Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2025 i Fly Fisherman

IT WAS SOMBER, HEARTBREAKING WORK TO EDIT AND CONTRIBUTE TO MEMORIAMS OF LANI WALLER, BOB POPOVICS, AND JOHN GIERACH. BOB POPOVICS (PAGE 36) WAS A GIANT IN THE FLY-TYING COMMUNITY. TIERS AROUND THE WORLD MARVELED AT HIS THOUGHTFUL AND INCREDIBLY EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO FLY DESIGN. HE REVOLUTIONIZED THE TYPES OF MATERIALS WE USED, HOW THEY ARE APPLIED, AND HE GAVE US EVERYTHING FROM DENSE, EXTREMELY REALISTIC SURF CANDIES TO GIANT ARTICULATED HOLLOW BEAST FLEYES THAT ALLOWED US TO IMITATE LARGE PREY SPECIES AND CATCH EVERYTHING FROM MUSKIES TO GIANT STRIPED BASS. HIS CIRCLE OF FRIENDS INCLUDED WORLD-CLASS CASTERS LIKE LEFTY KREH AND ED JAWOROWSKI, AND HE CAUGHT PIKE, TROUT, AND OTHER SPECIES JUST AS ADROITLY AS HE DID ALBIES AND STRIPERS. MOST IMPORTANTLY HE WAS EXTREMELY GENEROUS WITH HIS TIME,…

ALUMINUM IS A DREAM METAL FOR REEL MAKERS. IT IS LIGHT, RIGID, AND EXTREMELY STRONG, AND BEST OF ALL DOESN’T RUST LIKE METALS CONTAINING IRON. IT’S A LESS BRITTLE, SOFTER METAL, SO A PROGRAMMED CNC MACHINE CAN EASILY PEEL AWAY MICRO LAYERS AND CREATE A PRECISION TOOL WITH BEAUTY AND EXACTING TOLERANCES. But there’s one little hiccup: The light, malleable nature of aluminum makes it more susceptible to dings, dents, and scratches than other metals such as hardened steel. And the strongest aluminum alloys like aluminum 6061-T6 become susceptible to limited corrosion through aqueous salts. That’s because the surface of a machined aluminum part is quite porous. You can’t see it with your naked eye, but it has tiny holes and micro fissures—a quality that makes it slightly susceptible to…

Bob Popovics, an iconic fly tier from New Jersey who elevated striped bass flies to an art form, passed away Nov. 1, 2024. He succumbed to injuries sustained when he was struck by a vehicle in a crosswalk. Popovics’s daughter Alexis posted the news on the Shady Rest Restaurant Facebook page, the restaurant that Popovics owned and operated for many years in Bayville, N.J. “So very sad to announce that Bob passed this morning, Nov. 1, around 3 a.m. I will write a better post later, but I wanted to thank all who took the time to go visit him yesterday, and to all who were planning to but didn’t make it. With prayers and thoughts from around the world, he was able to transition peacefully and quickly to his…

[This is the first in a series of five articles examining the physics and mechanics that determine the outcomes of all casts, based on Ed Jaworowski’s nearly 70 years of casting, testing, experimentation, teaching, and consulting with physicists, kinesiologists, and engineers. THE EDITOR.] REGARDLESS OF THE WATERS WE FISH OR THE SPECIES WE PURSUE, CASTING IS THE ESSENTIAL SKILL THAT DEFINES FLY FISHING. YET THERE IS MUCH MISUNDERSTANDING AND MANY MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT HOW CASTING WORKS. A fly rod has only one innate power: When bent, it can straighten. The caster’s task, in the simplest terms, is to bend (load) the rod, then allow the rod to straighten. A rod does not bend backwards when we cast. Regardless of where the tip of the rod is at the start of a…

THE WIND RIVER RANGE SKYLINE IS ONE OF THE MOST STUNNING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. CRAGS AND IMPOSING GRANITE PEAKS REACH SKYWARD ABOVE THE ASPENS AND EVERGREENS THAT COLOR THE FOOTHILLS. BUT ON A PORTION OF THE EASTERN SLOPE, THE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN THE SCENERY AND THE ECONOMY IS AS STARK AS THAT BETWEEN PRAIRIES AND MOUNTAINS FOR THE NORTHERN ARAPAHO AND EASTERN SHOSHONE PEOPLE, WHO HAVE WATCHED OVER THIS EASTERN SLOPE—NOW THE WIND RIVER RESERVATION—FOR MILLENNIA. THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE ON THE RESERVATION AS RECENTLY AS 2012 WAS GREATER THAN 80 PERCENT, AND LIFE EXPECTANCY WAS LESS THAN 50 YEARS, ACCORDING TO THE PATAGONIA/TETON GRAVITY RESEARCH FILM TRIBAL WATERS. AND HOME VALUES ARE VASTLY LESS THAN THEIR NEIGHBORS’ ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RESERVATION BOUNDARY. It hasn’t always been this…

