sport fishing, tend to push some extremely fond memories into the dim recesses of our minds. This doesn't happen because those days were less enjoyable. It happens because the mind can only hold so much stuff in "primary storage." The most recent strong sensations tend to be the ones we recall with the most accuracy. Emotional experiences long past become increasingly faint with the passage of time, while fresh experiences sear our consciousness like a branding iron. Remember the phrase "Time heals all wounds?" Well, that is why.

Davy Wotton with an uncharacteristic grin after helping Michael DuBose,
a disabled veteran, land this fish in 2008. Davy has anglers in his boat
daily who land well over 20 trout per rod, and sometimes many more. He
rarely poses with a client and (from my observation) rarely smiles for pictures.

Truth, on the other hand, often becomes revealed when hindsight becomes most of what one has left. Another wise old saying bears testament to the fact that we generally have a much better perspective when looking back into history than we do when looking at the present or the future. "Hindsight is 20/20" and the notion that wisdom comes with age and experience are not unrelated. So why do you suppose that so many fishermen return with increasing frequency to the simpler, more under-stated and less adrenaline and ego-driven forms of fishing as their hair begins to gray and then fall out? Do you honestly believe that fishing is all that strenuous? It's not like we're playing football, mountain climbing, or running marathons. We're sitting or standing around waiting for a fish to bite a hook! One look at the typical physique of even an offshore sport fisherman will tell you just what sort of athlete one needs to be to become a world-class fisherman. Rather, it is the recollection through increasingly clear hindsight of the good times had with far less hassle, expense, and effort that motivates anglers to start shedding all the excess baggage on their gentle journey back to the bank of that pond or stream of their youth - perhaps even with an old cane pole in hand and a coffee can full of earthworms they dug up out of the flower bed.

Eventually, we all come to realize that the big things are actually little things, and that it was the little things that were the big things all along. The earlier in life we learn this lesson and live our lives accordingly, the happier and more fruitful we become.

"Many men spend their whole lives fishing without ever realizing it wasn't the fish they were pursuing."

John Gierach

New Spoon Flies

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:02:00 +0000

Gold and silver spoon flies made from holographic reflective tape and Five Minute Epoxy on a Mustad Signature Series size 2 saltwater hook.

The gold spoons have tails consisting of black SynYak, chartreuse Flashabou, and pearl UV Crystal Flash. The silver spoons have tails consisting of gray and white Super Hair and pearl UV Crystal Flash. The black thread on the the silver spoon pictured here is an anomaly. I normally tie them with gray thread. All thread is Danville flat waxed nylon.

Weed guards are 25 lb. Mason's Hard Mono. Dumbell eyes are simple stainless steel dumbell eyes, size small. The tail helps stabilize a spoon fly. The weighted eyes tied on the outside of the hook shank behind the eye cause the hook point to ride inverted and up as the fly drops in the water. This feature and a weed guard make the fly virtually snag-proof.

No fly moves like a spoon fly! They twitch, flutter, and dart about in the water at the slightest twitch of the line. The action drives game fish insane. (Don't tell anybody!)

Fern Valley: The Best Private Trout Fishing Deal in Georgia!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:56:00 +0000

Clear, cool water rushing gently through ideal trout habitat with a rich biomass, the Soque at Fern Valley is one of those "dream stream" stretches of a renowned river that makes anglers crazy with envy.

I had never fished for trout in North Georgia before, but I'm not a newcomer to trout fishing in Southern Appalachia. It's not that far from the Soque to the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail. But the Soque River at Fern Valley reminded me a bit of one of my favorite trout streams in the Ozarks. So I decided to fish it with the same general "attitude." I rigged up a total of 10' of tapered leader down to 5X fluorocarbon, put on a small Thingamabobber, a #6 Dinsmore split-shot, and a size 12 Red Fox Squirrel Nymph on my Hexagraph 4 weight 7'3" rod. I was using a DT4F Aquanova fly line from Northern Sport up in Canada. I buy these lines for about $14. It's impossible to match the performance at four times the price.

I started at the bottom end of the property and planned to fish my way upstream. I caught a few small and one good trout in the first pool I fished, but it wasn't really "happening."

