Top Alaska Flies, Echo Seven Weight Spey Rods, Top Dorado Flies |
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 Topics Top Alaska Flies Echo Seven Spey Rods Dorado Flies |
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| Facebook Fish Photo Contest Winner Gets $25 |
| Francisco Bags A Big One |
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| On May 28, 2012 Pam Bolles' husband (Baja Big Fish Company), Captian Francisco landed what is potentally a fly rod world record California Yellowtail near Loreto, Mexico. When hung on the scale, it weighed 48-pounds, or 16-pounds larger than the existing 10kg Class World Record. The huge fish was caught using an Echo Rod and Lamson Litespeed reel. |
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Top Alaska Flies Going to Alaska? We've got the flies you need. Alaska is huge and its fish are huge. Here the trout don't often sip spinners in the back-eddies. Here they kill rodents and ravage the spawn and flesh of the millions of salmon that return from the Ocean. These salmon in turn are also targets of fly fishers. They are still keyed to Ocean food: shrimp, krill, squid, and baitfish. We've got all the flies that simulate this Ocean food. We've got the rods, reels, lines, waders, clothing, connections and insect repellent too. |
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Alaska has 47,000 miles of ocean coastline, more than all the other states combined. The interior abounds with as many miles of shoreline on lakes and streams. Alaska is a coldwater fly angler's dream. Many anglers migrate to Alaska during the summer months to partake in the bounty of the "last frontier". On this page is the most complete selection of proven Alaska flies to be found anywhere. They are made from the finest materials available. |
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Alaska River Flows Alaska Weather Alaska Maps |
Click any of the flies below to purchase, or to get more information. Good luck on your Alaska fishing trip. |
| Echo Seven-Weight Spey Rod Comparison |
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Echo produces three different thirteen foot seven weight two-hand fly
rods. Each has their own mission, action and personality. Dec Hogan
designed the DH Series to be the perfect line of Skagit Rods. Tim Rajeff
designed his own two versions: the TR and the Echo3. Whereas the
7130-4DH has a typical Dec Hogan/Ed Ward parabolic action, the 7130-4TR
is more muscular through the butt and mid-sections. This enables the TR
to throws both Skagit and lighter weight Scandi heads equally well. Both
the DH and TR series have been well accepted, but since the TR is more
versitile, it has become the more popular of the two. The Echo3 is made from higher modulas graphite. It has a faster action and is lighter in weight than the TR, which makes it much, much faster than the DH. It is a very good Skagit rod, but is an exceptional Scandi rod. Because of the more expensive higher modulas grraphite used in the construction of the blank, the Echo3 is $200 more than each of the other two Echo Spey series. This last winter (2012) I used both the TR and Echo3 rods a lot while fishing for winter steelhead. Both rods were equipped with Airflo Skagit Compact 540-grain heads and various sinking tips. After experimenting with both rods with a number of different brands and weights of Skagit heads, the 540's were sellected because they seemed most comfortable all around. Both rods are very pleasant to fish with. The Echo3 seems to have slightly more range, and is much lighter in swing weight. Also the 7130-4 Echo3 is on of the finest Scandi rods I've ever cast. It gets my nod and is worth the extra $200, especially if you are going to fish summer steelhead using Scandi heads. |
| Echo E3-7130 | Length: 13' Sections: 4 Line Weight 7 | |||||
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Grains: 450-540 This is a very popular size for steelhead and smaller salmon. This will prove to be a great all-around rod for Deschutes steelhead, and will also prove to be the perfect tool for most Oregon winter steelhead as well. So far E3-7130 has attracted the most attention of any two-hand rod in the Echo3 series. Tim's top picks in Airflo Lines that bring out the best performance with this Echo E3 rod model are: Scandi Compact 450-grain, Delta 7/8 and Skagit Compact 540-grain. Free Airflo Skagit Compact Shooting Head 540-grain included with this rod. |
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| This model comes in two versions: (E3) Normal fishing rod - green wraps on a green blank, and (E3I) Instructors rod - white wraps on a white blank for easy visibility for students watching their instructor. | ||||||
| Item | Series | Line Wt. | Action | Handle | Price | To Top |
| 7130 | E3 | 7 | Fast | B (22") | $549.95 | SALE ENDED |
| 7130 | E3I | 7 | Fast | B (22") | $549.95 | SALE ENDED |
| ECHOTR7130 | Length: 13' Sections: 4 Line Weight 7 | |||||
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Grains: 450-540 This is a very popular size for steelhead and smaller salmon. This will prove to be a great rod for Deschutes "A" Run steelhead. This is a great all around steelhead rod. It casts Scandi and Skagit heads equally well. Tim's top picks in Airflo Lines that bring out the best performance with this Echo TR rod model are: Scandi Compact 450-grain, Delta 7/8 and Skagit Compact 540-grain. Free Airflo Skagit Compact Shooting Head 540-grain included with this rod. |
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| Item | Series | Line Wt. | Action | Handle | Price | To Top |
| ECHO-TR7130 | TR | 7 | medium fast | Standard | $349.95 | SALE ENDED |
| ECHODH7130-4X |
Length: 13' Line: 7 Pieces: 4 |
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| This is a slower action
Skagit Rod. The Echo 13’0” #7 was
designed as a heavy summer steelhead rod or a light winter rod. It
handles larger flies and medium size tips with ease. It's great for
steelhead, Atlantic Salmon, and Coho. Free Airflo Skagit Compact Shooting Head 540-grain included with this rod. |
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Item
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Recommended Line Weights
