JobyKSU

Congratulations, and welcome to the club! Word of warning (from experience). I received my first decent combo for Christmas. I was so excited about it that despite the snow and ice on the ground I put in a decent number of hours casting over the next week. The frozen lawn ended up stripping the coating off the line and I had to replace it before it even hit the water! Have fun and let us know if you ever head south!

This is the same tactic reportedly used by the Republican National Congressional Committee last year . I read a bit about it then. Although I can't verify the impartiality of the source, here is a recap: TPM Muckraker Also, It looks like this company has been calling with messages about many candidates in the middle of the night. It looks somebody (or somebodies) just want everyone to be disgusted with the election process. It is pretty sad when any political party/candidate resorts to tactics like this. How about spending some money to make a difference in the country, instead?

Does anyone have any experience with the Pac Bay gold, TiGold, or Bombay Gold hardware? I have a dark-grey two handed blank I'm building up, and it would look really good with gold hardware. My only worry is that the gold or TiGold might look cheap or the coating might wear off, and I haven't been able to find a reel seat in the Bombay Gold. I would definitely consider other manufacturers, though. I suppose I might need to take a trip to Schneider's to look at some samples. Sounds like a good excuse for a fishing trip!

Ah, the ubiquitous Ramen noodle! I had a couple of bids on ebay for Kerry Kettles, but have yet to win one (if anyone is looking to get rid of one...) In the meantime, I stay stocked on the self-heating coffee drinks. They get nice and toasty really quickly. Plus, its applied chemistry and, well, I'm a geek like that. I'm going to try to make it out at least once or twice this week, hopefully they'll get a bit more interested.

My last $.02: The Sage Launch 590-4 is what I fish, and I love it. It is a half-step slower than a lot of other rods, and forgiving of my not-so-perfect casting. It would not be a bad choice, thats for sure. I suggest you cast both it and a TFO side-by-side and decide if you can tell the difference in them and if one feels better than the other. From a realistic standpoint, don't feel to pressured to spend too much more than you want to. There are a lot of extra little costs (waders, leaders & tippet, and flies at a minimum, maybe a vest, net, indicators, etc also) that will come along to get you fishing. That $75 dollar difference in combos could come in pretty useful. Good luck in your choice, and let us know how it goes!

I concur... check with your flyshops. Considering you're just coming back into it, they will be an invaluable source of info/tips/stories for you. Additionally, a shop will be able to mix-and-match to make a combo for you. Now, my suggestions: Spend what you can on a rod. Reel and line are important, but I would much rather have a good rod to start (that may never need upgraded) and a basic reel/line that will get you through a season or two and then could be upgraded, if you wanted. Example: Rod: TFO Professional $140 (5wt, 4piece, 9ft) Reel: Pflueger medalist $30? Cortland 333 Line + Backing $40 Total: $210 Two additional points: First, if you can find another $50 or so, there does seem to be a pretty decent step up in quality of rods. I love my Sage Launch series ($175 - $200), but it also opens up the TFO finesse (~$180) series or TiCR series (~$200). Unless you REALLY get hooked, any of these rods very well could cover you for the next 3 or 4 decades. Second, the quality-reel debate is alive and strong on this forum, and I prefer the medium-level reels. Many experienced and successful fisher-folk use very basic reels. They work, and it gets you on the water. If you plan on targeting larger gamefish with this rod, then that's another story Hope this helps

I'll second the LL Bean Warranty. I called to find an item number on a barncoat that a mouse had eaten through. The sales rep insisted that I let them send me a replacement instead. Ok, twist my arm! I'm definitely a boot-foot wader guy (they keep my tootsies warmer) but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better company to do business with than LL Bean! Oh yeah, their stuff isn't bad, either.

You know, if you replace the golf ball with a strike indicator and dropped some 6x tippet, you'd never need waders!

My most interesting catch would have to be the time that I pulled in somebody's spin rig last year. I was dragging a clouser through El Dorado lake (KS) and felt resistance about 20 feet from shore. I was pretty sure it was the moss or weeds I had been pulling in, but it didn't feel quite right. When I finally got to the clouser, it was wrapped around fishing line, which quickly led to a 6-foot spin setup. The reel worked fine, so I extricated my line, and began to reel in the found line - only to find more resistance. Wouldn't you know it, ended up with a tired-out smallmouth attached to a spoon. My brother claimed the rod, and the smallie seamed to revive alright and swam off, although slowly. As a followup: It appears that the rod is cursed. My brother took it out three times and was skunked each time. He happily gave it to his ex in the settlement.

