Page 136 - North 40 Outfitters

An age old question for those looking to get into fly fishing: How do you spool a fly reel? First you need to make sure you are lining up the reel for left/right hand retrieve if you mess that part up, you’ll get another chance to practice- immediately. Make sure you get a reel that can be switched either way, or make sure that you have purchased one that has the retrieve side that you want. These are the reels we carry. Then tip #1: tighten the drag a little bit and make sure you are spooling the right way. It’ll be obvious if you are fighting the drag when you are trying to spool. Then put a bend in your backing and run it around the reel twice so you can get a good seat on your backing then tie it on with a uniknot and clip it flush. Seat your knot tight against the reel. You can use a single uniknot--below is a double. The mai...

What are some good fruit and vegetables to grow in north-central Washington? We get a lot of different gardening questions at North 40; we have stores in many different zones, and each one of our stores has a special relationship with the growers that supply our fruits and vegetables. One of our suppliers in the area is a husband and wife team who've been providing plants to N40 for 2 years. They have mucho experience in the growing game, and are 15 year veteran, Bonnie certified suppliers. Check out their full interview N40 eMag: Garden Edition. Want to know their specialty (and a great fruit that will do well in north central Washington)? Tomatoes. And the Bonnie tomatoes we stock are known to thrive in these areas. "Our plants are grown hardy and acclimated to our environment. We grow them pretty cold," she tells me, laughing. The Bo...

This winter, tying has been very different than past winters. Usually, I tie a couple flies several hundred times over, thinking to myself, this has to be enough...  Well, it never was. You wouldn't believe how many flies one person can lose. Simply put, guiding is adult day-care. However, this winter has been completely different with the fly tying workshops at North 40 here in Coeur d’Alene. I have had the opportunity to sit and learn some amazing techniques from some good, and not so good, tiers. The heartfelt friendships that I have acquired are incredible, and the progress that I am seeing in our returning tiers is stunning. It’s unbelievable how fast and how much one can learn from some of our guest tiers, who have spent a majority of their life tying. The little tricks and techniques used to make tying bugs easier have helped...

Working in a fly shop in January has it's ups and downs. Customer counts, fish counts, and fishing reports are all down. Talks of spring tactics around hot coffee are the norm throughout the day. Spring steelheaders come and go, quickly loading up on beads and Air Lock bobbers. Neglected chores are finished up quickly between customers... then comes the new inventory. Boxes and boxes of new stuff from Solitude Flies, Simms Fishing Products, Hareline Dubbin, and more begin to arrive. It is basically Christmas in January. I've never seen this many purple J. Slams at one time. Surely, this fly bin will be the first to empty as spring anglers come out of hibernation and present these large dry flies to hungry cutthroat. Once the purple ones are gone, anglers will grab the tan, pink, and peacock versions that work almost as well. New Simms s...

"What are some vegetables that are good to grow in North Central Montana other than tomatoes?  We've tried squash and it hasn't been very successful."--N40 Customer, Kirsten Amy Grisak from Amygrisak.com had this to say: "We have to work with the weather- We have cooler nights, which is why sometimes tomatoes and squash don't like to grow here, but lettuce, radish, onions, potatoes will flourish during the cooler springs. Once the soil warms up, you can grow almost any type of beans or peas. Cabbage or kohlrabi will flourish in our regions. It's all about doing your homework and working the weather." Side note for Kohlrabi I had no idea what this was- apparently according to Sam, you can get them at most farmer's markets across Montana and, "It's like a watery apple." So I dug a bit deeper and found out it's much like broccoli or cabba...

