A.A. Survey - The Future of Fly Fishing

A few months ago American Angler posted a survey on their website entitled "The Future of Fly Fishing" asking readers this question...

"Who are the faces of fly fishing’s future? Where are the anglers, explorers, fly tiers, film makers, and conservationists who are making fly fishing not only a sport, but their life’s calling?"


Recently I sat back and started counting up the number of people under 40 years of age that I knew from the couple of forums that contribute, the ever growing list of writers, bloggers, photographers, videographers, artists, and committed fish bums that I knew who are already trying to make the right decisions get noticed within the industry. Maybe this survey will help in it's own way.

So, if you have a few minutes between now and the end of December take a few minutes to send along your choices. There is a new generation in fly fishing and they are approaching the sport from a noticeably different angle and perspective.

T.F.M. Spotting - Ultralight Jeremy

I have known Jeremy Kurtz for the past couple of years on the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum and over that time I watched him take his philosophy on ultralight fly angling and created a growing forum called the Ultralight Fly Fishing Forum.

(Jeremy with his son on the Little Beaver Creek.)

Jeremy explains his thought on fishing ultralight rods... "My reasons for fishing ultalight are pretty straight forward. Panfish and small mountain stream trout aren't much fun to catch on heavier tackle, so a three weight or lighter rod really is the way to go in order to be able to actually enjoy the fight of smaller fish. I fish with a two weight graphite most of the time, but I also like to fish the Lamiglas 7' 3wt "Honey Glass" that I built. It's quite a versatile rod, and I've used it for panfish, smallmouth bass (over lined with a 4wt line for bass), and even carp."

Visit the Ultralight Fly Fishing Forum and you'll find many anglers committed to the idea of light line fly rods for chasing fish of all sorts.

What We're Playing For - Fishy Kid Contest

I thought I’d tip everyone off what we’re playing for in the Adult Coloring Contest which ends on November 30th on the Fishy Kid website.

There are some great pages submitted in the gallery so far but we could always use a few more.


As always, our Fishy Kid gear sponsors gave up some unreal prizes for us to use for this contest.

What we are playing for so far is an Osprey Stratos 24 backpack, Bug Slinger The Way Hoodie, Cliff Outdoors Bugger Barn fly box, four Moffitt Angling System kits, two Recycled Waders wallets, four Angling Buff Wear, four Mountain Khaki pro discount cards, DVD copies of Rivers of a Lost Coast, Nervous Water, No Sports Allowed, Soulfish, Once In A Blue Moon, and The Drift.

So…you can see that this contest is no joke. Get your pages up this week since the contest is quickly winding down.

The children's coloring contest is also ending on November 30th as well and I've got many prizes to send for that contest too.

Email us at gofish@fishykid.org if you have any questions.

Mrs. Manifesto's "Diaper Creel" Review

My husband seems to think that I need to explain where I got the idea of taking a manly fishing bag and turning it into a diaper bag. First, let me say that we are a bag family. I was on the hunt for the perfect diaper bag for Finn and as soon as I laid eyes on the Recycled Waders Messenger Creel, I knew it was THE BAG for our little man.

Finn's "Diaper Creel" is very durable and has a soft but rugged texture. Most importantly it cleans up well and withstands baby drool and other baby happenings! It features enough spacious pockets to separate the clean from the soiled, and pacifers and food from toys and hand wipes. Conveniently, it even has a pocket for my iPhone and other necessities.


I really like the fact that the bag is lightweight and easy to carry or to stow. That's a big deal when lugging around a twenty pounder that wiggles constantly, I don't want to be weighed down by a big and bulky bag. The overall quality of the bag is excellent. I am a new convert to Recycled Waders first and foremost because I really love the fact that each bag is made of used waders. Not only is this company doing it's part to protect our environment, but the multipurpose "diaper creel" is sharp and will serve many functions throughout the years.

