Jack Cummings
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2 weight, One Ounce Orvis: 3 Stars
A sweetheart, but only under the right conditions. Not a streamer chucker but great for small water and zero wind. Makes bluegill fishing a blast!3 weight, 6’ 10” Scott ‘G’: 4 Stars
Sweet small stream, dry fly rod. Has a little more spunk than the One Ounce. Flawless workmanship.4 weight, 8’ Winston TMF: 4 Stars
A grin maker. It is everything everyone says it is; a classic dry fly rod that brings it all home as to why we love this sport!4 weight, 8.5’ Winston BIIx: 4 Stars
My new ‘go-to’! It replaced the TMF as my go-to simply because of its incredible, usable range.4 weight Dewey Special:.
I think it best to go with the longest rod you can get away with. The cast is the easy part. Once that cast is made it all boils down to line control. Longer rods are simply easier to mend and more effective than short rods once the fly is in the water.
I fish the skinny waters of North Carolina and usually end up tucked in a rhododendrun tunnel. Even with little room the shortest rods I’ll use is a 6′ 10″ 3 weight and I tend to want a 8′ or even an 8.5′ when I can get away with it.Lee Wulff and Joe Humphrey’s certainly like short rods, but consider the fact they have decades of fly fishing under their belts! 😉
Near bottom. On the river posted about here, the water is generally thin and one small splitshot 12-16″ above the fly will work.
Some folks are VERY particular about their larva patterns. I don’t think it much matters as long as they are dark and small with maybe a touch of light color near the head.
I tie them with thread bodies only or small root beer flashabou type stuff and sometimes use aMy Toyota minivan…
bdMinivans would make the perfect fishing machine! Too bad they got the ‘soccer Mom’ stigma attached to them. The fuel economy isn’t bad on them and you can for sure keep your gear rigged and ready in ’em! The fact sleeping in them is easy is great too.
Some manufacturer should come out with a high ground clearance, 4WD model.
I had to drive Dodge Caravans on company business. I went through 4 incarnation of them with but one problem… a water leak that was fixed painlessly.This will be my fourth Charlotte show. I got my FFF CCI certificate there last year and this year signed up for Rajeff’s distance and accuracy class. I can’t hardly wait! ;D
The tiers alone are almost worth the price of admission, as are the free seminars. If he does it, you just have to watch Simon Gawesworth wade the casting lane tossing neat single spey casts in all directions and distances!
This sisn’t just a fly fishing show… it includes the countries largest rod BUILDERS show all on the same admission fee.
Jeep Grand Cherokee LTD. Loaded, cozy and trail ready all in one package. 140,000 miles and still going strong. My only gripe is the same I have with all but the largest SUV’s, no room!
The new Jeep Commander should solve that!If I had any reason in the world to own a pick-up, I would wait around for this baby!
Zach, were fish showing face on the SoHo?
Any BWO’s or Sulfurs fluttering around?
Most importantly, did you try those black fly larva?
Them’s getters on the SoHo at times! ;DOne feature I really didn’t care for was the rod used. I’m okay with a Sage XP but have spent months using an entirely different acting series. Compared to what I’m used to using, the XP just didn’t telegraph much of what was going on at 40′ and just started to hit its stride (in my hands anyhow) at 50′.
I’m sure I’ll think of more excuses for my moderate results as time marches on! 😉
I took the test today. It pin-pointed errors I purposely tried to fool it with… 😉
Really, my scores were similiar to Zach’s, though somewhat in reverse. It said I would do better letting my back cast fly!
We had one shot at 40 and 50′. This is a test that can be studied for if you had the unit.
I like the Feather Craft catalogs too. A long gone favorite was the Bass Pond catalogs.
The catalog I have zero use for is J Fisher. What’s the point? They don’t bring anything special to the dance… just another ‘me-too’. Glossier than most but that’s about it.
Looking through everything in the catalog to find out if human beings own the place draws a blank!My all-time favorites though were the Gary LaFontaine catalogs. You could spend hours reading and re-reading some of the great tid-bits he injected into that.
