The Winder..... the only knot tyer you will never need.

This is The Winder. You may have one. It you do, you probably have realized by now that you have just spent 20 something dollars on a product you most likely don't really need, and if you are like me, wont use. It is a neat gadget though.

If you have of these, you don't need a Winder.


And if you also have a pair of these, you really don't need a winder.
So, about 6 months ago I had a Amazon gift card for 25 bucks. I was perusing the fishing stuff and stumbled across this sci-fi looking devise called The Winder. "Perfect Knots Every Time!" It said. Wow, that thing looks sweet! Visions of magical knot tying wonderfullness filled my head. Stick some line in one end, twist this, pull this, unscrew this.... BANG! A Perfect knot! I had to see for myself, so I forked over the $23.95 plus shippings worth of someone else's money and waited for my new gadget to arrive and make life worth living.

One afternoon I heard the UPS truck out front and ran like a giddy little school to get my new toy. I tore the package open, and spent the next 10 minutes taking it apart, putting it back together and rattling it back and forth. I have to say it is a pretty entertaining little devise.

The first thing that bothered me was a lack of printed instructions. It did come with an annoyingly slow DVD instructional video. After watching the video I realized that the Winder was not a magic, after all. Bummer.

The Winder allows you to tie all the knots you most lilely already know but in a way that seems more complicated. It does have a handy feature that allows you to hold loops, tag ends, and hooks if needed, and makes wrapping knots like the Albright and Nail knot easier by being able to spin the body of the tool in your hand.
The Widner also does help keep the excess tag ends to a minimum. But these knots are just as easy to tie with the help of a Fast Knot Tier (above), the end of a pair of hemostats, or even a nail.

In the end, I would say that if you fly fish, and know how to tie these knots and have a tool that helps you with the hard ones, you don't need a Winder. If you are new to knot tying, or have vision problems or problems holding line and tying knots in general this tool would help you. It does tie knots, and pretty well too, but I hope that people dont come to dependent on help for tying all their knots. There are only a couple knots that, in my opinion, are a pain in the ass enough to require a tool. And that tool shouldn't cost over 10 dollars and leave you stranded if you lose it.

The Friday Bacon!

Coming soon to a restroom near you, the new and improved bacon dispenser.


Ahhhmm, bacon!

Nice pic. of the new boat dock...

The man has us under surveillance, no doubt!


Is that Johno takin' a leak in the woods?

Mark's Double Act

Mark Previte had never landed a salmon on a fly before visiting Bottom beat on the River Lyd a couple of weeks ago. With no sign of a fish in the morning, it was time to pull out the big-guns and a change to his own-devised Red Baron tube made all the difference. Mark proceeded to land not one but two grilse within ten minutes of each other! Mark is (so far) the only angler to land two fish on fly in a day this season... the pictures tell the story!


At around five pounds, Mark's first fly-caught salmon is a little cracker.



After a quick photo, the fish is returned to the Lyd - good on you Mark.



The Red Baron soon strikes again! A few casts in a gap above Jock Scott Pool sees the rod take on a hefty bend!



Fish number two - again around five pounds, which Mark also returns to the river.




The infamous Red Baron - it should be banned!




Mark, Dave and Gerald take five to reflect with a fresh pot of tea. How very civilised!

Tony's giant of the Lyd



Here's a belated photo of a beautiful 14in brown trout, caught in June by regular visitor Tony Bostock. With the Lyd's average size at 6 to 8in, this fish - estimated at over a pound - is a monster!
Tony was fishing the tiny Upper Lyd and caught the fish on a dry fly. He landed an astonishing 115 trout in just three evening's fishing!

Anonymously submitted...

I believe the correct name for this cave formation is "stalagmite."


However, it does somehow remind me of another pleasing formation...

Late-Season Deal

As a special offer, we are doing all-in packages for late-season anglers.

Dinner, bed and breakfast in the hotel (with fishing included) will cost just £120 per person, per night!

The offer is running until October 14th 2008, and is applicable to river fishing only. Please contact the hotel for more details and quote 'WEB OFFER' when enquirin
g.

Recent Pictures

It's been a hectic few weeks here at the hotel, which explains the lack of fresh new pictures on the web page. Anyway, here's a selection from the last month...

A nymph-caught brown makes a dash through the shallows.



All-action on the Ottery - finally fishable after a summer in spate.



A perfect wild brown trout from Beat 16.



The grayling put on a show too - Mr Hatt and pals had fish to 42cm on this particular day!



Stormy seas had slowed the sea fishing, but during settled spells, those bass just love a Popper - this one is 3lb 3oz.