The second pool was insane. The fish wore me out. I was sure I'd eventually put them down, but no deal. Even once they certainly knew I was there they kept taking the RFSN they had seen scads of times by now. I brought well over two dozen trout to hand before deciding it was silly to stand there catching them any longer. (I had switched to a size 16 RFSN out of necessity before giving up the hole...which they took even better than the size 12)

Fishing my way upstream for awhile, I picked up a few more fish on a foam black ant with a greased leader. I had noticed some of the fish starting to smack the surface like a terrestrial take now and then, and there was some gusty wind high in the trees overhead. It was a hunch.

Forested banks along the Soque River provide cover and shade for excellent
trout habitat at Fern Valley.

With a substantial midge and tiny light-colored mayfly hatch coming off but not a lot of surface activity, I switched to a size 16 Primrose& Pearl Midge under a Palsa foam indicator. I found a new pool and commenced to hammerin' the trout again after a good break. I had discovered that 5X wasn't necessary. So I was using 4X by now to prevent losing any more flies.

About 4pm, the fish began sniffing my Palsa foam. They were still taking the beaded midge, but they were also watching the indicator. They were definitely looking up. I'd caught way more than 50 fish at this point, so I thought I'd try to catch one on a dry fly. I tied on an orange body Caddis Humpy in size 12 because I had seen some rusty orange bugs flying up and down the stream close to the water that were about that size. I had forgotten my floatant so I used my lip balm. It's better than nothing, but isn't as good as quality floatant because it gunks up the hackle some. But it usually floats the fly and leader even better. That rusty orange bug was an October Caddis.

A half-dozen or so large trout later I decided to call it a day.

_________________________________________________________

Several nice seating areas and fire pits adorn the river bank at Fern Valley

Fern Valley is one of those unique stretches of river that is very well managed for a high quality private water fishing experience at a fair price. The place is beautiful and the owners (Marty and Glad Simmons) are two of the nicest, most hospitable people you will ever meet. The fish are willing and the river is very wadeable. At $135/person, it is a perfect option for a "special occasion" day of fishing for friends, family, business associates, etc. Fern Valley is located four miles outside of Clarkesville, Georgia, on Highway 197. It is about a fifteen minute drive to the nearest motels in Cornelia, Georgia. Go check it out!

Classification of Fly Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:58:00 +0000

"There is more bullshit in fly fishing than there is in a Kansas stockyard."

~ Lefty Kreh

The quote above from one of fly fishing's living legends is one of the most authoritative statements in all of fly fishing because Lefty is one of the biggest BS artists in fly fishing, himself! A great guy, a terrific casting demonstrator, a true American hero, and a wonderful entertainer, Lefty has contradicted himself in writing and in live presentations with emphatic statements about this or that enough times to fill an entire book. And it would be a good one! I'd buy a copy. But that statement above is one that most of us who have been at this game for more than a decade or two will heartily agree.

Furthermore, fly fishing and fly tying have a very personal and artistic aspect to them. They mean something just a bit different to each of us. We see pieces of the puzzle from different perspectives and with different priorities. Our individual fishing experiences color our perceptions of the way things are and the way things ought to be. We have infinitely more in common than these subtle differences of opinion, preference, and approach, but the disparities make for interesting fly shop conversation and great fodder for books and magazine articles.

On the other hand, fly fishing and fly tying are relatively complex past-times compared to other forms of angling and lure-making. It is this complexity which draws a certain type of person to the sport, and attracts a certain personality to the craft of tying his or her own flies. It is not so much that fly fishing or fly tying are difficult, but that they force us to engage our intellect and apply a broader range of knowledge and skills than most outdoor hobbies require that draws people of this sort into the fly fishing community. The down-side is that this cacophony of information and opinions is usually overwhelming to newcomers, and still confusing to most intermediate anglers and fly tiers. It usually takes about a decade of fairly passionate pursuit before a person begins to truly make sense of it all and develop a "big picture" perspective, at which point it will dawn on them that it is not rocket science, it's still just fishin', there is nothing mystical or metaphysical about it, and none of us will ever get rich or famous doing it because the world barely notices us. One begins to settle into the realization that there are as many differences of opinion in fly fishing as their are stars in the sky in spite of the fact that there are relatively few fly anglers and fly tiers, and that our individual opinions about things (even things we once swore we knew for certain) tend to change over time. The mature angler finally understands:

If you fish long enough, everything you think you know about trout fishing will be proven wrong at one time or another.

