I have been fishing and working so much lately, it's felt impossible to stop and reflect here on the blog. In line with that theme, I wanted to share someone else's work that you all will enjoy. See, I recently invited my friend Adam on a float for smallmouth bass. Adam is a phenomenal photographer and captured the day sharply on his website.
Have a look at the album (click the right side of pics to scroll through): http://www.adamalexanderphoto.com/#!/portfolio/G0000W6Kz37zVxB0/I0000hIHXUtFx7hQ
See more of Adam's work at adamalexanderphoto.com
-Tim
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
On the Glass--Graphite Divide
"I just don't care about glass rods." I found myself saying this in response to Cam Mortenson's recent article (here) after a friend forwarded it to me. That friend and I proceeded to have a constructive conversation on the case of Glass v. Graphite, resulting in some much needed reflection. Below are some of my arguments and resulting conclusions from that conversation:
I will use a glass rod if that's what I have (or what is available to me), and I get and respect the reasonable arguments that glass does well in-close (short-range shots), is generally accurate, and is very durable. I totally get that they can land fish of many sizes and species, and they have a distinct look to them in a market dominated by graphite. But these are not "advantages" of glass over graphite (e.g. accuracy is often facilitated by slowing down casting stroke). In fact, they could be seen as limitations. Whereas one can make a graphite rod into a full-flex, mid-flex, tip-flex, or super-tip-flex, one can really only make "slow" (i.e. full-flex) glass rods. With graphite, you can make a 3-weight rod anywhere from 6'-10' long and it will still be light enough for the weakest among us to fish all day without tiring. Hell, you could even make it a 7-piece pack rod and the weight would still be fairly negligible. One could paint the blank whatever color you want (and frankly, I wish the graphite industry move a little faster on giving us livelier options).
But authors promoting glass often conflate action with material, and even action with advantage. This is what bothers me most. Graphite rods do not have to be broomsticks. The flyfishing industry has seen an accelerated movement toward constructing stiffer and stiffer graphite rods over the last 2 decades. This may have opened the door for the glass renaissance. But it is still valid to criticize the broomstick movement from within the graphite arena. You don't have to throw graphite out with the bathwater. There is still a diversity of graphite rod actions available from which to choose.
And this is where I think we should be moving the conversation: Rather than glass versus graphite--like some kind of material-based team identity constantly duking it out--we should debate under what conditions certain flex profiles ("actions") are advantageous. When is a super-stiff rod better than a mid-flex? In what situations is a mid-flex better? How about a super-slow or full-flex rod? Many people have already written about this topic, and yet it still resolves into identity politics (e.g. "I'm a tip-flex guy").
One conclusion from such writings and observations, and reinforced in my own fishing, is that slow rods, including many glass, shine in the 10-40' range. This is a distance where many fish are caught, and it is surprisingly important in both fresh- and saltwater. Rising trout in Driftless spring creeks is a common thought, but how about sight-casting redfish from the bow of a poling skiff? In the later scenario, single fish sometimes pop up right next to the boat, and a slower rod can be an advantage. Maybe a mid-flex is the more versatile, but you get my point. Conversely, when blind casting 70'+ from a beach with dunes behind you and rising surf in front, or when chucking 10" musky flies on sinking lines, an ultra-fast tip-flex rod is your best ally. You want something that can turn it over, punch in the wind, and do it quickly, without wimping out. You'll forget your blog- or forum-loyalties when the frustration of the "wrong gear" mounts.
So you've heard my point. If not, here it is: reducing the complexity of rod engineering to a dichotomy of materials-as-identities dumbs us down and can create a poor fit between gear and conditions, and, not to mention, unnecessary drama. Was that clearer?
And let's not forget, this is fly-fishing. Unless you are working in the industry full-time, it's probably not life or death. In fact, we fish with fly gear and not bait because we can, because we don't need, because we aren't desperate for food, and because we want to set ourselves apart from those who use other gear. Ultimately, it's a privileged passion. Let's not let it get to our heads.
I will use a glass rod if that's what I have (or what is available to me), and I get and respect the reasonable arguments that glass does well in-close (short-range shots), is generally accurate, and is very durable. I totally get that they can land fish of many sizes and species, and they have a distinct look to them in a market dominated by graphite. But these are not "advantages" of glass over graphite (e.g. accuracy is often facilitated by slowing down casting stroke). In fact, they could be seen as limitations. Whereas one can make a graphite rod into a full-flex, mid-flex, tip-flex, or super-tip-flex, one can really only make "slow" (i.e. full-flex) glass rods. With graphite, you can make a 3-weight rod anywhere from 6'-10' long and it will still be light enough for the weakest among us to fish all day without tiring. Hell, you could even make it a 7-piece pack rod and the weight would still be fairly negligible. One could paint the blank whatever color you want (and frankly, I wish the graphite industry move a little faster on giving us livelier options).
