Monday Morning Coffee March 14

Phhhhnnnuuuuggghh....what happened?  Yawn, stretch, scratch, repeat..... where did this David Ruimveld mouse pad with a brook trout on it come from?  Ohhhhh....it's coming back...the drive, this big place full of people talking about fishing, Henry's wild tales, something about the worlds most expensive dubbing at Saks in Somerset, and Irish jigs at Conor O'neills.  I need some coffee, and so do you.  Have a sip.  Did I mention how good this french press stuff is?  I'll give you a minute.  Good?

Whewwww!!!, what a wild weekend at the 2011 Midwest Fly Fishing Expo.  Who knew that the fly fishing community were such hard partiers?  Kidding- I had a long list of friends to visit and get caught up with, and I didn't hardly get to see them all- next time.  I have a lot of exciting news, products and people to share with you, which I will dribble out over the next few weeks so as not to do one of my characteristic loooonngg posts.

I've decided that Monday Morning Coffee is a weekly feature, as it got such a positive response last week, and it allows me to address various odds n ends.  Such as...

Will the real fly give-away contest winner please step forward:  That's right, Shane, commenter #11, who won the egg fly give-away still hasn't contacted me, and I'm unable to contact him through his comment profile.  I've already sent his flies to The River Damsel (I know how to get in good with the ladies), but I'll tie more if he gets in touch with me.  It's fontinalisrising@gmail.com.

Fly tyers- I'm still running a contest to give away a granite pedestal base from The Granite Fly, so don't miss your chance to enter.  Story and details are in the Outdoor Profile post.

I'm very pleased with the modest success of this blog- thank you all by the way, for tuning in.  I'm starting to get a little cocky though, and now I have demands.

I want two widgets to add to my blog, and I need your help finding them.  The first is a jealousy counter- that's right, something that only I can click that will tally the number of times I've gone fishing this year, so that all you city-bound office types can seethe with jealous rage as you watch that number tick upwards on a daily basis while you wait for your one week off, IF your spouse doesn't "accidentally" remove your rod and waders from the car as you're leaving.  There'll be free FR stickers in it for the person who hooks me up.  fontinalisrising@gmail.com.

FR makes the save

The second widget I want has to do with my love of hockey, and yes, I am a Red Wings fan.  Now, I know that the Wings dropped out early in the play-offs last year, but so would any team who's played that much hockey over the last several years.  They've played an extra two months of hockey for years while your team is playing golf, so there.  So what I want is a widget that tracks their progress- their standings, playoff position, last score and next game.  I particularly want this out there to taunt my Vancouver, L.A. and San Jose friends-  I'll wager that San Jose is back to its old ways- stellar season, sucky playoff run.  Vancouver has been on a tear this year, but can they really keep it up?  With all the Wings key players healthy and looking sharp, I'd call it curtains on Luongo and Co.  Should be a great spring! Again, free FR Stickers to whoever hooks me up with this widget.

Lastly, I'm looking for a patron- that's right, someone who will pay all my bills and thus allow me to do nothing but write and go fishing do "research".  I'm not high maintenance, and there will be no wrecked hotel rooms/run-ins with the law/Charlie Sheenesque adventures or rants.  I just have some really good stories in the pipeline that are going to take six months at the current rate of burn.  So, if you're out there, are a sucker philanthropist/supporter-of-the-arts (I use this term loosely), then you know how to get a-hold of me.  Oh yeah- there's stickers in it for you as well.

Outdoor Profile: Andy Schmidt of The Granite Fly



Andy Schmidt photo

 Yes Andy is a good friend.  Yes, he's a family friend.  Yes he has a product to sell, a very good one.  One I own and it's my favorite piece of tying equipment.  I take it with me to all of the tying seminars and clinics I attend, not to hawk it, but because I never want to be without it.  It's my granite tying base from his company, The Granite Fly.  Take a look.

ahhh, my precioussss

It's gorgeous isn't it?  Wish you had one don't you?  That was the only blue one he had, so there.  Here's the thing- the base that came with your vise is either ugly as sin, or tipsy as all get out and probably both.  These bases are nice and wide and HEAVY- mine never tips, never budges.  It takes my reefing on streamers with 200 denier GSP, spinning deer hair, whatever it is you are fighting your base with right now.  They're compatible with most of the vises on the market, including the Renzetti Traveler, and my Peak vise.  They have little rubber bumpers on the bottom that keep them from shifting- the result?  A rock solid (no pun intended) set-up that is gorgeous to look at.  I love it for the aesthetic value alone.