I can't recall whether that was Ed Engle or John Gierach who said that, but I'm pretty sure it was one of the two.

Much has been written about fly tying for centuries now. And there is no regulation or central "authority." Many people have postulated their own formula about how to classify all the different patterns into groups. Well, I'm going to outline my own thoughts on the subject for my readers.

Here in America, we have six distinct major classes of fly patterns: dries, wets, nymphs, streamers, terrestrials, and poppers. There are sub-classes of several, if not all, of these. Fly tying experts cuss and discuss just what goes where constantly, but there is general consensus along the following lines with some notable exceptions. A wise man once told me, "There are two ways to become a famous theologian. You can become a heretic or burn heretics." This sort of "peer review" (arguing) is true in most fields of endeavor at the advanced levels. There are progressives and conservatives...innovators and purists. It is from this discourse - this rhetorical tug-o-war - that the body of conventional wisdom must be gleaned. And it evolves with the passage of time.

Dry flies are aquatic insect imitations that float on the surface film. Dry-emergers fit in this category...flies that ride above and below the surface film.
Wets are a varied assortment of sub-surface flies, usually with hackles and no wing (or no more than a tiny wing case). Some do not have tails, but many do. Some of the old classics do have wings. Some wet flies were attempts to tie dry flies that didn't float well, like the Leadwing Coachman. I say: if it has a hackle and is fished sub-surface, put it here! You also have to put egg patterns, macro-invertebrates like mysis shrimp, scuds, and snails, and a few other odds and ends here by default. There simply isn't anywhere else to put them that makes sense.
Nymphs are immature stages of aquatic insects fished in or below the surface film. This includes emergers.
Streamers are sub-surface flies with wings and bodies along the hook shank primarily designed to imitate bait fish and crustaceans. Quite a few also have bellies. Some have collars. Most have tails. Some fly tying folks differentiate hairwing streamers from featherwing streamers, calling those with feather wings "streamers," and those with hair wings "bucktails." I consider bucktails a sub-class of streamers.
Terrestrials are all imitations of non-aquatic insects, reptiles, small mammals, invertebrates, etc. that are eaten by game fish when they enter the water. Many are surface flies, but some are sub-surface flies such as non-aquatic worms, snakes, sowbugs, and so forth. So you have two sub-classes here, too: surface and sub-surface.
Poppers consist of all flies designed to ride on/near the surface and displace water noisily when stripped to attract game fish. This includes gurglers, crease flies, and sliders; which are design variants of the popper altered to achieve a different water displacement effect. Gurglers and sliders could be considered sub-classes of poppers.

This classification system actually makes logical sense and holds together throughout the wide array of fly patterns out there today. That's why I use it. I hope others find it useful in making sense of it all. It mostly helps in organizing fly boxes and fly tying materials, your library, etc.

Kayak Safety: Deep Water Re-entry

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:09:00 +0000

"I tried to climb in and almost turned my kayak over. I remembered this thing called deep-water re-entry that I had never practiced and was wishing I had. Since I don't have a float I was going to take my pfd off and tie it to one end of my paddle, but the surf of an incoming tide kept getting stronger and there was no way I was going to be able to get back in without touching bottom..."

I read the above quote from a fly fisherman in Georgia on an Internet forum today. He has been kayak fishing in the ocean for some time now, and kayak fishing in fresh water lakes and rivers for several years. He considers himself an "experienced" kayak fisherman.

I guess it depends on how you define "experienced." Generally speaking, in the outdoor recreation field, when we tag someone as "experienced" that implies that they know what they are doing. It implies competence. That clearly isn't the case here. Calling a paddler who cannot get back in a boat they've fallen out of "competent" or "experienced" is like calling someone a pilot who can't land an airplane. Such a paddler is like an ice skater who doesn't know how to stand back up when they fall down on the ice, except that the ice skater probably won't die.

