Hand, Heart and Soul - The Wader Makers

Throwback to 2004 fishing in Alaska, wearing Simms!

Marty and I have worn Simms waders forever, durability and quality have always been a necessity and Simms provides just that. Over the years, it’s become more than that, we’ve fished, drank beer and shared fishing stories with the great people committed to the quality and innovation. These are the wader makers, product developers, repair department and managers. Here’s the full story behind the great people that make Simms waders the best ! 

Summer Steelhead

Now Booking Summer Steelhead! Deschutes Grand Ronde John Day Our all inclusively camp trips for Fall Steelhead are very limited and this is your opportunity to get in on one of these amazing multi day adventures for Steelhead. Come see what you have been missing! Groups of 2-4 anglers for 3 to 5 days fully guided on these Wild and Scenic Rivers. Spoil yourself! Deschutes River August 22-24 September 1-3 Grande Ronde River October 22-25 John Day River November 3-7 These trips are truly awesome. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.  Book your trip today!  guides@littlecreekoutfitters.net   www.oregonsteelhead.com

Little Creek Outfitters, PO BOX 343, Maupin, OR 97037

Going the Distance for Casting for Recovery

About 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime; this is a startling statistic. Last year I found a way to help women dealing with breast cancer as a volunteer for the Casting for Recovery (CFR) retreat in my home state of Oregon. CFR is a national non-profit support and educational program for women of all ages and in all stages of breast cancer. It provides retreats at no cost to participants, which allow women whose lives have been profoundly affected by breast cancer to gather in a beautiful, natural setting and learn to fly fish.

At the retreat I witnessed a program that brought hope, gratitude, peace, inspiration, encouragement, and strength to women recovering from breast cancer.  I walked away inspired and fired up to once again use my spey casting skills to raise money for Casting for Recovery and team up with past Spey-O-Rama champion,Whitney Gould .

At the SOR finals, a wind advisor was in effect that day. Gust of 20-35 WNW winds made it far from ideal conditions. Swirling, blustery weather would blow a cast 20 feet back and slam the line on the water. With just 6 minutes to complete 12 casts, it was challenging to have the patience and wait for the “right wind.” It was one of the most interesting competitions to watch.  Despite gusty conditions, both the men and woman made some big cast. Whitney and my combined distance was 265 feet. Based on that, with your pledges we raised over $7000.00 for the CFR Nor Cal and Northern Oregon Retreats. 

 I would like to thank all you that contributed and made this possible. 

   

Simms, Echo, Gary Anderson Custom Rod, Nautilus Reel, Boggs Trail Butter,  Owl Creek Flies , Sage Products  Little Creek Outfitters , Royal Treatment Fly Shop, Fanny Krieger, Judith O'keefe, Rebecca Blair,  The Drake , Gink and Gasoline , Deneki , Roger Grummel, Cynthia Ervin, Eunice Higgens, Chris Deleone, George Olmsted, Stephanie Gould, Blue Ribbon Sales, Mark Seligman, Dylan Rose, Doug Morgan, Judith Brown, Paul Ridgway, Mary and Jim Bast, Glen Foster, Nanaette Rich, Paul Nicodemus, Karen Gould, Richard Harrington, Jeff Howard, Genevieve Long, Douglas Jett, Mike Williams, Darryl Gould, Linda Slater, Andrea Warner, Swing the Fly, Anne Vitale, Rob Perkins, Nick English, Catherine Slaugh, Phil Renner, Sharon Gould, Mark Huber, Cheryl Bell, Scott Humphrey, Suzanne Gulick, Steve Egge, Rob Sims, Clay Krull, James Reid, Lee Lashway, Ram Reagan, Rob Stuart, Kate Taylor, Hal Leavell, Poppy Cummins, Lindsay Vincent, Kristen Kinsman, Summer Run Guide Service, Carla  Lessard, William Swindell, Raging River Sales, Saracione, David Beaudry, Glen McCormick , James Reid, Gene Weber ,Ian Reeves and Robin Wright, Denise Bulwinkel ,Diane Moreel ,Sandi Kushnei ,Joanne Winship

Congrats to Steve Egge who won the fishing trip and Andrea Warner who won the casting lesson.

The raffle items went to:

Simms Backpack - Anne Vitale

Sage Rod - Carla Lessard

Nautilus Reel - Mark Huber

Echo Rod - Mike Williams

Gary Anderson Rod - Glenn Foster

Boggs Trail Butter – Summer Run Guide Service

Owl Creek Flies -  Glen

Support Veterans with your Next Wader at Simms

Simms is excited to announce a new wader and support an organization helping veterans heal through fly-fishing.Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation (WQW) helps reintegrate traumatically combat-wounded veterans from recent wars into society through fly fishing. 

