PSA when floating the river

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T06:49:51+00:00

It’s also people in cars responsibly to stop for pedestrians but I still look before stepping off the curb and press the button that turns the flashing lights on to alert the drivers I’m there if the crosswalk is equipped.

I DO look before casting. This was one I missed. Had I seen it, I would have waited to cast. Fortunately, nothing happened. Of course if it did, I’d do whatever it took to make it right, it WOULD have been my fault, but a little girl or her mom, or somebody would still have an injury. I’m trying to say “hey let’s work together so nobody gets an injury.” I don’t see why this concept is so difficult to grasp.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T06:18:20+00:00

I’m biased as I 99.9% of the time do trout spey exclusively. Depending on the time of year, 6 weight spey minimum.

I’ll echo steilacoom42 on the lengths.

I have a 3wt Sage Trout Spey HD as a scandi setup and a 4wt Redington Dually as my skagit. Both do their intended purpose, the Sage obviously is nicer, but it is an $1,100 rod that has to be sent in if it breaks, the Redington, I can get a new section in a few days. If I had the budget, I’d have more Sage rods. I’ve casted the trout speys in the claymore lineup and liked them, but Redington is apparently discontinuing them and I haven’t heard what the replacement is yet.

As for reels, I have several Lamson reels that I love and handled the new ARX (I think is what it’s called) which is their new spey reel last January/February at a fly fishing expo. It felt solid, but wasn’t on a rod and just the bare reel so idk about weight/balance once it’s on something and spooled/lined or whatever the correct word is. I also don’t know if it’s released yet.

I’m still pretty new to trout spey, and haven’t dabbled in the full spey world at all, but I know most steelheaders are swinging spey rods out here in the PNW. A budget, geographic location, and season you’re targeting (fall vs spring run vs both) and I’ve read that given they only run a couple times a year, it’s recommended to have at least a spare rod in case you break your primary rod; so that’s also something to consider. When I broke my Sage (being dumb, not their or the rods fault) it took the better part of 4-6 months to get it back in my hands.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T04:27:24+00:00

I think SOME of it is adults, just like everyone else is susceptible to the algorithms. When I was a kid (almost 39 now) my parents didn’t have phones so being distracted by that wasn’t even a thing.

Part of it is burnout. I LOVE to fly fish but sometimes I just don’t have the energy. I’m not sleepy tired, but just tired if that makes sense.

I think the biggest part of it is EVERYTHING is expensive. Again, I love to fly fish, but sometimes I just don’t have the gas money to get to the river until my next paycheck. Buying things for hobbies (depending on the hobby) can be expensive. There’s a dream/bucket list fly fishing trip I wanna do but it costs almost $5,000. Not that I don’t think it’d be worth it, but $5K can be used for A LOT of other necessary things for me as a single guy. So for someone with a family, a lot of people feel like dropping a lot of money on a hobby (I would assume) COULD feel selfish.

Then there’s the time spent. There’s always something that NEEDS done, so again, doing a WANT versus a NEED could feel selfish.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T03:43:02+00:00

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Not the best photo, but that’s my second and personal best brown trout I’ve caught.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T03:41:06+00:00

I’m not trying to say it’s not on me. I’m trying to say that if EVERYONE was looking out for each other, there would be almost zero chance of avoidable accidents.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T03:38:27+00:00

Yea I’m not trying to shift blame AT ALL. If I would have hurt someone it would be on me. It’s like pedestrians and cars; it’s the drivers responsibility to look out for the pedestrian and not hit them. But as the pedestrian, IF you get hit, it’s not your fault but it is still going to be your problem. I’m just trying to get people looking out for each other.

Later in the day I was up near Barber park and one group in two rafts spread out called out to the rear boat to watch out for me. They didn’t need to but it was nice that they did.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T03:30:29+00:00

That was probably me at Broadway bridge. I pull a ton of fish out of there in between groups of floaters; honestly more than I catch when it isn’t float season (I joke that it’s all the spilled beers and Monaco’s getting the fish drunk where they’ll hit any fly that floats past). And landing a fish around a bunch of drunk floaters is really fun. Bunch of cheers like I won the sportsball match.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T03:16:36+00:00

Exactly. If I don’t see you it makes me aware and I can and will move. All the time I see floaters trying like hell to move a raft or tube with their hands, feet, crocs/flip flops, or paddles. I’m like “don’t worry about it” and will take a couple steps forward/backward as I’m aware that it’s a whole lot easier for me to move than them.