This sort of recklessness is...unfortunately...the norm in kayak fishing instead of the exception. Even among kayak fishing guides, very few are formally trained or certified instructors unless the state requires it. Currently, many states do not regulate canoe and kayak fishing guides. Anglers should be aware of this and ask prospective guides and outfitters they are considering hiring what training and qualifications they have. It isn't unreasonable to ask for verification of their claims. They should have liability insurance. They should be trained in CPR and First Aid.

All kayak and canoe anglers need to know how to get back in a boat they fall out of, how to paddle without wearing out too quickly, how to read water, proper steering and boat handling techniques, and the maintenance and use of all appropriate safety equipment. A basic paddling course from the American Canoe Association (ACA) or British Kayaking Union (BKU) will cover these things in a single weekend at a very reasonable cost. It will pay dividends for the rest of your life. ACA also teaches the kayaking courses in the USA. The American Red Cross offers a course called Basic Water Safety that is well worth taking if you spend time around the water. This is a one or two day course at a very nominal fee that is taught by Red Cross Water Safety Instructors. I have been through the Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Advanced Life Saver (now called Life Guard), and Basic Water Safety courses in addition to swift water rescue training. And I have saved the lives of three people (including two young children) since I was a teenager using nothing more than the techniques I learned in Basic Water Safety.

Deep water re-entry is not difficult and is just common sense for anyone who understands the basics of boats and water. But in an emergency you won't think of those things. Trust me...trust every expert in the field of boating and water safety for the past century or more...you won't think of it. Ask any self-defense expert how much of their self-defense training they expect to retain in an unexpected and sudden life-threatening attack. They train every day, and they'll tell you they expect to bring to bear about 10-20% of that training. But that 10-20% will be enough. Most emergency response training isn't that severe, but you often still get an adrenaline rush and things happen fairly quickly. You never expect it. Training is what will carry you through. And you must practice perishable skills - things you will forget over time, complex tasks with multiple steps, etc.

In deep water re-entry you simply grab the far side of the boat and kick your feet to bring them to the surface. If the boat is upright, you kick with your feet and lift with your arms to raise your torso above the water and over the boat. Plop yourself immediately into the center of the boat and lay as flat as possible until it stops rocking (a second or two). Then get situated. If the boat is capsized, kick your feet and pull hard and fast with your arms back toward you to flip the boat. Don't worry. It will glide away from you on the water's surface as it flips over. So it won't land on top of you. If it is a canoe it is likely to fill with water when you do this. So if it has no flotation, don't! If it has integrated flotation, do it and climb in the swamped boat. Paddle it the way you normally would. Get to shore as soon as possible and evacuate the water from the boat. But a kayak with scupper drains is self-bailing. You will be sitting high and relatively dry in no time. If you practice these techniques when you can just have fun with them in a relaxed situation, you'll be ready to use them when you need them. If you paddle much you will need them sooner or later.

The fellow in question ended up holding on to his kayak and kicking his way in toward the beach to shallow enough water that he could stand up in. It's a good thing he was in very warm water so that he didn't have to worry about hypothermia and didn't have any significant injuries, bleeding to attract the heavy population of sharks in the murky GA coastal waters, didn't encounter a bunch of jelly fish, and wasn't dehydrated and cramping. Any of those four fairly common compounding problems would likely have resulted in his death before he ever got to safety.

Frugal Fly Fishing Trips

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Taking fewer fishing trips than you did before the economy went South?

Don't know where to go...who to trust...how to give yourself the best chance to have a quality experience for the dollars you spend on a smaller budget?

Because of my expertise as a leader in the field of non-profit therapeutic adaptive outdoor recreation event planning, getting max bang for the buck from fly fishing trips is what I do!

I present to you the very best picks for 2011-2012:

Canoe or Kayak Fly Fishing in Southwest Florida
Boca Grande Tarpon Fishing Packages
Southwest Florida's In-shore Slam Package
Gasparilla Island Beach Snook Fishing

With 32 years of fly fishing experience in 3 countries and across the entire United States in both fresh and saltwater combined with nearly as many years of trip-leading and outfitting experience for backpacking, paddle sports, and hunting; I have a pretty good value meter. I am only presenting options that provide truly exceptional opportunities for the money spent, and which fall within a working class price range.