If Finn's bag could tell tales I'd be interested to know the waters our creel has seen in its former life as a rain jacket or waders. This bag already has personality! I believe that since Finn will surely have the need to satisfy an insatiable wanderlust such as the rest of the "Manifesto" household, the "diaper creel" will journey many beautiful places as it transitions into Finn's own gear bag. Many thanks to R.W. for this outstanding product. Now if only I could convince them to make a large bib, a changing pad, and a pacifier tether for my little future fly fisherman!!!

2010 T.F.M. T-SHIRT UNVEILED!

Readers of T.F.M. may recall a recent "T.F.M. Spotting" post featuring the artwork of my longtime friend, Seth Morrison. When he sent me a photo of his ink drawing my first thought was that it would make an unreal screen on a shirt. Fast forward six months and now it is.

(The back art for the 2010 T.F.M. t-shirt.)

Xdzines sent me a couple of the new shirts this week to give them a once over and I could not be more impressed.

The 2010 T.F.M. t-shirts will be offered in dark brown and in both short and long sleeves.

Look for an order to start on December 1st with delivery in mid January.

T.F.M. Spotting - "Flying Antifesto"

Last winter when Amelia Maddox asked me to send her a couple T.F.M. decals for a canvas she had in mind, I really didn't know what direction she would go with it.

A few months later she sent me a link to this canvas which she dubbed the "Flying Antifesto". The results are nothing short of stellar!

Check out the rest of this summer's Bug Gut Art on her website.

Brian Schiele is "The Holga Master"

Recently Brian Schiele posted a few photographs on the Itinerant Angler forum that caught my eye. I was even more intrigued when I found out he was taking these photos on Holga cameras which to some is nothing more than a toy.


I thought it would be neat to introduce Brian Schiele to T.F.M. readers and sent him a short interview that I really appreciate him taking the time to answer.

How did you get introduced to Holga cameras and where has the journey taken you?

I was first introduced to them back in college, in the early 90’s, at Weber State University, here in Utah. I wasn’t very receptive to them at the time, because I was on a very different path with my photography at the time, a photojournalist/documentary one. I gave in so to speak, on my second to last quarter of school, when my son was born and I needed a project for the quarter. It would be a few years after that first use of a Holga that I really got into them.

Fast forward to 1999/2000 I had gotten divorced and had these series of dreams about mountain biking which were extremely vivid, so vivid that I had to recreate them in photographs, which I did using a Holga. Using the Holga I was able to recreate those dreamy visions I had, you can see these photographs in the “Singletrack Dreams” section on my website. I enjoy the challenge of making photographs with such a rudimentary camera, I think it makes me a better more creative photographer. Life is fast paced enough, when I am out photographing, I want to slow down things and really take in the scene and experience I am photographing, using a Holga I am able to just that and make interesting and creative photographs at the same time.


When I go fishing I have at least two with me, one that I do my straight photographs with and a second that I am trying do some double exposures with. In the latter camera I am using a slower film, Kodak Plus-X in this case, whereas I normally use Kodak Tri-X.

I think there are some similarities with using a Holga and fly fishing as far as equipment goes anyway. Both are pretty simple, yet challenging to use in order to get really good effects, once you master it though, the results can be incredible I think the Tenkara rods and the whole aesthetic with them have an even closer connection to Holgas, a Tenkara set up will be my next fishing purchase.


What type of Holga are you shooting with, modifications, and how many do you have?

I have six Holgas, all of which I have bought or have had modified from www.holgamods.com. Half of them are the original “S” version and the other half are the newer “N” version. Randy at www.holgmods.com got so good at doing what he does with them the factory in China that makes Holgas must have gotten a hold of one his modified “S” models that they put a lot of the things like the bulb shutter option and the tripod hole on the “N” model, the mods he does are better than what’s on the unmodified ones. Two of the "S" versions have the bulb and tripod modifications, while the third is a PinHolga, a pinhole Holga that has the lens taken off; the "N" models just have the standard modifications. All six cameras have the inside painted black, it helps increase image contrast.