The employee and ambassadors at Simms are proud about this release and greatly appreciate you helping us reach our goal of raising $100,000 for WQW, these soldiers are well worth it. 

Find out more here:  http://www.simmsfishing.com/featured-stories/wqw.

Swing the Fly - Going to Print

Marty lands one. photo by Mia

Swing the Fly Going to Print - Only 1 week left to take advantage of the Pre-Sale Pricing!

Our big pre-sale will expire November 1. We need you to subscribe now so we can handle the lofty costs of printing the 1st issue. In doing so, you get the absolute best pricing on the magazine and it is guaranteed for the life of your subscription! 
One more time HERE is where to subscribe.

Here's a few common questions with Zach's answers about the magazine. 

What is happening to the E-Mag?

At this time, we are sorry but we will no longer able to offer the E-Magazine for free. It will absolutely continue to be available but will cost $4.99 per issue. A short preview of each issue and our sponsors will be available before you must pay to view the full issue. Of course, we would prefer you subscribe to the very green, 100% recycled print magazine instead!


If you have trouble subscribing through the software, don't worry. 

To be perfectly honest, the subscription software isn't the most user friendly as we have found out the last couple weeks but it is what we have at the moment. I can tell you it is 100% safe and powered by Stripe which is used by many major companies. If you have a problem, email me (you can respond to this email here!) and I will absolutely take care of it!


If you don't recieve a confirmation email of your subscription, did it go through? 

Please email me here using the email you used to subscribe and your full name and I will verify it for you.

Just how sweet is Swing the Fly in Print going to be?!
Really Sweet! I am so excited to share all this great content in print with all of you!

.

If anyone has any questions or trouble subscribing please reply here or email me at editor@swingthefly.com

I will personally get back to each and everyone of you as soon as possible.

One more time HERE is where to subscribe.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

 October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month,  Find out how Casting For Recovery helps women recover and find hope and how Simms Fishing Products is bringing awareness in October and you can support that effort. 

My grandmother had breast cancer, a good friend lost her life to cancer 5 years ago after numerous treatments and my mother at the age of 60, pasted away from pancreatic cancer 10 years.  Its heartbreaking to see women I love, loss their life's at such as early age. 

Cancer is a disease that can't be ignored.  Casting for Recovery is a non profit that provides hope, at no cost retreat to participants, which allow women whose lives have been profoundly affected by breast cancer to gather in a beautiful, natural setting and learn to fly fish. The retreats incorporate counseling, educational services and the sport of fly fishing to promote mental and physical healing. CFR currently has 45 retreats in 35 states scheduled for 2011.

Each Casting for Recovery retreat accommodates 14 women, who apply and are selected through a random lottery, and immerses them in the world of fly fishing for two-and-a-half days.

Volunteers share their love of the sport by teaching participants casting, tie the basic knots and all about the bugs . . . “What Fish Eat”. They attend a medical session to learn about and share the latest medical treatments available. Participants also attend an evening gathering to share their emotions and feelings about breast cancer with an experienced Psychosocial Facilitator. On the last day of the retreat, the women are in the water practicing catch and release fishing assisted by CFR staff and men and women “riverhelpers” from local fly fishing clubs. Many of the participants have never picked up a rod in their life but go on to become active in the sport or become volunteers for the Casting for Recovery program.


Ways you can support CFR. Support your local retreat  

Purchase one of these Simms products

Volunteer at CFR

Come One Come All to the Clearwater Clave

Boy, how they grow up fast! 2009 Clearwater Clave

Don't Miss it! 

RED SHED FLY SHOP ANNOUNCES

THE CLEARWATER RIVER-IDAHO

11TH ANNUAL SPEY GATHERING-BARBEQUE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: SEPT.26, 2015

JEDI'S START @ 9:00AM

LOCATION: THE LENORE REST STOP/PICNIC AREA

JUST WEST (DOWNSTREAM) OF THE LENORE BRIDGE

AT MILE MARKER 27.75 ON HIGHWAY 12

9:00am

KLAUS FRIMOR

World traveling Atlantic salmon guide, Loop two hand casting jedi, spey casting tackle 

designer, principle in the Clearwater Steelhead Syndicate.

"Scandi Casting"

9:30am

WHITNEY GOULD

Women's distance champion 2014 Spey-O-Rama, two handed casting instructor, Pacific 

coast steelhead/salmon guide, and Anderson Custom Rods prostaff.

