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Rio makes soft "suppleflex" leaders & tippet material for dryflying. KG talks about controlling the leader to deal with drag but doesn't say anything about mending the flyline which is the only way to deal with it.The leader is merely an extension of the line and so can only be controlled by controlling the line itself with various mends..

It's called a Gamechanger from Umpqua.It's 4" long andhas good action being articulated & with a paddle tail but is difficult to cast out of the box & gets even harder as it absorbs water. it might cast passably with an 8wt but I don't like going that heavy for smb. I might try it again for lmb when I do go to an 8.

I liked his videos with one exception wherein he highly recommended a large bulky white streamer for smallies.i took the bait and bought 2 at a whopping $10 apiece. It turned out to be as miserable casting as a musky fly and has never been on my leader. since

Good info. I was a big fan of his ugly bug when I spinfished.It resembles a hellgramite a smb's favorite food. I was surprised to see a flyrod among the spinrods in his boat.I'vealways wondered why ffers don't use scent with streamers.They'd hold it better than hard bodied lures.Both BA and DG have staved off old man time very very well.

Horsetail is where I 1st started ffing locally in the mid 60s. Waded it for big gills. In the 70s & 80s had many good years for both lmb & gills in both summer & winter at the quarries in Lemont particularly Consumers Quarry.As with Saganashkee I had it to myself floatubing either pounding the rocks with a bassbug or bouncing deep diving crankbaits along an offshore dropoff. These days the quarries are awash in algae most of the year and are much more heavily boat fished since the city of Lemont took them over. I've literally seen more guys boating there in a single day than I would've seen in an entire season in the "old days".Good memories.

Steve I assume you mean the section north of 131st. We did float it but the main section produced more bass Tampier produced fast fishing in winter for small gills in midday.We'd than head over to Saganashkee to fish for the big ones near sunset.

Ed You do realize that coffee is not allowed in their store.

My 1st fishing experience was when i was about 7 when my mom & aunt took me to Marquette Park.Catching a cane poll bluegill i fell in love with the sport that day.When he got out of the service my dad & uncle & I began panfishing on the Chain along with perch on the Lake. My 1st bass came in my early teens from Saganashkee Slough in the Cook Cty forest preserves on a hula popper surface lure.Wow!! When I got a car a few yrs later I started fishing Sag almost exclusively.That place was fishing heaven loaded with 2-4lb bass, 9"gills & for a few years big pike where boats were not allowed while wading & floattubing were. The result was that I & the few other buddies who floatubed had the entire 350 fish filled acres to ourselves. In winter we joined the scores of ice fishermen there. There was also very good bass fishing at Tampier Slough. For 10 yrs in the 60s & 70s the forest preserve lakes afforded me the best fishing of my life.After my parents moved to Indy in the late 60s I also fished central Indiana's stripits & newly formed impoundments for bass/gills along with its streams for smb primarily Sugar Creek & the Flat Rock River which was loaded with crawfish. I introduced my teen age brother 14yrs my junior on those trips teaching him to flyfish as well. For a # of yrs I participated in TU's summer long events teaching ffing to various boy/girl scout troops and i continue to assist Orvis Lombard to do the same to newbies on summer weekends every year.Btw anyone interested should contact them for info about their classes which are free.

Hopefully there are in this and future generations enuf parents like Eric to keep the sport & the environment viable.

I agree with Norm. More young involved is crucial both for our sport 's future and for the environment in general. It's disheartening to see so many so removed from nature. Good to see that some schools like Mark's are trying to do something in this regard. TU has for years had a trout in the classroom program for kids along with other youth oriented initiatives.

Thanks Steve. Rob I doubt it but If what you think is so than KG should've been more specific. I doubt there were ever any dt sinkers. An intermediate is basically a floater that sinks just enuf to go under the surface ripples or waves in order to get a direct straight line connection to the fly rather than undulating up & down with the wave action. Btw I should've said that most of my casts max out at 60' with many in the 40's/50's. However just to stay practiced at extreme distances and also just for the fun of it once in awhile I go into the 70s for a few casts. When I used to do a lot of shoreline pounding for largemouths with an 8wt in quarries or strip pits from a floatube I enjoyed seeing a bass jump from way out there and so usually kept the tube 70+' from shore.

