This is a combination post, offering a gear review and some of the modifications and configurations I’ve adopted after using the Umpqua ZS2 Overlook pack for almost two seasons. I’ve gone back and forth between chest packs and minimalist approaches to carrying my gear. I like the concept of a chest pack; fly boxes and
Author: Damon Matus
Infrared Stream Thermometer
I ventured out on a hot June evening, three days into an official heat wave, rigged for dries. I found another angler in the spot I intended to fish and we struck up a conversation on the bank. “Nothing showing,” he said. I aimed my infrared thermometer at the water and was surprised to see
Rich Strolis’s ‘Shucked-up Emerger’
There’s no shortage of fly pattern tutorial videos these days. Many of them are an impressive display of the fly tyer’s art, but one has to wonder if some of them actually catch fish. I get on a creative streak from time to time, whipping up experimental patterns that look great but most of them
At the Bench: Organization
It’s March, but right now it’s 18 degrees with a 22 mph wind out of the northwest; perfect fly tying weather. I’ve had an enjoyable tying season so far, filling boxes with old reliables and some new stuff. Whether I’m in production mode with a list of patterns to tie, or tinkering with experimentals, it’s
