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Go fly fishing or to fly show?

3K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
Hmm. Now that long-range forecasts make the weekend look promising for winter trout, I can't make up my mind whether to go fly fishing or go to the flyshow with the free time I have. On one hand, we're in this presumably to max. out our time on the water; on the other, the show is a fun thing to go to, and i gotta catch up with Ann.

So, if you had a limited amount of time, and weather looked good for trouting, would you go fly fishing or to the fly fishing show?
 
#2 ·
Would it be a bad thing...

...to arrive at the show wearing wet waders?! :confused:

An early trout sortie followed by a Marlboro appearance soundz like a full day onthewater to me! :wink:
 
#6 ·
Dear Josco,

Every time I go to one of the better shows I make it a point to learn something. Even if it is as simple as how to make a certain part of a fly. This year in Marlboro, I am going to figure out how to make the wings on traditional spey flies lay so low. I am hoping that one of the pros can help.

I also meet up with friends and contacts. The event will take all of three to four hours. I will have a few laughs, see some new products, speek to the officials representing Saumon Quebec and go home.

Therefore, my suggestion to someone who does not want to miss a day on the water is to do both. Get to the show first thing at opening and get to the river as the afternoon warms.

Some one you meet at the show could enhance your fishing for life.

C.R.O.
 
#8 ·
Hard to fathom that I saw noone chasing Cape holdovers on saturday and only one other person on the Swift sunday. Holdovers were willing, but the Swift was very high, and my highlights were a single take and watching Jay Horton spey casting.

The weather both days was a gift from the deities. Makes you wonder just how many prople prefer ogling gear over actully using it to (try to) catch fish.
 
#9 ·
Good to hear Jay is learning to Spey cast. I've been Spey casting during the nice weather breaks this winter on the Merrimac and Nashua Rivers locally just to keep tuned but only with a puff of yarn.

I had some fun with trout on a 5wt two-hander a few weeks ago on the Deerfield but I can't imagine fishing one on the Swift when a single hander can Spey cast across it even when high - or even roll cast across. It's certainly not about the fish for me out there; a typical western MA trout kind of feel like smolt on even the lightest two-hand designed for Spey casting on the market. I guess my anadromous upbringing has biased me a little.

In fact I cast my butt off at the show which is one of my favorite aspects of attending, and a variety of rod weights and models. I tend to save my winter fishing hall passes this time of year to seek real adventures in remote places like Acklins and needed to select a back-up travel bonefish rod (among a long list of other things) that can be make or break out there were even fresh water is a commodity.

Shortly after that I am headed to the Pacific Northwest for some real Spey action, the Skagit Valley, Olympic Peninsula, Columbia River tribs, etc. The materials I like are only available at shows, unless I want to waste much much more valuable time while out there searching for shops away from the river.

So I guess it all depends on one's perspective. The time at the show for me was far more valuable than mid-winter high-water MA trout because it puts me at the top of my game in Acklins where if you want feathers you have to kill a wild bird and for the Pacific Northwest where Spey actually has meaning in the quest for 20 pounds of chrome fury in the body of a native steelhead, an image so powerful to me that it has not weakened in my angler's heart since the first time I experienced it decades ago.
 
#12 ·
Mostly double-spey and snake roll. Could not throw enough D into my D Loop to work more than about thirty feet of line plus a ten foot leader, but it was all laying out straight and forty feet is quite a bit of water there. No problem working any angle right up to 180 in some spots.

I think someone said the river was four feet above normal, so not a lot of wading opportunities. Most places you could step off the bank up to your arm pits.
 
#13 ·
One observation I've made is that the hauling hand in the 'turbo spey' as Simon calls it actually shortens the d-loop length needed for reasonable casts, when coupled with a follow-thru extension of the arm the rod gets a lot of flex fore vs. aft and is a real honey of a cast. I use it frequently even on the flats in my short game as well as stream fishing.

Because of static surface tension from the line laying on the water at the end of the first move of the double spey this cast typically requires a pronounced d-loop such that the end of the leader and the fly pirouettes to face the shore before a proper load can be attained. This is not a concern for short casts, but if any significant distance is desired it's critical.

The snake does not suffer from this particular problem but because the aerial coil needs a good grip to create a momentary tension against it's difficult at best to make much of a cast with zero backcasting room, if not impossible unless the angle change is minimal.

But if you are only casting 30ft of line well all bets are off. As much as I did enjoy the show you two have convinced me it wasn't the only way to have mid-winter fun.
 
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