Jim Lepage of Orvis will move to Midland, Michigan, to manage both the Scientific Anglers and the Ross brands. Ross Purnell photo

The Orvis Company, Inc. of Manchester, Vermont today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Scientific Anglers and Ross Reels businesses from 3M. Upon completion of the transaction, Orvis plans to continue to operate the Midland, MI based business independently under the Scientific Anglers brand. Ross Reels will also continue to operate independently under its brand name from its Montrose, CO headquarters. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We think both businesses have incredible opportunities to drive fly-fishing innovation well into the future,” said David Perkins, Orvis Executive Vice Chairman. “Jim Lepage will move to Midland and from there he will be dedicated to running both S.A. and Ross. He and the excellent teams already in place will build these strong brands for the future. Neither consumers nor the trade will likely notice much of a difference in the branding of these businesses under Orvis ownership. What they will notice is renewed marketing energy, well-supported sales and service staff and an even higher level of new product innovation.”

Ross Reels is well-known for an excellent line of mid-priced fly reels highly regarded by fly fishers. Scientific Anglers, founded in 1945, developed the first fly line to utilize a tapered plastic coating, the first modern floating fly line that could be fished without constant applications of messy line dressing, and the use of glass bubbles or micro balloons in floating fly lines, revolutionizing floating fly lines and still the major technology in floating lines today.

“Our goal is for Scientific Anglers to be the world leader in fly lines, leaders and tippet, and for Ross to be the leading innovator in American-made fly reels,” said Jim Lepage, newly appointed President of both businesses. “We plan to maintain strong investment in R&D at both businesses and we intend to bolster their sales and distribution resources here in the U.S. and build both brands internationally.”

Lepage, trained as an aerospace engineer, is a consummate outdoorsman and fly fisher, equally adept at hunting wild turkeys and trophy whitetails as he is with a fly rod. He holds a world record for Atlantic bonito on the fly rod and has fly fished from his home in Vermont to the spring creeks of New Zealand and most places in between. His proficiency in the field is matched by his business sense and his significant skills in managing complex manufacturing operations.

Joining Lepage and bolstering the new product innovations will be Bruce Richards, a 33-year veteran of Scientific Anglers responsible for many past new product breakthroughs. Richards had retired from Scientific Anglers in June 2009 but he says:

“When Jim Lepage called me to tell me that Orvis had acquired SA and wanted me involved again I was excited! I’ve known Jim for many years and have worked closely with him developing fly lines for Orvis. We see things the same way when it comes to fly fishing and fly lines and both have a passion for fly fishing and the outdoors in general. Jim is one of the most innovative product developers I know, it will be fun to work with him again. It will be great to work with the staff at the SA factory too, that was a hard place to leave.”

Both businesses will maintain their current operations, facilities, employees and independent sales representation. Lepage will relinquish his responsibilities as Vice President of Rod & Tackle with Orvis to be fully committed to his new role as President of both companies. Lepage is relocating to Midland, where he says he will consolidate R&D for both S.A. and Ross.

“There is no plan for Orvis to carry Scientific Anglers-brand fly lines in its catalog, stores or website, nor are there plans to more widely distribute Orvis products through S.A.’s established wholesale accounts. Each brand must remain focused on being the leading innovator in their respective product categories and distribution channels,” Lepage said. “Maintaining that clarity will be the key to our success.”

Magicicada

Magicicadas—also known as 17-year cicadas—are expected to emerge from their underground burrows in the spring of 2013. The large insects hatch when the ground temperature reaches daytime averages of 64 degrees F., meaning the hatch will start in April in North Carolina and continue through May up into New England.

“In places where they’re going to be present, it’s going to be spectacular. There could be as many as 1 billion cicadas emerging per square mile,” said Michael Raupp, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland. 

