Simms G4 Waders

Simms G4 Waders: What's the real story...

When George Cook told me about Simms' new $700, G4 waders, I had just finished up my season of guiding on the Deschutes River and my old G3 waders were shot; full of leaks. George showed all the features of the new waders, including the waterproof zipper which ran down the front, nearly to the crotch.  My reply was something like, "Great...more whistles and bells...just what we need." They did look interesting however, and within a couple of months a brand new pair of G4's arrived at the shop with my name on them.  Yesterday was my first test of them.  What a day it was, with nearly constant downpour and a flooding river; the perfect day for testing waders.  My first impression of the waders is that they are made from much thicker material in the lower areas where they would take the most abuse.  Gone are the troublesome seams that ran down the inside of the legs of the old waders.  They have be replaced with seams that run down the front and back of the legs.  Mobility is very good in the new articulated legs.  These waders are roomier that the old G3 waders.  The new wader is also longer in both inseam and torso measurements.  The neoprene suspenders are definitely more comfortable than the G3 suspenders.  The front zipper is a winner.  Now a male angler can urinate without removing his rain jacket, although I did have to unsnap one suspender to get this done.  After only one day on the river with this pair of waders it will be hard to go back to a zipperless wader for fishing during our rainy wither months. 

Simms G4 Guide Waders

  Introducing remarkable design innovations, the all-new G3 Guide Boot raises the bar in fishing footwear.

Simms G3 Guide Boot Lacing System with G4 Wader gravel guard pulled down over it
(pictured here). 
Simms G3 Studded Guide Boots offer
unprecedented comfort, traction and foot protection.
We know because we're wearing them.

An act you won't want to miss is Andy Murray.  Andy is a fly fisher's fly fisher in the Scottish tradition.  He is one of the smoothest fly casters you will ever see.  This programs are May 5, 11:00am-11:30am and the same time the following day.

Andy 51, is recently retired as VP of Sales for House of Hardy, Great Briton's legendary fly tackle maker.  He has traveled the world developing tackle, keeping in touch with his distributors and giving casting and fishing demonstrations. We first met Andy at the 2002 Sandy River Spey Clave.  His easy, but powerful casting style so impressed the audience that we asked him back in 2003.  Since then he has become one of the corner-stones of the Clave. 

Andy will join us for the forth consecutive year on the Deschutes River  for our Steelhead PhD School.   This year the times slot is last week in August.

aluminum alloy, specially manufactured to ensure both lightness and extreme strength. It is then subjected to an accelerated maturing and stress relieving process that gives the highest possible performance and longest lasting durability.  Angel MK II Reels are anodized to architectural standards that increase the hardness of the aluminum by an amazing four hundred percent. The little aesthetic details give the Angel Series a different look from any other reels.  The raised posts between the reel body and reel foot are sophisticated.  The reel handle looks like it was constructed from chain mail.  

The Portland Fly Fishing Show
The Fly Fishing Shop attended the first major Fly Fishing only show in Portland, February 17-18.  We decided to leave all of our products in the shop with a worthy online crew and the rest of us would just hang out at the show with a 10' x 20' booth.  We gave away cookies, pens, candy,

coffee, cold drinks and shook hands with many old and some new friends. There were many cool fly tiers, cool fly fishing equipment, beautiful art work and other vendor displays; some of which were works of art in themselves.  There was a wealth of talent at this show.  It was a grand experience.  No doubt the George Cook's article below is a product of just one of the camp-chair-circle conversations in our booth.  I think it might have started when a customer asked me to define a Skagit line and I passed the question on to George, who was sitting there.  At the time he remarked that defining Skagit and Scandi Spey Lines were the most asked fly line questions in the Rio booth as well.
You might also want to refer to this article where I tried to define the differences.

