"Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly." - JohnGierach
I only subscribe to two fly fishing magazines (I'm talking about real paper and not an online publications.) The first is American Fly Fishing (the one with me on the cover) and the other is Tail Fly Fishing Magazine. Tail likes to refer to themselves as the "Voice of Saltwater Fly Fishing" and they deserve it. This is no "hook and bullet" rag but a slick and very informative publication. They went overboard this month with an insider writeup of Yvon Chouinard.
Who is this guy? For starters Chouinard is the creator of a company you may have heard of named Patagonia which is a multi billion dollar company that he created and has set the trend for much of what we consider to be outdoor gear: hiking, biking, rock climbing right down to walking along Newbury Street in Boston on a Sunday afternoon. He has set the trend and the masses have picked it up.
During the last decade Chouinard has gotten into the world of flyfishing but not in the way you would think your average billionaire would. Yvon Chouinard, it turns out, is a true minimalist!! His freshwater rod will most likely be a Tenkara rod and the fly at the end of the tippet will most likely be a soft hackle creation. Now he has taken a pheasant tail soft hackle, beefed it up a bit and began catching bonefish with it.
I tied up my version of his fly but it's still a freshwater fly except (hopefully) for the stripers that love those skinny flats. I have caught trout and bass on smaller versions.
Hook - Chouinard uses jig hooks from size 8 to 12 (bonefish???). The fly on the right is tied on a size 8 wet fly hook with a olive floss body and a rib of flashabou. The Patagonia guy uses tiny lead eyes while mine is made up of bead chain eyes (they work). Next comes a good sized partridge hackle and it's done.
One more thing about Chouinard - one would think that he would treat himself to a state of the art vise. NOPE! A photo of him in Tail shows him in front of what looks like an old Thompson A or a Sunrise India Vise (a $15.00 vise). He reminds me of a guy who wrote on a fiberglass rod site that he grabs a rod and regardless of the length and weight he "will make it work". You gotta love Yvon Chouinard
Flies For Sale
It's been a tough, brutal January so far with zero temperatures and icy streamside conditions. Time to tie flies which you will have when the weather breaks in February. February is the traditional month for tapping maple trees and with luck the first crocus will bloom. Maybe the first BWO. All that means SPRING!!
Order your flies now!!!
Ken
6 comments:
I don't shop Patagonia because it's a bit pricey for me. Tenkara rods and old Thompson A vises show that Chouinard might not either. It's quality stuff for folks willing to pay for it.
EJk
That's a fly that would appeal to a lot of fish. Love the eyes!
BD
Yvon is an interesting guy. There is another great video where he ties a Pheasant Tail and Patridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PMr4dAnCco
His life story is pretty interesting in his book: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
He was born in Maine, moved to California as a kid. He was part of the first group of rock climbers in Yosemite Valley (called themselves "dirt bags"). He made climbing tools from an old coal fired forge and started Chouinard Equipment (later turned that into Patagonia). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvon_Chouinard
Patagonia also has some good films on fishing, Artifishal (Full Film) | The Fight to Save Wild Salmon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdNJ0JAwT7I
And also this short on a very old Italian style of fishing "Il Pescatore Completo" https://www.patagonia.com/stories/il-pescatore-completo/video-85862.html
JonBoxboro,
The old Italian style of mountain fishing is very similar to Tenkara. They appear to have been developed around the same time.
Ken
Yvon puts his money where his mouth is..he supports native fish and wildlife and conservation ...not only through corporate donations and ad campaigns but Yvon personally puts it quite substantial amounts of his personal money to those efforts-that aren't announced publicly. He also still drives a 15+ yr old Subaru around the Jackson-West Yellowstone areas he frequents in the summer-which I dare say most CEOs would never be caught dead in. While Patagonia's focus is selling clothes they are also into selling worn clothes and repairing their stuff so people aren't always buying, buying, buying; their stuff is generally more expensive because a little more care is put into how its made and sourced and it definitely lasts...I have 20 year old stuff from them that I wear when my level of fat allows(lol). So I do support them when I can as well as Orvis who also does a lot to promote the same issues. He is a cool guy, opinionated as heck but he has character and integrity which is seemingly hard to find in the elite levels of corporate America.
BobT,
Very well said. !5 year old Subaru?? I think that the average flyfishing BMW owner would gag at the thought of driving that. As I said You have to admire Yvon!!!
Ken
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