Rigged for spring
it's the May edition of Leaders, our links roundup, featuring a bevy of great PNW events, primers on fish handling, and an intro to Trout Spey.
CFS amigos:
Welcome to the May edition of Leaders, which collects the best links and general fly-fishing-related happenings that have crossed my desk.
Inside we've got some fun fly-fishy events upcoming in the PNW as well as some general early-season links about equipment, fishing styles, and best practices.
I monitor far too many fly-fishing related emails, sites, and resources to try to bring the best to the group. Members can post comments directly underneath. I'd love to hear from you! 🎤
Wherever you are, I hope you've had a chance to get your net wet. Remember:
A wet net is a happy net. 💧
Rigging a reel from scratch
My curious camera-toting pal Nick Green came to visit again, and captured me at my tying desk rigging reels for our Intro to Fly Fishing Class. You may remember his handiwork from the critically-acclaimed (by my mom) monologue on In Praise of Floods.
You won't have to spin up a fly reel from scratch until you're a novice (beginners, get the fly shop to do it for you if you can), but once you do, it's worth knowing the right steps. It's a few more (easy-ish) knots, and a little bit of fiddling, but not too much trouble. Check out the film to see my (rough and ready) technique, and take a peek at my tying area.
Speaking of fiddling, Nick's a musician (he did all the music for the films!), more specifically a percussionist. I feel like his sense of making music comes through with his edits, not least in how he chops up my nonsense ramblings to add a little rhythm to things. Thanks, Nick!
On a more serious note: One of the biggest barriers to entry for beginners getting into the sport is access to equipment. It's critical to me that we can provide good quality fly rods and reels to learn on for folks who want to take our Intro to Fly Fishing class but don't have any gear.
We were able to fund the purchase of a dozen reels, enough for the class to have rods, due in part to the generosity of folks who have become CFS members. Thank you for believing in this program, supporting my work, and making it possible for even more people to make fly-fishing a bigger part of their lives.
Upcoming events
There are a lot of fishy events happening here in the PNW in the next couple of months:
May 8th: "Summer Run," the latest film from Prolific Northwest, debuts May 8th at Baerlic in SE Portland. CFS pals will be in attendance!
May 9-10th: The Sandy River Spey Clave is a who's who of Pacific NW spey and two-handed anglers, and not to be missed if you're at all interested in learning about fishing two-handed rods, testing the latest gear, or tactics and strategy around fly-fishing for steelhead. The assembled presenters have probably caught more steelhead on swung flies than I've had hot breakfasts. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to make it over Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
May 13th: Next week, the one and only Nick Wheeler talks Stoneflies on the Deschutes at the May Clackamas Chapter Trout Unlimited meeting. If you're hoping to fish the Deschutes early this season, Nick will share some essential knowledge. I'll be there, so let me know if you're going to come out.
May 29th - June 1st: It's the CFS Maupin Meetup for TroutFest! Check out the schedule and RSVP now. If you've already RSVP'd, stay tuned, I'm going to start a little subgroup for us to start planning all the things.
Nick Parish
June 7th: Another clave on the horizon in the PNW is the Jurassic Flats Carp Clave, June 7th in Boardman, OR (east, past the Dalles). This promises to be a lot of fun as well. I've got carp fever, and the only antidote is more carp.
Sign In
Send me a link to a fishy event happening near you! CFS reaches members and subscribers from the great states of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Montana, Florida, California, Oregon, and Washington (in no particular order). I'm just paying attention to stuff going on in my backyard.
Share, and I'll make sure to let others know.
Leaders ➰
Mindset 🧘♂️
Miles Nolte offers a few reasons why spring is the best season for trout fishing. I can't say I disagree. (link)
Environment ⛰️
Here's some info from Kirk Deeter on the Mother's Day Caddis, one of the first calendar-tied hatches of the year. Happening now, we hear, on the Yakima (link)
Due West offers a quick intro to the subspecies of cutthroat trout in the Rockies, a genetic diversity in danger. (link)
Tools 🎣
I broke another rod last week. Doing something dumb. (Horsing a carp over a weed bed.) Here's a look inside Orvis' broken rod replacement process, with the GOAT Tom Rosenbauer breaking a few rods, then showing some of Orvis' advanced rodbuilding machinery. A reminder of why they're the best in the business for rod warranties. (link 📽️)
The Scientific Fly Angler takes a cruise through the recent fiberglass rod revival, landing on their distinct suitability for the small streams of the Driftless area. I love my daughter's little fiberglass Echo Gecko, it's super fun to cast. You should try a glass rod if you get a chance. (link)
A comprehensive review of the New Zealand Strike Indicator system (link)
Every angler is going to organize (or, disorganize) their flies differently, but knowing the different types of boxes out there, and how your specific way of fishing might lend itself to one organization system or another is useful information. (link 📽️ )
Technique 🤺
Curious about Trout Spey? It's not just for frustrated steelheaders who want to feel something on the end of a two-handed cast for a change. 😉 Check out Field & Stream's beginner's guide. (link)
Wading in the spring can be a dangerous activity. While grieving an angler who drowned in New Hampshire, Bob Mallard talks through key water safety tips to help anglers avoid becoming statistics. Always wear your PFD if you're in a boat. (link)
Because they tie knots for clients all day, guides have all sorts of tips and tricks to improve or simplify how the tie their knots. This simple one uses your hemostats to spin the tippet to form a clinch knot. Check out the video. Thanks, Chris, for sharing! (link 📽️)
Conservation 🌲
It's all-hand-on-deck as the great public lands sale comes into focus. Wes Siler is doing yeoman's work cataloging all the impropriety and shadiness in this great bamboozle, both from how the proposed budget calls for gutting National Parks, National Forests, and general public lands, and how to plan to fight back.
You're going to be holding a few fish in the coming months. Time to refresh your trout handling best practices. (link)
Catch of the day in a pond near the Cayuse community of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation: a '79 F-150, a mid-2000s Dodge Cummins diesel, and a bitchin' '84 Camaro Iroc. (link)
We've had a few feature-length retrospectives of the process leading to the removal of the Klamath Dams, but I think Grist's does it best. (link)
Community 🏘️
As the titans fall (ahem, Outside) we're entering a period of rebirth in outdoor media. Field Mag offers a look at 14 independent magazines covering playing outside. (link)
There is no taking trout in dry breeches.
— Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