Skagit/ology
By George Cook

Nearly 2 years have passed since the introduction of the vaunted Skagit Line.  However, despite its effectiveness and popularity, misconceptions, confusion and lack of overall clarity of the use of Skagit Lines remains.  The following is a short but specific conversation regarding the history and usage of Skagit lines in the worldwide spey fishing theater. History-
Beginning in the 1990’s many of today’s most recognizable spey authorities independently where developing Skagit type of lines.  Noted casters and anglers such as Ed Ward, Mike Kinney, Scott O’Donnell, Mike McCune and Scott Howell among others where at the forefront of the Skagit revolution.  Along the banks of northwest rivers coupled with late nights in the depths of fly tying rooms of the Pacific Northwest the chop-shop artist and line theologists where hard at work developing what

would become today’s Skagit Lines.  Some would cut and splice their way, others would utilize bumped up WindCutter bodies to perfect the craft.  The shorter belly approach was underway.  The day had come to maximize the spey rod for winter conditions with large outsized flies.  The use of Northwest hybrid and Skagit Casts such as the Snap Tee, Perry Poke, Snap Z and Wombat lent themselves to the shorter belly approach.   Today the Skagit line approach is “the” approach to sinking line endeavors worldwide.  Be it Kings in Alaska to sea run browns of the Rio Grande; from the Umpqua to the Babine and all points in between.  The Skagit Line has become the omnipresent tool.  Originally developed purely as a sink-tip line, the Skagit line also is an incredibly effective full floating line, particularly on 12’ to 13’9” rods.  To be sure the spey caster will endure a greater level of stripping of line to recast (applies to all Skagit lines versus long belly lines) but the reward is a undeniable highly energized long and straight cast. 

Usage-
Specific Skagit Line size (grain weight) match-ups come with a degree of variability coupled with angler opinion.  Line speed versus load, moderate versus fast action, all add up to a witch’s brew of variables that must be fleshed out to any given rod regardless of manufacturer.  The great casters often find themselves 50 to 100 grains apart on any given rod.  In the end the angler must boil it down and get the details.  Often, the “weight bump” up theorem coincides with a naked (no cheater) approach.  In the end, one must discern the details before going forward.  All in all, most spey rods 12’ to 15’ in length will have as many as three different Skagit Lines that will work.  Generally one will be ideal.  To discover this the angler must seek out opinion within the spey community, be it guide, factory rep or retail representative.  Again, be sure to discern the details (i.e. line grain weight and cheater consideration, etc). 

Skagit Cheaters-
With the demand for shorter belly lines growing in popularity, here is a tool that allows the spey enthusiast the ability to completely dial in their Skagit Line (longer) or WindCutter Line (shorter). Essentially the Cheater theory allows the customization of a Skagit Line pursuant to the given length of rod.  Generally, spey rods 11-13 feet will utilize no cheater or “naked”.  Rods 13-15 feet utilizing a 5 foot cheater.  With rods 15-16 feet using either a 5 foot, a custom cut 7.5 foot cheater (from a 10 foot cheater) or possibility a full 10 foot cheater. Full Floating and a la carte Skagit Floating Lines- The Skagit line as a floating line is both an effective and elegant match up particularly on 12’ to 13’9” spey rods.  You can attain a full floating Skagit line one of two ways.  Full Floating in 500, 600,700 or 800 grain varieties are available.  Averaging a 46 foot taper, this format will bomb skaters or wet flies for summer runs with ease.  The a la carte construction for a full floating line works as follows;  Skagit 550 body as an example (27 feet) plus 5’ cheater (8/9/10 Skagit Cheater Pack) along with a #9  15’ Skagit Floating Tip (which so happens to be the front end of a WindCutter 8/9/10) which makes 47 foot Skagit Floating Line.  The obvious difference between the two is that a full line floater is “seamless” versus looped parts of the a la carte.  No doubt spey casting has more opinion out there than any other sport other than maybe archery.  In this, one thing remains true to form.  Sink tip lines in conjunction with intruder type flies get free flight lessons long and straight with the Skagit taper line.  Floating line enthusiasts upon acceptance of extra line strip will enjoy the benefit of highly energized long straight casts with dries and summer patterns as well.