After living underground for 17 years, their life above ground is relatively short. They clumsily fly into trees where for a week or more they make a loud chirping sound to attract a mate. After mating they fall dead to the forest floor or into nearby streams and ponds where trout and other fish will quickly learn to recognize them as food.

East coast fly fishers should prepare their fly boxes for this unusual occurrence. Magicicadas are the  are 1.5 to 2 inches long with black bodies, red eyes, and orange wings. To find more out about the insects themselves, visit cicadamania.com or click here to see a map of exactly where the species is known to exist.

For fly patterns, there are many to choose from. My favorite for many types of cicadas is a Cathy’s Super Beetle. Tie it on a size 8 heavy-wire hook, and for extra cicada realism, use oranage thread and orange Hi-Vis for the wing instead of white Hi-Vis.

Cathy's Super Beetle

30 seconds of hilarity  . . .The Simms staff seems to be making great use of their new Bozeman facility, which is 61,000 feet of warehousing, wader manufacturing, and a bit of Harlem shaking thrown in.

James Belden and Grace Smith hiking along a typical Navarino Island river. Ross Purnell photo

Some of the finest times I’ve had on the water have been carefully scripted, if not entirely familiar. I can often rehearse the event in my mind before it happens—I know the rock I’ll likely be standing on when the evening hatch comes, predict the fly I’ll choose from a box that has been carefully stocked for the hatches I know (or hope) will occur on that particular river during that time of year.

Even when I’m fishing a place that is new to me, I can consult fishing reports, talk to people who have been there, and gain an understanding of what to expect. It’s a rare thing to step off into a river that doesn’t have a name on any map, and likely has never before been fished.

If going fishing on your home water could be likened to a dinner date with your spouse—comfortable, predictable, and familiar—then fishing the rivers of Navarino Island is like roulette dating. You don’t know what you’re going to get.

A Navarino Island sea trout caught in a riffle less than 100 yards from the ocean. At high tide, the riffle is buried under the ocean. Note the blue sheen on the cheeks of this male specimen. Grace Smith photo

Undiscovered Rivers

In January 2013 I helped launch an exploratory trip to Navarino Island with eight other fly fishers, and the help of Chilean outfitter Rafael Gonzalez. Gonzalez (magallanesflyfishing.com) is a longtime guide on the Rio Grande on Tierra del Fuego. TDF is often thought of as the farthest south you can get in Patagonia, but that’s actually not true. If you stand on the south shore of TDF and look across the Beagle Channel toward the South Pole, you can see the snow-covered peaks of the Dientes Range that rise like fangs of a canine over Isla Navarino.

This remote and rugged wilderness area hosts enough trekkers, sailors, heli-skiers, and eco-tourists to support the spacious, modern, Lakutaia Lodge in the seabound hamlet of Puerto Wiliams. Looking for a new clientele, and a reach in the US market, Lakutaia and Rafael invited our group to explore the lakes and rivers on the island. As a precursor, Rafael fished two of the small rivers near their lake outflows on the north half of the island.  He found resident brook and brown trout in the headwaters, but the rivers mostly flowed to the south and the west, eventually making their way into the frigid seas between the tip of South America and Antarctica. His hope was that these rivers—like some of the rivers of TDF—would hold sea-run brown trout.

Flying in Style

Puerto Williams is a tiny Chilean navy base crowded between the protected shores of the Beagle Channel and the 1,000 meter peaks of the Dientes Range. The freshwater on the island mostly flows away from town, down the south and west sides of the mountains and toward the sea. These rivers are unfished because the area is incredibly remote, rugged, and roadless. While there are some good hiking trails to/from Puerto Williams and the Dientes Range, the wilderness valleys beyond are riddled with barriers: massive blowdowns, terraced beaver ponds, bogs, swamps, forest, and a patchwork of Chilean sphagnum moss (Sphagnum magellanicum).

