Wednesday, April 29, 2009

thanks all for the work on the Loop Army spring summit

Jeff Wilson helping check out new loop stuff
loop army assault boat proto type by kootenai river inflatables
next generation loop soilder g-money checking out new ride

fun was had by all...special thanks to the army help....Greg Hyster with the great videos in the theater .... Doug from Kootenai river inflatables for the sneak peak at the loop army boat...
the great casting instruction.... and thanks to the Couer 'd alene resort for having us
here a few shots.......
..........will be announcing shortly the main summit for the year
Idaho Joe

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Vive Los Lahontans!!

It's that magical time of year when these monster Cutthroat begin to cruise the edges of the lakes in search of prey! Bottom line, Lahontan Cutthroat kick ass!!!
One of the larger fish taken on a recent outing.
The AEG 696/Evotec G3 6/8 combo showing this guy who's in charge!
And then there's this guy. We found him rolling in the waves along the shorline, half dead from gorging himself!! We were able to pull what was left of this Northern Pike Minnow out of his throat and with a little bit of reviving he swam away. Unless he rapidly changed his eating habits my guess is he probably isn't going to make it. Gluttony's a mother!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Proudly Presenting........The Loop Army Transport/Assault Vehicle!!!

Fresh from the shop with a new paint job and a few minor modifications, we give you the new Loop Army Transport and Assault Vehicle. This 6X6 fully amphibeous machine is ready for everything the Loop Army can throw at it!!!
Choss Dogg is still trying to comprehend the fact that this thing is going to out swim him.....
Not too flashy, but proper identification was a must!!!
Now complete with rear roll bar, rod racks and rear casting deck.....
....let's just say this baby ain't exactly street legal, Frank the Tank's asked to keep it on the DL. More to follow!!!!!!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"bubara ula!!!!"....big trevalley...+... the loop opti big = success




When I was in the Seychelles I caught a giant trevally estimated at 120 lbs on your Loop Opti Big.
I hooked the fish on the beach and it took me out to 600 feet of water then back to the beach.
I had your drag winched down to the absolute max and the reel was superb.
Smooth as can be and the fast retrieve made the fight much easier for me.
The GT measured 122cm to the fork.
So far it's held up to big sharks and 30 lb jacks.


Pat Ford
reels available at 18004103133

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

then and now


April 14, 2009 in Sports

Local fly fishing prodigy has gone global to live angler’s dream

Hooked at an early age
Rich Landers / Outdoors Editor

Now: Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few beams over a 50-pound Alaska king salmon he landed with the help of fly fishing guide Joe Roope Jr., who’s soaking wet after belly-flopping on the lunker to keep it from breaking off in a log jam. “Few’s a competitor on the river, too,” Roope recalled. “We all wanted that fish.”

He rose to the occasion in the Coeur d’Alene Holiday Inn parking lot 23 years ago like a stubborn trout drawn to a drifting fly.

Joe Roope Jr., a partner in the two-man operation called River Run Fly Shop, put on a pleasant face and shook his client’s hand before crawling back to his nest in the rear of the pickup’s king cab.

Meantime, Joe Roope Sr., the other partner, checked the tie-downs on the drift boat before driving onto Interstate 90 toward Montana’s Clark Fork River.

“Reminds me of a good mule,” said Joe Sr., glancing back at his already-snoozing son. “Put him in a field, he works; put him in a barn, he sleeps.”

Too many 16-hour days will take the fire out of any guide, even an 18-year-old fishing prodigy who sold the first fly he tied at the age of 12.

But young Joe bounced to life at the Clark Fork as though he smelled the action to come. He spotted three gulping trout downriver before he’d pulled three times on the oars. The first 18-inch rainbow of the day inhaled the client’s Size 18 Grizzly Wulff on the third cast.

They caught the last fish of the day 10 hours later after Joe had rowed, tended the net, barbecued a shore lunch, and spotted fish without a break.

Then came a two-hour drive home, sorting equipment – perhaps partying with his buddies – and getting ready for the next clients eager to catch trout.

“I was a normal teenager in the sense I was always in a sleep deficit, but that’s about it,” recalled Roope, 41, who owns Castaway Fly Fishing Shop in Coeur d’Alene.

