YG Product Reviews
We inevitably procure more "things" for our trips, some of which actually work! We figured that we might as well share our thoughts on what we learned about using these things (maps, eye magnifiers for stream side knot tying, etc.) with you all. Comments and disagreements are OK -please share back. Also we receive no, nada, zero, zilch, and zip in terms of discounts or other gratuities for these reviews. We don't buy things to review, we buy them to be used. Our comments are entirely our own opinions and have no commercial value - our liability extends only to what you paid us for these comments (ie exactly nothing!)!!
New Product reviews
This section will report on YG members reviews of new products tested during the trips. Products purchased and reviewed by YG members are used in "real world" fishing environments that included but are not limited to, mud, sand, heat, water, cold, dropping, falling, etc. The reviews presented both good and bad are the opinions of the YG reviewer only unless noted otherwise. It should be pointed out that all products reviewed are purchased by YG members and no YG members receive any products reviewed free or in exchange for a favorable report nor does the YG receive any considerations (monetary or otherwise) for their reviews. To further help the reader, should you wish to buy reviewed items, in most cases the review will include website links, place of and cost of purchase.
Rating Guide:
1 Fish On:Look elsewhere not worth price paid or expectations
2 Fish On:Has problems but works fine, ok value for price paid
3 Fish On:Solid Product, better value, testing matches expectations
4 Fish On:Very Good Product, testing exceeds expectations, great value, very minor drawbacks
5 Fish On:Top of the line product, wish Id have thought of that, no drawbacks
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Review Number 08-01
Review Date: October 2008
Product Tested: Hat Eyes
Manufacturer:MagEyes
Website:mageyes.com
Description of Product: Hands free magnifier that attaches to hat, used as an aid to tying small flies.
Suggested Retail price:$24.95
Purchase price:$21.95
Place of Purchase:Rainbow Sporting Goods, Anaconda, MT
Product Reviewer:JR
Im 48 .No its not a statement about how far I have come in life or that based on actuarial tables I am statistically on the back side of my life expectancy nor an excuse on why I dont understand how to operate cutting edge electronic technology pervasive in the world around us you see its my eyes. Back in 2000 during my routine eye check my optomologist informed my that the time had come to get bifocals for I could no longer read books, newspapers nor words on computer screens without being more than a foot away. After that news, I figured I should buy a cane and start looking into old age homes! But I digress.
The History:
Our 2000 YG trip was a revisit to the Missouri River and the new waters of the Big Blackfoot made famous by Norm Maclean (and more recently Robert Redford) in A River Runs Through It. Maybe Im unusual (most in the YG would agree with that statement) but my polarized sunglasses are not prescription lenses and I detest the "clip-on" type as you still have too much light coming in around your glasses. Fishing all day without my bifocals it became painfully clear about halfway through the trip that I was having major trouble tying my flies onto my tippets. What I needed was some sort of "aid" to help magnify my view when I was tying my flies .as luck would have it the Blackfoot Angler Fly Shop in Orvondo had just what I needed a nice clip on pair of flip up glasses by Magniclips, they were strong metal construction and the lens were glass (a big plus) this was perfect.
Over the years, one thing has bothered me and that was they were clip ons. I had to use them with my sunglasses. Its very tough in end of day, sun setting low light conditions when the bite is on and you have to retie a fly and the darkness of your sunglasses prevents you from seeing the fly been there done that way too many times, I need a new option.
Enter Hat Eyes
During this years (2008) trip were stopped in Rainbow Sporting Goods in Anaconda, MT, there on the wall hung my answer Hat Eyes. Available in five magnification settings (1.00, 1.60, 2.00, 2.25 and 2.75) I picked the 2.25. This is an all metal construction frame with a long grip clip to slide on the bill of your hat, coupled with a slider on the clip to allow you to precisely adjust the magnifiers between your eyes and the fly. Further, you have two depth links to choose from to set the magnifiers at correct eye height. The lens is made from optical grade acrylic a drawback in my opinion, I would have liked optical glass for a reason I will come to later. For cleaning, you simply pop the lens from the frame, clean, pop back in, overall very easy and a big plus. After a few moments affixing to my hat and adjusting the distance and height I am ready to fish.
This item is a winner; after fishing with the HatEyes for a solid 11 days, these were put through the wringer. I just loved how easy it was to flip the lens down, tie on a fly and then flip them back up and out of the way. Moreover, that problem I had in low light ..GONE .take off my sunglasses, flip down the lens tie on a new fly and Im back in business. I rate this a must buy for anyone looking for a tough set of magnifiers. I had no issue with the clip not holding steady it was rock solid from the moment I put in on my bill. The slider easily moved back and fourth but stayed in place once set. There is a similar set on the market that has plastic construction instead of metal and does not have a slider or depth adjustments, for my money, Id go with the tough all metal construction and a vast amount of different configurations with the slider/depth adjustments.
