I love brook trout. Always have, always will.

I don’t know about you, but I get a bad taste in my mouth when I hear people say our eastern brook trout isn’t technically a trout.  You know the line I’m talking about as we’ve heard it spoken in conversation 100 times.

“You know, a brook trout isn’t technically a trout.  They’re a char.”

The first time I heard it, I took it as sort of a fun fact.  As my infatuation with brook trout grew, it began to irritate me.  Not quite fighting words, but on the same level as someone putting down your dog.  Don’t knock my dog, and don’t belittle my trout.

Even wikipeida was on the brook trout disparagement bandwagon.

Though commonly called a trout, the brook trout is actually a char

Last Summer, my grandma gave me a box of books that belonged to my grandfather.  They’re mostly old field guides, but one is called The Life Story of the Fish by Brian Curtis, published in 1961.  I’m not sure if Mr. Curtis is still with us or not, but the back of the book says he was formerly the Supervising Fisheries Biologist with the California State Division of Fish and Game.  First published in 1938, it brought unanimous acclaim from the nation’s critics for its clarity, its accuracy, and its sheer readability.

From the rear cover-

“Much more is known about the behavior of the fish than most of us realize.   In fact, a majority of the idle questions we have all asked ourselves at one time or another (Do fish sleep?  Can they distinguish color?  Can they hear?) have been answered by modern scientists.  Yet the answers to these and hundreds of other questions were buried in technical journals and consequently unavailable to most of us until Brian Curtis wrote this remarkable book, a comprehensive survey of practically everything worth knowing about fish.”

Being a student of the game, I dug right in and despite the book’s age, I got a lot out of it.  Which leads me back to brook trout.

“The classification of the trouts is a puzzle which I have no intention of inflicting on the reader, but a general idea of their interrelationships can be had without suffering.  The two best-known groups are the genus Salvelinus, to which belong the eastern brook trout and the Dolly Varden, and the genus Salmo, to which belong not only all the trouts of the rainbow and cutthroat series, but also the Atlantic Salmon and the brown trout.  The lake trout is isolated in the genus Cristivomer.

The distinction which anglers make between the Loch Leven and the brown trout has no support among scientists, who now look upon the former as merely a variation of the latter.  And the word “char,” current in England, is little used in the United States.  The English maintain, usually with a note of implied disparagement, that our eastern brook trout is not a trout at all but a char.  Webster’s International Dictionary tells us that a char is “any trout of the genus Salvelinus.”   According to this definition, “char” is a particular word describing one form of a group called by the more general word, “trout.”  A char is a trout although a trout is not always a char.  The brown is a trout but not a char; our eastern brook trout and our Dolly Varden are both chars and trouts.”

I hopped on the interwebs and went to Merriam-Webster, and sure enough, the definition still stands.

TAKE THAT, all you “did you know a brook trout is not a trout” spewers of misinformation!

So, the next time you’re talking about fly fishing for brook trout, and some know-it-all bastage chimes in on the brookie actually being a char and not a trout, do me a favor and speak up for the best trout of all, the brookie.

Dead Shit For Kyner

Au Sable Big Water Preservation Association

Schliske Bamboo Fly Rods

Buster Wants to Fish

This Is Fly

The Fiberglass Manifesto

Reel Pure

Beattie Outdoor Productions

The Anglers Net

The Drake

Trout Unlimited

Patagonia

Bandito

I’m just about finished with my first full season in a new pair of waders.  I fished the Battenkill with Geoff a few days ago (great day, report to come this Winter when you’ve got cabin fever to the worst degree) and they were already a little smelly when we started.  Afterwards, they were thrown in the trunk.

The next day I was alerted to the fact that my wife opened up the trunk, when she went to get a camping chair or something.  All the sudden, I heard a series of 3 dry heaves, followed by the sound of the trunk slamming shut.

After I got hollered at about leaving them in there, I forgot about them.

Meanwhile, 2 or 3 days went by.  I opened up the drivers door to go to work in the morning and that sweet stench came rolling out at me; so I just ignored it, rolled the windows down, and went about my business.

That afternoon I had class and I kept getting a whiff of the waders that were back in the car.  I held my coat up to my nose and there it was again; that sweet, sweet smell.

So the other night, I had a few minutes of free time and brought them inside.  I flipped them inside-out and tossed them in the tub, squeezed a half a bottle of shampoo on them, and turned the water on.  When I came back to slosh them around about 30 minutes later, I couldn’t help but laugh when I noticed that half a dozen dead caddis, 3 dead Golden Drakes, and a few crispy stoneflies floated out.

While I was sloshing them in the near-hot water, I noticed a little patch that Simms puts on there, letting you know how to clean them.