But authors promoting glass often conflate action with material, and even action with advantage. This is what bothers me most. Graphite rods do not have to be broomsticks. The flyfishing industry has seen an accelerated movement toward constructing stiffer and stiffer graphite rods over the last 2 decades. This may have opened the door for the glass renaissance. But it is still valid to criticize the broomstick movement from within the graphite arena. You don't have to throw graphite out with the bathwater. There is still a diversity of graphite rod actions available from which to choose.
And this is where I think we should be moving the conversation: Rather than glass versus graphite--like some kind of material-based team identity constantly duking it out--we should debate under what conditions certain flex profiles ("actions") are advantageous. When is a super-stiff rod better than a mid-flex? In what situations is a mid-flex better? How about a super-slow or full-flex rod? Many people have already written about this topic, and yet it still resolves into identity politics (e.g. "I'm a tip-flex guy").
One conclusion from such writings and observations, and reinforced in my own fishing, is that slow rods, including many glass, shine in the 10-40' range. This is a distance where many fish are caught, and it is surprisingly important in both fresh- and saltwater. Rising trout in Driftless spring creeks is a common thought, but how about sight-casting redfish from the bow of a poling skiff? In the later scenario, single fish sometimes pop up right next to the boat, and a slower rod can be an advantage. Maybe a mid-flex is the more versatile, but you get my point. Conversely, when blind casting 70'+ from a beach with dunes behind you and rising surf in front, or when chucking 10" musky flies on sinking lines, an ultra-fast tip-flex rod is your best ally. You want something that can turn it over, punch in the wind, and do it quickly, without wimping out. You'll forget your blog- or forum-loyalties when the frustration of the "wrong gear" mounts.
So you've heard my point. If not, here it is: reducing the complexity of rod engineering to a dichotomy of materials-as-identities dumbs us down and can create a poor fit between gear and conditions, and, not to mention, unnecessary drama. Was that clearer?
And let's not forget, this is fly-fishing. Unless you are working in the industry full-time, it's probably not life or death. In fact, we fish with fly gear and not bait because we can, because we don't need, because we aren't desperate for food, and because we want to set ourselves apart from those who use other gear. Ultimately, it's a privileged passion. Let's not let it get to our heads.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Florida's Forgotten Coast
Zeph said it best after the trip: "I think the Captains were as stunned by the effects of the weather as the fish were."
If you remember from my recent post, there were Polar-Vortex-related hiccups getting down to Florida for some wintertime R&R. We ended up spending three quarters of Day 1 in the airport, swapping fish fantasies and eating overpriced junk food while our flight got delayed further and further. But we made it to our destination in St. Augustine before midnight safe and sound.
A call to Capt. James Dumas of Drum Man Charters tipped us off to a DIY spot to get us started. Zeph, Tiff, and myself loaded up on small bluefish at a nearby inlet despite 25-knot winds and 35 degree air temps (hey, at least it was 50 degrees warmer than Chicago!). It had gotten down to 24 degrees the night before, which was the coldest the area had seen in 2 decades. At least little bluefish don't care.
If you remember from my recent post, there were Polar-Vortex-related hiccups getting down to Florida for some wintertime R&R. We ended up spending three quarters of Day 1 in the airport, swapping fish fantasies and eating overpriced junk food while our flight got delayed further and further. But we made it to our destination in St. Augustine before midnight safe and sound.
A call to Capt. James Dumas of Drum Man Charters tipped us off to a DIY spot to get us started. Zeph, Tiff, and myself loaded up on small bluefish at a nearby inlet despite 25-knot winds and 35 degree air temps (hey, at least it was 50 degrees warmer than Chicago!). It had gotten down to 24 degrees the night before, which was the coldest the area had seen in 2 decades. At least little bluefish don't care.
Having wiped the trip skunk off early, we moved on to our main goal: redfish. To hedge our bets, we booked 2 half day trips with local guides--Capt. James Dumas of St Augustine and Capt John Botko of Jacksonville. Over the phone, both guides seemed optimistic as fishing had been off the charts before the cold snap (when isn't that the case?) and suggested such a short snap wouldn't affect the fishing noticeably (why do guides do this to themselves?).
First up was Capt. James, aka the "Drum Man." He showed a good instinct when we jumped on board and he told me my flies were too big. He handed me what looked like a bonefish slider with extra-small lead eyes to tie on. He had warned of high winds, but none of us were ready for the chill of being up on plane that day. We poled up tiny creek after tiny creek, which got us all in the mood for some winter reds. But the fish were strangely absent, and James seemed surprised at how low the water was.
It took us half of the half-day to find fish. That doesn't mean they cooperated. With high winds there was a chop on the water even in the little creeks, which left us blind to the fish's movements until we were on already top of them. They spooked quickly. Often they snuck right past our noses and under our boat without us noticing. We kept blind casting around oyster bars and deeper holes, sometimes putting a fly several times through an area we'd later find was full of fish. No takers. We moved to a spot where another captain had been catching small reds on bait but was leaving a few for us. A few casts and a few fly changes later, we caught some redfish on fly and Tiff got her first couple reds ever on bait.
