By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

I don't know about you folks, but when I was young I didn't get into burning insects with a magnifying glass or dousing them in gasoline. Nope, I was far more sadistic. I'd find bugs and feed them to panfish, trout, or the most creepy of all - spiders. Talk about a slow painful death...

I spent the last week helping my good friends at Horny Toad clothing company on a photo shoot in Baja. The surf camp we were shooting had spiders hanging from almost every cactus in sight. Along with the spiders were tons of beetles minding their own business in the dirt. The last day I was there the lightbulb finally went on... For the remaining couple of hours we were in camp I was the nut job hooping and hollering around camp throwing beetles to their deaths and filming it with my little point and shoot.

I figured since most fisherman are entomologists on some level you'd get a kick out of this. It took the spider all of two minutes to completely wrap this guy up.

Happy friday and have a great weekend.

TR

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

Those of you who know me understand that I am the "anti-guru" when it comes to casting. I say casting matters for beans. At least on a river. And some of those "certified" whips who equate fly casting to quantum physics, I believe, are BS merchants who create more problems (by intimidation) than they solve.

But now I find myself on yet another saltwater foray (this one for stripers), and I realize casting matters most here. Maybe I should take some lessons. This is, after all, an entirely different sport. Any gurus wanna help?

Deeter

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

I know some of you wonder how we at Field & Stream select "The Best Fishing Cities" and "The Best Fishing Towns" in America. I can't tell you, otherwise I'd have to keel-haul you. The secret rests in a vault somewhere next to Cindy McCain's cookie recipes. Let's just say, however, that the methodology is somewhere this side of ballots being burned and white smoke flying up the Vatican chimney; and just on the other side of flipping off the cap and letting the foam settle in my bottle of Fat Tire.

Nevertheless, I feel inspired to leave you all this week with my own list of the "Flyfishing Capitals of America." There is no methodology here.

The overall flyfishing capital of America: Denver, Colorado. We sport the highest concentration of anglers and fly shops, per capita, of anywhere. And we're the new home of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. The fishing ain't bad either... trout, bass, carp, pike. I live here for a reason.

The trout flyfishing capital of America: Bozeman, Montana, with all due respect to the Catskill region in New York and elsewhere. And no offense meant, Missoula or Ketchum or Jackson, but the motivated angler can stage from Bozeman and hit your rivers also.

The striper flyfishing capital of America: Montauk, New York.

The tarpon flyfishing capital of America: Key West, Florida. Same for bonefish and permit.

The redfish capital of America: Hopedale, Louisiana. Love you Texas, but the big bull reds eat Cajun food.

The bass flyfishing capital of America: Hill Country, Texas. How's that for a make-good?

The pike flyfishing capital of America: Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The big rainbow and salmon flyfishing capital of America: King Salmon, Alaska.

The big brown flyfishing capital of America: Bull Shoals, Arkansas.

The smallmouth bass flyfishing capital of America: West Lafayette, Indiana. (That one's for you, Chad.)

And the carp flyfishing capital of America... okay, you won me over, Gary Indiana!

Agree, disagree... prove me wrong. In any regard, I hope you hook 'em up and have a great weekend!

Deeter

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

This just in from our good pal Conway Bowman in San Diego... the mako shark bite is happening big time, but it seems the good Captain has found another little fascination that's chewing up a lot of his free time. Conway's gone carp. And seeing how the guy holds a world record for fly-caught redfish, travels the country to make television shows, and diddles around with 200-plus-pound predators for kicks, I'd imagine the carpin' must be pretty good in So. Cal. to have lit his pilot like that.

"KD, it's off the hook; I got a 20-pounder yesterday," he explained on a call yesterday.

Which got me thinking: What would be the flyfishing carp-ital of America?

Deeter