The only way in/out of these rivers is by helicopter, and DAP Airlines (also interested in developing a future fishing tourism business) underwrote our trip by handling the flights and logistics. Each day our pilot (and owner of the family business) Nicolás Pivcevic flew a group of three anglers and a guide to a new location to test the waters and hopefully find sea-run brown trout.

Nico’s priority was finding a safe place to land the chopper, and from there we explored the rivers and lakes by hiking upriver or downriver, often starting at a lake and working downriver toward the ocean.

If you were willing and able to hike long distances, hit the obvious best holding water, and then quickly move on, the fishing was exceptional. Not only did we find sea-run brown trout, we found sea-run brook trout (salters), and a few steelhead.

David Dobbs shows off a Navarino Island resident brook trout. Wayne Hoar photo

There were also resident versions of all species, but even within sight of the ocean, it was easy to tell the difference between the saltwater trout and the residents that stayed exclusively in freshwater. The resident brook trout were exceptionally colorful with fire-red bellies and almost back blacks with barely discernable vermiculations. The brook trout that were fresh from the ocean were silvery with pale bellies, and cerise spots with lavender halos.

Rainbow trout in the rivers were also dark, and heavily spotted, perhaps to match the dark bottom and tea-stained color of the water. Rainbows from the ocean were chrome-plated, and the sea-run browns were silver with a faint blue sheen the guides say is also a trademark of fresh sea-runs on the Rio Grande River. The resident browns had buttery yellow bellies the color of movie theater popcorn.

On my best day I was fortunate enough to catch a grand slam of all three species near where the Windhond River flows into the ocean. James Belken, Grace Smith, and I spent most of the day navigating the lower 3 to 4 kilometers of the river. From the air we estimated that we could fish from our landing spot all the way to the ocean, and then have lunch by the seaside. Our plan was to spend the afternoon fishing back upstream to meet the chopper at the same spot by 6 PM.

However, distances always look shorter and the terrain always looks flatter from the air. Once on the ground we realized that those tantalizing “riffles” were actually rapids that were too swift to cast a fly, and the steep, brush-choked hillsides made it impossible to fish for several kilometers. At 2 PM, after several hours of bush-whacking, navigating beaver dams, and sweating our way up and down the hillsides, we made it to the S-bends of the estuary where the salt spray and tidal influence slowed the river and kept the tree growth to a minimum.

Grace Smith with the first ever confirmed Navarino Island sea trout. Ross Purnell photo

This is where Grace Smith caught the first sea trout of the expedition, a leaping, high-flying ocean fish that was no bigger than some of the resident trout we landed, but had the telltale blue sheen that showed it was fresh from the ocean. In fact, Grace caught twin sea trout standing in that exact spot, swinging a gold conehead Krystal Bugger. Just downstream James Belden caught his first sea-run brown trout (and a steelhead), and I landed my best trout of the trip, a 30-inch sea trout that might have run 10 or 12 pounds.

We caught sea trout in two different rivers, in both instances very close to tidewater, and the sea trout we found did not rival the size of the fish on TDF’s Rio Grande where 25-pound fish are common.  But we did walk the banks of rivers that had never been fished, and the trout we caught on the south shore of Navarino represent what is likely the world’s southernmost trout population.

And while the sea trout were certainly the goal of the expedition, the resident trout were in some cases larger than the sea trout, and certainly more prolific. Perhaps the best day I observed was when I fished with Joe Stevens of Michigan, and we walked a tiny stream that joined two lakes. We started at the in-flow of one lake, and spent the day walking upstream, hitting the obvious holding pools. Grace Smith caught some beautiful trout including a rainbow trout that had black spots on its lips, eyes, and even on its white belly.

Patrick Alfaro shared with us a traditional Chilean mate  along with lunch, and afterward, it seemed like the big trout just couldn’t resist Joe’s #4 Yuk Bug as he pitched it under overhanging limbs, and twitched it along submerged log jams to catch 20- to 22-inch brown trout in a stream so small, I’d expect to catch 6-inch brook trout in it back home. That afternoon Joe seemed to catch a big trout in every hole he crept up to, and when he finally reached the lake, he capped the day with a 26-inch brown that was probably 8 pounds.

