vanven

I will be short, meeting in 15 minutes and I cant post a link due to a work firewall. I was holding out for a new pair of waders. As an equipment freak I was hoping to get a pair of the new Orvis Tailwater TX's but at $329 I am still a bit shy about spending that amount of cash. I have an opportunity with a stack of gift cards, a sale, rebates, and coupons to pick up a pair of the Cabela's Guide Tech waders (their top wader model with the detachable chest bag). They are normally $199 but I think they will end up costing me roughly $30. Any thoughts on these waders? I live in KC and with a store here I shouldnt have any issues having them replaced/serviced if there are any issues. I like the chest pack for when it is hot out and I dont want to wear a true vest. I like the articulated knees and fitted feet. They are 5 layer reinforced in the knees and rear. I would sppreciate any feedback. -Jerod

I read this as: Number of rainbows down except below Fall Creek where they seem to be dramatically down. Number of browns, especially big browns, at one of the higher levels in the survey time frame. Does that seem to sum it up correctly? -Jerod

I wrote a review of a vest earlier this year here: Fusion Vest I have had a chance to use it on 3 trips now and am still get excited to put it on. Dropping $100 on a fly vest is a pretty big decision in most cases so take the time to find one that you really like. I went to Cabelas and tried on about every type/style of vest and pack I could get my hands on. I really liked some of the Fishpond stuff but a lot of it felt really heavy. I originally wanted one of their chest packs but I couldnt get over the feeling of having man-boobs with it on. It was a little disturbing. Take your time and do the necessary research. A vest should definitely add to your fishing experience instead of being a source of frustration and discomfort. This is a great place to start, there are a ton of wader reviews out on the internet, but I had a very hard time finding quality vest reviews. -jerod

The most important thing is comfort. Try everything on exactly like you would in the wild. I wasnt aware of the general +2 size rule of thumb when I bought my waders and boots. They were my first set. I ended up with a pair of size 12 boots and I also generally wear size 12 shoes. Cabela's boots tend to take that extra sizing into account, some other brands don't. I can still wear a heavy wool sock comfortably. Also, really tight boots will get your feet colder faster. -J

The inside of the vest is mesh and the entire vest is a light nylon material. With the dark colors it will be warm, although even on a 90' day a quick dunk of my head in Taney tends to solve any heat issues. I am hoping that the hydration pack will allow me to freeze it and carry cold water against my back all day. -J

I do wear it occasionally while i check the boards. Not now though, burr leather chair on skin. LOL

Cabelas has the best picture of the front of the vest. It is also in their bargain cave on sale currently. They dont carry them in store, but will order them, I got mine in 5 days. Riverbum.com has a nice picture of the accessories. It is not 2 tone as that picture seems to indicate. One of the picts shows the intigrated zingers and the smallet "wallet like" pockets next to them. The pocket holds my forceps perfectly. You might also notice the LED light hanging from the front main zipper. It is a simple click on but bright LED. Not necessary, but a nice touch. You can also see the D rings. It is a 3/4 length vest. I am 6'4" and it hangs a few inches above my wading belt. Any other questions? And yes, my wife made me take it off the first night before i crawled into bed. It was my birthday gift from her though so it balances out -Jerod

Disclaimer: I wouldnt shuffle, it is against my unusually high moral and ethical code. I do occasionally have couple of habits that from afar could be percieved as shuffling. Let me explain before being hung! 1) While fishing a scud or midge, I will occasionally drop my fly and strike indicator at my feet to observe how it is behaving in the water. I am doing 3 things: checking depth, checking the impact of the water current on how deep the fly is actually sinking, and checking how long it takes the fly to reach the desired depth. Sometimes a midge set 3 feet from an indicator doesnt actually hang exactly 3 feet directly below the indicator. I do this regardless of fish or no fish at my feet. I also want to know how far ahead of that visable fish i need to cast in order for the fly to be at the right depth when it passes the fish. 2) Number 2 and probably the most questionable of the 2. If I read this board and every post says says "size 16 grey scud at outlet 2", if i stop by Lilley's and they say "size 16 scud at outlet 2", if I talk to someone else that says I caught 50 fish 10 minutes ago at outlet 2 on a size 16 grey scud. If all of these conditions are met and I am standing fishless and biteless hours later at outlet 2 on my size 16 grey scud, I will occasionall drop it down to the trout at my feet to see their reaction. I am simply looking for one thing: Do they flee in horror? If they look at it and flee I know there is something horribly wrong with my fly, or the size of my knot, or the visibility of my tippet. If they dont flee I am happy and can go on fishing my size 16 grey scud. The whole time I am feeling dirty inside and ashamed, and am quietly praying they dont attack it. I just have to know if I am doing something subtly but horribly offensive to the trout. -jerod

