cam

Yep that solid tug at the end of a long bomb is every bit as good as the tug on the end of your line...

Welcome to the dark side... Bring on some new gear!!

Any word on the new dates?

My friend Laurie was on the trip with you guys and I think you set him up with a steelhead trip in a week or two as well. He had a blast couldn't say enough about the great time He had!!

Toolman what line did you cast on the S2H456126-4? I normally cast the NW 440gr but have a 420 compact on the way too wave around for a change. Silver doc your little 12' 4wt sounds like a sweet stick enjoy it!!

http://vimeo.com/1654340

I would appreciate if you asked permission before posting my personal photo's on the board....

Hardy. When I can hammer down on chromers with a reel that was built a 100 years ago why look anywhere else... Perfect, Bougle, Salmon. and My next purchase will be A Spey Company reel. A grass roots company with a reel heavy enough to balance the long rod. I'm not into drag....

A summer many will only dream of !!

Awesome dude ! There is something to be said for hooking fish of any size on flies you've tied with rods you've built in boats that come to fruition under your own steam. More oftern then not those things that don't come easily are that much sweeter when they arrive!

I HEAR YA! I was fine with the first set of chin ups where he looks like he's set up with a BASE jumpers chute. But the second set of chin ups without was a bit much I had to wipe my sweaty mouse off.

I think Rio has what your looking for then. The wallets they sell come in two sizes regular and large, the Reg. fits 15ft tips and the Lrg. fits 30ft shooting heads. I thought you were looking to upstage toolman and his kit... I'm in the market for the Large one as well I'll let you know if I drum up a good deal...

Your screwed........

same wallet...

Rio also makes a larger version than you get with their multi tip lines, although it's not whole ton bigger. Lots of guys are using CD cases, they can be had very cheap at most dollar stores(punch some holes with a hole punch for ventilation). The Bass Guy's down south use worm wallets which can be had at the most large outdoor/fishing type stores some are alittle big but others are just right. Attached are some pic's of a fellow spey casters adapted head wallet from Cabela's (which looks about perfect for my needs). or for a cool four hundy you can have the dream set up like toolman . Have a surf through some of the large online retailers tackle organizers and check what they have. I'm in need of something larger as well I'll see what I can track down and I'll post what I find. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...=0036308120691a -Cam

I think you've stated the obvious....

This should do the trick http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/40571/912a.../pull_ups_.html

I knew my explaination wasn't that great.... You are correct in the fact that if you alow you line to belly the fly will be chasing it until you hit the dangle. However if you present your fly properly(effectively) there should not be a belly regardless what length of rod and line. It's more about the angle of presentation and the radius of the swing, the fly chasing the belly should be a none issue at all times no matter how long your rod is or how much line you have out. Hold a piece of plywood perpendicular to the current and then begin changing the angle of the board until it is inline with the current(at the dangle) you will soon get a feel for how the force of the currrent changes withthe presentation of the board (flyline). In the following diagram I'll attach I've sketched quickly the difference of presentation it seems subtle but it makes a world of difference. The other major problem with a racing fly is it totaly changes the appearance(presentation) of the fly in the water(slicked back bullet), nothing life like about that. You want the fly's materials undulating, pulseing and looking alive and intrusive in the chromers domain this will trigger a strike. If you row a drift boat you realize that by changing the angle of the boat too the current it changes the rate at which you travel accross the current, after all the boat doesn't change shape(like a bellied fly line) I believe this concept hold true for a a swinging flyline without a belly. So in conclusion I have attached a diagram and you will see the angle change with different lengths of line. I'll quite rambling and you try it out for yourself and you will feel the difference.

I'm not a physicist but I'll do my best to explain.... When you cast your line perpendicular to the current it pulls the belly of the line further downstream than the fly itself and in essence the fly is racing to catch up too the bellied line for the remainder of the swing until it reaches the natural position of equlibrium at the bottom of the pedulum directly down stream from the rod tip. This is why we mend our fly lines in order to prevent unatural movement of the fly (flies swimming down stream faster than the current). In essence the less fly line you have exposed purpendicularly to the current the slower the line will swing through the pendulum arc. Thus casting 60ft of line accross the river at 90 degrees exposes the entire 60ft perpendicular to the current and thus the swing is fastwer than if you covered the same peice of water at a steeper down stream angle. If you follow the line through the pendulum swing the closer the line comes to it's natural position of equalibrium directly downstream of the rod tip the slower it swings until it finds itself motion less at the dangle. for this simple reason if you are presenting your flyline at such an angle that the flyline is 45 degrees down stream not only are you exposing less line perpendicular to the current but your also utililizing the slowest portion of the pedulum arc. By fishing a much longer line and targeting the same water you will cast at a much steep angle down stream still cover the the water needed. just lay out 10 feet of line in the river and observe the different speed that you fly line swings at when you change your angle of presentation to the current. I'm not sure if you have ever rowed a drift boat but we use the same concept to move our boat accross the current, with a drift boat you point the transom towards your targeted destination and give the oars a pull, without further input from the oars you can speed your arrival time at your destination simply by changing the position(angle) of the boat in relation to the current (exposing more or less of the boat purpendicular to the current. I'm not sure how else to explain this concept with out confusing yourself and myself at the same time as the diclaimer reads above I'm not a physicist.... the best way to wrap your head around this concept is to hit the river pick a target in the river or specific distance (not to far) from shore with even current and start casting and swinging your fly line directly perpendicular from shore each time you start a new swing move up stream 5 ft. and lengthen out your line as needed to target the exact peice of of water you just swung through and repeat this until you are no longer are able to cast enough line to target the same piece of water. During this process you will observe that The swing becomes inceasingly slower the more line you have out and the more line you have out the steeper the angle down stream you will be casting in order to target the same peice of water. I hope this helps and I'm sure we have a phyisicist amongst us that can staighten us all out on the physics behind the swing...

