Page 143 - North 40 Outfitters

A simple streamer with a couple unique ingredients. The body is tied with a Zip Strip. Zip Strips are rabbit strips that have been twisted. The hide is thinned down, rolled and cured somehow, so that it maintains the twist. The result is a zonker strip that looks more like a dubbing brush. I really wish I would have had zip strips for the past 20 years or so. It makes for a great looking tail and bodies can be palmered just like with a zonker strip. The Dead Head employs the U506 Hook from Umpqua. It has a 60 degree bend and functions like a jig when dumbbell eyes are added below the bend. One could certainly tie this fly with a traditional down or straight eye streamer hook but the 60 degree bend adds some character. The bend provides a keeling effect as well as an enticing wobble. Life is about rhythm- You’ll be grateful for the "Touc...

Cold water flows are done- Low water and perfect weather is on the way. Weather, water data, and fish counts are all important variables in this crazy game. Plan your days accordingly. I had the following conversation with a customer yesterday in the shop. "Is it a nice outside today?" "Eh, not really, kinda cold and grey-" I watched an old timers face immediately light up with a funny expression on the opposite side of the fly bins. Yesterday’s conditions certainly met a steelheaders connotation of a "nice day". Heck, it was nothing short of perfect. Grand opening in Lewiston is quickly approaching. 50% OFF FLIES FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, Sept. 18th-20th. I have two spots open for Garbutt’s Lodge: Punta Gorda, Belize May 21st-26th 2016. If you are serious about permit on the fly, there may be no better week, location, or guides in...

Gina Beck, Clothing Lead  "I've been here since Big R bought D & B Supply-I was a key holder there, a lead, as you call it. It's always a nervous time when companies change hands I mean for employees, you never know what's going to happen, who's going to stay, who's going to go- It wasn't like that when North 40 took the reins. As former D & B Supply employees, we were already 'family.' It was that treatment that really made an impression on me I know Renee from our CDA store, we talked and shared the same experience that feeling that right away, the store and the management, they were all invested in us it really felt like the company was 'our company.'  Now I've been here for 4 years, and I wouldn't want to work anywhere else. With this expansion, I've gone from having 6 employees to 16... and our clothing floor space? Almost...

With the warm weather slowly winding down, I decided to take a trip up north to fish one of Idaho’s coolest running rivers. The weather was in the mid to low 70s with minimal wind up until about 3pm. The Kootenai River didn’t fail to reward this fly fisherman with an abundance of colorful rainbow trout actively rising to several dry fly patterns. I started the day with a #6 pink Chubby Chernobyl and a #14 red beaded serendipity as my dropper. It didn’t take me long to realize that I had no need for a dropper because I was getting consistent action on top. For experimental purposes, I switched out my Chernobyl for a #12 purple stimi chew toy because I had heard that purple has been the go to color. Once I did that, I had trouble keeping my fly dry because the trout kept eating it. The stretch I had the best action on was ju...

Walk into my garage and do you know what you are met with? A barrage of towering boxes waiting to be unpacked. However, if you side step twice, do a half spin, duck down, then pivot to the right, you will be standing in the ideal place to view my 'wall-o-packs.' So even though my wife's outrageously large coffee mug collection and my favorite morning breakfast toast plate are still boxed up, we did manage to organize the packs that propel our weekend adventures. What can I say? Priorities. Want to check out our selection and colors on the Scrambler 30 by Mountain Hardwear? The latest addition to the 'wall-o-packs' is the Mountain Hardwear Scrambler 30 Outdry Backpack. Now although the name may seem too long and lack what marketers call "spice", it does virtually tell you everything you need to know about this backpack. How's the Size on ...

October, if you were to ask most people, brings to mind smells like rain, fallen leaves, and as my generation constantly likes to remind us, pumpkin spice. For a couple of my closest friends and I, October will forever smell like wet neoprene, burnt gun powder, and soggy Labradors. Best Goose and Duck Hunting: Pacific Flyway Traditions I was fortunate to grow up a short, fifteen-minute drive from some of the best duck and goose hunting in the northern portion of the Pacific Flyway. I have since grown and moved away, but every October I make the 2 hour drive back to a familiar spot nestled between the Snake and Columbia rivers. Check out our selection of duck decoys online here. Our favorite pond wouldn't seem like much to the average onlooker; shaped roughly like a stretched out, upper-case W, choked with Russian olive trees blown down a...