Mackerel, sea trout (yes - in the sea!) and bass from a north coast rock mark.

New Calendar Moneymaker...

+

+


=

$

Here's the idea, what do all fly fishmen love, trout - yeah but that's been done.
Anglers absolutely love tricked out SUV's, the more expensive the better.
They also love expensive fly rods, the more technologically advanced the better.
Lastly they love bikinis, the bigger, I mean smaller, no maybe I do mean bigger, the better.

New York Waterfowl Regulation Change

Hunters chasing NY's migratory game birds (waterfowl, woodcock, snipe, rails and gallinules), must register with New York's Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP) prior to hunting.
HIP registrations are valid from July 1 through June 30 annually (the same as federal duck stamps), so every migratory game bird hunter needs to register in HIP for 2008-2009 before going into the field this season.
Hunters must register every year and for each state in which they plan to hunt migratory game birds, and they must carry proof of compliance whenever going afield.
To register in HIP, call toll-free 1-888-427-5447 or visit the new New York HIP Web site: www.NY-HIP.com. Registration is free and takes only about five minutes, after which a confirmation number is given as proof of compliance.

Salmon River Regulation Changes

Ahhh, the Staircase pool beckons, but first a word from the NYDEC...


The following prohibitions go into effect October 1, 2008 on the Salmon River in NY.

(4) use a weighted fly with more than a one-eighth ounce added weight;
(5) add weight to the line, leader, swivels or artificial fly in any manner such that the weight hangs lower than the attached fly when the line or leader is suspended vertically from the rod;
(6) use less than 20 feet of floating, sinking, or combination floating/sinking flyline, or shooting head immediately behind the leader and in front of any running line or other backing;
(7) use supplemental weight such that the weight is the primary means of propelling the cast rather than the fly line or shooting head;

Doesn't look like anything the Minions need to worry about other than the 1/8th ounce added weight limitation.

October 16th - 18th is coming soon!!!

Bushnell's Airstream Basecamp Camper Giveaway!



Register with Bushnell for a chance to win a custom Airstream Basecamp camper packed to the gills with cool stuff!

http://basecamp.bushnell.com/

Last-Minute Salmon Fishing

We still have some availability for those wishing to take advantage of late-season fishing.
September and early October is the prime time to fish for salmon on the Tamar and Lyd, with the brown trout fishing also excellent.

As a special offer, we are doing all-in packages for late-season anglers.

Dinner, bed and breakfast in the hotel (with fishing included) will cost just £120 per person, per night!

The offer is running until October 14th 2008, and is applicable to river fishing only. Please contact the hotel for more details and quote 'WEB OFFER' when enquiring.

Quint's Inspiration...

Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'.

