returns from cuba

After an unusually windy April and first half of May the weather finally went back to normal conditions in the Caribbean for this time of the year. The typical May-June weather is low wind to nearly flat calm until 2 pm, when the wind picks up a bit, followed by some rain showers in the evenings and nights. The rest of the season from June and into first week of October usually has good weather conditions and excellent fishing, but of course there are no guaranteesfor weather anywhere in the world. According to Ulysses and Samuel, that has guided the area for 20 year, these are normal conditions. Last week I focused on flats fishing. To see a tarpon, and cast to it with precision, without scaring the fish, see the tarpon eat the fly and then try to set the hook is a fantastic challenge. Pure adrenaline and a bone shaking experience! The 5 days of fishing the flats resulted for me in 35-40 hookups with 7 landed to the boat. Weight ranged between 40lb – 115lb, with a majority around 70-80lb. As said, it’s not easy to set the hook and to calculate the power and timing needed for a correct hooking. I must admit I lost some flies and leaders as well as doing all beginner mistakesover and over again.All in all one of my best fishing weeks ever even if the guides said it was not a top week. Some anglers preferred the channels and the big 3-meter deep basin. There were days when they saw fish rolling everywhere and had lots of hookups, fish jumping, and also quite a lot of fish landed. Most of the fish in these places were over 100lb with the biggest landed to the boat weighing in at 140lb. The stories were of course of the even bigger ones that could not be landed.

This is not your Fathers Hippie Van.....Far Fig Newton

Dragonfly Van new concept for the visitor to the northwest
fuel efficient hardcore assault campers make you fully mobile
fully equipped ready for your next trip.....weather going to a dead show or
Camping on the St. Joe ....rents by the day or the week
check my boys out or we can help get you in touch at the shop 18004103133
Idaho joe

spey caster rescues family......good work

Precision rescue casts Sandy River fisherman as hero

by Bill Monroe, Special to The Oregonian

Thursday May 28, 2009, 9:43 PM

Bill Monroe/The OregonianDon Elder of Gresham used his spey-casting rod to help rescue three people from possibly drowning in the Sandy River on Sunday.

Don Elder of Gresham didn't expect to catch anything Sunday afternoon when he waded through the crowd at Oxbow Regional Park and into the Sandy River to practice his fly-casting technique.

But three people he pulled to the shoreline with a bright chartreuse and orange, salmon-strength class fly line are thankful he's getting better.

Elder, 52, saved a man, his small sister and his fiancee from the Sandy's deep and numbing snowmelt-fed water about 2 p.m. Sunday as they were swept toward rapids near Buck Creek, upriver from Oxbow's boat ramp.

Metro, which operates the park, confirmed the story Thursday but said the holiday weekend was so hectic an incident report had not been completed.

Heather Coston, a Metro spokeswoman, said a man known only as Dean and the two others apparently were swimming at the mouth of Buck Creek when they became caught in the Sandy's current.

Elder, an award-winning rivers advocate who is the director of major gifts for the Western Rivers Conservancy, said he and his wife, Michelle Kenney, spent the weekend camping near the park's boat ramp.

He went upriver in the afternoon to practicing his casting but "without much hope of catching a fish."

"I heard screaming in the middle of the river," Elder said. "It took five or 10 seconds before I realized someone was in pretty desperate trouble. But what do you do first? Out in the middle of the river was a man clutching a very small girl. Between us in the water was a young woman.

"I was wearing waders and boots, so it wasn't very practical to try to get to them. If I became part of the problem, it wouldn't help anyone. The only safe way was to bite off the fly, so I (bit off the leader), and before I realized what I was doing, I started casting to them."

Elder's first cast was to the woman between him and the man. She grabbed the line and he lowered his rod, "stripping" her in a bit -- making short tugs on the line -- as she held on and the current drew her toward the shoreline. By then, others had gathered and waded out to help her from the shallows.

After she released the line, Elder said, he ran downriver to within range of the man and little girl. They were approaching the upper end of the rapids near the boat ramp but were farther from Elder than the woman was. On his first two casts, either he missed the mark or the man didn't see the line.

