Zach Matthews
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Those are amazing. I am not a qualified bird watcher by any means but I do have a feeder and an Audubon guidebook sitting by my kitchen window. Pretty sure I had one of those Towhees come through last week, although at the time I thought it was an Oriole. Maybe the Eastern Towhee?
Zach
Hahahaha, I know Gary. Same exact reaction here but several of my friends have now sworn by it.
Zach
I’ve thought of a legitimate use for these lines. Years ago someone made a fire engine red line for photography. It showed up really well, in the days before digital touch ups. So if anyone is shooting a casting book, that might be an option.
Shadow there was also a line Orvis marketed for a while for beginners called the Zebra line, in alternating black and white in 10 foot segments, so they would know how much line they had out. I bought one on closeout and used it as a practice line for years. Does your system allow for color changes within the line itself?
Hey Don –
Scientific Anglers’ Mastery Textured Trout is a good high end place to start, as is Rio’s Gold line, both in a WF7F. What you’re describing is fairly square in the wheelhouse of a general purpose fly line, and these are just two places to start.
One quick note, if you’re already committed to the 7 weight, that’ll do fine, but if you’re not, yet, the more typical weight rod for what you’re describing would be a 5 weight or maaaybe a 6 weight.
Zach
Hey Shadow –
The only rule you’re not following is our request that people use their own real names (which is why I keep having to refer to you as ‘Shadow’).
As far as questions go, by all means please feel free to answer them. By the way I own and run this board if that wasn’t obvious.
However, manufacturing ANY fly line is not very expensive. It is just a simple piece of PVC.
That comment is kind of the one I’m most interested in. I’m just a journalist but I am pretty sure my friends in Midland, Michigan would have a rebuttal comment or two to that statement.
Zach
Shadow –
Hey man, thanks for posting. Please take a look at our real name policy when you get a chance.
What tapers are the lines available in? Am I hearing you right that the color process is an exterior laminate on the line jacket itself? What’s the color made of? A sleeve of polyurethane? PVC? Polyethylene? Are you doing anything with slickeners in that laminate, since that’s the surface that will make contact with the guides and pick up grit and debris?
Fly line is typically made via extrusion through a variable orifice dye which allows tapers to hit pretty tight tolerances. How thick is the color process laminate, and have you seen any cracking with that? How does it affect flotation?
Thanks,
ZachFacebook is a middle man, and like every middle man, it takes a cut. I am convinced the middle man’s take has gotten too big.
Nice Joao! Some of those are pretty fair-sized.
Love the color of the water too. Now I want to come to Madeira.
Zach
Awesome as always, Corey. Looks very cold though.
I was in Southern California last weekend myself but didn’t get any fishing in. They are in a very scary drought right now.
Zach
Mark I see what you’re saying and if you could sandbox it like that it’d probably be worthwhile. But I would want some pretty big firewalls around the sandbox. (Say share of online retail or share of fly tying department or something like that). Because you’re right, at some point that initial investment helps generate some synergy or whatnot and then the question becomes, was it an investment or a partnership? Stuff like that can go sour. But it does sound like a good opportunity for you.
Have you thought about running this by other fly shop owners? I’m pretty sure Andy Bowen at Cohutta Outfitters had a similar arrangement with his partner Charlie for a while. Both great guys and Andy might be able to describe some pitfalls you can’t know about yet.
Zach
“Invest” is a weird term when it comes to fly shops.
Here’s my philosophy on business. It’s kinda pinko but also kinda pragmatic. I think businesses are awesome when they exist to provide their owners and their workers with a solid livelihood. I think they go off the rails when they are expected to not only pay their owners and workers, but also investors who contribute nothing more than capital, ESPECIALLY when those investors expect their investment to grow year-on-year instead of being satisfied with buying essentially an annuity payout in a company with stable profits.
Owners only have to finance the overhead, the employees’ salaries, and their own profits. When the owner takes on investors, those investors expect dividends, and suddenly there is a fourth piece of the pie being cut each time. Unless the investment is enough–and the risk safe enough–that the owner can use the investment to bake a lot bigger pie, at the end of the day the owner is likely to be taking home less pie for himself.
Zach
Mike I agree, probably no way to consistently duplicate that, but boy if I was that guy I’d be trying.
I’m not publishing in the same circles as you guys, but I am publishing. The only images I have *ever* had rejected due to file size were those rare cases where I had saved a proof for web use but lost track of the original hi-res due to old computers dying on me. I’ve shot on 6MP, 10MP and 24MP pro bodies and quite frankly in the hook and bullet press 10MP gets it done for any application. I look at the 16MP of the D4/Df as a luxury, and I absolutely do not need the 24MP of my D600, which is why I shoot with it dialed back. Then again, I also shoot all JPEG, so clearly for my purposes file size is more valuable than absolute quality. And while I am not shooting for stock companies or commercial ads like you guys, I have published maybe 100+ images in national magazines.
All I’m saying is, sometimes I think the pixel hunt is overrated. If the photo content is good enough, or if the price is right, they’ll find a way to use it.
Now, if they issue a 12K tablet, David, you will have my apologies in advance. 🙂
Zach
I am definitely holding off on the Df until it hits the used market. 16MP is perfect for what I do and the lighter body size is very appealing. I also like the idea of being able to twiddle the dials without digging through menus, but I am currently using a D600, which is the most consumer-y camera I’ve shot with in a long time. I don’t like it.
Zach
Those are very nice. I’m not sure that 16′ meets *my* definition of a micro, since it’s a lot more boat than a Gheenoe, but I’d sure love to have one anyway. 🙂
It’s probably an unusual request but the shop owner was a fool to say no. What could be more inviting to other customers than walking in and seeing a fellow customer tying flies? Or anyone tying flies. That’s one of the best things about fly shops. And what are you going to do, wear out the vise? Ha!
Personally I would like to see more fly shops have a customer tying area. I’ve seen a couple, although most of the time they are temporary set ups. I certainly don’t think you were out of line. You probably just encountered an unflexible mind.
As for not noticing you, that’s somewhat more understandable but again doesn’t speak overly well of the shop. I used to work behind the counter at a golf pro shop. I might not have known everyone’s name but by the third or fourth time they’d come in, I would at least recognize the face. Failing to do that suggests someone who is too caught up in themselves or possibly even contemptuous of the customer, which unfortunately is a problem all too many specialty shops (golf, archery, fly) struggle with.
I think there’s a tendency when you achieve great skill at something to look down on or overlook those who come to you seeking knowledge. Couple that with general retail detachment and it’s a bad mixture, even if it is human nature.
I know we all want to support our local fly shops, and that’s important. But there have always been good and bad shops, and in an industry which builds in radius protection from competition for big-name lines, it’s all too easy to get cocky and that is a bad thing for everyone involved.
Zach
Y’all are crushing it, Tim. Thanks for posting. For a second there I thought Bearded Jay Malyon had snaked a ticket to NZ. Is that you? You guys should enter a Viking axe throwing contest together. 🙂
The best and most ridiculous fishing I have ever encountered was on a cicada day in the first meadow of Slough Creek in Yellowstone. That’s usually a challenging fishery and a lot of people outright strike out there. But on one day I happened to have a pattern that looked like an orange and black cicada which was coming off and I caught six fish on six consecutive casts. Have not had that happen before or since. I could have kept going but I broke the fly off on the sixth fish.
Zach
