Treepees
Hmmmm…these look pretty interesting.
1 comment March 31st, 2008
Archive for March, 2008
Your Grandma Wears The North Face
The following does not reflect the opinion of Outdoorzy, just this one, strange blogger…
Let’s set the record straight here. I own a The North Face jacket, gloves, sleeping bag, and a pair of convertible pants. I love each one of those things. They are well made technical clothing items. They keep me warm and dry and looking good while I do it. Can’t ask for more than that.
But, as we all know, The North Face has entered the mainstream. It’s rough when you see your grandmother wearing The North Face, when yesterday it was “your” style. And I’m not talking about your grandmother that climbs 5.9s. I’m talking about your grandmother that drives a Lincoln and eats at The Cracker Barrel. I don’t think the issue many of us Outdoorsy types have with this is unfounded either. Some say, “Anyone can buy any piece of clothing they want.” And this is true. But when everyone is wearing your brand, it suddenly looses its individuality. Mountain Hardwear is getting a following in the Bingo-playing crowd as well, which is also disturbing. TNF and MH both make fantastic clothing, no doubt about it. But I hate going to the mall and my wife can’t find me because everyone has the same jacket on.
Well folks, at least we still have Sierra Designs, Patagonia, and Marmot.
8 comments March 31st, 2008
Mountain Dry Fly Fishing
The mountains of east Tennessee have hundreds of miles of trout streams and as tempting as that sounds, mountain fly fishing can be very technical fly fishing. The stream can range from couple feet or several yards wide, there are the trees and bushes to contend with, and sometimes the weather (wind and rain). All of your focus is placing the fly in a run of water that is a couple yards in length, but not where your fly line is traveling, and that is how the mountains get you. Sometimes an angler can spend just a much time fishing, as untangling wind knots or fly lines from trees and bushes. I have lost many dry flies to the thick rhododendron. However, this type of fishing can be fun and fast paced. Lets start with the basics; a fly rod. This is your most powerful weapon in catching small mountain trout, but it can also be one of the most annoying parts of fishing too.
In my opinion, a good mountain rod is anywhere from seven to eight feet in length. What an angler has to remember is that they will not be able to cast very far. In the areas that I fish in eastern Tennessee, I think the longest cast is about 15 to 20 feet and that is a very rare occasion. Usually, I am bow and arrow casting to small runs and pocket water on six or seven feet in front of me. This is why a shorter rod is helpful. Try bush-whacking through the woods with nine foot rod, then try it with a seven foot rod, then come back to me and tell which was easier. I bet it was the seven foot rod. Even thought the rod is short, you still can cast and fish large dry flies.
The next important aspect of the fly rod is the line weight; what line weight is the angler going to use a two, three or four? There are smaller line weights for the people who enjoy the ultra light and that is fine too. There are larger line weights, but remember, mountain fly fishing usually means catching trout between four to eight inches in length. Here recently, I made a trip to eastern Tennessee to fly fish with the club, MTFF, and for the entire trip I used a seven foot, four weight, TFO Finesse fly rod. I could throw the small stuff, size 14 Caddis Dry Fly, but I could also throw some large flies too, size 6 Stimulator.
Once the angler has chosen the fly rod and line weight and his weapon of choice, the fly that will catch the trout, how does the angler get the fly on the water? This is where an angler must learn the importance of Side Arm Casting, Roll Casting, Steeple Casting Bow and Arrow Casting, and most importantly High Sticking. All of these are important so that a fly fisher doesn’t give to many flies to the trees; which will happen, just get used to it.
I typically use Side Arm Casting when fishing mountains streams with very long runs. This cast consists of standing on the bank of the stream and using the clear area of the stream as my casting lane. The area above the stream is your best chance of finding any clear room to cast. However, a fly fisher still needs to look and identify any potential problems with tree limbs in the area of the forward and rear casts.
Roll Casting is a technique of casting where the angler brings the rod behind them at an angle with the fly line dangling toward the ground forming a “D” shape and then quickly moving the rod forward to “roll” the line out from the angler. This is not the easiest of cast, but can prove very beneficial when there are trees or rocks on your backside and there is no room for a back cast.
Steeple casting is a cast where simple the back cast goes vertically behind the angler at an extreme angle and not is typical horizontal back cast. This type of cast is useful if there are low lying rocks or bushes. The back cast simple goes above the objects in the way and avoids getting tangled up. Again, this is a cast where there should be ample room.
Bow and Arrow casting is simply how it sounds. The angler holds the fly rod and fly line in one hand and uses the other hand to tightly squeeze the tippet or leader between the thumb and index finger. The angler simply pulls back on the leader, forcing the rod to bend, thus forming a “Bow”; the “Arrow” is the leader and tippet. The angler points the fly rod to the area where they would like for the fly to land and releases the “Arrow”, the leader. This type of cast takes some practice, but once an angler learns this cast, they can be deadly with any fly. One quick tip when learning this cast, DO NOT HOLD THE FLY as the “arrow”, if the fly slips, the angler is going to sink the fly into there finger or hand, so be careful.
