POD – Mastermind behind the Audio

Feb 23rd POD was shot this week.  As Erik Rambo does his thing with the Audio and Video on our latest project.  More coming soon.

Sipping Dries

Had a great email back and forth session with Simon today, check out one of his videos. Working on getting this type of footage and working on getting this good in the editing room. Thanks for sharing Simon! Nice work!

Sipping Dry trailer from Sharptail Media on Vimeo.

Picture of the Day Feb 13th, 2012

Feb 13th Picture of the Day

An unidentified  clinging mayfly.  More than likely a cahill or sulphur.  Did a little macro work on a small creek near the house.  Just needed to get out and stretch the legs.  Click on picture to make it bigger.

look close you can see more tails

Picture of the Day Feb 9th, 2012

Going to try and do this more often.  Publish pictures from the days on the water.

Feb 9th 2012 was a bright blue bird sunny day, and hunting any type of wildlife or fish was a little more difficult.  Did have two red-shoulder hawks flying near by but just out of 400mm.  But here is a pic using the bright sun as a back drop on a silver rainbow trout’s tail fin.

Favorite Super Bowl Commerical

Rag Style Clown Egg

I would say about 10 years ago a good friend and fellow fly-fishing guide at the time Fred Stueber showed me my first clown egg.  He also showed me a popular way how to tie an egg, popular that is out west, and the rag style clown has been a staple in my fly box since.

Just finished a how to tie video for the Hawkins site and thought I would also post it here, as it is one of my KISS Flies (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Rag Style Clown Egg

Steelhead versus streamer video

Had a blast making this one.  Both on the river and in the editing room

Steelhead versus streamer from Mangled Fly Media on Vimeo.

Steelhead versus streamer

Hope you enjoy.

Toys from 2011

One of the things that kinda bugs me about the new reviews that come out this time of year , are the listing of items at are “new”, and they write a review about them.  Stating how cool they are, how well they work, and how they changed the game.  Really how do they know?  2012 has not even happened yet.  So what I wanted to do, is talk a couple items that changed the way I took photo’s, video’s, and fished in 2011.  The products that made the cut, and I’ll use again in 2012.  While this was a spur of the moment post.  Come back to it, I might add a couple things.

GoPro Camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

By far the most fun I had in 2011 with “new stuff” was with my GoPro.  These little camera are amazing.  And now with the new GoPro2 coming out.  Some of the little problems that the GoPro has, (the fact you need to carry directions with you at all times) will be resolved.  Durability, light weight, 1080 video, size, and creative angles. Are what make the GoPro one of my favorite toys.

 

Suction Cup Mount

One of the best toys from 2011 was the GoPro, but one of the best accessories that I purchased was the Suction Cup Mount, that is found on the Motor Sports Edition.  Their are endless applications to this mount.  And what was best about this accessory is that it really did stick.  The large suction cup was powerful enough to support the GoPro and you believed in it’s holding power.  Nobody wants to lose their GoPro.

Extreme Skagit Head

While this product did not make it into my hands until the end of the year.  It did change the way that I could teach new and experienced anglers how to fish.  SA listened to the guides and reps and came out with an Intermediate line that was extremely fishy, and gave anglers new to the art of spey casting the ability to make the cast needed to catch fish.  Go to SA for more details.   But this line in two months in the fall was the cat’s meow of swing lines, and will continue to be a go to favorite in the boat.

 

 

New Hawkins Steelhead Video

Just uploaded a new Hawkins Steelhead Video Highlight.  Had the chance to capture hours of footage and here is a short 4 min clip from the banner 2011 fall.  Hope to create another video during the next few weeks.  Hope you enjoy!

Muskie on the Fly, a bucket-list fish

Guest Writer : Jerome Seid

Writing about his Musky Adventure that we took this September. Enjoy.

