FROM MY INBOX:THE FISHING WIRE 1/23/2012
Could You Pass This One?

OK, let’s admit it, we have a tendency to make fishing more complicated than it really is. Successful fishing is really nothing more than convincing a fish that whatever you’re using to tempt them to bite a hook is, well, worth biting.

So you’d think getting a Boy Scout merit badge in fishing would be pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

Just before Christmas, our friend J.R. Absher forwarded several outdoor writers copies of the Boy Scouts’ Fly Fishing Merit Badge Workbook. It came with a simple question: could you pass this one?

I’m no fly fisherman, so I knew I was in trouble. The responses from “real” fly fishing experts were surprising. At least three of these folks write regularly about fly fishing. At least one has written a definitive book on fly fishing in the south.

They were equally impressed with the requirements. “I’m not exactly a novice fly fisherman,” one wrote, “but I’ll be danged if I could answer the questions on fly tying. I’ve never really tied a lot of flies, so it was stuff I can’t pretend to know.”

OK, by now those of you who are fly fishermen are probably laughing out loud. But I’d suggest your holding your guffaws until you see some of the questions required by the Scouts.

For example, can you quickly explain the the “prevention and treatment for the following health concerns that could occur while fly-fishing”: scratches, puncture wounds, insect bites, hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and sunburn.

Can you quickly explain how to remove a hook that has lodged in your arm?

OK, how’s about demonstrating how to match a fly rod and leader to achieve a balanced system? Or demonstrate how to tie a backing to a fly reel spool -with an arbor knot? A nail knot? Needle knot or loop-to-loop connection?

Use the blood knot to add tippet to a leader or tie a fly onto aforementioned leader using the improved clinch knot?

Don’t get cocky….if you can do all that, you should then be able to explain when to use wet flies, dry flies, nymphs, streamers, bass bugs poppers and saltwater flies- and then tie at least two of them for your leader.

If you’ve shown that knowledge, you’re now ready for the physical parts of the test. Cast a fly -consistently- 30 feet using both overhead and roll cast techniques. Take a trip to a “suitable fishing location” and observe- and demonstrate your knowledge of what the fish are eating above- and below the surface.

Then explain “Leave no trace” “catch and release” and demonstrate how to safely release a fish.

Now, catch at least one fish. If it’s permitted, you should then clean and cook your catch. If not “acquire fish” and cook it.

I can go with the Scouts when it comes to cleaning and preparation, but I’m afraid I might be found lacking in some of the other areas.

Looking over their exam, I realize there’s really only one thing I need to prepared to go fly fishing: a Boy Scout with the Fly Fishing merit badge.

At that point, I’m good-to-go.

– Jim Shepherd

For years us in the fly world have known about a great tyer from PA …Don.

Well here’s his link……..please go see a master streamer tyer!!

http://donbastianwetflies.wordpress.com/category/fly-tying-dvds/traditional-streamers-and-bucktails/

You will be the better for it!

Rebel Celebrates 50 Years

Fifty years and millions of lures ago, Fort Smith, Arkansas, angler George Perrin established a lure company that would lead the industry in innovation. In 1962, demand for Perrin’s Floating Minnow prompted him to create Rebel Lures and shift his company’s manufacture of plastic parts for refrigerators and air conditioners to creating some of the most dependable and popular fishing lures in history.

Several years earlier Perrin grew frustrated with the wooden minnow lures on the market. They were inconsistent, dove to different depths and ran to the left or right, and with use they took on water, which killed the action. He reasoned that he could make a better one out of plastic. He knew if he got it right, each lure would be identical, run correctly at the right depth, and most importantly, catch more fish.

The Rebel F10 Minnow was born out of frustration, but has come to be a staple in many anglers’ tackle boxes.

After experimenting and testing the prototypes at Arkansas’ Lake Ouachita, he hit on that right design and established Rebel Lures, named after the mascot of the high school his daughter attended. That lure is still available, and still catches fish. It’s the Rebel F10 Minnow.

It wasn’t long before anglers everywhere began asking for other sizes and styles…models that would sink, or run deep, topwater poppers, and later, new shapes and crankbait designs. A host of Rebel Lures are legendary…lures like the Broken Back (jointed) Minnow, the Super-R, the Pop-R, Wee-R, the Critter Series and the Rebel Crawfish crankbaits.

Rebel wasn’t limited to lure making, though. In 1970 the company entered the bass boat market, and furnished the boats for the very first Bassmaster Classic. Bobby Murray won that tournament, and the gentleman angler still works for the company as a seminar speaker and fishing instructor. Rebel branched out further, producing the first tackle boxes to depart from the basic metal boxes of the day. Rebel produced the first double-sided tackle box (lids and storage areas on both the top and the bottom). Designed by anglers, these boxes led the industry with adjustable storage areas, spinnerbait holders and molded areas for pork frog jars.

Even while producing boats and tackle boxes – and even trolling motors – Rebel always kept lure-making the main staple of production. Literally millions of lures were manufactured. Some remain in the line today and are joined by new lures sure to set the standard once again. One thing that is certain is that Rebel Lures has never been afraid to be the innovator in fishing tackle.
“It was nothing to make 10,000 lures a day,” said Danny Stoner, a longtime Rebel employee. “We made enough Rebel Lures in the 1980s to outfit every man, woman and child in the United States. Perrin was very innovative in production – we were the first to use pad printing and a heat-transfer process of decoration.”

Rebel continues in the tradition of innovation even today with the new Frog-R, Rebel Raider and Crappie Crank-R trolling crankbaits. With constant input from professional anglers and a dedication to providing high-quality fishing lures at a reasonable cost, Rebel Lures remain among America’s favorites.

Part of the fiftieth celebration is Rebel’s giveaway of a 2011 Skeeter FX21 with a 250 SHO Yamaha engine at this year’s Bassmaster Classic. Entry is through the company’s facebook page at facebook.com/FishingLures.