Hidy Ho Good Neighbors,
Angry August…..That’s fly fishing guide code for “I have to really earn my money for about three weeks”. Water flows are coming down as the air and water temperatures go up, you have a high sky, little shade and the bugs are getting smaller. It’s not terrible, but the river is a bit angry after a summer of countless boots, bugs and boats.
So, it’s a good idea to pull the staff together for some beers and brats and to recharge the staff morale a bit and go over a few late season housekeeping items. Out behind the shop, sitting on trucks and ice coolers, we assembled to go over a few tidbits and blow off a little steam that angry august can conceive.
After we went over a few items like “make sure you clean the waders”, to “if you’re gonna park here, move all the way up” to “is that my beer or yours?”, I decided to ask the guides to shout out their best current bugs. Their “crushing it” bugs like the flat-brimmers say.
T- with a fine trout that ate a brown size 18 bug….
As I sit there, my head snaps side to side as many guides bark out their current besties, and I am amazed. I hear, “size 24 thattabug” and ”size 22 everfly” ,followed by, “ a size 26 thisabug”. “What size tippet ya’ll throwin’?”, I humbly ask. “Mostly 6x flouro, nothing bigger than 5x”, many concur. Once again, I am the odd man out unless some of the other guides were feeling like me and just haven’t written it down for all to read.
I’m glad one of the crew didn’t ask me what my besties are and what size tippet I’m throwing, I would have been forced to say, “Inch a half Tan San Juan, a size 16 Partridge and Orange soft hackle, followed by size 18 Chocolate Thunder or Butt Crack”. “Uh, all on 4x,” as my voice would trail off.
I like big bugs, always have, always will, and I think if you fish them right you can maybe not hook as many fish as the small fly guys, but the ones you hook tend to stay hooked. And with bigger tippet, I don’t experience many snap-offs no matter how hard folks pinch cork. I still think the most important part of the drift isn’t always about the flies, it’s still about the drift and putting the right bugs, in the right slot, to the right fish in a stealthy manner. Are the right bugs always smaller? I don’t think so, but I must confess when the going gets tough I drop a size down to 20.
What about color? This time of year, for me, it’s about orange and brown. The fish are already looking for the big orange bodied Autumn Sedge like I am, and they have been “crushing” that size 16 softie. Brown is just a great color (purple is next) for my tricos, blue quills, pseudo baetis, and PMD emergers that are zipping around. Certainly could use other colors, but those work just fine.
Janet with a nice specimen that ate an 18 Butt Crack
I love angry August, I’ve the best job on the planet, meeting and guiding amazing people, and every now and again, I get to have a free beer and brat behind the fly shop, and that was my beer he drank out of…….
Fear No Water
Book update: Into angry August on the book too. Heavy editing begins soon, just finished illustration and photo placement. Looking forward to moving it along!
Thanks to all that voted for a cover with the link I provided last post. Hidden In Plain View reporting for duty! Soon…..
It’s Hidden In Plain View…..
Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!
Hi folks! I could really use your help in determining what the cover is to my new book that should be coming out sometime this November. It is narrowed down to two covers, and I need your votes to help decide on the cover!
Please go to the link, read the synopsis, and click on one of the covers to vote for your favorite. Please feel free to share this because I would really like a bunch of feedback.
Photo cred to Tucker Bamford and Alan Peak out of Colorado.
Thank you very much and Fear No Water!
http://www.koehlerbooks.com/cover-polls/hidden-in-plain-view-recognizing-the-obvious-exploiting-the-obscure-in-fly-fishing/
Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!
“We had our July in August” That’s what I told one of our young guns the other day before we headed to different spots on the same river. What an odd season it has been. Usually, I can somewhat predict flows and clarity pre, during, and post run-off, but this year, like last, has been confusing to say the least. July fished like August for the second straight year with somewhat picky fish, hot air and water temps, and a high sky. We were all scratching our heads as to what was going on. “Then the rains came……..”
We endured several run-offs this year. Gone are the days when you could bank on a steady, concerted melt and drain. It would start, then stop, then start again. Seems like it started in April and was done this year in late July, statistics prove that out. That lack of consistency really makes you scratch your head at times as to where the fish are holding and why. They aren’t following the typical patterns to movement because the typical patterns no longer exist. The flows this year averaged about twenty percent higher than norm until just a few weeks ago, so the fish didn’t spread out in earnest until late July. Only then did we start consistently catching fish in the faster and shallower riffles.