In middle school, while his school mates were at basketball camps and baseball diamonds, young Roope had already formed a business – Little Dutchman Flies – and was well on his way to a career that was merely an extension of a sportsman’s lifestyle.

Roope has landed tons of big fish since then, from king salmon in Alaska to bonefish in tropical waters as well as celebrity clients ranging from PGA Tour winners to Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few.

A friend of a friend introduced Few to Roope in the early ‘90s.

“They said he liked to fly fish and that’s all that mattered to me,” Roope said. “At that time, Mark was just an assistant coach, making $20-some thousand a year, I’ll bet, if not living on food stamps for all I knew.

“We hit it off, and now we fish as friends.”

Roope said his father taught him how to tie flies “probably so I’d fill his fly box so he could do more fishing.

“I was an introvert, the kid in the back of the class who didn’t say anything. I lived in my own little world, but when the theme was fly fishing, I bloomed.”

That was the ticket to an uncommon connection with adults.

“My big break came at 12, when I was invited to a Federation of Fly Fishers conclave in West Yellowstone by Darwin Atkins, a big name in fly tying.”

Before long Roope was rubbing elbows at fly tying vises with tying gurus, such as Dave Whitlock, Lefty Kreh and Frank Johnson who started Streamside Anglers in Missoula.

“For some reason, tying flies really interested me when a lot of normal kid things didn’t,” Roope said. “And once I got to fish, it was all over. It became an obsession.”

Roope said he still remembers catching his first rainbow out of the Coeur d’Alene River on a Memorial Day weekend.

“I also remember the red velvet of the first bar I went to,” he said. “I was too young to drink, but I was trying to become a member of the North Idaho Fly Casters.

“It was a good ol’ boy club at the time; they met at the Athletic Round Table, smoking cigars, drinking Scotch and talking fishing. They didn’t have kid memberships. I had to pull teeth to be part of the group.”

Indeed, a club member introduced young Joe to his first vice: bamboo rods. “That’s been a lifelong problem for me,” he said, referring to his taste for a piece of equipment that’s time consuming to build and expensive to buy.

He flexed his wings as a guide by taking his brother and new sister-in-law on the first trip down the Coeur d’Alene River in his first johnboat.

“I rowed them down the river and we had a great time,” Joe said. “That’s when I first thought I was going to be a guide.”

An Orvis shop owner in Ennis, Mont., licensed Roope as a guide under his outfitters permit and turned him loose on the Clark Fork.

“I was 17, the minimum age for being a guide at the time,” Roope said.

Joe and his father both failed to pass the Montana outfitter exam. “Neither of us could get the mule packing part,” he explained. “My brother was the only male in the family who could pass all the tests.”

The rise to success was not without its speed bumps.

Working for an outfitter in a shaky second party agreement in 1992, Roope was guiding two anglers in the walk-in section of the St. Joe River when one of the fellows had a heart attack.

“He had to be air-vaced out,” Roope said.

“To make things worse, the other client was an undercover agent there to root out this new rogue guiding outfit on the St. Joe.

“All the paperwork wasn’t right for my license and I got cited and fined. It was right before my dad died.

“When the undercover agent, Joe Blackburn, came to the board of outfitters hearing I figured I was done for it as a guide. But Joe stood up and told them it was one of the best fishing trips he’d been on and that I deserved to be an outfitter.”

Roope lived the angler’s dream in the period just before his dad passed away.

“I had a winter job opening the lifts at Silver Mountain and making the first tracks down the new snow, but I had to give that up for guiding bonefishing trips in the tropics,” he said.

“I’d do saltwater, then head to Alaska for spring steelheading for three or four weeks, then back home to row a boat on the local rivers and work in the shop with dad into August, then head up to Alaska again for silvers.”

From 1995 through 2004, Roope logged 67 weeks at Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.

“I was the only white-boy guide in a Fourth World country 100 miles north of the equator,” he said. “But in 1999, I was the first guide to build a free enterprise lodge there. Before the dot-com bust, there was plenty of capital.

“I sold the place to a partner. It was either that or not stay married.”

Argentina is Roope’s latest fishing frontier, but he says he’s spending less time guiding nowadays and more time managing 18 guides and working in the fly fishing industry.

