Exciting New Rods

if you are over, say, 20 years old that is (less than that and Santa coming seems a long ways away, of course). Regardless of age, many of us anticipate receiving gifts this time of year. Well, I certainly don’t want to disappoint any of you, so I thought I might give each of you a gift to celebrate the holiday season. I was thinking about a guided trip to somewhere in the world, where we could all meet and spend a few days getting to know each other. 
Transportation and lodging was to be included. 
Before you start packing, it’s not going to happen. 
Sorry. 
I was not able to find enough guides on such a short notice that would be able to handle a few thousand clients.  
None of the top quality rod makers seem to have enough inventory on hand...to supply each of you a rod, so that’s out also. 
But, I did come up with something I could give each of you. 
Before you get your hopes up, it’s not much...but it is sincere. 
I’ll give it to you now, so you can open it early and move on with your life. 
Here it is: 
THANK YOU !!! 
That was it….. 
I hope that you are not overwhelmed. 
Thanks for what? 
Doing business here? 
Well, yes, but a good deal more. 
Thanks for talking to me, on the phone and in person. 
For asking my opinion, soliciting my advice and using it to decide on what to buy, or where to go; what to try when you get there. What line to use... are egg patterns actually fly fishing... is that new rod really better? Any time that you have asked my opinion, and then at least considered it...makes me feel good. 
Thanks for sharing your fishing tips with me. It has made me a better fisher person. The collective knowledge is priceless. 
Thanks for teaching me to cast a fly rod better. Yes. Believe it. Every time I get the chance to help someone cast a fly rod, it makes me better. If you think that I can cast, it was many of you that helped. 
For those of you that call and email from other parts of the world (here and abroad) and are willing to spend your hard earned dollars, (many dollars in some cases) some based on my opinion of things that you have not seen or touched,...thank you. Trust is a fragile thing, and I do not always remember to tell you how much I prize that very thing you give. 
For those few of you that were able to fish with me,...Thank you. Time has always been a valuable thing and I really appreciate the time that you have spent with me. 
I do not own this store, but even so, the things that you buy here help feed and outfit my family and I thank you for that. 
It’s a living, and I enjoy it.  The Fly Fishing Shop feeds me and mine, and I am very, very grateful for that.  It is you folks that sustain me. Really. 
To the fly fishers all over the world that have, in a sense, cast a line to me, Thank You. 
Have a good holiday….

John wrote it: Mark, Patty, Roger, Leroy, Jeff, Tilda and Josh concur:   We feel the same!

One-Day Winter Steelhead Fly Fishing Schools
Take a drift boat ride down the Sandy River with: 
Mark Bachmann,  Josh Linn and Ron Lauzon.

Watch an expert guide as he fishes and discloses the secrets and proven methods that put fish on the beach. Get a lot of hands-on help so that you too can be productive.

Arrive back at The Fly Fishing Shop at 6:00pm.
First come, first served.

The fly portrayed here is meant to display a style accredited to Mikael Frödin and Håkan Norling for catching salmon on both of the Atlantic and Pacific.  Our research discloses that this style of fly is productive for local steelhead, especially during the cold water months.  To some degree we have altered the basic dynamics of Scandinavian design by placing the hook more near the rear of the wing.  This gives the fly a slightly chubbier look when it is dry, but it tends to slim down when wet.  The wing on this fly is tied from Arctic

Fox and Flashabou.  Each layer is kept relatively thin so the it will move easily in the water and be

somewhat translucent.  The plastic tubing used in the construction of these flies is very lightweight and flexible. This extra-lightweight tubing combined with a heavy brass or heavier tungsten cone gives this fly design a front-end weighted action.  This often accentuates the variances in the currents giving the fly an action that settles in the calm spots and rises in the fast ones; giving the fly an up and down motion.  The fly below is a successful pattern, but is offered more as a style of fly that can be tied in many different color combinations.