Fish ate a dropper in the mini rig for Thomas.
But wait there’s more! Typically, after the 4th of July, all I throw is the Mini Rig. This rig allows me to cover water from 6” to nearly 4 feet deep fairly effectively. It’s all I ever needed after the fourth all the way into late October. This year, because of flows, torrential afternoon rains, cold water temps, and funky fish holds, I found myself using the nymph rig more and more, while the Mini Rig sat idle on the bank. Gotta fish ‘em where they’re feeding consistently, so nymphing ruled the day until about two weeks ago.
One of the last nymphed fish this season.
Now the flows are perfect, the water is gin clear, and small quills and tricos are coming off. It’s been a Mini Rig domination the last two weeks, backed up by double dry rigs and an occasional streamer or nymphing rake. Back right where she should be, even though temps hit the mid-thirties a couple mornings last week. I’ll take it, means fall is on the way, big orange sedges, trico spinner falls, pseudo-baetis, and hoppers on the edges. Plenty of water this year, so I guess it’s ok to have that many run-offs after all. Mama Nature knows what she’s doing.
Eric with a fish that ate a dry. Cherry series 8′ 4wt- 8 Rivers Fly Rods
Just a couple quick notes:
I am building next year’s speaking schedule, so if you know of any club or organization looking for a fly fishing speaker feel free to contact me.
Hidden In Plain View is going well. I am knee deep into the photo and illustration portion, and loving every minute of it. Looks like a mid November completion date.
And lastly,
The Butt Crack baetis made it into the Montana Fly Catalog. It’ll be available, along with the Butt Crack Midge, early next spring.
Butt Crack baetis- My go to fly most of the year…..Coming to a fly shop near you!
Fear No Water!
“Alright, let’s get started”, someone with authority barks, but I’m already seated up toward the front. “How did I get here?”, I muse as I realize I am front and center. I quickly scoot myself back toward a wall during the confusion of folks jockeying for chairs and finding their comfy places. Our manager welcomes everyone and decides we should do introductions as there’s new faces in the crowd. There’s always new faces, where do these folks come from?
Oldest guy in the room.
The guy with a beard to my right starts, “I’m so and so and this is my second year”, then it’s the other guy with a beard, “I’m so and so, and this is my first year, then it’s the fresh faced young woman, “I’m so and so, this is my first year. Uh-oh, my turn, “I’m Duane, ah this is my first year.” That gets a laughing response from the masses, because they all know I’m the old guy. The roll-call continues and the bearded guys keep rolling out low numbers of years with guiding experience. I’m amazed. Yea, there’s a few with eight or nine years in the room (one that says he shadowed me 8 or 9 years ago), but for the most part these folks are young enough to be my kids. Hell, some of them might be.
It’s like going to a professional baseball game and realizing that the damn umpires are younger than you. I’m the oldest in the room again, and after some health issues last winter, I’m beginning to feel it. Don’t get me wrong, I can hang with these kids all day everyday, it’s just that when I grow a beard, it’s gray. That just doesn’t look cool in a fly shop or magazine cover anymore. I’m a relic, and my fly choices and approach to the sport show it. I still throw tons of soft-hackles and my idea of lunch is sandwiches on the way to the river so we have optimal time to fish. Although I still throw softies, I have had to learn that guide trip lunch is something you do sitting down next to the river after you have thoroughly washed your hands with that new antibacterial liquid soap. Isn’t all soap antibacterial?
I digress. As the paper stack grows at my feet, I wonder how many old permits are in my pack. Not too long ago, I was stopped by a game warden and checked for a license. I found one in there from 2007, I really need to get in there and clean my pack out. Might be a sandwich in there. The manager explains how to carry these in a water-proof bag in your waist pack (no vest wearers in this room, not since I switched 5 years ago.), and I watch as some folks jot down this information, and the most of the rest are nodding their heads in agreement. I think, “You gotta be told how to carry this stuff?”. Then, I kick myself for being “that old guy”, and find myself nodding with the rest.
I’m asked to get up and describe the areas we can legally guide on the South Platte River near Deckers. I get up and in a nice way tell them it is their responsibility to learn where they can and can’t fish. I go into how one winter, I walked the entire blue line from the confluence up to the fly shop, and drew a map showing every feature I thought important. I realize at this time that I wasn’t asked to tell them to learn it themselves, so I explain that we can meet down there and do a drive-a-long. Old guy relinquishes again, but it’s worth it.