I LEARNED TO FLY FISH SMALL STREAMS AS A CHILD IN POTTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. A NATIVE BROOK TROUT STREAM FLOWED PAST MY HOUSE. LUCKILY THIS SECTION WAS A KIDS-ONLY FISHING AREA, AND I WAS THE ONLY KID IN THE VILLAGE WHO FISHED, SO BETWEEN THE AGES OF 6 AND 14 I HAD THIS BEAUTIFUL FISHERY ALL TO MYSELF. I COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO GROW UP. My early tactics were crude, and the fishing was mostly in tight quarters—not exactly the environment for poor fly casters. Over half my time was spent in frustration as my fly was in the brush more than on the water. It wasn’t until I moved to central Pennsylvania and spent time with my mentor Joe Humphreys that I began to understand a…

IN THE FALL OF 2014, LANI WALLER AND I WALKED ALONG MY BRITISH COLUMBIA PROPERTY LINE, DISCUSSING HOW THE NEXT FEW HOURS WOULD UNFOLD. CAREFULLY, WE STEPPED ATOP FALLEN YELLOW LEAVES THAT LAYERED THE GROUND LIKE POPLAR PASTRY. I DIDN’T KNOW IT AT THE TIME, BUT I WAS ABOUT TO INTERVIEW A VERY NERVOUS LANI WALLER. I can’t remember exactly how it started, but Lani and I had struck up a friendship a year earlier. It was during my guiding days on the Dean River—a place Lani knew well. In fact, it was through Lani and his old Scientific Angler VHS tapes that I first learned about the Dean. Dated footage shows timeless glacial water framing a handsome man in a red bandana. His enthusiasm could sway even the most…

IT WAS ZERO DARK THIRTY AS WE HEADED OUT ON THE WATER, AND I WAS MENTALLY “JACKED UP” KNOWING WHAT THE DAYLIGHT MIGHT HOLD. I’D SPENT THE PREVIOUS DAY IN NEW ORLEANS AT A SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM HOSTED BY THE AMERICAN SALTWATER GUIDES ASSOCIATION (ASGA), AND WE PLANNED TO DO A FIELD STUDY OF OUR OWN AND PRODUCE AN EDUCATIONAL FILM ABOUT CREVALLE JACKS TO HELP SHED LIGHT ON THESE AMAZING FISH. With me in the skiff was guide Ty Hibbs from Whatever Bites Charters and videographer Ben Meadows from Dorsal Outdoors. As the sun began to creep above the horizon, the marsh came to life. Birds took to the air, porpoises rolled in the distance, and even the smell of the marsh seemed to change with the addition of sunlight.…

AFTER A LIFETIME OF TYING FLIES AND DESIGNING ORIGINAL PATTERNS, I HAVE REALIZED THAT SOMETIMES THE HARDEST PART OF PERFECTING A NEW FLY IS KNOWING WHEN TO STOP TINKERING AND CALL IT GOOD. ONE OF MY FAVORITE MENTORS, JOHN BARR, EPITOMIZES THIS TRAIT AND THERE IS NARY A MATERIAL IN ANY OF HIS FLIES THAT DOESN’T HAVE A GOOD REASON TO BE THERE. THE SAME GOES FOR MY FRIENDS PAT DORSEY AND LANCE EGAN. THEIR FLIES ARE MINIMALISTIC IN MATERIALS, SIMPLE TO TIE, AND MIMIC NATURALS WITHOUT ANY UNNECESSARY WINDOW DRESSING—AS OPPOSED TO MY PERSONAL STYLE OF FLY DESIGN THAT ENTAILS ALWAYS TRYING TO ADD JUST THAT ONE MORE LITTLE BIT THAT WILL SET THE PATTERN APART FROM THE CROWD AND IMPROVE ITS EFFECTIVENESS ON THE WATER. THAT LITTLE “EXTRA”…