Yak Alaska

I had no idea you could do this. Apparently you can take trekking trips through the Alaskan mountains with Yaks carrying your gear. The yaks were brought over from the Himalayan mountains as calves. Now that they’re all grown up they’re ready to start hiking. It’s not cheap my friends, but it does sound like a cool way to see the Alaskan backcountry and give your back a break.

3 comments February 15th, 2008

Fly South - Caney Fork Essentials Fly Tying Class

I carry a wide range of flies for fishing my local waters and most of my flies have resulted from finding patterns from books and online that I think look good or maybe a twist of my own creation. They work well on my local waters as well as some of the distant places I fish too. But I have never collected aquatic bugs from my local waters to tie imitations of the bugs found in my home waters.

A few weekends ago, I attended a fly tying class at Fly South in Nashville, TN. The class, Caney Fork Essentials, involves tying flies designed by local fly fisherman (Guides / Former Guides) for the Caney Fork River, my local home waters. For the cost of $35.00, the student learns to tie eleven patterns ranging from a mayfly, to several caddis and midge flies, as well as a few others. My two favorite patterns from fly shop owner and guide Jim Mauries are JT’s Sowbug and JT’s Bead-Head Caddis Emerger.

The tying class begins at 9:00 AM and finishes any where between 3:30 / 4:00 PM with an hour lunch break. The class provides all tying materials and tools, but if you have your own, I recommend taking them since you should familiar and comfortable with your own tools. If you do take your own tools, take your vise, a couple of bobbins spooled with black, tan and olive thread, scissors, hackle pliers, dubbing brush, bodkin, and whip finisher. Also included with the cost of the class is a nice paper handbook with all of the patterns, a brief description, and space to take notes as you tie the fly.

The class is limited to six to seven participants. I was lucky enough to have only one other classmate, so the interaction between the teacher & student was great, which was nice when I had a couple of problems with the patterns. The Caney Fork Essentials tying class is an intermediate tying class. The participant should already know how to put a hook into the vise, attach thread, etc. If you are interested in learning to tie flies, start out with a beginning fly tying class.

Fly South is also offering other fly tying classes including, Fly Tying 101, Smoky Mountain Classics, Tennessee Tail Water Flies, Saltwater – Bonefish/Tarpon/Permit, Saltwater – Jacks/Redfish/Trout, Saltwater – Striper/Blues/Albies, Flies for Freshwater Stripers/Hybrid, Tennessee Smallmouth Flies, Carp Flies, Bass Flies Top to Bottom, and Tennessee Trout and Terrestrials. The cost of the other classes range between $35.00 and $85.00. If anyone is interested in learning some new and interesting patterns for the Caney Fork River, I highly recommend taking the Caney Fork Essentials fly tying class.

Add comment February 15th, 2008