Now remember earlier I told you I would come to the drawback about the acrylic lens, well here it is. Many dry fly anglers use a liquid floatant to repel water and keep their fly riding high in the surface film. I use Umpquas Bug Flote. I like it I dont know what the heck it is made of, some say Leprechaun spit, some the tears of fisherman past, some even think it is waste from the Manhattan Project. One thing is for sure I realty do not want to know what it is, I just know it works. But I do know this, floatant is not friendly to plastic. I had a Minolta Weathermatic film camera prior to my digital. It was great for fishing because it was a small, lightweight waterproof dive camera and you could beat the snot out of it and best of all it floated. Well one day the Bug Flote decided to explode out of its bottle (might have been the 115-degree heat in the Jeep) and it went all over the Weathermatic, and the camera was not the same after that. It stilled worked and was waterproof, but the housing was eaten somewhat. From then on, I have sealed my Bug Flote in a plastic zip bag to guard against unauthorized discharge.
Now imagine the bite is on and you are hauling in fish after fish and losing flies and retying over and over and using your magnifiers (with the Acrylic lens (plastic right)) and your floatant. I did a good job of wiping off the lens after I juiced up the fly, but onetime I missed a spot and now I have a small-discolored artifact in the lens. Oh, I can still use them just find (and the lenses are replaceable), but my point is glass would have made these the Lamborghini of magnifiers. Aside from this small issue, I like them and expect years of great service from them. JR.
JRs Rating: 4 Fish-Ons
Review Number 08-02
Review Date: October 2008
Product Tested: MONTANA River Maps & Fishing Guide
Manufacturer:Frank Amato Publications
Website:amatobooks.com
Description of Product:Up to date, detailed maps of 30 of Montanas best rivers to fish, included is details on best seasons, species, flies, gear, hatchs as well as historic hooking and run data by river, Also included is information on boat launch sites, parks, knots, local services, guides and fly shops
Suggested Retail price:$25.00
Purchase price:N/A
Place of Purchase:N/A checked out from King County Public Library, Bellevue, WA
Product Reviewer:JR
Winter here in the Pacific Northwest is full of cloudy days with lots of light drizzle. One cannot help but think of warm summer days and outdoor activities. Midwinter is the time that the YG gets into full swing nailing down dates, laying out itineraries and assigning G-2 (intelligence gathering) duties to the members for the upcoming years trip. After agreeing on the dates and final itinerary, I was assigned G-2 for lodging and river reports.
One day I was on my computer at the KCPL and just typed in Fishing Montana, well lots of books came up but most were old, some very old and what may have been a hot spot 10 years ago, may in fact be a sub development today, hardly any great help .but something caught my eye, a book called Montana River Maps & Fishing Guide by Frank Amato Publications and better yet it was not only just published (Aug 2007) but the Library had not yet received any copies so I placed a hold on one when they came in.
A word about Frank Amato Publications, this company has a wealth of outdoor books on just about all things fishing in the Pacific Northwest and West. They also publish two magazines Salmon, Trout, Steelheader and Flyfishing and Tying Journal, give em a look up.
Well the day arrived and I picked up the book, boy was this a nice book of maps, 30 river systems in all, large 14.7 x 10.6 layout of each river including a river system review, hatch table, fishing peaks by month, fly patterns, services locations and phone numbers. For this years trip the YG would hit eight out of the 30, so this book got a fair bit of a workout.
History:
With out a doubt, the maps of choice the YG uses the is the Atlas & Gazetteers published by DeLorme (www.delorme.com), this is an invaluable aid in our trips as we find ourselves in the "middle of nowhere" quite often and the Gazetteer is most often the only map that can get us in and out with not to much trouble, we just love them. Each YG members copies of the many states we have visited are well worn and annotated with our fishing locations weve picked up over the years from fishing guides, fly shops, waitresses, bartenders, city officials, and anybody who might give us the time of day (drive past the broken guardrail; pull off on the right go down the embankment and fish). Most of the YG members want to take a "look" at the others to make sure they have not missed a "secret" spot. That said,
I just love this book. To have a drill down detail of each river is a great aid as most of the places we fish tend not to have any identifying signs or markers for the most part. The ability to switch from Gazetteer to these maps when you "got close" to the river was an immense help in identifying our selected fishing spots. In fact, Eric Thorson one of the owners of The Sunrise Fly Shop in Melrose, MT when giving us directions to his "secret" location of where we should go fish on the Big Hole, insisted that we use the Big Hole map from the book. Now I only have one small issue, I acknowledge that these rivers systems are vast, but I would like to see just a bit more detail of all roads/bridges around the rivers and perhaps a bit more identifying features as we sometimes had to guess if the bridge on the map was in fact the one that we were on.
Aside from this small issue, I think it is a great book to have if you are fishing any or all of the big 30 of Montana. JR.
JRs Rating: 4 Fish-Ons