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Clearwater Spey Clave
Loop USA is bringing the Loop Army to hang out at this years Clearwater Spey Clave hosted by Red Shed Fly Shop. If you are able to make it we would love to see you there. Check out the new Loop rods and enjoy a great time with the Army. Rumor has it Shane is bringing the dog tag machine with him. No Loop Army soldier is complete without his set of dog tags! Sept 29, 2012 on the Clearwater. Directions and info available at redshedflyshop.com.
YOU are the Loop Army!
Time to share a few of the awesome photos shared on the Loop Army Facebook page. The Army has been busy around the world as always. Be sure to visit the page and join up! The LOOP USA page is also up on Facebook. Please give it a like also!
This just screams Whoa!!! Hog Brownie shared by Maxwell Dean Robinson landed this pig on his Opti Creek 388-4 dryfly combo. Just sick!
Some custom work on a LOOP Classic. Sir… You’re doing it right.
Tim Pask shows us what 5000 yards of backing looks like. Locked and loaded!
And remember kids…
Loop Army Brown Assault
Bringing the new LOOP Cross S1 rods out for a run
Spring and early Summer were lacking in big trips this year for the North Idaho crew. Mainly due to the fact that most of the guys had been busy or away working. Brandan finished school and headed up to work in N.Dak while Brian was down in the dirty south for five weeks at a time. The remaining few that held over here in North Idaho picked away at the short windows we had on the Coeur d’ Alene river if the water levels allowed it. So when the word was out a few of the guys had time off in June, we rallied the forces for a full frontal assault on the River of Souls LOOP Army style.
This was it… three straight day of fishing with warm weather and a promise of crazy hatches gave me the hope I needed after my last experience on this river (we won’t talk about that). The plan was to leave at around 3am the first morning but a fast moving cold front with some hard core thunderstorms had us keeping a close eye on the forecast. And yep, just as forecast the first day was a bit rough on the wind and rain side of things. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as not more than five minutes after setting up camp we were ripping lips. No hatches to be seen up top but the fish were hungry and the choppy water and cloud cover were probably getting the bugs stirred up.
Match the Caddis attempt number 999
The second day was filled with an absolutely epic Caddis hatch which had Brian Griffith so frustrated I had to keep the camera rolling just in hopes I’d have some crazy John Macenro style freak out on film.
Picking the right pattern pays off during a Caddis hatch
He’d switch fly after fly only to finally get it right, land a fish and then watch as every cast after that was rejected. Another few fly changes and he’d be hooked up, only to find himself digging through the fly box again. It was really impressive to watch this guy take the patience to cast to specific fish until everything came together perfectly. Especially when most of us were staying on the lazy side and nymphing.
Aside from a few stubborn fish it was an awesome trip. I don’t think there was one style of fishing that didn’t work. Dry flies, streamers and nymphs were all great ways way to land a trout on any stretch of the river. Also lost the biggest brown of my life the second day there. Losing that fish was enough to make a grown man want to cry… all the more reason for another visit later this year.
Fly Fishing The Ozarks (with epic casting kid)
As a dad who enjoys seeing his own kid on the water I couldn’t help but love this video created by Brian Wise of River of Life Farm. Combine the great editing and camera work with the amazing casting skills of the little guy in this video and you’ve got fly fishing gold. Worth watching for sure! Be sure to check out his channel for some awesome tying vids too.
Join Brian Wise, head guide at River of Life Farm on the North Fork of the White River, his kids, family, friends, clients, and generally awesome people he fishes with as they fish Winter, 2012.
www.flyfishingtheozarks.com
www.riveroflifefarm.com
Beer Tricks and Fly Fishing
It’s a well known fact that as a fly fisherman you never stop learning. Each trip out to the water can bring new chances to improve as you pick up skills passed on through ancient teachings. And once in awhile the tips you find are not always related to casting at fish or choosing a fly. This is exactly what I found out on a recent trip with the guys from the film tour joined the LOOP Army on the Coeur d’ Alene river following the show. While taking a break on the side of the river we learned a very valuable way to quickly prep a beer can for shotgun drinking… and I have to say it was the coolest bit of schooling I’ve had on the river in a long time. I may be soaked in beer but damned if I don’t perfect this art!
It’s Old School
Ah… Sunday night and nothing to do. This is what happens when you get bored and start looking for old fly fishing videos. I messed around looking for some vintage fly fishing stuff, but it was the Youtube search for “old fly fishing” that landed me this gem. Royal Wolf? Check. Chuck Norris 80′s cut? Yup. Plaid shirts… you betcha. Oh and let’s not forget the three guys fishing within 4 feet of each other all casting in different directions. Impossible? Nothing is impossible when you’ve downed a six pack of Old Milwaukee my friend.