Is a sock liner a vestigial remnant (that means throwback) of a time when hiking socks were made of Brillo pad type wool, or do they have a place in the modern sock era? Wellllllll-- kind of, but not really. That's vague, true, so let's break it down. The Evolution of Wool Socks Wool has come a long way since the old days of Brill-Wool- Merino wool is stock and staple in most hiking socks and hiking/backpacking gear because it often negates the need for wearing sock liners. Check out these socks made with Merino. Plus Merino is even used in base layers like these. The purpose of a sock liner, like Luke says in the video, is to add a hydrophobic layer between your skin and the thicker, insulating layer on the outside. This will allow sweat from your foot to be wicked away from your skin and help prevent "hot spots," blisters or discomfor...

  Echo, tack lead from the Great Falls store had this to say: "Grass is the only natural source of omega 3s that a horse will get when out grazing or out at pasture. And our grass here isn't the highest quality and can lack the necessary omega 3s a horse needs to stay in top condition. Flaxseed is one of the safest supplements you can add to a horse's diet and has a very high concentration of omega 3s. Add it for weight gain or to improve your horse's coat and skin condition." Full equine nutritional article from Nutrena available here. Ahhhhh- flaxseed, my old friend. Really quick: linseed and flaxseed are the same thing, so if you use linseed oil for anything, you're already on the flax bandwagon. Welcome. So, flaxseed is a good addition to your horse's diet? Established. How much? In what form? If you boil it does it really produ...

Below Holter Dam, the Missouri River is currently 3510cfs and 34 degrees. The air temperature before noon in Great Falls and Craig is approximately 47 degrees and at Cascade, it's 53. That’s great for fishing prospects. The wind is blowing significantly, which may be a pain for casting, but it can result in warmer water temperatures by the early afternoon. A one degree upward shift can make all the difference around this time of year. Two degrees can make for some really great fishing. Reports from the last week have been mixed. Nymphing up by the dam is consistent, where the pink stuff is always the menu. So far this year, they have been eating the big pink stuff pretty well. Size 14 Rainbow Czechs and Rays are getting as many eats as the smaller stuff off the back. Streamers have been inconsistent both from the boat and the two hand...

Many anglers have a rough idea about how to set up with an indicator, but we are going to delve a bit deeper into rigging options and usage. January is a great month to prep and learn. By mid-February, fishable days and fishing conditions are improving. Saturday January 16 at 10:00 a.m. in the Great Falls Store, Fred will be teaching our first Fly Fishing Mastery Class.  The topic is "Nymphing". We will look at fly choices and preview the differing styles, rigging and methodology for fly fishing with nymphs. If you’d like to join, the course fee is $30. Sign up at North 40 Fly Shop Great Falls, or give us a call if you can’t make it in. Get your Mastery on now.

As long as it is above zero, I go fishing on New Year’s Day. I also invite lots of folks to see who will show up. I think Sam and Paul were the ones who started the tradition. However, Paul was out of town or something lame and Sam was supposedly "injured". Hmmm. Anyway, this year's New Year's Day was a balmy 19 degrees at the boat launch below Holter Dam. That would have been fine and good if not for the stiff wind blowing downstream. With the chilled wind, it probably was closer to zero. That would probably be why only a few hardy (foolish) souls showed up during the day. Regardless, we launched Jerrin’s boat and cruised across to the Upper Bull Pasture. We set up some chairs, a couple of Buddy Heaters, and rolled out the barbecue. Thankfully, we had a Yeti Cooler to keep our food and beverages from freezing. I brought along six...

Christmas came early at North 40 Fly Shop this year. Today, we received our first ever shipment of Senyo's Barred Predator Wrap. I am so stoked about this product that I have literally been tying flies all morning long. The barred predator wrap gives flies a somewhat dirty look to them, like a scavenging sculpin that just crawled out from under the rock that he calls home. When you combine this wrap with your current, favorite streamer material, I guarantee that, absolutely without a doubt, it will add realism to your flies. Also, some of the barred predator wrap has UV strands in it, making it an even more deadly addition to your bench. The wrap comes on a string with the fibers at roughly 4 inches in length. The material can be trimmed to any length and it can be either wrapped or tied on in clumps. If you add this to your bench, it'...