Frank Mundus, 82, Dies; Inspired ‘Jaws’
By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: September 16, 2008
Frank Mundus, the hulking Long Island shark fisherman who was widely considered the inspiration for Captain Quint, the steely-eyed, grimly obsessed shark hunter in “Jaws,” died on Wednesday in Honolulu. He was 82 and lived on a small lemon-tree farm in Naalehu, on the southern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii, 2,000 feet above shark level.
Skip to next paragraph Mr. Mundus and his wife moved from Montauk, on the South Fork of Long Island, to Hawaii in 1991, but often returned to Long Island in summer, when tourists and city-slicker enthusiasts sought to spice vacations with a shark hunt, priced at $1,800 for a party of five.
On just such a venture in August 2007, the tail of a nine-foot thresher shark splashing off the stern of his 42-foot boat, the Cricket II, slapped Mr. Mundus and sent him reeling. He struck right back, planting his gaff — a giant fish hook on a pole — in the shark’s back and hauling it aboard.
Mr. Mundus had run charter boats from the docks of Montauk since 1951, taking fishermen out for easy-to-catch mackerel and fighting bluefish. But one night in the 1950s, according to one of his accounts, sharks outnumbered the blues and in the ensuing struggle a shark was snared. The next day Mr. Mundus posted a sign by his boat: “Monster Fishing.”
Mr. Mundus inevitably became known as Monster Man, and he looked the part, with his safari hat, a diamond-studded gold earring, a jewel-handled dagger with a shark-tooth blade, and the big toe of one foot painted green and the other red, for port and starboard.
His most fateful encounter with a shark came one day in 1964, when Mr. Mundus already had two sharks hanging on the side of his boat and a third on the hook. Then he spotted a huge one alongside.
“I harpooned him and he took off for the horizon,” he told The Daily News in 1977. “Before I got him, I harpooned him five times. A white shark. A killer. He was 17 ½ feet long and 13 feet in girth and weighed at least 4,500 pounds. The biggest ever caught.”
The legend grew, and in the next few years, he repeatedly took Peter Benchley, who wrote the best seller “Jaws,” out to sea.
Mr. Mundus told a New York Times reporter that Mr. Benchley loved the way he harpooned huge sharks with lines attached to barrels to track them while they ran to exhaustion.
In 1975, “Jaws” was turned into Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie, which for years left millions of beachgoers toe-deep in the sand. Robert Shaw played Quint, who exits by sliding feet first into the belly of a monster great white.
Mr. Benchley, who died in 2006, denied that Mr. Mundus had been the inspiration for Quint, whom he described as a composite character.
Clearly irked, Mr. Mundus said: “If he just would have thanked me, my business would have increased. Everything he wrote was true, except I didn’t get eaten by the big shark. I dragged him in.”
In 1986, Mr. Mundus dragged in a 17-foot-long, 3,427-pound great white — not by harpoon, but by rod and reel, quite a feat for a man with a withered left arm.
Frank Louis Mundus was born in Long Branch, N.J., on Oct. 21, 1925, a son of Anthony and Christine Brug Mundus. He broke his arm as child and a bone-marrow infection set in, leaving that arm shorter than the other. By then, the family had moved to Brooklyn, where Mr. Mundus’s father found work as a steamfitter and his mother ran a boarding house. Doctors told Mr. Mundus’s parents that they should take him to the beach to swim to build strength in his arm.
“He fell in love with the ocean,” his wife said.
Besides his wife, the former Jeanette Hughes, whom he married in 1988, Mr. Mundus is survived by his sister, Christine Zenchak; three daughters from a first marriage, Barbara Crowley, Theresa Greene and Patricia Mundus; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His first marriage, to Janet Probasco, ended in divorce.
Mr. Mundus dropped out of high school and got a job as a freight handler. Soon after, however, the pull of the sea had him working on charter boats for $3 a day. By 1951, he had his own boat, the Cricket, and was sailing out of Montauk Harbor. He named his boats after Jiminy Cricket because people told him that with his sloping forehead and Roman nose, his profile looked like the character in the film “Pinocchio.” Although Mr. Mundus caught hundreds of sharks during his career, he became something of a conservationist in later years. He promoted the use of circle hooks, which catch in the jaw, not the gut, increasing a shark’s chances of survival if it escapes or is released. He also helped start a shark-tagging program and voiced support for catch-and-release fishing.
As it turns out, Mr. Mundus did not think much of “Jaws.”
“It was the funniest and the stupidest movie I’ve ever seen, because too many stupid things happened in it,” his Web site says. “For instance, no shark can pull a boat backwards at a fast speed with a light line and stern cleats that are only held in there by two bolts.”

Patagonia lake and fish that never see flies


I packed up my Jeep Monday and went to Patagonia lake for an overnighter just because I haven't been there in a few months. It is a lake that almost never sees fly fishermen so i figured I'd try my hand at throwing flies at these unsuspecting fish. My rig was a wooley bugger as an attractor fly with a green bead head hairs ear nymph behind it.
All the big bluegill came off of the bugger and most of them were on the nymph. And then I felt a tug that felt out of the ordinary, it was a good fight and swore it must be a bass until I got it into my net and saw it was a catfish hanging from my nymph. Weird, I thought and cast out again only to catch another one. I caught a bunch more bluegill and ended the trip by snagging a bass in the ass. it was a weird trip, but as they all are, a good one.
Aaron

The Friday Bacon


The cold crispness of the beverage of the gods supplemented with sweet and savory flavor of the universal condiment. A wise man once said that there should be a third shaker on every table, salt, pepper and bacon. It is apparent that this visionary beverage supplants the bacon shaker on my "must have" list.

Friday Bacon Delayed...

The geniuses behind bacon salt, Justin & Dave.



Makes anything taste like bacon!
Now there is a universal condiment...


West Branch Construction Zone

Just over a mile downstream from the Stilesville bridge, the Millenium natural gas pipeline crosses the West Branch of the Delaware River.
In an effort to protect anglers and boaters navigating the construction zone, the pipeline workers have enacted the following protective measures.



CAUTION and WORK ZONE AHEAD signs are posted on the channel side of the river where the pipeline is being bored under the river. It appears that PVC pipe has been attached to the bottom of the river at regular intervals marking the path of the pipeline. Flashing yellow lights are attached to the top of each pipe, apparently to warn night time drift boats of the upcoming hazard.