"The Single Spey"

10:00am

BRUCE KRUK

Columbia River spey guide, tackle innovator, member of Gaelforce distance casting team.

"Long Bellies"

10:30am

AL BUHR

Long time PNW steelhead chaser, rod and line design advisor for Sage and SA, head jedi 

for the FFF THCI program, heavy participation in developing the spey line standards for 

the AFTMA.

"Getting a grip on Your Anchor"

11:00am

GREG BENCIVENGA

Owner of Sagebrush Fly Fishing, CCI, THCI, member of Nextcast distance team, chief 

expediter at Nextcast.

"He didn't tell me, but it will be good"  

11:30am

LEE DAVISON

THCI, world class distance caster, spey line designer, owner of Ballistic spey lines.

"Mastering the Snake Roll"

12:00am

LUNCH

Mrs. RedShed and crew. Burgers, hot dogs, beans, macaroni salad, and cookies

1:00am

ZACK WILLIAMS

Owner PNW Spey Guides, founder/editor of Swing the Fly e-mag, two hand casting 

instructor, spey tackle designer.

"Leave No Stone Unturned"

1:30pm

TOM LARIMER

National sales manager @ Fish G. Loomis, product developement and design @ Airflo 

USA, ambassador @ Simms Fishing Products.

"Understanding the Anchor"

2:00pm

BRIAN STYSKAL & BRITTA FORDICE

Brian is a world class distance caster, steelhead spey fishing guide, CF Burkheimer 

prostaff. Britta manages Avid Angler Fly Shop. She guides on Washington rivers and the 

beaches of Washington's coast.

" Tools to improve your fishing and casting with short heads and long lines"

2:30pm

MARK HUBER

FFF CI and THCI, long tine Alaska spey caster, IFFF casting certification board of 

governors, Winston Rods & Ballistic Spey Lines prostaff.

"The Rhythm and Rhyme of Spey Casting"

3:00pm

MIA & TEGAN SHEPPARD

Mia is a Spey-O-Rama champion, PNW steelhead guide, casting instructor, Simms Guide 

Ambassador, owner of Little Creek Outfitters with husband Marty and Tegan's Mom. 

Tegan is a sweet little gal that's spent a good part of her life around some of the best 

steelhead rivers and steelhead fishermen in the PNW. She loves the outdoors and always 

seems to keep thing interesting where ever she is.

"Fish Handling"

One More Pull

A beauty James Reid landed on his Winter Run Bamboo, Doublehand 

The morning sun rises,

reflecting orange and pink skies.

One more session; before we have to leave.

Scurry to put on waders; 

forget the morning coffee buzz, just gotta get in the water. 

One last cast, 

one more pull, one more landed; 

it's never enough.

Spey Nations, Catskills and East Coast Flavor

Tight Lines Fly Shop and "Spey"

Amidst a busy summer with Marty running bass trips in 105 heat and low water and me working for TRCP, I dropped Tegan off at my sisters on Whidbey Island, Washington and flew to Newark, New Jersey for a quick tour starting at Tight Lines FlyShop and ending my trip on the Salmon River in Altmar, New York for SpeyNations. My mother was born and raised in New York. Despite still having relatives out East, I haven’t visited since I was a kid.  What I remember was the lights of the big city.  This time I would land in Newark, by pass New York City and head North to where the Catskills meet the Adirondacks.   My uncle told me that this is where my mother fell in love with the outdoors and I see why.

My flight arrives in Newark midnight, E.T. .  Nancy and Andrew Moy from Tight Lines ( a full service shop with a fantastic tying selection, spey rods and “Spey” the shop dog.  Half hour from New York, this is the place to go if you need material and equipment. )  arranged a shuttle to pick me up. I’m greeted by Mike, born and raised in New Jersey; he’s full of questions about the West coast. He speaks with pride about being an East coaster, we compare the cost of living and he tells me his from central New Jersey.  

If you’re from South Jersey, you don’t ever want anyone to ask if you’re from North Jersey, which you think is basically New York. If you’re from North Jersey, you don’t ever want anyone to ask if you live in South Jersey, which you think is basically Philadelphia, or worse, Delaware. If you’re from Central Jersey, doesn’t ever ask if Central Jersey really exist. It does.

Catskills Museum

The next morning I meet the Moy’s, full of energy and fun, this is going to be a great week! Heading north we stop at the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum that is working to protect and promote fly -fishing. Engulfed by a history that dates back to the early mid 1800’s with bamboo rods on display by H.L Leonard to a collection of art by Lee and Joan Wolf and more. I discover this is where fly-fishing in the U.S. really got its start and is the birth of the “Catskills Style.”  