“I’ll talk to anybody about fly fishing, but I let my excellent staff deal with entry-level anglers, the building block of the business.

“Last year I guided about 25 days, mostly on referrals, then I fished another 25-30 days on my own with friends.

“Funny how it goes. My wife Suzy and I have a 2-year-old son. Mark Few told me for years that as good as I had it as a guide, I shouldn’t miss out on being a dad.

“Now I realize why sometimes a guy just can’t break off for three days just to go fishing.”

Monday, April 13, 2009

Worlds Coolest rigging station

A must have for all boat fisherman.....coolest thing coming down the road
we have them in stock at the shop 18004103133
70 bones call us we can even fill it up with our favorite stuff
idaho joe

LOOP ARMY Spring summit... April 19th

Come one come all to the Loop Army Spring Summit
When- Sunday April 19th 2009 10am to 5pm
Where -World famous Coeur'd Alene Resort Convention Center
What - Spring Fly Fishing Summit-gathering of all things flyfishing
Why- a great afternoon of talking... learning about all thing fly fishing

call joe at 18004103133 to rsvp

Casting Lesson of the Week - The Snake Roll



This weeks cast, the Snake Roll, is probably the best doublehand cast out there for a quick, precise direction change. As demonstrated in the video it can be done from both river right and river left casting positions. This cast can also be performed with singlehand rods, and is very effective along brushy banks that eliminate all possibilities for a standard overhead back cast. The most important factor in executing this cast is the size of the circle you make with the tip of your rod which will determine the position for the line anchor. Too large of a circle places the anchor too close to you and can result in a smack in the back of the head by the fly. Too small of a circle and the anchor will set too far away creating loop that will collapse on itself. The desired line anchor position is about 6-8 feet to the side of your body you are casting from. Enjoy!!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Want to have a beer with Christer and......

talk about which line goes best on your Loop Rod?........Well how about the next best thing......
The new Loop Line navigator tool......


Follow this link to check it out.....a great tool to help answer the questions you have on the
perfect line for the perfect rod

Seasons on the Fly.......... Fly Tying Vids

Check out this link to watch HD videos on some of the most popular patterns
Our guy Greg Hyster has put together a great resource
Idaho Joe

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Scanout Magazine - Taming the Silver King - Issue #2.09

Scanout Magazine - Steelhead Paradise, BC - Issue #3.09



We are very excited to announce that Scanout will be producing our own electronic magazine. It will be a very personal magazine, as it is going to reflect our own interests and style. We are looking forward to sharing it with others and we hope that all of you enjoy our life’s passion. This project is driven directly from our passion to display a truly “Different View” to what would otherwise be the same old subjects. Since getting together severalyears ago we have shared a common vision and we are proud to be releasing Scanout Magazine. We are taking a rather unique approach and will be releasing new issues whenever we return from a trip. Our intent is to provide quality work when its ready, verses trying to meet a deadline. Our hope is that people enjoy our approach and we look forward to releasing several issues annually. We also hope to gather the “Best of the Best” and release hardcover books in the future. And please subscribe so we can keep you easily up to date. It’s FREE!

Spring Alaskan Steelhead Just Weeks Away

Alaskan Spring Steelhead fishing is just around the corner and we are gearing up for what is shaping up to be one of the best returns in recent history. We hunt these fish only a couple of miles inland from the salt, making them some of the brightest, hottest Steel trout you will find anywhere on the planet!

Most of our available dates have been filled, however we do have a handful of prime dates left open for the Loop Army to take advantage of. At this point, we have openings from May 4-8 and May 13-17. These dates can be booked in 1 to 4 day packages, and are all inclusive from Wrangell, Alaska. I will be guiding all of these dates, so should you have any interest please give me a call at 800-410-3133. Don't miss this opportunity to experience Steelhead the way they were centuries ago!!!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

first returns from cuba





1 april 2009
Report from Casa Batida, Loop Desitination Cuba.The first 3 days of the week Patrik have landed his first 5 Tarpons in his life,
the biggest at 80lb. The report also says - "lost another 15 Tarpons as well!"

Soon the huge migrating Tarpons will invade the flats, and with Permit in world record size it's not to be missed.
We still have some rods available for this experience of a life-time!

Contact christer@looptackle.se for price and avaialble weeks.


1800403133