PA Fly Fishing

From a few weeks ago. Flyfishing out in Spruce Creek, PA. Highly recommend a stay at Edgewater Acres. They have a full service restaurant with local microbrews on offer. Great base of operations.

Davie McPhail

I know 99% of the internet doesn't give a fig about the vagaries of the preoccupation that is fly fishing. And of that 1%, probably 7% really care about fly tying but if you ever find yourself wanting to watch a real craftsman at work, have a look at his videos. Here's some of his work:

These colossal Atlantic salmon flies are kind of out of my more trouty purview, but he ties basically everything, and ties it perfectly. All dictated to you in a calming Scottish brogue. Personal favorites:

Cabela's

Completely ridiculous, but in the best kind of way. Saw some real gems while we were in their Hamburg, PA superstore on the way back from a camping trip to the Delaware Water Gap. Also home to the world's most intense Park Policeman.

Backpacking + Flyfishing

After being forced to watch what seemed like hours of cutthroat trout absolutely devouring an evening rise while we were backpacking in Yosemite, I've decided not to let another opportunity such as that pass me by so I've been looking for good backpacking FF setups. My conditions are the following:

1. Has to be a 9'ft rod but would settle for 8'6" if necessary.

2. Has to be at least a #4WT. Nothing against the wet-noodle guys and fingerling brook trout fishermen out there, but I just don't like to fish with a cocktail straw.

3. Must pack down into at least maximum carryon length (~35", I think)

4. Can't cost an arm and a leg, less than $300 total.

5. Isn't Tenkara. Again, not my steez, but nothing against those guys. However, naming all your flies something weird and Japanese-y is exactly as weird as those kids who watched a lot of Anime in college and only ate ramen -- REAL RAMEN -- from the only Japanese grocery store in town.

6. Ideally, weighs less than 16 oz, total.

Here's what I'm looking at so far:

Rods (I'm assuming these are all in the 4-6 oz. range)

Cabela's Stowaway -- $139.00

Orvis Frequent Flyer --$225.00

L.L. Bean Double L Travel Rod -- $250.00

Reels

Now, this was the hard part because reels aren't necessarily light and the ones that are are basically made out of unicorn bones and are priced accordingly. Given that I don't have a ton to spend, the tradeoff between price and weight is a fine balance here. 

The obvious choice here to begin with is the Orvis Battenkill bar stock, both on price and weight (it's $90.00 for a 4.2 oz). The only downside is it's a super "clicky" reel which I don't particularly like. 

Okuma SLV -- On price alone ($59.00) it seems like a worthwhile choice. 4.8 oz. 

Tibor Spring Creek -- Supposedly the best reels out there and it shows. Nearly $400 bucks. Included just for reference. 

Accessories

The image of the fly fisherman with a billion doodads hanging from an overstuffed vest is common, however, the more I fish, the less I feel like I need. Here are some possibilities.

Taking a cue from MAWOI I'm considering trying a big chalk bag as a stand-in for my chest pack when weight and size are serious considerations. 

I like this one from Metolious. It has a clear pocket on the back for things like a license, maybe a some tippet spools or spare leaders...who knows. 

The site called BackpackFlyfishing has a custom solution that looks pretty handy. At $35.00 however, I'm not sure it's worth more or functions better than anything else. It does have a foam drying patch and what looks to be a specific place for flotant. 

Cabela's has a little chest pack that's currently on sale for less than $7.00 that looks like it could be worthwhile. It's also ugly as sin, but that, I think, is because it's also probably leftover stock from 1990. 

This is Fly

Flyfishing mags tend to fall into three categories: high-concept and stuffy with lots of early Fall black and whites of old men who spend small fortunes to fish the Deschutes or Madison, low-concept one-step-above-bait-chucking mags with lots of shots of dudes mindlessly flogging the water for Steelhead, and The Drake which is sort of its own thing with its own audience.

Along came This Is Fly, which is more of a hipster zine about flyfishing than anything else with playlists and art featuring artists even your cousin in art school hasn't even heard of. It's a real departure from the bucolic, wicker and tweed stuff you tend to see in this category.

With good photography, middling writing, and spotty editing, you get the sense that it's really someone's work of passion, so if you're expecting a polished publication, look elsewhere. But if you want a fun FF mag with nice pictures that you can read at work, get yourself an e-copy.

What's cool about it is that is has such an of-the-people feel while also remaining very highbrow in certain ways that it's easy to flip through. Oh yeah, it's also very free. Check it out right now.

(via This is Fly)