On his third cast, though, Elder said, "The man seemed to realize what to do and grabbed it with his free hand."

Elder said he hung on, again stripping a little line as he worked his way downriver to where the two came to shore, still gripping the brightly colored fly line. Elder estimates it to be at least 100-pound test strength, strong enough to hold someone in the water. And he was spey-casting, a method used for steelhead and salmon that involves larger rods and reels than those used for trout.

Someone waded out and grabbed the girl, and Elder wrapped his arms around the man to help him ashore.

"He kept saying 'Thank you, thank you,' then he passed out," Elder said.

Largely ignoring a bystander who mistakenly chided him for continuing to fish through the emergency ("Everyone else knew what I was trying to do; we laughed about it later," Elder said), and still in his waders and boots, Elder ran up the riverbank a couple of hundred yards to his campsite.

Also ignoring his wife's questions about what was going on, Elder jumped in his car to race to park headquarters for more help. Cell phone coverage is limited in that part of the Sandy River canyon, about eight miles east of Gresham.

Meanwhile, rafters had floated the man downriver to the boat ramp, where Kendra Carrillo, a park ranger, arrived. He was taken to a hospital.

Metro spokeswoman Coston said the man's mother called Carrillo later in the afternoon to report all three were recovered and safely at home.

Spring drownings are common on the Sandy and Clackamas rivers, but none of the three in the water was wearing life jackets, Elder said.

Relieved at "the positive outcome," Elder doesn't know whom he saved. He was to leave this morning for a four-day float down a remote section of the John Day River.

Before leaving, though, Elder said the incident is a good reminder for the coming hot weekend weather that rivers are "always more powerful than they look."

He echoed experts who say it's especially crucial to stay out of the water in the spring -- no matter how hot it gets -- because rivers are running high with fresh snowmelt.

"I had just been standing there," Elder said, "thinking what a wonderful amenity Oxbow Park is, 1,200 acres (and another 3,000 acres upriver purchased by Western Rivers Conservancy) so close to a million people."

-- Bill Monroe; nwbill@aol.com

Loop Opti Reels: Dominant in the Salt!!!

Dear Tomas (Loop reel designer),

Needless to say the fishing in Australia was fantastic.....and the new Loop reels, well......

New Opti Speedrunner - First cast success with this new reel at Hervey Bay
Australia on a golden trevally estimated at 10kg plus. The goldie was
swimming with two large shovel nosed rays on the beach. It monstered a white
clouser and then took 20 minutes to land on a #10wt outfit with 9kg tippet.
The new black Speedrunner performed flawlessly.

Megaloop - This longtail tuna was estimated at 28kg and is one of the
largest taken on fly (if not the largest). It was sightcast on the beach at
Hervey Bay Australia with a 4/0 clouser on a #12 wt outfit with 9kg tippet.
It headed for deep water at warp speed with an initial run about 200 metres.
It took 25 minutes to land. The drag on the Megaloop performed flawlessly
and the large arbor made short work of retrieving line. The same outfit
dealt with 9 more sight-cast longtail tuna that morning ranging from
12-20kg.

The Speedrunner and the Megaloop are the perfect reels for big fast fish on
the flats - light, super-large arbor, good line capacity and excellent
drags. What more could you want?

Dr Neil Shepherd

selway river flyfishing

Sharpen Your Game with Instruction from the Best of the Best!!!

A full time professional that has been guide and instructor for Loop for a long time and have caught countless fish in his time.

With an extensive knowledge in fishing tactics and strategy his approach to the fly cast is aimed at fishing rather than casting and is visualised in his courses and workshops.

Whether it is on your home turf, a fly fishing show, the Icelandic rivers Hofsa, Sela and Nordua/Laxa i Kjos or somewhere in Argentina, you will always be richer in experience after you’ve met him.

Klaus will be with us in Coeur d'Alene, ID on Saturday June 20 for 2 sessions of personalized casting instruction and demonstration. If Scandinavian/Shooting Head style casting is your cup of tea then this is an opportunity not to be missed!!

The first session will run from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, and the second from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The cost per person is $75 and that course fee is applicable toward the purchase of any Loop Rod or Reel!! There are only 12 slots available for each session and both are about 40% full so it is best not to wait!