People with special needs are welcome to contact me to inquire about the appropriateness of these trips on a case-by-case basis. Special accommodations can be made for most impairments. A portion of all proceeds are donated to theAdaptive Fly Fishing Institute, Inc.

Stay Tuned for my Spring Through Fall 2012 White River Arkansas Trout Fishing Package Announcement Coming Soon!! (special needs families will not want to miss this one)

Click Here for full details including pricing, seasons, inclusions/exclusions, and more for each of the trip packages listed above.

What is a hosted trip?

A hosted trip is a way of improving your chances of having a very pleasant trip when you decide to try a new guide, destination, targeted species, or style of fishing. You book your fishing trip through a "host angler" who travels with you (usually meets you at the destination). The host has taken this trip several times before. He/she has a strong working relationship with all of the people and businesses you will interact with during your fishing trip. He/she knows the fishing conditions, climate, and local culture you will experience. You will gain from his/her experience by avoiding mistakes that he/she has already made, getting the benefit of the advice he/she was given along the way that turned out to be helpful, and everything will be smoothed along by a familiar face on both ends of every interaction. If there is a restaurant or construction zone to avoid, your host will warn you. If there is some odd local custom that the natives take very seriously but always neglect to tell visitors about, your host will bring you up to speed.

You do not pay your host angler. The lodging and dining establishments, transportation services, and guide services pay your host out of their normally advertised or even discounted rates. So the host's services basically cost you nothing. A good host will also bring along extra rods, reels, flies, sunscreen, sunglasses, hats, Buffs, insect repellant, and all that stuff that everyone seems to show up missing or drop over the side of the boat on the first day. Most hosts bring a quality camera and take pictures, which they will send you electronically after your trip. If they process these images into videos, slideshows, or presentations; if they photoshop the images or burn them to a disk for you; you should expect to pay extra for such add-on options.

Unlike a guide (who should never fish with clients), a host angler will often fish with the party they are hosting and it is the host's choice. But he/she will rarely do as much fishing as the other members of the party. He/she will help with anything needed from the lodge to the water. You only need to make them aware of what you need. They will handle any and all concerns or complaints regarding lodging, meals, or guides.

In my case, I am a certified fly casting, fly tying, and on-water fishing instructor with two separate certification bodies. I carry additional certifications from the Adaptive Outdoor Safety Council, am current in First Aid, CPR, and Boater Safety, and have been certified as a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Small Craft Instructor, wilderness survival instructor, and am formerly a licensed Texas fishing guide. I speak Russian and functional Spanish in addition to English. While on your trip, all of these skills are at your disposal as well. What I don't do is: pay your bill, clean up your mess, carry your bags for you, or bail you out of jail. I'm just sayin'...

Hooray for Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:45:00 +0000

A couple of thirty pound tarpon are lazily rolling around about forty feet in front of my kayak, no further from the mangrove lined shoreline in a wide lagoon in the Florida creek I was fishing. I didn't cast because a pontoon boat with an older man, a couple in their thirties, and two very young children had pulled up on my starboard side. One of the kids pointed dead ahead of the pontoon boat and my kayak at the tarpon and said, "Look Grandpa! I saw a big fish right there." Grandpa gave the helm to the younger man and moved to the bow. They motored right in on top of the tarpon, and the older man dropped a cast net right in front of me at about 40 feet off my bow.

"Excuse me!"

"Yes?" asked the older man, whom I estimated to be in his sixties.

I had pulled anchor and smiling I asked, "Do you ever find yourself saying, 'I don't know what's wrong with these kids nowadays?'"

He laughed and said, "All the time!"

"Well you sure aren't teaching them very good sportsmanship."

His demeanor changed as he proclaimed, "Oh yes I am!"

I asked, "So cutting in right where I'm staked out fishing and dropping a cast net is good sportsmanship?"

The old man in the pontoon boat explained good sportsmanship to me, "You better find another place to fish." I just stared at him and chuckled.

