Plan B - Faceless Fly Fishing

Everyone and their mother will be posting this in the near future. I want it in on that party. The Faceless Fly Fishing crew has teased us with the idea of Plan B for going on four months. It was in IF4. It played in their hometown of Calgary and now...now the internet masses can slurp it up. Other than the ridiculous intro (who catches a demolition on film by accident, while fly fishing?), what I love about Plan B is how it appears they chose to include the fish in the video. I won't spoil it, but I like both the number, the species, and the size of fish in their most recent short.


PLAN B FACELESS FLY FISHING from FACELESS FLY FISHING MEDIA on Vimeo.

(I am a sucker for big browns and bulls)

Steaming Piles of Thread, Feathers, and Fur

AKA - my first tied flies

After a sushi-rolling, Argentinian techno musicing, snowball fighting dinner party went later than expected on Friday night, Saturday morning was spent sleeping and not fishing. Shame shame on me. I had every intention on getting out on the water this weekend, but Argentinian techno music is a confusing, exhausting, and apparently cruel mistress.

So, Plan B was tying my first flies with Matt Breuer. Matt lent me one of two vises and put me to work. It took me a whopping five hours to make four flies. Mostly because of all the guffawing, storytelling, and phone calls, but also because of my lack of fly tying ability and aptitude.

First fly - bunny leech of some sort.

Second and thirdflies - zebra midges

Fourth and final fly - the ugliest woolly (or is it wooly) bugger known to man kind

So, there it is, my first venture into fly tying. I can't wait to tie my next piece of crap.

The BOB Gnarly - Mouse-y to say the least

Many of you are aware of the now outdated dreams and goals of 2011 list on the YGF sidebar to the right of the post. Number 9 on that list is "Catch a fish on a mouse pattern." Note that it is not crossed off. Not to say I didn't try, but admittedly my efforts were...sub-standard. I have excuses like 2011 was a weird water year and I wouldn't feel comfortable wading in the higher water later into the sea...blah blah blah. Excuses, excuses.

Enter Andrew Grillos, signature fly tyer at Idylwilde. AG/Mr. Grillos/Grillos saw that my plight to catch a trout on a mouse last year was not completed and he took it upon himself to offer up a pair of his signature tie - the BOB Gnarly - to me. Now, I have to catch a trout on a mouse. A signature fly tier and experienced guide is sending me mouse flies. Full effort will be given. Trout will be caught on a mouse fly this year. It will be done.

AG has produced the BOB line of flies that incorporate a styrofoam bobber into their construction. The BOB Gnarly is one of those BOB flies. Here is how the AG himself describes the BOB Gnarly.

I began playing around with this idea in Colorado and I was really able to refine it while guiding at Alaska West a couple summers ago.  Let's just say that I got kind of obsessed with the mammal-eating trout up there.  Durability is a big factor in the flies that I tie and I tried to make this guy as tough as possible.  I like to tie one fly on in the morning and fish it all day long.  I also wanted a mouse that wakes in the surface film rather than skitters and skates delicately on top.  The upturned, light wire, stinger hook tends to hook fish more solidly while inflicting less damage as well.  I like to keep the fly moving, as well.  Small twitches with the rod while skating or dead drifting have proven to be super effective.  This BOB Gnarly was refined in Alaska, but it's also been proven on fish in Colorado, on daytime and nighttime missions.  It fooled a few huge NZ browns a couple winters ago as well!  I'm confident that the BOB Gnarly can help you meet your goal to catch a trout on a mouse!

I am super excited to get the BOB Gnarly out on the water. The fly looks bomb-proof and the use of the styrofoam bobber seems borderline genius, if not straight up genius. Many thanks to AG.

Cutties are for Suckers

A warm January day on the Bitterroot with Zach and Stan from False Casts and Flat Tires. Before the day on the water started, we slapped a Fiberglass Manifesto sticker on Zach's truck. For a while, it seemed like all I could catch were suckers. 4 or 5 of them in a row at one point.  Big ones, too - 21 to 22". But, eventually we found the trout. Which was a refreshing change for me from my previous winter experiences on the Bitterroot. We caught our fair share of cutthroat and rainbows. I caught a nice 18 to 19" cutthroat and 16 to 17" rainbow to end the day.

I was a little taken aback about the physical condition of a lot of the upper Bitterroot fish. Seemed like every other fish had some level of eye trauma and/or mis-shaped mouth. It was a little alarming.

I went with a more vintage film look this time around. Admittedly, I was a bit inspired by Instagram. But, you guys don't need to know that. As always, watch it in HD on vimeo.