Getting old…
Coffee and sweet tea here!
I never realized how people behaved when drinking until I gave it up!
I have a toddy now and then, especially home-brewed ‘stomp’ at some of the outings I attend, but I usually stick to stuff that I can drink as much as I like and still blow clean on a breathalyzer.The two things that changed my thinking on drinking mainly are the birth of my two kids (role model crap!) and the penalty for drinking and driving. I make my living behind the wheel.
It is fun watching you folks though! ;D
The bottom line for me is the trip had better be fun!
I’ve gone out with one VERY famous guide. She was the exception to my ‘fun’ rule! Not much on small talk and corny jokes, she got the job done! So much in fact I called our boat the Mother Duck! Every time she moved we dragged around about 10 other guides!
I would (and did!) book her again in a heartbeat. She was about as totally professional as any I’ve seen.Sean MacDonald in Michigan is another guide I would book in a heartbeat. I’ve been out three times with him and would like to go back again. The floats were always timed well and we lacked for nothing while with him. The second time we used him it was skunk city. That didn’t phase us at all. You KNOW when being fishless is the result of other influences. That man works and works hard. Name another guide who reaches up and wipes the drips from your snot-locker! That was memorable and yes… worth a healthy tip!
An old-timer who used to work at Lilly’s took us out once. The customer is always right, right? well…
We heard The Box was fishing very poorly. We had our heart set on yet another run down the Madison and told him so. Blaine worked hard to talk us into floating the Box. With tons of trepidation we relented. It was one of the most awesome trips I have ever been on! Blain worked his fanny off to the point of worry. When I tried a few long casts he said, “don’t bother, we’ll get over there the easy way” as he hopped out of the boat and dancing on bowling balls and in rapid water moved the boat laterally to prime lies on the opposite shore. We caught so many healthy ‘bows my arms ached!I’ve had real leakers too as guides. Guides who should have been on Madison Avenue instead of The Madison River. I’m all for ‘if it don’t go, chrome it’ but only in cars!
I had a guide who turned an 8 hour float into 5, and thankfully I might add. Ever spend a day with someone with the personality of a squid?
I had a trip last year and the guide needed to borrow my nippers, my tippet and my hemo’s!
I know of another guide who PROUDLY displays his limit on a stringer lashed to the gunwales! I pass!You pays your money and you takes your chances but I would highly suggest contacting any guide you might be using and picking his/her brain before committing to a float. You might just get that feeling that it won’t quite work out between you. Better to find that out well before the halfway point on an 8 hour trip!
Ask around too. In most popular area’s there are many guides to choose from. Chances are that through word-of-mouth or the ‘net good advise can be gathered.Did patagonia do away with the hem snaps that allowed you to make your jacket long or short?
If so, I would put that in the minus column!Other than the thin diameter of the Sylk lines, I noted the hard, shiny surface treatment they have when compared to today’s standard lines. Those two features might be what makes them aimed towards cane rods with their smaller guides.
I had the pleasure of watching Mr. Humphreys do a 60+’ bow and arrow roll cast while on his knee’s at the Charlotte rod show two years ago using a dinky, little rod. Had he used a standard weight forward for that I’m sure the cast would have puked out when the head of the line got out past the tip. That plays right into what Zach mentioned about the mass component.
Maybe Joe was talking about the fact you can end-for-end a DT line, but the way that man casts I’ll bet its behavior was his main reason for liking it.
Yes Zach, the BIIx’s and the Loomis Max have them.
The Recoils do spring back when cold, but a little more slowly. That can be speeded up with a little heat.I really haven’t tried simply casting the ice out! You might be on to something there!
Another very unusual feature of that rod was the built-in metronome. At the stop of every cast the rod clicked. We ran through all of the usual suspects… from tightening the reel seat to casting with no reel at all. I think we figured it was something in the lower ferrule.
Personally, I’m not so sure they improved the classic ‘G’ with this rod. It didn’t strike me at all like a classic, smooth casting ‘G’ of old. I can’t quite figure out what Scott had in mind with it.
