By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

But let’s not kid ourselves. Catch-and-release done wrong is selfish. It’s a simple issue of motive.

Jim Harrison offered the best perspective on the matter I’ve ever read. He said, “Catch-and-release is sensible, which shouldn’t be confused with virtuous. ‘I beat the shit out of you but I didn’t kill you’ is not clearly understood by the fish. This is a blood sport, and if you want a politically correct afterglow, you should return to golf.”

I advocate catch-and-release fishing, on the rivers, in the lakes, and on the ocean. But I’m not about to stand on this soap-box and say I haven’t kept a striper, or a salmon, or a redfish, or even a trout for a meal, now and then. And statistics will show you that mortality rates among fish caught and released are likely higher than you’d want to know, some say as high as 20 percent, depending on the species, and factors like water temperature. The guy who nets, manhandles, de-slimes, and half-suffocates 30 fish while his buddy fumbles for the camera -- but lets them all go -- is tougher on the resource than the guy who pops a couple... [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

For the record, Creature might be one of the most decorated big game fishermen on the Atlantic seaboard, but his closet fishing passion is chasing trout with flies.

“How do you figure,” I asked, totally perplexed by the comparison.

And he explained: “Fish like changes.” Changes in currents, changes in depth, changes in water color, changes in structure. If you find a patch of sea grass floating in the open ocean, you’ll find fish under it. If you find a place where currents converge and bait schools, fish will be there also. Reefs, wrecks, and rock formations attract fish too.

So apply that thinking when you go to the trout river. Look for changes in currents, where swift water meets slow water, changes in structure, where rocks and trees create holding water, changes in depth, like shelves and pools, or changes in color, which usually signals a depth or structural transition. “It’s all pretty much the same,” Creature laughed. “You trout guys can walk or row a boat to find those changes, and we have to run a bit out here to find them … but that’s how you locate fish.” Find the changes, and you... [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

So here’s the best tip I ever learned to straighten out the issue of going too far on the backcast. It came from Dan Stein, a guide on the Bighorn River in Montana. He simply suggests you keep your casting thumb in your
peripheral vision at all times. Lose sight of your thumb, and you’re going back too far. [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

We graded each reel on a 1-5 scale in three areas:
1. Price
2. How the reel felt and reacted as the motorcycle sped away
3. How we like handling the reel

Then we made “judges deductions” for any beefs we had about the reels.

Price/Features
The Hatch Outdoors 9-Plus is the biggest reel the company markets … so far. There’s a bigger brother in development, but we threw this one to the lions. Retail is $800.
Score 3.5 out of 5

How it “Met the Street”
No warmup, no worries. We just tied it on and hit the gas. In terms of pure startup – that initial grab where the drag engages and the reel starts paying out line – this reel is one of the best. There are just no surprises. And that speaks very highly about the engineering of the drag.
Score: 4 out of 5

Functional Review
Aside from the motorcycle test, we recently fished Hatch reels down the length of the Baja and back. In the sand and the salt, and the grit … with all sorts of species pulling on them. The reels really perform well in terms of tolerance (no... [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

We graded each reel on a 1-5 scale in three areas:
1. Price
2. How the reel felt and reacted as the motorcycle sped away
3. How we like handling the reel

Then we made “judges deductions” for any beefs we had about the reels.

Price/Features
$625. This is the standard in Orvis’ saltwater reel lineup. It has all the bells and whistles of most high-end saltwater reels, with a slightly more attractive pricepoint.
Score: 4 out of 5

How it “Met the Street”
Well … we darn near set ‘er on fire. Granted, we weren’t playing fair: We ran it at 55 mph, threw water on it during the run, and clamped the drag down fairly tight … but we charred the cork drag. This was an extreme test. This reel is rock star when we fish it on the flats. But the fact is, we tested four reels to the max, and this one smoked.
Score: 2 out of 5

Functional Review
The amount of cork incorporated in the drag surface is probably not quite enough. It’s a slick enough system, just a little underdone, like... [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

We graded each reel on a 1-5 scale in three areas:
1. Price
2. How the reel felt and reacted as the motorcycle sped away
3. How we like handling the reel

Then we made “judges deductions” for any beefs we had about the reels.

Price/Features
The Bauer McKenzie Extreme 4 (MX4 for short) is a pretty solid value at $545, compared to other saltwater models. It’s a line-cranker, with that larger profile, but the drag is nice also.
Score: 4 out of 5

How it “Met the Street”
If any reel gets the “wow, I didn’t think this reel could do that” award, it’s this Bauer MX4. We ran it at 25 mph, with no problems. Then we cheated and tried to fry it … ran it at 45 mph. Same smooth, wobble free drag, and very slick startup (a little dip on the first run). This reel couldn’t tell the difference. Bonefish, therefore, are definitely not a factor.
Score: 4.5 out of 5

Functional Review
We all dug the flashy duo-tone aesthetics, the larger spool, and its line-gathering capability. But when all was said and done, the drag was an exceptional surprise; Jeff the motorcycle... [ Read Full Post ]