Looking under the rocks in these streams showed relatively infertile, and barren stream bottoms with very little in the way of macroinvertebrates. These are not particularly fecund trout streams, in fact I’d guess most of the dependable trout streams in the U.S. are capable of supporting a much larger biomass. The key to our success on Navarino wasn’t a supercharged ecosystem—it was quite the opposite. It is a cold, clean, unmolested ecosystem where there are a few big trout in each good holding pool. If you’re lucky enough to be the first to find them, the results can be staggering.

Joe Stevens with one of many resident trout he caught tramping a small river between two lakes. His biggest brown trout of the day (not this one) was 26 inches and about 8 pounds.

Navarino Expedition. From left to right Ross Purnell, Nicolás Pivcevic, Joe Stevens, James Belden, Max Logan, Ed McCormick, Wayne Hoar, (front row) Avi Hesterman, Patrick Alfaro, Grace Smith, David Dobbs, Marcelo (guide), and Rafael Gonzalez.

My mentor and long-time editor & publisher of FLY FISHERMAN had this to say about him: “John Goddard had a great life and contributed as much as anyone to our knowledge on trout behavior and how to catch them. President Jimmy Carter considered the Goddard-Clarke book  The Trout and The  Fly to be his best instruction of all the books I brought to him at Camp David in 1980. John was also on of the best fly fishermen for trout on chalkstreams that I have ever fished with, and I learned a great deal simply by fishing with him and watching him stalk trout. ”

Here is part of an obituary written by his friend and coauthor  Brian Clarke.

From the frontpiece from John Goddard’s book, Trout Flies of Britain and Europe.

“It is probably true to say that, more than any other British writer in the 20th century, John Goddard persuaded anglers at large that a knowledge of entomology could be a huge advantage when trying to catch trout on artificial flies. He not only designed a veritable hatch of imitative patterns based on his own observations, but adapted the dressings of others and wrote extensively on methods for fishing them. He delivered the complete fly-to-landing-net package.
Others had trodden the entomological path before him. Frederic Halford and George Selwyn Marryat had studied the flylife of the southern chalk streams in the 1880s and 1890s and, thanks to Halford’s writings, had effectively systematised dry fly fishing as a sport by the turn of that century. G.E.M. Skues later did much the same for those who had fished the chalk streams with sunken flies, by showing how aquatic nymphs could be imitated and fished. In being able to stand on their shoulders – and to a significant extent also on those of J.R. Harris, who published An Angler’s Entomology in 1952 – Goddard was able to take anglers further, both technically and geographically.
Goddard was also one of the most complete all-rounders who ever lived. He exhibited an enthusiasm and breadth of interest that not only embraced coarse and game fishing, but conventional sea angling, fly-fishing in the sea and competitive, international big-game fishing. In the latter specialisation, he captained his country’s team several times.”

To read the complete transcript see the post by Gary Borger at garyborger.com

Scott A4W

Theresa Van Nooten does the finishing work at Scott Fly Rods including the fine calligraphy of the brand name, make, and model on the rod shaft. She’s a dedicated fly fisher who lives near the Gunnison, and takes full advantage of it.

Her friends call her a she-man (pronounced schmaan) “because all I talk about is fishing and building fly rods, so, yeah, I’m a she-man—and I’m proud of it.” See her in this Felt Soul Media production shot at the Scott factory.

She liked the affordable performance of the A4 series, and the low physical weight, and in her spare time made herself a 4-piece 5-weight with lightweight guides, and a modified wells grip she personally sanded to comfortably fit her hands.
Soon her friends were asking for the same rod, and it became the A4W women’s fly rod ($425). Like other A4s, it uses Scott’s low-mass sleeve ferrule design and a multi-modulus design to get to a low blank weight. For more info see scottflyrod.com.