Cutties are for Suckers from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

Music:
Jake One
"Gangsta Boy"

And the winner is....

The winner of the Glacier Glove Pro Angler Glove giveaway is Comment (not counting those made by some idiot named yukon) #16 - Chris C of the Many A Fish blog. So says the RNG machine. Please email me at yukongoesfishing(at)gmail.com with your address. Congrats to Chris, check out his blog, he is catching some nice fish over there in Idaho. Some pretty solid pictures on his blog. Thanks to everyone who entered.

On the 'Root with FCFT

This past weekend, I met up with two of the members (Zach and Stan) of the False Casts and Flat Tires gang to do some winter fishing on the Bitterroot. The Bitterroot and I have always had a somewhat rocky relationship. While I had solid, productive days on the Bitterroot, I have never had "one of those days."

That is not the case for the boys over at FCFT. They seem to have the Bitterroot dialed in. So, I felt pretty confident about getting into some fish when we hit the water on Saturday morning. Alas, the weather schemed against us. After consistent air temperatures in the low to mid 40s for most of the previous week, the air temperature dipped into the low 30s. As a result, the fishing was a little slower than desired.

"They are like guide land mines" FCFT - Photo courtesy of FCFT

As it is with winter fishing, you have to find where the fish are stacked up and feeding. We never really found them. We found some whitefish, but the trout were few and far between.

While our efforts were not quite rewarded, it was a great day to be on the water.

An idiot with a broken fly rod. Photo courtesy of FCFT

Zach is always producing great content over at FCFT. His skills with a DSLR make me want to get acquire some talent and grab a DSLR and start snapping photos. All of the photos in this post were taken by the FCFT crew.

Red wire worm = iridescent blue spot - Photo courtesy of FCFT

We are planning on getting back out on the water this weekend. We have a hot tip about some good winter fishing on the 'Root. Hopefully, it makes for some good footage as it has been too long since YGF put out a video. Damn you Holidays (Shakes Angry Fist) !!!!

Ponoi, Salmon, and the Matt Breuer

Friend of YGF, Matt Breuer of the Ponoi River Company, is making it a habit of appearing in videos on Moldy Chum. First, Breuer was dropping spey bombs in the unprofessionally done YGF video Sleep, Dreams, and Birthday Donuts. A video that was posted on the Chum in mid-December.

Now, he is appearing in the very professionally shot The Incomparable Ponoi. If I am to believe Matt (which I am trying not to make a habit of), this promo for his company was shot by Gin Clear Media on the RED camera. That is 25k for a camera.

Breuer should be back in town in the next couple days, so expect him to make several appearances in upcoming YGF projects.

The stories Matt has about the Ponoi are a little ridiculous. Stories of 40-50 fish days. All of those fish being Atlantic Salmon caught on the swing. Sign me up.

Check out The Incomparable Ponoi.

2012 F3T

About a month until the Fly Fishing Film Tour (or F3T) hits Missoula. It will be here in Missoula on February 10th at the Wilma. Last year's F3T was nuts (see my summary/review). It was heavy on the salt, but a good time nonetheless.

With big redfish and permit dominating the tour last year, I am excited about the more freshwater/trout focus in this year's tour. I am super pumped for Hatch, Clearly B.C., The Doc of Drakes, and Reverb.

I am most looking forward to Sipping Dry from Sharptail Media. Any film that features the Missouri, it's trouts, and some of the characters (looking at you SOL and Scumliner) that fish it religiously is a film I am excited about. Check out the trailer.


"Sipping Dry" trailer - by Sharptail Media | Fly Fishing Movie from The Fly Fishing Film Tour on Vimeo.

Any fellow Missoulians going to be there? Hope to see you guys there. Non-Missoulians, check the schedule to see if it swings by your town.

YGF goes official. DOT COM Status

I bit the digital bullet. You can't make yukongoesfishing.com stickers without the domain name. So, I made it official. Yukon Goes Fishing can now be found at www.yukongoesfishing.com. Update your links, tell your mom and dad. Tell your grandmas and grandpappies. Tell your bros, bwos and your sisters. It's getting real.

Stickers are pending. I have to find the monies to do that. But, I will get around to those soon enough.....hopefully.

Also, the blogroll was reset with the transition to the dot com. Keep me honest. I feel like I am missing some big ones. Let me know if your blog is missing from the blogroll. I will be sure to update it.

If you haven't entered the Glacier Glove giveaway, do so here.

Glacier Glove Pro Angler Glove Review and Giveaway

It gets cold in the winter in Montana. Hell, it gets cold in the winter everywhere. Apparently, it was 18 degrees in Tallahassee on Wednesday.

