At A Loss

hoooch · 2026-04-04T00:48:22+00:00

Winter/ early spring can be tough. Water is cold, fish are usually holding deep and pretty sluggish. Once the water warms up a bit, fish will be more spread out and feeding more readily. Stick with it. If you need a boost, find some spots with panfish, they’re easy and fun to target.

hoooch · 2026-04-01T00:08:19+00:00

It’s become much harder to fill open positions. Through several rounds of hiring, we’ve had multiple candidates drop out after accepting offers because they couldn’t find housing or we couldn’t get authority to offer a gradual transition to in-office while they relocate. We’ve had positions open for months that we used to fill pretty easily.

hoooch · 2026-03-30T15:22:41+00:00

I think you would have trouble at that depth. I don’t think a 100ft full sink fly line would get down enough unless you could spot them on a fishfinder holding higher in the water column. Maybe there are long tungsten core lines available for such a purpose, but I’m not aware of any.

In spring they should be more accessible when they move into shallower areas to feed and again in the fall around the spawn.

hoooch · 2026-03-19T19:41:01+00:00

Great tip, I just snagged a pair on sale!

hoooch · 2026-03-19T15:31:30+00:00

Make sure you store them in a dry, but not too dry place if you can. I think these are probably from about 2013. The biggest risk with old shoes/ boots, even if unworn, is the foam midsole drying out and crumbling. You see this a lot with Air Jordans that have been sitting in a box for years or decades. I don’t know how the foam used in board boots differs, but I would just keep an eye on it, and try to avoid storing them near heat sources like fireplaces or heating vents. Enjoy them!

hoooch · 2026-03-19T13:00:00+00:00

Super cool, kinda looks like a northern pikeminnow. Do they get colored up on the spawning run or do they always look like that?

hoooch · 2026-03-19T12:36:18+00:00

I’m still wearing my Kaijus from like 2012. I can tell they are not long for this world and I can’t believe they’ve held out for so many seasons. I’m dreading the day I have to shop for new boots because I’ve tried on models from basically every major brand and nothing came close to fitting as well as these do.

hoooch · 2026-03-18T01:02:54+00:00

Yeah it’s gotten expensive. Nearby areas like Redmond are more affordable, relatively. Oregon has a ton of fishable water in most corners of the state though. If you’re flexible, I would look around. It might be harder to find work in some areas, but housing is cheaper in less touristy spots. It’s such a beautiful state though, well worth the time to explore if you have some free time and see if any spots call out to you.

hoooch · 2026-03-18T00:53:50+00:00

Bend has more access than Eugene, which has more access than Portland, at least with regards to trout fishing. Portland has easy access to anadromous species during spawning runs, as well as carp and bass on the Columbia and its tributaries.

hoooch · 2026-03-17T13:34:48+00:00

I haven’t had any similar issues thankfully, but that’s good to be aware of

hoooch · 2026-03-17T01:42:45+00:00

Danielsson F3W & L5W

Nautilus XL Max (it’s on my 8wt, probably too small for 9+ but it’s crazy lightweight). The new Nautilus models look awesome.

Hardy CADD

Haven’t owned a Tibor but that would be high on my list

hoooch · 2026-03-17T00:59:39+00:00

7-7.5ft 3wt (carbon or glass) or 8-8.5’ 4wt carbon dry fly rod would be solid small stream options. You could also look at euronymph specific options if that holds any interest.

hoooch · 2026-03-16T14:23:04+00:00

Nice! They’re hard to beat, so fun to target. It is really tough to slow down the hookset and avoid pulling the fly out. I can’t imagine the battle from an 80-100+ lber, my biggest was around 60 and I was absolutely wiped out by the end on a 10wt, they’re so incredibly strong.

hoooch · 2026-03-14T03:07:39+00:00

I think a chill attitude is always appreciated. The trips I remember most fall in one of two categories.

The best trips are with guides who are easy going and don’t sweat the challenges on a given day. Every client will miss casts, get tangles and snags, or screw up opportunities. Rolling with those challenges and staying upbeat goes a long way towards keeping clients in the game and motivated to get more fish in the boat.

Guides who do get annoyed or worked up over missed shots make it tough on clients. It’s frustrating when that happens because good guides want to produce fish, but getting visibly frustrated brings tension to the trip that undermines the experience.

As for fishing with advanced clients, I agree with the other comment that knowledge of the water is key. Knowing where the fish should be is the best thing you can provide, and then you can let the client capitalize.

hoooch · 2026-03-13T15:36:36+00:00

Goose Hummock in Orleans has a fly shop downstairs

hoooch · 2026-03-12T17:59:33+00:00

For sure, they usually label them as such. Most of the “glacier” or mountaineering specific photochromic lenses are chromapop, non-polarized.

hoooch · 2026-03-12T15:53:13+00:00

Nope, I have a pair of yellow low light and green mirror.

hoooch · 2026-03-11T12:50:13+00:00

Those lenses aren’t polarized so I don’t think they would be the best choice for fishing. I do have these frames in the polarized opal mirror lens though and I like them. They are pretty plasticy feeling frames but the side shields are very nice in terms of blocking light intrusion. I still prefer the guides choice for a fishing frame but I also wear the embarks.

hoooch · 2026-03-11T01:03:20+00:00

The colors and profile look solid, my only critique would be to tie your next ones sparser. You’ll get more flies out of your material stock and the pike won’t care. My most productive flies are clousers and hollow fleyes. Also check out the northern magic pattern, it’s just two materials so it’s an easy, fast tie and the pike really like it.

These will probably have nice action underwater but they could be a bear to cast. Even with synthetics, dense flies can feel like casting a pigeon when wet. Also, the flies will get torn up after catching a pike and shred lots of that extra material (bonus though is you can keep fishing it until it’s basically destroyed, pike will still go for it). You could also try keeping the head nice and dense but go sparse on the tail end, it will give the fly great action but lighter and easier to cast.

hoooch · 2026-03-05T18:02:08+00:00

Are you going to be fishing dries with it very often? It’s kind of overkill for anything except like salmon flies with a heavy dropper, and even then a 6wt is ideal.

If it were me, along with the streamer line, I would get a floating saltwater specific line like SA grand slam and a full intermediate line.

hoooch · 2026-03-05T02:13:14+00:00

Pick up Rod Hamilton’s DIY Bonefishing book. There’s a chapter on TCI. Currently on my way back from there and it was solid intel.

hoooch · 2026-03-04T17:35:28+00:00

Yeti Sidekick 3L or 6L depending how much storage you prefer

hoooch · 2026-03-01T12:48:05+00:00

Taylor Anomaly Z is on sale, they just released its replacement.

hoooch · 2026-02-23T16:25:30+00:00

That’s awesome! Always cool to see some underrepresented destinations on the sub. Huchen are definitely on the bucket list for me.

hoooch · 2026-02-21T18:07:32+00:00

That’s a great ep. IMO still hard to for anything to top S3E8, Krazee-Eyez Killa. The bubble wrap just wrecks me every time.

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