skagit master 3 DVD is out

Just watched it! I have to say I enjoy every second of it! Awesome production of new water media again! It's not only about the flies, but also the culture and stories behind those amazing steelheaders! Cool stuff... get your copy from the Skagitmaster.com or from Red Shed Fly Shop! You will love it! : )

more gear - Hardy Marksman

Hardy Marksman is another remarkable series to look into. I cast some of them during a clave gathering and feel really good about it.

Dec Hogan style

know how to let go and stay to where you want to be...

steelhead fishing with kids

read this wonderful write up from SteelieMike LINK

rod test

something you should know about handling rods...

not exactly right, but close... SAGE evolution

1980 GFL Stood for Graphite Fly Rod. Used alone and in conjunction with other model names for years. Not really considered a model name. 1982 RP Reserve Power for long Casts Graphite II 1982 LL Traditional Action 2-5 Weight (LL=Light line) Graphite II 1983 MA Medium Action Entry level unsanded grey rod with simple hardware 1985 RPL or Graphite III RPL Reserve Performance Light 1985 LL Graphite III LL 1986 RPLX Saltwater 8-12 Weight 1986 DS Discovery Series - Moderate Action Replaced the RP 1986 TH? Double Handed ? 1994 SP Generation IV Graphite with Durascrim 1995 SP+ Generation IV Graphite with Durascrim 1995 RPL+ Faster than the RPL. Would be considered moderately fast by todays standards 1997 VPS Replacement for the RPL Back to Gen III 1997 VPSL Replacement for the LL Gen III with lesser components 1997 SPL "Best of show" new rods*Gen III 1997 RPLxi Revised and improved saltwater*Gen III 1998 DS2 Lower Price point Graphite II or Graphite III Not even close to sure about the year 1999 XP Lighter narrower tapered Fast Action Gen IIIe 2002 SLT Medium Fast Action Gen IIIe 2002 TCR Ultra fast action for experianced Casters 2003 LE Entry Price Point Rod 2004 Xi2 New Saltwater rod was first with new generation 5 (G5) Technology 2005 TXL Near weightless for light lines G5 2005 Fli Entry Level Fast Action taper with maximum power transfer G5 2005 Launch Entry Level smoth progressive power curve and very high strength to weight ratio*G5 2006 VT2 Mid price point upgrade to long running VPS 2007 Z-Axis Ultimate Fast Action Rod coupled with trmendous feel (2 piece, 4 piece, Spey and Switch 2008 BASS Finally released after years of development and even showed up on magazine covers with Snook, Baby Tarpon and Pike 2008 ZXL Medum action Cousin to the Z-Axis in weights 3-6 2009 TCX Replacement for TCR but fitting a wider range of castins styles (kryptonite green) Current ONE Flagship "all-around" rod Fast Action Current VXP Ultra high speed line and slender shaft begginer to experianced Current Flight Great features and a great price Current Vantage Medium Fast value rod Current TXL-F Light Line Ultra lightweight Current ZXL Easy and Relaxed like the classic action rods Current Xi3 Salt Water Replacement for Xi2 Current 99 Nymph angler 9'9" with unique taper to make open loops Current BASS II Upgrraded for faster line speeds for big flies still good for Bass, Snook, or Tarpon, Pike and Musky Current ESN Designed for european lirect line nymphing with multimple flies

bogdan

think like a trout

bike love

inspiration..

two thumbs up!

