I’m deeply saddened to report that Rusty Gates is no longer with us.

Once in a lifetime there is someone that touches your life in so many ways. Rusty Gates was one of those people. His spirit and tenacity had an affect on everyone involved in environmental causes, from hikers to hunters to the many of us who came here to cast a fly far and fine. He was a fighter and it was the good fight that he chose to engage; catch and release on the Holy Waters, National Guard noise pollution on the North Branch, oil wells on the South Branch, and toxic chemicals on the Big Water. Da Gator led the way. A tap on the shoulder, a glance from those blue/grey eyes, a short conversation; that was usually all it took. We set to our tasks with a brio, partly from the cause, partly not to let him down.

You can learn more at either his website, or at the Anglers of the Au Sable website.

From the hilarious, Typical Question on a Local Board thread at The Drake Magazine’s message board-

I was fishing the ********** a few days ago and I noticed a spot in the river that was really white so much so that it stood out clearly. I went over to inspect and picked up a few rocks but found no bug activity. This worried me I don’t know if there is a problem like some kind of disease or something foreign that was introduced into the river. So I went around and picked up a few rocks that had moss and lots of bugs on them, I think they were blue wings, and set them up in this area hoping to revive it. I also kicked up some stuff right above it so it could settle on the rocks and reinvigorate bug life. I am going to the ********** tommorow and I will fill in all the white spots to insure a better fishery for all of us. Has anyone had experience or seen something like this before? I don’t really fish too often but I would hate it if the ********** lost all its insect life it is a really nice place to fish close to home. Would any one like to help me tommrow?

I can never recognize the reflection looking back at me when I stand in front of a mirror, or look at myself in pictures. I make eye contact with myself, and it’s like I’m looking at someone that isn’t real.  Or rather, it’s like looking at a picture of someone who passed away.  The eyes in the picture, they stare back, following me around the room as if they were still there.  You get a sense that thoughts are still happening behind them. I guess the only time I see me, and feel like I’m looking at the real me, is when I see pictures of myself fishing. I like to think this is because it’s when I’m doing what I love that the real me comes out.

Dear Confluence Films,

Judging by your comment, your feelings were a little hurt when I published a less than flattering review of your latest DVD yesterday.

I’m sorry if this isn’t the kind of review you like to see, but I call it like I see it.  I would’ve loved to have wrote a glowing review of your movie, but it would be a disservice to my readers to lie through my teeth.  Ya see, if I told them it was decent, and then they went and bought it only to find out that it wasn’t, I’d lose all credibility.

You guys filmed at 6 of the premier locations in the western hemisphere and came back with a 70 minute guide/outfitter promo.  Which isn’t surprising considering the fact that you- assuming I’m talking to producer Jim Klug- are the Founder and Director of Operations for Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures, L.L.C., and that you have worked in the fly fishing industry as a guide, sales rep, and travel coordinator.

I understand your desire to promote your best interests, as I work for the company who sent me that DVD free of charge.  They love it when I write a good review cause it sends trillions of dollars- okay, maybe a couple hundred-  in revenue their way every year.  Fortunately, they also understand that by me giving an honest review, my readers will trust that I’m not feeding them a line of garbage, thus flocking to their storefront when I say a product is worth buying.

All these years, it has been the fly fishing magazine industry who has worked to serve it’s sponsors best interests, while sacrificing it’s own integrity by providing dishonesty to it’s readers; and now we open a new chapter in fly fishing media where we can’t even watch a movie without wondering if the film makers have an ulterior motive.  How ironic that one of your partners, The Drake Magazine, broke the magazine mold of the past, but is helping you to bring back the BS- this time to our DVD players.

Tisk, tisk, tisk.

Thankfully, the fly fishing world now has plentiful choices when it comes to film makers.  Beattie Outdoor Productions, Rollcast Productions, and Felt Soul Media immediately come to mind.  I’m sure if you gave them a call, they’d be more than happy to show you how to make a good movie. Hey, I’m just trying to help.

Sincerely,

40 Rivers To Freedom

I’ve had a fresh copy of Rise sitting on top of my TV for the last couple weeks.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to watch it until my weekend trip to the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset fell through on Friday afternoon.