Scott | behind the scenes from Scott Fly Rods on Vimeo.

The photo was taken in July 2011, on the lower Dean River below the falls. It had been a dream of mine for 20 years to fish the Dean and on day #1 I was fishing alone at Slide Pool . When I hooked the fish I was obviously excited, and also disappointed that I wouldn’t get a photo of my first Dean River steelhead. Then, a boat appeared coming around an upriver bend and the solitary occupant yelled “hey, do you want a photo!?”

As it turns out the boatman was professional photographer Adam Tavender (adamtavender.com), someone I had had worked with in the past but never met in person.

Questions I Have Been Asked

Q: If that’s the Dean River, why is the water so clear?

A: Honestly I don’t know. I’ve also heard many times about how the Dean can go cloudy with glacial melt on hot summer days, but it’s certainly not always like that. This was the middle of July, it had rained quite a bit before our arrival but the river was clear all week.

Q: What the heck kind of reel is that?

A: Cheeky Ambush 375. It was a tight squeeze for a 550-grain Skagit line but it performed flawlessly, and as you can tell I like bright colors. I just got back from another BC steelhead trip (Oct, 2012) where I used a blue-and-green Cheeky Thrash 475 (that’s 4.75 inches) and it was much more appropriately sized for West Coast steelheading (or tarpon). You can see all five sizes of Cheeky reels at cheekyflyfishing.com

Q: What fly did you catch it on?

A: A black and chartreuse Metal Detector, which is an Intruder-style fly sold by Umpqa. But that doesn’t really matter. The fish were aggressive and hit many patterns. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and being persistent. Hot pink was probably the best color for me over the course of the week.

Q: That doesn’t look like a steelhead.

A: And that doesn’t sound like a question. But somebody actually said that to me, so I’m treating it like a question. Most people are accustomed to upriver steelhead that look much like a giant rainbow trout, with broad red stripes, heavy spotting, and a green or olive back. In the ocean, steelhead don’t look like that. Their backs are ghostly gray, white bellies, and their tails and fins are white or transparent. This fish was caught maybe one mile from the ocean, and very likely just came into the river that day, so it looks like a ocean steelhead.

Ross Purnell with his first Dean River steelhead

The entire Turneffe Atoll has been declared a marine preserve by the government of Belize, thanks in large part to the hard work of Craig Hayes, owner of Turneffe Flats lodge, and by the Turneffe Atoll Trust. Anna Purnell photo

The Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve was enacted on Tuesday (9/25/12) by the Hon. Lisel Alamilla, Belize’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development.  The act will manage and protect the largest and most biologically diverse atoll in the Caribbean announced Craig Hayes, Board Chairman of Turneffe Atoll Trust and owner/operator of Turneffe Flats Resort (tflats.com).

“This 325,000 acre Marine Reserve, the largest in Belize, will benefit Turneffe’s commercial fishermen, its tourism sector, the atoll’s environment and all Belizeans.  It has been established through the hard work and dedication of several individuals and organizations including the Turneffe Atoll Trust, the Fisheries Department, Turneffe’s fishermen and several non-governmental agencies,” he said.

Establishing Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve makes it possible to sustainably manage the unique environmental, economic and social aspects of the area located some 30 miles off the country’s mainland.

Enactment of the new law will allow:

• Improved enforcement and sustainable management of Turneffe’s commercial fishery;
• Improved control and monitoring of future development;
• Sustainable management of the atoll’s environmental, economic and social benefits for Belize;
• Scientific research and environmental monitoring for the atoll; and
• Support for catch and release sport fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling and other sustainable tourism.

TAT’s mission is to drive conservation and other efforts leading to a healthy ecosystem at Turneffe Atoll supporting sustainable social and economic benefits for Belize and serving as a model for similar coastal marine environments throughout the world. for more information see turneffeatoll.org