by Tim Romano

We’re going to start this week with–what should in time become regular updates for Tie Talk–a hand picked selection from my friend and flyrecipes.com founder Joe Mathis.

This week, Joe picked a fly that in my opinion, all trout fisherman should have in their box at all times: The Stimulator. This specific submission to flyrecipes.com was submitted by Juan Ramirez, a guide and tying instructor here in Colorado.

Juan’s keen insights and notes on the “Stimi” are below. Click here to see the step-by-step instructions and tying steps with photos.

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by Tim Romano

We’re going to start this week with–what should in time become regular updates for Tie Talk–a hand picked selection from my friend and flyrecipes.com founder Joe Mathis.

This week, Joe picked a fly that in my opinion, all trout fisherman should have in their box at all times: The Stimulator. This specific submission to flyrecipes.com was submitted by Juan Ramirez, a guide and tying instructor here in Colorado.

Juan’s keen insights and notes on the “Stimi” are below. Click here to see the step-by-step instructions and tying steps with photos.

read more

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by Kirk Deeter

John Merwin’s blog post the other day referenced a book by Pat Dorsey (Tying and Fishing Tailwater Flies). So I thought I’d follow up with an “On The Spot” interview I did with Pat at the recent International Sportsmen’s Expo in Denver.

Pat and I are old friends. In fact, back when we were in our early thirties, I was co-authoring a book on fishing guides, and Pat was one of our first “volunteer” subjects. He showed me Cheesman Canyon, the Williams Fork, and Dream Stream section of the South Platte in South Park. And he did it for gas money, despite the fact that we didn’t have a publisher committed or anything (it was an excuse to go fishing). The book turned out to be Castwork, which boosted my outdoor writing career. It’s out of print now, but you can read excepts at MidCurrent.

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I missed my own damn birthday! Four years ago on January 31, 2008 I wrote my first post on FLY FISH CHICK. I’m a day late but thought it was worth a bit of a retrospective since during the lifespan of this blog, so much has happened in my life.

Four years. I can hardly believe it! The same length of time between the Olympics, Presidential elections, leap years. Four years is the amount of time I spent in college. (Before you pat me on the back for getting out on time, I will confess I entered Carolina with 30 hours, technically a sophomore, and barely squeaked out my diploma in four years. Go Heels and God Bless Chapel Hill.)

During the four years of this blog we have talked trout, bonefish, bass, redfish and tarpon. I have made innumerable friends, both in person and virtually although I feel the same about both. I’ve managed to embarrass family every so often with some outlandish blogpost titles (anyone remember the raccoon penis story?) I started dating the Professor, met a publisher, raced in the Texas Water Safari, got married, wrote a book, published a book.

Oh, and Little Chick started middle school.

I’d like to thank each and every one of your for tuning in through the years, it sounds trite, but I literally wouldn’t be doing all this without your feedback, emails, comments. Hey, I’d even like to thank the Russians who are madly comment spamming me right now.

Years ago someone I knew who plays in a blues band once said to me, “You know the worst fate for a band is when they turn into a cover band for their own music.”

I knew precisely what he meant, but nevertheless, I am about to do just that. To celebrate four years, I thought we could take a look at some old posts that make me smile. Not a greatest hits album, just a mini flashback…

Lone Star Trout — my very first post about trout fishing in TX

Momma Told Me There’d Be Days Like This – bonefishing Bahamas with video montage

Is That A Bonefish In Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy To See Me – quick post from the Bahamas. The Professor and I had barely started dating and he found the title a tad inappropriate. Hee hee.

Candy, Don’t Take it From a Stranger – This just makes me laugh out loud. The posts we dream up in the off season when there is zero fishing…

Beef or Pork? – generated one of the most vivacious discussion on FFC. Was fun coordinating with the Flytalk blog over from Field and Stream

River Bank Robbers – video montage of my favorite fishing spot in the world, the Missouri River in MT

Lache pas la Patate – my ridiculously difficult quest for a Louisiana redfish

Brown Is The New Black – a look at the gorgeous brown trout we racked up in MT and ID last summer

THANK YOU ALL again and again for letting me talk fishing, food, music, and wandering off course for the past four years. More to come…XXOO

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by Tim Romano

Last fall I had the pleasure of following the entire length of the Rio Grande River, from headwaters in Colorado to the terminus in Texas at the Gulf of Mexico; fishing, rowing, and following two guys on motorcycles the entire way. I was on a Field & Stream assignment with Digital Director, Nate Mathews, and his father, Bruce Matthews, who is the executive director for the North Country Trail. I was following in the chase vehicle with my camera equipment, boats, fishing and camping gear.

