I've always chuckled at flyfishing double-speak.  The classic example: a "strike indicator."  I have an idea.  Let's call strike indicators what they really are... bobbers.  Yarn, foam, balloons, plastic, whatever.  They float on the surface... when they go under, they tell you to set the hook.  Like a bobber. 

Actually I have a better idea.  Let's call them training wheels.  Okay, they're not really wheels, per se, but you get the point.

Yesterday, I went fishing with two friends; one used an indicator, the other went classic... just watched his leader where it dipped into the water.  A slight wobble or bend, he set the hook, and caught twice as many fish, easy.  I've seen it with my own eyes, through a scuba mask in the river... the indicator lands, the fish scatter.

Not always, of course.  And there are situations when indicators are essential.  They're great teaching aids.  Just like training wheels.  I'm going to try fishing more without indicators this summer.  My deteriorating eyesight being what it is, I'll probably be back on the yarn by July.  

But I'll try to call that yarn indicator what it really is.  A bobber.

Deeter

Photo by Roy Tanami

I must hand it to Tim Romano... if Guinness tracked a world record for the most fishing trips taken between a wedding and a honeymoon, he'd surely own it.

Not that many of us haven't tried to lay down the law on fishing-as-priority early in our marriages.  I once suggested Alaska as a honeymoon to my wife.  Sitting on the beach weeks later, I wondered how long it would be before I saw the Far North.  Fourteen years, it turned out.

Tim was married last September 20 (within hours of taking his vows, he was bass fishing on a pond in his wedding suit... I heard that through the grapevine, having definitely not been an instigator of such folly).  Soon after, he went on an overnight float down the Colorado River.  In October, he snaked a trip to the Damdochax in B.C. for steelhead (that was work... see the amazing photo essay)...  Then he did a bit of North Carolina mountain fishing.  Perhaps most impressively, he snuck an 8-day junket to the Louisiana Bayou, with none other than Gregg Arnold, Roy Tanami, and the Holeman brothers for a party with the "swamp donkey" in January.  March will see at least one Roaring Fork float.  April... smallmouth bass on the Devil's River in Texas (he's still in negotiations).  May... a carp fishing weekend on an anonymous lake in Colorado.  And then, in June... he's thinking about going on his honeymoon!

When he asked for advice on where to go on this delayed honeymoon (meaning, he wanted to know where the fishing would be good in June), I didn't know whether to hug him or give him a wedgie.  On the one hand he is a stalwart... an icon of all things manly and good... a guy who wears the "fish bum" label with such pride and aplomb, my Adam's apple wobbles with envy as I type these words.  On the other hand... he makes the rest of us look like pithy milk-sops.  Who ultimately earns highest praise?  No doubt, his beautiful and supremely patient wife, Ellie.

So, A) I'm wondering if Fly Talkers consider Tim hero or zero...  And B) I'm thinking we need to come up with honeymoon recommendations...

How about mushroom picking?  Mud baths and spa treatments?  After all, there are, um, other things to do on a honeymoon, other than fish...

Or do we tell him what the marlin bite off the East Cape of Baja is really like that time of year?  What's a killer his-and-her June honeymoon, fishing included?

Deeter

I've always thought that the best flyfishing guides were teachers foremost, and catchers of fish second.  In other words, for my money, I want someone who will make me a smarter, better angler, and not just leave me with a grip 'n grin photo.  But that's just me.

What do you think?

The reason I ask is that Tim and I will be participating in The Peak Fly Shop's first-ever Guide School starting April 29 in Colorado Springs, and I'm starting to work on my "lesson plan."  The school itself is a neat idea... basically for anyone who wants to become a guide, they can come and spend a few days learning the tricks of the trade, from getting first aid and CPR certification, to gear essentials, to planning a trip, to taking photos.  I'll have more info on the class as it gets closer for anyone interested.

Meanwhile, you'd do me a great favor by sharing some of your favorite and not-so-favorite guide experiences.  Among you guides out there, what do you consider keys to success?

Deeter

Photo by Kirk Deeter

Like many anglers, I've depended on a good pair of felt-soled boots to keep me upright in the river for many years.  But the dirty truth of the matter is that felt is now clearly linked to spreading a number of fish-killing threats like didymo (rock snot), mud snails, and whirling disease.  If you have a conscience, you want to avoid felt at any cost.  But, until now, if you didn't want to fall on your butt, you didn't have many great options, Aquastealth soles not withstanding.

I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about these new rubber-soled boots, even if they are made by Simms, which I have always considered a solid company, and they utilize a sole from Vibram, a company with a 70-year track record of making boot bottoms.  Only when I heard from two other boot testers, and got to spend some time in the river myself recently in these boots was I sold, or "soled," as it were.

I'd rate the grip factor at 90 percent the performance of felt, or better.  Granted, I'll want to see how they behave when the rivers get weedy in the summer, but for stability and lateral grab on the river bottom, they seemed to hold their own (and, thankfully, me).  I'm impressed by their apparent durability... as someone who hikes into many rivers, often in my wading boots, I'll be interested to see how they hold up in this regard.  But in terms of comfort and support, they earn an A.

The price tag isn't cheap... around $200 for a pair of guide boots... but neither is the construction.  In the end, it's a matter of putting your environmental conscience to test.  Because in the test between these rubber soles and felt, I'd say they come out pretty near even.

Deeter