I also throw in that there are a million first year guides out there, but not nearly as many second year guides. In other words, don’t be a jerk, keep your head down, and bust your ass. As the meeting comes to a close, I think about how these guide meetings are just like the first day of school. A good chance to meet new people, rekindle old friendships, discern a pecking order, and fill out a pile of paperwork. Just before the meeting was adjourned I got “it”. I got that old feeling that I used to get before a guide trip, or when geese were set and coming in to my decoys. or before a big baseball game. I got a butterfly. Only one, but it was a good one. I’m excited for another year on the river. I look for the challenges, and am stoked about working with all of the guides, management, and ownership. Here we go.
Fear No Water
p.s. Buy a copy of The Fly Fishers Playbook for the old guy in your life for Father’s Day
Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!
Wow, been too long since I last posted, but I’ve been a busy dude. Just spent the last eight to ten weeks cranking out the text for my next book project. I’m really fired up about this book, and am looking for an on the shelf date of late 2017. The text is done except for countless edits, but that’s never been the hard part for me. The hard part is all of the charts, graphs, illustrations and pictures. Going to rely on some talented friends to help out with all of that. Speaking of friends, I asked four from around the country, at various stages of their perspective fishing careers to read and edit for flow, content, etc. I really appreciate their help, and they will have special mention in the book.
First book was out on June of 2011, second came out in December 2014, this one hopefully, in December 2017. Notice a pattern there? What it tells me is that it takes me about three years to learn enough new stuff to be able to write another book. That’s thousands of hours of on the water observations, note taking, and data collection. I was on the river yesterday and someone shouted to me the river temperature, and I honestly didn’t care. Oh, I will in a couple of weeks when the Blue Wings start popping, but yesterday was a diversion from the book day, so I simply nodded it off.
I am still amazed at what I glean from simple water time in a relatively short time. It shows I’m paying attention AND there’s still more to learn! A lot more! This next book uses statistical information from hours and hours of dedicated note taking to flesh out the best techniques and flies to use as you progress on your fly fishing journey. It’s going to be roughly 55,000 words, plenty of illustrations and pictures should round it out. This years presentation is called Hidden In Plain View, and folks across the country seem to like it. The presentation mirrors the book as it gets into being able to recognize the obvious and exploit the obscure in fly fishing. It should have something for every level angler, and covers tactics from mini/skinny, double dry fly, nymphing, and streamer work. Crazy fun.
So, with all that going on, I haven’t had much time to work on my annual winter technique. Most that have followed for a while will recall that I pick something to work on every winter during slack times in the season. This year, I decided to continue what I was working on last winter and last 2 years guiding seasons. I’ve been working on this covertly, simply because I didn’t feel as if it was ready to unveil. It’s no mind blasting technique, but I wanted to have the specifics dialed in before telling anyone about it. In the last three years I have begun to use “sighter” leaders in my suspended or hinged nymph rigs. A sighter leader allows the angler many benefits, but mostly for this indicator fishing it helps detect very subtle eats, and it gives you a great idea of what your rig is doing sub-surface in relation to your indicator. It’s a specialized leader I build using various poundages and colors of amnesia and monofilament lines. A few of the knot tags are left un-trimmed and further the sight capabilities.
Many anglers don’t even realize what is going on sub-surface in regards to the indicator. We are so dialed into surface mending, that we don’t think about subsurface mending. We can see what is going on surface wise because of our fly line, but it’s often difficult to discern what is going on below the indicator. The sighter leader fixes that because it will clue you in as to when your leader turns over the indicator, and where your flies are at pretty much anytime within the drift. This has been a huge help to many of my clients as they begin to see how a few specialty mends can effect the entire sub-surface drift. They then can learn and employ a pile, stack, or pause mend with great effectiveness and confidence, because the results are observable through the sighter.
Here’s the formula for one of my leaders, this is all you get til the book comes out! Try this, I think you’ll like it:
36″- 20 pound Yellow Amnesia
30″ – 14 pound clear Monofilament
24″ – 10 pound Red Amnesia
Connect everything with a blood knot, and if you wish use a tippet ring at the end of the 10 pound red amnesia, it’s a fine idea. From the tippet ring attach your 16″ of 4x, 5x, or whatever mono or flouro to your first fly. You can place your split shot above the tippet ring to complete your in-line nymph rig.
Upstream sighter leader work. Photo James Durden.
