Last fall I decided to retire my old vest. Not that new things are always better, but my approach to fly fishing had change since I purchased my old vest 20 years ago.

More recently I find myself hiking into many spots and need to be a little more nimble. I am not fooling myself, I do realize nimble and me parted ways many years ago. Damn carbs! It seemed I was overstuffing my vest with loads of fly boxes and too much extra gear. Quite frankly casting was a bother as I had eight - ten different boxes crammed in all over my vest. One big final new requirement was being able to bring my camera and reach it with relative ease.

Of course I did a lot of research on the Internet and ultimately made my way to over to a fly shop and get the touchy feely thing going. Stopped into TCO Flyshop while on one of my daughters college road shows (please pick PSU, please pick PSU) and got some help from Chris. He was a big help and I settled in on the William Joseph Confluence chest pack. Now this pack has been out for a couple of years, but I still get asked a lot about vests and chest packs.

Once I made the switch I really enjoyed using the chest pack this season. First I had to repack all my fly boxes and gear, which in itself was a good thing. (See blog post here.)

The front of the pack has plenty of room for all my essential small gear. The zippers are awesome. Nothing worse than trying to keep things contained and getting held up on stuck zipper. In the front zippered section I can load up plenty of spools of tippet, split shot, a small knife and sunglasses.

The main front compartment is designed for fly storage. William Joseph provides a foam fly holder, which I keep loaded with several of my go to flies, nymphs and streamers. About the only thing I didn't like with the pack is the mesh that is inside this compartment to separate items like fly boxes and the foam board. Often the flies on the foam would easily fall off and get stuck in the mesh separator. There is room for a couple of fly boxes. I think I found myself with three of varying size in the front. Two zingers and small side pockets were well thought out.

The back compartments had plenty of room for my camera, rain gear, and an extra fly box or two. Most importantly I could unbuckle the side straps and spin the pack around to get to these items. I used to pull my arm out of its socket trying to get my camera in the old vest.

I found the pack very comfortable even in the warm months and easy to move around. Casting is much easier now. What has worked best is the convenience of all my essential flies and gear right in front of me easily zipped up and secure.

Pro's: Comfort and convenience
Con's: Design of mesh seperator

Are you concerned about about the environmental impacts Marcellus Shale drilling is having on Pennsylvania's aquatic resources?

Join Fish and Boat Commission Executive Director John Arway on Monday, August 23 where he will appear on the live radio call-in program Radio Smart Talk from 9 - 10 a.m.

The program will air on Harrisburg’s WITF 89.5 FM and may also be viewed and heard statewide at www.witf.org/news/smart-talk. Listeners may submit questions via e-mail at smarttalk@witf.org or telephone at 800-729-7532.

Warm Water Mini JAM August 7, 2010
Combined canoe/kayak float and wading trip on the Juniata River.
Thompsontown to Millerstown, PA.
Video provided by Skybay

Attention PAFF Team WWI (warm water insurgents Let's get together for some warm water FFing. On Sat, 7 Aug we'll team up for a float/wade trip on the Juniata River - target smallmouth bass and muskellunge. I think a mini Jam in August ought to fit in between the trico Jam and presumably a steel Jam in the fall (so many Jams - so little time).

This will be a combined float and wading trip. If you have a canoe, johnboat, or kayak by all means consider bringing it. When we get the group together we'll see if there are additional spaces in boats and how to pair up. Those without boat opportunities will have ample wading opportunities at both the start or end points of the float (or anywhere else they care to fish on the river).

We'll meet at the PFBC boatramp at Thompsontown at noontime and float downriver to Millerstown, about 5 miles and finish the day at dusk. Big WW rivers in PA usually fish best in the evenings during high summer. If you're new to bass fishing I'd be happy to provide some tips and check your rigging at the boatramp when we link up as well as suggest some locations if you wish to drive up or downriver and wade.

If you've never fished it, the Juniata is a very scenic river with nothing more than Class I riffles that might require a bit of dragging if the water is low in the area we're fishing. Wade fishing is easy although I recommend felt soles or cleats (skip the cleats if you hope to fish from a boat). The river is roughly about 100 yards wide with an average depth of about 1 foot dropping to several feet in some of the deeper holes. The bottom is mostly cobble and ledge rock with river grass islands. Thompsontown is off RT 22/322 between State College and Harrisburg. (Note: the PFBC boat ramps require that canoes/kayaks be registered or have a launch permit sticker - and of course don't forget a PFD and an extra if you've got one).

You can fish with trout tackle but I'd recommend a 7 or 8WT rod (or bigger if you want to target muskies specifically). Poppers and Wooly Buggers will cover most of the bases. The SMB population in this part of the J is somewhat lower than the glory days back in the 1990s but it's still good with good numbers of big fish over 15 inches.

More details on the forum: http://bit.ly/cbuhGT

Last October I received an interesting email from someone in Hollywood. I took notice to this as I don't get many emails from Tinsel Town as most of my posse is right coast based.

Could it be they were looking to shoot a River Runs through It II and the wanted a young fresh face to help consult? Man I would love to go out west again. Maybe they were coming East to shoot the Bridges of Lancaster County with Clint Eastwood as he fished Donegal Creek and needed someone to guide the man with no name around? Big fan of Clint movies. All very novel ideas, but my youth and talent are more likely found in faded pictures than than on the credits of some blockbuster movie.

Interestingly, they did want my approval for the use of the of the Paflyfish website in a scene for an action movie. Makes sense to me because what can be riveting than a sulphur hatch on a stream or a spot burn debate in the forum?

As it turns out director Simon West is shooting The Mechanic which is based on the old 1972 version of the movie by the same name with Charles Bronson. Jason Statham and Donald Sutherland are in this new action-thriller centered on an assassin and his apprentice.

Somehow during the movie they will be chasing some bad guy, probably someone who spot burned a stream, and wind up doing research on Paflyfish to track this guy down.

I honestly think the chances of the website being mentioned or shown in the movie are as remote as me fishing with Clint Eastwood, but it sounds fun. And who knows this may just be some new marketing stunt for movie companies to approach hundreds of blogs and websites teasing they with fame for a blog post like this.

Movie due in December 2010. See you on the cutting from floor!