Fly Fishing: Random Kibble on the floor

~It is said that 90+% of FFer’s walk less than 100 yards from their car to fish, most even closer. Put in the time to research and explore a spot to fish. To fish, take a 5-10 minute walk from your car, beyond the normal range of a fly fisher. Let someone know where you are headed and be prepared after a fall, trip etc. to spend the day/night.

~Overlining or fishing a heavier weight line than your rod calls for can ease your casting stroke. The rod loads better and casts heavier offerings easier. A weight forward line helps too. Not as nice for delicate dry fly offerings, but doable.

~Extreme heat on slower streams and lakes is depleting the oxygen levels and accelerating those blooms. Consider not fishing during these times. Fish more oxygenated rivers or colder, deeper lakes. Catch & Release can be difficult to honor if fish are overstressed at release or you are fishing too light of a rod/tippet for the size fish you may hook.

~Tailwater fisheries (rivers that are re-formed below dams) are a good Summer time place to fish as temps, flows and bugs are more consistent. Sometimes discharge from these dams can be significant in late Spring so check any existing data to be certain water levels are stable or you may arrive to find the river up into the campgrounds. I use to see those heavy chains on picnic tables and assume it was only to stop thieves from carting away the table….maybe also to stop big  CFS discharges from carrying away the table.        

Over Fishing: How Much Cat food, Omega 3 & fillets do we need?

OVER FISHING IN ONE MINUTE

http://see-the-sea.org/topics/commerce/overfishing.htm

Is there really that much demand for fish consumption worldwide? That coupled with an increase in aquaculture shows harvesting five to six times higher in the 48 year span the chart depicts. What has happened in the last 12+ years to catch rates….increased in all probability.

Seafood Consumption Guides by U.S. Region

Fly Tying Materials: The Hoarding Gene?

I recently remarked over on the blog, Hoarding Woes, that some people involved in craft activities can display hoarding tendencies. I pulled out all my fly boxes, to display, as a hint of what enormous quantities of materials I have in so many containers that I make amazing discoveries all the time …”Oh, I forgot I even had that, those, these, them …”  

So, when my good friend Jim called to say, “I am cleaning out my barn and I have all these materials from Ralph (good friend, avid fly fisher that died 15 years ago) that I want to get rid of…” I said, without hesitation, ‘Sure, I’ll take it’. It was described as “some animal pelts, capes, yarns and a whole bunch of stuff.” 

My son was kind enough to go load it up while I was out of town. I came home to my garden shed loaded up. And, a tipping point has been reached: I really have no decent place to put it all. I am full up now. What was I thinking? And, so it goes….. I have a new boat load of 1970′s fly tying materials with some animal pelts that Ralph harvested somewhere over out of Prineville. The good thing is I feel a bit uneasy about this acquisition so maybe I am not quite so much a hoarder?

Tattoo Work: Brook Trout on Phillip Synhorst

Phillip Synhorst carries this beautiful Brook Trout tattoo. Char Hall of Side Show Studios Custom Tattoo in Sacramento, California did the work. I have seen a touch of her other work and must say she does beautiful color work. (SwittersB) Thanks Kara/PP