He looked up and down my kayak and asked, "Is that your boat?"

"One of them...yes sir," I replied.

"How would you like to have it turned over?"

I answered him honestly and calmly, but took the smile off my face and looked him dead in the eye. Our boats were now only about two feet apart and alongside one another, drifting dead in the water. "I wouldn't like that at all, but neither would you."

Grand Daddy the sportsman launched into his tirade of insults at this point, "You call that a boat? You think you're an angler? Ha! That's a piece of shit! I'll run you over and won't even feel the bump." All of this right in front of his grand children, who must have been about five to seven years old. The younger man was looking at his feet.

I said, "Sir, a real man can admit when he's wrong and simply apologize." There was a brief pause. He didn't reply at all, and I could tell he was contemplating violence. So I decided to put an end to it. I lowered my voice in hope that the children would not understand what I said next.

"Buddy, have you ever run into somebody you just shouldn't have fucked with?"

He straightened up and smiled his best wicked grin and said, "No."

"Well this is your lucky fuckin' day, Jack Ass." I just stared him down and didn't say another word, move a muscle, or tense up. He looked at me for about two seconds, broke eye contact, gently engaged his prop at idle speed, and left the area without a word.

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I was driving from Fort Myers to Melbourne after a long day consisting of beach fishing for snook and a fly tying demonstration on Sanibel Island. I wanted to pull into a McDonald's for a cup of coffee and to use the restroom. This small McDonald's was pretty busy and the one disabled accessible parking space was occupied - by a car with no placard or eligible license plate. Inside the idling car was a man in his late fifties to mid-sixties. I had to park behind the store and walk all the way around - with my cane. I stopped in front of his car in plain view and stared at him. He acted as if I wasn't even there. When I came back out with my coffee, grandma and three grandkids were loading into the car with all their Happy Meals.

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Captain Al White and I were staked out off of a sand bar that runs perpendicular to the beach hoping for a cruising tarpon. I was standing on the casting deck with a fly rod in my hand and we were anchored from the bow facing the beach. Water was breaking over the bar and there was a pelican standing on it. The roiling white foam extended from about a hundred feet from the bow of Al's skiff to about the same distance from the beach...a span of about three hundred yards. There was about three feet of water directly under our boat.

A family of four including two boys under ten years old approached slowly off our bow, completely blowing out any possibility of a fish. Oh well. Not all pleasure boaters know anything at all about fishing, and we all have a right to be out there. But the guy continues to approach the bar, obviously thinking he can cut across between us and the roiling breakwater (with the pelican standing on it). Then he sees the nearly parallel anchor line and judges correctly that our anchor must be quite some way off the bow, narrowing his options. He continues slowly toward the bar, but turns even closer toward the breakwater. Now Captain Al and I are chatting among ourselves about how amusing this is and how badly this guy is going to get stuck. Sure enough. At low speed, this knucklehead grinds his V-bottom runabout into the bar right on the edge of the breakwater. He has the whole me Popeye - you Olive Oil conversation with his wife. He summons all of his nautical expertise for several minutes and comes up with nothing. Finally...a broken and wretched seaman...he turns toward us and shouts, "Do you know how I can get around this thing?"

Captain Al explains to him how to get off the bar and navigate around it. It really isn't that hard from where he is at that very moment. But the guy proceeds to completely ignore the advice and continue to try to cross the bar using all of the flawed logic that inexperienced boaters do. Then he turns really stupid and totally morally bankrupt!

If you've run aground on a dropping tide and you've seen a few sea-faring movies, then you know you have to jettison your cargo to lighten the ship before all the water is gone and you're really stuck. So he throws the kids overboard! Yes he did! I'm not joking...just exaggerating a little. He had the kids (with no PFDs) get out of the boat and try to push it across the bar against the strong flow of the tide. Mind you: this is about a twenty foot V-bottom runabout with two adults, God only knows how much iced down beer and soda, and who knows what all else on board. He expected two scrawny boys under ten years old in waist deep water just outside of an ocean pass three hundred yards off the beach to push this boat across a bar against the tide. Not only is this totally illogical, it is monumentally ignorant and irresponsible!

