Zach Matthews
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Awesome!
I know I have asked this before but how is there an Arkansas Razorbacks connection on top of the far-flung travel, Gerard?
Zach
Mike it’s not intended to teach the basics of fly tying. For a complete beginner I’d recommend Charlie Craven’s book:
Charlie is Jay Zimmerman’s employer and I think a lot of Charlie’s tactics wound up in Jay’s book. Both are superlative fly tyers.
Zach
Some more selections from the season:
Tracy got her first eat all on her own on Sunday. She and I both missed sets, so I can’t exactly criticize.
I’ve also been tying up some new patterns from Jay Zimmerman’s book:
My eat on Sunday came on one of the Bitters, so they work.
Y’all be watching for the next issue of The Drake, too.
Zach
Justin, definitely grassers. In our collective experience those are the hardest carp to catch, too. Good job! What’s the biggest you’ve landed? I’ve seen some approach 60 lbs. Had one destroy a bass bug of all things one time. I was SHOCKED! Promptly broke me off.
Zach
Mike –
If you want some hot action right now, drive down to Columbus and drop in right below their whitewater kayaking park. The run typically occurs in two phases; phase one is the spawning run which is limited in terms of true stripers but can be pretty solid for white bass and hybrids. The actual striper run happens en masse as soon as hot weather hits the area, typically around Memorial Day, when the bait runs the river to seek thermal refuge and the stripers follow. They will typically charge up to Morgan Falls dam in droves then spread out and drop back as the big bait clouds dissipate/get eaten. I have seen massive numbers together around Memorial Day Weekend (up to 25 fish in a school, some of those up to 30 lbs), but by mid-July it’s usually just singles or groups of three or four. You’ll visually spot them when the water is low and clear, often patrolling shelf edges or hanging out behind large rocks in current (where it is very difficult to get a fly into the zone).
I’ll take you in the drift boat this summer and show you how it works.
Zach
SMPerkin –
Great place to ask. We have a couple Icelandic experts floating around here who can speak to that, but for me, and I am saying this as someone who has been to the West many times and who is going to Iceland this summer, I would go West first, if you have never done that.
First of all two trips is just plain more awesome than one. Secondly, my understanding is that fishing Iceland is kind of a crapshoot and a lot of people go and return empty handed. If you book with a serious operation that probably will not happen, but it could. I don’t think it’s possible to strike out on one trip to the West, much less two.
Zach
Wayne that is a good looking boat. I am sure you could stand on it; it just takes practice. Remember to keep your knees bent at first until you get your sense of balance.
Zach
Thanks Mike. I butterflied the first breast out and made a wheel of turkey, portabello, pancetta, shallots, dried cranberry and green onion, oven cooked in panko crumbs, but I’d like to do something different with the other breast and this looks fantastic. I may steal that jalapeno pimento cheese recipe to serve with it too!
Zach
Great job Mike. You’ve made huge progress in everything but your taste in music. 😉
Zach
PS Seriously post that recipe. That looks fantastic.
Wayne I have always just run the rods through inside the vehicle, but that’s a good suggestion. I actually got to take this thing off road this weekend on Forest Service tracks going back into turkey country. It seriously just eats right through anything you throw at it. I didn’t even have to use any of the fancy Crawl Control type things.
Clay we’d be interested for sure. Might be this summer before we get clear, but if water’s right in May it could happen.
If you do actually have the occasion to use their repair service, though, they do a really good job. The problem from a company like Simms’ perspective is that if they offer repairs, then they turn around and give away a product, word gets out. While it certainly does them credit and you are right to thank them, Mike, it also creates an expectation.
Do you know why Simms’ competitors don’t offer repair services, but instead often offer elaborate warranties and easy replacement? Because Simms is the only company making waders in America, and thus the only company with on-site repair facilities. If Patagonia gets a pair of trashed waders and a request for a warranty claim, their cost to honor that warranty (with an imported product) is much lower than Simms’ cost with an American-made product. No one shares this information but I’d be really surprised if Patagonia’s profit margin on its wader (assuming both sold for the same MSRP) was less than 20% larger than Simms’.
I’m just posting this so that if the next guy who turns in waders for repair, thinking in the back of his mind that he’ll get a free pair after years of use, instead gets back repaired waders and a repair bill, he won’t be pissed and run off to a competitor. Simms is playing baseball with its competition and baseball is not a fair game.
Zach