I was fishing this rig just yesterday and noticed and set on the sighter movement more than a few times. The indicator never even twitched. It does take a bit of practice to use the sighter because it forces you to keep the indicator in your peripheral vision and use it as a secondary device. This just adds to your angling versatility as you begin to fish the entire vicinity around the nymph rig.
Anyway, enough for now. I’ll be better with more consistent posts. Til then, get out and fish the sighter.
Fear No Water!
Notice the blood knot tag location…mono to red amnesia line.
Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!
Added a new video at: https://youtu.be/h_8BmcfsYnQ
Obligatory grip and grin…
This one deals with fishing those juicy shelves you find in every river. Not all shelves look the same. Most are very easy to locate at the lateral top of a run, some are hidden within the run and some run longitudinally with the run. If you look closely at the video thru the link I provided, you will see a fast riffle dumping over the shelf. Look closer and you will see “sleeper seams” within the run as it dumps over the shelf. Sleeper seams show nearly imperceptible areas where obstructions gently slow the river flow. Almost a sure thing that you’ll find feeding fish holding in those sleepers, and the adjoining seams, but you’ve really got to stop and look closely.
The trick is to cast up onto the fast water to place your bugs above the shelf and put them in perfect position as the water slows and drops onto the shelf. If fish are up there, they are there to eat. Make sure you’re mended up, anticipating the next mend, and primed to set quickly. Adjust your rig longer and heavier than you think you’ll need because you want your flies to follow the same path as the naturals. If you’re too light or too short, your flies will rarely drop into the proper column as the fish are below the fast water, because they are sitting in the slower flows down on the shelf. Once you really concentrate on mastering a few shelves, the formula becomes easy to figure.
Sometimes you’ll see where a lateral, across the river shelf, and a longitudinal, with the river shelf connect. That situation can be pure magic as it provides multiple areas where food and fish will collide. That’s the crux of the Fly Fishing Formula. You want the fish to either eat or get out of the way. Opportunistic feeding fish will move distances to eat, selectively feeding fish will either eat or sway out of the way. They are more prone to eat if your drift is perfect and your flies are close to the naturals in size and color. Make the fish decide.
Enjoy the video. Go work a shelf as soon as possible and get back to me!
Fear No Water
Hidy Ho Good Neighbors,
“He ate”, I said. “Really, I never even saw it”, he replied. Recognizing a fish taking your dry fly is not always the stuff that movies are made of. Sometimes, it is so subtle that we miss the take. Fish typically don’t eat dries while you’re zoomed into the frame in super slow motion with music playing in the background. It’s typically a game of controlled speed, technique, and yep, luck.
It’s obvious we don’t know what we’re missing while nymphing because stuff is going down sub-surface. I imagine there are several fish we “miss” and don’t even know they ate. Same holds true for surface fishing, but actually seeing the misses is much easier and certainly more frustrating. Just last week I had a client set up doing some quarter upstream double dry work. He was rolling an Elk Hair Caddis 18” ahead of a Yellow Sally. The fish were gorging on both. He surmised that for every 10 fish that ate his offerings, he may turn 3, and for every 3 he turned he may solidly hook 1. And this guy is a good stick, honest too.
Last week, it was easy to tell when a fish ate the dries as most takes were splashy. That’s the telltale sign fish are eating caddis, stones, or terrestrials. Not a hard and fast rule, like all in fly fishing, but when you’re seeing aggressive, splashy takes, good bet they’re eating something that skitters, flutters, or bounces on the water. When you see those easy, simple rises, fish are usually secure, calm, and eating duns, spents, or cripples. In all cases you need to read the fish, the bugs, as well as the river to dial in the correct offerings.
Let’s talk more about reading fish as they eat dries. There are basically, 3 types of rises; simple, compound, and complex. In each case the fish have a staging spot, or a beginning holding area. In a simple rise, the fish typically simply elevate to the surface, break the surface, and yawn in the bug. A compound rise is a bit more detailed as the fish, starting in the same staging area, follows the bugs for a short distance before ingesting. This is a tough rise to consistently hook fish because they are really inspecting your flies, and any wrong move means game over. The last type of rise is a complex rise. These fish do the same as a compound except they actually turn downstream and follow your bug downstream. Usually, if you can maintain your drift, that fish will eat.