Japanese Sea Bass With a side of LOOP
The LOOP Army has no boundaries. It was great watching these guys ripping up some Japanese Sea Bass but I found myself seriously impressed by the night footage of the city. I was lucky enough to visit Japan once and now I’ve got a spot to visit when I make it back again! More vids on their Youtube page… or if you feel lucky (or read Japanese) you can try to dance around the website.
a BACKYARD in NOWHERE
I can’t wait to get a hold of this film. The trailers are just sick! Huge pike, bloody hands, great film work and guns… These Danish boys are kicking ass and taking names. Oh and let’s not forget the outstanding choice in LOOP gear. Joe needs to get this in the shop… fast.
via MoldyChum
PUSH
Looks like the guys at FlatsPirate put a ton of work into this video. Worth checking out for sure.
“Follow the Bums of the Flatspirate Crew while they visit fishing locations in South West Florida all the while sharing the love of fishing and their experiences. View some breath taking footage filmed on location in Charlotte Harbor Florida direct from the Flats.”
Colorado Slabs
I first heard about Lee Novotny from my fishing buddy Dom in Colorado. While Dom and I would be chasing browns in some of the streams near Denver he’d tell me about the Youtube videos this guy was putting out showcasing huge bows and browns that were caught up in some of the tailwaters of the Rockies. After getting a chance to see some of these fish in his videos it was easy to understand why he has such a great reputation. Lee is a fly fisherman who has obviously put a serious amount of time in on his local waters. He’s even designed a fly called the Ale Egg that has a fierce reputation of producing huge fish in some of the Colorado rivers he fishes.
Doubts? Check out some of the videos on his Youtube Page. From huge bows, brooks, cutts and bullies… Lee has made it a habit of finding some of the biggest fish out there. Then there are the carp… I still don’t really get why so many fly fisherman still trash talk them. They are probably the smartest and most technical fish you will ever cast a fly to in fresh water. Lee recently put up a nice video of the hunt for his 92cm world record grass carp. Think your average carp is a bitch to catch? Try a grassy… it’ll make you want to rage quit the entire sport.
Lee has been up for Moldy Chum’s Slab of the Month a few times now. Recently with this monster brown! Great work Lee!
Glad that I had a chance to meet Lee and hit the water with him this past summer. He’s one of the nicest guys I’ve had the honor of fishing with. Be sure to give his site Thefishfly.com a visit or check out his fan page.
-Scott “Scotty Don’t”
Sweet Mother of All Browns Batman!
Where do you even start a post with a fish like this. I mean look at it… just LOOK!
Not only is this thing just HUGE… but it is also one of the most beautiful browns I have ever seen. Good job Matt Heron for landing the fish of a lifetime. And apparently this was also all captured on film. Hopefully he will let us post or link the footage once he has it.
If you are ever in the Lake Tahoe area and are looking to do some fishing, Matt is the guy to talk to. He runs an awesome fly fishing clinic and guide service out there. Be sure to hit up his site Matt Heron Fly Fishing or check his fan page on Facebook.
-Scott
A Nice Morning For a Swim
Anthony promised us some big fall browns on small water this weekend so the guys packed up and got ready for some Rambo style fishing. But sometimes the Bill Dance antics you get on the water overshadow any of the fish you might find. Anthony spotted a nice brown trout in some shallows and was nice enough to let me have a shot at it. It’s when he went in to net the fish that things got really good.
I don’t know how he made it through the rest of the day without dying of hypothermia. He just kept on fishing.
But we’ve all been there right? Just most of us have not been so unlucky as him to have had a cameraman around when it happened. It’s ok Anthony, at least you were not this guy…
Taking the Scout for a test run
You might have seen the Scout sitting at the shop over the summer. Brian and the rest of the Loop Army have put a ton of work into this boat over the spring/summer. The last test run found a few leaks (OK… maybe a few leaks is an understatement) and the motor needed some work for sure. It’s looking pretty good now and just needs a little more work on the motor before it’s ready for serious use.
Joe getting ready for a possible swim?
India Has Two of My Favorite Things!
So what’s greater than fishing for Mahseer on your trip to India? I would have to say doing it on a Tiger Reserve. Balls!
Sure, I’d give it a go. But only if you give me double the armed guards and one of those trendy face masks to put on the back of my head.
Think you’ll get bored fly fishing for giant Mahseer while hungry tigers stalk you from the banks? No worries! India has some other great things in store for you during a visit. No kids… I’m not talking about curry bomb diarrhea. I’m talking about some awesome (and very cheap!) street side dental work. I’ve thrown that in for you just in the event that you needed a little more “India” after the first video.