I am a gear freak. Part of the fun of fly fishing for me is the ability to constantly add bits and pieces to the puzzle to make a afternoon on the water more fun and comfortable. It is time to talk vests/chest packs. To me, besides the rod and reel, this is one of the center pieces of fly fishing equipment. I just bought a William Joseph Fusion Vest last month. This past week was the first trip for me and I am absolutely amazed with this new purchase. It is an expensive vest ($119) although cheaper and very comparable to the Simms G3 Guide Vest ($160). I could probably write a several page review with lots of flowery praise and unuseful info, but I will summarize. I love the hard reinforced pockets with their rubber pull tabs. They hold everything and stay the same shape regardless of what i cram into them. It is 100% waterproof. Never seems to be a problem the day I am fishing, but the next morning when I want to get onto the water early and have to put on a wet, stinky, cold vest that didnt manage to dry overnight from the day before, not fun. Built in zingers are very nice and handy. Forceps and nips in the same spot every time and small pockets to tuck them away after use so that they arent flapping around like tassles every time I move. Built in hydration pack. It's not necessary, but cool. No more gatorade bottle in the back pocket. Now if I can figure out how to get steaming hot coffee into it. Built in workstation. The left breast pocket folds out and accross the chest and attaches via velcro. The inside of the pocket then folds down and creates a small felt workstation to aid in hot swapping flies. It also has an integrated floatant bottle loop inside the workstation. Built in D loops. No more poking holes in my new vest to attach additional tools. They simply clip onto the attached and reinforced D loops. OK I sound like a sales rep. I am not, just a happy angler that found a new toy. What are your requirements in a vest? Are your requirements quite as high as mine? Am I a freak? -Jerod

Although not an expert I can barely tell the difference between a 4 piece and a 2 piece rod. I have spent a bit of time fishing both and I tend to believe what is stated above; technology has caught up and they are almost the same. Keep one thing in mind when it comes to the definition of "travel". That doesnt necessarily have to mean 10 miles of hiking or carrying it onto an airplane. It can also apply to the back seat of your car when you are wet, tired, lazy, and cold and just want to get back to the hotel room. I have broken 2 two piece rods in the back seat of my truck because the length didnt allow for an inch of mistake. -jerod

