The Hopper Juan: September 2010

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Bringing Sexy Back?

Bringing Sexy Back Baetis Nymph

Last evening was the Autumn Splendor Fly Tying event at Anglers Covey. It was a great time and although the crowd was somewhat light, I think it was because they were still out fishing or on the couch watching college football. There was a nice little fly tying contest going which had three prizes for the winners. For the first hour or so, there were only two of us entered, so my chances of placing were really good. I was pretty sure I had at least 2nd locked up. My fly I entered was my Baetis nymph that I think I have shown on here. I needed a catchy name for it other than Juan's Baetis Nymph. All week I tried thinking of a name but nothing came to mind. Driving to the event, I tried and nothing. So at the time of submission, I asked a few people for ideas. Here is what I came out with: Bringing Sexy Back Baetis. Yea, that's what I went with. The fly is tied with a cream belly and a dark hen back, hence the idea of having "back" somewhere in the title. The top 3 winners would have their fly taken back to Umpqua headquarters by Riley Cotter, one of the fly managers at Umpqua. I wasn't really interested in having my pattern sent to Umpqua, since I already have a contract with MFC. Here were the prizes:
First Place Prize: SAGE TCX 590-4 Fly Rod ($795 value)
Second Place Prize: Assortment of Temico Tying Tools (+$100 value)
Third Place Prize : Umpqua Pro Fly Box Assortment ($100 value)

I ended up in 2nd place behind the powerful Shea Gunkel and his new Trico Splatte . I think there may have been some cheating on his part though since he had his whole Familia in the house. I bet he paid them to vote or something. Even his kids. Oh, well, it's not like I need a new rod or anything, I only have two arms I can use at the same time. But what I did score was the Metz tying Tools. Remember in my earlier post of the new products for 2011 that I really liked the new hair stacker that they offered? Well, I have one now. Along with a good score of tools, I think I may have gotten the better deal. Sorry G-Love! I have already used most of the tools and can say they are top notch. Umpqua/Metz makes some really good stuff. I'll post more later on the individual tools. Thanks to Anglers Covey and to Umpqua for sponsoring this event and for the tools and the fly boxes that were donated for prizes. Thanks to the tiers who traveled from out of town to tie for this event. Shea Gunkel, Larry Kingrey, Taylor Edrington, Carl Pennington, Al Ritt, Frank Smethurst, and Ed Engle.

All of the winnings!

Big Ben Tying a Woolly Bugger

Jackson tying something.

Ed Engle reaching for a snack? No, he was looking for some material.

Jamie tying a hot, new fly.

Good stuff here.

A Peacock Caddis tied with some of the new tools.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

2010 IFTD show re-cap

After only spending one day at the latest IFTD show in Denver, I was able to see a few things. This year's show felt a little "buzzless" to me. To me, there wasn't much excitement for any one thing. There were new flies, and new rods and reels. One of the most talked about reels was the new Ross F1. I have never been a big Ross fan and do not own any of their rods or reels, but they put out a top notch product. The new F1 looks good and will withstand anything you throw at it, but I squirmed when I heard the price tag was around $425.00-$525.00. The looks seem to borrow from Naulilus Reels with the color and the red insert. I joked about that and mentioned that last years model, the new Evolution LT looked like a Galvin. I don't think the Ross boys liked those comments. I do love the fit of their hats though, so maybe I should just stop there.
Hardy has some new rods available and one that caught my eye was the new Sintrix Rod. It was lightweight, similar to an Orvis Helios, and had a great feel. I wasn't able to take it out and cast it since the casting ponds were always full of hero casters, trying to cast to the other end of the building. I didn't want to get up there and embarrass myself casting only 35'. This rod is worth checking out though. The price starts right around $600.00 I think. A bit pricey, but this is a high end rod.

As for new flies, there were a few that caught my attention. Umpqua had a couple new ones that were good looking, but this is the second year in a row that they have released a new San Juan Worm. Not very original there. Also in their line up was a "Sawyer P.T. Nymph". Again, not very original. On the tying material front, Umpqua does have a few new products that really caught my eye. New 16/0 thread and a new hair stacker that was heavy and felt great. Also Umpqua had some new wing material that looked great. I can't wait to try that material out. They also had 2 new hook styles that are sure to have new patterns tied up on them.

One of Umpqua's flies that I liked. The Flutter Bug.

Rainey's has some good stuff out there, I wasn't able to get a good look since it was always packed. I guess that tells you and me something huh? Orvis also has a few flies that looked good. I have a couple of them listed below.

Montana Fly Company didn't have a booth, but Adam Trina and Greg Cunningham were there meeting with people to show new flies. I met with them to discuss my flies and what needed to be tweaked to meet my likeness. That was nice. I have to say that MFC had some really neat flies, most of them listed below. No San Juan worms here, just a bunch of new flies for real fishing. I think that in terms of new flies, MFC had the best, Rainey's was next, Solitude after them, and then Umpqua, followed by Orvis.

I am not going to even begin the other product at the show that I saw. There are other blogs out there that have already done an outstanding report of the other products. I took a bunch of photos of MFC flies as well as some others. Take a look and enjoy.