Scary Flies, Scary Experience

I haven't tied in awhile so I decided to tie some girdle bugs for the ignorant stocked trout next month. Recently I bought some cheap Superglue from the dollar store. I normally use Zap A Gap but I thought maybe this Superglue would work just as well. After a few flies the glue started to really glob up under the cap. It was difficult to keep the glue from getting on my fingers and anything else in the area. No matter what I tried the glue kept oozing out and I started to get irritated. I finally just tried closing the cap even though a nice bubble of glue was coming out. The cap hesitated for a second seeping glue around the edges then with a snap it closed. The glue that seeped out exploded all over and my brain instantly signaled that some had gotten in my eye. At first I just stared at the glue bottle I guess assessing the situation. I started blinking and after several seconds it was getting harder and harder to open my eye with every blink. I stood up right away, yelled to my wife that I got glue in my eye and ran over to the sink. She asked me several things but honestly I couldn't hear her over my panic splashing of cupped water into my eye. I was able to open my eye fine but I was still worried it was going to gum up again. The package said to rinse your eye for 15min so I spent the next half hour in the shower. I think the amount of glue that actually got in my eye was just a trace amount. Maybe a drop, probably nothing really to worry about but it still gave me a pretty good scare. 

Pretty Perfect Pack

It's been ages since I've posted something. Family priorities and the weather have been keeping me off the water. If you've been following my blog for the last year or so you know I've been trying to find the perfect fishing pack. I tried several different fishing packs. Some were hip packs, chest packs and finally sling packs. All had their pros and cons but one stood above the rest. What's funny is the pack was suggested to me long ago by Mike from Mike's Gone Fishing. We were discussing fishing gear and I was pondering the Vedavoo. While we talked more he asked if I checked out Patagonia's Stealth Atom Pack. I looked into it more and the pack looked to be the same as the Orvis Guide Sling pack. The difference was it was about $50 less. I liked that it was the sling style and had plenty of storage and a place for a water bottle. I didn't want to give this pack a review until I tested it thoroughly. I can honestly say after almost a year that this pack is the best I've ever owned. It does pretty much everything I want. The storage is amazing. The large pocket can hold two large Cliff Bugger Barns as well as another small fly box. The smaller pocket can hold another fly box and there's inner compartments for tippet, dry shake and other things. There's also a inside waterproof pocket for your cell phone and keys. I first thought I'd never use this but it's already come in handy a few times when I had unexpected swims. There's one inside pocket that's lined with felt I'm guessing for sunglasses or a GPS. Anything that has a screen you don't want scratched. The strap that goes across your chest has a pocket that can hold a small knife or fishing license. Here's a video that goes over the pack a little more.

For me this pack is perfect. I can hold a bass box with large flies as well as small trout boxes. The pack is comfortable to wear but I do find the second strap is almost useless. It's supposed to provide extra support and keep the pack from sliding around. The pack fits fine without it and I leave the second strap unclipped 99% of the time. The water bottle section can be adjusted and perfectly holds a 32oz Gatorade or Powerade bottle. I've used this pack at the beach and in the mountains. It performed perfectly. I can't find anything wrong with it. If you're looking for a great sling pack and don't want to break the bank check the Patagonia Stealth Atom Pack out.

Wetfly Back Country Tenkara Outfit Review

When the package arrived I marveled over the layout of the bundle.

Image from BackCountry.com

The box is all black and each piece of the outfit had it's own slot. The fly box was nice and had the quality of the flies was pretty much what I expected. They were nothing spectacular but not horrible either. The presentation of bundle overall was top notch. When I pulled out the rod I couldn't wait to try it out. The finish is a graphite dull look which I loved. There were no instructions so I had to go with stuff I found online. Wetfly provides this video to get you started.

The rod extended easily enough but here's what this video doesn't talk about. There's a piece on the very bottom of the rod that unscrews. I was curious to what exactly this was for. I thought maybe it was a place to put your end cap. When I unscrewed it I noticed it was hollow inside. That was until my rod collapsed back into place and actually shot out the hole I was looking at. Basically the rod now was inverted and coming out beneath the cork. It was a pain to get back in the blank and get the rod to extend again. The rod is made to telescope and extend but what you don't realize is this is a fine process and if the blanks are misaligned even by a millimeter it will cause the rod to not collapse or extend properly. I learned my lesson with that. Keep the butt cap screwed in. 

I was able to get the rod extended properly and setup. The 3 lines that come with the package are a furled leader, level line and tippet. The furled leader is basically braided mono. The level line looks just like regular mono and the tippet is your average tippet. When I first saw how you tie the leader to the tip of the rod I figured I was going to break this in a matter of seconds. Once I had everything setup though I found it was quite sturdy and felt more durable than I thought. I tried playing around with the different rod lengths and imagined myself casting in small streams. The images in my head quickly vanished as I fought with the rod to collapse different sections. The alignment has to be perfect or the rod will not collapse. In some rare instances you can actually collapse the tip down inside the other blanks and won't be able to get it out. Luckily I had the leader tied on and used that to help pull the tip out. This annoyed me pretty quickly. I found I would not be able to use this rod how I wanted to. The idea of collapsing the rod depending on the situation is not as easy as it sounds. 

The rod was very stiff. It seemed to have an action faster than any of the rods I own. I took everything over to a local pond to test it out. Casting was a little awkward at first but I started to figure it out. I actually let my daughter have a few turns with it and she could actually cast better than I could. The key was to slow down and let the rod do all the work. Then came my next issue with the setup. The furled leader sinks. This caused my fly to sink as well. Not a huge deal but it was hard to detect strikes once the line and fly were submerged. I could have tied on an indicator but I was too lazy. Having only so much casting distance became very frustrating. There's really nothing you can do about it. If you can't wade in the water you're stuck only casting so far from the bank. You better hope the fish are with in 30ft of you or they are out of casting range. That is unless you add some line and have plenty of room to back cast. Make sure nothing is overhead as well. This rod is 12ft tall and finds branches easily. Especially in the hands of a 5yr old. 