I have painted four of my Holgas, red, yellow, green and blue. I do it for two reasons, first because it’s a fun way to personalize and add a little character to each camera, and secondly I do it as a way to know what film I like in the different cameras and/or the purpose of an individual camera. In the red one I put color slide film in, in the yellow one, I put color print film in, the green is the one I do the double exposures in and have the slower black and white film in the blue one I am going to use as a macro camera.


What does a Holga do that other cameras don't? How does a Holga change the game up especially when using it photography fly fishing scenes?

I think Holgas are a fun camera, I think everyone who does photography should have one, and they are that fun and different. Using a Holga or another toy camera is a different aesthetic, in that the results you get from using one are more about the beauty of the imperfect. The results you get with using one aren’t all that sharp, and you’ll often get light leaks, which in my opinion have a way of either enhancing the composition of the photograph or adding some other element that you never even thought about.

I also think that Holgas, are very versatile cameras, you can put 35mm film through for some great effects and you can do panoramas, or as they more commonly known as to those that use them “Holgaramas” and doing double exposures are extremely easy to do too.



I think what I am doing as far as fly fishing photography goes is unique in that, it’s black and white, and in the square format and not to mention that I am using a toy camera. I have seen something similar, but it wasn’t done with a Holga or another toy camera.

You might think that you can get the same results using a digital camera, and Photoshop, which you can of course, but what’s the fun and challenge in that...

It didn't take more than a week or so of looking through his website and Flickr site before I had to order my own Holga which arrived last week. It's time to delve back into the realm of film again.

T.F.M. Spotting - Dr. Fly Art Studio

Not only does Dr. Neal Osborn use his camera skills within the medical field but he also writes photography reviews, fly tying tutorials, and puts together unreal slideshows on his website, Fly Art Studio.

Awhile back Neal sent along this photograph of his T.F.M. t-shirt laying on his tying desk where he gets work done on the vise.

Check out Neal Osborn's work on Fly Art Studio and also on Midcurrent.com from time to time as well.

A River Never Sleeps Symposium

T.F.M. Friend Sam Snyder tipped us off about an upcoming symposium which is called "A River Never Sleeps" that will be held November 21st, 2009 at the National Sporting Library in Middleburg, Virginia.

Sam Snyder along with a short list of other speakers will be presenting that day. It's looks like a full day of smart people speaking on very interesting topics.

For more information please check out the symposium website.

T.F.M. Spotting - Hitoshi in Toyko

Over the course of the past year or so it has been a pleasure to get to know Hitoshi Takemura through his blog and emails. Even though I may not be able to read his blog and his emails are sometimes "lost in translation", our mutual interest in fly fishing and gear has made for some interesting conversations.

Hitoshi came across Recycled Waders gear through T.F.M. and since then has ordered over fifty pieces for himself and friends. Hitoshi also fields a couple dozen emails a day from anglers in Japan asking him about the Recycled Waders gear that he has posted on his blog.

Now Hitoshi is interested in Reel Pure and has had a couple shipments go over of their gear as well.

Great to see these two brands go global!

This is one of Hitoshi's favorite fly rods with the rod tube tagged with a T.F.M. decal. It's a an eight foot five weight glass rod by R.L.Winston which was made with Grizzly blank (pre Fenwick from 1959).

Hitoshi, thank you for representing T.F.M. in Japan! It is very much appreciated.

T.S.C. Single Spey Reels Are Coming!

The long awaited Single Spey trout reels from The Spey Company are getting closer to reality with parts for 250 trout reels arriving at T.S.C.'s reel making shop in Green Bay, Wisconsin in the very near future.

(This is more tease than anything else. I want to see more!)

For those of you on the waiting list, and I am one too, we should be getting an email soon to start the process of building a reel. What to chose with so many cool configurations?

