ethan smith
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For the most part kits get a bad rap, and in most cases for good reason they can be expensive, and can provide an over abundance of usless stuff. However, sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
I bought a kit from Gander Mtn. I think it was around $50-60 and it came with basic materials and tools as well as a basic book. The materials are fairly bad, and I had to search for one that had what I wanted in it (they were all sort of randomly stocked with colors materials etc) The tools are pretty basic, the vice is pretty simple. But it works and you can get going with one simple purchase, no hassle.
Those early flies I tied were horrible looking but hey, they caught fish. Over the years I’ve been adding stuff little by little as I need it, but I still use that old stupid vice.
I think Tom Knapp has a TV show called American Bird Hunter. He is a pretty funny guy and emphasizes safety a lot on his show. Its a good show, he doesn’t do all the trick shooting though, he mostly just goes hunting.
I have a Benelli Super Nova. Its my only gun at this point, but its a heck of a work horse and goes bang every time. Its not a sexy / classic sporting gun but it gets the job done and I don’t have to worry about beating it up in a duck blind.
For what its worth, a friend of mine, who used to work in camera store, said the markups are very high for Sigma and Tamron. Like the store doesn’t pay much at all for them. I don’t really know what if anything that means to the quality of the product, but it has given me pause.
All good advice.
But there are a few simple things you can always have in your mind when shooting that will make it easier to get interesting images.
1. Change your perspective. Use an extreme angle, down low, up high, silhouette profile etc…
2. Fill the Frame with the subject.
3. More than fill the frame with subject, get real close and crop parts of it out. For centuries the Japanese have believed objects look more beautiful if you can only see a part of it.
4. Don’t be afraid to minimize the subject in a corner or low in the frame and capture mostly sky, background or foreground. Sometimes by minimizing the subject you can make it more important or dramatic.
Good work, glad to hear it. Orvis might be at somewhat of a crossroads in terms of the retail business. From just reading the retail tea leaves it would appear that the high end brands are in for a rough couple years ahead. It is very astute of them to shore up the hard core angler side of their business.
While the margins on the fluffy clothing and the dog beds are probably awesome, that customer has no REAL reason to pick Orvis over any other North Woods Mail Order Home Outfitter. The market may be heading toward thinning the herd on that type of offering. Like Detroit, we may see LL or Land’s End or Orvis shrink substantially. So by shoring up the Rod and Tackle business and fortifying their fly fishing base, Orivs has padded the fall back plan.
The hard core anglers are a sustainable group of customers. They may not be as numerous as soccers moms with Labs. However they are loyal educated about products they are shopping for and dedicated to the sport for the long haul, something that can’t be said for the typical soccer mom dog bed shopper.
Hey Zach this was an excellent interview. I liked the pointed questions you asked about Nat Geo and how he managed to get his first book published. I think it provided good insight into the persistence required to be a writer.
I really appreciate his passion for the the minute and subtle variation in the trout world. I think without his work I, and probably many others, would be ignorant of all various species that exist in isolated places and in populations that could not begin to support any angling pressure that most of us will never see.
The comparison to Audubon is not that far fetched.
Yeah that is good stuff right there. I watched it with the sound off due to being in my living room during prime time. I can only imagine what hyperbolic descriptions accompany this silliness.
I also love their adherence to the modern notion that in order to do something “outdoorsy” you need to use a carabiner for something, like clipping a water bottle to your wader strap so it almost drags in the river.
I would also suggest finding a more regional publication if not a local newspaper. I recently had my first official publication in a regional sporting journal. This bi-monthly tabloid publication is given away at local hunting and fishing shops as well as wal-mart/gander mtn. etc. You can also subscribe for a fee and I think he has about 10,000 subscribers.
My submission was a first person narrative, on the comedic side, and was welcomed with open arms. I think at a more regional level you can have an opportunity to cut your teeth and try out some things that most of the big boys won’t touch. I’m working on a few more ideas and plan on writing for this publication as often as possible.
For anyone interested or in the Ohio area the publication I am referring to is called Country Anglin Outdoor Guide.
http://www.countryanglin.com/Wow sounds cool.
It reminds me a bit of a story I ran across a few years ago and followed for a while as they live blogged it.
Two similarly ill-prepared 20 somethings and a catamaran on a trip around the world, what could go wrong? They made enough money selling a condo in Chicago to buy a catamaran and sail around the world having only taken a weekend sailing course on lake Michigan. They made the trip but did most of it under power, not sailing.
Yeah cool pics for sure. I really like the one of the two Thunderbirds flying past each other, that only exists for like a ultra-tiny-milli-second. Did you have your camera in burst mode for that?
Jason, I like Prosek’s writing and art. I’ve only read Fly Fishing the 41st but I own his trout of the world book too which is heavier on the art side of things. I’ve read what he writes for NYTimes when I can spot it. I think the last piece I read of his was on South America?
I saw somewhere that Zach is doing a podcast interview with him soon and I’m looking forward to hearing that interview.
Will, I think your point is well made, if you mean that the magazine should be crafted in a manner resembling a mentor relationship.
I think this is why I like Gray’s so much. They put a lot soul into their publication and a lot personality, beyond just factual reporting. Its literature not journalism. And I think we can learn facts from journalism sure, but we can learn much more from people and their stories.
For instance if you asked a mentor (read old fart) what fly he would use in some certain situation, in all likely hood they might tell you about some time, on some river, where they thought they had found the perfect fly for situation X. It would be anecdotal, personal and perhaps even a bit mysterious and inconclusive. It might even ramble on about what sandwich they ate at the diner the night before or what color the lichens were on the rocks on March 24th 1982.
Often a mentor’s “teaching moment” is by example, mysterious, comedic, sad, or not even related to fishing, e.g. wax on wax off.
Cool shots. I’ve always heard that wooly buggers imitate these critters but I don’t see it at all with these images. But then again I’m not a fish.
You know something else that bothers me about modern publications, and I haven’t seen it mentioned here yet, is the quick list of single paragraph blurbs with sketch or photo.
Field and stream is filled with these info-porn tidbits, and I get a headache after reading mags with too many. Most of the modern parenting and soccer mom mags abuse the heck out of these things too. (my wife gets a few of these mags, thank you not me) The presence of these quick lists or pages filled with quick incomplete thoughts, to me, symbolizes the mentality of the shrinking attention span in America, and I find it insulting.
I guess thats why I like Gray’s so much 🙂
Hey John what year is your wagoneer? I’ve had two of those in my car driving life, I love them and hate them. In certain ways Wagoneers are the worst cars ever made, but also the coolest.
I hope gas doesn’t drop so much so as to discourage development of alternative ways of powering our cars and trucks, most importantly bio-diesel.
I saw a Wag for sale the other day and thought, hmmm I wonder what it would take to convert a Wag into a waste veggie powered diesel? It would be nice to drive to the fishing hole using free grease from a BW3s!
I think I saw Ian last Friday while I was walking out to the Deep Creek trailhead. I noticed that pack and wondered if it was a fly fishing specific pack or not.
I use an old Lowe Alpine Countour Mountain 40. I used to use it for lugging climbing gear into the back country and for day hikes and short warm weather overnights. It has a shove it pocket for climbing gear that holds a net really well. It is also big enough to hold all the fishing accouterments required for a long day. Its like an old friend, although not too water proof anymore. :'(