New teeth, dentures or extractions not a problem at all for Pushkar and his old master Pyara Singh. They treat their patients in front of the train station of Jaipur, on the sidewalk under the pure sky. The short film of filmmaker Falk Peplinski, who has been living in India for three years, is an ironical image-clip for a dentist of its own kind and therefore a homage to the incredibleness of the Indian everyday life. The film had a big success at fimfestivals in 2006 and 2007.
Muddy Little Creeks
Sometimes you plan months ahead for certain fishing trips even if they may not be hours away via flights and boats. And once in a while you get there and want to kick yourself for not waiting a little bit longer after the weather has not been the best. The LOOP Army headed out to do some creek fishing a couple months ago only to find that the water was as chocolate as could be from heavy rain a few days back.
It’s hard not to be bummed out when you find the conditions are not in your favor at one of your favorite spots. But just taking a look around the beautiful place makes you almost forget you came to catch fish and not just enjoy the surroundings.
Out scouting the water and taking in the scenery…
Even with the fishing forecast looking somewhat poor you’ve got to take time to hang out with the boys and enjoy the night. And since waking up early wasn’t really going to be necessary we had a good excuse to just kick back and put the beer stacked cooler to use!
Castaway Fly Shop Guides Brian Griffith, Jes Erling and Tom Everson rolling some dice gangsta style.
Chop wood or down a beer? Both!
The next day we had some tough choices when it came to what was fishing. No hatches and water with just a couple of inches visibility meant we’d probably be stuck using some of the bigger patterns.
All this planning… the perfect fly. There have to be some nice trout still feeding right?
Ok not quite what we were looking for…
Months of waiting for epic trout madness and we are stuck sight fishing to some very stubborn carp. A few other smaller trout were taken with Mr. Whiskers here being the catch of the day. A fish is a fish and I sure as hell am not going to complain. Nice fish Brian!
So there you have it. No epic trophy sized browns to write mom about this trip. Plenty of drunken fly fisherman playing “hey cow!” from the truck bed as we looked for good water and of course lots of stories… just none of the huge trout we were hoping for. A solid reminder that you don’t have to catch plenty of fish to have a great time.
Hasbro Has A Fly Pattern
This Friday Rial was able to sneak away from his workload at the shop and we decided to head up to the Coeur d’ Alene and do some late afternoon fishing.
Now… we were supposed to go to the Joe but he asked me to go fishing at about 1:00pm “Rial Time”. That means you will be in the truck, loaded up and on the road by oh… about 3:30 or 4:00 if you are lucky.
I really don’t care where I fish as long as I’m getting some time to learn (aka spinning the boat in circles and trying to be anything but a complete clusterf*ck), and Rial was kind enough to put up with all of that! Lucky him.
It turned out to be an awesome day on the water. Caddis were popping off like crazy and we saw a ton of little yellow sallies (a first for me to see so many). The fish were hungry and we were landing them right at the launch before even putting in.
What still gets me sometimes is the crazy flies some of these fish will go after. I never in my life thought that trout would rise to some of the stuff the guys up here throw at them.
Just glance into a fly box and you might think you were looking into some kids toybox from the 80′s. These flys are bright, flashy, furry and sometimes just plain ridiculous. I mean ridiculous in a “if Boy George was a fish he’d hit them” kind of a way, and the names for some of the flies stick for that very reason.
Anyway it was a great day on the water and I learned a ton. Especially that I should never be afraid to go crazy and experiment with the fly patterns (at least up around here). Oh yeah… and thanks for the fly pattern Hasbro. Fish can’t resist hot pony action!
When Rivers Burst
River levels are finally dropping but it has been a long wait! LOOP Army has been fishing some of the nearby lakes the past few weeks to satisfy the fish addiction.
There are many scabland lakes and ponds out in Eastern WA that hold some hefty trout and if you’ve never fished them you are really missing out.
Not only is the fishing outstanding but the scenery in some of the scabland lakes will not disappoint. Towering rock cliffs, blue skies and abundant wildlife all around make the drive well worth it… and most people who talk trash on lakes will change their tune after a productive day on the water.
Heather holds up a beautiful bow while Brian Griffith scores some footage.
Chironomid fishing was the ticket during this trip with a few fish being landed
using Olive Buggers. Fishing a Chironomid setup with an indicator can produce fish after fish if you find the right locations and depth.
- Brandan Eachon holding up one of his many, many fish… He outfished most of us the last day.
Choose Your Weapon...
The group kept a few different rods rigged up. If a certain method stopped producing you could throw out some streamers and target some of the fish cruising the banks.
- In this photo: Brian Griffith… Photo by Scott Tilford
Need some air on that fire? That’s what pontoon pumps are for!
It was a blast getting some camping in before the weather got too hot. We hit this camp site on Memorial day weekend to find it mostly empty. This years forecast had a ton of people staying home but we lucked out and got sun most of the time!