late March fishing

two men try to freeze their ass off and get some fun... : )
great work! Brother

drawings for kids

some random drawings for several kids... happy birthday!

when geniuses came together...

it's amazingly fun!

inspiration from a steelhead project

inspiration from a still life painting

see how cool it is to paint a orange and enjoyed it at the same time. I always get inspired by Duane Keiser's works. His still life painting is just amazing, lovely and fun.

dinner after Prather lectures

few days ago, a bunch of postdocs and faculty were invited to the dinner after a prestigious Prather lectures in Harvard. Although the topic has been a bit murkier in my mind (worm behavior in neuroscience), the freshness of the great seafood and wine has been a solid wonderful experience. What a wonderful night out with my lab mates and advisor. Niclas, it would be great to have you there! Maybe next time! : )

shall we love Johnny Cash?

feel the hippie spirit in my blood... sometimes...

let music soothe our broken hearts

Mstislav Rostropovich (LINK) One of the greatest cellists play Dvorak Cell Concerto - B minor third movement.
If you feel there are too much sadness to bear in your heart lately, this is a great piece of work for a unstable soul. My disturbing mind always getting better after enjoy this great performance.

About this piece of work, quotes from Wiki: the third movement was a tribute to the memory of his recently deceased sister-in-law, Josefina Čermakova. Specifically, the slow, wistful section, before the triumphant ending, quotes his series of songs "The Cypresses", Čermakova's favorite piece.
Dvořák's friend and mentor Johannes Brahms had written a double concerto for violin and cello in 1887, eight years before Dvořák's cello concerto. He corrected the proofs of Dvořák's concerto for the composer and hence he knew the work intimately from the score.[9] In 1886, Hausmann had played it at his home with Brahms' piano accompaniment, and Brahms is reported as saying: "If I had known that it was possible to compose such a concerto for the cello, I would have tried it myself!" LINK

Dvoľák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, 'From the New World'

Donation to Japan Red Cross

(sold)


(sold)

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

Dear friends,

as you know Japan is suffering from the big earthquake disaster at this moment. Google.com has set up a donation pages for the Japan Red Cross. I am sure the little money we give have very little effect to the people in the deep trouble. However, as part of the international community, I sincerely believe those good will wishes (little donations) will act as a good will seed that encourage more people to stand up on their own feet from the trouble. If you can, check out this Google page.

Here I offer two of my current paintings for sale in 50% off price ($75 each, free shipping). All the sale money will donate to the Google pages. see photos. Email me if you are interested in buying them. markyuhina AT gmail Dot com. I am planning to paint more in the near future for the donation. Mark

bird drawings - spoon-billed sandpiper

highly endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (estimated only 500 pairs around the globe. I have seen it 3 times in my life, so far) and White-breasted nuthatch (common in North America, saw 1 time, so far)

drawing birds

I can't think of my life without birds... drawing birds are just pure joys and it really calm me down...here is some stuff I am working on...

miso

who doesn't like miso soup?! : ) I am a big fan of miso soup, it's one of the staple dishes to me. the secret of miso soup is to use the best miso you can get... then be sure not to mix the miso into the soup too early. You wait for the ingredients to fully cooked; usually tofu, herb meuga, onion and other stuff you wish (fish or other vegetable as i like).. then the finally step is just mix in some miso gently and few drop of rice wine and minced green onion. Never boiling the miso soup. It will reduce the rich flavor.
Check out this great blog - Savory Japan - for more information! great blog!

beautiful casting

Check this out! beautiful casting - long lines

essential elements in life

What is the 3 essential elements in life? I am thinking this silly question while on my way to the museum of fine art in Boston. (the weather is 47F sunny BTW... Spring time is in the air : ) )
What is the 3 essential elements for me? sun, air, water? no. Those are foundation of life! How about family, friendship and love? no, although those are as important as foundation of life, but not the essential element of life in me. Ha... it is so fun to stripe myself down and think about what is the key player in my life. I need sun, air, and water to be able to stay thinking, I need family, friendship and love to reflect myself and be able to survival. How about myself alone? look inside myself, what constitute me? What make me happy and happy to be alive everyday? Those are got to be essential elements in life, in me!

