Articles

Abel Announces Limited Edition Grateful Dead Reel

by Ben Kryzinski - Tuesday, Aug 27th, 2013

Abel's new, hand-painted Grateful Dead 'Steal Your Face' design.

If you're a lover of premium reels and the Grateful Dead, then Abel is offering the reel for you, albeit in very limited quantity. Beginning immediately, Abel is offering the iconic Grateful Dead "Steal Your Face" logo on both its Classic Series and Super Series reels. Abel is only offering the hand painted Grateful Dead design on 250 reels, and snagging one will run you a $300 premium over the price of the same reel in plain black.

“This has been a dream of ours for over 10 years to partner with the Grateful Dead, and offer our shared loyal fans a hand painted reel that symbolizes their passion for fly fishing and the music of the Grateful Dead. We can think of no better way to mark our 25 offering a custom designed reel that celebrates the rich American heritage of both Abel Reels and the Grateful Dead,” said Jeff Patterson, Abel Director of Sales.

Echo Outs New, Truly Affordable Fiberglass Fly Rods

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Aug 26th, 2013

Echo's new fiberglass rod offering.

There's been a bit of renaissance of fiberglass rods over the last couple of years. Seeing manufacturers return to producing glass rods has come as a surprise to many, given the general market trend towards ever-faster and ever-stiffer graphite rods. According to glass aficionados, however, no other material produces the feel and deep load that a fiberglass rod does and this fact has some rod makers adding fiberglass offerings back into their lineup for the first time in decades.

Count Echo rods amongst that crowd. According to the folks at Echo, they could "no longer hold Tim back from another project he's wanted in the offering for quite some time". Tim, of course, is ECHO and Rajeff Sports founder and chief rod designer Tim Rajeff.

Pretend for Real: Small Fish as Big Fish

by Gary Borger - Thursday, Aug 22nd, 2013

Allow me to help you catch bigger fish.

The skills for catching big fish [are] different and certainly more refined than the skills for catching small fish. Big fish require a more stealthy approach, fewer casts, better positioning and equipment to prevent drag, superior fish fighting skills, and really better "everything" in the presentation than do small fish. In short, they require the very best predatory skills from the angler. So the question becomes: How does one learn big fish skills when at least 95 percent of the fish are small ones?

The answer is almost too easy: pretend. No, don't spin a fisherman's yarn and tell everyone that the six, 8-inch fish you caught were twelve, 18-inchers. Rather, use the small fish as practice for the big ones. I've seen it many times: the angler spots a small fish rising, and knowing it's not a brute, makes a half-hearted (what I call a "small fish") cast. So what if the line hits the water too hard and spooks the fish, so what if the fly drags, so what if the angler was too slow to set the hook, or too fast? It's only a small one, and not of that much interest. And fighting the fish? Well it's just a matter of stripping it in and shaking it off the line.

Nautilus Intros Award Winning CCF-X2 Reel, Expected by December

by Marshall Walker - Wednesday, Aug 21st, 2013

The new Nautilus CCF-X2.

In the saltwater game, your reel is often your most important piece of gear. Saltwater fish test reels in way few of their freshwater bretheren do. The latest saltwater reel from Nautilus, one of the benchmark setters in the industry, is being well received. According to Nautilus, they have utilized the best attributes of the CCF and FWX drag system to create the new CCF-X-2 Reel Series. The CCF-X2 continues Nautilus' 180 year old tradition of creating top of the line and reliable fly fishing products for serious anglers.

The CCF-X2 recently won the Best Saltwater Reel Award at the 2013 ICAST/IFTD trade show. It features a lightweight design, and a dual action CCF disc braking system, which Nautilus claims is capable of generating more than "20 lbs of drag at less than 1% start up inertia with twice the drag surface."

Review: Patagonia Sweet Pack Vest

by Paul Snyder - Monday, Aug 19th, 2013

A look at the very serious water-resistant zippers and heavy duty nylon offered by the Sweet Pack Vest.

The company line: "We built our new Sweet Pack Vest for anglers willing to go the extra mile (or ten) in search of the sweet spot. This daypack/fishing vest combo is engineered to comfortably carry and organize everything you need on the trail and on the water. Made from tough, highly water resistant 840-denier coated ballistics nylon with a DWR (durable water repellent) finish, the Sweet Pack Vest’s main compartment features multiple fishing-specific interior organizing pockets, exterior lash points on pack and shoulder straps, dual side water bottle pockets and an internal hydration bladder pocket. Up front, the vest maximizes comfort and convenience with lightweight, breathable mesh construction and easy-access vertical pockets. When fishing fast and light—or closer to the car—the vest easily detaches from the pack to be worn alone."

Overview

Fly fishing packs and vests are, in my opinion, highly personal and often mission-specific items. This is so much the case that I have yet to own one that I absolutely love. Ultimately, almost all of them do things well, but make sacrifices or have flaws that prevent them from being an effective all-around solution.