More than once I've said that the many fish specific flylines are ridiculous. Believing rightly or wrongly that Rio started that nonsense I will never buy any of their lines. Re Kelly G's video it's strange that he recommends dubl taper lines while working for Airflo since of all their now also far too many lines only one is a dubl taper recommended to beginners no doubt mainly for their low cost compared to wfs. Imo just as graphite rods can do more than their glass or bamboo counterparts wfs do more than dts.i disagree with his assertion that virtually all casts should be less than 40' and that being able to cast for distance is not only unnecessary but counterproductive as well.There certainly are situations where when possible short extremely accurate delicate casts make a big difference as when casting to sighted fish ie risers or tailing fish or when casting crosscurrents..But there are also times when dubl hauling makes a big difference.Do the Fishing Gods always turn off the wind whenever you go fishing or does the opposite seem to be more often the case? Is the river always accommodating enuf to allow you to wade to within 30' of your target?Doesn't matter how accurate your cast is if it's too short.On bright days on low clear water will the fish never be spooked if we wade only 30' away or bring the boat in that close and than stand up to cast? Unless your in some sort of an accuracy casting contest Is it a little bit anal to say that a cast is only accurate when it hits the dead center of a hula hoop when just putting it into the hoop will do nicely too? i magicmark my lines so that most of my casts with the above exceptions etal are more or less 60' including the leader.With a little haul that's a challenging but still comfortable distance for me.If i routinely confined my casts to only about 30' flyfishing would soon become boring & monotonous:and we've all heard that fishing is about more than just catching but is about the total experience.The ability to cast well at all distances makes for a more rewarding experience enjoyed by a more competent ffer.

Yes. Thanks Scott.Let me know what time depending on the weather.

Weather permitting I'll join Scott on Sunday & than head over to Tom's for dinner.

Snow's in the forecast.Weather permitting I'll be there.

The few good outtings Ive had the last few years have come in early Spring after which I've struggled to catch much of anything anywhere with only a few exceptions.

Amazing for sure!!

Too often you hear about people dying shortly after the retirement they'd looked forward to enjoying.Such a shame.

It depends what's considered a long stretch of time. If you arrive on a full stomach you should be able go for 6 or 7 hrs w/o eating anything more than a candy bar or 2 for an energy boost if needed.Water can be carried with a hip flask.I carry mine in a flask attached to a strap that goes around my shoulders unless I carhop from place-place which I do on most outtings.

Eugene Good to see you keep on keepin on with the long rod on the Rock a river more challenging than most for ffing. How have you done with it on the Fox?

Mike I haven't used a sinker in a long time but I think Lefty was referring to rollcasting a floater not a sinker. I doubt rollcasting the entire head of a heavy submerged sinker in an effort to get it airborne would work. Better to shorten it up . Rob If you use a longer leader with a sinker fish it with a lightly weighted fly if the unweighted sinks too slowly.Master ffer Craig Riendeau likes to use a bassbug with a sinker. With the sinker on bottom the bassbug stays just off bottom during the retrieve eliminating snags.

This is the first I've heard about the trend to longer more heavily dressed flies for trout & bass. They would be easier to cast with a sinker/short leader than a floater/long leader. The issue I've always had with sinking lines is that in the medium weights used with 6-7 wt rods their sink rate is only 5-6ips.& probably less in moving water.So it would take at least 8 maybe 10 seconds to reach bottom in 4' of water by which time the fly would've swung way downstream.It seems to me that a floating line & a 9-10' leader fishing either a well weighted fly or spitshot would sink twice as fast.The leader could also be lengthened 1or2' for deeper depths.It's this disparity in the sink rates betweem the 2 methods that has always made me associate sinking lines more with stillwater fishing where given the time they can reach the depths. A floater also allows for a quick switch to topwater Rob By retrieving the line with little left in the water than making a rollcast to aerialize it & casting with a haul sinking lines are ez to cast at distance actually due to their heavier weight.The short leader is also less prone to tangling. Btw imo the proliferation of the many species specific flylines fostered by cos. like RIO is ridiculous whose purpose is to catch gullible fishermen into buying more lines which require buying more spools & even buying more reels.

Check out Orvis,Cabelas,LLbean for waders.With 2 shirt pockets along with the waders storage pockets I'm not sure why anyone other than a trout fisherman might need a vest. Together with the pockets a lanyard nicely carries forceps,clippers, hook sharpeners etc.

Ed Just a word of thanks for your efforts for the various ISA get togethers. It's always nice to meet up with the members who attend and they certainly help to make the off season seem shorter.

Boots and waders will last as long as they will last no matter how they're maintained( the Shoogoo treatment notwithstanding).I've owned quality waders from Hodgman,LLBean,and Dan Bailey.All disappointed leaking in the 1st year of use the Hodgman's leaking right out of the box twice. On the other hand my Orvis Sonics have just ended their 4th year of frequent use w/o a leak even after the seam tape on the booties came off.