Tuesdays Tips - Picking Your Target

Time and again I see clients who are, at very least, decent casters bonk fish right on the noggin. One of the biggest reasons (I think) for this is where we focus our eyes. Once a fish is spotted, the anglers recognizes direction of movement, distance, etc. anglers should focus on where the fly should land, not solely the fish.

If their eye is focused on the fish then that's what they're going to hit. Focus on where the fly should land and make the cast! (this is that split second where that couple hours worth of practice before the trip goes a long way).

So, that's fine and dandy, but where in tarnation should one put the fly? Well, as it was put to me a long time ago "you might start by throwing at the end that eats"
After that you might want to get a tad more technical, but not much. To present the fly to Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit, etc., there are a few things I think are a must.
**note: everything here is general, the nuances of migratory Tarpon fishing with regard to angles, etc. is much more complex. We'll save that for another day.
1-  I always want the fly in front of the fish. The fish swims into the fly.
2 - wherever possible I want the fly to cross the fishes direction of travel when it is retrieved.
The best way I have found (for me, and others seem to get it as well) to achieve these are to throw at a box, not at the fish.

To try and make sense for you, once you spot the fish, picture a 2 foot square box in front of the fish. (**this 2 foot box doesn't work for deep water, over 4 feet deep,  you need to increase the box size. This will get the fly deeper and to the fish) 
Always focus, and try to land the fly on the forward, far side corner of that box from the fish. If you do this, and the fly goes where you focus, the fly will be in the perfect spot. 
If you focus on the fish, you'll probably hit the fish.

Here are some examples to outline what we're talking about:

Crossing shot: fly line lands front, far side of box. Fish always sees fly. This shows left to right cross, for right to left same principle...far front of box.

Approaching Shot: fly lands forward corner of box, whichever side fish is traveling (fish going left, throw left corner, going right, right corner). **Even if a fish is coming straight at you throw to one side of the box. This will cross the fish with the fly. If you are right handed, throw to the left corner, opposite for left handed caster.

Going Away Shot: You're probably screwed, but you never know. Think of the box ahead and to the side of the fish. The fly should land in the farthest corner of the box from the fish and direction of travel. Drawings show both left to right and right to left scenarios. **If you take this shot, don't move the fly when it lands. Let the fish turn and react to the fly and then retrieve as appropriate. If you strip immediately you will likely spook the fish.
If the fish doesn't react to the fly then you chalk it up to a low percentage shot anyway and move on.

Tuesdays Tips - Cleaning Your Rods

For most of us, our fly rods get a little dirty through the course of a season. Especially on the Bow, due to the large biomass in the river, the cork handles get very dirty and the rod blank gets dirty, particularly around the guides. 

If you fly fish in the salt water, like in the tropics, you should always clean your rods and service the ferrules when you get back from your trip. It's really easy to keep rods and cork handles clean after use in fresh or salt water.

Heres what you will need:

- clean terry cloth towel
- old toothbrush that isn't soiled 
- cleaner **best material for cleaning rods is AC Delco Foaming Glass Cleaner. You can get it from any GM dealership's parts department. It cleans the cork best and removes salt or grime deposits on the rod and doesn't damage the finish.
- ferrule wax (paraffin)

Step #1 - Rinse all pieces of the rod with warm water. Best way to do it is hold them under the shower head in your shower with warm water for about two minutes.

Step #2 - Set the rod pieces on a counter top and spray completely with the foaming glass cleaner.

Step #3 - Starting with the butt section and moving through the rod pieces, completely scrub the rod with the toothbrush. Pay a lot of attention to the handle cork, reel seat pieces, and around all the guides. Scrub the cork completely. Do not use too much force on the cork. If you scrub too hard on the cork you can scrub out the filler on lesser quality handles, leaving little pits in the handle.

Step #4- Using the terry cloth towel, buff the cork to dry. Scrub the cork hard with the terry cloth towel, this will clean the cork up to almost like new. Continue and dry the rest of the rod with the towel. Make sure you get under any hardware on reel seats and under and inside 
guides.

Step #5 - Once the entire rod is cleaned and dried with the towel you should apply wax to all of the male section of ferrules (connections). This will be 3 on a 4 piece rod. Rub the wax wafer on the rod blank all the way around and back about 3 inches so that blank is completely covered with wax. Once you have done that you need to polish the wax to a shine with the towel. You want to polish wax down so that there is no residue, just a shine. If you leave any wax on the blank the ferrule may not fit properly for future use.
If you perform this maintenance with wax a couple times a season you will find your ferrules stay together better and they will have less tendency to stick (they'll pull apart easier when you're taking it down).

Step #6 - Last step! Set the rod with the three (on a 4 piece rod) female ferrules down and the rod butt up in a window for about 6-8 hours. (Ferrule positioning just like in photo) This will make sure that rod is dry but most important, the cork will be completely dry before you store your rod away. You're done and your rod looks awesome!

Politically Incorrect Mondays

Give Them Some Love Back!

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Tuesdays Tips - Playing Fish Close to the Boat/Skiff

When playing a fish, once you get it within about 40 feet of the boat, always stay on the front of the deck until the fish is landed. If you stay forward and the fish runs under the boat you can quickly and smoothly take the rod tip around the bow, following the fish to the other side.

This will also keep you in a better position and height to maximize angles of pressure at the end of the battle. It's way easier for your guide or fishing partner to subdue the fish if you're up and forward, not standing right next to him or her

If you step back into the center of the boat and a fish runs under and out the other side you're running a pretty high likelihood that you'll lose the fish or break your rod or both.

This applies for Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit, Jacks, etc.

Spring Newsletter

Of Fly Reels and Superheroes

New Costa Models

Some great new models from Costa are here!

Hard to get spots open at The Palometa Club

Check out Tarpon Week on Instagram

Check out Tarpon Week 

on Instagram @cp-flyfishing and Facebook all this week.