The day before I recieved a text message from a friend that read, “Rise Sucks.”  I couldn’t really say I was surprised by this message, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of Confluence Films previous movie, Drift.  Not to mention, the trailer I saw for Rise gave me little to look forward to.

So instead of unpacking my suitcase, I popped a bag of popcorn in the microwave and my copy of Rise in the DVD player.

Basically, the film is broken up into 6 locations: Venezuela, Idaho, Florida, Alaska, New Orleans, and Patagonia.

The film opens with the Florida section, and it majorly sucked-  felt like I was watching a Fly Rod & Reel Magazine article.  I can’t remember what section was next, the part on two friends starting an outfitting business in Patagonia, or the part on Louisiana Redfish, but what I do remember is that both of those parts sucked, too.   Then came the Venezuela sections which wasn’t too bad, but it still sucked.  It just didn’t seem like it sucked so bad cause the parts before it sucked so much more.

At this point, I was pretty sure I’d be sending my friend a reply to his text, agreeing with his diagnosis.  Then, the part on Idaho’s Henry’s Fork got going.  The beginning was a little sketchy, then they did a brief piece on Rene Harrop that probably saved the whole DVD from the garbage can.  The Alaska part wasn’t bad either, but this might have been due to the fact that it had a great act take the stage ahead of it.

Overall, I’d give Rise 3 outta 5 stars.  Without the Idaho piece, I’d give it 1 outta 5.

To all of the other fly fishing film makers out there, including you, Confluence; take note of the Idaho piece.  Seems like you have all fallen into the trap of the personal interview.  You know, the part where you try to add substance to the fish porn.  Well, as mentioned above, your substance is turning into the equivalent of stale old fly fishing magazines.  How about skipping the interview altogether and replacing it with the narrator reading a really great essay on the topic at hand while the video rolls?   Cause like I said before, you can do better than this.

Last week, I was interviewed over the phone by journalist, Morgan Lyle.  The article was printed yesterday in one of my local papers, the Schenectady Daily Gazette.  You can see it at Morgan’s most excellent fly fishing blog, The Fly Line.

With all of the fly fishing websites aaround these days, I have no idea how something like “The Fly Line” wasn’t already taken.

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

There comes a point in every fly tyer’s life that they’ll want, or need, to use epoxy.  Unfortunately, epoxy is oftern frustrating to work with.  You’ve gotta mix it right; you’ve only got a limited amount of time to get it on there, etc.  It’s because of this that several alternatives to epoxy have become increasingly popular with fly tyers: Tuffleye, Rio Knot Sealer, and Loon UV Wader Repair.

Now, there’s a new player at the table. Clear Cure Goo.

Clear Cure Goo is still a mom & pop operation at this point, however, after reading the test results  on this stuff when compared to it’s rivals- I’m guessing it will be a household name in no time- at least where fly tyers live.

Clear Cure Goo is another UV light cured product.  However, unlike the Rio and Loon products, this stuff stays clear after exposure to extended periods of heat.  And unlike the Tuffleye,  it’s pretty much unbreakable after it’s been cured.

In other words, it’s pretty much the best stuff going right now.

I’m hoping to get my hands on this stuff soon to do some testing of my own. I work in this big old lab with all these fancy testing gizmos around me, it should be fun to use them on something interesting for once.  I’ll keep you posted.  In the meantime, check out their website by clicking the link above.

So, if you’ve been reading with any frequency, you know I’ve been working on a secret website project of sorts for about 5 months or so.  Well about 3 months into this project, I was messing around with one of the database thingies and lost everything.  Everything.  Moral of the story- if you call database thingies, database thingies- you shouldn’t be messing around with database thingies.

So I was pretty bummed about ~100 hours in front of a somputer screen disappearing in the blink of an eye.  So I cried in my beer for a month or so and started working on things again.  So, since I feel kinda bad for building this thing up for so long, and having nothing to show for it, here is a sneak peak of where I’m at with it.  Keep in mind, I’ve still got another week or two before the first post-guttulata- is ready to go.

Is that logo awesome, or is that logo awesome?  T-shirts are a’comin’.

By the way, this site is hosted at FlyAddicts.com, for free, and I get to keep my domain name, for free.  If you’ve got a fly fishing site powered by wordpress or blogger, you can do the same thing, for free.  Contact me at

alex@hatchesmagazine.com.nospam delete the ‘.nospam’

to inquire.