SLAM VIDEO BY WORLD ANGLING

Pretty cool video entered in the Drake Awards........

Slam by WorldANGLING fly fishing South Florida for Permit, Bonefish, Tarpon, Snook, and Redfish from WorldANGLING on Vimeo.

COUNTRY PLEASURES PHOTO CONTEST

Here are a few of the submissions from our Photo Contest.

deadline is December 25, 2009,e-mail us your photos at

info@countrypleasures.com with your name and a short description

of the photo.

Underwater Brown Trout Head Shot by Jonathan Lautermilch.

Cool tail Shot by Kyle Snaar

Sterling Chan's submission

BABY TARPON IN THE MANGROVES

Russ Webb hooks a Baby Tarpon along the mangroves. This is why we like this type of Tarpon fishing!

Crazy Baby Tarpon from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

Cool New Video/Photo Product

More and more of us are shooting video when we fish. The new camera fro Go Pro are amazing. The can be mounted on a helmet, on your head, on the boat, all over the place.

Think about those streamer and dry fly eats caught on tape.

Check out their website at http://www.goprocamera.com/

Jim Mclennan Book Signing

Stop in the shop this Saturday, December 12th between 11 and 3 for a meet and greet with local author Jim Mclennan. Get your favourite book signed, or pick up his newest book!

TARPON BREAK-HOW ABOUT TAILING BONEFISH?

Little group of good sized Bonefish over the grass. Shallow enough their backs are out of the water most of the time. Check out the tail about halfway through. Ends with a Bang!!

Tailing Bonefish from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HOOKED - TAIMEN IN MONGOLIA

Footage from the NG special Hooked with Zeb Hogan. David Gilroy, who has tirelessly worked to protect this amazing fish, spend some time fishing instead of being a scientist/guide for a change.


Hello from all of us at CP to Dave, Dan, Charlie, and Matt in the States, Gana, Bayaraa, and all the other wonderful folks in Mongolia.

COUNTRY PLEASURES CHRISTMAS HOURS

In addition to our regular winter hours, we are open for additional Christmas hours on the following days:

Sunday, December 13: 10 AM to 4 PM

Sunday, December 20: 10 AM to 4 PM

Christmas Eve: 10 AM to 2 PM

New Years Eve: 10 AM to 2 PM

SOME MORE VIDEOS OF JUMPING TARPON

Tarpon eats the fly and breaks off at the start. Then more jumping fish.

Inside Out -Upside Down Tarpon from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

A little fish aerobatics and Led Zeppelin.

More Cuba Tarpon Fishing from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

SATURDAY SEMINAR-DECEMBER 5

BULL TROUT FLIES

Brent will be tying some of his "beastly" flies for Bull Trout.

A popular seminar last year, shows some really cool tying techniques.

All attendees will be entered in a draw for the flies tied at the seminar.

This is the last seminar until after New Years.

Pirates of the Flats

Trailer for the upcoming "Pirates of the Flats" on ESPN2 in January.
Thomas McGuane, Tom Brokaw, Michael Keaton, Lefty Kreh, and several
others fish in the episode.

A LITTLE BIT MORE TARPON

Two more videos for winter blahs remedial program:
The first video has Tarpon hooked by Charles Oyer and Dee Chatani.
Couple of pretty neat eats on the footage.

Jumping Tarpon in the Jardines de la Reina from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.
The next video has maybe our favourite all time eat sequence, followed by the Tarpon going nuts in a series of going-away jumps. The sound goes away for the final third of the video as Dee and Mike sometimes have self control issues when Tarpon fishing and we don't want an R rating.

Enjoy!

Cuba Tarpon Fishing with Country Pleasures from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

NEW ZEALAND MOUSING

DRAKE VIDEO AWARD WINNER....SHOW CAUTION, MICKEY BITES IT!!!

VIDEO FROM TURNEFFE FLATS, BELIZE

Neat video put together by Kevin Sproule, a customer who joined the Country Pleasures trip to Turneffe Flats this past November. Works best if you pause it, let it load for a minute , and then play. Otherwise it wants to keep stopping.