I was able to catch fish with the rod and not having a reel felt strange. I angled the rod and was able to land the fish but I'm not sure what I'd do with a significantly large fish. With this rod a large fish would be about 2lbs. The whole experience was fun but had me unimpressed. I felt limited in how I could fish which I didn't like at all. I like the ability to cast where I want and as far as I want. I also didn't like the issue with collapsing the rod. There were several times I thought the rod was moving a little or trying to collapse on its own. Worrying about this was just another annoyance. In the end I decided Tenkara probably isn't for me. I can see how the style can be attractive to others but for me it's a fad that doesn't really have an advantage over traditional fly gear. Actually you're at a disadvantage in my opinion. Fly fishing to me is difficult enough. 

The main reason I considered Tenkara is I liked the logic of simplicity and being able to avoid the different currents while casting to a certain location. After my experience I'd say save your money and use a long stick for those scenarios.

Grouper Eats Shark

So would a grouper eat a little kid or small adult just as easily?

I'm Trying Tenkara

I hit the beach today in hopes of drum, spanish mackerel, bluefish or something with fins. All I got was a sunburn and sand everywhere.

It wasn't a total loss. The day was beautiful and the kids had fun playing in the surf.

I've been kind of a lurker when it comes to Tenkara. I read articles here and there and watch videos from time to time but to tell you the truth I had a hard time buying in on it. The technique to me looked like a fancy way to cane pole fish. The rods aren't what I'd call cheap either. It seems hard to find one under $100. As I've researched more about Tenkara I started to understand and agree with the techniques. There are some advantages. With a long rod you can extend over currents and make casts easier than you can with a western style fly rod. Why don't you just get a really long western style fly rod you say? I could do that but Tenkara has another advantage there. Tenkara rods telescope allowing you to extend and retract the rod depending on the situation. That's something you just can't do with a traditional fly rod. Sierra Trading Post recently had a deal on Wetfly's Back Country Tenkara Package. You get the rod, case, line, leader even a box of flies for under $120. I couldn't find many reviews on this package but I decided to pull the trigger and try it out. I think Tenkara can be a great thing to use with the kids. The rod takes out the confusing and sometimes very frustrating line control issues beginners fight with when learning fly fishing. With Tenkara they can focus on just casting. I'll definitely post reviews of the rod and how it performs later this year. 

Rain

I haven't been posting much because every time I plan to go fishing the weather has not cooperated. I don't mind fishing in the rain but storms lately have been accompanied by plenty of lightning and torrential downpours. This chart gives a picture of what the last month has been.

You're reading that right. Almost 14inches of rain in 30 days. I haven't even attempted to make a cast in that time. I'm hoping to change that this weekend. The weather forecast looks amazing. 

First Family Camping Trip

I had been anticipating camping with my kids since they were born. I wasn't sure what age is the right age to take them on their first trip. My wife and I decided to do a test run by going one day over a weekend. I have fished Stone Mountain State Park several times but never camped there. The day we arrived at the campground I was really impressed with the quality of the campsites and bathrooms. The bathrooms were cleaner than some of the hotels I've stayed in. We made camp and started a fire. This where I started to realize what this trip was going to be all about. Instead of just enjoying everything this experience was going to be about teaching the kids what they can and can't do while camping.

The first was to teach them that fire is something dangerous and not something you play with. This was actually harder than I thought. The kids were constantly getting too close to the fire ring. Especially when they were chasing each other around the campsite. 

I was sure someone was going to be impaled with a skewer but we managed to roast marshmallows and cook hot dogs without any incidents. My wife got these giant marshmallows that were almost too big for smores. They were a meal in themselves. 

The next day we decided to go for a hike. My wife and I didn't sleep that well due to our air mattress not inflating. She did buy some small 1/4 inch foam pads for the kids and we tried those as a substitute. It didn't work and we spent the night tossing and turning. She ended up sleeping in the car. Even with the bad nights sleep we rallied and went for a hike. 

Stone mtn is a impressive sight. The wall looks almost vertical but from a distance you can see the mtn is actually a rock dome. Many rock climbers from the surrounding area come here to test their skills. 

My daughter wanted to climb this so bad and it took me constantly berating her to keep her from attempting an ascent. The plan was to hit a natural water slide after the hike. My wife twisted her ankle pretty bad on the hike back to the car. She could still walk but it was obvious she was in pain. I made a walking stick for her and of course the kids bugged me to make them one of their own.

This seemed like a good idea until the walking sticks became guns and later swords. The walking sticks ended up back in the forest before the hike was over. 

The water slide was part of a small waterfall. The upper falls have a pretty spectacular view.

My daughter begged me to go down the water slide with her but it looked pretty bumpy. I heard from other hikers that people usually bring something plastic to sit on to protect their rear. We ended up just playing at the base of the falls and the kids had plenty of fun.

When we were about to leave my daughter was yelling about an orange lizard. 

I have been looking for one of these newts for years. The last place I'd expect to find one is by a popular swimming hole. The color of these creatures is amazing. You'd think the vibrant color would make them vulnerable to predators. The color actually indicates the newt is toxic. Various times on the trail we came across some mushrooms that had the same color.

I wonder if this is a coincidence or if the salamanders feed on these mushrooms. I think even with our mishaps the camping trip was a success. On the drive back home my kids asked if we can go camping again and stay longer next time.