HAND WASH IN COLD WATER WITH A POWDER DETERGENT

So I drained the water out, rinsed them off, and turned the cold water on and let it start filling back up.  You know, to make up for screwing up the first time.

I went into the kitchen and grabbed the powder detwergent we use for our dishwasher and came back to the bathroom, dumped about half the box in, and let em soak for another 30 minutes.  Came back in, sloshed them around some more, and then rinsed them off real good while I took a shower.

I hung them over a towel by the front door to dry out, and then stuck my head up inside them and took a big whiff this morning.  Smell like roses.  Unfortunately, the car still smells like shit.

While reading through the new issue of The Drake, I couldn’t help but notice one of the ads.  It’s an Orvis Helios ad.  There’s a picture of a Helios, and some guy from SoCal who fly fishes for Mako Sharks.  Underneath his picture, it said his name, where he’s from and what he fishes for, followed by this gem-

“Extreme Fly Fisher”

Now I’m guessing that this guy saw the ad and had the same reaction I did.  That is, feel a little embarrassment for Orvis.  I don’t know this guy, but I am pretty sure I’d be accurate in saying that he doesn’t walk around telling people he’s an extreme fly fisherman.

Other than companies such as Orvis who totally missed the advertising boat on the whole action sports/fly fishing thing, and who are now trying to keep it alive to show something for their missed opportunity, I think it’s safe to say that the whole extreme fly fishing thing is history.  Adiós, muchachos.

And that got me to thinking about the now defunct, AEG Media.

Remember when “Trout Bum Diaries: Patagonia” came out?  It was unlike anything most fly fisherman had seen before.  It wasn’t exactly the start of a younger generation making it’s mark on the sport, but it definitely was the point where the older generation started to take notice.  And since the fly fishing celebrity they had watched on their VCR, or their favorite fly fishing magazine was  the stereotypical guy wearing tweed, casting bamboo fly rods, and trying to show everyone how much he knew; the whole idea of a fishing movie meant only to expose/entertain seemed pretty different to them.  It was so far from the norm that there was only one way for them to describe it.

Extreme.

Now, my generation’s definition of extreme is quite different than our predecessor’s.  When we found out that what we were doing on the weekend and what we were seeing on our DVD players was extreme,  it rubbed off on us- and AEG-  it took on a whole new meaning.

It became more Al Braughtinwood, more Sky Diving, more Kiwi, more fish, more bigger fish, more fish porn, more fish porn, MORE FISH PORN, bigger, crazier, bigger, bigger, bigger!

BIGGER, DAMNIT, BIGGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking back on that whole “movement”, I think that if it weren’t for the industry/media pressure put on AEG as the new posterboys of “Extreme Fly Fishing”, their following films would have had a much closer look to Patagonia.  They would have been more about the fish and the places than about the people fishing them.  Looking back,  I think we still might have the same group of guys running AEG Media today, had they not embraced the labels being thrown at them.

It was never supposed to be extreme, it was just fishing; and the older generation with dollar signs in their eyes almost ruined it.

Don’t believe me?  Pull “Trout Bum Diaries: Patagonia” off the DVD rack and watch it again.  This time, with hindsight on your side.   I recently did, and the only thing I could label as extreme, were the extremely beautiful fish and extremely beautiful places I was being exposed to.

“Dad, let’s go fishing”

Two exams and a research paper have me slacking on the blog front this week.  However, a little mouse has been whispering in my ear about something absolutely freaking awesome that I can’t wait to spill the beans on.  The only hint I can give is that it’s one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen in a long time- and you’ll be involved.  That’s it, you’re not getting anything else out of me;  but don’t worry, as soon as plans are finalized, you’ll be the first to know.

Back to the books…

Hook: Daiichi Alec Jackson Spey Hook
Tag: Flat Silver Tinsel
Rib: Flat Silver Tinsel
Body: Rear half- Black Floss, Front half- Red Seal
Body Hackle: Whiting Spey Hackle
Throat: Herron Sub
Sides: Jungle Cock
Wing: Turkey- Kingfisher Blue/Scarlet Red/Kingfisher Blue

I don’t really tie “fancy” flies anymore.  I’ve come close to wanting to a few times during the past couple years, but never actually got to that point where I wanted it enough to actually do it.  If I’m honest with myself, I guess I could say that it started as more of a rebellion against tying full dressed or realistic type flies.  That, and I sort of felt like I was becoming more of a tyer than a fisherman.  And if I had to choose between fishing or tying, I’d choose fishing every time.

Now I like to take those advanced techniques I learned and apply them towards my everyday fishing flies.  I also find pleasure is using high end materials, meant for flies suitable for framing, and using them for stuff like woolly buggers.  One of my favorite nymph patterns is a Hare’s Ear with a Kori Bustard abdomen.