As some you may know, I have a fishing problem. I really have no other winter hobbies. Sure, skiing is fun and all, but that costs too much money up front. Plus, I have other things to spend money on....like fishing. Part of fishing during the winter is cold. Cold fingers and cold toes. A good pair of gloves can solve one of those two problems.

For the purposes of reviewing and testing, I was provided with a pair of Glacier Glove Pro Angler Gloves. The Pro Angler gloves were designed with anglers in mind. Constructed 2mm fleece lined neoprene, the glove features slits in the thumb and index finger that allow you to tie knots and handle line without taking the gloves off. Here is my review....

Glacier Glove Pro Angler Glove under the christmas tree...it's probably time to take that down, right?

I am going to do this review Troutrageous and Arizona Wanderings style. PROS AND CONS. Why? Well, it is effective.

PRO: Warm. Very warm. Fishing the Mo in December, I was expecting the worst. Cold water, cold weather. Fortunately for me, only the water was cold. My fingers were comfortably warm in the Pro Angler gloves during a 40 degree day. Hands warm. Ivan happy.

PRO: Other than my index finger and thumb, I don't need the other three fingers on my hand while fishing. With standard fingerless/"fingered" fishing gloves, it is all or nothing. Either all of your fingers are warm and dry or none of them are. With the Pro Glacier Glove, my three normally neglected digits (six if you count both hands, for those of you counting at home) were warm and dry throughout the day.

an unprofessional hand model

PRO: Untangling windknots, retying nymph rigs, switching leaders, and handling size 20 flies and 6x tippet was a breeze. Well using my fingers effectively was a breeze. Untangling windknots, well, that is hard on the warmest of days. I could go from a fully covered hand to handling line with the four most important of my ten fingers in about 10 seconds. The gloves never came off in the process.

CON: I wish there was a slit allowing the middle finger to be used. I don't use my middle finger often. But, I will use it to manage line when stripping and/or swinging streamers. It would have been nice to have the option to use the middle finger in some fishing situations.

PRO: Dry. Part of my day on the water involves dumping my hands into the river to get underwater release shots with my GoPro. My hands stayed dry throughout the process of filming. Dry hands=Warm hands. See PRO #1.

CON: They are gloves. No matter how you slice it, you will lose a certain amount of feel when wearing gloves. Feel can be very important in fly fishing. With time, the gloves became more comfortable and casting, stripping, and line management became easier. It took some time to get used to have gloves on. But, it is a sacrifice that is worth making

Overall, the Pro Angler Glove is a great alternative to the conventional winter fishing gloves out on the market. It is a versatile glove that allows the angler the touch needed to tie knots and handle line while also keeping the angler's hands dry and warm. If you are in the market for a pair of fishing gloves, I would recommend the Pro Angler Glove, for sure.

A professional hand model

Okay, now for the fun stuff. Glacier Glove was kind enough to offer up a pair of the Pro Angler gloves for YGF to giveaway. So, again, we are doing this Troutrageous style with the potential for up to four entries per contestant. You get one entry for each of the following completed actions.

Entry #1) Leave a comment in the comments section.
Entry #2) Like Yukon Goes Fishing on Facebook and leave a separate comment reading "I like YGF on FB"
Entry #3) Follow Yukon Goes Fishing on Twitter and leave a separate comment reading "I follow YGF on Twitter"
Entry #4) Like Glacier Outdoor on Facebook and leave a separate comment reading "I like Glacier Outdoor on FB"

The act of like-ing or following does not enter you into the contest. You leave a comment indicating that the action was completed. If you already like YGF on Facebook, leave a comment "I like YGF on FB." The same goes for YGF on Twitter and Glacier Outdoor on FB. Count 'em - that is four separate comments, resulting in four separate entries into the Glacier Glove Giveaway Extravaganza.

The contest/giveaway will close at 12:00 AM Mountain Time on Friday, January 13th, 2012. The winner will be chosen via the dastardly RNG and will be announced on Friday, January 13th, 2012 around 12:00 PM Mountain Time.

For a similar review, check out the Lunker Hunt.

DISCLAIMER: The Glacier Glove Pro Angler Glove tested in this product review were provided to me at no cost, but hold a retail value of $39.99 each for both top and bottom. I currently hold no association with Glacier Glove whatsoever. Although, Glacier Glove or any other fly fishing company is welcome to sponsor YGF in any capacity. This is YGF's first gear review. As with this review and all future reviews, I will do my best to offer up my honest and unbiased opinion, good or bad.