Ah-Ha ... I got the answer! It's Science, Nature and Art. Those are 3 elements in life in me! Without Science, my life would be so bored... without Nature, I would look dull as hell...without Art? how could I express my appreciation to the bright color in Nature? Now, I feel my life is fulfilled!

I visited the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. It's HUGE! another amazing discovery! I walked in the door and said to myself... This place is amazing! I want to be here as much as possible. The architecture is such a great art itself. The exhibitions are way cool than what I expected... I just ran into several Egypt mummies and ancient art by accident, what a amazing imaginations of those ancient people... The most funny/inspiration thing I noticed is that they used a lot of animal figures into the decoration, snake, dog, birds. I noticed the wings patterns has been viewed as luck, bracing with peace, just like what we would think in the modern day. And I can tell there are some power and wisdom to the falcon figure. So cool to see those bird decorations! What a wonderful visit! Now, I am a member of MFA, so it is unlimited visits for a whole year! I can't wait to go back : )

Mark's summer plan

My brother BG sent me this summer plan this morning... make me so hard to sit still in the office

--------------------------
Bryan's plan - Draft 1-

Mark will be flying in style on the red-eye. He will be landing in Bozeman where he will be greet'd, then loaded into a truck. From there, he will be traveling to almost legendary Rick Matney's quaint and humble home. He will feast upon local killed game animals such as deer, elk, and who knows what else. Oh, and if lucky some almost famous RM Breakfast sausage . He will fish "river xcd6032-1.7q" for a few days while boating trophs with legit tested RM pattens. Shortly after he will exchange a hand shake and maybe a bro-hug from almost legendary Rick Matney. He will then be traveling through the beautiful canyon, through Yellowstone National Park, on his way to the majestic Henrys Fork. Here at the proving grounds Mark will then test his full year of theories, patterns and style on one of the most technical fishery in world. He will be seen sipping tea in the mornings at the lodge and sharing a natty-light beverage on the river banks with established living legends such as Rene' Harrop. He will probably break his stupendous 25 3/4" record that he holds over his dear friend BG, who is coming in short at a mere 24 3/16". From here the good Dr. will be visiting some new steams with 'secret' fish. Here he will be learning a new specie while quietly yet very intense-ly studying pretty much everything that has, or might have, DNA. And alas, the trip is nearing an end, so back to almost legend Rick Matney's lair for one last day of fishing, some grub and some whiskey. Before dawn he will be traveling to the Bozeman airport with another year of adventure under his belt :)

Living in a dream - Harvard MCZ museum

Living in a dream - Harvard MCZ museun.
Harvard MCZ (museum of comparative zoology) is AMAZING! I can't be happier to have my office just in the museum! It is a treasure cave and a heaven for a bird lover!!
Just the other day we had a public touring event, we pulled out some amazing bird specimens, include this amazing baby! - paradise tanager! regardless almost one hundred years old soul of this cutie, the plumages are shinny just like a jewel! See how my hand was shacking when holding this pretty! How amazing! I am living in a dream to be with those amazing specimen! : ) If you are living in the NE Boston area, you got to visit this place! more to come...


(noted: those images are all copy righted, so if you are interested in using them for educational purposed, please contact me first. Thanks)

What is a intruder fly?!

what is a intruder fly? some orthodox hard-cord tyers say: only flies that were tied from original materials and method can be called Intruder fly! Here is the suggestion for them. Look up the skgitmaster DVD1 - featuring Ed Ward. Intruder is a style of tying big profile fly!
I really don't have any idea how those hard-cord tyers come to a conclusion that everything should be on "original". If "original material" is a essential element in tying flies, I think I won't enjoy tying fly as much! The fun part of fly tying to me is NOT follow the instruction step by step, instead, it is SO fun to just use a idea and make your own! Just like cooking! see below how Mr. Ed Ward response to those people! Brilliant! I have been waiting for his response sooooo long!! Thanks Ed!
Original LINK: http://www.speypages.com/speyclave/showthread.php?t=46677&page=2&highlight=riveraddict
----------------------------------
Riveraddict
Registered User

