Simple is good.

In lots of trout fishing situations, you don’t need a drag system that’s capable of stopping a locomotive. There, we said it!

Slapping a mega-reel on a lightweight trout rod isn’t going to result in an outfit that’s well-balanced. And really, you don’t need all that technology most of the time.

If you’re targeting trout that are less than gigantic, the drag on your reel really needs to do two things well.

• Engage easily and allow line to peel off the reel smoothly, protecting light tippets.
• Keep your reel from backlashing on a fast run.

For small- to moderate-sized trout and lightweight rods, one of the reels that we think you should check out is the Sage Click.

Here’s why we like Sage Click reels.

• They’re lightweight.
• They’re really simple and the clicker drag is super smooth.
• They retain one really important element of modern reel design – a very large arbor. This allows for fast line pickup and less memory when your line and leader come off the reel.

We fished the Sage Click III with a 7 foot 4 weight on some tiny water in Southern Chile last week, and we loved it. The outfit balanced great and the drag did an excellent job, even on some fish that were quite a bit bigger than expected. Nothing wrong with that.

by Deneki Outdoors

See the original article at GotHunts.com

Yeah, you’re gonna need to dry that gear out.

Today’s Universal Fly Fishing Tip is one that most anglers know, but few actually follow through on. After a day or a week or fishing, make sure you dry out your gear well.

Gear that gets stored wet gets nasty. Waders stink, rod socks mildew, flies rust and backing turns black. When you’re done with your fishing session, make sure you get all your gear dry.

That means…

• Hang up your waders inside out so any sweaty condensation dries out. Go to the extra effort of pulling your stocking feet inside out – they’ll get really nasty otherwise.
• Take your rod socks of of their tubes and unroll them.
• Hang up your raincoat and take everything out of its pockets.
• Set out your wading boots.
• Open up your fly boxes. If you’ve got a bunch of matted down flies all crammed in there together (say with marabou or bunny fur), spread them out.
• Take the covers off your reels.
• Unzip the pockets on boat bags, hip packs, etc.
• Open up any waterproof cases (like that Pelican case for your camera) that might have gotten a tiny bit of moisture in them – those cases keep water in as well as they keep it out.
• Do your laundry right now, you slob

by Deneki Outdoors

See the original article at GotHunts.com

MyNature – Is your digital guide to animal tracks and wildlife in the palm of your hand for iphone or ipod 3.0 or higher.

A couple of weeks ago Rick at Whitetail Woods wrote about MyNature and because I think it’s a great app, I thought I would write about it here as well.

I loved to explain how it all works but it is much easier to watch the video.

What a great tool to have when out in the field or spending a day out in the woods with your kids teaching them about nature.

And if it was designed specifically for The Hunter’s Wife – I’d love for it to say…

“Fresh bear track – you better hightail it out of there – NOW!”

“And don’t climb a tree – bears climb trees.”

Rumor has it that soon MyNature app will be available on other phones as well.   I have a Blackberry so I will have to wait until then.

Blog: MyNature Blog with updates and tips.

Download: The app is priced at $6.99 – download MyNature app.

Interview: My good friends at Outdoors With Dan Small radio did an interview with Jeff Greco from MyNature.

Have a great day all … and happy animal tracking.  And hightailing it out of there.

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net