NEW DVD FOR CHRISTMAS

We get a fair number of DVDs and books through the shop and it's not very often we see one that really stands out.

The new DVD from Confluence Films, RISE, is a pleasant surprise. One of the more entertaining DVDs we've seen in a while. From the guys who produced Drift.

Check out the trailer below.

Now available at Country Pleasures!!

SATURDAY SEMINAR-NOVEMBER 28

WINTER FISHING - FLIES AND TECHNIQUES

Favourite patterns and techniques for fishing the Bow from November to March.

Presented by Brent Piche

All attendees will be entered in our weekly draw for a selection of winter nymphs and streamers.

LITTLE BIT OF TARPON

Winter Sucks. Hope this helps!!

Maureen Gifford playing a Tarpon from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

This was an early season fish (mid-March) in Los Jardines de la Reina.A pretty respectable female. She had a couple of males trailing her but with a good cast she ate the fly out ahead of her following suitors.

How to tie the Tung-Stud

How to tie the Tung-Stud nymph.
The tung stud is one of our best selling flies, and is truely one of the better all around nymphs for the Bow. We fish it to sighted fish, or under a hopper and its very effective. Black, Olive and Rust Brown are favourite colors. The Tungsten bead is very important for this fly, as it gets the fly down exceptionally quick.

Hook: Curved Nymph hook. 12-18
Bead: Gold TUNGSTEN to match hook (olive tungstuds look great with a black bead).
Tail: Grizzly Marabou
Body: Black Larva lace
Rib: Gold Wire
Thorax: Black sparkle Dubbing
WingCase - Black Scud Back
Legs: Natural India Hen



Attach bead and thread to your hook.

Attach grizzly marabou (or the webby bits of dry fly hackle) as tail

Tie in gold rib, followed by black larva lace

Wrap larva lace forward, followed by gold rib.

Tie in section of black scud back

Loosely dub black dubbing forward.

Tie forward scud back.

Tie in India Hen fibres for legs. Whip finish and cement, and you have one of the most successful flies for the Bow..This one is a bit thick compared to the commercially sold flies, but it works just as well. You can make yours thinner by using thinner thread and less thread wraps!

Good tying!

Fly Fishing Photo Contest

**New**

Country Pleasures Fly Fishing Photo Contest

Send in your photo to info@countrypleasures.com for free fishing gear!

Send us your photo of anything fly fishing related for prizes and be showcased on the CP blog and website. You don't have to be a pro, great shots can come from anyone. The only restriction is there must be a fly fishing theme; fish photos, gear photos, river shots, angler oops's- all are welcome. Anyone can enter, from anywhere.

How: simply send us your prize picture(s) with a short description of the shot along with your name and contact information to info@countrypleasures.com

Who: anyone

What: fishin pics

When: deadline for pictures is 6:00 pm December 25, 2009
Why: Free Simms T-Shirt!! You`ll also be showcased on CP blog and website

SATURDAY SEMINAR - NOVEMBER 21

Country Pleasures

10:00 AM

A WEEK IN THE LIFE SERIES

Babine River

We started this type of presentation a few years ago and people seemed

to really enjoy them. The Week in the Life series are slide

shows and presentations on places around the world that we have fished.

Some cool photos and stories make a cold Saturday morning in winter

a little easier to take.

This Saturday we are presenting the Babine River. The seminar starts at

10 AM. There is no charge, no registration, just show up.

Oh, and Maureen is back so we get muffins for this one.

Sorry to those who attended last week but you really don't want

anything baked by Mike.

Those who attend will be entered in the weekly draw for a pair of Simms

Extreme Socks and their name will go into the end of year draw

for an Orvis Helios Fly Rod.

Hope to see you there!

Intruder Step by Step

.
The Intruder. Originated in the Pacific Northwest by Ed Ward, this fly has become pretty much the go-to wet-fly of most NW steelheaders. The size and motion in the water are meant to produce the most violent strikes possible, and will move the most sullen fish.
Personally, I think for a fish like steelhead, every bit of a fly needs to be put in with as much thought as possible towards motion and asthetics. Steelhead are an incredible fish, and deserve a work of art to catch them. Simply put, this is no ten minute tie, and personally I don't believe it should ever be rushed.