High Sticking is simply not allowing the fly line to touch the water; the only thing on the water is fly, tippet, and some leader. The angler simply holds the fly rod up and stretched out over the water. If performed right, this can give the fly a natural drift which what a fly fisher is aiming for. This type of method is effective in dry fly and nymph fishing.
Mountain fly fishing can be extremely fun from the rock hopping to climbing over boulders, and hiding behind tree as to not spook the fish, but there are some technical aspects to the sport that an angler should know to help catch fish. I hope the information that was provided was helpful. You have to remember that an angler is chasing six inch rainbows and not six pound browns.
Add comment March 28th, 2008
Into the Wild 2-Disc DVD - Review and Contest
I was given the opportunity to review the Into the Wild 2-Disc DVD set this past week. It was released a few weeks ago and should be available anywhere you buy DVDs. If you’d like to win a FREE copy just drop by the Forum and post why you want a copy… we’ll select a winner next week and get you a copy of this great film!
As far as the film goes, it was excellent. Although it didn’t end up winning an Oscar, Into the Wild was definitely recognized as one of the better flicks this year.
Here are the stats…
Pricing: $29.99 U.S./$36.99
$39.99 U.S./$45.99
Runtime: 148 minutes
Canadian Rating: 14A for coarse language, nudity and sexual content
I thought the 2 disc set I reviewed had all that you would expect and more. It includes sections for The Story and The Characters where you will see interviews with all the actors and their thoughts on the story as well as the film. You’ll also see behind the scenes footage from the set. There is also an interview with Jon Krakauer which is pretty interesting.
The Experience is a section that includes more detail on what us Outdoor fanatics want to see… the locations. It gets into more detail on the 30 places the crew filmed at along with information from the director Sean Penn. There is also some commentary from Eddie Vedder, who created the soundtrack for the film.
If you get a chance to check this film out or pick up the 2 disc set, I’d do it. It’s one of those movies that you’ll finish and then talk about for days to come with whomever you watched it with. Then you’ll start asking people if they saw it, and what they thought of it.
1 comment March 27th, 2008
New Zealand Winner Announced
Just wanted to drop a quick line to let everyone know that we have a winner for the New Zealand contest. We had several great entries, and a few that were, well… detailed!
But as with every contest, there must be a winner… and this one is no different.
So join me in congratulating absolutpink!!
Absolutpink, if you’ll just message me with the address you’d like your Kelty pack and Lonely Planet Guide sent to, 100% New Zealand will get it in the mail to you! Hopefully you’ll make your way to NZ some day very soon.
Thanks so much for all the great entries… stay tuned, another contest is hot on the heels of this one. We want to give as much free gear away as we can this year!!!
2 comments March 26th, 2008
Greenopolis
Whereas Outdoorzy is a social network for people who love the outdoors, Greenopolis is a social network for people who are trying to be more green. The site is sponsored by a number of organizations, including Seventh Generation and Waste Management.
It looks like a fun way to network and find new ways to make environmentally positive changes in your daily lifestyle. I think this could be a great tool for classroom use in schools. The generation coming up now are the ones who can make eco-living a reality.
Check the site out and maybe you’ll find a few tips you can put to use.
1 comment March 26th, 2008
Dry Fly Fishing - Fly Floatants
Dry fly fishing can be one of the most exciting types of fishing for a fly fisher. The reason for that is that 90% of the action, when a trout takes a fly, happens under the surface of the water. When I am fishing, I am usually fishing a tandem fly rig of a nymph and dropper under a strike indicator. Every now and then, a trout will hit the indictor thinking it is a bug. That is when I wish was fishing a beetle or grasshopper pattern on top and using that fly as an indicator. There is a method of fishing out there created by John Barr, known as “Hopper-Copper-Dropper” fishing, but I will save that for another post. Back to the excitement of dry fly fishing.
As mentioned earlier, the excitement of this type fishing is that the fly is on the surface of the water and you can see when a fish takes the fly, so there is no need to “fish the swing” or the use of strike indictors and split shot. However, there are some inherent issues with dry fly fishing. Mainly, the fly needs to stay dry. A wet dry fly does not float or sit on the surface film of the water. To keep your dry fly riding high during a day of fishing, there are some products a fly fisher can use to keep fishing all day long.
I tie all of my own flies. After I tie some Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute Adams, or any other dry fly patterns, I always use a waterproofing pretreatment. Personally, I use a pretreatment of Watershed. Watershed is a liquid that comes in a squeeze bottle. After tying a dry fly, I simply add a drop or two, depending on the size of the fly, to fly. The pretreatment cures in 24 hours and is suppose to waterproof the materials that make up a dry fly: dubbing, hackle, or hair. If you don’t tie your own flies, it is a good idea to pretreat the flies yourself a few days before a fishing trip. There are other types of pretreatments out there, I just happen to use this one.
