Memorial Day

On this Memorial day we want take a moment to wish all of those who serve or have served our country a thank you. Nothing we could possibly say could express the debt of gratitude we owe. We ask you to think of the good folks behind groups that serve those who have served such as Project Healing Waters.

The BBQ Doughnut

Leave it to the Germans to build a boat around a BBQ grill. We have no idea what they are saying in this video but the sales pitch gets better at the 1:27 mark. Here in the US we just use pontoon boats.

via BoingBoing Gadgets.

Bear Grylls Stocks Trout

From NewberryToday.co.uk comes a report that Everest climber and T.V. survival guy, Bear Grylls, took time out to help a group of primary school children stock trout in an area river.

All 30 children in Class 5 took it in turns to fish the 40 young trout out of a bucket and drop them in the river, helped by television survival expert Bear Grylls, who was invited by children at the school to join them. “It’s brilliant to encourage the kids to understand about nature and the cycle of life, after they have seen the fish grow,” he said. “A lot of what I do with survival is eating fish when they’re much bigger, and that’s all part of the cycle. I know some of the kids here, so that’s why I got involved.”

In our warped minds this act of salmonid kindness officially absolves Mr. Grylls of any issues that he might have had with hotel stays or bear suits in the past.

photo credit: BearGrylls.com

AFFTA Hires New Association President

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association announced today that they have chosen Gary Berlin to be their President.

A former human resources manager and Area/District Wildlife Manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the recent head of the International Hunter Education Association, Berlin brings nearly thirty years of experience in the outdoor arena as well as proven non-profit association leadership skills. He received a Bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management from Mesa College in Grand Junction, CO and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado in Denver. Berlin, a lifelong Colorado resident, will begin his tenure on July 1 and will be establishing a new permanent home for AFFTA in the greater Denver area.

"AFFTA is in the midst of many new and positive changes to bring better leadership and focus to the fly fishing industry and Gary was the perfect person to direct and implement that change," commented Alan Gnann, AFFTA Board Chairman and President of REC Components. "At our January meeting, AFFTA's board set a series of goals regarding what our organization needed in a new president and Gary fills all of these requirements. The board was overwhelmingly in favor of hiring Gary for this position at our April meeting in Washington, DC during the National Casting Call."

SAA eBay Auction Update

The good folks fighting to keep the Pebble Mine out of Alaska's Bristol Bay region are still hard at work with their eBay fundraising auctions.

Ending soon:

Cloudveil 8x Pro Waders and 8x Boots in M’s or W’s (ends Thursday, 5/22) – current high bid is $400

Trip for two with Reel Wilderness Adventures in Alaska for open dates in August or September 2008 or any open dates in 2009 (ends Thursday, 5/22) – could be yours for $5,500

March Brown Hidden Water 8-weight travel fly rod (ends Saturday, 5/24) – could be yours for $275 (PRICE DROP)

Trip for two to Alaska’s Rainbow Point Lodge for open dates in August or September 2008 (ends Saturday, 5/24) – could be yours for $7,750 (PRICE DROP)

Scierra CTC #9/11 fly reel (ends Saturday, 5/24) – current high bid is $175

Trip for 1 woman with Women’s Flyfishing Alaska in July 2008 plus book, dozen flies, ExOffico shirt and hat (ends Saturday, 5/24) – could be yours for $500 (PRICE DROP)

Abstract brook trout print by Derek DeYoung (ends Saturday, 5/24) – current high bid is $127.50

Orvis ZG Helios 8-wt rod + Battenkill large arbor reel and line (ends Saturday, 5/24) – current high bid is $760

Full-day float trip for two with Yellow Dog Outfitters in Montana for any open date in 2008 season (ends Saturday, 5/24) – current high bid is $300

Hardy Zane Saltwater combo (10-weight rod and No. 2 reel) (ends Monday, 5/26) – could be yours for $950

Fishpond Shooting Star Tech Pack (ends Monday, 5/26) – current high bid is $117.50

Trip for two to Turneffe Flats Lodge in Belize for any open week in 2008 (ends Monday, 5/26) – could be yours for $5,100

New Listings this week:

Simms G4 Pro jacket
Trip for two to Pesca Maya Lodge in Mexico for any open week in 2008
Full-day float trip for one with Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano from Field & Stream magazine’s “Fly Talk” blog + Kaenon polarized sunglasses and Jim Teeny fly line
Trip for two to Painter Creek Lodge in Alaska for any open week in 2008 or 2009
Premium Alaska fly selection from Orvis
Certificate for your choice of any fly rod in TFO’s lineup

Wherein a Connecticut Yankee learns of a southern delicacy...

ESPN's Don Barone visits South Carolina for some bass fishing event and runs into the one thing no self respecting southerner can pass by without stopping to get some....The Boiled Peanut.

Dona: "They a Southern delicacy. We boil them in salted water, and when they 'bout done we use a boat paddle to scoop them out of the tub and let them sit up on the paddle a bit before you bag 'em. Go ahead, EAT IT."

So I did.

