Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 91: Predator Flies and Sparkle Boats: Steve Maldonado's Journey

Transcript

S6, Ep 91: Predator Flies and Sparkle Boats: Steve Maldonado's Journey · The Articulate Fly

0:03
Intro: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of The Articulate Fly.
0:07
Intro: On this episode, I'm joined by my friend and tire, Steve Maldonado.
0:11
Intro: You may know him by one of his aliases, Skeeter or Johnny Lunchmeat.
0:16
Intro: Steve and I discuss his sparkle boat days and his ascent down the slippery slope
0:19
Intro: of fly fishing, and we take a deep dive into tying predator flies.
0:23
Intro: I think you're going to enjoy this one, but before we get to the interview,
0:26
Intro: just a couple of housekeeping items. If you like the podcast,
0:29
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0:33
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0:36
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1:17
Intro: Now, on to our interview.
1:20
Marvin: Well, Steve, welcome to The Articulate Fly.
1:23
Steve: Thank you, Marvin. Glad to be here.
1:25
Marvin: Yeah, I'm super looking forward to our conversation, and we like to start all
1:28
Marvin: of our interviews by asking our guests to share their earliest fishing memory.
1:33
Steve: Oh, my earliest fishing memory. Well, I grew up in the valley here in southeastern
1:37
Steve: Colorado, probably about a mile from the Arkansas River.
1:42
Steve: My mom still lives in the same house that I grew up in, which is where I'm sitting right now.
1:47
Steve: And, uh, earliest I can remember is, uh, my dad, uh, and I going out to,
1:51
Steve: uh, John Martin reservoir.
1:54
Steve: Uh, I was probably six or seven years old.
1:57
Steve: Uh, nothing fancy spinning rods, worms. We dug up from around my dad's horse corrals.
2:03
Steve: He did a lot of cowboying and, uh, I've been obsessed with it ever since,
2:08
Steve: uh, just fishing and hunting with my dad.
2:10
Steve: Uh, he was hardcore at it and never fly fish, just, uh, fish them worms and
2:15
Steve: a spinning rod but he'd catch a bunch of fish.
2:18
Marvin: Yeah, and so I have to ask you, since you're with your mom, what's for dinner tonight?
2:24
Steve: Probably green chili and homemade tortillas and Mexican rice and the stuff I grew up eating.
2:31
Marvin: Wish I was there. That sounds horrible.
2:35
Marvin: But, you know, one of the things I know, like I know a lot of people know that you were a Marine.
2:39
Marvin: A lot of people know that you're a mechanic for Southwest. And I think even
2:43
Marvin: a lot of people know that you're, you know, you were a high school wrestler,
2:46
Marvin: but I bet a lot of people don't know that before they found you in the fly fishing
2:50
Marvin: world, you were a sparkle boat guy.
2:53
Steve: I was, I was, I was, uh, I was hardcore on the tournament trail.
2:57
Marvin: Yeah. So that was, I guess you started out with Southwest in Texas.
3:01
Marvin: Is that kind of when you were fishing competitively for bass?
3:04
Steve: Yeah. And it actually all started, uh, that got me into the bass deal was when
3:10
Steve: I was in the Marine Corps, uh, was North Carolina station there.
3:13
Steve: And I met, which ended up being my best friend. And I, as a matter of fact,
3:16
Steve: when he retired, I got him hired at Southwest and his dad was a,
3:20
Steve: a tournament bass fisherman back in the, the Bill Dance and Roland Martin days.
3:25
Steve: And he was from, uh, uh, Port St. Lucy, Florida fished. I mean, as a pro on the St.
3:30
Steve: John's river and all that. So Sean, you know, had a dad that was actually,
3:34
Steve: you know, on the bass tour and he's, you know, he showed me everything that,
3:38
Steve: uh, I needed to know in North Carolina.
3:40
Steve: We were there for three years bought a john boat together and rented
3:44
Steve: a motor on base and and we just fished all
3:47
Steve: over have lock and all the rivers there and and uh
3:50
Steve: got out went to texas and
3:53
