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After stopping by our Fly Fishing Swap last Saturday, our friends Mark Nanke and Kim Thomas headed out for another day of floating on the Bitterroot (day 15 or something for them this year already!!). Together with a picture of Mark’s first big trout of the year on a dry (spectacular 19″ bow) he forwarded [...]
I started fly fishing over 25 years ago in my boyfriends old neoprene waders – huge, leaky, bit smelly and from the second I put them on I couldn’t wait until I could take them off. Waders have certainly traveled an evolutionary path over the years – culminating in Simms $700.00 “state of the art” man wader with accommodating fly zipper. Now don’t get me wrong, but how about showing a little love toward the ladies wader?
Throughout my fly fishing years, I have experimented with and owned many different types of waders – neoprene boot foots (warm, but almost always too big and incredibly difficult to walk any distance in), neoprene stocking foots (one “word” – blecht!) , chest waders – both neoprene and Gore-Tex (always too big in either the feet or length or both)….I even tried “hippers” once - I know…..Right? Finally Simms produced waist waders – I LOVED these…the feet fit perfect and since I never waded up to my chest (really, who does that???) they were perfect. What’s not to love about a wader that fit like almost like my comfy jeans while making much easier to pee outside too (that’s a whole other post)? After a few years of wear, my “waisties” finally started leaking and I think my “waist” also might have expanded a bit (shame they don’t make ‘em with that “room to grow” system that are in my kid’s pants). I needed new ones, but Simms stopped making the damn things……Seriously?
In the approximately five years since the demise of my beloved waders I still haven’t really found a pair that I cherished like those. I have a new pair of Simms womens G-3 waders with only a few days on them so the jury is still out. I must express my disapointment that Simms again builds a “waistie” (the G-3 Guide Pant), but they don’t have a woman’s taper and unfortunately their sizing continues to match the increasing size of the average American male’s waist line. I just wait for the powers that be in the wader world to come up with a GREAT pair of women’s waders. Real fishing women don’t want them pink, or lavender - no need for frilly bows or fancy webbing details – just a nice pair that fit properly and keep me dry….oh, and maybe make it easier for us to pee in the woods? Just sayin…..
BRO is pleased to announce that were offering our FREE fly fishing classes again for 2012. With all the news that folks are spending less and less time outside, we feel this is a great way to generate renewed interest in the sport of fly fishing. Whether you’ve never cast a fly rod or maybe ventured out a couple of times in the past few years, the Orvis Fly Fishing classes are geared toward every skill level and it’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon – better than the mall right? Right?
There’s no need to bring anything but a good attitude and lots of patience…..remember – it’s fly fishing!! In the 101 class we’ll focus on rigging and casting – simple basics to get you that much closer to becoming a self sufficient and successful angler. We are hoping to start these classes in May and run them through July. We will post dates as soon as we know them. To find out more, give us a ring or better yet, stop in…….keeps us from working! See ya on the water.