Colt Johnson

Having reviewed the other participants' selections, I think I will commit to tying a slumpbuster. So put me down for a slumpbuster.

I'll join in on this one too. Count me in. I will have to give some thought to a specific pattern. Colt

Rob, My set went out via first class mail yesterday. I imagine you will receive them tomorrow (if you did not get them today). I will admit that I forgot to include toe tags. However, I did include an extra fly (twelve total). Please use your discretion on the best way to use the extra fly. Another disclosure: My fly tying is a bit rusty, so the first six flies were somewhat sketchy and the second six flies look nicer. So each participant has a 50/50 shot of getting one of the nicer flies. : ) Colt

Mike, That would be pretty cool. I have not previously tied this pattern and it was originally suggested to be tied on a #10 hook. I ended up bumping up to a #8, but I didn't have the balls to go up to a #2 hook! Colt

Here are my flies. I will try to get them in the mail today. I beefed them up to a size #8: Colt

Mike, You mentioned that glass contributed to the evolution of strength and durability. Here are a few interesting shots of glass bending beyond the point of comfort: I am not sure if this will work, but here is a link to Orvis testing the "break strength" of their new Orvis Glass series along with a couple photos of Epic 6wt. glass rods. http://vimeo.com/79529221

Mike, Thanks for the compliments. Your description of glass is very accurate. I tell people that graphite rods tend to have better sensitivity with respect to what is going on with the fly when it is in the water, but a fiberglass rod better telegraphs what is going on with your line when it is in the air. So I agree with you that fiberglass (and bamboo) have a self loading characteristic that communicates with the caster. I have also found that fiberglass roll casts much better (for me) than graphite. And I love that glass rods bend deeply with a fish on. However, I will admit that glass tends to be heavier than graphite and graphite has the ability to shoot line further. These are all generalizations, but for the most part, I find these observations to be pretty universal. So to answer your question, yes, these neoglass rods have the same characteristic. I should take a photo of the flex profile of this rod so you can see that it is very deep bending compared to a modern graphite rod. The one difference that I would say this Steffen would have over a classic like your wonderod is the physical weight. Steffen uses an S-Glass material and his tapers are extremely refined. I would say he offers some of the lightest (physical weight) glass blanks on the market. Again, the above rod is going to feel heavier than a similarly configured high modulus graphite rod, but it is lighter than the older generation glass rods. Colt

Here's a Steffen 7/8wt. 8'6" 4pc. rod I just finished: REC Recoil stripping guide; Snake Brand Universal Guides; YLI Chestnut Silk Thread; White tipping; Lemke Seat. I turned around what would have been an uplocking seat to make it downlocking. To do this, I simply installed the inletted hood into the fighting butt instead of the rear of the cork grip. This allows my 4.6 oz. Abel TR3 to balance a fairly large glass rod. I have not cast the rod yet, we have about 12" of ice right now, but I greatly look forward to it.

Good points Ryan and Rob. And don't get me wrong, I always read and sometimes re-read their reports. I do appreciate the reports they make each year, but I follow Ryan's suggestion and take their opinions with a grain of salt. I also agree with Mikea in that I cannot remember ever being in a situation where I thought, "man, if only my rod could perform more accurately at 80 feet." But then again, I don't fish for bonefish regularly. Right now, I am finishing building a Steffen 7/8wt. 8'6" 4pc. rod. I am eager to try it out. I think it will be a true 8wt. rod and it should be a blast with a 2 or 3 lb. bass. But I don't think it would be praised in the Yellowstone Shootout.

Ha. This pretty much sums up how I feel about the Yellowstone shootouts.

Awesome. Thanks guys. I have participated in several of these on other forums. They are pretty fun, and I am always surprised by the variety and quality of flies exchanged. As a side note, I once tried a different spin on this same idea. I tied up a dozen flies and distributed them to the first twelve PM's, announcing a "fishing contest". The only requirement to receive a fly was to promise to post photos of the fish that the recipient caught using the fly under the same thread. It turned out pretty fun and a variety of fish were caught. This forum seems to have a lot of talented fly tiers, so I am particularly excited for this swap. Cheers, Colt

Rob, If there are still openings left, please count me in. It looks like there are three spots left, but it also appears that they are filling in fast, so let me know if I made the cut. Thanks, Colt

Those things look awesome! Very nice.

Ryan, Are you sure you don't have the green CGR series? I know the green CGR series is widely held out as one of the best bargain factory fiberglass fly rods available. But Cabelas replaced the CGR series with a newer CGT series which is kind of an orangish-rust type color. I should preface my comments in that I have never cast either series of rods, but I have heard very poor reviews of the newer CGT series. Again, the older CGR series received rave reviews from almost everyone that I knew that tried them. But it is my understanding that the newer CGT series are much stiffer and the tapers are widely considered to be inferior to the CGR series. Colt

Thanks John.