Sunday 10/29 Fished Saturday evening from 4pm til the generators and cold chased us away at 8pm. Let me rephrase that, the wife got cold, I was still wearing short sleeves. Caught 2 rainbows around 14 inches just after sunset on a size 10 olive mohair leech. We fished mostly around the boat ramp. Monday 10/30 Day: Tough fishing day. The wind was gusting well over 30 mph at times. Caught 2 rainbows in the 12-16 inch range on a small grey size 16 scud in the morning between outlet 1 and the wire. Saw a couple of really nice browns caught at outlet 1. The wife got upset at the fishermen conduct of the "outlet humpers". Her last straw was seeing a brown that must have been 7+ pounds caught, drug 5 feet up onto the rocks instead of netted, then handled for 10 minutes while the guys took turns taking pictures and measuring their prize. Then they spent 10 minutes hovering over it wondering why it didnt just swim away after being released. Anyway back to the report... Evening: Wife got tired and flustered about sunset and decided to let me stay a few hours by myself after dark. After sending her on her way to the Coach outlet store I found myself all alone at outlet 1. Only other fisherman was a random red light quite a ways down the opposite side. I caught 2 rainbows in the first few minutes and was very excited. I was using a small green crackleback, as a lot of fish were breaking the surface just before sunset. Then a couple things happened. I have a couple general rules about fishing alone at night. First, I stay in one spot and my wife comes back at a given time to get me, unless I call her. That will make finding my body easier. Second, I only wade to mid thigh and stick to areas I know. Again to aid the body recovery process. Safety first! First something touched my leg. I am not talking about the random rainbow that picks something off your waders. This was big and it caught me just above the back of the knee. It caused my leg to buckle and almost dunked me. I have no clue at all what it was, I would guess a couple big browns were playing and lost track of me. It scared me and started that little back of the mind thinking "what if there is a crocodile in here, or something else man-eating, or that's a really angry bigfoot over there in the bushes making a racket". I gathered myself and got back to fishing. Then the second event, a heron managed to sneak in about 30 feet behind me and squak louder than i have ever heard. It might as well have been a gunshot. I was already on edge, and it scared me badly. I see them out there all the time. I watch them spear the occasional big fish, I like them in general. However, I had never been within 100 feet of one. I had to leave the water and take a break. I got back about 30 minutes later and was still alone. I changed flies to a size 10 bead headed olive wolly. I made my frist cast and caught a small rainbow. A few minutes later I hooked into what I though was another small rainbow. I kind of muscled him in as he wasnt fighting much and just wanted to get on with fishing. As I reached down in the dark I noticed he was big, really big. I think he also realized what was going on and he took off. I fought him for 30 minutes and twice he got really close to my backing. I still had my 7x tippet attached from the afternoon and was being a little cautious. He wore out and I finally managed to get him within reach. The first 2 attempts to net him werent successful. He was too big for the net unless I got him straight on and head first. On the third swipe I turned my light on and got a really good look at him, I also caught my tippet on the cheap wood and chunky dried glue from a previous repair attempt on my $10 net. It broke and the fish slid into the water. I still had my light on and watched as he slipped to the bottom 6 inches from my feet and rested. He was in the 24-28 inch range and probably in the 6 to 8 pound range. Not an absolute monster but much bigger than my previous high of 4 pounds. I ended with evening at 9:30pm with a total of 10 fish and a couple good stories. I also retrieved 2 small scud flies from fish that I caught. It is rare that you end an evening with more flies that you started. Thanks for reading and good luck out there! I am new to the sport and hopefully I have provided a little useful info in the ramblings. -jerod

I did sound a bit like a fanboi there huh? I will make a deal, the minute I am disappointed in their customer support, I will post it with the same zeal. On a side note.... I usually let my wife help me pick out flies. I typically migrate to the more natural, complex flies with names that i recognize and that I think will work. She always brings back a handful of pink, sparkly, shimmery gaudy things. I am going to have to start another fly box just for those. If you make a pink wooly, I am sure a few will end up in my fly box. -Jerod

A little about the quality of the product and more about the quality of the company: I bought my wife a starter TFO rod this summer. It is a lower end 8'6" 4 piece 5wt rod. She liked the fact that a portion of the sale ($25)were going to be donated to TFO's Casting for Recovery project. This program is designed to help women recovering from breast cancer get back out on the water, or experience it for the first time. I fish a 9' Orvis TLS rod that I love, but I actually cast her rod much better. If it didnt have the little pink women's ribbon, pink lettering, and pink sock I might be tempted to fish it myself. We got the rod home and realized that the warranty registration card was wedged deep into the hard case we bought with little hope of removing it. My wife emailed TFO and within 13 minutes had a very friendly and personal response thanking her for her purchase and letting her know that a new card was already in the mail. You dont see customer service like this very often. It is a company that has earned our respect and will always get first crack at our business. -Jerod

The second part of my post probably should have been it's own topic. It was a bit confusing. -J

Is this the pattern? That's just a sample pic courtesy of hipwader.com. I am a bit confused by some of the state regulations as well. I was at Montauk a few weeks ago fishing above the dam. There are clear signs that say fly fishing only. Half the fisherman up there were using spinning equipment with Mepps type spinner baits. That is clearly out of my definition of a fly,but it was so common I wasnt going to say anything. I realize you can fish flies from spinning tackle, but since when is a spinner bait a fly? -J