Wooly buggers have been around for a long time. I have found that in some cases wrapping the hackle dull side forward dry fly style gives the fly more fish inciting action. Do some in your favorite color(s). -Rick, North 40 Fly Shop, Great Falls Materials Hook: 6-10 streamer Tail: marabou Body: medium chenille Hackle: rooster saddle to size

Finally! The long awaited fall weather has moved in to our area. Fish are moving into the system in semi-significant numbers (about time).  Steelheaders have begun to string up dry lines and race to their favorite runs every chance given. The Clearwater has been riding steady around 7K over the course of the week, with water temperatures on the lower river fluctuating between 50-55 degrees. Great early season conditions in my opinion. The lower river still seems like everyone's first choice and will continue to hold the most fish, but that doesn’t necessarily make it mine. Fish it all! Swing for the fences every cast and fish hard. Steelhead hate determined fisherman. Fly Recommendations: Calvins Clearwater Intruder-Black/Blue Bretts Klamath Intruder-Black/Blue Brazillian Purple Peril Signal Light Denvers Steelhead Muddler Bretts ...

Guide Joe Cielak was able to guide a client into the fish of a lifetime a few days ago on the Kootenai River.  Joe guides for Dave Blackburn’s Kootenai Angler http://goflyfishmontana.com/   The fish is said to weigh roughly 14lbs.  The Kootenai has been fishing very well lately, and with new access that opened this year, Idahoans can now enjoy a float on the Koot in their home state. The nice thing about the Kootenai, is it fishes well all summer long.  The Kootenai flows out of Libby dam and is a huge tailwater that flows into Kootenai Lake.  The fish is host to several resident rainbows, bull trout, and cutthroat and has runs of large rainbows out of Kootenai Lake and kokanee as well. For more information on the Kootenai fishery, feel free to call us at the Sandpoint shop or give Dave a call.

Article by Tanner VanPelt, North 40 Employee & Avid Outdoorsman  I have spent a fair amount of time in Sandpoint, ID but mostly indoors at our Ponderay store location downtown, City Beach and on Lake Pend Oreille- always in awe of the mountain ranges. I can't help but imagine the peaks rising above the last glacier, and my imagination drifts off to a scene of a crack quickly making its way up an ice dam with the pressure behind it suddenly exploding, sending its content to the Pacific similar to something straight out of the animated movie "Ice Age." Exploring the Cabinet and Selkirk Mountains In April, I was finally able to spend some time off the lake and out of town with avid hunter and N40 customer, Mike Lindgren, in the Cabinet and Selkirk Mountains that he calls home. These two Idaho Panhandle mountain ranges create an impres...

The "2" Montana Mini Intruder is perfect for flinging on two to four weight trout spey rods. When you tie one, you can choose to run the hook either up or down on your wire. In the summer, I swing it fast and high through riffles and over buckets with the hook angled down. In cold water, I fish it slow and deep with the hook riding up, Clouser style. This keeps bottom contact to a minimum and hook ups to the maximum. When I get hungry for some solid tugs on trout spey two handers, I tie one on. Materials: UTC 140 Brown 15mm Waddington Shank Senyo’s Thin Intruder Trailer Wire for Hook Size 6 or smaller Gamakatsu Octopus Size 8 Red Spirit River Real Eyes 5/32" Red Ice Dub UV Tan Hedron Flashabou Gold, Copper, Red Diamond Midge Braid Bonefish Tan Senyo’s Laser Dub Tan and Brown

  I have always grown up around horses and have been blessed to ride and work with some of the best. Every rodeo contestant knows that their horse is just as influential in a perfect score or run as they are. Picking out the right horse can be difficult, but when you find one that fits you, the results can be amazing. Before I left for my freshman year of college at MSU-Northern, I had prepared all of my horses for my first college rodeo season. Included in my elite string, was a 4 year old palomino that I had raised and trained since he was a baby. He was coming along nicely in the breakaway roping and I felt he was ready for the college ranks. About a month before I left for Havre, my prized boy contracted the West Nile Virus and succumbed to his symptoms. I was devastated! Not only because I did not have a horse to rope on, but a...