The key to dry fly presentation when it comes to how the fish are eating is observation. Watch how the fish are feeding, where they are staging, and then cast 4 to 5 feet upstream of them. Show the flies only, no fly line allowed. I see a lot of folks that have a surface feeding fish picked out and either cast way too far upstream, or cast directly on top of the fish. If you take a nymphing cast approach and cast way upstream, you will have a terrible time keeping your drift as you near the fish strike zone. Casting on top of the fish that is eating a full 4 feet downstream of where it’s staging causes issues too if you cast 4 feet above where you saw it eat. I’ll let you digest this for a minute.
Couple things about the dry fly lift. Not even gonna call it a set. It’s a lift in the opposite direction that the fish ate. Fish eats going downstream (complex rise), you lift upstream. Simple rise upstream of you, you lift up and downstream. Lift speed is not nearly as critical as lift direction and control, and this is how most fish are missed when dry fly fishing.
That’s enough for now. Hey, if you don’t already, please like The Fly Fishers Playbook Facebook page. Only fly fishing, and plenty of it.
Fear No water!
Dry fly fishing in beautiful places….
Size 18 Elk Hair caddis
Hidy ho Good Neighbors!
High water and run-off close a few opportunities for fly fishing moving water, but opens up the chances of fly fishing still waters. I grew up on mountain lakes and fly fishing still waters. I absolutely love it and always look forward to fishing and guiding the glass.
Back in May I took a trip to Arizona to present to a few clubs (Arizona Fly casters and Desert Fly casters) the Systematic Approach to Fly Fishing. Some of you may not know that I am originally from AZ and remember the fly fishing more than I remembered the heat. One hundred eight degrees in Phoenix one day! So, I was overjoyed to travel up to the White Mountains, where I cut my fly fishing teeth on lakes, for a bit of lake fly fishing.
We arrived at Becker Lake, near Springerville, AZ, at around noon. The boys (Gentry, Joe, and John), were gracious enough to outfit me with a pontoon, booties, and fins. I was fixated on dry fly fishing first, running streamers secondly, and nymphing as a last option. Not that I don’t make a living fishing under a bobber or I have anything against it, but I wanted dry fly or streamer action, because I don’t get to do too much of that. I can never get too much of that!
Well, there were very few fish eating on the surface. I could see size 18 chironomid adults sporadically hatching, but couldn’t raise a fish. After about an hour of that, I switched to a tandem streamer rig. I threw a black slumpbuster on a jig hook in front of John Rohmer’s simi leech (black and olive). No love on that rig either. I could see the writing on the wall, nymphing time.
Now these guys are running 18’ leaders and break-away indicators, with trolling motors and fish finders. Pretty serious individuals. I thought I knew how to rig a break away indicator, and had picked up a few before leaving Colorado. I couldn’t find the dang things in my waist pack, and finally asked for help getting that thing rigged. I put on as close to matching bugs with what I could glean from the few guys that were hooking up, but soon realized that my formula left much to luck. Soon, I took off the indicator, loaded up weight and fished it “Czech-style” right on the bottom. I did have a couple eats, which I completely missed, but I did move fish.
Mercifully, the wind got big, and I got to cruise to the dock. Not that I didn’t have fun, but I always like to feel I’m in at least a smidge of control. I met my nephew on the way to the evening’s festivities as I cruised back toward Pinetop, and watched him fish for Apache and brown trout on a small stream that I don’t know the name of. He moved more than a few on dry dropper rigs. I felt a little better.
That evening, as I lay there listening to my brothers dog snoring, I realized I needed to fish to my strengths tomorrow on that lake. The White Mountain Lakes Foundation was hosting an annual event that raises money for the organization, which in turn, helps the organization support and enhance the fishing in the White Mountains. I was honored to be a part of it. I was up early the next morning, drinking a cup of coffee and puffing my pipe, in front of a 7-Eleven, rigging a double dry rig consisting of a Royal Wolff followed by and adult chironomid pattern matching the adults I saw earlier. My plan was to go back to my roots and walk the edges early morning looking for and casting to rings and noses.
I had just thrown on my waders, when a gentleman named Mike came up to me and Gentry and said, “There are fish coming up on the far end”. “Where abouts?”, I asked. He pointed to a spot that was maybe a five minute walk. I was there in four.
I stood for a moment watching the action and planning on how to fish to these noses from near to far, trying not to spook them. First cast….bam, fish on! What? Tiger trout? “Oh this is even gonna be better than I thought”, I mumbled, as another fish ate my second cast. Mike had put me on a pod of small tiger trout on the munch. He eventually showed up, and I thanked him for the intel again. We both moved a few more (I snapped of a big one) and then it was time to head back for more festivities.