While rhea isn't cheap, it does make a fly with more movement then regular ostrich. Plus, every fish you land on one of these bugs feels even more special.

SHANK - Partridge waddington 35mm
LOOP - 30 Firewire, twice looped (for strength and stability)
THREAD - black
HOOK - Tiemco 600sp,
#2TAIL - White Artic Fox spun, followed by Blue Artic Fox Spun, Followed by Pink and Blue rhea wrapped around it. Followed by Blue Amherst
BODY - BlueLagartun flat braid
HACKLE - Blue Rhea followed by Pink Rhea over spun Blue Artic Fox. Followed by Blue Amherst and Two hackles each of dyed grizzly saddle (blue and pink)
COLLAR/Head -Pink Senyo's Laser Dub
HEAD - Spirit River Real Eyes
.

Attach the firewire loop by laying it down on the shank and doubling back apon itself. This saves you having to glue (which can make a mess, as well as having to wait for the glue to dry)
.

.

Spin white artic fox followed by blue artic fox in a dubbing loop and wrap them forward. This will make 1. a lot of motion in the water and 2. a support for the rhea, so it does not collapse.
.

.
Add amherst around the shank. You can also spin amherst in a dubbing loop to speed this process up. I like being able to place every bit of amherst exactly where I like it.

.

.

Wrap rhea (should be split already from the stem. Come in the shop to see how this is done.) a few times around the shank. Less is better, as it won't clog up in the water.

.

.

Wrap blue rhea forward

.

.

Attach blue largatun flat braid and wrap it forward. If you have lots of time, it's nice to make a nice clean shank using thread. It doesn't matter too much as you can hardly see this when the fly is done. Also a good time to add in the real eyes (helps to tell how much room you have remaining to work with)

.

.
Again spin blue artic fox in a dubbing loop.

.

.

Wrap blue rhea again. This should be considerably longer then the length you used at the back.

.

.

Wrap pink rhea forward. The rhea shown here is nearly 7" long. Big flies move big fish.
We recently got in a new stock of what could easily be called the best Rhea we've ever seen (oh, and it's cheaper then previous batches :) )
.

.

Tie in blue and pink grizzly hackles. I like to match them to the longest rhea on the fly. Finally these are available pre-dyed, and are one of my favourite products on the shelf right now. No more dying or using permanent markers!!

.

.

Tie in an 'egg' head using Senyo's Laser Yarn. This is a new product that I'm also very impressed with. Spin it in a dubbing loop and wrap forward. Then pick it out with velcro and it makes a VERY sleak head that looks great in the water.

The 'egg' addition is nice, and has been proven over and over with the success of the simple Egg Sucking leech.

.
Done!

You can tie these in as many different color combinations as you want. See down the blog one post for an orange and black that Babine fish can't help to smash (especially on Halloween).

What ever color you can get the Rhea in, you can tie this fly in.

.

Note that I did not attach the hook (mostly cause I didn't have one beside me at that time). By far my favourite hook for these flies are the Tiemco 600sp. They are possibly the sharpest hook we've ever found, have a nice short shank and the super-point doesn't miss any grabs.

If you have any other flies that you'd like to see featured, feel free to email or comment!

Halloween Intruder

Happy Halloween! Well, almost Halloween. I've been tying a bunch of these for a steelhead trip in November. I love these color combinations, and have tied a ton of them in these colors. They seem to just stand out, and the new Rhea we have in stock has proven to be wonderful to work with.

SHANK - Partridge waddington 35mm
LOOP - 30 Firewire, twice looped (for strength and stability)
THREAD - black
HOOK - Tiemco 600sp, #2
TAIL - Orange Artic Fox spun, followed by Black Artic Fox Spun, Followed by Black and Dark Orange rhea wrapped around it. Followed by Orange Amherst
BODY - Black and Orange Lagartun flat braid
HACKLE - Black followed by Dark Orange Rhea over spun Orange Artic Fox. Followed by Orange Amherst and Black Holographic Flashabou
COLLAR/Head -Black Artic Fox Spun
HEAD - Spirit River Real Eyes

Sage 99

A pretty brown.