Keep in mind...
...that the Intruder isn't just "my" fly. It is a collaboration of efforts of several individuals, myself, Jerry French, and Scott Howell being the most "public" of the "clan". An "official" definition isn't on the books. Personally, I consider it to be a descriptor for a general "style" of tie. If one were to see a sampling of mine, Jerry's, and Scott's flies together, there would be a perceivable difference between our ties, but also a definite similarity. That similarity would be the incorporation of a wound or spun "under collar" to provide a "propping up" of another larger-than-standard wound or hackled material in order to create a large-yet-not-solid or opaque, fly profile with maximum animation and better large fly castability due to the "size" of the fly being established via material "hydrodynamics" rather than "amount" of materials used. This under collar plus propped material we call "stations". We have Intruders tied with from only one station, all the way up to four, depending on size of fly. My "summer box" is stuffed with SINGLE station Intruders. I generally use deer hair collars on my stations, while Jerry and Scott are more into Arctic Fox and Polar bear. Our propped materials have ranged from Ostrich and Rhea, to marabou, turkey, swan, various pheasants, Arctic Fox, craft fur... you name it, we've probably used it. With the use of a little imagination outside traditional concepts of a fly, the opportunities for creating unique ties are almost limitless. We don't claim to be the originators of "propping" materials in flies by any means, but, prior to the Intruder, propping had not been a "mainstream" tieing method, nor had it been employed to the extent with which the Intruder has taken it.

Having a good time

Those videos just reminded me how much fun I have in shooting wedding photos..

tuna

babies are joys and hopes

suddenly, our lab is full of babies! they are joys and hopes of our future! go babies! : )

amazing!

photography and projects

a very interesting talk, to see how a photography project was started from a scratch and come to alive... cool!

rusty brown

Phew... finally find some time and get my hands back to paints an brushes, 2011 season! A bit rusty, so called it "rusty brown" : )

tying desk - Sat. at work

some beers, some jazz and classical, feathers and hooks... life is good!

nuts

Happy Birthday to those born on Feb!

Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln today! and yesterday to Thomas Edison, 10 days from now to George Washington. 10 days before? it's a bird's birthday! You know, people born on Feb. always carry some imaginations! : )

Harvard in it's deep winter

It's cold! But we have a warm lab, great people, great lab and a lot of great works around here! I am truly appreciating to be in Harvard! : ) see how the fly color match the snow field under moonlight! Inspired by those positive energy! : )

Foxy flies

crab!

Reading those kind of news is just sad and disturbing! "Finding crabs on the bottom of the ocean isn't that big a deal. But here in Antarctica, crabs haven't lived in coastal waters for the past 40 million years. Until now, it's been too cold.""...What's happened is that the waters around the Antarctic peninsula have begun to get warmer. The air temperature has jumped 6 degrees Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since the 1950s, while the average ocean temperature has increased by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) over the same time." continue reading LINK

ski, not fishing

Warning: This video has nothing to do with fishing....What I love about this video is because it share the same excitement during traveling... To the unknown destinations, I feel it...

ProTubes

ProTube rocks!

fish, cook, good living

intruders

i made some flowers for you E. take care!

a letter to Minister Shea - Canada

Dear Minister Shea

Many people are concerned about the state of wild Pacific salmon and whether your Ministry is doing enough to maintain these fish. The reports that the Fraser sockeye maybe infected with a retrovirus is disturbing and alarming. We, the undersigned, believe your Ministry, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), has the responsibility to do everything possible to identify what this virus is, where it came from and if its’ affect can be reduced. To that end we are writing to inform you that we want DFO to do a genomic analysis and appropriate tests on farm salmon, both Chinook and Atlantics, for retroviruses. We also ask that you do everything possible to confirm the identity of this potential virus. Fraser sockeye are an important food source to thousands of people.

This is the only responsible action that you can take. There is no good reason to avoid this investigation. We need to be able to move past this. I let people know they could join me in making this request to you. Here are their comments and names
Download To Minister Shea

no fishing, tie more...

palolo worm hatch and Tarpon fishing

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1029_041029_palolo_worms.html



Another VIDEO LINK

San Juan Worms for Tarpon? Yes, and it is "match the hatch" practice too! see the above videos about this epic worm hatch in Florida Key. I did a quick search of this marine worm hatch - the palolo worm. Find a interesting article LINK above. "The worms" actually is just part of the worm! It is part of the worm body contain sperm and eggs, float free and swing to the surface. What a amazing reproduction behavior!

