जुस्त अ लित्तले इन्फो फॉर अ कोउप्ले friends

so I received a message from an older gentleman who told me he enjoyed reading my blog but the white letters on the black background hurt his eyes, so the blog got a face lift... hope its easier on the eyes.. thanks for following. the photos in this post are of river x... need to show them to a friend, so enjoy if you wish but no back story... but it just might lead to one- happy weekend folks.. now go fishing.

By the seat of my pants....

I didn't have to be at the creek long to see that in the previous weeks floods God had his way with the fishing spots I had finessed and tuned into my play book... a bowling ball sized rock sat cradled in the crook of a tree like a scared cat 6 feet over my head as I stared at what used to be a honey hole, now rearranged into a pocket of strainers and an old road culvert. I stood, realizing the magnitude of the storms and the fact that it was now a new game.. square one. Out of the corner of my eye on the far bank ( 30 feet away ) a log struck straight off the bank into the creek provided the cover of some broken water.. and a fish rose, maybe a big cutt I thought, then again, this time revealing its identity... steel! I turned and ran back to the truck ripping open the back door $5000 worth of gear fell out into the muddy road.. I paid it no mind.. bead box bead box where the hell is my bead outfit!? under the seat revealed the small plano box full of beads, hooks, peg its and... 3 black stimulator's I used for strike indicators. half running I put my rod in my mouth and tied on a foot of fluorocarbon and the stimulator then sliding down the bank crashing hard at the bottom I was already stripping line.. first cast, too short, second cast hung up behind me, I was hemmed in by alders and bank, so I gave her the old single hand snap-t cast and money.. no dice.. again, this time the fly sank in an eddy.. so I started stripping line only to see out of the seam a black phantom chasing my fly! Bam! fish on! It didn't take long to realize I had screwed myself in the set-up of actually being able to land the beast, he shot straight for the strainer down stream of me and I palmed my reel and desperately tried to hold him out of it.. and he turned and ran back to the cut bank side of the creek. That's when I pulled an old king trick on him... I quit pulling and gave him some of his head back, then walked out and around the fallen tree through 4 feet of water got below him and finessed him down, pulled him into the fast water and chased him down to a long slow stretch I could land him in... and the day was mine. He was old and colored up so I revived him and sent him on his way.. he was a fine opponent. ( don't worry folks the blood on my waders is from a fish the night before..but that's another story )

A slight Distain for the art

I can't stand it one more day, I cannot lie to my family or friends any longer, I need to come out with this.. and today I will.. I hate tying flies. What? yes you read it here first, the RIVER KEEPER hates tying flies, always have too. I started tying flies because the materials and tools came to me free, and the next 500 flies were free, then I was given more free material.. 300 more free flies.. then I made the mistake of purchasing materials in bulk, next thing you know.. poof a whole room dedicated to it. The problem is purchasing flies like ants, scuds, woolly buggers, and x caddis all of which I can crank out at an astonishing pace doesn't make financial sense at 50 cents to a $1.50 apiece a fella saves alot of money building his own. But the other side of the coin is the Adams, Drakes, pmd's wool headed sculpins.. the flies I use but prefer not to waste my time when I can just buy them. Too many fly fishers think you have to be a tier to be a real fly fisherman and that's just a bunch of crap, tying and fishing are two completely separate arts and talents, tying flies is just that, and fishing is just fishing... neither one requires the other to justify it.. I have reached a point financially in my life where I buy the flies I don't feel like tying, and Always buy flies when I'm on expeditions to new rivers since each river has its own twist of flies.. and I feel just fine about it-

Cabelas C.G.R 7/8 wt trout field test

Well I couldn't resist, so I headed out this afternoon to a friends stocked private pond and tried to give the rod the old put a fish on the end of it test, and I'm impressed. I caught around a dozen Kamloop Rainbows in about 3 hours, the average being about 14" and the two biggest ( both beat my tippet ) in the 22-25" range. The rods tip is sensitive enough to make playing small fish fun, while still having the testicular fortitude to fight a 5 lb fish, not sure it can handle an 8-12 pound steel yet, but my hopes are higher than they were at the table review. I will just have to drive down to the Rogue on Sunday ma be and see what I can kick up. I forgot, being a 9 footer fan how fun a shorter rod is, and what you can fish around.. this is in my opinion a spectacular commando rod meant for trekking in for average fish but having the reserves to do battle with a trophy brown or bull trout... its a Yellowstone cutthroat rod at is core. I will definitely be carrying this rod to Alaska to do battle with some Kenai rainbows... as the glass gives you the best of both worlds... the ability to enjoy the Dinks... and rock the brood stock.. Get some! stay tuned, gonna throw a sink tip and a rogue river special on her and take her to the Big Show-