I was able to snag one of the new Sage 99 rods from our rep, and finally had a chance to get it out on the river.
When I first heard about a rod that was built primarily for nymphing, I was quite skeptical, and was wondering who would really want a rod like this?
Then I got to fish it. To put it very simply, it does exactly what they say it will do. It's an absolute gun with both overhead and spey casts, and keeps your flies apart from each other while casting, equaling a far more pleasant day with fewer tangles, and keeping your flies in the water.
To put it in context, I also fished a 5 weight Z-Axis today, and managed 3 tangles in 3 hours, while when i was using the 99, not one.

It's a very pretty rod, similar in looks to the XP, and with the extra length makes mending a joke.

What really astounded me more then anything else, was it's ability while roll casting (and single hand spey casting). The ability to roll cast an easy 60-70 feet or a whole lot further, keeping two flies and an indicator apart is something beyond belief, until you try it yourself.
This rod could very well become your primary Bow River Rod, it is simply that good.

We'll have the rods in stock by the first week of November, and are on our online site.

New Fly Tying Material

Got a lot of new Hareline fly tying stuff in. Some great new dyed saddles for the steelhead/salmon fly tyers, stonefly foam body cutters, a new type of rabbit that has even more motion, and lots lots more.

Come in the store to check it out, or go to our online shop.

www.countrypleasures.com/store

Sage 99

Brent has got his hands on the new Sage 99 in a 6 weight and will put it through the paces and give you a review of this brand new rod.

They are seriously pretty, and definitely feel that they will deliver what is promised.

WANNA GO SOMEWHERE WARM?

Winter seems to have us in its icy clutches, likely until May!
If you want to go fishing this winter, and be warm, check out these
Country Pleasures Flyfishing Travel scheduled trips for 2010:

Estancia del Zorro, Chile January 23-30, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/estancia_del_zorro_vacation.htm

Cinco Rios, Chile January 30-February 6, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/cinco_rios_vacation.htm

Sailfish Bay Lodge, Guatemala April 10-15, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/sailfish_bay_vacation.htm

Jardines de la Reina, Cuba April 10-16, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/jardines_vacation.htm

Turneffe Flats, Belize May 8-15, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/turneffe_flats_vacation.htm

Boca Paila Permit Adventure May 16-23, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/boca_paila_lodge_vacation.htm

Cayo Largo, Cuba (Home of the Super Slam) May 15-22, 2010
http://www.countrypleasures.com/cayo_largo_cuba_vacation.htm

Call or visit our website for more details.

What's New for Fall 2009 and 2010

Check out what's new and whats going to be in the shop in the upcoming months. Some very cool products are upcoming!

http://www.countrypleasures.com/fly_fishing_news.htm

Nasty old Permit!!

Arguably the most frustrating fish on the planet when chasing with a fly rod.

But so addictive!! And pretty as well!!

Some favorite photos

Here's some favorite photos from the last year that weren't featured on our blog until now.

Brent Piche Photo

.

Brent Piche Photo

.

Brent Piche Photo

.

Product Review- Lamson Vanquish

Finally, after a long period of waiting, the new Waterworks-Lamson Vanquish reels arrived in September. We have been using Force and Litespeed reels for Tarpon, Permit, and Bonefish and really like them but were eager to try out the Vanquish.

A recent trip to Mongolia for Taimen gave us the opportunity to put this new reel through it's paces. Opinions and critiques are as follows:

Appearance: One of the prettier reels on the market we have seen. Lamson did a great job with this reel. Anglers who prefer more traditional looks like the Islander will probably turn their noses up at this one. The "light" model offers more porting and, in our opinion, is nicer looking but there is also a "closed" model which has less porting.

Overall Design: Following suit from other Lamson models the design is simple, but pretty. They have taken proven drag design and stepped it up to a larger, heavier duty drag system. In our tests on Taimen they proved to be one of the better reels for higher end drag, showing no start up inertia we could detect. The reel foot is a little different on the Vanquish, machined closer to the reel body. This caused no problems but a caster that grips the rod way back in the handle may not like this design. The reel knob is easy to work with and did not slip in our fingers.