I loved Montauk and would hate to see the natural feel diminished at all. I have been to Roarring River and the firs 1/3 of the park makes me feel like kicking a kitten with the fake concrete rocks and obviously man made pools. The point about more fishable water, referred to the fact that at Bennett you can walk up to almost any section of the river and start fishing. Montauk tends to funnel fisherman to the deeper holes. Not a big deal until the water starts getting crowded and it turns into combat fishing. Montauk has significant sections, and this may be due to low water levels, where you are forced to fish a dry fly. There are tons weed beds inches under the surface and a midge on light tippet is a nightmare. Maybe that helps clarify my earlier point. -Jerod

Hey Bum! Those whacter nets do look really nice. Now to just convince the wife that I do in fact need an expensive net, with my initials in the handle of course, despite the $100 I just dropped on a new vest... -jerod

I also was at Montauk over the weekend. The water is very low. The dam area was poductive for me, but I had a hard time throughout the rest of the park. There were often time I would find myself alone at a nice little hole, then 10 minutes later there would be 5 other folks. Had the best luck on green and copper midges in smaller sizes in the deeper water around the dam. The weather was perfect with a little chill in the AM and PM. I also fished Bennett on Sunday and the water levels were so much nicer. The natural feel of Montauk was nice, but Bennett has significantly more fishable water. -Jerod

I have been using a cheaper cloth landing net for the last year. It needs to be replaced. The gaps in the netting are too big and occasionally a fish head pokes through and the gills get caught. It also smells like walking death. The cloth has become encrusted with goo from hundreds of fish. I have to keep it in the bed of my truck at night to dry. It has also started to contaminate my fly vest. So it's time for a new net! Does anyone have experience with the newer rubber netted fishing nets? I know they were heavy initially, but some new materials and processes have improved that. They are also easier to clean. I love having the net on my back and the quick release has been a wonderful addition to my fishing. Any suggestions on a new net and where they are available woudl be appreciated. Thanks, Jerod

It looks like we are going to get one more trip to Taney this year. We are going to be making a couple stops in Springfield to look at trailers, my wife loves the TAB trailers. We will probably take the opportunity to stop by the shop and pick up some waders for her. Thanks! Jerod

Thanks for the great feedback. On a side not about wives fishing.... I am glad to see that she is enjoying a hobby that I am absolutely crazy about. I took her to Taney on the first trip together and we struggled a bit with teh constantly changing water conditions. As a novice I feel like I learned so much from that trip. Previously I was fishing dries 100% of the time. Taney really broaded my knowledge and skill levels. It was a little frustrating for her with the borrowed gear and first time with a fly rod in her hands. She spent more time "petting the fishies" around her feet than fishing. She did manage 5 rainbows of decent size. I only caught 6 or 7. I took her to Rockbridge last weekend to try and get her a little taste of success and hopefully the thrill of a bit bigger fish. She did very well once she got comfortable. It takes a bit to get used to thinking in 3 dimensions and realizing what is above and behind you while casting. I caught a few fish in the 3+ pound range and was very happy with the trip. Now if there was just some place closer to Kansas City! I am proud of her so far, she puts some of my buddies that have been fly fishing for years to shame. -J

I have managed to talk my wife into venturing into the rivers with me. She is taking to it very well and is now the proud owner of a women's TFO rod and a Ross reel. Thanks River Run Outfitters I think I like her TFO more than my Orvis TLS. Anyway... We have progressed past the borrowed waders stage and she is convinced that she will be happier in the water if the waders dont leak and the boots actually fit. I am looking to find her a pair of breathable women's waders that will last a few years of 20 uses a year. I would also like them to be stockingfoot. I have had the LL Bean ladies waders reccomended to me. Simms also makes a couple sub $200 pairs that are backed up by their good warranty. Cabela's, here in KC, refuses to carry any women's waders in stock for the most part. Any other suggestions????? She gets to be the test subject for my next pair of waders. My current cheap Bluestream waders are still functional after 2 years, but i can start to see some wear. Thanks, J- MOD - please feel free to move this, just realized that there may be a more appropriate forum, but I cant delete.