Have a new sticker, from our popular Swing Fly logo from last fall had a few requests for a sticker. Now you can add the Mangled Fly Swing logo to your favorite cooler, truck window, or coffee mug. Same great quality as the rest of our stickers. Check it out and get yours today.
Sticker is approximately 7″x4″
With it being streamer tying season we have a new video on our Vimeo page to share. Russ Maddin shares another streamer that is a must tie. Using Egg Yarn for the head gives this Maddin creation great action. Add a few of his techniques to your box and have a great trout season. Make sure to watch until the end, as Russ breaks down what line and leader setup to use when fishing this great fly.
I just wanted to share my personal experiences with two of Scott’s flagship two handed rods, the Radian 1257 and the Radian 1259.
A while back, we reviewed the 1308 Radian, and were very pleased with it as a great big river rod. The Radian 1257 is a 12’6″ 7 weight rod. Many of the 7 weight two handed rods that you might cast that are on the light side. You would not consider them as a primary rod for big rivers like the Muskegon or the Manistee. However, the 1257 has some nice horsepower, and can elegantly cast a 480 grain skagit head with 8-10 feet of t14 (Note that the recommended Skagit with this rod is 520 but given the tips I use, I prefer 480). This will cover a lot of the scenarios encountered on our river systems.
Because of its light weight and sensitivity, I find myself using this rod to fish the edges of the river in the winter months. Fishing in the winter in this manner requires a rod with a lot of tactile feel because you are mending the line, allowing the fly to get to the bottom, and then engaging it. In a nutshell, this rod is very sensitive and is a pleasure to use for this purpose. Furthermore, because the edges of the river often contain trout as well as steelhead, using the lighter rod keeps things fun for me and my clients. This rod is capable of long casts, but I find myself using it in close. When fighting a fish, it protects tippets well.
Though I have only used it for swinging, I could see this as a good indicator rod. If you do not want the added weight of an 8 or 9 weight, this 7 weight can handle most situations you will encounter on medium to large rivers in the Great Lakes region. It is a very sweet rod indeed.
Now let’s talk about the Radian 1259. As you can imagine, it is a totally different beast than the 1257. This rod is very stiff and very powerful. This is a new rod in Scott’s Radian lineup, and as such, I have been using it for a couple of months. During those months, I have put it through its paces. For my purposes, this rod is best for down and dirty fishing at short to medium range. This is not a rod for everyone, and does not have the agile feeling of the 1257 or the 1308 Radian. Typically, I use this rod with a 560 or 600 grain Freightliner Intermediate Skagit, and a significant amount of T14 or a short and compressed head of T17 or T20. In this configuration, it makes easy work of casting a heavy line with a heavy fly. If I had to point out one drawback of this rod, it does not inspire as much confidence when fighting a quick moving steelhead. The rod is very stiff and those panicked head shakes are nerve wracking with this stick.
I see the best applications of this rod as specialty rod for big fish, big tips, heavy tippet, and big flies in relatively close quarters–steelhead in timber or big king salmon in coastal regions come to mind. For these applications, this rod is a gem. I could also see an application for this in surf fishing as it could shoot line well into wind and waves.
I hope you enjoyed this review. If you have any questions about Scott rods, please contact Scott pro staffers Kevin Feenstra or Jon Ray.
Thank you for reading! Tight Lines!
Mangled Fly will be taking over the Social Media Feed for Scientific Anglers Instagram feed make sure to check it out and give us a few likes. Thank you for the opportunity SA! I’ll embed a few of the images during the week here so make sure to check back and follow as well if your not on Instagram.
Good friend and fellow muskie chaser Eli Berant spent some time with SVS Fishing if your interested and learning more about Eli and why he started streamer fishing check out this podcast. I personally buy a few dozen flies from Eli each year, make sure to check out Eli’s site as well if you want a few flies for predator fish. Eli’s interview starts around the 7 min mark.
A couple impressive fish from a few Mangled Fly customers. First is Bob H. who was fishing with world famous Muskie Guide Blane Chocklett and scores a dandy muskie on the fly. Nice work Bob! Bob wearing one of the old school Digital Camo Hats with the old hook logo. Great to see the hat is doing you well!
Kean also sent in this impressive trout pic from his latest journey to Chile. Kean who has always been a believer in the power of the Digital Camo Hat scores another impressive trout while wearing his lucky charm. Great fish Kean! Fish was caught on a circus peanut we tied for Kean, with a special blend of southern hemisphere colors.
Really enjoyed this short video because of the honest truth of it all. I get the opportunity to guide and fish for muskie a few weeks a year. This video really does capture most of the days, it’s a Grind. But the belief that you need to have as angler that the next cast could be the one, is what I really do enjoy.
Congrats to Ed McCoy and his client Antoine on a very special steelhead. A brute of a fish caught on the swing, 17 pounds of double strip Manistee River Steelhead.
Check out the latest This Is Fly, great photography and some interesting stories.
Grand Traverse Bay Smallmouth Bass