Okay, okay...he eventually realizes his precious children aren't going to be able to get the job done. So he tells them to push the boat off the bar from the bow, which they do easily. They have the help of the tide. Plus mom and dad moved to the stern to help lighten the bow on the bar. The boys are also only in knee deep water here. Uh-oh! Now the boat is drifting away on the tide. The boys will have to swim for it! These two stalwart young sea hands reach the boat with ease and begin to climb over the stern. And that is the precise moment when dear ole Dad decides to fire up the outboard!

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The signs said: Manatee Zone...IDLE SPEED...NO WAKE ZONE.

Everyone who has ever used the ramp or marina knows the creek ranges from 1 to 10 feet deep with an average depth of six feet, and is loaded with manatees, tarpon, and snook.

I was paddling along and fishing and decided to stop to get a drink from my Camelbak. I was sitting dead in the water about twenty yards outside the navigation channel - which is regulated by the signs I mentioned above. Two guys in their fifties in an Egret flats boat whom we had exchanged nice greetings with at the ramp that morning as they launched ahead of us were coming up the channel. Apparently, they didn't believe the signs applied to them. They were cutting a wake of rollers over a foot high and moving at about five knots. This is not uncommon in this marina and public ramp location. Apparently, FWC nor the USCG needs the massive revenue they could make from writing tickets there. But here is what surprised me...

The Egret turned toward my kayak suddenly as it approached, leaving the navigation channel to close the distance between us to less than ten yards. This was an obvious attempt to swamp my kayak, a serious crime under state and federal law...and a damn dangerous "sport" akin to trying to run over people crossing the street, shooting at other hunters during hunting season, or pulling the chair out from behind someone as they try to sit down. But let's just stick to the minimum: it is no way for adults to behave, and certainly no way for fellow anglers to treat one another.

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I witnessed or experienced all of these things in less than one week and all while fishing on weekdays.

In each of these situations, people not only behaved badly - they committed fairly serious crimes. The least significant one was the handicapped parking violation, which bears a $200-500 fine and possible impound of a vehicle most places. The most serious were the events that could easily be charged as assaults. By the spirit of the law, both were felony angler harassment cases perpetrated by fellow fishermen. One was clearly reckless boating. But most importantly, these middle class, middle aged adults just simply displayed a pathological disregard for their fellow human beings, an inability to get along in society and play by common rules, and (in two cases) a total disregard for the safety and welfare of their young. Wild animals behave better than this! That's why I prefer their company to that of most people.

The next time you catch yourself saying you can't understand why some other group of people: Blacks, Latinos, Congress, Democrats, Republicans, kids...whomever...behave the way they do, go take a good, hard, long look at your own life. Do you ever litter? Do you drive over the speed limit? Do you report 100% of your income to the IRS? Do you cheat, trespass, or fudge the truth on documents? Do you drop your spent fishing line (the little pieces you clip off when changing flies), or do you pocket it and dispose of it properly? Have you ever parked in a handicapped parking space "just for a second" during a rain storm? If someone politely calls your attention to a mistake or oversight - even a moral lapse - in front of your loved ones, peers, or whomever, can you accept it and apologize?

My father was 6'4" tall and weighed over 220 lbs all of his adult life. He was a veteran of the first wave of the D-Day landing. He had a pretty radical temper and mood disorder issues he struggled with all his life. He was also a genius. But I have seen him admit his errors publicly and apologize...in front of his wife and kids.

Real men don't make threats, bully, or harass. Real men don't need to cheat to win or have fun. Real men can and will admit when they are wrong, because real men have real confidence. They know what they can do, what their strengths are, and what their weaknesses and limitations are. You cannot be truly confident without true humility to go along with it. This fact eludes most people. And with humility comes a strong regard for the rights and welfare of others.

"A man's got to know his limitations."

~ Inspector Harry Callahan in Magnum Force, Warner Bros, 1973.

Saltwater Flies: Lefty's Deceiver

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Collection of Deceiver flies for tarpon fishing

If you ask a bunch of saltwater fly anglers what the two "classic" bait fish saltwater flies are, you are most likely to end up with a majority consensus of the Clouser Deep Minnow and Lefty's Deceiver, designed by Bob Clouser and Lefty Kreh, respectively.