"But Jason" you say, "I have one of those nifty, shifty clamps."  Really?  You want to tie on one of those ugly ungainly things for the rest of your life?  You are the tyer, your gear needs to work for you.  Why would you want to have to shift yourself around to be in the right position to tie?  Add to this that the surface of a granite base is virtually impossible to mar and that glue of all types and epoxies scrape right off with a razor blade without scratching it up?  Try that with an enameled steel base.  Let me know how that works for ya.

Back to Andy- I truly believe that he is one of the great innovators in the world of fly fishing.  Not that he has brought all kinds of great products to the market that you now use.  No, Andy is one of those tinkerers who can't leave a product or piece of gear alone.  If there is anything- anything at all, that bothers him about something, or that he can improve for his own use, he will work and work at it until he has modified it to his satisfaction, and trust me, that piece of gear is always better when he's done.  Gear manufacturers take notice- you need to be sending your gear to him before you ever bring it to market.  If there is any kind of bug whatsoever, Andy is going to find it, and rather than just complain, he's going to fix it.  I can't think of a single thing he owns that hasn't been given this treatment.  His drift boat, his waders, his tools, everything.
Here's another reason manufacturers should be sending gear to Andy to test.  Andy is truly a hardcore fisherman.  I know I've said some things elsewhere here about the notion of hardcore.  I also know, that this being my blog I sometimes make it sound like I'm Mr. Fisherman.  Andy is the next level plus several levels up, and one of the few truly hardcore anglers I've ever met.  He's a fly fishing purist, a great tyer, an avid steelheader, and a spey caster.  All I probably had to say was "spey caster".  They're all a little touched.  I learn volumes of stuff every time we fish just by watching him.  Andy has spent so much time on the water that it kills me that every time I fish with him, someone, usually a guide, walks up or pulls his boat up and starts talking and then it dawns on me that they know him and have for years.

Andy Schmidt photo

Here's a few more pictures of his bases.  He has them in a lot of different colors and types of stone.  Each base is "broken" instead of cut square or oval- what this means is each base is as unique as a thumb print.  He has pictures of each base up in the gallery sections on his website.  I was really torn between my blue one (the only one) and some that are an awesome green river rock.  What a tough choice.  Andy also has a video up that demonstrates the features of the base, so check it out.

Andy has managed to get these bases in the hands of some top notch tyers and guides, people like Matt Zudweg and Tommy Lynch.  I've been to seminars they've put on, and guess what, they showed up with their granite base they got from Andy, and then proceeded to tell the crowd why this was the greatest thing since sliced peanut butter.

So here's what I'm going to do- GIVE ONE AWAY! in this weeks drawing.  My instructions are very specific, so pay attention.  In the text here and under the sidebar to the right titled Friends of Fontinalis Rising, there is a link to his site, The Granite Fly.  Go to his website, view the photo galleries- (photo gallery I, photo gallery II photo gallery III) and  look at his bases- you'll see that each base, being unique, is individually numbered.  Pick out your favorite, then come back to this post and  leave a comment.  You must enter the words "base number" and the valid number of the base you've picked.  If you win the contest you can change your mind and select any base from his site, but you must enter a valid base number to enter.  I'm going to let this contest run for awhile, so it will conclude on Sunday March 20, 2011 at 7 pm.  Again, the drawing will be by staff member Lorin the Drawing Girl.  She's highly trained in fairness and her mother will be watching.

Note: I love Andy's bases and think everyone should have one.  If you would like to buy one please do- if you have any trouble whatsoever then contact me at fontinalisrising@gmail.com and I'll see to it that you get one.