Have you seen this official thingamabobber pro-staffer tattooed anywhere yet? Don't even think about copying this sticker...it's mine! (and you can see it is copyrighted right on the bobba). If you get the sticker, no matter how you get it, you're in. That's right, love 'em or hate 'em if you are a nymph fishing fool, or a guide you have spent time crosseyed and glazed over waiting for your thingamabobber to bob. Great nymph fisherman are skilled enough to not have to purchase these things...that's not me. I need a bright floaty ball to warn me of strikes, and I'm proud of it. Old School: ""Strike Indicator"" and you get your hand slapped for calling it a bobber. This is still true if you take a spin fisherman out and they call it a ""bobber"" with out realizing it should be called a ""strike indicator"" to avoid the association with conv...

Brian asked if us light has broken down the fiberglass on your oars what you could do about it...here is advanced composites reply... Brian, Thanks for the inquiry. Your oars are likely fine structurally but they may have been long overexposed to UV. Covering oars when not in use for extended periods is an important way to preserve the finish on composite materials. There is a pretty simple solution to get some coverage on the shafts. The easiest way is to rough up the surface of the shafts with a scotchbrite pad. Just knock of the debris and get them clean and dry. Next, go to a Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up a can of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane (Indoor/outdoor/clear gloss). It is available in an 11.5 oz. spray can. Give the shafts an even coat and allow to fully dry (cure). I recommend 2-3 coats. The can is pretty good for coverage....

Achieving Bum Status: The Journey There’s levels to this- fly fishing lifestyle--and for those of us who have been fishing for more than say... 3 months, one of the most coveted titles/personas you can achieve as a fly fisher is that of "the bum." The bum is an elusive character, full of mystique and an almost wild abandon. The Test of the Bums If it’s 20 below outside, and there are a couple feet of snow on the water AND YOU STILL agree with 9 out of the following 11 bullet points- You’re well on your way to achieving bum status. 1. The roads are probably too bad to get 5 miles to work...but just good enough to get 30 miles to the Missouri. 2.  People think you are more hardcore for fishing in the snow (image booster), but in reality, you know no one else is on the river and some of your best days are when it snows. 3. Not need...

By Sam Wike Everyone has a story like this every fly fishing trip they take... but this one was so close I could taste it, and have had nightmares of losing this fish already. During the last hour of the entire trip (standard storytelling line, but it’s true), we were out in front of the beach hooking up and seeing some smaller Roosterfish and Jack Crevalle. Actually a huge school of Jack Crevalle--thousands just sitting under the boat. The day before I had made some casts in front of the lodge before dinner and saw a huge rooster crash on a Jack Crevalle. One of those moments that you wish everyone could see so they believe you, and impossible to replicate with words.   Hooking up with the Largest Rooster of the Trip Well we hooked a fish in this spot and I cast a larger closer towards a dock and I saw a large shadow beneath the ...

By Sam Wike Here's a Montana dude’s thoughts before a trip to fly fish for roosterfish in Mexico: We leave in 22 days for Baja, East Cape, and the Sea of Cortez to try to hook a roosterfish on a fly. We have been asking everyone what flies, leaders, lines, rods, reels, clothes we should bring and about the best answer we get is "stuff for saltwater." Sweet, I guess we will wing it. For flies people have told us to imitate the sardinas and mullet down there, yeah no problem because: a.) We haven't been there and, b.) I don't know what either of those look like. Go try to google a picture of one... it's impossible. For lines, the first guy we talked to said all you need is a floating line second guy (the guide down there, name is Jeff) says don't bring any floating lines at all. Rods and reels are cinch, just bring everything from an 8 w...

Evidently it is not too common to see one of these caught on the fly. We would have spent more time taking better photos of it had we known it was so rare. It is called a Rainbow Runner at least that's what the boat captain Santos told us. The picture doesn't do this fish justice but they fight hard like a Tuna and have really brilliant colors in the water. It ate a 3 0/Blue and White Seeker.

By Sam Wike The first three days of our trip we fished alone off the beach-no guides-no boats. The beach isn’t easy and takes a lot of dedication-- I took off with my backpack at 7 am after breakfast at Rancho Leonero with no idea what to do and alone. Looking for Roosterfish: Where I Found Them I started heading towards the point across the bay from the ranch looking for water where I could see roosterfish cruising. It helps to have white sand flats, and the best place to look is where there is a deep area near one of these flats so you can see the roosterfish crashing the baitfish. In about the first 100 yards I landed two ladyfish. Ladyfish are actually a really fun fish as they are similar to a baby tarpon and acrobatic when they are hooked up. Lots of ladies around, and you won’t hear too many guys complain about that. Got to the...

There is not a lot of writing out there on what flies are best to bring down to Baja-and now I realize why. In Baja the 2 major food sources for the Roosterfish as well as other targets are the sardinas and mullet. Sounds easy. The problems that occur become apparent quick. First of all the size of the baitfish schools of sardinas that are close in to the beach change almost every week. Second, Mullet are huge- like the size of reasonable size 10-15 inch trout here. It’s not hard to tie a fly that big and imitate a mullet-it is difficult to cast a fly that big from the beach with a head wind and the tide coming in and out. The sardinas are much easier to cast, but larger Roosterfish key in on the larger baitfish, we saw them often crashing on large schools of Jack Crevalle. We found the best flies from the beach to be small mullet patt...

All kinds of things were thrown at us this weekend-Mom turned 50, it was Father’s day, and relatives were in town-Belt Rodeo. All the shop guys were floating the Dearborn this weekend, so I was forced to call Paul to come down and help me get the family some fish. It was my mom and cousin’s first time with a fly rod-and Danielle’s 2nd time out. The dry fly fishing was probably unbelievable (which KK and I found out the next day) but we had to start somewhere and rigged up PMD nymphs for our guests. About 100 yards after launching the boat I already heard war whoops coming from Paul’s boat and our cousin Linda had already got 2 fish to the boat-a split second later one came from my boat-got off. With Mom in the front of the boat and Danielle in the back-Mom got one at Cali Island. Paul caught up to us there, and when we tallied the...