High river water offers the opportunity to seek out still water. If you don’t fish it often, there is an adjustment period. Go back to your roots, do what you do well and have confidence in. I do want another shot at deep still water nymphing techniques because the systematic approach works well there too. I always say that folks should fish to their strengths while working on their weaknesses. Someday I’ll get back there better armed with information and techniques and flatten out that weakness. It’s all part of the process of becoming a complete angler. In the meantime, Fear No Water!
Duane
El Tigre on a dry
Meat eater in the lake
Gentry in mid-cast
Sylvan Lake, Colorado
Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!
Well, the season is about to get cranking. I’ve been guiding some, but most of my winter work has been in the form of traveling across the country presenting at shows, expos, and Trout Unlimited groups. Been from Cleveland to Coeur d’alane, and a ton of points in between.
The real fun I find with speaking are the myriad questions I receive before, during, and after the presentation. I really learn from those questions. They make me think, and dig deeper into my knowledge and experience. The level of the question doesn’t matter as all questions are viable and relevant. The more I’m queried, the more I learn, and in turn, the more I eventually teach. It’s a neat cycle.
I realize some questions are never asked in a public or private setting because it makes folks (me included) feel vulnerable. I wish that wasn’t the case because I am confident someone along with the questioner would reap some sort of benefit. So, I come to you folks that read my blog to selfishly ask for fly fishing questions. I’m in the process of writing another book, and the more questions I have the better the book will be!
I really don’t care what you ask. The level or depth of the question doesn’t matter, as each question will open dialogue into other areas. So be specific or general, and remember there aren’t any stupid questions. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll find someone that does. Think of any discipline within fly fishing, except salt water (not for this book). Casting, drift, bug choices, knots, fly lines, landing fish, reading the water, it’s all game.
If you don’t feel comfy asking on this forum, shoot me an email at: lonearcherguideservice@yahoo.com
I really appreciate everyone’s help! Thanks, and Fear No Water!
Idaho beauty.
Nom Nom
Alright, let’s get on with 2016. Little late to the party, but I’ve been busy guiding pheasant hunters. The fly fishing juices are flowing strong as I embark on another year of trout tales. This time of year represents, in my mind anyway, time for learning and experimentation.
My speaking schedule is in full bloom, and between now and June I will hit six states yapping on about this great endeavor. I shake a lot of hands and I learn. Wish I had a twenty spot every time a stranger says to me, “You ever tried this?” More often than not the idea doesn’t fit my program, or appeal to me, but it always makes me think. However, there are a few ideas that come my way, and I think, “Now why didn’t I think of that?” Long story even longer, I always listen.
So, I invariably head home from these events and run either straight to the vise or straight to the river. It’s funny, folks on the river fly fishing are a tight-lipped group, but folks at shows spill their guts. Maybe they feel safe sharing in that environment knowing they won’t have to deal with it til spring, or maybe they wish to get involved in the circle of learning somehow. I don’t know, but I’ve picked up a few gems over the years, by simply stopping and listening.
I’ve happily shared most everything I’ve picked up at the shows over the years, I’ve a few new ideas this year that I won’t comment on until I put them to the test. One’s a simple in-line nymph rig adjustment, and the others deal with spinning bugs. Both are in the testing process, and to be frank, I haven’t noticed any appreciable difference in performance, but I need to try these ideas for at least winter, spring and run-off. Will let you know. I’ve a feeling some of the ideas I hear aren’t as novel as we think.
Speaking of novel, I am considering another book. Really have the itch to spit one out, but having a difficult time refining my ideas. Seems like fly fishing books are all cut out of the same template. One hundred forty seven ways to put more fish in the net, or the twenty three essentials to catch fish, I don’t necessarily want to go there. I like to draw analogies, feed off experiences and data, and try to teach a little along the way. If you have an idea for books you’d like to see, please let me know. Insert the listening part here……
In January I’m in Ohio at the North Ohio Fly Fishing Expo. February is the Winter Fly Fishing Social in Taos, New Mexico. March is Lewiston Idaho at the North Idaho Fly Fishing Expo. April is the Washington Fly Fishing Fair, and May is a 3 day extravaganza of presentations all over Arizona.
I’ll keep my ears open, and will share everything I learn!
Fear No Water,
Duane
Winter experimentation on the South Platte.
duaneredford.com 