Articles

Skagit heads explained

Making sense of Skagit heads

by Tom Larimer - Monday, Jan 12th, 2015

Photo: Tom Larimer

In the modern world of Spey fishing, anglers have a multitude of choices when it comes to selecting a fly line. In addition to a variety of lengths, the market offers lines built for specific fishing situations. Below, we'll put the microscope on the Skagit family of lines in an effort to help you make an informed product decision.

Skagit History

Skagit lines were born out of necessity. In the late 90’s, a few elite Northwest anglers realized the effectiveness of presenting very large flies on heavy sink-tips for steelhead. At the time, the average commercially produced lines were 50’ to 60’ long and lacked the ability to turn over such setups. Knowing that mass equates to turn over, these anglers spawned equipment that allowed them to fish these gargantuan offerings. A short, fat line gave them the required firepower. As an added benefit, a shorter line also gave anglers the ability to make a cast with very little back cast room. These first homemade lines were actually shooting heads looped to a mono running line.

The Tycoon Tackle Legacy Reborn

by Matthew Reilly - Friday, Jan 9th, 2015

Rewind 82 years. It’s 1932.

Ernest Hemingway, with A Farewell to Arms looming as suppressed musings in his mind’s periphery, is perched on a barstool in Sloppy Joe’s Bar sipping a whiskey and coke, conversing with his fishing-minded acquaintances, the salty, blue Atlantic sky beaming in through the open doors. Outside, crystalline saltwater kisses the sandy beaches of Key West; and like so, rumors of elusive, uncatchable, finned, marine beasts filter west from the Bahaman Islands. There is a catalyst in the air, a catalyst for the outbreak of the gilded age of big-game sport fishing, and for a self-made, inventive, American success story.

Frank O’Brien, an industrious man doing his best to make money to support his family during the height of the Great Depression, is selling cutlery on the streets. A fisherman at heart, O’Brien makes the acquaintance of Jack Reynolds, local and owner of Florida Fishing Tackle, a company invested in the sale of small hardware items — hooks, lines, and sinkers. O’Brien partners with Reynolds as a salesman — his trade and talent — and becomes imbued in the saltwater fishing industry.

Simms Turns Errant Shipment into Cash for Cutthroat Restoration Efforts

by Ben Kryzinski - Thursday, Jan 8th, 2015

The native Yellowstone cutthroat trout (photo: Pat Clayton).

What do you do when the big shipment of fishing shirts you were expecting shows up in the wrong color? Send them back? Toss them? If your Simms, you brainstorm a way to turn an unfortunate mistake into financial support for one of the country's most important species restoration efforts.

"We didn’t want the order to go to waste, but we couldn’t sell the shirts through our catalog because the colors were not what we intended to sell as part of our line,” said Rich Hohne, a marketing official with Simms. “We knew we still had some great shirts, so we called TU and offered to sell the shirts through a special offer, and give 50 percent of the proceeds to fund the telemetry work being done on Yellowstone Lake.”

New RIO Grand Fly Line Released, ConnectCore Expansion Continues

by Ben Kryzinski - Wednesday, Jan 7th, 2015

RIO has been steadily expanding its low-stretch line core, ConnectCore, throughout its fly line catalog since it was introduced in the RIO Perception fly line in 2013. RIO released an updated version its best-selling line with the InTouch RIO Gold this summer and has now announced an updated version of the RIO Grand, another one of its long-time staples and best selling lines.

The new InTouch RIO Grand, like its predecessor, is a full line size heavier than the industry standard. The extra weight is designed to help load fast action rods more easily. In addition to the extra weight, the design of the InTouch Grand exaggerates the weight forward distribution (when compared with other trout lines like the Gold or Perception), placing even more of the line's weight towards the front.

7 Tips for Getting Lucky with Winter Steelhead

by Tom Larimer - Tuesday, Jan 6th, 2015

Being successful swinging flies for winter steelhead is all about adapting to changing conditions and paying attention to details. Over the next few months our steelhead rivers will get pummeled with fierce storms and high water events. Other times we may see extremely cold, low water conditions.

Whether you swing for chrome on the West Coast or in the Great Lakes, it’s a rare day to have an “optimal” situation during the winter. As the conditions change you need to adjust your tackle, the water you choose to fish and the way you swing your fly. Here are seven tips that might help you find chrome this winter.

Look for the “couch” water

Regardless of the time of year, water temperature should be the biggest factor in where you decide to focus your efforts. Steelhead are a lot like us, if it’s cold and nasty outside they conserve energy and hang out on the couch. Couch water is the slow, soft water usually located in the guts and tail-outs of pools. In the cold months of winter, don't waste precious fishing time focusing on fast riffles. The fish rarely live there when the water temps plummet. That said, don’t miss the transition zone at the heads of pools. Look for the place where the water slows down just below a riffle as these are often key winter holding locations (credit to Great Lakes guide Jeff Liskay for this awesome term).

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