You kind of squish them open — soundless peanuts — with the shell just kind of sticking to my finger like melted chocolate, and in what seemed like slow motion, put two of the three nuts in my mouth.

Don's take on the Southern staple?

I'm in South Carolina, what, maybe two hours, both Vic and Dona had mentioned I was a "long way from 'Ke-net-ta-kit' and I have in my mouth that same taste that you get when you do a header into a pond and come up with the bottom of the pond flooring stuck between your wisdom teeth.

I say nothing, in fact I'm afraid to move ANY mouth muscle fearing an involuntary swallow, either going down, or coming up.

And then Dona reaches under the counter AGAIN. "Here," she says while handing me a rather large paper towel…"they an acquired taste."

Apparently northern types can't handle the taste. Now if only we'd thought to deliver a sack of these to General Sherman at just the right moment we might still have a bunch of those old wooden buildings in Atlanta.

Oh there is some fishing in the article as well.

Photo credit: Don Barone

Snake Week Gear: Thompson Cobra Vise

We didn't plan it this way but with Copperhead reel seats, and King Cobra running amok in the Carolina's it must be "Snake Week" here at FlyFishMagazine.com. With that in mind for this week's gear feature we bring you the Thompson Cobra Fly Tying Vise.

Never before has a vise so functional and so stunning been available on the market. From its warm,earth tone, light absorbing finish to its 11 spherical hole pattern accessory bays, the Thompson Cobra Vise proudly takes its place within the long tradition of industry changing vises, tools, and accessories that D.H. Thompson is known for. Experience the New Era of Fly Tying as form and function combine in one powerful tool no fly tyer should be without. Cobra Vise, in Pewter color: $165.00

I have had it with these $#%^ snakes...

According to WRAL.com of Raleigh, NC a cobra has been sighted in the lowland woods of Cumberland County. This would not normally be news in these parts, however this particular cobra was reported to be eight feet long and was not made by the Ford Motor Company.

Vernon Byrd was on an all-terrain vehicle in a field off Johnson Road last Tuesday when he said an 8-foot-long snake reared up beside him – and the serpent's head was about shoulder high to him.
"I caught something out of my eye, and this snake comes up beside me and looked at me," Byrd said. "I've seen every kind of snake in this part of the country, but I've never seen a snake like this."
He called Freddie Mims, a licensed wildlife rescue agent, who said the description of the snake sounded like a king cobra, the world's largest poisonous snake.

Either Vern is prone to hitting the sauce or one of the fellows at nearby Fort Bragg brought a souvenir back from his last visit to Southeast Asia. I am leaning towards the latter as the more plausible explanation. Either way a change of undergarments would certainly be in order.

Orvis Fly Rods: If we told you, we'd have to kill you...

When my Great Grandfather, Theodore Roosevelt Burleson handed me my first stone fly nymph and fly rod 3o+ years ago, I wonder if he would have ever thought that the rod I got for my 41st birthday would be made of the same military grade material used in Predator drones? I won't even go into what he would have thought about unmanned machines flying about on their own and shooting things. Techie tome Wired Magazine features a look at Orvis' Helios fly rod:

The "stuff" is unidirectional carbon fiber — not the ubiquitous carbon mesh found everywhere from dashboards to tennis racquets, but a new superlight variety that was, until recently, a highly classified concoction. I start to copy information from a label when Stone barks, "Don't write down the manufacturer's name," and slams the door shut.

It's not just trade secrets he's protecting — it's national security. The composite is used in Predator drones and spy satellites for the US military. Stone, along with colleagues at the outdoors supplier Orvis, use it to build a fly-fishing rod. Called Helios, its story began nearly three years ago when Stone, Jim Lepage, and another man — so entrenched in top-secret contracts that nobody would even tell me his name (we'll call him Deep Trout) — set out to build the ultimate rod: lighter than anything ever made but strong enough to land the big one.

Photo: The Orvis Company

This Fly Rod Really Bites

Sam Stoner of Moore, South Carolina has found an excellent way to keep people from stealing his gear. He disguises it as poisonous snakes. Seriously though, Sam's rod building work caught our eye when we noticed that his reel seat spacer was made from the skin of a Agkistrodon contortrix or Carolina Copperhead.

Interested in Sam's work? Contact him via email for more information.

Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge

The guy behind the curtain over at the Southeast Fly Fishing Forum, Eugene Shuler, just qualified to compete at the regional of the Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge. Eugene had the best overall score at the qualifier shooting air rifle and bow as well as casting to targets from the deck of a bass boat using a bait caster.

Congratulations Eugene! Now if we could only get him to wear a FlyFishMagazine.com patch on his fishing vest. If he wins the entire event we plan to buy the naming rights to his SUV.

Monday Fly Fishing Photo Zen / Caption Contest

Roscoe, NY AKA Trout Town USA where the trout are as big as the gas prices. Best caption wins a copy of Fish Bum I: Mongolia - River Wolf the guys at AEG Media. The editor's Trophy Wife will be the inpartial judge. Leave a comment and get some righteous Schwag.

Photo Credit: Midhudsonnews.com