Couldn't have said it better, last season I took a die hard single hander with me with previous steelhead experience, He had a grudge against the double hander and refused to pick mine up the entire season while I was swingin for bulls on our home water. By the 3-4th day he was showing a change in attitude and for good reason. Too give you an idea of the difference; My two partners with single hand rods swung their flies through runs first and I would play clean up hitter, we were swinging identical patterns or very similar the majority of the time by the 4th day they were swinging the exact pattern I was using not that it made a difference . The only difference was in presenting the fly to the fish. The single handers were trying to cover water 40 feet out which had them casting near 90 degrees to the flow and mending like it was a mending contest:eek:. This was happening because they were try to cover more water or similar water that I was covering. With the two hander you can quarter down or more and still cover 40+ feet of water with ease and with a perfect slow swing. The guys pitching perpedicular to the river have their flies coming into shore like a freight train . Like Mykiss mentioned while I'm swingin they are false casting=no fish being caught for them. The next major advantage is the ease of pulling 15ft. tips all day long with a two hander. No word of a lie by the 8th day on the water not only did my partner have a new attitude but he had a wreck shoulder as well and spent the entire final day taking pictures except on the final run. Long story short in 8 days my two paretners were the only single handers we seen on the water(I would mention this often ). We were all comparable fisherman with comparable flies and knowlege but the long rod hooked literally 4 times as many fish, I was averaging 4 hook-ups/day and the singles were averaging 1-2 not to mention I was fishing behind both of them 95% of the time. as you can imagine after witnessing the real advantages of a doublehander in it's element these two guys are now very proud owners of a double hander! As Mykiss said you will catch plenty of fish with your single hander providing you are presenting the fly in appropriate manner and not trying to cover water out of your reach. Quarter down and try too acheive the slowest most powerful/intrusive swing you can they will not resist it!!!! focus your casts 20feet out and at least 40 feet down stream then let them rock. One mend When the fly hits only if needed and then don't move your flyline again just follow the fly with your rod tip into shore. You'll soon discover over 50% of your hits will be within 10-15 feet from shore because of this you may need to lighten up your tip abit if you are continually snagging bottom and the best peice of advice I can give is read A Passion for Steelhead by Dec Hogan it is geared towards spey casting too chromers but the knowledge he brings accross in this book is invauable for all steelheaders single or double handed. Dec will shorten the learning curve tremendously for you, and for the veteran he'll present some new ideas. Now it's time to tie up some intruders.....

Hell Ya unless you want to sit in smithers all day . THere is good fishing on both sides of the river up stream from the bulkley river bridge when entering smithers from telkwa direction. Both sides of the river have fishable water upstream and down but you may have to share some water! Many fish get caught in this section, after all the up stream spawners all pass through this section like any other section of river . I'm usually at the end of my day when I drift through this section right before the boat launch but I've seen plenty of fish hooked passing through.

Yes indeed this early rain is ideal conditions for bringing fresh fish into the system. I'm not looking for secrets just looking too hook up with like minded individuals that eat breath and live the Chrome... I normally fish the Bulkley as this area I know best, however if I'm solo I'm willing to fish anything that's fishable from the Copper on up!! I'll most likely be there fishing from Oct 2nd-6th I normally stay at Two Rivers Lodge in telkwa or the Fire Weed in smithers. It will be a short trip this time around as my wife and I recently added another little boy to the family. I was going to pass on the trip this season but now that the days are getting shorter and the evenings cooler I'm having trouble sleeping and my wife knows that I'll be alot more productive if I can get my ass to skeena country for a few days rather than stumbleing around the rest of the winter in a haze dreaming of the chrome...

Anybody making plans to head up to Skeena country this fall? I plan to be in Smithers the first week of Oct. Early reports look promising, hopefully the rain subsides . I may possibly be fishing solo this time around, if you plan on being in the area let me know there may be room in the drift boat! -Cam

Unsure how to delete thread see" Steelhead..." post. so here's a pic instead

What Rod do you have? 99% of the modern reels are not going to be heavy enough to balance a cane spey rod unless you go with a reel from "The Spey Company". You'll need a 14oz reel or heavier to balance most cane rods, if it's 13' or longer more like 16oz. reel otherwise you'll be swinging an awfully tip heavy set up. Check out Tim's reels they are pretty sweet I'm in the process of pulling the trigger on one for a Farlow Sharps Aberdeen Cane spey rod. check out speypages.com forum a few guys are using them on the board and you'll find a few threads discussing the reels. http://thespeycompany.blogspot.com/