Chartreuse and white Lefty's Deceiver tied in the original style

Lefty's original Deceiver pattern called for a two-toned bucktail fly tied around a spine of two convex rooster feathers with a few strands of peacock herl as an over-wing and a thread head. There were no eyes and no flash material. In those days, synthetic materials and adornments such as eyes were uncommon.

Lefty's Deceiver in purple and gray bucktail with UV-enhanced flash.

In his first book about saltwater fly fishing, Lefty Kreh stated that the first improvement he adopted to his Deceiver fly was the addition of synthetic flash material or a grizzly hackle feather down the side of the fly to simulate a lateral line.

Tarpon Deceiver tied extra long on a 3/0 tarpon hook

Above you see another chartreuse and white Deceiver tied with long, medium dun rooster feathers and UV-enhanced crystal flash on a 3/0 Gamakatsu Tarpon hook. But the fly is still tied with natural bucktail and peacock herl. Even today, it is very hard to find synthetic materials that match the performance of their natural counterparts they were invented to imitate in any categories except for durability, translucence, buoyancy, or light reflection/refraction. Durability is the big one.

Synthetic Lefty's Deceiver in black over silver over white with prismatic eyes
and UV-enhanced crystal flash.

But in the past couple of years, synthetic fly tying materials have made massive strides toward closing the performance gaps. As I mentioned above, they have surpassed the naturals in a few like light refraction/reflection and buoyancy. And they have always been more durable. But now they are starting to move in the water very similarly to the naturals, too.

Many saltwater fly tiers use artificial craft fur to tie Deceivers. I do not. I'm actually not a big fan of craft fur, especially not if it is supposed to be the majority of the material on a large fly pattern. In the photo above and the one below, I have tied two Deceivers for tarpon fishing using the natural rooster feathers, synthetic yak hair, flashabou, crystal flash, prismatic eyes, and waxed nylon thread. When you put these flies together with good tying techniques, liberal amounts of Super Glue, and epoxy the heads to finish them, Deceiver flies tied in this manner become nearly indestructible.

Lefty's Deceiver "2011"...tied with all synthetic materials, but retaining all
of the properties of Lefty Kreh's original Deceiver fly. See recipe below.

Ken's Synthetic Tarpon Deceiver Recipe

Hook: 3/0 Gamakatsu Tarpon

Thread: Danville Flat Waxed Nylon (chartreuse)

Eyes: Wapsi Mirage Eyes (silver)

Tail: 2 very stiff white rooster hackles w/4 strands of UV Crystal Flash (silver-gray)

Belly: White SynYak synthetic yak hair

Under-wing: Flashabou (chartreuse)

Wing: Fluorescent Green SynYak

Over-wing: UV Crystal Flash (black olive) over-laid with black SynYak

Adhesives: Professional Formula Super Glue, Super Glue Control Gel, and 5-minute Epoxy

Georgia Coastal Salt Marsh Fishing

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Morrow) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:09:00 +0000

The following video is in two parts. I shot it on my Samsung Galaxy S smart phone yesterday, July 11, 2011, while fishing flooded salt marsh for Redfish in coastal Georgia.

Section two of the video begins right after high tide. Within minutes of the tide beginning to turn, the Redfish bail out of the grass to avoid getting stranded. So any sight-fishing in the flooded grass ends within about fifteen or twenty minutes of high tide under normal circumstances.

The Redfish decided not to show up on the hole I had selected. When fishing from a kayak on the flood tides like this, you don't have the luxury of speed. So you cannot "run and gun" a bunch of different flooded holes in the marsh. You have to select one or two that you believe are the most promising and sit on them. You only get about two hours...tops...when conditions are favorable. You don't want to be spending that time paddling from hole to hole. The good news is, once you figure out which spots in the marsh the Redfish use at what tide levels, then you know where to set up. Being new to the region, I don't have the benefit of that experience. So I shot this video during a "learning trip" just to give people unfamiliar with this type of fishing and habitat a bit of insight into how the salt marsh works.