The above photo, (all photos are relatively fuzzy as it was raining steadily), shows the whole fiasco in all its glory.

This photo shows the "flagman" on duty during daylight hours to protect boaters and fisherman from the obvious dangers of the construction site.






Tao and The Art of Spey Casting

I've been asked not to go public with these clips. So it was only a matter of time...

We have the Single Spey:



We have the Snap-T:



And finally, following true Taoist tradition, we have the No-Cast Spey Cast:

New to the world of online flyfishing magazines...


Catch magazine offers incredible photographs of places I'll never go and situations I'll never be in. But it's really pretty, oohh the colors...

This Is Fly Issue 12 has hit the newstands!


Issue #12 of This IS Fly is open for bidness...
Check it out at www.thisisfly.com

Orvis Golf?

This is what the Minions should be playing at the next BURFC Alumni event...


Orvis, Old Mill team up for fly-fishing course
By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: September 03. 2008 4:00AM PST
Orvis and The Old Mill District are teaming up to create what they believe will be a first in the nation: an 18-station fly-casting course.
Set to open in mid-October, the proposed Orvis Old Mill Casting Park will challenge fly fishermen to accurately land a fly under various conditions, many modeled after local fishing areas, said Rob Tibbett, the Denver-based Western outdoor district manager for Orvis. It will begin and end with stations just outside the Orvis store in The Old Mill District and wind around both shores of the Deschutes River.
“Each station will be named after some local situation and have some unique challenge,” Tibbett said.
For example, the course’s Wickiup Station will reflect fly-fishing on Wickiup Reservoir, with multiple targets to simulate casting to multiple fish, Tibbett explained. Some stations will call for technical casts, such as roll casts or tension casts, and some stations will present obstacles, such as trees and rocks, to cast around. Accuracy and distance will be two measures for many of the stations.
Like golf, each station on the course will have a par score. Depending on the station, experts will be able to hit par in one to two casts, intermediates in three to four casts and beginners in five to six casts.
Scorecards will be distributed at the store, and those with the best scores will have their names affixed to a store plaque, Tibbett said.
The course will be free and open to the public. It is being developed in partnership with The Old Mill District.
“Really, the whole fly-fishing business is abuzz about it because it could be the start of a whole new thing,” Tibbett said. “It’s been talked about, apart from grass-roots events where you throw a Hula-Hoop on the lawn, but it’s never been taken to this level. The Old Mill (District) really has gone out of its way to make this happen.”
The Old Mill District is providing access to the land the course will use, said Noelle Fredland, marketing manager for The Old Mill District. A tentative layout of the course will have users walking the shores of the Deschutes River between the Columbia Street and Colorado Avenue bridges.
Generating interest
Tibbett, who ranks Bend as one of the top 10 fly-fishing towns in the country, said customers will be able to use the course to try fly rods they’re interested in purchasing as well as bring their own equipment. Testing rods on water — the course will have two stations on the river as well as several stations on the Old Mill District ponds in the area — is much more appealing than in a parking lot, he said. The rest of the stations will be on land.
But the course’s main purpose is to drive interest in the sport, Tibbett said.
“We’re excited to be in this industry and to be a part of this lifestyle, and this is part of that,” Tibbett said. “It’s about educating people and getting them interested in the sport and keeping them interested.”
Tibbett said fly-fishing has grown in popularity over the years, especially with young people, and is no longer seen as a “gentleman’s sport.” He credits much of that growth to the recent development of fly-fishing films — what he calls “trout porn” — similar to ski movies that have brought new levels of excitement to downhill skiing.
Reactions
Other fly-fishing professionals in the area had mixed reactions to the course.
In Bend, Fly and Field Outfitters co-owner Glenn Cook said the course will provide an excellent opportunity for his customers to try fly-fishing rods and practice their casting. Cook, whose recently built store on Century Drive includes a small casting pond, doesn’t see the course as a competitive threat.
“We’re looking forward to (it) because … anything we can do like that to stimulate interest, and to be able to have something to take somebody out and actually work with them, sounds like a great idea,” Cook said.
Yancy Lind, the president of the Central Oregon Flyfishers club, worries the course could put some smaller fly-fishing stores out of business. But Lind thinks the casting park is a “neat idea” that will help people find the right fly rod.
“I could be missing something here — the new sport of 18-hole fly-casting may be about to begin — but the point of casting is to catch a fish, not to cast for accuracy or to a target,” Lind said. “Certainly a lot of people put emphasis on accurate casting, but you’re not going to catch a fish on this course. But it would be excellent way to feel out a rod.”
Paul Hansen, the owner of The Riffle Shop, thinks the course will be great for educating some fly fisherman, but he wonders how many serious fly fisherman will use it because fly-fishing is not a competitive sport.
“People that typically fly-fish like to get away from competition,” Hansen said.
Orvis, an outdoors retailer based in Vermont, last month opened its first Oregon store in The Old Mill District. The company is known for its fly-fishing gear as well as fly-fishing trips, classes and guiding services. It also sells sport and leisure clothing, gifts and pet accessories.
Later this fall, Tibbett said the store — at 320 S.W. Powerhouse Drive — will open a store-within-a-store that will sell Beretta shotguns and other accessories for upland game hunting.
Andrew Moore can be reached at 541-617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.

