40 Rivers To Freedom

I just read a blog post over at the newly revamped Drake Magazine website by noted shoelace hater, Tom Bie.  Yes, he really does hate shoelaces.  But that’s not what this is about.  This is about a well written piece Tom wrote dubbed, Print is Dead.

As the 15th Drake makes its way across the country this fall, I find myself intrigued by all the recent chatter on the downfall of magazines, most of it coming from new-media pundits shouting their favorite proclamation: “Print is dead!”

Tom goes on to illustrate why he feels that maybe, just maybe, print media hasn’t been kicked under the rug just yet.

If we’re talking about technology like Amazon’s Kindle, which allows readers to look up words, change font size, and buy almost any book they can think of in a matter of minutes, then I’ll concede the point: it provides new, innovative, creative ideas. But still, does this girl really look comfortable? I firmly believe in embracing new technology—a belief I back up by constantly supporting and promoting flyfishing filmmakers and on-line innovators. Everything evolves, and magazines should be no different. (Is it ironic that I’m using my blog to make a post about the strength of print?) Regardless of the platform, magazines need to attract and retain readers. And the only way to do that is to produce something worth looking at. It all comes down to quality, and the user-experience. Brian O’Keefe and Todd Moen have made Catch magazine popular by producing a unique, high-quality, creative on-line experience. But I can’t say the same for the majority of blogs out there, or many other forms of media that are competing with print, including cable television.

I think it is very  ironic that Tom is using his blog to make the case for print, but what is more ironic is the fact that so many of the fly fishing world’s new e-zines are all trying to look like a print magazine.

This same topic came up between myself and a friend a few weeks ago, and my friend asked the obvious-

I don’t understand why websites try to duplicate magazines.  The web has infinite possibilities, while a magazine is what it is.

I don’t either, do you?

Ran across another guy on the internet going all “whooh and ahhh” about his first experience fly fishing with a two handed rod.  I suppose if I had just dropped a few hundred on a new rod, I’d be telling myself all that BS, too.

Fish how you want says the blind man to the boy, I’m not watching you anyway.

I love to swing flies.  I love to use a few of the basic spey casts when a backcast just isn’t an option.  But I cringe at the idea of restricting myself to frothing the meniscus, and only frothing the meniscus.  I want to be versatile.  I don’t ever want my gear to stop me from fishing a run the way I want to fish it.  Who knows what that way may be, I won’t know till I get there.  But I ain’t going there to cast, I’m going there to fish. just sayin’.

“Just a reminder that the fishing behind my lodge & retail shop is for “Members Only”. It’s private and monitored 24/7. While I do not own the water, I do own the rocks beneath. This is New York State Law and it will be enforced if you trespass. Also, if I or another property manager that I designate asks to see your fishing license and you refuse to show it,that carries another charge. It’s the same as the Douglaston Salmon Run (DSR) in the lower part of the river. Let’s respect private property and if you would like to know how to become a “Member”, please contact me. Thank you. As soon as I am able to I’ll write a story on how to become a “Member” other than lodging or guiding with me. Thank you and Fish ON!! Let’s have a great 2009 Salmon & Steelhead Season.”

“When you call my shop number or cell phone, please be ready to book and understand that I can’t be bothered right now with questions like, “Is it worth it for me to come to Pulaski NY”, or “How many fish are in the river?”

I haven't named this one yet, but I was stoked to finally tie something I've had pictured in my head for forever now

Well I finally got a chance to play with a couple new toys yesterday.  Singlebarbed’s 6th Finger Scissor, and  HMH’s Starter Tube Fly Tool.

To tie tubes in the past, I’ve either used an allen wrench, or just put the tube directly in my vise’s jaws.  The allen wrench works okay, but I’ve never been able to spin/stack deer hair without the wrench slipping a little in the jaws from all the torque on the tube.  Putting the tube right in my vise’s jaws worked alright, too, but I ran into the same problem when spinning hair, and would sometimes crush plastic tubes.

I ordered the HMH Tube Fly Tool from J Stockard Fly Fishing.  They aren’t one of my sponsors or anything, I just like doing business with them.  Plus, for my recent birthday, I got a $50 gift certificate to use there from my mother-in-law.

Like all poor bastards savvy shoppers, I spent a good deal of time going through the tying materials on the J Stockard site, trying to figure out a way to squeeze everything I’ve been meaning to add to my materials arsenal onto that $50 credit.  The list of stuff that I first filled my shopping cart with looked drastically different than my final order.  My first instinct was to get as many hooks as I could.  Then I remembered that I have been wanting to play with rattles on my carp flies, and Stalcup’s Damsel Body on my panfish flies.  Then I added a bunch of synthetic hair before I ran into the HMH tube fly coneheads and remembered that this is the tying season that I go to tubes for all my streamer patterns instead of regular hooks.  And before you knew it, I was removing just enough stuff that I could add the Tube Fly Tool pictured above to my cart without going over my $50 limit.

Now before I give a glowing review on this product, I’ve got to admit that  after a past experience with HMH while I was writing the DayTripper blog, I really didn’t want to.  I won’t go into details or anything, but I only point it out because I had sworn to myself that I’d never give a positive review for another HMH product again after what happened behind the scenes.

Yet here I am, about to tell you that the HMH Tube Fly Tool is rock solid in my vise- a Danvise by the way, so [tongue in cheek] I would guess that all of you who tie on a Renzetti/ Dynaking/ HMH/ etc., should have no problems with this tool [/tongue in cheek].

After tying a few typical tube patterns like the one pictured waaay up at the top of this post, and being happy with the tool’s holding power, I decided it was time to pull the deer hair out.

I went through my mental rolodex of patterns I’ve been wanting to convert to a tube, and sitting way up on top was the Crayfish Muddler, a crayfish pattern developed by Hatches Magazine Editor, Will Mullis.

As I put more and more force on the thread, the hair spun, and the tool stayed put in my vise’s jaws.  But more importantly, the metal rod that holds the tube didn’t bend, the tube didn’t spin, and I was happy enough with the results that I broke my blood oath to never endorse another HMH product again.

So, if you want to enter the world of tubes, I’d say this tool is well worth the $25.

Singlebarbed’s 6th Finger Scissors worked well, too.  Though I have to admit to setting them on my desk a few times between snips out of pure habit.