Farm Salmon Virus

------------------from Alexandra Morton LINK
Norwegian companies are operating in Chile and a Norwegian strain of the Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAv) has spread through the industry causing its collapse in 2008/9. Every country with Norwegian salmon feedlots now has ISA, but this was the first time no one could argue wild fish had infected the farm salmon, as the current Norwegian strain could not have reached Chile in wild fish. As the enormous Chilean farm salmon supply dwindled, the global price of farm salmon increased actually benefiting some of the Norwegian companies operating in Chile. Although the industry is now moving into pristine Chilean waters the virus is following them, suggesting it could now be in a wild species of fish and Chile is permanently contaminated. Chilean production remains a fraction of what it was a few years ago.

One hundred eighty tonnes of ISA infected Chilean salmon were processed in November 2010. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration appears to consider ISA infected salmon safe for human consumption, but a group of Chilean Senators have become concerned and filed a petition to prohibit sale of ISA infected salmon for human consumption. The virus is reportedly in the same family as the flu. --------------
Continue reading HERE

go big! or go home..

Just read a great article in Deniki outdoors blog - LINK It is so refreshing to see people using big flies. I mean BIG FLIES. It reminded me all the great time I have in Alabama fish for stripers. Go big, or go home! Casting big flies requires specially attentions, debarbed hooks, eyes protections, and even helmet. Ha... The training will open up another window for predatory fish hunting. To me, that is exciting! One year, me and my fishing buddy Dennis decided to do a murky water bass fishing... he ended up hooked a 4 feet long gar in a murky water. It was so cool to see those big ancient fish! In south, you really don't need too many f;y patterns, one zonker, or put two tube zonkers together... down and dirty is what we play! : )
For short skagit line we have in the market today, it is so easy to cast those big and heavy zonker flies. As the article mentioned, keep tension, keep the momentum going and the casting will go smooth... I haven't fish the big murky water for steelhead yet, but I know there is time for big and heavy flies : )

"If you don't know where the fish lie but can cast well enough to cover all the water with finesse, you are likely to solve the mystery and catch fish. If you know where they lie but can neither reach them or present the fly naturally, you are not even in the game"

Joan Wulff

snow. good food, and fly tying..

what could I say?! LIFE IS GOOD! : )

Ponoi, Umba, Solar Chrome

cabin fever? checked!

smell like intruder

This past Sunday, I have decided to visit the local Orvis store in downtown Boston. After did a little bit research, I found out it actually fairly close to the T station on the state street. Only a few block walk, I was in the center of famous Quincy Market! What a beautiful store! It's always a great experience to visit Orvis stores, because people there are always friendly, and Orvis always stocking high quality tying materials. For weekend tier like me, quality is more important than quantity : ) Walking in a beautiful "candy" shop, what could you expect from a kid? I ended up buying more materials than what I need... @@. Most importantly, I just happened run into a bunch of nice Ostrich herls, very high quality, reasonable price, and amazingly beautiful dye! some nice saddles, marabous... ahh... Ijust can't resist all those nice feathers... My original goal is to stock up some tubes. Well, they happened to run out of it... but Steve later told me, no need for buying the HMH tubes, just pick up some coffee straws from the Red Barn coffee store about one block away. What? "Yes, I always tie my tube flies from the coffee straws". Well... I guess if it is free... it doesn't hurt to give it a try! : )

fine tuning the swing - Scott Howell - The man

I want to share some technique here that I got from Mr. Scott Howell. A really great technique to fine tune the sinktip system. Allow the fly still swing in a low speed deep pool and make sure they are "alive" and eager to entice a take from steelhead. I really appreciate Scott's generousity to answer my question. He is the man! Thank you Scott! (Noted: this attached video is NOT from skagitmater2, this is a film from Leland fly TV). check it out more video here!

---------------------------------------
Hey Scott,

The DVD is awesome! I received the DVD last night and have watched it twice! Great casting and techniques!