The story was published in this month’s (February 2012) issue of the magazine. In the mag there were 25 images published. I took over 8,000 images over two weeks. I thought heck–let’s show em some more… Here’s the second half of the trip. The first batch of outtakes can be found here.

Enjoy.

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by Kirk Deeter

The other day I watched a television news report on “rudest cities” in America. According to Travel + Leisure, New York City supplanted Los Angeles for the top spot on the list. Miami was second. For the record, I love New York, and not just because my bosses work there. I’m energized when I visit New York. I even respect the Yankees. Granted, I live where I do (Pine, Colorado) for a reason, but the Big Apple has always been a great place to visit.

I find it hard to set a “rude standard” based on people. I mean, in a city of 18 million, sure you might bump into a jerk now and then, but one bad egg in a place like Bozeman or Little Rock could skew the data too, couldn’t it?

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by Tim Romano

This weeks caption contest proved to be a very popular one with 264 captions being written. This in turn made it difficult to pick a winner for the tickets to the Fly Fishing Film Festival, Fly Fishing Film tour (in the city closest to him or her), a gift certificate for ANY Scientific Anglers fly line he or she wants, two F3T and Upslope Brewery Pint Glasses, two Film Tour hats and a Scientific Anglers Waterproof System X fly box.

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by Kirk Deeter

Lefty Kreh, who may just be the most recognized authority on fly fishing ever, told Tenkara USA founder Daniel Galhardo that, “Tenkara is a fad and it won’t last long.” Talk about candor. What’s more interesting is that Daniel posted a recap of the conversation on his blog.

Another twist to all of this is that there have been rumors and rumblings for some time that Temple Fork Outfitters (and Lefty is the leading spokesperson for TFO) has been planning to manufacture and market its own line of tenkara rods in the not too distant future.

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by Tim Romano

Last fall I had the pleasure of following the entire length of the Rio Grande River, from headwaters in Colorado to the terminus in Texas at the Gulf of Mexico; fishing, rowing, and following two guys on motorcycles the entire way. I was on a Field & Stream assignment with Digital Director, Nate Mathews, and his father, Bruce Matthews, who is the executive director for the North Country Trail. I was following in the chase vehicle with my camera equipment, boats, fishing and camping gear.

read more

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There is something fishy about these ducks propped in a chair having just been plucked off the wall, but it’s not as malicious as it sounds. Since I have just watched the movie Moneyball, I’d like to think of these ducks as being traded, not flat out cut.

Yall know that the Professor is an avid angler, but what you may not know is that he is also a passionate duck hunter. When we married,  I inherited a vast collection of winged wall art. Which is fine, I have no problem with mounted ducks on the wall.

That is, until I need the space for some bonefish.

You see Professor and I are fans of an artist in Idaho, Smitty, who is a trout fishing guide on the Henry’s Fork. We’ve browsed the website and his collections at Mike Lawson’s flyshop as well as the Henry’s Fork Lodge. We’ve seen his art hanging everywhere from the Trouthunter restaurant in Idaho, to a motel in the Keys. So we’ve been keeping an eye out for the past couple of years, hoping to claim a piece of Smitty’s work for our own.

In a delicious windfall, my parents gave us a hand-me-down Smitty over the holidays…

It was a real estate issue plain and simple, we needed the duck spot for the bonesfish. As the mounts came down the Professor sighed, “It’s the end of an era.”

Luckily he is in love with our new piece of art and agrees wholeheartedly it is at home in the ducks’ former space.

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by Kirk Deeter

A couple weeks ago, I had the distinct honor of introducing April Vokey of FlyGal Ventures at the International Sportsmen’s Expo in Denver. April hails from British Columbia, and is garnering quite a bit of attention lately (via the Internet and otherwise) for her steelhead fishing prowess. But to those of you who assume she’s just a pretty face in big fish photos, be warned–April has serious game.

She fishes the Skeena system (and travels far afield), tackling some of the most honest and technical fly water in the world. Having seen her cast, I’d advise you not to bet your truck against her in a one-on-one target match. She’s incredibly bright, charismatic and on the leading edge of fly fishing technique and instruction. In other words, April is exactly what this sport needs now.

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by Kirk Deeter

After careful thought, I have decided to award the prize (The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing) to Kyle Deneen.

He wrote: My cat Schizmak, (I just wanted to put his name in there because its cool) is a long haired Russian Blue, when the winters are around I take his under coat and use it for some of the best dubbing I have ever used. A cats undercoat will make the best “hairs ear nymph” but I guess we should now call it the “cat hairs nymph.” Also my buddies and I from Fat Guy Fly Fishing found out that my back hair makes great dubbing after my wife shaves my back.

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