| Monday: | Andy Dear |
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| Tuesday: | Paul Arden |
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| Wednesday: | Carol Northcut |
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| Thursday: | Martyn White |
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| Friday: | Mika Lappalainen |
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| Saturday: | Nick Moore |
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| Sunday: | Tracy&James |
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Heart Attack
Monday, 20 March 2023
March is ALWAYS a sketchy time of year to try and plan a fishing trip in Texas. Technically it's spring, but some days it feels just like winter, and other days it feels like the dog days of summer. Jackson and I decided to make a flying run down to Port Lavaca during the last couple of days of his spring break vacation to try and catch a few Redfish. Unfortunately for us, the weather gods had something else in mind.
Chatting with Bernt Johansson
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
I had a long and enjoyable chat with Bernt last week. Another one of these “one hour” conversations, that took two and a half hours. I’ve edited it down to two one-hour sessions. I’ve started to find conversations like this interesting when driving, indoor bike riding, cooking beans and potatoes.
Bernt and I talked about flycasting competition casting, the World Championships and, or course, fly fishing! I found Bernd’s casting-sport training methods fascinating. Particularly I was interested in his experience with indoor 5WT distance casting, both his longest cast as well as how he trains for consistency. Lots of interesting details in these two hours and plenty to think about.
TOXIC GUIDE: Don’t instruct like him
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
There are toxic people everywhere, and I’ve met them in fly fishing, but today I interacted with the worst I’ve ever met. Many women would refer to it as “toxic masculinity.” The experience was pretty negative, but it reminded me of mistakes to avoid as instructors.
Sunshine After The Rain
Thursday, 16 March 2023
Well I got the rain I'd been hoping for, and even though it put paid to an amago fishing trip, I was happy. It meant the maruta would be really starting to run.
Interrupted exercise
Friday, 17 March 2023
Weekend it was warmer again. That means that instead -20 celsius (-4 Fahrenheit), it was -10 celsius (14 Fahrenheit). Saturday I was still busy with guests at farm. Sunday I had planned day off, only Satu need some help with background work in the morning. And afternoon we had planned husky sleigh ride with our winter team.
So after helping Satu, I decided to do some casting training. I realized from very beginning that it will be cold training. It was sunshine, what I didn't realize earlier was that there was cold breeze. So basically it felt more like -18 C(0F).
Fishing, Tents and Recording
Saturday, 18 March 2023
I have an interesting rod to review at the weekend, and it has been given to me to try, it is the new Sage R8 Core in a 9’ #6 configuration (including a fighting butt), so if we label it properly, it is a 691-4. Having had a quick go with it in the garden before it got dark, I was pleasantly surprised as it is a lot softer than Sages usual sticks. It sports a low swing weight with hardly any tip bounce, which is a very good thing! Anyway, I won’t say anymore about it, there is more to come, possibly a video!
The Perfect Distance Line
Sunday, 19 March 2023
A couple of weeks back I wrote about testing some prototype ‘distance’ fly lines that are currently under development by Steve Parkes at his premises set in a beautiful area on the edge of Snowdonia here in North Wales. Steve has part procured and part manufactured all the equipment he needs to produce fly lines. From speaking to him he’s having a lot of fun running off different tapers and going out and casting them as soon as they’ve cooled down from the curing process. The fact that Steve is also a very accomplished caster, he’s won many an event at the BFCC, suggests to me that eventually he will produce something very good indeed.
