broken-fish.net

I’ve been wanting a waterproof camera for a while now – and today I finally broke down and picked one up. I bought a 7.1MP Pentax Optio W30 from McBain Camera. For the month of July they have a deals on all Pentax models that they have.

Initial playing around, and I’m quite pleased… the outdoor shots are very nice, and I was really pleased with the macro photos I tried of a fly that I tied up this evening. Just threw a piece of cardboard behind the fly and took a shot…

I really look forward to getting out on the water and getting some underwater shots !

Tags: equipment, photography

Global FlyFisher, bite tippets for pike streamers, by Henk Verhaar

An excellent article on alternative choices for leaders when fly fishing for ‘toothy critters’

Tags: equipment, fly fishing

This evening I finished tying the flies for the first fly swap that I’ve ever participated in. The swap is an international one… should be interesting to see what comes back!

I tied up 25 flies… and put the new Peak vise to the test! The rotary is sure nice when laying in the body, and I also used it for the hackle as well as the head of these flies. I also found an excellent method of setting the vise up quickly for the hooks in a video I borrowed from the fly tying club (Rotary Tying Techniques with Al Beatty).

I also found the Peak material clip extremely useful, effectively keeping things out of my way while turning materials onto all of these flys. Definitely worth considering if you happen to be contemplating the purchase of a Peak Rotary vise.

Tags: equipment, fly tying, swaps

Well, the Fishing Hole’s annual sale is on again, and I broke down…

Been wanting to try a rotary vise for a while now, and have been looking the Peak vises in particular. They look great, and appear to be very well machined.

This evening I picked one up finally, but unfortunately it was missing a couple pieces. I’ve contacted the company via email. Will be interesting to see how well they respond. I’m optomistic, as from everything I’ve read on the ‘net, the company gets nothing but accolades from their customers.

Update: Aug 28 – Recieved an email back from Peak and was assured that the missing pieces would be shipped today! Awesome customer service Peak Engineering! Cheers!

September 3rd the missing pieces arrived via air-mail. They were also kind enough to include a materials clip for the vise! Awesome service from a company that makes an awesome vise.

Tags: equipment, fly tying

Well, I had to do it….
The Scientific Angler reel I had just wasn’t doing it for me. The drag on it was just that…a real drag. To the point where it basically didn’t do anything.

I didn’t go totally crazy at least (much to the relief of the wife). The reel I bought is an Okuma Sierra. Pretty much entry level for the Okuma line, but seems to me that the construction is much better, and has a nice feel to the drag system. It’s also not a large arbor reel like my old one. That might take a little getting used to, but shouldn’t be a big deal.

Tomorrow I’ll see how it is…when a couple buddies and I head out to Emerald Lake for the day. Will also be interesting to see how the new line I picked up works…its a Type IV full sink line. I’m hoping it casts better than my older type III sink line.

Tags: equipment