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Price | To Top |
| DH | 7130 | #7, 480-590 grains | $349.95 | SALE ENDED |
Dorado Flies
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| Dorado are one of the finest fly rod game fish species in the world. They are beautiful to look at, aggressive toward well presented flies and are extremely athletic when hooked. Below are listed the top six fly patterns for the Sea of Cortez, which offers very strong dorado fishing from June through October. The single most productive fly pattern during our nine trips to Loreto, Mexico has been the 2/0 Mark's Sardina. This fly is usually used in combination with a slow sinking line and is presented to fish, which have been chummed with live sardinas. The next most productive fly is a size two olive and white Deep Eyed Minnow. This fly has an erratic, wounded minnow action, and is a good bet when fish are working smaller baitfish. Poppers are great fun when dorado are feeding right at the surface. The Witchcraft Popper has also been effective when presented with a fast sinking line below the surface of the water. Fast strips impart a swimming action. |
 Mark's Sardina |
 Bubble Head Popper |
 Deep Eyed Minnow |
 Bright Painted Popper |
 Crease Fly |
 Master Jack Popper |
| Dorado means golden in Spanish. It's a reasonable name for a fish that can turn bright gold along the sides, but they are usually bright greenish blue along the back and have liberal amounts of blue spots and the pectoral fins are very bright electric blue. Dorado are one of the most successful fishes and are found in tropical waters, world wide. In Australia and most of the Atlantic Ocean the specie is call Dolphin (not to |
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| be confused with a family of sea mammals of the same name). In Hawaii they are called Mahi Mahi. Dorados are prime fly rod sport fish for a number of reasons. They are very strong and acrobatic. They spend a lot of time around the surface of the water where they are comparatively easy to reach while fly fishing. Dorado grow incredibly fast. At one year old, most Dorado exceed 6 pounds and may be over twenty pounds at age two. Three year old Dorado usually exceed thirty pounds. Few Dorado live beyond the forth year. The world record is 87 pounds. Once the fish reach maturity they spawn every six weeks and broadcast about 400,000 eggs. The eggs which are about the size of the head of a pin hatch in about 60 hours. The little fish start growing immediately. This fast growth rate keeps them eating constantly and they are very aggressive biters most of the time. They feed on bait fish |
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| of many sizes and are fond of sardines, flying fish, mackerel and squid. On a recent trip to the sea of Cortez several fish were vomiting up squid as they were being played. This attracted more Dorado which quickly consumed the free meal. Some of the squid were more than a foot long. When hooked a Dorado runs hard and often jumps spectacularly, then slugs it out all the way to the boat. They can exceed 50 miles per hour for short bursts. Ordinarily they save a bit of energy to thrash about madly as the angler tries to either release, or land the fish. |
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Dorado have multiple groups of wicked little teeth that can chew your leader and flies. It is advised that when large fish are expected that a shock tippet of 50-60 pound test is used. A simple leader formula is as follows: 12" or less #50 shock tippet, 16'" or more of #16 or #20 class tippet, 3' of #50 butt section. Sections of leader can be assembled with surgeon's knots. Smaller fish can be landed on straight twenty pound test tippets. Our favorite rods for Dorado are #10 to #12 weight. |
| Or favorite line for most fishing conditions is Rio's Outbound Short Head with a slow sinking intermediate tip. Fast sinking shooting head fly lines such as Rio's DeepSea lines are a good bet for fishing bait fish and squid patterns when weather/water conditions keep dorado from feeding right at the surface. Intermediate or floating lines with intermediate tips, are best for fishing poppers. Dorados like to hang around anything that is floating on the water. Floating weed mats, debris, rays or turtles will often have Dorados under them. I once hooked a 20 pound Dorado from under a single floating Styrofoam cup. Many Dorados that are caught with flies, have been chummed up to the boat with live or cut bait. Most Dorado caught from the sea of Cortez are chummed with live Sardinas, which are stored in well aerated live-wells. |
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Another way to attract Dorado to the boat is
to simply troll a fly and when a Dorado is hooked the commotion
will attract others that can be cast to. This method is hard on
fly lines, as trolled flies often revolve and twist the line.
Using conventional gear to troll with is easier on your fly
gear. Dorados can be picky. Often they will be keyed on one type of food. It pays to have a range of sizes and kinds of flies that imitate the range of food organism that dorado eat. On several trips to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, very large flies that saved our trip. We found that trolling 12" Marlin flies was the easiest way to pull deep feeding Dorado to the surface where we could get at them. Once a school was around the boat, we could chum them with sardinas and then get them to eat flies that looked and behaved like the bait, but is was the big flies that got the game started. Ordinarily the bigger fish like to feed on larger flies. |
| Facebook Fish Photo Contest Winner |
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Adam Kusler wins a $25 Gift Certificate with 137 likes Mr. Kusler's photo is in the Contest Winner's file on our Facebook page. |
Fish long & prosper,
Mark, Patty & Crew
The Fly Fishing Shop, Welches, OR
1(800) 266-3971
P.O. Box 368 - 67296
East Hwy 26
Welches, Oregon 97067, USA
Voice: (503) 622-4607 or 1(800)
266-3971 FAX: (503) 622-5490
flyfish@flyfishusa.com
© 1981-2012 The Fly Fishing Shop
We have
been in business since April 21, 1981.
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