Quick Sips - High Plains Drift Boater

Anathema  to those of us on the east coast but makes sense for Yellowstone.

• Brook Trout in the East: GOOD. Brook Trout in the West: BAD. Hence, eatmorebrooktrout.com, a site that aims to save Yellowstone Cuthroat through the consumption of the invasive Eastern Brook Trout.

The Post That Killed The Unaccomplished Angler (yeah, not quite Liberty Valance)

• Ending on a high note, The Unaccomplished Angler has decided to fold his tent because he won't ever be able to write a post better than "Fly Fishing needs Dirty Harry". I agree it's a damn fine post, but his voice is damn good one and I would argue Fly Blogging Needs The Unaccomplished Angler.

Gonna be cold in the Northeast this weekend. Steelheaders will just keep doin' what they've always done but trout fisherman such as myself might just stay in and tie some flies. Maybe. We'll see.

Why Sipping Emergers?

Over on the Passinthru blog the question was asked, "Whats in a name anyway?". Basically, how'd you come up with the name for your blog? Well, below is the reason I chose Sipping Emergers.

The website's title, Sipping Emergers, relates to one my favorite mental images of our sport. It's an image of a glassy pool. It's twilight in the summer. The air is cooling. I've rolled down my shirtsleeves after a warm afternoon in the sun and swapped my sunglasses for regular glasses so I can peer into the gathering shadows. There's no visible hatch, no duns sailing on the water, although there might be a few bugs in the air. I'm hoping for a spinner fall. Off along the far bank, almost too far to cast to, a gentle ring forms on the water in the break between two overhanging mountain laurel shrubs. The smooth water looks black in the shadows and the ripples are edged in silver. The ring appears at regular intervals and is quickly erased by the gentle, yet persistent, current.  Perhaps those rings are formed by a piscine snout but more likely by the dorsal fin or tail of a trout as it lazily takes emergers just below the surface. I cast. And hope.

Quick Sips

• An interesting interview with Recycled Fish re: SAFE (Sustaining, Angling, Fish & Ecosystems) via: Fishing Jones
• Orvis gives a wicked cool behind the scenes view of the evolution of the Mirage reel as it went from idea, through design, to launch. Dang but that thing was ugly early on. Concrete Gray -- not an appealing color.

Tis the season for the "Expo":

• Fly Fishing Show comes to Somerset, New Jersey this weekend, Jan 21-23. I'm torn about going. Don't need anything. But then is it ever really about need?
• For those of you on the left coast: The International Sportsman Expo comes to Sacramento this weekend.

Shameless Commerce Link:  For years, I've enjoyed David Whitlock's articles in Trout Unlimited's magazine, Trout. He's had a series of articles focused on the stuff that trout eat. They're practical, tightly written, and wonderfully illustrated by Whitlock. Now the articles have been compiled in a single book. I finished it in two marathon sessions. A bonus section include stream tactics. Very well done. Trout and Their Food: A Compact Guide for Fly Fishers

Quick Sips: Mountaintops and Honors

Nice to see some sanity is beginning to emerge on this whole "destroy fresh water so we can have coal" thing.

• Obama administration cracks down on mountaintop mining: via A Perfect Fish Blog
• The first minute or so of this video is very similar to the honors the citizens of Riverton bestowed upon John, Jon and I yesterday when we arrived to fish the Farmington. They sure do take their fishing seriously: via Orvisnews.com

Sanity Partially Restored.

As Jon pointed out yesterday afternoon a day of fishing can't really restore one's sanity but it sure helps create progress in the right direction. Today, we visited the analyst's couch which is the Upper Farmington Trophy Trout Area to plumb the depths of our insanity a popular pool to see if our psyche trout were there. Well, they were. They just didn't come out to play.


A little after noon Jon and I met in Pleasant Valley and then drove upstream to meet John who was already on the water and, apparently, is the only John in our group who knew how to correctly spell his name. He reported that the water was chilly, the fish were elsewhere and that he was wearing one layer too few. Forewarned, we layered up. At thirty-degrees or so the air was about the same temperature as the water and was particularly mild for this time of year.

Sanity. Losing it rapidly.

In my daydreams, I am an awesome roll caster. The rod accelerates in just the right manner that I can shoot thirty or forty feet of line with ease placing the fly in the intended spot with just enough slack that I get the perfect drift to a pod of rising trout.

I'm good at this cast because I've fished one particular spot so many times in my daydreams that I've had much practice. I've learned from my mistakes -- accelerating the rod tip at the wrong time, not getting the line properly set-up at the beginning of the cast. I've also learned to overweight by one line size to get optimum performance from my favorite five weight rod. You get the idea. I'm no longer making rookie mistakes.

Video: The Award

Tom Rosenbauer, Angler of the Year

Usually this whole "[INSERT ROLE] of the Year" stuff just doesn't interest me much. Mostly cause the stuff they're being recognized for either doesn't interest me or I don't see how this person influenced the thing they're touted for. Mark Zuckerberg, Time Person of the Year?! Nice website he's got there but jeez, it's not world peace. Didn't make or break my year.

Now, Angler of the Year, that's something I can connect with.

And Tom Rosenbauer as Angler of the Year? Makes perfect sense.

Little Sip. Big Fish

From Paul Roos Outfitters.

English Jonny is famous, or at least infamous.

Our good friend TJ talks about the enigmatic carp fisherman, English Jonny. "He was addicted to the slurp, you know what I'm sayin'" Rumors are now circulating that English Jonny disappeared into the vast black hole of Steelheadin'.

More to follow.

From over on Midcurrent: Video Hatch: "English Jonny" (Humor)

Catch Magazine -- must read,

The latest edition of Catch Magazine is out. If you haven't checked out this ezine, you should. It's focus is on photography and video and not only does it have some amazing pictures but interviews with photographers and fisherman that are both informative and entertaining.

A sample of Catch's content. Photo: Matt Harris

Note: Like most of the ezines it's flash based so it's not going to come through on your iphone.

Quick Sips

• Orvis Fly Fishing App Reviewed at PC World
• Holy Carp! Check out the video on Trout Underground of a Carp school viewed through the ice.
• Field And Stream claims 2011 as the year of the Small Stream. Yikes! Stay away from my stream.
• Liam Neeson. Fly Fisherman. Who knew?

Also, looking forward to the release of Orvis' new book The Orvis Guide to Beginning Saltwater Fly Fishing: 101 Tips for the Absolute Beginner (Orvis Guides). If you head over to Bob White's Facebook page you can find out how to get a copy of the book signed by both Conway (the author) and himself (the illustrator).