geartalk

Dock Talk

Before he won the 2006 Bassmaster Classic, Luke Clausen told me that he doesn’t pay much attention to dock talk. Tips on secret places, special lures (or flies), and can’t-miss tactics are usually loss leaders. Better to trust your instincts and develop your own tunnel vision for finding the best places to cast a line, or not.

Fly fishing is a people sport, and the best guides are usually open books with their information, because they know they can duplicate their efforts on any given day, with any given clients, in most situations. Beware of the guide who tells you he has a secret spot, or a special approach, because more often than not, it’s not true. Learn to develop your own instincts and abilities, and whether you pair that with a contender guide, or just set out on your own, you’re going to be light years ahead of the person grasping for insightful information from anyone who will give it. Make your own breaks, then share them, not vice versa.

It’s Winter: Time to Refinish Your Wooden Oars

We just got a couple feet of snow, and while my mind is very much thinking of summer, I do enjoy some mid-winter, boat-centric housekeeping at this time of year. Personally, I am a wooden oar guy (more on that choice later), and as such, I occasionally have to do some cosmetic work to make them last longer. As most of us know, bare wood and water don’t play very well together over extended periods of time.

If you’re the type of person who loves the way wooden oars row (duh) or loves the way they look, it’s remarkably easy to bring a beat-up pair back to life.

Ask twenty people how to do this, and you’ll likely get twenty different answers.

Here’s how I handle the process.

1. Set up to work outdoors for sanding. During all steps of this process latex gloves and a respirator are recommended. Use blue painter’s tape to wrap around and protect the handles, rope wraps or plastic wraps.

2. Get two or three sheets of both 60 and 120-grit sandpaper for each oar. You can use a variable speed orbital sander for the blades. Do not try this for the shaft, as it will cause flat spots. Simply hand sand the shaft with sandpaper. All you’re doing here is removing the protective coating or varnish from the wood. Sand along with the grain of the wood (as much as you can) until the oar appears dull.

3. If there are bare wood spots with no epoxy, or varnish left from either an accident or hard use, make sure to lightly coat said areas with a high-quality, two-part epoxy. I recommend two coats. This is definitely another wormhole with tons of opinions and is a multi-step process. It’s important to make sure you do this before varnishing. Google “oar repair” or “epoxy fix” for oars. Once this part is complete and everything is uniformly sanded, move on to step four. 

4. Blow the sawdust off with canned air or a compressor and clean with denatured alcohol.

5. Cover the rope wraps, handles or portions of the wooden oar you don't want stained with painter’s tape, if needed.

6. For the remainder of the process an indoor space that’s as clean as possible is needed. If the room is dusty or dirty, the varnish will show lots of dust particles once dry. Again, another wormhole–Google “prepping a room for varnish.” There are tons of tips and tricks to help.

7. Lay down plastic drop-cloths and support the oars at the very ends, so you can access as much wood as possible between coats. Conversely, if you can hang the oars vertically, that’s even better.

8. Buy something called a “tack cloth” and use it to wipe down the oars right before you apply varnish. It removes the fine particles of dust.

9. Make sure to use a varnish with UV protection built in–I like Interlux Schooner Varnish in gloss.

10. Always put on a respirator.

11. Make sure to dip the brush (many opinions here) with brushing liquid (a thinner) before using with varnish. This helps spread the varnish out and makes it easier to clean the brush after you’re done.

12. Apply varnish with brush strokes in one direction, taking note to remove any brush hairs and making sure that no drips are sagging on the underside of oars. Less is more here–don’t try to make it perfect. Varnish is self-leveling, and over-brushing will make it look bad. Wait 24 hours before adding a second layer. Before doing so, take 220 grit sandpaper and give a very light once-over. Blow off and clean again with denatured alcohol and tack cloth. Repeat until you’re satisfied with how the oar looks.

13. Wait 24 hours from your last coat and go fishing…

River Etiquette While Fishing From a Boat

As winter creeps toward spring, boats are unwrapped, repaired, inflated and trailers are readied for that first float of the year. As such, I thought it was a good time to get a conversation going about river etiquette. New to the game? Read on. Been boating for 20 years? Cool. We can all benefit on the river from open and honest communication and by following a few common-sense rules.

1. Abide by all regulations. That’s your job as captain of the boat. Are there PFD (life jacket) requirements on this section of river? What’s public land? What’s private? What are the rules for vessel size or are motors allowed? This is all your responsibility as the person putting the boat in the water. Figure it out before you go.

2. Always treat moving water with respect. It’s dangerous even at slow speeds or shallow depths.

3. Boat ramps are for launching and taking out, period. If you’re not ready to put that boat in the water and push off or move downstream almost immediately do not get on the boat ramp. I’d say the most you should ever spend on a boat ramp is five minutes, at most. Even that’s a bit generous. Any more than that and you’re definitely doing it wrong. Conversely when you take off do not break down your boat on the ramp. Get your goat rodeo from the day together quickly and pull up and off the ramp to pack up for the ride home.

4. I personally like to communicate with others on the river whether in a boat or wade fishing. If you know what their general plans are and they know yours, the day always seems to go much better. Without being rude or intrusive, I ask questions like where are you taking out? What campsite are you hoping to get? Do you mind if I linger at the honey hole at mile 3.5 for lunch? People are sometimes flustered by this, but most see the light when they realize I won’t beat up their favorite dry-fly run with a streamer before they get there.

5. That said, don’t get too close to others if it doesn’t make sense. A lot of people, once on the river, aren’t there to get their ears talked off. If someone is being quiet, anchored fishing dries, perhaps a little wave is all that’s needed as you float by.

6. Pay attention when passing. This pertains to folks wade fishing or in boats. As you approach someone fishing on the bank or in a stationary or anchored boat, slow down, give a very wide berth and quiet your oar strokes.

7. This also goes for getting back into the current if you’ve been anchored up. Before you start rowing again, look around and make sure there aren’t any boats nearby. Try to size up incoming boat traffic before making a move from shore out into current. Let them pass and get a good long way down if they are moving fast—a few hundred yards at least. Or, if said boat is moving slower, working water, go as fast as you can and put some distance between the two of you. A good analogy here is like a highway on-ramp: you don’t want to cause an accident.

8. Do not anchor in the middle of the river when the channel is not big enough for other boats to safely pass—forcing their captains into tricky rowing situations or small side channels.

9. Leave the river corridor cleaner than you found it. You’re in a boat for God’s sake. It’s bigger than your trash can. Pick up some trash throughout the day.

10. Always remember the Golden Rule. If you treat others the way you would want to be treated, it usually all works out in the end.

Crossing to Safety

There are ways to wade a river safely, and ways to ensure that you will get wet. Dale Darling, former owner of the St. Vrain Angler fly shop, has a few pointers for keeping dry. First, no matter how good your wading boots feel, you want to walk next to rocks, not on top of them. You never want to find yourself in a situation where your legs are crossed, or you’ll lose your balance. Keep the toes of your boots pointed slightly upstream at all times to maintain balance. And when you’re crossing the river in swift current, pick a destination point at a 45-degree angle downstream from where you start, and cross on an angle. If there’s an obvious deep spot, avoid it by choosing a path of embarkation and debarkation from the river that starts at point A, upstream, and ends at point B, roughly 45 degrees downstream. As a rule, don’t step into unfamiliar waters where you cannot clearly see your boots. Wear polarized sunglasses to help you see the bottom. And always cross the river downstream. When you fight the current by pressing upstream, you will inevitably lose the battle.