In 1890, sporting magazine columnist Theodore Gordon wrote to the renowned English fly fishing author, Fredrick Halford, complaining of the selective nature of the brown trout's feeding habits, and soliciting suggestions on fly selection for Gordon's Catskill waters. Halford sent back a cache of flies that were productive on the placid English chalk streams of Kent (on display at the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum, in Livingston Manor, NY today). Gordon recognized the flies needed to change to  imitate the local hatches, so he tweaked the design of Halford's flies to created the high-floating Quill Gordon dry fly, the first of the iconic "Catskill style" of dry fly.   

Andrew and Collin on the Beaverkill

After an hour in the museum and becoming members, Andrew and I continue our journey to the Beaverkill River, a tributary to the East Branch Delaware.  At the Moy cabin we wader up for an evening fish.  Swinging isonychia nymphs  and drifting isonychia dries, trout smack our flies under a gray sky against the lush green “tropical” forest.  As dusk approaches, the sky lights up with Fireflies.  I’m as giddy as a child remembering catching fireflies as a kid in Tennessee. Nancy and I chase the flies trying to catch one, she manages to seize one and I let it crawl on me, watching it illuminate green, it flies away.    

Patrick shares his secret flies 

The next day we meet our sports to hone in their spey casting skills and fish the evening hatch. PJ and I miss the evening fish and head to Altmar.  She’s from Canada and new to the sport, is on a sole mission to  submerge herself in the Spey culture and what a better way than a full day lesson and off to Spey Nations for the weekend.

Malinda - Malinda's Fly Shop

Hand Crafted Fly Box by Adelcio Chavez

Get your Dunkin Donuts at the Simms Booth

We arrive at  Tailwater Lodge on the Salmon River.  Greeted with laughter’s and hugs by Patrick Ross and his friends as well as West coast locals Travis Johnston and James Shaughnessy, we’re happy to be there and eat  crab fitters and best burgers I've had hands down!  Patrick’s , a  long time angler who owns the Anglers Lodge where the first Spey Nations took place,  he has been hosting West Coasters since.  It's great to have local knowledge and a down to earth host.  Saturday morning arrives and PJ and I head to the Spey Nations location on the Salmon River. 

Spey Nations started as a format to share the passion for Atlantic Salmon, raise awareness for a fishery that people love and the two handed culture.  With coffee in hand we are greeted with hand shacks and hospitality.  The lot is lined with industry booths and people hustling to say hi to old friends and make new ones. The vibe is about having a good time and sharing the fervor we all have for preserving the fish we love and promoting the sport we are nuts about.   The evening ends with beers, BBQ and laughs and preparing for a class the next day with a group of awesome women that are avid anglers and the token guy (just kidding Ron).

Sunday’s class is a blast teaching single speys and snake rolls and working on casting with the non dominant hand up. We laugh, talk about fishing and flies.  I’ve made new friends and this is what our sport is about! 

Spey Army

After the class Patrick, Travis , Captin Jamie and I  head out for  a Northern Pike mission near Lake Ontario. This is my first time seeing Lake Ontario and I feel like I’m standing in the Kodiak harbor. Seagulls fly over head and sport boats line the docks.  What feels like a sea breeze chills the air. We launch “Team Water Spyder” and shoot up an estuary. Rods are rigged and 30 pound mono is tied on. We cast towards grassy banks and strip.  Patrick’s fly lands, a head turns and the speed of the Pike leaves a boil the size of Old Faithful.   We fish till we can’t see any more missing some great takes and landing a couple juveniles.  What a great way to end an East Coast trip.

Caption Jamie leads the way! 

Little but strong !

Lily's on the water

Rushing back to the West coast to pick up Tegan and hightail it back to Maupin for work and preparing for a session with Ron Wyden on the Oregon Economy and Recreation. I’m thrown back to the hustle of our life and grateful to have the opportunity to visit the East Coast and make new friends!  Thanks to all the good folks that made my trip possible and all the new friends I made, too many to list. Thank you Geoff and the Spey Nations Crew, Patrick Ross, Andrew and Nanacy Moy, Tailwater Lodge, Melinda’s Fly and Tackle Shop, Jamie Perry, Travis Johnston, Joe and Delores Saracione, Simms Fishing, Rajeffs Sports and  Costa Del Mar.  . An extra big thanks to my sister and brother in law for watching Tegan!!