Maine fishing report 9/7/08


(right)Another Super Fly veteran with his personal best 33 incher caught...congrats Luke!!! 9/3/08 & Dr. C with a 36" beauty caught 9/5/08(left)


Maine Striper Fishing starts to heat up this month as fish gorge themselves in preparation for the fall migration. We still have good numbers of Bluefish around and they have been tearing up livebaits, artificials & flies.

Bluefin Tuna fishing in the Gulf of Maine is at it's peak this month and should provide for some epic battles...weather permitting!!!

We still have a few dates open this month. Call today for more info on availability.

Capt. George Harris
207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com

South Platte River - face farts, ding dongs, wader beer and lots of garlic

We spent 4 days visiting Kyle at the YMCA ranch he works at in Deckers, Colorado. What an awesome place, not to mention that it was a 2 minute drive to the South Platte river.

The trip up was pretty uneventful, however I was partying with Dry Creek Eric the night before and didn't get any sleep and luckily I did not forget anything when I packed at a drunken 3am. This is something I will probably not do again for a long time, at least until I forget how much it sucked. Sleep is NOT overrated. I may sleep when I am dead, but I will also sleep as much as I can get away with while I am alive, as well.

We stayed in one of the big camp cabins that is usually made to sleep 20 something kids, and I tell you, it was barely enough to house the 3 of us. Between gear, the fat guys, and the amount of gas that was released, it is amazing that we survived the first night, let alone the whole trip. Aaron developed a new crop-dusting which involves spinning around to release the flatulence from your pants for maximum efficiency. It was brutal. Brutal enough to make Kyle almost puke twice. Thank Christ that the cabin had 15 foot ceilings. The River was running a little high, about 450cfs (cubic feet/second) and this made it a little hard to fish.
We mostly were nymphing with caddis pupas, emergers, tricos, RS2s.... real small stuff. We caught a couple big Rainbows, and a few small browns.

The River was awesome though. Its real nice to get away from the lakes for a while. I think we will have to take a trip up to the Black River and look for some smallies.

Kyle fell in the river and was almost swept away, Aaron also fell into the river, but he was not in much danger, however he did end up with wet-butt, which is always funny. He was quickly picked up by a shot of Jagermiester and was back fishing again. “You know what I don’t get about trout? Let’s say that there is a huge Tyco hatch or something, little tiny things. You should still be able to throw a big old stone fly or caddis nymph or something and catch fish. It’s like if someone told me that steak was out of season, and all there is is hot dogs…. If I found a steak, I will still eat it.” - Aaron.

So Close!

Seasoned River Fowey angler, Graham Bray, made it his target of the year to catch his first River Tamar salmon. After several fruitless attempts, Tim Smith took Graham to Gunnislake on the Lower Tamar fishery's beat 2.



The first run through Upper Cottage produced an aggressive take to a Bottle Tube fly and Graham was attached to a bright silver fish estimated at around 10 pounds...



After five minutes of searing runs up and down the river, several leaps and head-shakes from the fish...



... it came off!

You'll get there soon Graham!

Maine Striper & Bluefish report 9/02/08

Time for wire leaders...Francisco, of Swarovski Optics Italy & Mario...visiting midcoast Maine from northern Italy had their hands full today as the battled with schoolie Bluefish on the fly!!! What a blast!!!











BLUEFISH, BLUEFISH, BLUEFISH!!!! The Blues are in!!! We've had continued success fishing for Stripers using our proven light-tackle livebait fishing techniques. Bluefin Tuna should provide saltwater anglers quite a thrill this month as they continue to terrorize the nearshore ledges...hopefully we will see a run of the 60-100 class fish that have been prevalant during the past few years.

I only have a few remaining dates left. Call today to set up a time.

Capt. George Harris
207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com