I have similar question about using the long leader and weighted fly couple with sinktip. I was wondering what is the function of using sinktip in this situation? Is because to make the flyline has less hinge and form a better angle for control?
I used to fish similar deep slot situation for striper bass (big river) a lot. I use dry or intermediate tip and long leader set up.

Thanks!

Mark
---------------------------------------
Hey Mark,
Thanx for the kind words regarding the DVD.

Good question - let me start by saying that there are certainly scenarios were a heavily weighted fly fished on a floating line with a long leader is sufficient. This could be the case in moderate depth water that is extremely slow. There were a couple tailouts to the tanks I spoke of above that I fished exactly this system. But, when responding to the original question, I envisioned water that had enough speed and depth to require a light tip as well. It doesn't take much current to raise even a large lead eyed fly high into the water column if fished on a floating line. The heavy fly/long leader/sink tip system lets us benefit from the best of both worlds. The fly is able to sink unhindered from the tip an thus immediately fall to the desired depth before the fly begins to swing. Using the tip of your rod to control tension on the line, it is possible to keep the fly deep for a portion of the swing. But at some point, tension will come on the fly and that is when it will start to raise in the water column. This is where the tip comes into play. Different weight tips then control how much lift you ultimately get. In most scenarios that I envisioned KJ was asking about, a light tip of some sort does the trick. Like I said in my last post, to truly dial the system in for each pool, it will take a little fine tuning.

To simplify my method of fine tuning, let me set-up a fairly slow sample pool that is 10 ft deep that gradually slopes up to 3 ft deep where I am standing. This is a scenario that would present the kind of "hang-up" issues KJ wrote of. I would probably start my surveying by fishing a 4ft integrated tip with a large lead eyed fly on a long 10-12 ft leader. First, I want to find a fly weight/leader length combo that allows me to get close to the bottom (without hanging) before my fly starts to swing. Once I find find that magic combination, I then start fine tuning my tip. I obviously want a tip that lets my bug swing thru the entirety of its swing without touching bottom. Being as anal as I am, I usually keep increasing the length/weight of my tip until I find bottom at some point thru my swing. Then, once I know I have found the tip that is just a bit too heavy, it is easy to lighten up a notch and feel confident I'm down at max depth. Two points: 1) this is a simplified scenario for example purposes 2) as an angler gets accustomed to approaching these deep slow water tanks, you get a real sense for the perfect combo without a lot of trial and error (it is not as cumbersome as my example may lead one to believe).

Let me end by saying, I also use this same concept with heavy tips to get down fast and stay down in deep fast slots.

In short , the heavy fly/long leader/tip system lets you get deep immediately and stay at your desired depth thru the swing.

More later if needed to clear things up - I'm dead tired!

