Fly Rod 004/005

All of the components were waiting at the house tonight when I arrived. After sorting the two blanks and assembling the components I was able to snap a picture of everything together.

Each rod is being built on a High Modulus Graphite blank which is 9ft and made up of four pieces. The weight selected is 5wt and are an ideal choice for small streams and rivers. With a very fast action it will deliver a fly at great distances with precision.
To keep the weight down, each rod will have a custom hand made carbon fiber grip made up of two part foam.

The stripper guides are lightweight with double footed snake guides finishing it out. The foregrip will have a four inch piece of rattlesnake skin as an inlay.

The guides will be wrapped in black and metallic copper for the trim, real seet will be a titanium chrome triangular seat with a black insert.

I will put up updates as it progresses.

William Joseph Tsunami Bag (gear review)

What, I actually won something.........that thought went through my head as the message was waiting for me on Facebook for winning the William Joseph Tsunami bag. Having looked for a water resistant bag for the rear deck of my kayak for awhile, I was curious to get this and see how it would fit. I've been looking for something other than a dry bag for the rear deck while camping from the kayak. Something that would be easier to access and still keep water out.
When the Tsunami bag arrived it was immediately placed on the back of the kayak butting up to my K-2 cooler, perfect fit.

Good fit in the kayak

The next logical thing to do was to pack some items that I would normally want access to during the day and see how they would fit. One of the cool things that I noticed upon opening up the pack were the two hard dividers that are held in place by velcro. Your choice to use or not as well as where to place them in the pack.

Internal Dividers

I proceeded to put in my Fishpond guide pack and the two dry boxes that I use to hold electronics as well as wallet and other important gear that are needed on trips. Then added the cooking set, I don't think it will normally travel in the bag but it was a good reference to show off the amount of space that the bag has.


Still room inside the bag for more gear

Here is a shot of the gear that was put inside for reference....

Seeing how nice the bag was it made me curious.....how functional could this be.
I bet Willy J had no intention of this being used as a stripping basket while wading...but it works.


To see more of their products go to William Joseph Fly Fishing

After the Storm

Finally, the rain has been falling here in Texas and giving water to the rivers and lakes that is much needed. As I got to the bottom of the hill the difference could be seen as I watched the off colored water flow in places that were once dry or had a small amount of water. 

I tied on an indicator and drifted a nymph through some stretches without any luck, as I worked my way downstream the flow picked up and I took the indicator off and caught a few bows in the faster moving water.

My time on the river was cut short with the rain starting to fall. I don't mind the rain but it was the lightning that ran me off the river. Don't mess with Mother Nature.......

"It's a Girl"

To those that know me i'm sure the title shocked you..... no worries it's not what is appears to be. I decided to do something different on the blog and contacted another fly fisherman that got their start around the same time as me. When searching for information I came across many good blogs to read and have been a follower on Fly Fishilicious . What I found to be unique about it is that you don't find as many women in the sport and the sport brings a lot of challenges for them to overcome since most manufacturers target men with their advertising and gear. I decided to contact Jen and ask her a few questions to which she was more than kind to answer.

 Jen Kugler (Fly Fishilicious) from: Littleton, CO.

Tell me about yourself: I’m Jen and I’m an addict. J Watching fly fishing videos makes my heart race like I’m in love and I get all giddy inside. This Winter thing is tough. I’m glad Colorado doesn’t have a ‘season’ and I’m able to get out if I need a hit or two…but it’s a rough sight.

Why Fly Fishing: It’s an outlet - therapy, and I really truly enjoy it. My little business cards actually have the saying ‘Catch and Release – Because eating your therapist is just uncivilized.’ Hahaa!

Favorite fish to pursue and favorite fly: Favorite fish – well, so far it’s only been trout. Brookies are beautiful, rainbows are classic and browns give a nice tug.  Favorite fly – I don’t have a favorite yet, but I know I used the Rainbow Warrior with a lot of success in 2011!

What have you found to be the easiest, and what has been the hardest thing about fly fishing so far: The easiest thing so far is the fishing. The hardest thing is the catching J No really, I think casting has been an interesting transition from spin to fly. There aren’t a whole lot of casting techniques with a spin rod – NOT the case with a fly rod. I just learned to double haul with Simon G. at the ISE this last weekend. That was fun!

Closing thoughts: Thoughts? I don’t have a whole lot of those. I’m just passionate and DO things. Haha.

Thanks for playing along Jen. If you get a chance click on the link and read her blog.

Colorado River Freeze Trip (Brrrrrrrrr)

I guess if you are going to call it a freeze trip, you might as well have a freeze during the trip. This was the third annual trip between a group of eight friends and the eleven others that attended through an open invite on a forum. We met Saturday morning at 7:00 in 28 degree weather with the promise of warmer temperatures to come during the three day excursion. After unloading and doing a shuttle we were on the water before 10am and starting our 8 mile paddle to the first nights camping island. The water was at it's usual winter time depth and very clear with the only flow being from elevation changes. It didn't take long to figure out a pattern. You had to have a depth of greater than three feet and some sort of current, when you found an area like this you would work it hard and be rewarded with quite a few nice sized largemouth bass and some nice hybrids (cross between a Smallmouth and a Guadalupe bass).

Not knowing what the fish would be interested in I took a baitcaster as well as the 7wt TFO BVK. Unfortunately the bite was tough on the fly rod and most of the fish came on a Dinero plastic worm.

After arriving at the island and setting up camp we fixed dinner of fresh Grass-Fed Ribeye steaks and beans. We spent some time around the fire swapping stories as the temperature started dropping, as I made my way to the tent there was dew everywhere and you could tell that it was going to get cold. And cold it got, we awoke to everything being frozen. My waders and boots were frozen stiff, that was the coldest night that I have ever spent in a tent and I will be better prepared for it next time. After breakfast and packing we would be in for the longest leg of the trip which would be a 13 mile paddle and try to get some fishing in. The pattern stayed true for the second day and many more nice fish were caught. We reached the island as darkness approached and huried to set up tents and get a fire going. After a repeat performance for dinner it didn't take long before people started to turn in for the night. The weather had changed again during the night and actually warmed up enough that it actually got warm inside my tent. Upon waking up in the morning we ate and took our time as today would be a short paddle of only a few miles. We spent more time on this leg of the trip just floating and discussing how much fun was had over the last few days and discussing plans on when we could get together again. I really enjoy these trips whether I catch fish or not because of the time that I get to spend with some really good friends as well as the new friends that I make. With that being said it was nice to catch the amount of fish that we did.
Stay FISHY my friends.