Check out T.S.C.'s family of spey reels, tube fly materials, along with the new Symmetry two hander rods. There is even a six weight fiberglass two hander in the mix as well. I am intrigued.

T.F.M. Spotting - Canada Mike

Over the past ten years of living in the south the reminiscing of growing up in Michigan surface strongest when the leaves begin the change and the weather shifts to fall. In my mind I should be looking for steelhead and salmon. Hard to reprogram even with mild weather, yellow barbecue sauce, and the ability to still wear shorts in November.

Mike Fitzgerald, of Wilson's Fly Shop, has been sending me photos and messages for the past month rubbing it in about his steelhead and salmon trips to waters near Toronto, Ontario.

From the looks of this set, the T.F.M. t-shirt has some "big fish mojo" in it, eh? Now we just need to get you a couple fiberglass sticks to chase trout, carp, and salmon with.

T.F.M. Interviews Jim Bartschi of Scott

With the introduction of the Scott Custom Shop and the Fiberhammer Two Hand Assist rod arriving in shops in early 2010, I thought it might be a good time to talk with Jim Bartschi of Scott Fly Rod Company to hear his about his history and what Scott has up their sleeves right now.

As President and rod designer of the Scott Fly Rod Company, can you walk us through your history with Scott and the fly fishing industry?

Sure. I’ve been involved with fly fishing all of my life, starting out in fly shops, guiding and eventually landing a job with Scott Fly Rods when they were still based in San Francisco. I was very fortunate to work with the founder, Harry Wilson.

For the past eight years, I’ve served as President in addition to my long running role as Rod Designer.


How have you seen the Scott Fly Rod Company evolve and change over the years?

We’ve certainly become better and more consistent rod builders over the past 35 years as our understanding of materials and process have evolved. We’ve also held on to many of the traditions that Harry started when he was at the forefront of rod design using a ‘new’ material in the seventies called graphite.

We’ve also grown the company into a globally recognized and distributed brand.

Have there been people that you’ve considered mentors both inside and out of Scott Fly Rod Company? How has this affected your approach to designing fly rods as well?

Harry Wilson certainly had a great impact on my ideas regarding rod design. It’s a very small community so over the years I’ve had dialogs with most of the other rod designers out there.

I’ve also carried on relationships with some friend in engineering and applied mathematics fields who have spent years working on the technical challenges of defining fly rod action that have been very meaningful.

The Scott pro staff is another group who have had a major impact on how I think about and approach design. Their empirical feedback on rod performance in actual on the water situations has been invaluable.

Being that you produce all of your fly rods in Montrose, Colorado, how do you remain competitive with the larger fly rod companies and the companies that build their product elsewhere?

As I stated above, we’ve really refined our rod building practices over the past 35 years and have become pretty good at it. I think there is always a place for products that perform at the highest levels and consequently deliver a lot of value.


Tell me a little bit about the development of the Fiberhammer Two Hand Assist rod. Where did this idea come from, with what type of fishing will this fly rod excel, and what differences and advantages does this switch rod have over others being that it has been built with fiberglass instead of graphite?

Each year we introduce limited edition Concept Rods. They are a platform for trying new ideas that come to us from our community or from an idea we’ve been interested in. They don’t really fit into any rod series or category.

With the growth in interest in two handed and switch rods, and the rapid development in lines to better match them, we felt that we were in a unique position to introduce a rod that applied some of the advantages of fiberglass and gave anglers access to a more traditional or historical feeling rod for swinging flies.

The rod is really intended for swing fishing inside 80 feet, but you know what they say about intentions. We’re already hearing of people using it for indicator high sticking, pocket water fishing and a number of techniques that weren’t on our list originally.

Using glass allows the rod to load deep into the cork while casting a playing fish. It’s a very different experience than fishing a graphite rod of similar length and line weight.

