“Get it in the ballpark quickly.” “You don’t have to cast 80 feet onto a dinner plate.” “Speed is more important than distance.” We get asked a lot about what kind of casting skill is required to catch bonefish. We use the three quotes above a lot. On South Andros, our bonefish tend not to…
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How to Handle a Bonefish
If you’re fishing for bonefish somewhere like South Andros Island, you’re going to catch a lot of them. Yes, we all want to get a few hero shots, and that’s OK, as long as you treat the fish well in the process. But what about all those other ones? You know, those fish that you…
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Spey Casting – Snap T / Circle Spey Basics
It’s spey casting video time. Whitney Gould makes an appearance today to walk us through the basic steps involved in making one of the most useful spey casts out there – the Snap T a.k.a. Circle Spey a.k.a. C-Spey a.k.a. Circle Cast. It’s a great cast that just happens to have a lot of names….
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Switch Rods, Scandi Heads and Polyleaders
In the world of spey fishing there seem to be three types of gear that generate a lot of confusion – switch rods, Scandinavian heads and polyleaders. Here’s our quick-and-dirty, way-oversimplified primer on each of the three. Look down below for a video from an actual expert, with an example of a situation where all…
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Getting In and Out of a Jet Boat
It seems pretty simple, but bad things can happen when people get in and out of boats carelessly! What’s the most common cause of broken rods at Alaska West? Anglers losing their balance on the way into a boat, resulting in errant boots impacting rods. By far. What’s the most common cause of (thankfully minor)…
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Switch Rods and Heads – Sage TCX and Rio Steelhead Scandi
Last weekend at IFTD we told you a little bit about two new products in the world of spey – TCX switch rods from Sage, and Steelhead Scandi heads from Rio. We thought they were both pretty interesting, so we asked George Cook, Pacific Northwest angling stalwart, to make a few casts at the spey…
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Ross F1 Reel
One of the cooler new products that we’ve seen so far at the International Fly Tackle Dealer show in Denver is the F1 Reel from Ross. The F1 is a high-end reel for line weights 2 to 9. It’s got a totally sealed drag system, a machined reel foot, a whole bunch of carbon fiber…
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Steelhead Tips from Scott Baker-McGarva
Scott Baker-McGarva is our head guide at BC West, and he knows a thing or two about swinging flies for steelhead. Today we’ve got a video featuring Scott with a couple of tips on steelhead fishing that are pretty simple, but really important. Fish your bad casts. Let ’em swing right into the bank, even…
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Simms Shoes
Last week we told you about Simms‘ new dedication to camo. Today it’s all about shoes. Simms has 5 new shoes coming in early 2011. They’re all good looking shoes with some fishing-specific features, and several in particular we think are pretty cool. The Harbor Shoe that you see above is one of 3 that…
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Running Line – Holding Loops
If you’re making long casts with a spey rod and a Skagit-style line system, you need to deal with loops of running line. Skagit heads are short but casts can be long, and shooting 50 feet or more of running line happens all the time. Unfortunately you can’t just strip all that line in and…
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