Scandi Tube Fly
Tool and Material List
For this fly you will need the following items:

Vice
Scissors
Bobbin with tread
Hackle Pliers
Zap-A-Gap Super Glue
Frödin F.I.T.S Tubing
Cone Heads
LiteBrite Dubbing
Pearl Flashabou
Black Flashabou
Orange Arctic Fox
Black Arctic Fox
Red Saddle Hackle
Black Saddle Hackle

Pattern: Red & Black Scandi Tube Fly
Tubing: Frödin F.I.T.S Tubing
Thread: black 6/0
Tag: silver medium oval tinsel
Tail: single strand of red poly yarn
Rib: silver medium oval tinsel
Body: red LiteBrite Dubbing
Bottom Wing: red dyed arctic fox fur
Collar: red saddle hackle
Top Wing: black dyed arctic fox fur
Collar: black saddle hackle
Eyes: jungle cock
Cone: Spirit River Hot Cone

Slide your tapered European Tube Fly Needle inside the tubing being careful not to run the sharp needle into the side wall of the tube. It may be handy to dull the point of the needle with a sharpening stone or diamond file.  To keep the tubing from rotating around the needle while tying, place the rear of the tubing between the needle and tube fly tool and then tighten the holder nut so the tubing is clamped firmly.  You can perform this part of the operation while the tube fly tool is in or out of the fly tying vise. 

Be sure that the tube fly tool is installed in the vise level with the table and if you are using a rotating vise, the needle with the tube should be centered on axis.  Start your thread in the conventional manner as you would start to tie the same fly on a hook.  Leave enough room behind your thread so that the rear of the tube can be used as a hook-holder.  This exposed colored tubing also acts a a tag or tip.  For this reason, you will want to choose the color of  your tubing to give the desired effect under water.

Tie in a tag consisting of five wraps of medium oval tinsel.  This is normally silver or gold.  Red was used in the demonstration fly shown here (don't ask me where Josh got it).  Next a tail made from red poly yarn is tied in.  This tail is designed to help keep the long fox fur wing (which will be added later) from wrapping around the hook as the fly swims through the water.  The tail can be made of many other materials such as hair or feathers.  Poly yarn gives good color and is very durable which becomes important when you are unhooking fish. 

Tie in a length of oval tinsel to be used as a rib.  Then form a dubbing loop in your thread and add LiteBrite Dubbing to it.  Spin the loop tight with your dubbing tool (we like the Cal Bird's Dubbing Tool the best).  Wrap your dubbing noodle forward and tie it off.  If you have judged the amount of dubbing right, you will tie off on the the bare thread at the end of the dubbing noodle instead of the bulky dubbing noodle itself.  Wrap your rib forward and tie it off.  It will be more secure if you tie it off on the bare tube.

Add a wing of red fox fur.  The length of the wing should reach slightly beyond the length of the tail.  This will allow the wing to be very supple when wet.  Fox fur is impossible to stack. Leave the untrimmed ends at random lengths just as they grew on the animal.  Remove only the unusually long guard hares and the shortest under fur. Adding a very small drop of Zap-A-Gap will make the fly much stronger at this point.  Add this drop from the under side of the fly to control the amount.  Add six strands of pearl Flashabou over the top.

Select a red saddle hackle with soft barbules that will absorb water and move around easily when wet.  Tying the hackle in from the tip will give the fly a more cultured look to the human eye.  The top part of this hackle will be layered between upper and lower part of the wing and helps to separate the wing colors.  The length of the hackle reaches to the base of the tail. and veils the body.

Add a black top layer to the wing.  Most things that live in the water are darker on the top than the bottom.  This is most likely true about the things that steelhead feed on in the ocean.  This wing is the longest part of the fly and may be 20% longer than the red part of the wing below it.  Four to six strands of black or pearl Flashabou are added over the top of the fox fur.  This gives the fly a glisten like the outside of a bait fish or squid.

Install a webby black hackle. Wind it from the point where the barbules match the length of longest barbules on the red hackle.  How many wraps of black hackle are used depends on how much red hackle you want exposed.  Generally four to five turns of each hackle are used.  However as few as two turns of black hackle can be used.

The hackle contributes to the silhouette of the fly and could simulate the gill plates of a large headed bait fish, such as a herring or sardine.  More likely in the case of a steelhead fly they would simulate the fins on a squid. It takes a very few wraps of thread to tie off the hackle.  Keeping tying bulk to a minimum will help with the installation of the cone-head at a later time.

Eyes of the prey can become a significant targets for most predatory fish. Targeting the eye rather than the whole body of a prey item can focus the attack, thereby making the rate of success higher.  We have explored how eyes effect fly design in past issues of our weekly newsletter.  Jungle Cock eyes became popular on Atlantic Salmon flies during the late 1800's.  They have remained as popular with modern fly tiers.  Strip the fluff from the stems in the eye feathers and tie them directly to the layer of thread that tied off the hackle.