Bascking capacities are exceptional, the 10 weight model houses more than enough gel spun to use for Tarpon (400 yds 30# w/ WF12F) (450 yds 30# w/ WF10F).

Drag: In a word, amazing! The drag is wicked smooth with no start up inertia or variance if the reel changes temperature or gets wet. Where you set the drag is where it stays. Taimen are similar to Tarpon in the way you set on them so we got a chance to set the drag right up and hit the fish right off the reel. The Vanquish drag allowed us to strike on the fish hard right off the reel but still be smooth when the fish peeled away. Not something you see on most reels. Normally when you set the drag way up a reel gets a "sticky" feel. Not the Vanquish.

The drag system utilizes proven technology used by Waterworks for a long time only bigger and heavier. Not a lot of parts involved and the sealed system means no maintenance.

Overall Rating: We would have to give the Vanquish a 9.5 out of 10. It's as good as we've seen in a big game reel, Lamson outdid themselves on this one. The only reason for the .5 deduction is the darn things are pretty expensive. Not every angler will get their mind around the price, but they're still cheaper than Tibor, and no corks to mess around with.

For those of you who target big game species and want the highest quality, this reel is worth a look.

Learning to Spey Cast

We came across these videos from a few years ago of Mike learning how to Spey cast on the Babine River. " A last minute opportunity came up to go Steelheading so I had to crash course
with the two-handed rod. My arsenal was limited to double spey and snap-t.

Double spey on the Babine River from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

Video shows one the Babine's classic runs called Deadman's.

Double Spey on the Babine - 2 from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

Any of you experienced 2-handers out there are more than welcome to drop us a line with any critiques and suggestions on the casting technique.

Double spey on the Babine River from Mike Gifford on Vimeo.

Dee Chatani's Favorite Rods and Reels

Picks for gear from Dee Chatani

Trout: Dry/sz 10 and smaller Sage 486 Zaxis, Lamson Lightspeed 1

Trout :Dry/ sz 8 and larger Sage 590 Zaxis, Sage 4550

Trout :Nymph Sage 690 Zaxis , Sage 4560

Trout :Streamer Sage 690-4 TCX, Lamson Lightspeed 2

Saltwater: Bonefish/Redfish Sage 790-4 TCX, Sage 6080

Saltwater: Permit Light/Baby Tarpon Sage 990-4 TCX, Waterworks ULA Force 3

Saltwater: Permit Heavy/Light Tarpon Sage 1090-4 TCX, Sage 6010

Saltwater: Tarpon Sage 1190-4 Xi2, VanStaal CVEX 11-12

Dee will be "Field testing" the new Sage Xi3 rods and the new WW/Lamson Vanquish this upcoming Saltwater season.

Bow River Report

Sorry to have been such a while for a report, but we've been in the shop more then we've been fishing. So here's the report from our guides.

The hopper fishing has been ok to stellar, again with some days just being silly compared to others. For what ever reason this is, a good technique is definitly the hopper dropper.With the amount of Boatmen around, we'd highly recommend fishing the boatmen as the dropper, and you're sure to be successful (well, if the fish feel the same way)

Another good technique to try is a streamer with a boatmen being pulled behind it. The jerky motion of a streamer retrieve is almost perfect as a boatmen action.
Good luck out there, stay warm!

A Fly Swimming

Here's a video of a fly Brent tied.

Be sure to stop by for our seminars that start in November, or learn to tie this fly yourself by signing up to our fly tying schools, which start October 22nd.

check out the website for more information on both seminars and tying schools.
http://www.countrypleasures.com/

A fly we like from Country Pleasures Fly Fishing on Vimeo.

Fall Cutthroats

There are few things prettier then Cutthroats in the fall. The cold water changes their colors dramatically, and they get darker as the season comes to an end.
We made it up for what could possibly be our last day fishing on the upper streams this year (hopefully not, but school takes a toll), and found a few fish that were willing to cooperate.
Not the best day we had all year, but it was warm, and the fish were pretty.
.
.

.