Good business, good will, sustained

Not sure when got me thinking about business… I never see myself will be a businessman, and probably will never be. However, as a consumer, I do dealing with businessmen pretty much everyday, I guess same as everybody. About 15 years ago, one of my best friend told me: "doing online business is burning your money to chase the smoke, but if you did not make a online business, you will perish like smoke". It turns out he is right. Look around what business is not doing online thing now a day? Even a food truck outside of my department as telling me to follow him on the tweeter and facebook! How long I have been doing online ordering? Well almost 99% of my flyfishing material came from online ordering… PS. I don’t have any local shop near me to support, and I don’t really fish local waters, sadly! I do, however, do my best to support the local shop when I went to my destination. (yeah, exchange the favors of local fishing report! ha).
So, no one can escape from the big brother “internet”. I probably spent too much time blogging and mumbling on the internet than what I should. What I have noticed is as the business expanding through internet, reputations also become important cause it speeding up and spread out like thunder and fire. You can ignore it, but people are not going to stop talking or tweetering. (good or bad reputations). Thus, I have found good reputations become more powerful in the online business. It’s just a matter of few hours, and suddenly everybody is talking about it! (online forums, blogs, facebook...) It’s really scary that I have so many things on the finger tips. Too much information and too quick!
Now, what is the good thing about the online business? What they going to impact on our environments ? Good online businessmen is doing good thing to our society and the power is far from we can imagine (allow me to put it up front here). For instance, the red shed fly shop (online web). I am sure if you are a member of speypages, you will noticed the red shed fly shop. MJC (a.k.a Poppy) is the shop owner. He always has something to say on the forum, something blunt, sharp, funny and wise. When he talk, everybody is listening. I think he probably is one of the important attractions in the speypages. Ha… we are fortune to have such wiseman around. The concept he is spreading is nothing short than the current conservation movement. Sustain and good will. He is the one 24/7 online, helping answer all sort of questions. Newbies should feel lucky to have him around! What is the return? Online business! I always order my fishing materials from him. Not only his material is the best, he also always give you some invaluable suggestions. I am sure many other people are doing the same like me, it’s mutualism. The future online business is base on this kind of mutual relationship. The other company I like a lot is Patagonia. If you have chance to visit their website, some youtubes interview, you will realize they have been doing good thing for several decades. And people appreciate that, support them, they return their good will (1% for the planet) to the society. It’s the same principle = mutualism. I still remember there is one interview to Yvon Chouinard (CEO, Patagonia). He is talking about several important turning points in his business. When he needed to make big decisions, every time, he made the decision toward environmental friendly. And it turns out they were the best decisions, even it cost more to begin with. (i.e Organic cotton, Green factory design). It seems this move is conflicting the cost/benefit rule in business world. But who knows that the good will has such power to return the effort in protecting environment "mojos" into cash!? And pour in good reputations! I might be a little bit too lazy in shopping clothes, but now, if I need anything for my clothing, I always look up Patagonia first. Costly? Hell no. I only shop twice a year! I still wearing a T-shirt that my brother gave me 20 years ago! I have 6 pairs of Jeans that I am still wearing EVERYDAY during the past 8 years. Yvon said “you don’t need that many, just a good one” I think for a business man leader talk like this!? My hat’s off to him! : )


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXCrYRuQl-M&feature=fvsr

skagit master 2 - DVD

What an awesome DVD! featuring Scott Howell - steelheading outside the box!
A ton of beautiful fishing clips, awesome fish and great instructions. Most importantly, this crazy dude- Scott has reminded me what is the beauty of our sport, what is the essence of the art and creativity. It is not about fishing itself, it is about the "way" I enjoy the fishing. The "in and out" of the "box". My view of fly fishing can be summarize as scientific principles that express in a art form. the cast, the water and the fish all involving physics, ecology, animal behavior and the feeling blended into a art form to make me feel good about myself. I have mentioned this before in my another love - photography. It is a art form that "evaporate" from the rule of chemistry. same here in fly fishing.

Scott mentioned he is a very "intense person" when come down to fishing for steelhead. I can tell that from the passion he has expressed in the video. It is so great to see people so dedicated their life to fishing for steelhead. It just make you feel when concentrate on one thing, everything is possible. (So dose Ed Ward in his Skagit Master 1 DVD).

What I really learned from this great movie? I think besides all the great techniques in real fishing situations. The most important/exciting part is to keep my mind opened. Don't get yourself locked inside of the box. Keep learning, exploring and enjoy the life, passion, energetic and make everything possible! Great work! Scott and Jeff.

yuki - you are so cute!

well.... here is uncle Mark give you some recent report of our beloved - fly girl- yuki!
She is become cute-er and cute-er... OMG... I have gotten the same syndrome that my sister in law already severely infected - "My cuteeeest daughter (niece) in the whole world syndrome". What is the best part?! She is growing in the same trajectory of his father did(Leroy), I think she is aiming higher position though.... HA, what a exciting moment to talk about our new member - Yuki! It's a pure joy! Just want to share those photos with you guys, the first one is my baby brother - Leroy, and the second one is my little beautiful niece -Yuki. BTW, the pond on the background of Leroy is full of my youth memory! Me and my brother are the terminators of those big ponds in our backyard! : ) what a sweet memory!

green butt

great demonstration, listen carefully what Mike said! great tyer!
I don't fish the traditional fly patterns that much, but, I am sure I love to tie them, and they are all beautiful! : )


second one is my go-to staple fly... "simplicity" is the song it sing!


third one... becoming my go-to fly! great work! Jay

Ayu wallet got a little brother

Just got this little wallet from a good friend (on the right). I am sooo excited! Thank you my friend! : )
I have use my Ayu wallet for almost a year now and I really love it! I think this little Ayu will bring fortune to me just like it has been suggest by the ancient people that "Fish will save you money/bring in luck". Both works are so beautiful that I will have all my fortune living with them! Happy New Year! : )

magic line? or magic cast?