stillwater spey

Skagit Floater - Ed Ward

New Article From Ed Ward - Skagit Floater. Worth your attention, great technique! originally posted on the Skagit Master Forum: LINK Anyways, I am/will be out of my usual PNW salmon/steelhead environs more so than ever for the foreseeable future. It's not necessarily a bad thing as this circumstance has prompted me to continue expanding my applications of Skagit principles beyond the "usual" salmon/steelhead arena. As of late that has meant floating line tactics for bass. I have presented some thoughts on floating Skagit in the past, but my most recent focusing of attention to this aspect of Skagit is really firming up some of those previous thoughts and quite frankly proving quite exciting in actual capability. Of course, I can't "prove" or demonstrate a system's capabilities via a written post, the "best I can do" being at this time presenting an example that some of you may be able to duplicate. My example is a 9'6" Loomis Streamdance singlehander that has had a 4" lower handle added on. The line is a Beulah Tonic (can't remember the original configuration... sorry) that has been cut back to 256 grains @ 17'. To this line I have attached a floating tip of 50 grains @ 6' in length. This tip taken off the front end of a Cortland 9 weight Bass Bug line. The leader is a 31" butt of 20# fluoro, followed by 26" of 16# fluoro, then ending in a tippet of 32" 12# fluoro. There's nothing "scientific" about this configuration, just something I threw together for the purpose at hand and it worked well enough. I'm sure that with a bit of research and/or effort, one could come up with a more efficient graduation than this. The purpose is the casting of 2 1/2" - 3 1/2" streamers weighted with 1/60th ounce lead eyes. Now for the results. This setup casts the described flies with very impressive loops (considering the size/weight of fly on a class 6 rod) and really impressive line speed. Distances of up to 70ish feet were very do-able and bear in mind that this is with confined backcasting room. What really "wowed" me is Skagit casting's ability to "slide" flies under overhanging obstructions. Now, I'm not saying that it is quite up to par with sidearming an overhead cast with a singlehanded rod, but it seems fairly close and it is definitely several degrees better than I've ever seen anyone accomplish with a T&G based cast, especially with a barbell-eyed fly. Also, at distances of 50', 60', 70', I don't know that I could best the Skagit casting performance by using instead a sidearm overhead when casting a 3 1/2" weighted streamer at those distances. I believe that the "line ascending off the water into the D-loop" property of Skagit casting (a very seldom talked about or even recognized difference of Skagit casting from T&G casting) offers up an advantage for accomplishing very low trajectory forward casts as compared to T&G's "descending towards the water into the D-loop". In the T&G casting procedure there is an upward "thrust" of the rod into the D. In Skagit casting there is instead a separating-of-planes Turnover. The separating-of-planes Turnover is suited to being performed in quite a lateral aspect and can thus be manipulated to project the D also into quite the lateral attitude which then results in a very low trajectory Forward Cast. Another thought on casting. I must admit that for the longest time I was not an advocate of the C/Snap type casts... I saw way too many fly-to-rod-or-angler collisions. I learned over time that the most common cause of this circumstance was "pre-loading" the rod. In other words, too much power was being applied too quickly at the very beginning of the cast, which then "loads" (pre-load) the rod PRIOR to the line actually coming out of the water. The pre-loaded rod then "casts" the line into uncontrollable flight when the line does finally in fact clear the water, often resulting in the aforementioned collision scenarios. A major key to "safe" C/Snap casts is an initial slow, smooth acceleration which "breaks" the water tension on the line. Once this tension is broken, THEN the significant power application/acceleration is applied. This process then produces an aerialization of the line that is smooth, controlled and predictable. Since learning that fact and being presented with considerable angling scenarios involving slow or still waters, the C/Snap has become one of my most used casts for slow/still waters. The version I find most useful is in between a full-on C or full-on Snap. Basically it is a slow initial pull of the rod tip to break water tension, then a smooth but quick acceleration of the rod upward, using just enough power to aerialize the line, then follow "around" with the rod using just enough speed to just maintain "contact" with the aerialized line, and then just before the line plops back onto the water I give a slight push of the rod tip towards the water's surface, but angle that push of the rod tip directly away from me. This then results in the line forming an upside down "U" that starts at the rod-tip-on-the-water, and then scribes away towards the intended "target", to then turn in the upside down "U" and trace back towards and alongside me. Yeah, the description is complicated, but it is intended to just give an idea of what's happened. The shape and location of this line layout results in very powerful, high speed casts that produce the type of casting accuracy needed for casting under overhanging obstructions or into confined pockets. Of course describing casts in "writing" produces a very subjective conveyance... hopefully the next SkagitMaster DVD will remedy the situation. Using the system as described, with mostly the cast described, I have found that angling on a wading-friendly river that generally ranges from 50' to 100' in width, with a 9 1/2' 6 weight singlehanded/doublehanded conversion is not only do-able, but quite efficient and enjoyable... in other words it isn't just a "novelty" rig or gig. For someone that truly considers the fun of doublehanded casting to be a necessary part of the angling experience, this type of rod configuration can be cast singlehanded for "close-in" accuracy (25'-40') and then doublehanded for distance work. Also, there is noticeably less physical strain casting/fishing this rod in a conversion capacity all day long with 3"ish weighted streamers, than there is using the same rod strictly in a singlehanded capacity all day long. Lastly, I want to describe my "validation" process for the super short floating tips so that the credibility of the advice I give/have given via internet forums can be more thoroughly understood. I first started playing around with sub-10' floating tips on Skagit line some 5-6ish years ago. However, due to my experience using them being of rather, in my mind, limited nature (mousing in Alaska, some drylining for Grande Ronde Steel), I did not present any info about them publicly even though they were showing a lot of promise. About 4 years ago, circumstances provided me with ever increasing needs for using a floating line as quarry such as Washington Searun Cutthroat, Alaska Silvers, Montana and Colorado trout, Texas and Wisconsin Bass, became more viable subjects for doublehanded tactics due to the "advent" of light class Switch rods and with that increased experience I felt confident enough in the system to start suggesting that anyone interested in "experimenting" might find it worth their time to try a 5'-6' floating tip on their Skagit line. Then, finally, in the last year I took the short float tip approach and really put it through the gauntlet by pressing it into service through circumstances beyond where it "should" function in order to determine the window of capability. I now feel extremely confident that using a 5'-6' floating tip on Skagit lines is the optimum system for Skagit floating line work and recommend that anyone that is versed in SA concepts should acquire or manufacter one for their Skagit setup and experience the advantages that are yielded over the 10', 12', or 15' tips usually prescribed. I am so confident in thie short float tip approach that I have cut my MOW floaters back to 5' or 6' in length! So, now you know that story and hopefully the description of my "process" also conveys the fact that advice, recommendations, and/or opinions that I offer up in public on or about Skagit casting are not arrived at "lightly" and are pretty much about as thoroughly researched as Skagit subjects can get.

wetfly techniques

what I am going to do this coming Monday! : )

super instructor

My first casting DVD that I learned how to cast a fly line. learning fly casting from the super instructor! I was amazed today how much useful information in there when I re-watch it again, how much useful information can be apply to spey casting as well... importance of the initial lift for all fly castings!

summer is here...

Ian Gordon

sage one