Planning Ahead

Summer is quickly winding down. The days are shorter. The nights chillier. Soon the woods will be ablaze with color and we'll be into the thick of college football season. Of course, in typical Michigan fashion, it will be 95 degrees here tomorrow. Seriously, you can't make this shit up.

All of this change hasn't led me to abandon warm-weather pursuits -- I'm going to try to stretch my cycling season well into October, and I figure there's at least one more smallmouth fly fishing float in my September. But my favorite cold weather activities are coming. As is my bent, this has my head spinning so I'm ready when the time comes. With that in mind, here are a few of the current projects:

1. I've been looking to upgrade my base layer bottoms for skiing. It's time to leverage technology and get into the new millenium. So I have a pair of CW-X Stabilyx Insulator 3/4 tights on order. I'm hoping these will enable me to ski without an additional knee brace, and will provide some solid muscle support.
2. Scored a deal (I love the off-season; $57 shipped free!) on some SWEET lime green Marmot Motion ski pants to match the new coat I picked up last year. I've been looking to get out of dullsville and step up my look a bit. Rather than shredding them with my crappy, toothy $7 clip-on hunting suspenders I'm putting in some Duluth Trading suspenders using real buttons. We're finally doing it up right.
3. Considering a boat net for steelheading. The Fisknat Grande Ronde is the current leading candidate. I have a Fisknat trout net and it's sweet. No more beaching. It's just not nice.
4. Looking at an oar upgrade for the Clacka. Sawyer Dynelite Square Tops are the current leading contender. Everyone I talk to says the difference from the Cataracts that came with my boat will be "life changing". I want to row the flywater of the Pere Marquette, so I think this will definitely help my manueverability and make a long day in the rower's seat shorter.
5. The boat bag is on the workbench, ready for the Summer-Winter switchover. Goodbye smallmout and trout gear, hello STEELHEAD!!!!!
6. I'm thinking about guns. I think this year, my Kimber 1911 is going to get a few upgrades. I've started a discussion with a gunsmith about the best bang for my buck in upgrades (bad pun intended).

Beyond this, some important issues have already been handled:

1. After breaking the winch strap on my trailer, a new heavy-duty repacement has been installed. And at the sage advice of Jon Ray, a back-up is in my tow box.
2. Winter boat storage has been secured. Parking in the garage is driveway is swell and all -- until you have to scrape.
3. Cycling season has given me a solid level of both cardio fitness and leg strength. Western ski slopes, be prepared...
4. I've started to transition from cycling to gym. Painful, but don't want to lose the fitness (and weight loss) base I've built.
5. Starting to tie up some cool swing flies. Greg Senyo's Artificial Intelligence and Slim Shady will be key this year.

So, yeah, I'm kind of fired up for the cold. Bring it!!!!

Use Both Hands

Sunday was the inaugural outing for the new switch swing steelhead rig. Regular readers will know that I decided last year to convert my Scott A-3 11' 8-weight over to an indicator rig. This way I don't have to bust down and re-rig just to swing a hole. That, plus I'm really getting into the idea of swinging for steel and a dedicated rig was really appealing.

One key element was scoring an Abel Spey reel. The idea of a classic click-pawl reel (as opposed to a high-tech sealed drag tech monster) was really appealing. I want to hear that screaming reel as a pissed-off Fall chromer tries to make his way back to Lake Michigan. The fit and finish of this thing is awesome. Of course mine had to be the retro black, non-ported model so it had that classic look.

Next, a rig needs a rod. This was an easy choice. After having the chance to cast the new Scott L2h 1158/4 over the Summer I knew my choice right off the bat. Switch rods are a funny little enigma. In my experience, I've never cast a "true" switch rod that could change between indy fishing and swinging with a spey line. My Scott A3 is definitely better as a bobber rod. While the L2h is much more like a "baby spey".

I've evolved all of my two-hand rigs over to running line/shooting head combos from Scientific Anglers. This means a floating running line with Dragon Tail, coupled with a Skagit Extreme Intermediate shooting head in 480 grain. I've also got a Steelhead Scandi head that I'll be playing with later. The new intermediate heads are ideal for Great Lakes steelheading where keeping the fly down and in the zone is critical.

Finally, the crowning grace of this set-up are the new Rio MOW Tips. I've always used homemade T-11 and T-14 tips. But they varying lengths, coupled with my beginner casting skills just caused chaos - blown anchor points, 4" flies whistling at my head, etc. Greg Senyo turned me on to the MOWs. With the MOWs you have a constant tip length -- pretty much always 10'. What changes are the ratio of floating line to sink tip. So you have a 2.5' sink/7.5' float, a 5' sink/5' float, a 7.5' sink/2.5' float, and a 10' sink. These families are offered in Light (T7), Medium (T11), and Heavy (T14) weights.

OK, OK, enough gearsturbation -- what's it fish like?

Fan-f*ckin-tastic!!!! I started at a new spot in the middle PM that a guide friend was kind enough to turn me on to. Great swing water -- oh, and BONUS no one there!!! Once I found my timing, everything flows smoothly.  Contrived cast to re-position. Sweep to form the D-loop. Climb the mountain and BAM line whistles to it's intended destination. As always, the issue for me is slowing down. Slowing down means no blown anchor points, and thus no chaos.

I enjoyed fishing this stick so much that I decided to just swing all day. I encountered nary a fish, but that's OK. This was a learning trip, not a catching trip. By the end of the day I was pretty solid at casting where I wanted, as well as controlling the drift and speed with mends. So now I'm fishing, not just watching.

So, all in all, I really couldn't be happier with any aspect of this set-up. Casts great. Drifts perfectly. And looks ever so retro-cool. The Olde Schoole look of the Abel Spey fits perfectly with the sedate grey of the Scott L2h.

Go on, you know you want one -- get some!!!!

Mad Skillz

Yesterday I was reorganizing the "demo flies" tied during the Schultz Outfitters "Bar Flies" demo classes and noticed something interesting. My tying skills have improved considerably over the past year. Flies from the early classes last season look like crap compared to what I've been tying this year.

It shows up in so many places - feather placement, body proportions and balance, and most noticeably in the head finish. Wow do those old flies look SAD! By comparison, the heads on the new ones are tight and crisp (and don't look like they'll unravel after a single fish).

This motivated me to go back and have a look at some other flies I'd done. The pattern was the same with others. For example, my early examples of Sean's Half A$$ Stonefly look crude and kludgy. Though I have caught fish on them - but we'll chalk that up to luck. The new ones look sleek, and (God forbid) something like an actual stonefly!

One of the things that motivates me in my outdoor passions is the opportunity to improve my skill set. So, this new discovery was certainly a welcome surprise!

Some of this growth is the result of spending hours at the vise, but more of it is having access to some great instruction. I've been fortunate enough to learn from well-known tiers like April Vokey (above), Kevin Feenstra, and Greg Senyo. As well as up-and-comers like Mike Schultz, Jon Ray, Steve Martinez, Tommy Lynch, Eirik Vitso, Jay Daley, and Chris Hatcher.

By putting this all together, I really do feel like I've learned a TON! One of the best acknowledgements was a couple weeks back at Tommy's class, my Dad fell a couple of steps behind. I was able to lean over and catch him up. Tommy saw this and commented later on my growth as a tyer. Nice props from a serious tyer and fisherman.

-Sean-