Flyfisher

What FNG said. Get the brace and use every time you fish. Over the years I've found that as casting skill improves less and less stress is exerted on tendons and ligaments. One learns to load a rod more efficiently so it does more and more of the work. Unnecessary false casting is reduced. A light stick helps to, especially if using a 10 footer.

In concept what makes an experienced angler is pretty simple. But in practice its not. In the making of an experienced angler years matter in the sense that years and time spent on the water go hand in hand. Water levels, weather, timing of hatches may change or vary from year to year, week to week, day to day, even hour to hour. Successful anglers are better able to adapt to and anticipate some of the changes. On any given day an experienced angler might normally be successful when an inexperienced one might not. Successful anglers have finely tuned powers of observation along with a solid base of knowledge and skill sets all acquired over time spent on the water.

WTF...!?!?!

One of my fishing partners was experiencing knot failure with a spool of 4X Frog's Hair mono tippet. Fed up with the stuff, he offered it to me. I've had no problems with it. In fact it's been some of the best tippet material I've used. It's 6.2 lb. test at .007" dia. beating out the other brands I use. If using good knots, tying them carefully and not ripping the lips off trout when hook setting any of the good brand name tippets perform well.

Durability, comfort, good warranty and service. In others words Simms. http://www.simmsfishing.com/site/xdpy/sg/WADER

The photo on the right is so ubiquitous on magazine covers it's become redundant and boring. BTW, that guy in the crapper is sh!ting on one of my favorite bonefishing flats! Go with the humour...

Dream on.

If someone I meet asks what I'm using I'll most always show them. Some of the most gratifying and memorable aspects of fly fishing have been centered around sharing and receiving. Been on both sides of it. Let fly fishing be a metaphor for good living...

All purpose, it's hard to beat SA GPX. I've used them for years on 6 & 4 wts. Thought I'd try a Rio Gold on the 4wt last year just for a change. No complaints on how it handles but can already see that it is not as durable a line as the SA. You can't go wrong with SA lines in my opinion.

Wow! I can't imagine a single handed graphite rod from any manufacturer on the planet worth that kind of money. It better have an unconditional lifetime warranty against breakage and a prompt no shipping fee for repair or replacement service to.

Hmmm...I've had excellent rod warranty (replacement) service from G.Loomis Canada. Haven't dealt with the USA.

I've enjoyed his writing to. Heard an interview on CBC recently. In spite of his terminal illness, his outlook was very positive.

rehsifyIf: In it's conception C&R was a conservation management tool (Michigan, sometime in the 50's?) and has since become a widely used one. It's benefits were and are obvious. Today, I'd go as far to say that for some, C&R is almost akin to religion. One has only to look at all the passionate debate around it. All that said it does have negative impacts on fish as you have pointed out with mortality rates. Besides impacting fish, anglers are impacted to. In heavily pressured fisheries fish become scarred, educated, wary and low in energy as a result of repeated capture. When fishing I try and moderate my capture rate (of course there are days one doesn't need to!) so the next angler behind me can enjoy a quality angling experience to. Perhaps high use C&R anglers ought to be paying more in license fees?

Just about any SA line I've had has been good so I've pretty much stuck with SA. The one exception was the original Stillwater or slimeline, it had bad memory problems. I replaced it with a Cortland Camo and am pleased with it. I've used the Rio Gold for one season in a 4 wt. for streams and so far no complaints. I'm curious to see if it will hold up in durability as well as the GPX's have. A Wulff triangle taper I had proved to be a good line to. There's a lot of good quality stuff out there and for the most part I'm grateful for that. However along with it comes a great deal of marketing hype and product redundancy. I guess that is to be expected as long established companies compete for market share and fledgling ones try to break into it. Perhaps the biggest hype going today is matching gear to individual preference and image. Sooner or later one may come to a simple understanding: it ain't so much about gear (given what you have is already pretty good) as it is about who is using it.

From another board: http://www.danblanton.com/viewmessage.php?id=133727 Quite likely the cold weather in Florida is due to El Nino influence. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/anal...ry/ensodisc.pdf

The majority of bonefish I've caught sight fishing have been in 50 - 60' range. Unless fish are spooky (like say in Florida) or your approach and presentation is consistently off you should catch fish being a reasonably proficient caster at that range and in moderately windy conditions. Unless you will be targeting larger heavily pressured fish I wouldn't get hung up on not being able to make 80' casts. As Country Pleasures has said, any time spent practicing before a trip is time well spent! Keep your expectations within reason based on your ability. If getting a guide and he is a good one, he will do the same and you should have a good trip in that respect. Overall weather conditions at the time of your trip is what it is and largely out of anyone's control. Numbers of fish are nice for sure but there's a lot more to the experience out there.