Pull the cone onto the tube using a pair of clamped hemostats.  A very small drop of Zap-a-Gap at the base of the eyes and hackle will contribute to the durability of the fly and help anchor the cone-head.  The drop in the picture is too large and will saturate much of the hackle and eyes.  The reason the drop in the picture contains so much volume it that the bottle had to be held in place for a long period in order to get the picture.  Use Zap-A-Gap very sparingly it is tremendously strong and will penetrate most fly tying materials.

Slide the tube up tight against the rest of the materials.  The concave base of the cone will cover the base of the hackle and jungle cock eyes as well as the thread wraps and super glue. Trim the tube so that it is about 1/16" from the front of the cone.  This material will expand when it is heated with a flame.  The expanded material will provide a smooth non-abrading surface for your leader and hold the cone-head on the fly more securely.  Any size of cone can be used as long as it fits the tubing.  You might consider tying your flies with both brass and tungsten cones for fishing different depths.

There are probably a variety of flames that could be used.  A long barreled barbeque lighter works well and allows good vision of the operation. Remove the fly from the vise and hold it vertically.  Position the flame above the fly.  Radiant heat from the underside of the flame is often enough to melt the tubing.  It will puddle against the cone-head.  If the right amount of tubing was extended beyond the cone, the hole in the center of the tubing will be the right diameter for the size of leader you will be using.

"Elementary Spey Casting School"
Saturday, January 27, 2007
This class is for right or left handed casters, and will deal with the most efficient methods of casting from the river left position. 
It will cover Single Spey, Snake Roll & Snap-T casts with both
 floating and sinking tip lines.  Each class is 4-hours.

The instructors are: George Cook, Mark Bachmann & Leroy Teeple.
No other spey casting school features a two student per instructor ratio
with instructors of this caliber.  
You will get maximum help and nearly constant personal attention.
Spey casters of all experience levels are welcome. However this class 
focuses on the basics and is designed to give each student a 
solid foundation to build on.  Each class lasts 3 1/2-hours.
What our customers say.
Spaces are limited to (6) students per class.  Book now!

A person could get into some lively discussions when you start talking about the best of anything, especially fly rods.  There are a lot of different criteria to be used.  Some might favor a certain type of action or a certain style of cosmetics.  Others might favor fishability or durability.  Still others might favor low cost as their first option.  We kind of think that all these reasons should be used together in a balanced manor.  To us every good rod should serve a specific purpose.  Helping us catch fish is our first priority.  Lightweight is good.  Being totally reliable is number one.  A rod with good cosmetics gives an angler more confidence.  Good balance and being easy to cast with is essential to angling success.  Let's face it you are going to use the rod that is easiest to deliver the goods with.  It is all about hook-ups.

Length: 13' 3"       Line: #7/8     Pieces: 4   

ECHO2 890sw-4x

ECHO2 9’0” # 8 was designed to perform under the widest range of fishing conditions. As a tough fresh water rod it handles heavy flies and lines for salmon, as well as long lines and sink tips for steelhead. In the salt it handles long casts into the wind without giving up. At home in the cold or the tropics it is the most popular of the “power” rods. All Echo-2 rods come with two different tips. The 890sw4x has a fast action when the “A” tip is used and has a medium fast action when the “D” tip is used. The rod is designed to throw medium to large flies.  It was really impressive on our last trip to Mexico.

Length: 13' 3"       Line: #8     Pieces: 4   

Length: 9'     Line: #12     Pieces: 4   

Renzetti Presentation 2000 Vise

• True 360 degree rotation

• Adjustable rotary tension and lock

• Anticorrosion coated jaws

• Lever operated jaws

• Rotary actuator

• Material clip

• Adjustable bobbin cradle
  
  FOR HOOKS 28 TO 4/0

The Presentation 2000 is the latest addition to the Renzetti line. It won the Ka-Ching Award at the 2006 Fly Fishing Retailer World Trade Expo.

The Presentation 2000 features the jaws of a Presentation 4000, patented hinged rotary head shaft for more versatility and military spec anticorrosion coated jaws. Made out of aluminum, it comes with a std base, a bobbin cradle, a ratchet rotary actuator and a rotary tension screw.

Made in the USA