Fly Fisherman......Listen up

The Caddis Fly shop in Eugene, OR is donating two fly rods to AOTY! I haven't seen them yet, but these won't be any $30 Walmart specials either!
Rods will go to 1ST and 2ND place in the fly fishing category with 1ST place getting to pick which rod he/she wants.

I also have some hand tied flies coming from Sawtooth Fishing Co in Idaho that will be awarded in the fly category.

I think Nobaddays might have more competition this year.  

Great donation from CFS.  Never been there but I'll check it out if I find myself in Eugene. 

This is great news, Drifter!  Outstanding.

The Caddis Fly Shop is the "go-to" shop for fly-fishers throughout the PNW, and beyond.  The staff is friendly and personable, and they always provide outstanding customer service.  You should check out their  fly-tying videos on YouTube - they're great (https://www.youtube.com/user/CaddisFlyShop).

I have no affiliation with them - other than they get a heck of a lot of money out of me every year.

This is great, thank you! Hopefully I can post more than 1 fly fish this year.

Nice work, and good incentive for me to push harder this year with the fly rod  for the AOTY tourney...

Very generous of Chris to donate two rods.  One of the best fly shops in the country, no doubt.

I picked up a couple bass flies while I was there. I am totally catching some bass on the fly this year!

Here they are. Echo Base 9'0" 5 wt and 8 wt rods. The winner of the fly fishing category of AOTY will get to pick their prize. I am still working on getting reels to match the rods.

Neat!  Everyone who's ever touched one of those rods will tell you they're great for anyone, from beginners to accomplished fly-flingers.  Thanks, Sarge!

Received more fly fishing prizes today for AOTY.
If you haven't heard of Jay Nicholas's nearly 60 years of fly fishing, you should Google him. He has published many fly fishing videos, and helped direct many fine fisherman answer the call of the fly.

Anyway, Jay has donated a box of Saltwater flies to the Angler of the Year tournament. He has also supplied a sketch of a Salmon with a couple of the flies. I plan on getting this framed to go to a fortunate fly flinger!

So the morale of this story.....
Sign up for AOTY, replace your tippet and start casting those flies!

Maybe the best one yet. Man I wish I was a better fly Fisherman! Moonshine Rod Co. Out of TN donated a 9 foot 8 wt flyrod from their Vesper Series of rods. Valued at $449. Titanium guides. Come with a spare tip section. Badass rod sock and tube.

The winner of the fly category will get their pick of the 3 fly rods I have so far. Still working on getting reels to go with them. May not happen, but I am trying!

Maybe the best one yet. Man I wish I was a better fly Fisherman!

I think we need to pool our resources and pay someone to hide all of Nobaddays' fly rods...

Maybe the best one yet. Man I wish I was a better fly Fisherman!

I think we need to pool our resources and pay someone to hide all of Nobaddays' fly rods...

Good luck, he builds them, too! 

Drifter - I gotta say you are relentless in your pursuit of sponsors~!! But pleeezzz, don't burn yourself out! All this effort will pay dividends in future competitions. Who can resist? Fellow yak anglers, IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO ENTER AOTY. Good fishing is just beginning, especially here in Alaska.

When you announced the first two fly rods that got me thinking of the "possibilities" at hand up here. There are definitely some fish points I can put on the board although I'm not living in the bush in trophy fish territory. Most will be modest but should keep me out of last place.

Now with this latest contribution you acquired, I'm digging through my fly-tying trunk assessing my saltwater fly components to build up some nasty, irresistible baitfish and shrimp patterns in megasizes. I've pin-pointed four pinnacles and two reefs that are only 10-30 feet subsurface (depending on tide level) within reach of my 10wt salmon rod's ultra fast sink tip. That could add up to potentially 3 more salt species to 'season' the freshwater component.

I'll have to add, when I got my Outback in 2016 I included the AMA outriggers for the sole purpose of stable and SAFE standup fly fishing from the boat. They will get a workout...finally.....thanks to your efforts....and to all the great businesses that are contributing to this worthy cause.  ~KK~

Thanks Kk! I must admit it is pretty frustrating with the lack of members willing to sign up. Within the next week we will have more sponsors than competitors.

I used to really hope that sponsors would check out our website and follow the competition, maybe even try out kayak fishing and join the competition. Now I hope they don't because once they see the real numbers, it will likely be the last time they sponsor us.

I start every morning at work on the computer for a while before I really get to work. I text potential sponsor names to my work email throughout the day. The next day I whip out a few emails. It doesn't take long. I try to add some sort of a personal touch to most potential sponsors. Take Moonshine Rods for example. At the end of the 1st paragraph of my standard letter I mentioned how I love the name Moonshine and how one of my favorites steelhead fishing places is Moonshine park on the Siletz River here in Oregon. I think some little sentence like that makes it seem less like a standard copied letter.

Thanks KK! I must admit it is pretty frustrating with the lack of members willing to sign up. Within the next week we will have more sponsors than competitors.

I used to really hope that sponsors would check out our website and follow the competition, maybe even try out kayak fishing and join the competition. Now I hope they don't because once they see the real numbers, it will likely be the last time they sponsor us.

I start every morning at work on the computer for a while before I really get to work. I text potential sponsor names to my work email throughout the day. The next day I whip out a few emails. It doesn't take long. I try to add some sort of a personal touch to most potential sponsors. Take Moonshine Rods for example. At the end of the 1st paragraph of my standard letter I mentioned how I love the name Moonshine and how one of my favorites steelhead fishing places is Moonshine park on the Siletz River here in Oregon. I think some little sentence like that makes it seem less like a standard copied letter.

Drifter, you are NOT preaching to the choir here, BELIEVE ME!  I started Alaska Outdoor Journal website in 1995 (when I was one of the very first outdoors websites on the ENTIRE INTERNET) when I had to code every page "by hand" (and still do!) because the HTML editors of the day could not keep up with the new features and versions that HTML added for displaying web pages' neat things. I spent 20 years of my life, 2000 hours of free volunteer time each year, providing literally the entire world unique information about Alaska and Alaska fishing that was available no where else. My last country count was 205 different countries had visited the site (even Antarctica!)....almost the entire planet.  I asked for nothing in return other than the satisfaction that I received from knowing a million+ people a year were benefiting from my contribution to humanity and the web. Yeah, I know, kinda sensationalizing but its true. I SEE your same dedication and commitment! Its not going unnoticed by at least one person who truly understands....and appreciates!

I want to thank NorthwestKayakAnglers and you personally Drifter2007 for providing me the ESCAPE from the chaos of Planet Earth and encouraging me to focus on the personal things that are truly most important in my life and prod me to engage in a competitive spirit.  Thanx all~! You NWKA admins know who you are.

~KK~