I went to the opening day of the show yesterday and it is bigger than ever. I made myself leave the credit card at home and took only moderate cash. Turns out I'm glad I did bring some money.

I found a couple very productive looking new jig types. The first one is steelhead jigs by John Williams of Portland (Ph. 503-771-1200 or e-mail rainbowsendflies@juno.com ) and Alaska. He stays in Portland during the winter and ties jigs and flies; and the rest of the year he runs the Rainbow's End Fly Shop and Lodge up in Kodiak,AK. In addition to some very innovative egg fly patterns, John has come up with a unique jig. ...

... It's tied on the usual size jig heads and hooks, but with unique materials. Instead of plastic bead bodies he uses semi-transparent pink rubber eggs. And instead of feathers he has found a unique synthethic feathered yarn that is more durable, accepts scent oils well, and still retains good action. He adds krystalflash to various color combos of this stuff. They look killer. I bought several with the trans cerise pink rubber dual egg body with the pink and white syn. feathered yarn with a little krystal flash mixed into the pink and white. In addition to the common pink or black heads, he has metalic colored heads in red or green that look good. Fish on! He has a guide's discount program that make it a real value. Glad I stumbled across their booth! (Not litterally ). The other one ...

... is a bass fishing jig rig available at Bob's Sporting Goods booth. If you buy one you get a free pack of pink curly tailed grub body worms to use on them from the Rappala booth; across and up the isle a bit. This 'bass' jig that will be deadly on steelhead has a chrome bead head (in various weights) followed right behind it with an inline tiny size 1 or 0 silver Mepp spinner blade and extra long hook to thread pink rubber worms or curly tailed grubs onto (and many other rubber fishy looking things). They are thin wired hooks, but capable of landing steelhead. I talked to the reps and they are going to bring out a heavier wire version because of the growing popularity of rubber things on jigheads for steelhead in the NW region and B.C. They have a demo tank with current showing the action of various lures, including this one. It looks irresistable! Fished out and downstream of you this rig will have both a tiny flashing spinner blade and jiggling rubber tail as you let your float go down river under some tension a little slower than the current. I think the 1/4 oz. version will work real well backtrolled 50" behind the smaller Jet Planer diver. It should also work great casted and twitch retreived in the right places (without a float). More fish on!

Another interesting item was the best yet driftboat/jetsled compromise boat. It's in the Rogue boats section. It's called the Rogue 'Stealth', in 16' and 18' versions. It has a tunnel hull that enables shallower motor running; getting 3 average or 2 big guys up on plane and to 17 mph up river. Then it rows fairly close to a regular drift boat going downstream. For those that don't have room for both boats, this one is finally worth a good look at.

There are so many new boats and so much shinny new fishing tackle, be prepared to drool and part with your money! Drop by the All Star rod booth near the end of the casting pond and say hi to our Superfly Joe.

RT

Nice report RT

I have been using John Williams jigs and flys off and on for the last two years and the have been great. The egg sack fly with a little scent is great in those low water conditions.
I will be interested to see those new jigs you've described.

OneLastCast

O.K. RT, where's the pictures?

-N.

Thanks OLC. Anyone that floats the challenging NF section down from the hatchery can see why jigs work so well in a lot of snaggy runs there. Fun river.

Hey Stormin', I didn't think to bring a cam to the show. Do they allow that? But you should hightail it on down to P-town from ... where the heck is Blyn? ... to see them for yourself!

Was a pretty good show. I picked up a few new Kwikfish in some of the new colors, not that I needed more . I got a 6501 Ultra cast at Bobs for $70. Didnt need another reel that size either, have a garage full but couldnt pass on that price. Managed to only spend around $100 so fairly cheap day. I stopped and talked to Superfly about the allstars and rainshadows. I will be building a couple of those soon. Nice blanks.