Remembering Mom

My mom, Geri, has been battling cancer for about a year. From the moment she found out out about it, she had a positive, we can beat this, attitude. Sort of bring it on, we'll beat this. Well unfortunately it was a hard fought battle, but the fight took its toll. She passed away about a week ago. She passed with me holding her hand.

Many people have said that my mom and I are a lot alike. Its one of the best compliments I could ever get. She wasn't a hugs and kisses sort of mom, but it didn't matter the bond was there, we new she loved us. She was a tomboy who was as she said, "born in the wrong generation". A free spirit that struggled her whole life to be free. She's free now.

My mom was born on a Montana farm and married a cowboy/rancher, my dad Bob. She ended up being quite a horsewoman. and rode and worked with horses most of her life. Rode trails and blazed trails. She drove truck, paid the bills and kept my folks business afloat. All that and making lunches, dinners and washing clothes for the family. She did it all, tirelessly and uncomplaining. She loved the outdoors and became an enthusiastic fly fisher.

The highlight of her year became meeting up with Laura, Zack and I in Montana and floating the rivers fishing. We fished the Yellowstone, Madison, Big Hole and the Jefferson rivers over the years in the type of country she grew up in. She would always take the rear seat of the raft and let my dad be up front. She did this because she was the better fisherman. My dad, who is hard of hearing would be upfront, oblivious, while she would catch fish after fish from the back of the boat. I'd turn to net the fish and she'd say "I'll just let it go before dad sees that I caught it". She knew dad would get pissed if she was out fishing him, which see did most every time we'd get out. She had the knack. On the day she caught the  beautiful brown in the picture above, dad probably hooked up on 4 or 5 lunkers that he immediately broke off while attempting to horse them in. Mom just took her time and most always landed the big ones.

She loved the adventure of it. She's the one that inspired me to write, share my experiences, to become a fly fishing educator and most of all pursue my dreams. Do what I love to do. I'll miss her joking personality and good common sense. With that said I know she'll be with me in spirit as I row down the rivers wherever I life takes me.

Mom, you'll be missed, but never forgotten by me and everyone that you have touched.

With Love,

Clay

Swamp Thing Progress

I've been working on the "Swamp Thing" recently getting it ready to chase stripers later in the month. I've ordered a new Lowrance HD - 7 Gen 2 fish finder and rigged it up. This model has 'GPS' and 'Chart Plotting' capabilities. Here's what it looks like mounted in place.

I've also installed the Lowrance Structure Scan module that gives me side scanning ability. It is an add on with a separate unit. It's mounted underneath the steering column. I had to run two cables to the back of the boat for the fish finder transducer and another for the Sidefinder. Here they are mounted on a transom plate.

I had to run two cables from the units to the stern for the sonar transducer and the Structure scan. They are two separate units that came with the fish finder and Structure Scan module. I mounted them on a transom plate on the stern.

I also mounted a Minn Kota 12 volt, 55 pound thrust bow mounted trolling motor at the bow. I manufactured a 1/4" aluminum plate at the bow to mount it. 

I also mount oar stands to be able to row the boat if and when I want to. Here's what one of them looks like.

So the boat is pretty much ready to go once I figure out how to operate the fish finder and structure scan anyway. Something to go and play around with. Hopefully soon.

What's Been Cooking?

Well, I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I should catch up a little bit.

Fishing on the Lower Yuba

First off,what about the fishing on the Yuba. The fishing has been slower for awhile. We have not seen many bugs at all. The Skwalas that came off did so more in January, but it was never the full blown event like we expect. Just a few here or there. The fish would come up for Skwala dries but more opportunistically not hatch driven. The numbers of Skwalas in the neighborhood of the Parks Bar Bridge were meager. I've been tuning rocks looking for bugs most every time I've been out and what I've seen is mostly stoneflies. If I turn over 10 rocks I might see 2 stoneflies and 2 mayflies, that's it. The river has been rolled with the big flow of 42,000 cfs. and the bug life has suffered. I was on the river yesterday and we saw 1 March Brown, a few Mayflies, no PMD's and lots of midges. The fish have been eating lot's of them. This was verified by a throat sampling from a fish last week by a very credible angler. The fish was loaded with nothing but size 20 and 22 midges. There have been fish caught. The word on the river is that the fish being caught are in the 8-12 inch class with very few of the quality Yuba fish we are accustomed to. Hopefully this will change soon.

