So I write Neill an email expecting a fishing report from Sri lanka and this is what I got.

-LMP


Bangkok is the shit man, thats all i can say. - It's gorgeous here, and SO developed. Im in a 5 star hotel and the people are nice, beautiful too.

Catch up in a bit, im getting ready to catch a car to the border.

By the way, didnt catch a damn thing in SL. Couple of trigger fish. What a bust that shit was. - Fuckin local tour operators just want to take some money so they dont tell you youre in the wrong area, too far from deep water. Of course the day before theyre looking at your pics of tuna and dolphin, going "YES! YES! We catch!"

The 5 hour trip cost 50 bucks, but I would paid 250 for a decent trip. --- damn!

oh well. got a sunburn and trolled rapalas around half the bay of bengal...

NH

    Well, Terry knocked it out of the park again! Building upon the success of the winter open house Terry, Tim and Mary Ann put on other open house at A Marblehead Flyfisher. The event was well attaned and Mary Ann kept the food coming. I am always happy to see Mary Ann but I am even happier when I know Mary Ann will have food.

This time Terry invited Loomis rep Dick Kondak to come. I really enjoyed meeting Dick. You know our industry just has the nicest people. He brought many rods for everyone to try out. I cast several rods including a pro 4x pft 4 and 5 wt, NRX 9ft 5 and 6 wt and the full line up of Roaring River GLX Switch Rods. The highlights for me were the 5 wt NRX. I was able to cast the entire line plus a TON of backing. It threw super tight loops. I was really impresses on my loop compactness and integrity even while casting into the wind. I also spent a bunch of time with the 5 and 8 wt Roaring River GLX Switch Rods. The lightness in hand of the 8 was shocking. Both rods had one of those all in one switch lines. I think I would have liked a lighter line on the 5. It seemed too soft to me. After my experience with the Rio Scandi this weekend I would love to try some of those out on the 5. Check out the two handed wizard below!

I was happy that my wife, baby and father in law could come out. Ryan Brown even drove up from DC to get new waders and boots. I have included a video below of him casting one of the switch rods. I think he did a bang up job for his first time with a two hander.

If you have not made it out to one of these events you are really missing out on seeing some great gear and hanging out with super cool people. What did I miss guys? Please comment below.

Ok so a month or so ago I was able to pick up 3 Fenwick glass rods for a song. The circumstances were sad but I am happy to continue to give these rods life. Over the next few weeks I will be doing reviews of each rod. The rods are 7 and 8 ft 6 wts and a 9 ft 10 wt with extended bottom grip.

I took the 7 ft 6 wt out to a local trout stream. I loaded up on old cold STH reel with a non-descript 5 weight forward line I had laying around. The reel was too heavy. I fished any way and had fun. I really should have put one of my ross reels on this thing.  I was shocked by how light the rod was. I was even more surprised by how well it cast. I did have to shorten up my stroke a bit, particularly on my back cast. I had to make pronounced stop and the wait….. but not as much as I expected to have to do. It did not like ti whan I tried to throw a 3 inch weighted bugger though.  I just enjoyed the history of the rod. This thing is much older than I am. Why do we need to spend all that money on crazy fat rods when all we chuck are small little flies? Sure I can toss 130 ft of line on the new Sage One but would that have helped me on the 20 ft wide river I was fishing? I guess glass is not dead. I think it’s just that people forgot how much fun these rods are to cast.

So I cast the 8 ft 6 wt Fenwick glass rod yesterday. I took it out to another favorite south east PA trout stream. I thought that the added length would mean the rod was slower. I actually really liked this rod too. I fished it with 9 ft leader and a medium fish pimp indicator with a since 16 heavily weighted copper john on it.  It roll cast beautifully. Like the rod before it I had trouble with some of the mending and I also had to shorten up my back stroke quite a bit.

I am stoked to have acquired these old rods. I can’t wait to fish them more and get fish to hand with them. I can’t wait to use my mini switch rod

Neill is in Sri Lanka for work. He is going to send more pix of his trip. Here is the stash of stuff he sent

We are all fans of April and what she is upto. I am still taking in all the great pix and writing in her latest post. Thanks to Rick for turning me on to rec

They are back after being pulled last year over some sort of flavor issue. I can say that I love smoked fish. I bet this stuff is good. has anyone tried it? I also really support what they are trying to do, support a resonsable natural native fishery. Who wants to eat frankenfish anyway?

Ok here is an update: French Creek forest fire grows to 540 acres

http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/French-Creek-forest-fire-grows-to-540-acres/-/121418/10539734/-/fat9vi/-/index.html

Looks like they have the blaze under control. It burned through 300+ acres. Plenty of prime water in there. hope all my fishing friends are ok.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=379027

http://www.wgal.com/news/susquehanna-valley/state/Downed-power-line-sparked-brush-fire-at-French-Creek-State-Park-official-says/-/9758860/10398228/-/5owp1mz/-/

G.Loomis Sales rep Dick Kondak will be there with all the new Loomis rods to cast. It should be a good time. The last open house was a blast. Rick will even be there!