To reserve your space please call us at 1-800-410-3133.

Eoin Fairgrieve is a fully qualified casting member of the Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors (A.A.P.G.A.I).

Eoin is highly regarded as one of the world’s leading Speycasting instructors and was a member of the Scottish Flycasting Team that won the 2006 World Speycasting Championships held in Ireland.

Before becoming a full time instructor and Loop’s Speycasting Consultant, Eoin was a guide for many years on one of the famous beats of the River Tweed. He is a regular features writer for the Trout and Salmon magazine and has travelled extensively to Loop camps around the world teaching and guiding fishing parties.

He is a keen salmon conservationist and through his Tweedstart angling project, has introduced hundreds of children to flyfishing. Eoin’s Centre of Excellence is a hugely successful teaching practice located on the River Tweed in Scotland.

Eoin is going to be with us in Coeur d'Alene, ID for 2 days, Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26. There are 2 instructional sessions available each day, the morning session runs from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and the afternoon session from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. There are 12 slots available for each session and the cost is $75 per person which is applicable toward the purchase of any Loop Rod or Reel.

To book a slot in one of Eoin's instructional sessions please give us a call at 1-800-410-3133, this is an opportunity not to be missed!!!

This is an extremely rare opportunity to recieve educational instruction from 2 of the finest doublehand casters in the world!! It is probably appropriate to equate this opportunity to that of having the opportunity to have personalized instruction from Tiger and Lefty; definitely not something you'd want to miss!!!!! In addition to being fantastic instructors, these 2 gentlemen are outstanding people and you will not soon forget the time you spend with them!

fly tying night

fly tying night tonight 5 to 9
castaway fly shop
cda idaho
free beer ... pizza
byov.... bring your own vice
topic....cda river... carpenter ants

alaskan results are back....early returns in

Jeff took off a week ago outfitted with the information accumulated through the years listening to me at the shop he knows all the names...the player's and the river names...outfitted to the hip he headed out to try to strike steel in southeast Alaska.....here a few photos sent forward to me while he was reloading .......more upcomming in loop army special ops overview

idaho joe

opti saltwater rods are here

long awaited arrival call joe at 18004103133 he can ship one to ya
opti 9'8wt" salt std or x-grip $615.00
opti 9'10wt salt std or x-grip $651.00
opti 9'12wt salt std or x-grip $670.00

OPTi SALT : SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL	LENGTH	LINE / WEIGHT	PCS	ROD WEIGHT
890-3	9'0"	#8 / 17-21 g	3	-
1090-3	9'0"	#10 / 22-27 g	3	-
1290-3	9'0"	#12 / 32-36 g	3	-

Opti Switch Rods are here

the long awaited arrival of the opti switch rods are here
call joe today at 18004103133 and he will ship one to you
10'7" 6 wt 634.00
10'7" 8 wt 646.00

Loop Photo Contest

The photo competition for fly fishers.
Compete with your fly fishing photos. Register, log in, upload the photo, tell the story behind the picture and win.
We will select a winner every month and at the end of the competition period we will select Photo of the Year.
Upload and compete
The pictures must be in jpeg format and max 3 MB in size per picture. Also bear in mind that you must be over 18 or have parents approval and have the copyright to the pictures you compete with.
NB: It can take a few hours for the pictures to be published in the gallery as all pictures must first be approved for publishing by us.
Do you want payment for your picture?
We at Loop might want to use your pictures in various media. When you upload a picture you give us the right to use it in any circumstances related to the contest. Sometimes though we would like to use your picture in other circumstances and if that is the case we will pay you SEK 300 per picture or give you a ift voucher on the amount.
Tick the box, when uploading the picture, if you are interested in us getting the rights to use your picture.

Fly Tying night at Castaway Fly Fishing shop thursday May 7th

what: fly tying night
where : castaway fly shop 1114 n 4th coeur'd alene
when : 5pm to 9pm may 6th 2009
why: free beer!!! free pizza!!! fly tying tips....... discussions....good old boy get together
open to public come on by byov....bring your own vice
18004103133