I despise the term Master Fly Tyer.  I wonder who made up such a term?  Was it someone describing a fellow tyer’s skill level to someone else, or was it someone describing themselves?  Either way, how can you not roll your eyes at such a title?  Fly tying is not carpentry.  It’s trapping feathers on a hook with a piece of thread.  That said, some tyers seem to get “it” more than others. Then there are those that get one particular technique, or style, and don’t realize they can apply those same principles to other techniques or styles.

Hooks: 2 #2 4XL Streamer Hooks
Underbody: Small Vernille
Abdomen: Swiss Straw
Wings: Swiss Straw
Rear Legs: Stem Wire, Thread, Swiss Straw
Front Legs: Stem Wire, Thread, Swiss Straw, Hackle, Mallard Flank
Antennae: Mallard Flank
Head: Foam
Eyes: Paint

I have a hunch that the best tyers also had the best teachers, and vise versa.  I think that this is one area where the internet has possibly done more harm than good.  Now, anyone with a computer and a modem can give advice on stuff they have no business giving advice on.

I’ve got a research paper coming up for one of my classes.  One of the things you have to do before you submit your thesis and all that stuff, is a short worksheet showing you know how to use the college library’s research databases.  The last part of the worksheet deals with using general websites as sources in your paper.  One of the key questions you’re supposed to ask yourself about a website when deciding if its a reliable source of information is, “What qualifies the author to write about what he is writing about?”

It’s a good question.

Yet for some reason, most people don’t ask it when they get fly tying or fly fishing advice from websites or message boards.  This is why there are a lot of mediocre fly fisherman and tyers out there.

I lucked into some great advice when I first started tying.  Instead of a guy who didn’t know what he was talking about trying to answer my questions.  I got a guy who knew his shit.  Instead of starting out by correcting my proportions, he had me focus on thread control.  Although I impatiently went along with it, now I’m thankful for that advice.  After all, what fly tying material is more important than thread?  Once you know how your thread behaves, you can do anything you want with it.

I always love it when I’m reading a forum and there’s that guy with 20,000 posts giving people advice on how to catch fish.  You can view the site’s online list at 7am, Midnight, 2pm, or any other time; and he’s online- 7 days a week, 365 days per year.  Yet people eat this guy’s posts up like they were the gospel.You don’t become a good fisherman on the internet, you become an armchair expert.

Geesh, all that blathering and I just planned on posting a dee fly pic with a recipe today.

Your Weekend Homework

Stay off the internet, and go fish this weekend.  I don’t care if it’s raining and all your local trickles are blown out, or if you’ve only got a couple hours of free time, or if it’s for a species you know nothing about.  Just go fishing and learn something you don’t know right now.

Forgive me, fly tying, for I have sinned!

I have a bit of a confession to make.  I occasionally find pleasure elsewhere than your warm bosoms.  When you’re not looking, I’ve been checking out lure making forums.

Oh I’m so sorry, fly tying!  Please don’t turn your back on me in my time of absolute weakness!  Can you find it in your all powerful heart to forgive me?!

Just let me explain…

I’ve always been a believer that culture creates genius.  It wasn’t something in the water that catalyzed all of the great minds of ancient Greece, or the great art produced in midevil Europe.  It was social interaction.

As far as fly tying is concerned, I believe that currently the internet is our great culture- only it’s nearing the end of it’s hey day.  It wasn’t too long ago I could go to a select handful of online fly tying communities and almost always walk away with some type of information that inspired one of those crazed tying sessions where I couldn’t get the materials on the hook fast enough.  It was a period where great fly tying minds from around the world almost simultaneously discovered internet forums, and freely shared ideas.  Then, for some reason, just as it did in ancient Greece, it stopped.  Now it seems to be more about excessively fawning  over run-of-the-mill flies a person can find all over the web on a daily basis.

Over the past year or two, it’s gotten harder and harder to find new ideas to inspire those marathon tying sessions.  As a matter of fact, it seems like the overall content quality on most fly tying forums or websites has significantly dropped.  There are less and less novel ideas being shared, but more and more people asking those beginner questions we’ve all seen so many times now we don’t even bother opening the topic.

Maybe this is all just a part of the game of making the transitions between beginner to advanced tyer- I don’t know.  What I do know is I still have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and inspiration.  And that’s what led me to look to the dark side for new ideas.

Those lure making websites and forums…

I know, I know, but you’ve gotta understand- a tyer has needs!

It’s not that I want to start making lures, it’s just that there are a lot of things those lure makers are doing that have serious potential if applied to tying flies.  Not only that, but there are bargains to be found for materials most fly tyers are using already, but paying an arm and a leg for because they’re in the fly tying section.  But best of all, I’ve once again found some inspiration.

How?

Well, you’ll just have to keep reading 40 Rivers to find out…