In last few years, I have seen more and more people get into the spey casting. I started spey casting about 5 years ago because of the big striper river down south, soon, I joined the speypages, a great internet forum for people that fish spey. A lot of great veterans that are willing to share their experience, history and better yet, amazing fishing stories. I enjoy and learn from this site a lot. Sometime I do put my thoughts there just to return the favors that I have been receiving from the past few years.

Spey cast is not a easy cast to learn, if people tell you spey cast is so easy, so simple. They are lying! Unlike overhead casting, A simple looking spey cast, does, involved a lot of learning, from basic mechanics to fine tuning power control. You will know it is not that "simple" by look at the confusions and frustrations on the internet forum.

A frequently asked question is "what is the best line to use?" many people are search for the magic line that can make a perfect cast, can help you to launch a laser sharp loop and catch a big one. Unfortunately, this question will only lead to another level of different questions! What rod you are using? what style you prefer to cast? what fly you are going to throw?.... ha... for beginner... it is a overwhelming situation. People are search for the magic line? Situation like this...."what weight of line for this particular rod?" It is 500 grain for me! "It is 650 grain for me when I use sinktip, but sometime I use 450 grain with polyleader for dryfly action!" What?? what? people get lost, discussion get into debating and even worse... turn the internet into a war zone...very sad!

are there magic line? or magic cast? Be honest with you, I don't know?! But if there is a real magic one. I can be careless. why? (you know what I going to say...) because even a magic line, it needs good hands to cast it! and good hands need a good brain to coordinate them! Old philosopher said "" instead of give you a fish, rather teach you how to fish!" this is so true in spey casting, especially, for spey rods, it always have a huge window of line weights which means it will cast a wide varietis of lines. Truth been told, I have a rod that has a very sensitive feel on hands. Sweden brand - Guideline LeCie 13'7 8/9 lines. Normally, the manufacturer recommend about 550 grain line. But I cast it well from a low spectrum 270 grain all the way up to 540 grain. You might ask why use so different lines? "Different horses for different course!" a wiseman once told me! Different line for different situation, and they are all magic lines for their casting and fishing scenario to me. What I try to say here is there is no need to find "a" magic line, I sincerely encourage new comers to build their casting from focus on casting mechanics and practicing. Train a brain is much better to train hands, train hands is much better than searching for a magic line. Dr. Way Yin, a famous spey casting instructor and neuro-physician once said: " if you figure out "why" it works, then, you will figure out "how" it works ". this is so true! I like to teach a new comer "how to fish" instead of just "give them a fish". This is the beauty of this sport! Doesn't it?! You figure out the principle and you customer design a recipe for your fishing scenario. Believe me, it is another level of satisfaction! so stop searching for a magic line or a magic cast. But start to learn the basic and principle. There are several spey casting DVD I highly recommended beginner to start with. First, The art of spey casting - A film by Jeffrey Pill. What a wonderful DVD! The best value spey casting DVD ever produced! 20 world famous casters demonstrate their casting basic and secrets, I mean, WORLD FAMOUS! Goran Andersson, Al Buhr, Simon Gawesworth, Andy Murray, Way Yin Nabuo etc..... Second - The Skagit master 1 DVD - featuring Ed Ward. A skagit casting style guru teaches the foundation and principles of power skagit casting. It is a very distinct way/style/a new principle to cast heavy fly. I highly recommended if you fish heavy fly very frequently.

define value

Yvon talk about "value" in his life, his view of life, business and our environment. Always refreshing, always positive! If you are a outdoors lover, you need to listen what he said. If you are struggling in your business, listen what suggestions he has to offer. "Patagoniaism" has become a profound commercial strategy, if not just a simple green move. Great stories! Yvon!

Monday blue? or ... purple?

Atlantic Salmon Documentary TV

pingu gone fishing

how lovely!