Tenkara USA - Great Customer Service

While I was out in Montana I experienced the misfortune of breaking the tip on one of my tenkara rods.
No fault of the rod, just a bone head move on my part.

When I returned home, I placed an order for a new tip section.  Two days later I was holding the new tip section in my hands.  Repairing one of these rods could not be easier.  Simply unscrew the cap on the base of the butt and remove the damaged sections then insert the new replacement section.

Everything is back together and the rod is good as new.  Note to self...no more attempts to drag 20+" brown trout out of log jams.

Keep up the good work guys!

Montana Traffic Jam

Hailing from the east coast I am no stranger to congested roadways.  But an early morning traffic jam was the last thing I expected to experience in the wilds of Montana.  I guess commuters are the same everywhere!

Big Bugs

One of the things I love about Montana is that there are still waters where you can cast big flies to fish and not send them scurrying off to cover.  I guess one reason is the fish are used to seeing big insects.  The most famous being the salmon fly.

Although we missed the salmon fly hatch year there were still plenty of big bugs around for the taking.  Big bugs are not limited to the dry fly fisherman.  Nymphal forms of these insects are an even more popular food form for these fish.

    

                                                    Yes, there are two hands holding up these salmon fly nymphs

As I mentioned, the salmon flies were gone, except for a few wayward adults flying about.  However, there was another hatch coming off that was just as good.  Stone flies and big ones at that...

But the stone fly family does not have the market cornered when it comes to big bugs.  There were plenty of hoppers around to keep the fish fat and happy as well.  Hell, even the caddis flies are on steroids out there!

Now, if only the fish that ate these bugs were as big...

Iris Caddis

This fly is the bomb!  I was told that the fly was originally developed by Blue Ribbon Flies as a mayfly emerger but it was soon was adopted to fish during caddis hatches.  The most prominent hatching insect during our trip to Montana was caddis flies and this fly cleaned up when ever caddis were on the water.  It proved itself to be a very versatile fly. We fished it up stream and down on a dead drift.  We swung them like wet flies.  We fished them greased up, floating high and dry and fished them soggy and wet under the surface.  Dead drifting or twitching, once you figured out how the fish were feeding it was like taking candy from a baby!

Recipe:
Hook:  Size 15 TMC 102Y (great hook but good luck finding them)
Thread:  Grey or white
Body:  Hares ear zelon mix
Tail (shuck):  Amber crinkled zelon
Wing:  White straight zelon

The fish simply ate this fly, it was a very consistent producer for us on fish both large and small.

Tenkara Line Holder

Jason Klass from Backpack Flyfishing has posted a neat line holder for tenkara lines.

Photo from backpackflyfishing.com

I love the simplicity of this set-up.  I have been been using tenkara rods quite a bit this season.  I've learned that you definitely need a method for managing your line when breaking down the rod.  I will break down the rod every time I change locations because walking around with a 13' rod fully extended is flirting with disaster.  A way to quickly store your line and leader is an essential part of the system.  Nice job on this one!

Montana 2010

I just returned from a trip from Montana.  I spent ten days fishing in the West Yellowstone area.  The trip out there was torture, the fishing was a little tougher than usual but the weather was perfect.  Over the next few days I'll share some of the details of my trip.  Overall it was a great trip.

There's Hope...

We snagged a late night flight into Bozeman. The big question now is will we get there before the car rental joint closes. Delta still SUCKS...


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Location:Glumack Dr,Fort Snelling,United States

Stranded...

We'll we missed our connecting flight and we're stuck in Minneapolis until 9:00 am tomorrow morning. Working on a plan B that may get us out tonight. Did I mention Delta SUCKS!


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Location:Glumack Dr,Fort Snelling,United States

Grounded!

I've been stuck at Newark Airport since 6:00am. I'm going miss my connecting flight to Bozeman MT, if I can get one at all. Why you ask? Because some forgot to charge a frigging battery on the plane! But no worries I received a $7.00 meal voucher from Delta that won't even buy a sandwich in this airport! Delta SUCKS!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Radar Rd,Newark,United States

A long dry spell...

I'm finally getting around to wetting a line after a long dry spell, but not here in New Jersey. Extremely hot temperatures here in the northeast put an early end to my trout fishing in New Jersey early in June. As a personal rule I stop fishing when water temps near 70 degrees. I started seeing those numbers on a regular basis by mid June so I'm giving the trout a break until the fall. Things heated up a little early this year. While doing some stream inmprovement work last month I observed close to a hundred fish stacked like cordwood at the outflow of a small cold water feeder creek. I usually don't see that behavior in these parts until the peak of summer in late July or August.
Where am I fishing? The promised land of trout fishing... Montana! At the moment I a sorting through a mountain of gear to get ready for next week's trip. After almost a month without a fly rod in my hand I'm going through withdrawals.