While on stream, there are numerous gels and powders a fly fisher can use to keep the fly riding high. There are several silicone based gels a fly fisher can add to hackles or hair wings. When the gel is added to the “wings” of fly, the gel adds further waterproofing, but can wear off during the day, so multiple applications will be added during the day. When using these products, it is important to apply the gel only to the wings. To use these gels, simply put a drop of the gel on your index finger and rub it around with between you finger and thumb, this will warm up the gel and allow the fisher to apply an even coat on the fly. Make sure not to add to much gel, because you can “gum up” the fly and affects its floatation. As for gel products, I have used or have friends that have used Poo Goo, Tiemco Dry Magic, and Gink; there other gels by Orvis and Loon are available too.
If you aren’t into using the silicone gels, there are desicent powders that will dry a fly too. Again, there are several powders out there by Orvis, Loon, and Tiemco. I personally like to use Shimazaki Dry Shake. To use this product, a fly fisher simply removes the pop top, puts the fly into the plastic container, puts the top back on (but not tightly), and shakes the plastic container. When the fly is removed from the container, there will be a light coating of the powder, but a fisher can blow it off or just false cast a few times to remove the powder. Something to remember here is that when you close the top on the container with the fly in it, is to not damage the leader; to prevent this, simply notch in a small “V” in the side of the container. When the top is closed, make sure the leader is in the “V” and you will not damage the leader. This can be done to any container with dry fly powders.
In the future look forward to a home test of several dry fly floatant gels and powders. This posting was suppose to cover other aspects of dry fly fishing in mountain streams, such as casting, fly rod choices (length and weight), types of water, and techniques, but it would end up being a short book. So look forward to more postings regarding mountain stream fly fishing.
Add comment March 25th, 2008
Dealz at the Outdoorzy Storzy
We don’t like to toot our own horn (…distinct tooting sound can be heard), but since we’ve teamed up with Sierra Trading Post last month we’ve been seeing some incredible deals on the Gear Store here.
Here are a few of our current favs..
KrissyDog has one of these and loves it. She feels so Outdoorzy when she wears it.
GSI Outdoors Frying Pan - $7.95
I can hear the bacon sizzlin now. As Homer would say, “MMM Pooork”
Yeah it’s still jacket season people…
Ruuuun (thru the) Forest…. Ruuuunnn….
Add comment March 24th, 2008
Federation of Fly Fishers
With any sport, there are organizations both locally and nationally that you may become a member. At the national level there is Trout Unlimited (TU) and Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF). For now, I am only going to discuss FFF. The main reason for that is that I have known about this organization for long time, but not until recently did I join. And again, the reason why I joined is that I am a general member, but I also sit on the Board of Directors for Middle Tennessee Fly Fishers (MTFF), which is an affiliate club of FFF.
“FFF is as 43 year old international non-profit organization and is currently located in Livingston, Montana. FFF has nearly 300 member clubs, Charter and Affiliate, throughout the United States and several foreign countries. The Federation is dedicated to the sport of fly fishing through Conservation, Restoration, and Education. FFF’s goal is to support fisheries conservation and education programs for all fish and all waters. Any where fly fishers have an interest, the FFF can and does play a role.” - From the “Mission and History” of the FFF Website.
The Federation of Fly Fishers is a great resource of information on fly fishing and fly tying. Every year the FFF has a national conclave in which fly fishers from around the US and other countries gather together to learn more about conservation of fish, their habitats, and the sport of fly fishing. I highly recommend taking the time and exploring their website. They have a monthly news letter called the ClubWire, that is full of information from conservation, conclaves, books, movies, fly fishing, and fly tying.
Add comment March 21st, 2008
Iceland, a Land of Ice…
There has been some chatter on the site lately about adventures in Iceland. The images people bring back from that country are beautiful. But even more than a photographers paradise, it’s an adventurers paradise.
I saw in my latest issue of Wend Magazine that they are featuring a story on Iceland. Wend is the magazine that offers $3 off their subscription price to Outdoorzy members. Check out how to get your discount if you haven’t yet.
Here’s an excerpt from the Iceland story…
“We’re getting spit off this hulk of a peak—Hvannadalshnukur, the highest in Iceland. The wind is blasting us at over 80 miles per hour, and tiny ice particles scoured from the glacier higher up pelt our exposed cheeks. Ski touring uphill while shouldering big packs would be demanding enough, but in this tempest it is brutal. Drop a glove, and it’s gone. Let go of your ski poles for an instant, and they’ll scurry down the mountainside like rats down an alley.”
Call us sadistic, but that sounds sweet!
Add comment March 20th, 2008