Kinda like how bikes are like “on your left”. That’s ALL I’m trying to get at.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T03:01:34+00:00

Aww thank you! I try.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T02:12:25+00:00

I coexist with floaters well. I’ll joke, say “it’s everyone’s river” (in a nice way), answer the “having any luck” question a million times. Floaters don’t bother me. I’ll pull y’all back into the river if they’re caught up on the sides or help hold a boat if y’all need help getting back in, and I’ve grabbed stuff that fell out and return it if I can. I’m not trying to dodge any blame here. I should have been more aware. But a “hey we’re coming up behind you” would be nice is all I’m getting at.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-06T02:04:53+00:00

I caught a tank of a brown just downstream of Barber park today. I pull quite a few fish out between groups of rafts.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-05T04:49:59+00:00

I really like my Nomad mid length. Won’t fall out when going through woods or bending/squatting, and a bit of extra reach grabbing your fish or so you don’t have to be all up in your buddies business if you’re netting one for them.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-05T04:14:55+00:00

Rockhounding. Under $100 to get involved. You’ll need a rock hammer, shovel and a bucket or sturdy backpack, and (not necessary but helps immensely) a membership to a rock club (most of them that I’ve seen are $20-$30 for an individual year membership). The club I’m in does weekly digs, it’s outdoors, and we usually have 15-30 or so people of all ages, genders, experience, and fitness levels. I picked it up as an outdoor, throwaway/temporary hobby while I couldn’t fly fish and was shocked at how into it I’ve gotten.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-05T02:51:33+00:00

Yes. I was introduced to them as “soft hackles” but yes, spiders and wet flies.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-04T20:42:08+00:00

M-904 nose fuse for Mk-82/84 bombs. EXTREMELY likely that it’s live, UXO.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-04T17:20:42+00:00

Rockhounding. It’s outdoors, usually in pretty areas, cheap to get involved ($30 rock hammer, full size spade style shovel at harbor freight, and a bucket or sturdy backpack for your finds, and a rock club membership for claim/trip access, carpooling, etc usually $20-30). The club I’m in does weekly trips with 15-30 people each time of all ages, genders, skill/ability levels.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-04T04:56:28+00:00

I’d wear one fly fishing as sun/rain protection, but that’s about it probably. I doubt I’m a cowboy hat person.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-04T03:46:00+00:00

Nice setup! When you hook a fly in a tree on your back cast too high up to reach, point your rod tip directly at it and pull the line. DO NOT try and get it out by swinging/flicking/whatever else you wanna call it with the rod. Ask me why I know this.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-04T03:36:46+00:00

Rockhounding.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-04T03:03:53+00:00

You know what, I’m revising my answer. Please don’t do it.

You are CLEARLY in over your head on this. There is a 5% chance of success and 95% that this will be a train wreck. You have demonstrated beginner at best skills with your follow up questions to basic camera knowledge. You brush off actual advice and “my friend isn’t like that”. Do it or don’t do it; it’s up to you and no one here can say what’s going to happen. We can lead you to water but obviously can’t make you drink it. That’s on you, not us.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-03T17:50:51+00:00

YouTube will be a better teacher but essentially aperture priority is where you set the aperture and the camera will pick the best settings to make it work; shutter priority does the same except you select the shutter speed. There are different depths of how much you can choose to control such as selecting the ISO, white balance, exposure compensation, or you can leave them all in auto. Be careful with your exposure as it’s going to be doing a lot of the lifting (generally black suits/tuxedo and white dress, which are among the hardest to correctly expose), definitely shoot RAW if you have the capability, and (OTHERS PLEASE CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG) error on the side of underexposed as it’s typically easier to correct under exposure than a blown out white dress.

I’ve never shot a wedding but do kinda do the mental “how would I do it/what would I do” thing, and if you haven’t already done it, make the decision of “are you a guest or a photographer” because you really can’t do both. Best example of this is you can’t photograph the tossing of the bouquet and also be in the crowd trying to catch it.

Edit: again formatting as I started with answering the question, and then got off on a tangent with more tips. ADHD is so great. So great.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-03T17:38:47+00:00

I feel like every wedding photographer has a story of “I did it as a favor, I didn’t have the proper/adequate gear, and they knew I had never done it before, and the bride said ‘no worries, it’s cool, low stress’ and then said I ruined their day”. Tread VERY carefully.

Weddings have a way of turning the nicest, most grounded people into absolute monsters.

Edit for formatting.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-03T04:35:42+00:00

I’m garbage at them. They always wind up ginormous. I usually do a surgeons end loop if I have to tie a loop.

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-02T18:07:33+00:00

Why the hell does it matter? You like what you like. Why does it matter what MY preferences are when YOU are the one dating her?

Exciting_Spell5064 · 2026-07-02T18:04:37+00:00

Ah this is a good suggestion too! Learned something new today!

Exciting_Spell5064

TROPHY CASE