I'm Still Standing

Is that a Billy Joel song? I've been in Texas visiting with family over Thanksgiving, head back to MT on Thursday.

Things of interest include some decent duck hunting in Texas with my dad and some mediocre trout catching on the Little Red River in Arkansas with a couple of my uncles. It's actually spelled Redd but it takes those SEC folks a little longer to get that last "d" out so the name has been shortened to just Red. Woo Pig Suey.

Anyway, I think I learned a few things and got some interesting photography as well which I will put up later on in the week.

Snow

Winter has settled into SW Montana with our first severe winter storm bringing highs in the single digits the next few days. Not so great for fishing but I'm sure there will still be a few brahs out there banging some spawners below Hauser. Lucky for me, I am on childcare patrol and am not able to get out right now to do much of anything.

But, if I were to do anything outside this weekend, I think that waterfowl hunting would be the best bet. In the 20 years I've lived here, I've never seen Snow Geese around here for more than a couple of hours as they make their ways south on the front end of a big norther' squall. But, they've been around town for the last week which got me noticing all the other birds that are around too.

With nighttime temps being around 0 or colder, it's probably better that I can't get out anyway as I would and probably pay for it one way or another.

What I think of on sleepless nights and long drives.

I want to go to New Zealand.

You can say whatever you want about it, but until you've lost a bit of your soul to one of these fish...I've stuck and lost Permit and nothing keeps me awake at night like the trout that I've lost on dry flies in NZ. Jones landed a couple genuine trophies over the years, the closest I have ever come is a misses strike and broken tippet.

The Duality of Me

We just received a shipment of the new Access Rods from Orvis...just in time for bitter cold temperatures and hopefully a Christmas shopper or two. I've messed around with these rods just a time or two the last few months but am looking forward to getting out with one of them sometime in the reasonably near future.  Or maybe the proverbial sooner rather than later is what I'm trying to say.

Anyway, the rods are great (bet you didn't expect that!) both in hand and on the rack in the shop. These blanks are surprisingly light and have a different feel than the Helios, but some of the same technology has been incorporated into the scrim. Woven graphite reel seat, attractive finishes and they cast like a dream in the parking lot.

The best part? They sell for $350 in the trout sizes and $375 in the heavier weights. After a couple years of becoming "used" to selling rods at over $700, it's nice to have something in the mid price range that is a smoking good rod for the money.

Part 2:

I am in the process of trying to get my photography files organized and came across the pic above this evening. Took it while taking my kid trick or treating in some small town in Ohio. Needless to say...my sentiments as well. I realize that could be offensive so I apologize in advance if you have just stumbled upon my blog so please read some other posts! For the rest of you...my humor will not be lost.

Back to my life as a "fly-fishing-pro" following a few days of a photography workshop here in Bozeman in which I was a participant. Overall, it was a great learning experience and I had the chance to meet and interact with Joe McNally (my secret photographer super-hero). Doubt he's ever fished a day in his life but has has a unique ability to create powerful images of people and the circumstances of life. This was not my "cup of tea" type of photography so I felt like I learned a lot and will hopefully be able to take a reasonable picture of something to do with fly-fishing within the next 7 years!

Fishing...colder weather has finally settled into SW Montana and has started to make things seem more like winter or fall than summer. I think hopper fishing is probably done. The lower Madison is puking dirty still, me thinks it has something to do with the lowering and raising of Ennis Lake following the boulder mishap of late summer. So, spawnerific in the typical spawner regions like below Hauser, Varney, East Gallatin, and more. Also a great time of year to start thinking about hitting the spring creeks in Paradise Valley.


For me...lots of ordering and computer work is the call of duty for the next couple of weeks. Christine is heading to Antarctica on Saturday so I'm prepping myself for a month or so of 24 hrs of "Daddy Daycare."

A Question?

I have no idea how many people follow this, but the number of comments I get from folks is amazing. Anyway, as I've mentioned...I am in the middle of ordering stuff for next year. Flies are a big part of our business and I'm always looking for new patterns that people want. So, let me know if there are any patterns that you'd like to see in the shop next year. FYI- I usually bring in over 100 new patterns every year, sometimes more. Flies are tricky business and my/our ideas of hot patterns aren't always the same as our customers...so let me/us know.

Something is Better than Nothing

The weather is still ridiculously nice. I guess it was pretty miserable around here while I was in Ohio, but it's pretty much exactly how it was when I left. We're supposedly gonna get some weather moving in early next week  though so maybe there will be some BWO fishing this fall.

I've been working in the shop this week, getting caught up on some ordering and trying to resist the urge to go throw some worms and eggs. I've been getting mixed reports of water clarity being off on the lower, but think that it is probably off-color but not to the point that the fish are off. This is all speculation based on what I've been hearing so who the hell knows for sure.

I'm taking a photography workshop that starts on Sunday afternoon and runs through next Wednesday. It's taught by some pretty well known photogs, Moose Peterson is the head dude of these workshops called DLWS. I've been putting a lot of time and money into taking pics the last couple of years so I'm looking forward to having learning some things from actual photographers rather than a book or online forum!

What makes a good guide a super-crap guide?

Back from visiting family in Ohio and the reality of preseason orders and a local customer base that is busy with hunting, kids' activities, and generally not fishing. For those that are fishing, they generally want a couple of wire worms and a good egg pattern recommendation this time of year. I find that the fish will go on and off egg colors throughout the day, so I always recommend having a good assortment (generally whichever colors you are light on is a good start!).

So I had a crap experience with a guide up on the Muskegon River in Michigan and it got me thinking on that whole thing. The conditions were crap...the water came up from 1000 cfs to 3000 in an hour and the river went from clear to mud...so I can't really blame our success on him. But he was a crap example of how any guide of anything should conduct themselves.

I was doomed at the start

Here are a few things that all of you "guides in training" and the dude on the Muskegon, and yes even myself should remember when guiding. We'll call it my most recent top 10 don't dos when guiding.

10) If you know you're client is an "Orvis Dude"...probably shouldn't start the day off with a comment like "that rod sucks"

9) Don't throw spawn sacks at another guide boat, especially in the first 5 minutes.

8) Don't brag about guiding for a long time and follow it up by a comment like 90% of my clients have never fly-fished...that implies that you don't have much in the way of repeat customers.

7) When discussing techniques like "firing a hole" on a cellphone with the guide boat that is catching fish on your cellphone...don't put it on speakerphone. (firing the hole is chumming with salmon eggs).

6) If your client says he wants to learn how to fly fish, don't give him a rod loaded with a running line and a 1/2 oz bullet weight.

5) If you're looking for hot hens rubbing their carpet and need to throw a little fire in the hole, maybe just  do it without breaking it down for your clients.

4) If fishing sucks for reasons beyond your control and you cook lunch, don't burn the chicken.

3) Don't talk about yesterday too much if today sucks.

2) If you're not really feeling very motivated that particular day...not a good idea to tell you're clients about it 5 min into the trip.

1) Don't try to smoke a bowl with your clients before lunch.

Fire in that Tupperware!