5 Reasons to Upgrade Your Fly Tying Tools

November 6, 2018

Hardcore, devoted fly tiers own and use good tools. If you are tying every fly you fish or offering dozens upon dozens of patterns up for sale, you’ll get a lot out of premium tying accessories. To any fly fisher, that makes a lot of sense: we want the best tool for the job.

But what about the novice, the person who might tie some simple flies every now and then? Which tools should the person who simply dabbles in fly tying use?

Most everyone who ties flies usually begins with a kit. Along with a rudimentary vise and enough materials to tie a few basic patterns, you’ll get a pair of scissors, a bobbin, and a whip finisher. They will work. You’ll be able to figure out how to palmer hackle, spin dubbing, and create fishable flies. However, whether it be the manufacturing, materials, or design, most of these starter kit-level tools aren’t the best tool for the job – even if that job is a handful of woolly buggers or a couple Clouser minnows. They work, but they don’t work great.

Anyone who has fly fished beyond the beginner phase has seen the value in investing in a rod or a line that offers more precision, durability, efficiency, or ergonomics. Why would fly tying tools, even if only used sporadically, be any different?

Why should you spend money on better fly tying tools, even if you don’t tie a lot? Here are 5 reasons:

5 Questions with The Fly Fishing Show CEO

November 5, 2018

Looking for something fly fishing related during the coming winter doldrums? I think that one of the best ways you can spend your non-angling time is at a good outdoor expo. Recently I talked to Ben Furimsky, President and CEO of The Fly Fishing Show, about the 2018 Show circuit. Read what he had to say about his favorite parts of the Show, what it has to offer fly fishers of all experience levels, and why you should attend.

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What was the first day after the Lancaster Show, the final stop on the 2018 Show circuit, like for you personally?

I appreciate you asking that. The first actual day after Lancaster is usually finishing up packing supplies and then a travel day. On occasion I try to go visit my Grandmother in Pittsburgh. Once I get home, I look forward to sleeping in after 3 months on the road and many 20-hour work days.

How would attending the Show be beneficial for a brand-new fly fisher?

I personally recommend attending the Show to new fly fishers because it offers a unique opportunity to get an idea of what the sport has to offer. They are all jam packed with information for the beginner from casting lessons to techniques to information about local waters. But the most unique opportunity for the new fly fisher is to see what encompasses the sport as a whole: all the amazing fish, places you can fish, the people, the products, the flies and how they are made, and more. There is no better opportunity to really get an idea of what the sport has to offer and make a truly educated decision on if the sport is something they want to pursue and what direction they would like to follow within fly fishing.

Last Cast of the Week, 11/2/2018

November 2, 2018

Every now and then, Fridays on Casting Across are devoted to other people’s contributions in the fly fishing community. Articles, pictures, social media accounts, videos, podcasts, products, and more are featured on The Last Cast of the Week.

Today, I’m sharing items from:

Casting Across – 3 Year Giveaway
International Fly Tying Symposium – IFTS 2018
Loon – Fly Tying Videos

If you’d like to be featured in the Last Cast of the Week, or have seen something that others might be interested in, use my contact form or shoot me an email (matthew[at]castingacross[dot]com). Also, be sure to subscribe to Casting Across to never miss a post.

Check out the links, along with my thoughts, below:

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My Fly Fishing Journey: 30 for 3

October 31, 2018

By nature, writing is introspective. It is nearly impossible to not insert yourself into what you write about. Words betray objectivity. Experience influences everything. And people, by and large, are nostalgic and sentimental critters. (Coincidentally, Trout don’t have that burden.)

A lot has transpired over the course of the past three years in and through my fly fishing journey. Maybe even more than in the previous 20 years.

If you have been reading Casting Across for any period of time, the following list of observations isn’t going to surprise you. That being said, I don’t blame you if you haven’t been waiting at your computer with baited breath every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for my latest bit of writing. So I’ve compiled 30 things that have happened over the past 3 years.

Over the past three years…

My Other Fly Fishing Writing

October 26, 2018

The astute reader may have noticed an anomaly this week on Casting Across. None of the content was original. Well, it was original in the sense that it was me. I wrote it. Unless you read all the way down to the postscript on the bottom of each article, you wouldn’t have known that both pieces were being re-purposed.