Eight weight is a very popular choice for bonefish. My go to bonefish rod is a 9 wt, a medium-fast action G. Loomis GL3. The 9wt covers bonefish, permit, junior tarpon, salmon and steelhead. Wind is big consideration if you are bonefishing in the Caribbean. I never feel over or under gunned with the 9wt. I have two TFO TiCr's in 11wts. The TiCr's is definitely fast action. If you prefer a medium-fast action rod you might want to try casting the TiCr before buying one.

Good post Don! In this digital and YouTube age I suspect a lot of C&R fish are suffocating.

I like palming my reel to. Trout are no big deal, you don't need a lot of drag capability on a reel. What I do like is a large arbor for quick line retrieval. Keeps line coil to a minimum to.

No worries. Tobacco juice masks the smell of human amino acids which are present on our skin. Human scent can put a fish off a bite. A very, very good angling pal of mine who invariably out fishes just about anyone including me is a regular smoker. I keep threatening to steal his smokes to make some tobacco juice or dope to scent my flies with.

OK, here goes. In order from first to most recent: Martin 9’ 6wt. Factory built (It all began with this rod). G Loomis 9 ¾’ GL3 6 wt. Custom built by a friend. G Loomis 10’ GLX 6 wt. Home build (favorite stillwater rod for chironomiding). I love playing big fish on this rod. Small fish put a nice bend in it to. A wonderful stick! G Loomis 8 ½’ GL4 4 wt. Home build (small stream rod). I discovered cutty fishing in the Rockies with this rod. Always a favorite until it met with stupidity on my part. G Loomis GL3 9’ 9 wt. Home build (primarily use it for bonefish). A good tough travel rod that doesn't break the bank. St Croix 14’ Spey Imperial blank. Home build. I hardly ever use it. Who knows, that may change. Gatti 9’ FRTA 6wt. Home build. (Couldn’t afford an Italian sports car so I got the Gatti instead). Nice action but not really suitable for tossing full sink lines way out there for those long stillwater retrieves, it just ain’t got the power in the butt section. Lots of fun though with a dry line when the traveler sedges are out, though. G Loomis GLX ‘StreamDance’ 8 ½’ 4 wt. factory built (blanks not available). This was a replacement rod. I did a real idiot move and broke the GL4 I built many moons ago. Loomis discontinued the GL4 sometime ago, so I made a deal with them for the StreamDance. BTW a real nice stick! Lots of fun for cutts. A pair of TFO TiCR 9’ 11wts. I use these heavy weights for tarpon (you don't want to go tarpon fishing with only one stick). Sage XP 9’ 6wt. A home build. I got the blank cheap after Sage discontinued the XP. I wanted a light weight stillwater rod primarily for tossing full sink lines in a 9’ length. The longer rods are hard on the arm (too much leverage) when casting full sink lines way out there. I don’t really like the XP for anything else, it’s too stiff and you really have to watch out for your tippet. Not a whole lot of fun playing fish on it, kind of like a broom handle with a soft tip. CTS 9 ¾’ Affinity One 6 wt. A home build (blank made in New Zealand). This is my favorite all round stillwater rod. If I had to have one rod for still water fishing this would be it! Best Fishes Oh ya, whatever you do, don’t let the wife see the list!

I don't think you could go wrong with any of these: Somewhere Down The Crazy River: Journey's in search of Giant Fish by Paul Boote and Jeremy Wade The Bright Country: A Fisherman's Return to Trout, Wild Water and Himself by Harry Middleton The Snowfly by Joseph Heywood Trout Madness by Robert Traver

Whatever gave you that idea? C&R is a widely accepted management tool used by fisheries managers. Please don't speak for other anglers when you don't know if all here share your view, especially in what purports to be some kind of poll. As for angling in Parks I think the main issue would be commercial interest and what it might imply IE: guided angling.

A touching story. Thanks for sharing.

I have first hand experience. The new Simms Vibram sole has poor traction on freestone streams with slick algae covered boulders and cobble. Beware! They fail where felt works. You will have to put studs on Vibram for traction on slick rock. That said: Simms is a great company and has more than proved itself to make fine products. I've used many of them for years. Once again; the studless Vibram sole has serious limitations where safety on slick rock is a concern! Having rock climbed in various formulations of sticky rubber soled climbing shoes I'm very skeptical that said wading shoes are anywhere near as good as felt.