I picked up a brand new Winston WT 8'6" 6wt. 3pc. factory built rod last week on ebay. The price was less than the cost of a blank, so I pulled the trigger. I've built and fished numerous (maybe 8-10) 6wt. rods over the last few years both graphite and glass; but never any Winstons. To date, my favorite has been a Steffen 5/6wt. 8'0" 4pc. However, I have a new contender in the graphite arena: I received the Winston WT in the mail on Saturday, and I was able to take it to our subdivision lake for some casting time on the water. I had a Rio Smallmouth 6wt. line spooled. I tried various weighted flies and wind-resistant poppers. The rod handled a wide spectrum of flies. The wind was gusting on and off and the rod handled the wind very nicely. And most importantly, the rod is not too FAST and not too STIFF. It is the only true medium actioned 6wt. graphite rod that I have handled. The Winston is a step faster than similar glass rods I've handled, but significantly slower and deeper bending than the Sage ZXL 6wt. or various Dan Craft 6wt rods that I've built. I am eager to spend more time getting to know this rod on the water. However, my first impression is that the rod perfectly splits the difference between the deeper bending, fun factor of glass while still offering some of the extra power of graphite. I was VERY impressed. This rod has me strongly considering building an Orvis Superfine Touch 9'0" 6wt. rod to compare. I would have to imagine that the Orvis SFT is going to be faster and stiffer, but the Winston disproved my preconceived misconceptions, and I am starting to wonder about the Orvis SFT as well. Colt PS: I ordered a Winston BIIt 4wt. 8'0" 4pc. blank this morning. I've heard excellent things about this one as well.

Ryan, Thanks. I sure wish I could fish more. Time is limited with 1 and 4 year olds. But I live on two lakes which gives me an edge. I do a lot of bluegill and largemouth fishing on our lakes. I only get out for smallies about once a month. I also really enjoy building rods and experimenting with different tapers and materials. The last couple years it has been mostly fiberglass stuff. I love small, intimate water the most. You can't beat an 8' 5/6wt glass rod for smaller water smallies. And bumping down to 3wt glass rod is always exciting. Colt

I decided to show off the new Finatic 3 plus I received in a drawing on the dry fly forum: http://dryflyforum.com/. The reel is pretty awesome, especially since I didn't have to pay for it. Just before the drawing I had been looking for a reel to pair with a couple 5/6wt. glass rods coming down the pipe (Morgan 7'6" 5wt., Steffen 8'0" 5/6wt. and a Kenney 7'10" 5/6wt). Having really liked the Abel TR3's proportions on a few similar sized rods, I was looking for something around 3.25" and around 4.5-5.0 ounces. I picked up a TR2 for a good price. It holds a 5wt. line really nicely, and I suspect it will be paired with the Morgan 7'6" 5wt. But I found that a 6wt. line was pushing it. The TR2 is just under my desired specs. Then came the Finatic 3 plus. The reel is advertised as more of a 4wt. reel, but I was able to fit a 100' Rio Smallmouth 6wt. line with a couple dozen yards of backing. It is exactly 3.25" in diameter and 4.8 oz. For the fishing I typically do, backing is simply an arbor builder. Since the fanatic already has a large arbor, the 20ish yards of backing will be plenty...especially with 100' of fly line. The first of my 5/6wt. rods to be finished I built myself. It is a L.Kenney 7'10" 3pc. 5/6wt. The rod feels amazing....and I've heard good things. For this one, I used a dark nickel Lemke LC16 seat with a black ash burl mortised insert. The guides are light wire TiCH coated snakes and the stripper is an REC black pearl recoil #10. YLI 100wt. thread and flor grade cork grip. I am really excited to try this puppy out. And I may just have an opportunity this weekend (pt.2)....headed to the in laws on the Fox River. Colt

I've used a Peak vise for about two years now. I love it. It does everything I need and it looks as if it were still brand new.

Rob, I am reminded of the following quote when I see those pumpkinseeds: "Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed" -John Gierach

Ha. It was nice to meet you Fred. I look forward to getting together with you guys again sometime.

Rob, Thanks a ton for hosting us. We were more than satisfied, and the "dinks" were a blast on 3wt. rods. I fished a 6'6" 3wt. Kabuto rod and my dad fished an 8'0" 3wt. Elkhorn rod. We ended up catching about a dozen smallies, a dozen rock bass, and a couple dozen pumpkinseeds and chubs. Lots of action all day, but nothing huge. Fish were caught on #10 leeches, #8 clousers, #8 poppers, #10 hoppers, and #10 buggers. My 4 year old daughter helped paint these poppers, which turned out to be pretty productive. The pumpkinseeds, while smaller, rival any trout for their colorful markings. The most exciting fish came from a series of shallow pools (maybe 2.5' deep) spaced between riffles. There was grass along the far side. It just looked like the perfect spot for a hopper. As per Rob's advice before we left breakfast, I tied a number 10 hopper on and about 6 casts later it landed right in the middle of one of the pools. Within a couple seconds it was smashed by a 13" smallie. He just nailed it. It was cool seeing him hit a fly that I associate with trout primarily. He made a trout's take look boring. And I saw the whole thing. Thanks again Rob! Colt

My dad and I will be there for breakfast and fishing. Colt

Eric, This is off topic, so if this needs to be deleted or moved, go ahead. But since you liked the photography in that issue, check these out as well. They are REALLY cool: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/62c592ed#/62c592ed/1 http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/6bf8e028#/6bf8e028/1 http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/a9b5c52e#/a9b5c52e/1 These are the first three issues of "Fin Chaser". There are more photos that articles! Enjoy! Colt

Here's a link to an online magazine with a pretty cool short smallmouth article. Nothing too profound, but a cool perspective on fly fishing for smallmouth. http://www.joomag.com/magazine/revive-a-quarterly-fly-fishing-journal-volume/0339331001372195093 Colt