Jerome’s first Musky on a Fly

Getting the Muskie Off My Back


Not that I needed to drive so far to find the damned fish. But it seemed like a great way to put myself in a position to accomplish that which I had been unable to do for several years – hook and land a muskie on the fly. Sure I had gone out with other guides on Lake St Clair several times. The reputation as a world class muskie fishery kept me coming back. Yet each time I tried, the conditions weren’t right, my double haul deteriorated into only a single and the wind and temps wouldn’t cooperate. Needless to say I was becoming quite frustrated at the prospect of not hooking and landing one of those toothy creatures. Once I even fooled myself into thinking that the resistance I felt after a great cast with my over-lined 8 weight Sage stick was a strike – never saw it but it made me believe a bit more. So when JR came up with some hare-brained idea to hit the river for a couple of days for muskie, I couldn’t refuse. I had to do this – it was on my fishing “bucket list’ and I knew it must be done.
The mid-September morning started out with a mist eerily shrouding the launch site – making it difficult to see but a bluebird sky was in the forecast. The tannin stained water moved slowly, almost oozing, and the center trough looked deep and menacing – I could only imagine the mayhem lurking beneath the surface. As we slowly made our way down (or was it up) stream, I could barely conceal my excitement. The thought of stalking such fish in such a remote and tranquil place was overwhelming. Maybe 50 – 60 feet wide at some points, the edges held weeds and steep drop-offs – no way was I going to wade into that. The banks were swampy looking – no place to stand easily. Lots of small baitfish were visible in the shallows and the sandhill cranes were busy along the shore –a good sign if you ask me. So we slowly drifted, using the silent trolling motor casting from the boat deck, taking turns. They say that muskie are fish of 10,000 casts, and that may be an underestimate! Throwing large 6 inch streamers over and over again was starting to wear me down, but we kept at it. Beaver dams the size of small cars, weeds, river elbows – any ambush point – we hit – over and over again. I can’t recall how many miles we covered that first day. Then, JR had one hit and hooked – Sure enough, I was looking the other way when it happened –isn’t that always the case – but it was still the first step toward our, that is my goal. The fight wasn’t what we’d expected, but the fish was gorgeous – we spent several minutes taking photos, video and even an underwater release. My photography skills need to be honed a bit, I’ll admit but I think some of the shots were decent. Okay, my turn, I thought. Cast #5,285, cast #5286, cast #5287…. Where is that bastard? Okay – Have a snack, smoke a cigar, settle down now, it’ll happen.
JR gets into another slashing fish – nicer than the first one – more video and still shots. By this time it was getting late, and we had little idea how long it would take us to motor back to the launch site. With a few stops at some of the previous holes that we had fished on the way down and marked on the GPS, it didn’t take long for us to cover the distance. Hell, there was no one else on the whole river for those many miles. We even tried some video footage as we sped upstream (or was it downstream?). Then I am feeling a tug – not quite the explosion I was waiting for – northern pike – Hell, at this point I’ll take anything. 3 or 4 Northerns later as the sun was setting, I’m disappointed, wondering if I’m destined not to have my muskie today or any day. Now I was feeling the pressure to get it done the next day.
We sat at the local restaurant that night reliving the day’s experience, planning our next day – feeling exhausted but exhilarated. I had to console my partner – he had hoped it would have been my first that
day, but he quickly got over it as we enjoyed the photos and video that evening back in the room. It didn’t take long for either of us to pass out in front of the football game on TV.
Monday started out rainy and cooler – we put on waders and rain gear to provide extra warmth – glad I did – September in that part of the state can get cold – we joked how we could be standing in snow in 2 weeks up there. But the gray skies made the visibility better – I had vowed to fish hard and deliberate that day. I couldn’t match my partner’s casts for distance, but I soon learned that the distance didn’t matter. Within the first hour as I was stripping that yellow streamer from the weed edge through the deepest part of the river, not 10 feet from the boat, I saw the fish come up from the depths , look at my offering, and turn – first away (keep stripping, keep stripping!) then back and accelerate towards it. Thwack! I yanked at the fly line and felt the fish shake its head and the hook was home. It didn’t take long to get the bastard to the net – photo stills and an underwater video of the release completed the deal. I was done – the rest was gravy. We had many additional opportunities that day followed, both of us with swings and misses – even strikes on large poppers along the banks. These monsters truly required work and JR and I both felt that we had done our fair share over those two days. My shoulders and elbows were paying the price, but I had gotten the fish I had been dreaming of for years, on my terms, on the fly, on a river of immense beauty and solitude. What more could I ask for? I had gotten that muskie off my back.

Jerome

Check out the short musky_clip for additional highlights!