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BEARS DEN SHOW ROCKED!!!!

3K views 21 replies 11 participants last post by  phlyphish 
#1 ·
Boy what a fantastic job Scott and the Bears Den staff does at this show which just gets bigger every year! I had a fantastic time and the skating rink was a huge location for this neat show (and they still packed the place!!)

I enjoyed talking about two-handed flyfishing, hanging out with da' gang (many forum gang in attendance) and seeing all the pros like Lou (every time I see him I think of 40# bass) Tabory, Mr. Clouser himself, Trevor Bross from T&T, Jake and John from TFO, the Bill and Sheila Hassan, Sean Ransom of Speypages / CND Pro staff, Capt. Jeff Smith, Capt. Steve Moore (briefly), Masahito Sato (very innovative fly tyer), Brad Gage (Sage) was doling out the report cards with the casting evaluator, Gilmore's convertible reels look better than ever, talking with TU president Cape Cod Chapter Mark Hattman and Northeast Council Pres. FFF Bob Ford - just to name a few.

And to top it off... I WON A RAFFLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!

A gor-geous Sage 8134 Two-hander of all things... how appropriate, some may say I don't need another two-hander but I say au contraire! I say I just might appreciate it that much more ;)

Scott, and crew - hats off to you!
 
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#2 ·
Bears den show

Every year it gets better and better,and it's free,and some people are lucky to win raffles,congrates Juro good to see you and great presentation on the 2 hander.I ran into some canal rat friends at the show ,they were talking about skagit casting the canal I think I need to pick your brain about that subject Juro sounds like big herring flies come May.Quick question ,does it require a special type of 2 hander made for this casting ? Thanks in advance, Paul.
 
#3 ·
Juro, you must have taken the lucky raffle charm away from Fred A this year.:D It was truly a bigger and better show this year. Scott did a great job and had all the family helping out so things went very smoothly. At one point, I thought I spotted Slinger wearing a pair of DNA roller skates:hihi: Good to meet all the folks..the Forum crowd, the canal flycasting crowd (including McFly!), and yes, Stan the Ku-man considering the Skagit cast for his 84th birthday:Eyecrazy:
 
#4 ·
Fun time in Taunton. As always, it was great to see everybody. Saw striperstipper and meant to say hello at some point, but didn't get to it before I made a hasty exit. Finally met and chatted with Bill Hubbard, who's ramblings I've followed on other boards. He's one of my role models for retirement in a few years. Fun seeing slinger, sean, sean, jimmey, juro, etc, etc and the aggie buster basser (think he got through school twisting teachers arms for good grades).

Ever walk around these things thinking you know people but can't recognize them without there sunglasses?

Nice job, Bearsden.
 
#6 ·
All this talk about Skagit casting in the ditch has me thinking we need to get these guys to come to the canal and give a seminar to the ditch rats... including the Jedi master himself (Ed Ward), the man of the Cascade Mountains (Mike Kinney) or one of it's lead disciples Scott O'Donnell whose accent ditch rats will understand as he originally hails from Taunton MA of all places.

In the mean time the best advice is to get ahold of the new Rio Spey video as it's got a segment dedicated to Skagit casting. In addition there is a section dedicated to 'Spey in the surf' which we (forum gang) had a hand in making happen for Simon. The most pertinent Spey video for the canal ever!
 
#9 ·
juro said:
Yes all Rio dealers can get them, I've already ordered - can't wait to see it.

Hey are those canal shots new? Big minus low this morning around Chatham... wish it were June.

OK great, I think I know a Rio dealer:biggrin:

The shots are current. There is also a West End cam that is a bit fogged in this morning. It has been my experience that a minus tide at the ditch will bring the fish in closer to the edge than usual about two hours after the East turn (low) when fishing the mainland side. Before the East turn (tail end of the West running tide), I would favor the West End.
 
#10 ·
Now we're talking - spey rodding the ditch has been on my agenda for way too long. I did try it one time but it's very tight and when I first heard the Skagit technique described I immediately thought of the canal and BIG flies in late May:smokin:
 
#11 ·
Still trying to figure out how Basser tricked the Sage cast analizer. How can you rate when you hooked the disco ball on the cieling? I believe I saw some money changing hands just after the report was printed! It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet a few new ones. Scott and lets not forget his right hand man, Blackie, outdid themselves again this year!
Slinger
 
#12 · (Edited)
It was good fun and nice to finally get to a show this ear. Unforunately it reminded me we are still at least 1 month and half before we can start fishing...

Really looking forward to a good season with all the forum members. It will be my first full season in striper country and think it is going to be a good one.

As far as skagit casting the canal. The atlantis which I think you have does admirably with a rio 650 grain skagit line on it. Not a true spey rod but you can reach out to 70-80' pretty easily. It will throw a 26' RIO big boy sink tip which will get you plenty deep if needed and throwing the biggest flies you can find. Probably a good starting point as you can stick with a rod you already have.

Of course there are better rods out there to skagit cast with and Juro and I both own a few of them. You guys show us some canal spots and we would be happy to bring a few different setups and do some impromtu lessons on what I know about the casting style. As far as spey casting styles is is in my mind the easiest one for beginner casters to start using right away.

Seriously if there is enough interest we should set something up for early spring before the migration really gets going. That way you all have some time to practice before the big boys show up.

-sean
 
#13 ·
Canal skagit casting

Sean : a skagit clave on the canal sounds great,I'd gladly exchange( some) canal locations for skagit lessons.Let see now the east end jetty,railroad bridge and bell road those are my super secret spots ,I'm in trouble now, forever from this day forward I'll be known as the spot burning oath breaker.
 