These two articles were timely excerpts from the catalog of posts that I have written for the Vedavoo Workshop Journal. The Journal is the official blog of Vedavoo Gear, a company that I have referenced often and that you have seen countless times if you follow me on social media.

Why You Never Go Fly Fishing Alone

October 24, 2018

You never go fly fishing alone.

Even though angling is a pursuit that many gravitate toward because of the frequent solitude, true isolation isn’t a reality for the vast majority of people. It might mean another car in the parking lot. It could sound like the droning of a jet just out of sight. It may even be the nagging knowledge that eventually you’ll have to reel in your line, take off your boots, and drive back into the real world.

And although fly fishing is an escape, we’re incapable of detaching completely. Our thoughts rightly meander from fly presentation to work, family, whats next. Our present fishing is profoundly linked to how we have fished – and who has fished with us in the past. And chances are the trails we are walking, the flies we are using, and the rod we are casting were made by someone else.

There is something to be said for that connection. While the fishing is about so much more than tackle and gear, it is still inseparably about the tackle and the gear. In a pre-industrial time, this was a truth that unfolded in everyday life and angling. You knew the person who made your things. At the very least, you bought your things from someone who knew the person who made the things.

For all the cost benefits and technological advancements of modern manufacturing, some of this connection has been lost. Impersonal entities might seem like another way to further cut yourself off from the outside world. But that isn’t the kind of alone we want. Trends demonstrate that people have been lamenting this loss. If you are going to be carrying a few items into the woods and into the water, there is comfort in knowing they were crafted by a kindred spirit.

Fly Tying Community Together

October 22, 2018

It the short history of Vedavoo Vise Night, the monthly fly tying event at the Vedavoo workshop, we’ve seen the creation of some impressive flies. Seasoned tiers have produced microscopic midges, cutting-edge saltwater patterns, and intricately articulated streamers.

Plus, someone tied a fly that lights up.

And another guy wove mop material.

And a few people have tied their very first flies.

Behind the bobbins and scissors, people are getting to know each other. Plans are being made for fly fishing outings, angling conundrums are getting talked through, and tying materials are being shared.

At its core, Vedavoo Vise is about building community.

Rusty Flybox: Farewell, My Subaru

October 19, 2018

We lost him.

After 18 years and a quarter-million miles, he gave up the ghost. The list of issues he’s overcome is long, but this last setback was one bump in the road too many.

Technically, my Subaru Forester still runs. I wouldn’t call it “efficient” or “safe” or “smart” to drive, though.

I’m on the hunt for a new car that will get me from point A to point B. And, of course, one that will adequately get me to point F[ishing]. So along with age and miles and fuel efficiency I’m thinking about ground clearance and trunk width and if I can sleep in it.

I’ll properly eulogize the Subaru soon enough. It deserves it. But for now, I want to share some remembrances by pulling some posts from the Casting Across vault. Click the title or the photo for the whole article. Enjoy, and keep your chin up. After all, it is what my car would want.

Redington Butter Stick: A Kind of Review

October 17, 2018

Redington: “Meet the New Butter Stick – Your New Fall Favorite”

This isn’t a review of the updated Redington Butter Stick. Because I’ve never held the rod.*

But I received an email from Redington that made me want to pick one up. I get a lot of fly fishing industry emails, and I delete nearly all of them after reading the subject line. This one made me pause: “Meet the New Butter Stick – Your New Fall Favorite.” And then I opened it. And then read it. To be honest, it made me want to buy one sight unseen. Why? Well, at least for me the marketing for the Butter Stick checked every single box.

Marketing doesn’t sell a product. But it gets consumers to stop and peek into the window. In the fly fishing industry, marketing, branding, and perception plays an enormous role in what anglers buy and do. I don’t need another fly rod, but I haven’t needed a new fly rod for the last dozen. This email shoved me down that familiar rabbit hole.

Although this rod is an updated model, the Butter Stick fiberglass line has been around for a while. The name is great for some of the imagery that it evokes – smooth casting, warm-hued trout bellies, etc. Maybe it is a little cutesy, but it isn’t like you have to proclaim the make or the model of your rod when as you cast. “Butter Stick” also stands alone in an industry of three letter acronyms and intense sounding names. It is a fly rod, not an engine on a jet.