Fly Fishing

Choosing A Fly Fishing Rod Based On Length, Weight & Action

Can you picture yourself standing on the bank of a stream and casting a fly into a quiet eddy? You do this a few times, then suddenly a fish strikes. It’s a good size and the fight is on!

To experience this scenario, you'll need to find a good fly fishing rod. It isn’t difficult to select a fly fishing rod, but there are a few things you need to know first like:

• length of the rod

• weight of the rod

• action of the rod

Continue reading: Choosing A Fly Fishing Rod

monoMaster Fly Fishing Gadget

The monoMaster is a tool you should have to help manage waste monofilament. 

I wouldn't consider myself a gear head at all. I'm hardly ever drawn to the latest and greatest rods, reels, lines or gadgets that the fly fishing producers come out with all of the time.

I usually wait for new products to be on the market for a while and get some feedback from  fellow anglers before I'll even try them. This thing though, is a must have.

Continue reading: monoMaster Gadget

Fishing For Panfish: How To Catch 'Em And How To Cook 'Em

Panfish are small fish that are no longer then the width of a frying pan. Most are members of the sunfish family.

These fish may be found in canals, ponds, rivers, lakes and streams. One or more varieties are found in all of the lower 48 states though they are most common in the Southern states where living conditions are optimal, and they are referred to as "bream".

Individual names for varieties of panfish include: stumpknocker, shellcracker, pumpkinseed, longear sunfish and the more common black crappie, silver crappie, yellow breast, yellow perch or ring perch, sunnies, rock bass, warmouth, green sunfish and bluegills.

Continue reading: Catching & Cooking Panfish

Wooden Drift Boat Plans from Butler Projects

I have decided I want to build my first wooden drift boat using plans from Butler Projects.   I am going to build the Maxi-Mac  as it answers most of my Most Of Questions I first learned of Paul Butler and Butler Projects in the pages of Outdoor Life Magazine  years ago. Paul's site has plans for all sorts of things from a child's rocking horse to a cabin. But mostly, he's a boat guy. 

Paul writes: "I am primarily a wood boat builder. I was fortunate to serve a traditional wood boatbuilding apprenticeship, building plank on frame workboats and yachts, from design and lofting phase right through to mast and spars and final finish, and I worked with a number of talented European shipwrights doing repair, modification, new construction and on custom projects." 

 A Look At The Maxi-Mac

Continue reading: Wood Boat Plans-Paul Butler

Drawing Flies 365 - Fly Fishing Art

Drawing Flies 365 - A fly a day.
That's the challenge DrawingFlies365 blog owner Jeff Kennedy has issued himself. You gotta see this man's art.

I can't remember which fly fishing website I was surfing when I found this a couple of days ago. Jeff Kennedy has decided he is going to draw/paint/sketch/ a fly a day for a year.

Continue reading: A Fly A Day by Jeff Kennedy

Fly Fishing CPR -- Catch, Photograph, Release

This is Dakota. She practices fly fishing CPR. Catch, Photograph, Release. Look at that smile. Isn't she cute?

Dakota is my niece. She came to see me last summer here in Montana and she learned how to fly fish. She now has this picture as a reminder of her experience.

Why CPR?

Here's the thing. If someone before Dakota had caught that fish and not released it, this photo wouldn't have been possible.  It's just that simple.

There are many schools of thought on catch and release fishing and I follow the the philosophy that we, as anglers that love to go fishing and actually catch fish, need to help take care of our fisheries.  We can help do this by releasing the fish we catch so they can grow, produce offspring and others can enjoy the resource.

Tips For Taking Good Fishing Photos

Continue reading: Fly Fishing CPR

Fly Fishing Hatch Charts

Fly Fishing Hatch Charts can be a great tool for helping you plan a fly fishing trip.  Using a hatch chart can help you determine what kind of bugs are hatching, in what part of the country, during what time of the year.

Basically, a hatch chart is a graph or calendar, marked with that information, based on bug activity from previous years.  Look at this one and you'll see what I mean. I helped put this one together for the area of Montana I guide in the most.

A Hatch Chart For Southwestern Montana

Continue reading: Fly Fishing Hatch Charts

Another Source For Wood Drift Boat Plans--Glen-L

In my search for stitch and glue wooden drift boat plans, I came across a company called Glen-L. In this post a comment was left by Barry, the Glen-L webmaster. He mentioned their website. I wrote him an email and Barry gave me permission to use photos and quotes from their website and to let him know if I had any questions.

I went to the the Glen-L Website and the first question I had was: What is her name?> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Wait, did I say that out loud?

Turns out, this is one of the Pin Up Girl pictures they used in their boat plans catalog in the early 1950's.

Glen-L was started back in 1953 and though they are one of the largest suppliers of plans and boat building supplies, they are still a small, close knit family type company. I mean, there are people other than family that work there, but they all seem like family.

I recently got an email from them announcing Barry's retirement. They were all wishing him well and letting him know that he would be missed. I'm sure many Glen-L customers will miss him as well.  He seems like a great guy from our emails.

When you visit Glen-L, be sure you sign up for their newsletter and the e-book on boat building. Both free and full of really useful stuff.  I don't understand everything I don't know about websites though and there isn't a direct path to the sign up page.  I had to go to their main page at  http://www.glen-l.com/ and then click on the search link in the left hand navigation bar. I entered the word newsletter in the search field. Up popped a link to Glen-L Guest Book. I clicked that and when you sign up, they'll send you the ebook for download. It's Boatbuilding 101. Good notes in there.

What About The Wooden Drift Boat Plans?

Continue reading: Wood Drift Boat Plans From Glen-L

Readin', Writin' and ARhythmAddict - Part 2: Sunday Sunrise Service

Sunday Sunrise Service
A Little Piece of Outdoors Poetry

I mentioned back in part one of the post I titled Readin', Writin, and ARhythmAddict-Part 1, that I'd tell you something about a piece I wrote for Easter. As I said, I was going to post it here, but another publisher picked it up and ran with it so instead, I'll tell you where you can find it and what prompted me to try writing that kind of stuff.

Giving It A Try

Continue reading: Three R's and an Easter Poem

Building A Wooden Drift Boat--Stopping by Montana Boatbuilders

There are lots of builders of wooden drift boats out there.

Jason was once a fly fishing guide himself. I asked what got him into the boat building business. His answer was he just thought he could build a better boat than was being offered by the mass producers. Now, it's a full time gig. They build and sell beautiful drift boats, pre-cut assemble it yourself kits, and they offer plans for sale to wannabe boat builders like myself.

A Note And Invitation

Continue reading: Inside Montana Boatbuilders