The standard nymphs hit for me (ruby, diamond, zebra). When I got bored, I drifted a partridge and green soft hackle weighted under an indicator and had the line ripped from my fingers a couple of time. Overall, though, I've had my best luck on grey and blue-gray nymphs size 18 or 20. Its my little secret, though, so don't tell anyone! No matter what you throw, hold it at the end of the drift for a bit and let it ease up the water column. Thats when I got my best feesh.

Made it out for a bit today 11/23/2007. Fishing was steady, but not spectacular. Fished the artificials only area and got a lot of slot and a few over. Fish of the day was a 17 inch 'bow with a 13 inch girth. The picture doesn't do her justice, but I caught her by casting about 15 feet in front of the wake she was throwing. All of the fish today were spirited and made a couple of jumps. The last fish of the day for me was a bright, beautiful little 4" 'bow with all of his fins. Natural reproduction anyone? Pic of the slab attached.

Not that I'm biased... but somebody's gotta take it to KU. Its really nice to see the Big XII north relevant again... even if its not my 'Cats

I know that a number of people that I've talked to are disappointed that the Sage XP was retired. After a month or two of patient searching, I found a closeout source for blanks. AA Outfitters have a limited selection of XP blanks available - currently at $179. I have no association with this website, and I have not yet received my order (although I made sure it went through before I told anyone about the site ) If you wanted an XP but thought you had missed your chance, this looks like a pretty good opportunity. Tight lines!

I'd put just about all of my Christmas money up that the pellets are better for ya

First a disclaimer: I am a geek, and I am also abnormally loyal to Sony. That being said, I have had the original cybershot for 4 years now. It takes fabulous pictures, is really easy to use, and does pretty well at night. Two reasons why I suggest this camera: 1) It is approximately the size of a deck of cards. Because it fits in my pocket so easily, I get much more use out of it because its almost always with me. Also, the viewscreen on the back is huge. 2) The optional underwater kit. This is a hard plastic waterproof camera housing that was designed for taking pictures/video while diving. Because the camera has a microphone, you get some amazing underwater sounds. The first time I used it was in the Sea of Cortez and you can hear Humpbacks singing in the background. The camera and underwater kit does get a bit spendy. It looks like Best buy has the camera on sale for 299 (8 mp). The solid underwater kit costs another 200 from Sony, but they are quite often found brand new on ebay for about half that. The amount of damage that the camera can take within that case is amazing. I would be on my fourth or fifth camera just from fishing accidents without it. There are, however a number of soft-sided ziplock-bag type water kits if you preferred to go that route. Hope it helps

I'll throw my hat in the ring. These two comments really outline one of the biggest difference between yourself and many fly fisher-folk. First and foremost, the act of fly fishing is, in-and-of-itself, fascinating. There is a simple beauty in the precise motions and timing of a perfect cast. While frustrating at first, you can mechanically construct a suitable cast (elbow in, wrist extended, thumb up, etc). Once the pieces are in place, the actions become a part of the fisher, and our own creation. Think of it as something akin to a perfect free-throw, or the sense of accomplishment one gets when using a wedge to sit down feet from the cup from 20 yards out. I firmly believe that there is nothing that a spin caster can pull through the water that a fly rod can not. While a spinner may be able to toss a spoon out 40 yards, as you have said, rarely do you need to. I would, however, like to see a spinner cast a dry fly (with a weight measured in fractions of a grain) that same distance. Give me a two-handed fly rod and a I can drop a streamer 110 feet away fairly easily, but most of my hookups occur within 50 or 60 at the most anyway. The fly rod also allows me to dead drift a nymph or dry, which is often exactly what the fish are looking for. I spend a bit of time at Beaver below Parker. I can't tell you how many dirty looks I've gotten when I pull good sized fish out of pools that have been "cleaned out" by roostertails (or powerbait). If we weren't fishing a stocked fish on a tailwater, I think this situation would be even more pronounced. So, for those of you that just quickly glossed over this post, a summary: 1) It's fun 2) It's rewarding 3) It's versatile 4) It's effective That being said, if a person doesn't enjoy the motions, isn't terribly interested in developing another specialized skill, and doesn't need the flexibility offered by a fly rod, then there's no reason to pick it up. There is plenty of room for all of us on the water.

