Thursday's Fly | The Rainbow Warrior

I have a great spot for the early spring.  The river comes up a foot, the water looks a little dirty from all the winter run off, the redhorse stage for spawning, and the fallfish stack up behind.

It is a scenario I hear about a lot in the flyfishing podcasts on salmon and steelhead.  Only replace all the highly sought after species with what most consider garbage fish.  The highly underrated sucker spawn.  I say it is a great time to find feeding fish and work out the winter rust.

This time of the year presents a couple of problems.  The water is dirty, the flow is faster, not much is hatching and the fish are sometimes, ummm, otherwise occupied.

Normally my fly box is pretty tame. The patterns are mostly in natural colours. But this year I am going to try the shiniest brightest flies I can find for the spring.  Pinks, oranges, and a fly almost completely built out of flash - The Rainbow Warrior.

Fishing on the Web

It is hard to think about fly fishing sometimes when we look outside and there is 15 cm of fresh snow.  Luckily there are folks who fish 365 days a year and they are more than willing to share their fly fishing stories with us.

This week be sure to check out: Midcurrent

Midcurrent Featured Artist - Clayton Stewart - The Dream

Fly Casting Lessons

I have to hand it to the guys at Orvis.  They really know how to make fly fishing accessible.

First off, they sell everything anyone could ever need for fly fishing. Second, they have dozens of books and videos, the such as Orvis Guide to Prospecting for Trout (which I am thoroughly enjoying, expect a review in about a week) which cover the full spectrum of fly fishing.  They have an instructional TV show on WFN.  And last but not least, they have a series of informational videos on the web, some are on youtube and can be found on the Orvis News blog, and some on the Orvis Learning Centre.

The Ask a Casting Instructor series of videos has been crucial to improving my casts.  From tips and tricks, to a few little drills that Orvis Instructor Pete Kutzer adds to the videos, they have changed the way I look at casting, and tailing loops.

Be sure to check all of them out here. And find a patch of water or grass and get some practice in before opening day.

Thursday's Fly - The Clouser Minnow

I can't have a blog titled WhiteClouser and then highlight a different fly for my first fly spotlight.  

A Clouser Deep Minnow, photo by Mike Cline

The Clouser Deep Minnow was first tied by Bob Clouser in 1987, and formally named by Lefty Kreh.  If that doesn't count as fly fishing royalty, I don't know what does.  Those two guys are responsible for putting more fish in the boat than an army of guides.

Inspiration comes from many places

I am into fly fishing. That is an understatement.

Let's start again....

Hi, my name is Billy and I fly fish.  I spend roughly 10 hours a week online just following fly fishing blogs, youtube, podcasts and how-tos.

I expect to have an ever expanding BLOGROLL, and maybe a few new links each week.

For now, here are a few notable links to help tide you over until I get the proper page outfitted.

The Fiberglass Manifesto - Cameron Mortenson loves glass, and is leading an industry movement.

Gink and Gasoline - Amazing writing, world-class photography, oh and they fish too.

OrvisNews.com - With tips, tricks, videos, and a podcast that shouldn't be missed.