Can you provide any information about future projects and address a few rumors as well? Is there an eight foot five weight Fibertouch in the works and is there any truth to the rumors of fiberglass fly rods being rolled in brown or yellow glass again? Anything else you’d like to dispel or pass along to T.F.M. readers?

You’ve got some good sources. The best I can do is to let you and T.F.M readers know we’ll be expanding our fiberglass line up significantly.
It’s a material we really believe in and we’re proud to be the only fly rod company that builds high performance rods from graphite, fiberglass and bamboo.

The Scott Custom Shop was unveiled at the Fly Fishing Retail show a couple of weeks ago in Denver. Can you explain how the Scott Custom Shop will work and what this will mean for customers? How will orders be placed, what options are available, and what will the average build times be when a rod is ordered?

The Scott Custom Shop highlights some of our unique abilities as premium rod builders and offers our customers, who tend to be dedicated fly anglers, the opportunity to fish rods that are unique and personalized. It’s about having something different from off-the-shelf rods whether for specialized fishing applications or bragging rights.

Orders will be placed online at www.scottcustomshop.com either at an authorized dealer’s shop or at home through the authorized dealer’s link.

We’re currently offering all our single handed fresh and saltwater blanks. We’re focusing heavily on custom traditional hardware like blued nickel silver seats with rope knurls and Snake Brand extra select agate stripping guides. We’re offering many unique grip shapes all turned from the highest quality cork harvested.

We’re also offering some unique saltwater and big game components like machined all titanium seats. It’s really comprehensive.

That being said, we’ve already received a lot of requests we didn’t anticipate (like building a rod from a G Series blank) so the Custom Shop will definitely evolve over the years to accommodate new ideas and requests we receive.

(The "F" 703/3 that is always behind Jim Bartschi's truck seat.)

Finally, you’ve certainly tested and fished many of the fiberglass fly rods that Scott has produced over the years so in your opinion which is your favorite glass rod and can you recall an experience where you’ve fished that rod and where?

My two favorite Scott glass rods are the current F703/3 (7’ 3 weight three piece) and one of my vintage yellow glass rods that Harry built, a F75 (7.5’ 4-5 weight two piece).

One of the rods that all of us at Scott own and fish in common is the F703/3. It’s ideally suited to the high country creeks here in Colorado so it gets a lot of time in the summer when I’m fishing for native cutthroat. There have been so many great experiences with this rod, I couldn’t pick one. I suppose it’s enough to say that it stays in the truck all summer, every summer.

Look for more information on the Fiberhammer in future posts on T.F.M. along with with any news coming out of Montrose, Colorado that I catch wind of.

T.F.M. Spotting - Daniel at the GGACC

Daniel Galhardo, founder of Tenkara USA, is also one of the directors of the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club in San Francisco, California and caught wearing his T.F.M. t-shirt around the grounds.


A well-known institution in the world of fly-fishing since 1938, the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club has been home to many innovations in the industry. It also served as a bit of a laboratory for the testing and development of tenkara rods by Tenkara USA.


Stellar to see T.F.M. being represented on the left coast and I can't wait to see what comes next from Tenkara USA.

Fishy Kid Adult Coloring Contest

As promised, we've decided to run an Adult Coloring Contest on the Fishy Kid website for the entire month of November. We'll be setting up a gallery for the adult entries on the Fishy Kid website. The first part of December we'll set up a poll and vote our top three winners for the contest.


I am still putting together the three top prize packs but so far we're playing for a stack of DVD's such as Nervous Waters, Soulfish, Rivers of a Lost Coast, The Drift, No Sports Allowed, Once in a Blue Moon, and then other gear from Mountain Khakis, Moffitt Angling, Buff Wear,Cliff Outdoors and a backpack from Osprey Packs.

These prize packs are going to be stacked with fishy goodness.

So, it's time to register on the Fishy Kid website, print off a coloring book, sharpen the coloring pencils, and let your arty inner Fishy Kid shine through.

If you have any questions please feel free to email us at gofish@fishykid.org.