Cabelas 7-8 wt custom glass rod review table review

Note... this review has been re-written after 75 days of on the water fishing, most of the comments following will not be valid to this post anymore- Over a year ago I read on T.F.M that Cabelas would be introducing a new line of Fiberglass fly rods to commemorate the 75th aniversary of their company.. I decided I needed one so I ran up to Lacy Washington and gave them a wiggle. My intentions were to purchase the 5/6 weight but the half wells grip and the sliding ring reel seat were a turn off for me so I chose the 7/8 wt rod with the locking reel seat. I have since purchased the 5/6 but havent really fished it much. I tried several lines on the 7/8 and came to the conclusion that the rod prefers a weight forward line and does not carry a long belly style line well at all. I found the scientific angler mastery series lines to fish the best. while steelhead fishing I tried an 8wt Royal wulff ambush line and was suprised how well it roll casted it with such a short length. While the C.G.R is labeled a 7/8 wt ( and casts both sizes of lines well ) in the ability catagory this rod is simply a light 7 wt, I have landed and played dozens of trout, several sockeye and at least 20 steelhead and numorous small and large mouth bass. The C.G.R is capable of fishing summer steelhead and smaller winter hatchery steelhead but is way to weak in the power department for larger native fish. It is a very nice summer steelhead/ trout / bass rod. I personaly felt that Bass really brought out the character in the C.G.R, and would highly recommend it for that application. Ive for the most part enjoyed this short little rod, my only real complaint would be that both of the 7/8 wts ive purchased had issues with the reel seat nut cross threading and getting stuck, and the case is pretty much trashed, missing the zipper, torn, and the strap falling off within a week of purchase. The rod has been on sale twice for $75 and I suggest waiting for it to do so again. I started out with a pfluegar Trion but have since started using a Lampson Konic on it and I prefer that pairing. All in all the rod has held up to rugged fishing, and is well made in my own opinion and I expect to have it and fish it for many years to come. If you have any questions you would like to ask about the rod feel free to email me at halibuthitman@yahoo.com

failure?

It was still dark as I nudged the Dodge into the canopy of the road side trees, 2 hrs until day light and Mat was sound asleep in the passenger seat.. so I punched his arm like any loving father and said... thanks for keeping me company on the drive.. he growled and then smiled and asked are we there? I said no, we are just done driving, still have an hour and a half walk in the dark... he looked stoked but tried to hide it under a tired scowl, I smiled and said.. you can't fool me, I know your stoked.. he smiled and said yeah, just tired, I played ps3 until 1 am. I laughed and said that's nothing, I sat up drinking until we got in the truck.. he looked at me and told me to knock it off, I laughed because there was a time ( 20 years ago ) that I actually used to do it. We walked in the dark, talking about guitars and fly rods.. and cars.. Mats 16 cars are still quite magical to him, life will cure that I'm sure. We arrived on the banks of the upper Lewis and Clark with daylight still just a twinkle in its father eye, and started to rig, I lit a smoke to contemplate just which soldier I would put my faith in for the magic hour of half light.. Mat huffed and told me he wished I wouldn't smoke, I told him I wished he would shower at least once every 7 days.. and the woods were quiet.. what fly dad, I told him to go black and small, gin clear water and native steel would demand it on this day. we sat on the Bank together and watched the crescent of dawn swallow the stars, he wanted to start, he was fidgety and it made my heart smile, I told him to wait for it, so reluctantly we did. We fished hard for the next 6 hour without so much as a strike or denial, as the sun began to cast shadows in the canyon I felt the stop... tap... pull.. and set! and the Brawl was on.. the fish took to the air immediately...and then as fast as he arrived he was gone. I reeled in my fly and placed it on the hook keeper, It's time to go, Mat did the same and we struggled through the Oregon rain forest back to the logging road. We walked in silence for about a mile when mat offered the conversation of the lost battle, doesn't that upset you to fish for that long and then lose it? I said lose what? the fish dad, you lost the fish, I patted my heart and said no, I have him right here, he said you know what I mean. I stopped and we stood on a high ridge looking back down on the canyon, You know Mat.. If I could choose my heaven I would wake up at 3 every morning scrape the ice off my windows, buy $60 worth of gas and a gas station machine mocha, drive for 3 hours listening to Bob Dylan... hike and cast all day, rip my waders, smoke a pack of cigs and dine on spam on white bread.... mustard only, the last cast of the day I would hook up and lose the fish within seconds, then the next day I would get up and do it all over again, and I would consider God a fair God, a loving God. We stood in silence, and he started to walk again, then turned to me and said.. that's easy to say when you've caught thousands of fish, in my Heaven I would fish all day in the sun and catch a fish every five minutes. ................... with you-