#15 ·
I was at the show for the second straight year, but one thing disappoints me: The lack of items for sale. I expect to go to a show and buy things, and there's very little you can buy there. Don't get me wrong, they get a great turnout and lots of vendors. I'm going to ask Scott the next time in the Bear's Den why they don't have more for sale. I can see how it would hurt his own cause by taking business.

Maybe if I'd had better luck in the raffle I'd feel better... ;)
 
#16 ·
Slinger said:
Still trying to figure out how Basser tricked the Sage cast analizer. How can you rate when you hooked the disco ball on the cieling? I believe I saw some money changing hands just after the report was printed!
Slinger
I had to hook the disco ball because that was the direction of true North. Once you hook true North, you can let the Sage system gyrocompass and cal and align by measuring earth rate at your latitude. With a properly calibrated system getting numerous excellent ratings is straightforward:lildevl:
 
#17 ·
sean said:
Not sure why I did not put the skaigt style = canal equation together myself...

Will talk with Juro and see what we can setup.

-sean
Yes this is a DEFINITE for 2006. JF, do you suggest a mid-day low giving us flow in both directions with a tailgating party in the lot at dead low? As short as that can be in the ditch, and with that being the best time to flyfish we might have to eat and run.

I would like to time it with the arrival of squid, which will best prove the application in my opinion.

Sean let's see what we can cook up. We will need to put the most effective squid intruders onto the most suitable skagit lines on the most suitable rods and plenty of them for everyone to try.

Of all the forage that brings big fish to the surface on the canal it's always been the squid that has made the most spectacular reactions in my experience.

Open to suggestions.... I am just throwing something out based on my experiences.
 
#19 ·
Couldn't make the show - sounds like it was a blast.

Canal:
I'd toss a spike mack imitation if you hit it later in the year. In my experience, an hour after low on the CCB side is when the rips start to set up. This is not the best time for surface feeding but if you can get near the bottom in just the right places it may result in some decent fish. It's amazing how being just a few yards off in some spots can give a skunk while getting just the right drift and bounce will give up fish consitently, I have not fished it with the fly rod accept in the obvious spots like pip's and the west end flats so this is coming from the days of drifting bait, rubber and deep jigging. I personally would not throw a sinker in the ditch if you are not prepared to lose it so I'm very interested to see the results others have had. If I remember correctly an East turning tide at dawn (slack at sunrise) usually has a good surface feed, but be forewarned there have been times I couldn't reach them with conventional gear which I'm willing to bet will go 4-5 times the distance of the best flycast. Mobility is a real advantage, it's quite popular to ride a bike on the access road to get better / more shots at breaking fish or jump around from rip to rip. You can learn a great deal in a short time by riding the canal a few mornings. If you can figure out how to get a cast off and keep from losing gear, you should have a blast.
 
#20 ·
I would like to attend the Skagit Clave and just watch. Again , it seems that getting the right line for the rod is still the problem. Checked out the Rio flyer and it mentions , cheater ect. From my calculations it cost well over or close to $100 to get the right line set up. Is the problem the design of the rod combined with the ability of the caster? I'm sure the Forum will solve the problem. Just think we will be on the cutting edge of Canal fishing. FishHawk
 
#21 ·
Although I am not the authority on the subject Skagit lines can be the cheapest lines in the world if you have the time, knowledge and materials. However like many things I buy them rather than make them because the ones you can buy are ready to fish as soon as you can string them up.

Another thing about these lines is that they overhead like crazy. With a slight nuance being that good rods to load with Skagit casts aren't always the best to overhead cast, you can reach out and bomb an overhead cast where the bank opens up.

With most striper fishing you want to avoid a lot of loop connections because we strip right to the butt - however in a canal current we would leave more line out making it much more pleasant to fish regardless of the number of loop connections. So even a homemade "modular" Skagit line system fits well.

That means you can switch from floating to intermediate to sinking without a spare spool.

Since the canal is like 10 times bigger than the Thompson River in British Columbia I suspect new adaptations of the existing Skagit systems will evolve from the same initial basis of what Ed Ward, Mike Kinney and the Cascade Mtn gang cooked up to deal with their challenges. Tyler Kushnir is a Thompson veteran who is a Skagit disciple and he makes a trip to the cape in summer for stripers. If he comes out this year we should ask him to give the group a presentation or just watch his monster casts.

Here a 15ft Skagit action rod makes a lot of sense where the trend in rivers out west has been to squeeze out big rod action from smaller outfits. Maybe even a 16-17ft or 18ft canal blaster. In fact I am certain that the canal spey casting will involve a big rod (coming from the shorter is better on the beach guy :hihi: )

On the beach I still prefer a shorter faster overhead action rod but I could see a mondo skagit casting setup to throw macks, bunker and squid flies in a convincing manner on the ditch. This is a swing fishery with a strip action included, but a swing fishery none the less.

I could see a foot long blueback fly flinging out into the night lights during the herring run.

I could see a foam bodied squid fly waking and hopping in the rip and getting blasted hard enough to make your heart pop out of your chest on a foggy ditch dawn.

yeah I think you got something there!
 
#22 ·
good show

hi Im new to all this...

my name is Seth and I have attended the Marlboro and the Bears Den (per advice of Scott who set me up with my first vice/tying materials)

I learned alot from Sheila Hassan, Juro Maki, and Lou Tabory..thanks to all


I have no idea how to use this forum so feel free to inform me of anything you think is important...please keep your sales/marketing to a minimum (but you can pitch here and there) since my goal is to catch lots of fish on little...money..


nice to meet everyone....
Seth
 
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