Our time (and then some) was up but James felt bad about the fishing, so he stopped a flooding flat near an old bridge that he said would have some bluefish and possibly trout around. We didn't find more than one bluefish, but I think that's because this seatrout (my personal best) ate them all:
 See that faint brown and white in her mouth? That'd be my fly. |
 |
 |
| Seatrout = yum. |
All in all it was a decent day, but it required a lot of work from Capt James and us anglerfolk to put some fish in the boat during the coldest weather of the 21st century. James is a hardworking guide and a great guy to share the boat with. I recommend you give him a call if you check out the St. Auggie area.
We did a little more DIY fishing in the meantime, but never hit the tides right for the kind of action we saw the first time out. At least it was getting warmer and the wind was laying down. I did manage this nice surprise:
The second guide trip saw Zeph and myself aboard the skiff of Capt. John Botko. Everyone that we told we were going with John had a positive response. The dude is kind of a local legend. He is known to have secret schools of double-digit-sized redfish that only he can find. Needless to say, our excitement was high. It was even higher when we arrived to see the conditions for the day:
John showed us fish all day long. We had no shortage of fish to cast at. But they weren't having it. They didn't want to play, at least not with our flies. It wasn't for our performance, either, at least according to John; at one point, John told Zeph, "I'm gonna start calling you 'Lefty' with the way you're laying line out." That's a hell of a compliment if I ever heard one.
And Zeph did have his fly around some fish, including some very large ones for that area. But they didn't want the fake stuff. Feathers and fur weren't cutting it, at least not on the strip. To give us some faith, John had me throw a live minnow on a jig into the water where Zeph was casting. About 10 seconds later, I was tied into a 10lber.
We had blown all our shots at 100 big redfish before we realized they probably were so cold and lazy that they wanted the slowest, easiest, and most realistic meal. We swapped flies for mud minnow imitations and headed to a spot John said would have 5-10lb fish. Well, the size was a bit exaggerated, and we were headed into hour 6 of our 4-hour tour, but we found a few players.
We had accomplished our goal of redfish on flies, and amongst some of the tightest lockjaw these captains had ever seen. The weather was warming, and the nightmare of the Polar Vortex was a fading memory. It was time, however, that we return to the cold fishless winter of Chicago as our visit to this beautiful stretch of nature's nursery was over. I already miss Saint Augustine, a town that has so much charm and so many fish yet doesn't seem to get much press or many crowds. I could get used to this forgotten coast, and I hope to return another day...
Sunday, January 5, 2014
2014 season gets off, with hitch
Well, I had a feeling 2013 was going to be hard to top. It was perhaps my best fishing year to date--certainly in the running for the title. But on New Year's Eve, the snow starting coming down here in Chicago, and by Jan. 1, 2014 it was a nightmare. That storm just began to stop dumping snow, hundreds of flights in the midwest still delayed, people on hold for hours, and the roads were dismal if you could even see them--when all the sudden the forecast called for an even worse storm. Now we are in full blown Snowpocalypse with a foot of snow on the ground. Chicago in 2014 has yet to catch a break.
I bring this up because I have had a trip to St. Augustine, FL planned for this week. I've got guides booked for 2 days and I've even shipped some gear down there to wait for me. But this morning, I found out my flight for tomorrow was cancelled. Tiffany was possibly going to be stuck pulling a straight 24-hour double shift at the hospital--such is the life of a nurse in an emergency. But alas, with a little time, a moderate amount of anxiety and miscommunication, and luck, things are starting to look up. We changed our flight times twice but are now scheduled to leave tomorrow on a non-stop flight to Jacksonville, and Tiffany got to come home tonight and get some rest.
The weather down South isn't much better, relatively speaking. We'll arrive to a cold snap that will certainly put the fish down for a while. It will actually get down to 23F tomorrow night in St Augustine. Wild. We'll still wet a line, as you can't catch fish without hooks in the water.
Wish us luck.
I'll be back in time to see you all at our monthly bar flies event, Chi-Tie, on Jan. 13, when I'll demo some slider patterns. For more info, click here.
Cheers to 2014,
-Tim
I bring this up because I have had a trip to St. Augustine, FL planned for this week. I've got guides booked for 2 days and I've even shipped some gear down there to wait for me. But this morning, I found out my flight for tomorrow was cancelled. Tiffany was possibly going to be stuck pulling a straight 24-hour double shift at the hospital--such is the life of a nurse in an emergency. But alas, with a little time, a moderate amount of anxiety and miscommunication, and luck, things are starting to look up. We changed our flight times twice but are now scheduled to leave tomorrow on a non-stop flight to Jacksonville, and Tiffany got to come home tonight and get some rest.
The weather down South isn't much better, relatively speaking. We'll arrive to a cold snap that will certainly put the fish down for a while. It will actually get down to 23F tomorrow night in St Augustine. Wild. We'll still wet a line, as you can't catch fish without hooks in the water.
Wish us luck.
I'll be back in time to see you all at our monthly bar flies event, Chi-Tie, on Jan. 13, when I'll demo some slider patterns. For more info, click here.
Cheers to 2014,
-Tim
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