I would just like to say that those pictures are 100% fake. Really. These fish aren't in the Beaver tailwater. No need to come here and look for them... Uhm, its a camera trick... honest? It is posts like this that are going to make people realize that Beaver can be a pretty good fishery if you know what you're doing. On a serious note, though... I fished today and had steady success after the morning-generation. It really picked up about 1:30 when I hooked into a monster. I knew she was big when the fight started, but she came to within 15 feet of me fairly easy. About the time that I saw her shoulders (they were THIS BIG) she realized what was going on and took off like a torpedo. About 30 feet into my backing I tried too hard to turn her, and snap goes the tippet! After that I tied on another diamond midge and landed four 15 to 16 inch bows out of the same run. That was good enough for me and I called it a day!

What is this "end of season" that you speak of? The fishin's just getting good! A little more on-topic: I purchased my pair of Orvis Silver Label2 waders from ebay (brand new: closeout). They've taken me through a fishing season very well, and Orvis's customer service is exceptional (they fixed my boneheaded mistake!). Just a thought

My fishin' buddies that introduced me to Beaver (definitely not experts on the area) referred to the top of it as Y2K, and the cut as the low end of that section (just barely visible as you look upstream from the stairs at the turnaround). Any way you look at it, there's some pretty decent fish through there! No fishing for me for a week or two - the waders were sent back to Orvis. Really easy to deal with them, but I'd still rather have the waders! I had heard that the AGFC had pulled out a brook trout during one of the recent shock surveys, but I hadn't heard of anyone landing one. Is there a story attached?

I agree wholeheartedly... ironically southern dace, pumpkinseed, and longeared sunfish are relatively popular in European aquariums, and you can often find pickerel in Asian aquariums. They haven't quite caught on here, though.

I actually landed a couple pelicans. We were trolling sardines from a panga, and the pelicans would swoop down and grab it. I ended up lipping three and tangling four more over two days. Those things were tough, especially once they're airborne. Talk about putting a bend into those big saltwater rods! I'll have to look and see if I can find the pictures, there is one where I'm leaning back, have the fighting butt digging into me, and you can see the line going up at about a 30 degree angle. And, before you ask, yes all birds were released unharmed.

Ok, time to open up the flood gates here. First, a disclaimer: I think PETA is a morally reprehensible organization that spews hate, lies, and hypocrisy. Never in a million years would I do anything to support them. Second, the link that flyman provided is just twisted and typical of this sick group. That being said, this website isn't completely off base. Specifically, they point out the danger from mercury and other contaminants when you eat fish you've caught. Of course, they don't mention that the risk is minimal when you eat young fish and fresh stockers. It's those big ol' monsters that have been swimming around for a number of years that have the most contamination. Yet another reason to take pictures and release your trophies! Additionally, some of the commercial fishing methods are both cruel and non-sustainable, as the website points out. Another aspect that I can agree with comes in the discussion on how some anglers treat fish that they plan on releasing. PETA doesn't recognize the fact that there are many, many of us that do our best to minimize the impact of our fishing activities and handle the fish carefully and gently. I am amused/sickened at the way this atheistic organization invokes the name of God to try to dissuade people from eating fish in the FAQ. The group that picked hundreds (thousands?) of dogs and cats up from shelters, killed them, and dumped the carcasses in dumpsters, then tries to compare fishing to torturing cats and dogs. Niiiice. One final quotation that shows that PETA really doesn't get it: "Recreational anglers rarely stop to contemplate that fish are complex and intelligent individuals." Anyone that has spent over 30 minutes (or more) stalking and sight casting to a rising shadow, slowly working your way into the perfect position, only to have that shadow bump your fly and move off (probably snickering at you) has spent plenty of time contemplating that fish's complexity and intelligence. Parting shot - Another of PETA's quotations: "Imagine using worms and flies to catch ... eagles and ospreys and hauling them around on 50 feet of line while they tried to get away. " -- This happened to me a couple of times while fishing for Dorado in Mexico. Not the type of sport I was looking for!

I've found that as I've begun experimenting (smaller tippet, hooks, etc) the percentage of fish that I land has taken a bit of a drop. I land as many fish, but lose more. What is your percentage? (long-range releases don't count!)

The flies that I purchase come almost exclusively from local shops. I like getting the tips and an occasional experimental fly or two. Personally, I think the quality you get at the local shops here blows away a lot of the discounters. I like to retire flies to my hat after 7-10 fish or so, but very few of the cheapies make it past 3 fish in my experience. So, you pay half the price, but go through that savings in extra flies, tippet, and lost time because when they DO breakdown, its because the fish are biting. I want to be fishing, not tying on a new fly! The one exception that I will make is buying online from riverbum. They're a quality outfit with great customer service. I only get 'new stuff' from them that I want to try out on our waters but our shops don't sell. Bottom line... <que the Cheers themesong> Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name...

Anyone care to make this an album? Here's the view earlier this year before the leaves turned. and the original