Inaugural Journey of the Swamp Thing

I made it out on the Feather River chasing stripers a week or so ago with my fishing buddies Frank Rinella and Mike and Todd Williams. Mike is working out the kinks with his new Power Drifter boat. It was more of a test drive so to speak as the stripers aren't expected in until March. I've been busy tying striper flies and getting ready. We put in at Boyd's Pump ran up to Shanghai Bend and down to Star Bend. We had lots of casting practice but no hookups. The gear guys had picked up a few resident stripers but we weren't that lucky. My new bow mounted trolling motor works great and we got a good feel for it. Come on Stripers! I'l be ready.

Fly Fishing Traditions Classes

I just started another series of Fly Fishing 101 - Introduction to Fly Fishing Class at the Reel Anglers Fly Shop in Grass Valley. It is a six session class for people wanting to get into fly fishing. I've got eight attendees that are eager to learn how to cast a fly rod, learn about all the essential gear, how to tie knots and generally get ready to hit the water and give it a go. The class runs $200 for about 16 hours of instruction.

If any one is interested in future FFT classes you can contact me at clayhash.fft@gmail.com

Gold Country Fly Fishers

I've also been putting on workshops for the Gold Country Fly Fishers. These workshops are free to members of the GCFF. I did a Lower Yuba Nymphing Workshop in January that was well attended by GCFF members. There was a Fly Casting Clinic in February were we working on the mechanics of a good cast and then moved on to "Presentation Casts". I've got another Fly Casting Clinic in march as well as a Swing Fly Workshop.

You can contact the Gold Country Fly Fishers at gcff.org if you are interested in joining.

That's it for this post.

Clay

The Airflo Skagit Switch Line Review

Whoever came up with the idea of Switch Rods was had his head on straight. Someone came up with the idea to build a rod that can do everything from Spey casting to overhead casting. It would be the perfect rod for small and medium sized rivers. For those of us that have purchased one we've had a heck of a time figuring out what to line them with. I've about tried them all. The rod builders sold the rods but didn't really have the lines to match them with. How many of you have been throwing a Rio Indicator line two or threes line weights over. Get the picture. I checked out Larimer Outfitters' website and got the story as to how the Airflo Skagit Switch line came about.

The Airflow Skagit Switch Story ( from http://www.larimeroutfitters.com )

Tom Larimer, who is on the Airflo design team, approached Tim Rajeff, (the US distributor for Airflo fly lines) with the problem we were all having with other switch lines on the market. Switch rods are designed more like a traditional single hand rod taper, meaning that they are fast in the butt section and flex progressively through the tip giving the caster the ability to overhead cast them. However, a Spey rod taper is typically slower in the butt section and faster through the tip section. This allows the caster to form the D-Loop and change the direction of the cast without the rod wanting to unload too quickly. The load is sustained through the whole casting cycle until the cast goes outbound. It’s the reason why Spey casting feels so good!

Because switch rods want to unload so quickly, Airflo wanted to find a way to slow them down giving the caster the same sensation they get from their traditional Spey rod. Until now, there hasn't been a fly line that sustained the load on the faster tapers of most switch rods. This is why it’s been difficult (and not fun) to perform double Speys and snap-T casts with the lines currently on the market. For those of you that have tried switch rods with what's been available, you’ve probably noticed “touch and go casts” like single Speys and snake rolls work all right. However, if you want to jack a snap-T with a big sink-tip and a heavy fly it isn't very fun.

The Result the Airflo Skagit Switch Line

After a lot of thought and a couple of prototypes, Airflo came up with the solution to the switch rod  lining problem.

• The new Airflo Skagit Switch line has a huge rear diameter and two-foot rear taper. This helps sustain the load on the rod giving the caster that sweet feeling of Spey casting we all have been waiting for. 
• The front taper is a big 7’ wedge that turns over your biggest tips and heaviest flies. 
• This line was built to make switch rods not only fun to cast, but to make them legitimate fishing tools.
• The heads go from 540 grains down to 360 grains in 30 grain increments. 
• Although Airflo built this line for anglers chasing steelhead and salmon, the smaller sizes are perfect for trout and smallmouth anglers looking to swing streamers on switch rods. 
• All of the heads are marked on the loop sleeve telling you what the line is and the grain weight. 
• As a general rule of thumb, go 30 grains lighter than what you normally fish in a Skagit Compact. 

According to Tom Larimer "If you’re a fan of the Airflo Skagit Compact, you will love this line!"