Momos Wild

Well, there’s nothing like sliding into this gear review right as summer is quickly flipping the switch to fall.  I never want to push time as I do enjoy our South Carolina summers even though they are hot as Hell with humidity that does not end.

Our summer has been uncertain, just like everyone else’s, as 2020 keeps throwing curve balls but we’ve spent quite a bit of time outdoors and on the water.  We even made a few (careful with precautions) road trips happen which we needed.

This is a little embarrassing but this gear review is late enough in the summer season that there are a couple of items (one from Filson and then another from Rep Your Water) that are no longer available.  We’re going to push on through and this is a good reminder that I need to be a little more timely on these seasonal

It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has hit so many in so many different ways.  Travel, especially to international destinations, continues to be shut down and even when it opens there may be many who will hesitate to travel anywhere anytime soon.

Yellow Dog Community & Conservation Foundation has kicked off a fundraiser with the help of AFFTA and a growing list of industry partners to support Belizean guides who have likely not worked and may be slow to return to work when the country reopens in October.

I have a real soft spot for Belize.  It’s where my journey (which I am still on) to catch a permit began and in a half dozen trips to Dangriga, Hopkins, and Placencia, there are people, places, foods and Belikins, and of course memories of the flats that fuel a constant need to return.

We’ll get past this damn virus, but

In 2004, we bought our Honda Element and I guess it wasn’t too much later that we found out that Melissa was pregnant with our first child.  Fast forward to the next summer and Hadley was born.  We brought her home from the hospital in the Element and I still remember being so suddenly freaked out by every driver on road now that I had this seemingly fragile infant buckled in the backseat in her car seat.

That infant turned into a child who’s turned into a teenager and like every parent you’ll talk to, life has seemingly moved in fast forward.  We now have a fifteen-year-old…with her driver’s permit. 

Hadley’s actually been driving for a couple of years now around the backroads and trails of my wife’s family property where we live.  She’s always been careful and understood from our first lessons the responsibility of what driving is.

We’ve

I kind of got ahead of myself with the last ‘Good Eats‘ post which detailed our salmon cakes recipe since the main ingredient is already having salmon that has been grilled and then flaked.  I wanted to share a quick and easy marinade that we use which is great for the salmon cakes and just as good for a stand-alone salmon preparation.

You might notice the WhistlePig maple syrup in the photo below which arrived on my doorstep as part of a care package that I’ve been using in the kitchen this summer.  This is great Vermont maple syrup.  Thanks again, Whistlepig.

For reference, I’m doing the recipe math off of a single salmon filet and not two as in the photograph above.  Also, in the recipe below, going heavy on the maple syrup will make it sweeter or heavy on soy will send the overall taste that

Keeping up with the upcoming content on this website is always in a state of flux and I have a Gmail folder where I stow emails that are everything from ideas emails to full-on cut and paste over to here to publish. If I’m not careful, I can get a overwhelmed with what’s in there or already in draft on the website.

Yesterday, I started out this email folder and it quickly went from over two hundred emails to less than 50.  Now I have the makings of several dozen posts and uncovered a few gems, including this one of favorite warmwater flies from Bart Lombardo of Panfish on the Fly.

Here are Bart’s seven “must-have” patterns to round out your summertime warmwater fly fox…

THE TRIANGLE BUG

Maybe it’s from listening to every new episode of the Mill House podcast the day that it’s released. Or on nights that I think that I might have a hard time falling asleep, Maxence Cyrin’s cover of the Pixies song ‘Where Is My Mind‘ puts me out with the end scene from 120 Days of a tarpon leaving earth in slow motion replaying over and over in my head.  Tarpon, they’ve been on my mind.

So when my flight to Montana was scraped with a short and to the point email from Delta, I sent a text to Captain Greg Peterson of Headshot Charters to see if he had any end of season days open?  I figured that Florida isn’t too far away and I could get down there by driving while taking precautions during this damn pandemic. He responded back with a phone call we worked out

The other day Nathan Fulcrum’s Blue Halo seven weight fly rod build popped up on my Instagram (#glassisnotdead posts are over 64,000 and growing…) feed and I was kinda blown away by it.  Not only did it feature some fancy “carp scale” decorative thread wraps on the butt section of the fly rod but he also tapped Tim Johnson for a one-of-a-kind Timmy Grip and an airbrush art fly rod tube by Scaly Designs.  It all came together as something pretty special. 

Lastly, from a performance standpoint, the Blue Halo Retroflex 3 seven weight continues to be my personal favorite from the line-up and perfect as a dedicated carp fly rod.

Nathan wrote…  “As for the story and inspiration behind it, that’s a bit of a rabbit hole. I’ve been building rods for several years now mainly for personal use, with the occasional friend or family project in

Did “corona” mess up your plans to attend the Fly Fishing Film Tour this year?  It did mine and I’m glad to see that the F3T crew has regrouped and planned for a virtual event that will kick off on Thursday, August 27, 2020, and you can choose to attend either the national tour show or one of the many regional events which will benefit local conservation causes.

From the F3T presser…  “Earlier this spring, the F3T abruptly hit pause on our 2020 Fly Fishing Film Tour to ensure public safety and adhere to state guidelines surrounding the pandemic. We had hoped to restart the tour this fall—however, due to these unprecedented times, we have chosen to launch a virtual event to conclude the 2020 Tour. This virtual event will be grounded in supporting our promoters, grassroots fly shops, conservation, and non-profit partners across the country. 

After a lot of

It’s always amazing what you can find elsewhere in the fly fishing world and if you’re not familiar with Tiemco beyond their hooks, well you’re missing out.  A few years back they offered some really wonderful yellow glass fly rods and more recently I have been intrigued with the EUFLEX Glass Master fly rods they are showing on their website.

I am a pushover for classic-looking click and pawl fly reels and my interest was sparked when Marc Beissler of MB Custom Rods recently began offering the Tiemco Oracle Vintage Baby Trout series fly reels.  They are available in several different configurations and in two sizes.

Your two, three, or four weight fiberglass fly rod might need an upgrade…

I asked Marc if he wouldn’t mind sharing his thoughts on these fly reels along with some of the studio photographs that he took.  Yes, there are a lot of photos