Steve: and uh started fishing a lot and and uh
3:57
Steve: started winning some tournaments and got you
4:00
Steve: know got picked up i was fishing uh uh team
4:02
Steve: tournaments on you know bass champs bud light trail uh
4:06
Steve: in texas for a well a bunch of
4:09
Steve: years i was there for 20 something years uh you know
4:11
Steve: i lived uh you know probably 15 minutes
4:15
Steve: from lake world famous lake fork it's uh if anybody knows about you know anything
4:19
Steve: about bass fishing uh out of the top 50 bats ever caught the united states i
4:24
Steve: think like 38 of them come from this lake um and uh i was you know ended up
4:31
Steve: fishing these tournaments and did really well and And, and.
4:35
Steve: Uh, my partner, Sean Burris was an amazing angler and, and, uh,
4:39
Steve: you know, we were runner up for Angler of the Year several times.
4:42
Steve: And, you know, I ended up getting sponsored by Denali Rods and,
4:45
Steve: and, uh, P-Line and Shimano.
4:48
Steve: And, you know, it was, uh, uh, ended up running the boat for RH Landing.
4:54
Steve: They got me the boat. All I had to do was fish out of it. I had a 21-foot Legend
4:58
Steve: 211 Alpha, 250 Mercury Pro XS, and power poles, and HDS touchscreens, and anything I wanted.
5:06
Steve: I just asked for it, but I was doing well enough where I could do it.
5:11
Marvin: Yeah, that makes it a whole lot easier to buy the truck to pull the boat, right?
5:16
Steve: Exactly. And, you know, it all ended when I moved to Colorado,
5:21
Steve: and it was kind of a – it was like almost a meant-to-be deal because I was kind
5:26
Steve: of looking into what was going on in Colorado. I'm living in Denver,
5:30
Steve: you know, working at DIA.
5:31
Steve: I would have to drive to Pueblo, which is lengthy, which, you know,
5:34
Steve: when you're a bachelor, it really don't matter.
5:36
Steve: But kind of, you know, they have some different rules here, like no wake legs
5:41
Steve: and stuff like that. Well, you know, you got a 250 on there.
5:45
Steve: You're waking before you get it on plane, and it's almost –,
5:51
Steve: It kind of meant to be because when I got rid of all that stuff before I came
5:55
Steve: up here, I told Phil right off the bat, I said, had I not done that,
5:59
Steve: I said, I would never met you.
6:01
Steve: I mean, you probably wouldn't be talking right now because I said I would never have been fly fishing.
6:06
Marvin: Yeah, that's neat. And so for folks that don't know, that is Phil Ratstinkawani.
6:13
Marvin: So that means you get to officially keep Skeeter if we ever get that project off the ground.
6:18
Steve: Yeah.
6:19
Marvin: So how did you kind of get into fly fishing? You know, I guess,
6:23
Marvin: you know, you move, you're not going to competitively bass angle anymore.
6:26
Marvin: You know, when did you get the itch?
6:29
Steve: Well, actually, I was still working for Southwest, living in East Texas.
6:33
Steve: And one of my great friends down there, J.B. Jarvis, we were running buddies down there.
6:37
Steve: And he said, hey, man, let's go to Beaver's Band and let's go try some fly fishing.
6:42
Steve: I said, where's that at? and uh we went
6:45
Steve: up there and got some uh from the
6:48
Steve: bargain cave if everybody remembers that at cabela's we went and
6:51
Steve: got some old junk stuff over there i don't even know what kind of
6:53
Steve: rods or reels we had we got uh tried
6:57
Steve: tying our own flies and and uh went up there well it's a bunch of stalkers and
7:02
Steve: uh then you just i mean you throw a cigarette butt out there and they'll eat
7:06
Steve: it but uh we were throwing these ugly flies that we were tying and man we thought
7:09
Steve: we were the catch now and uh that That was around 2009,
7:14
Steve: and we went up there once, and we were hooked on it.
7:17
Steve: We had no clue what we were doing at all, but these stalker fish were eating,
7:22
Steve: and we kept going back more and more.
7:25
Steve: It's just kind of what started it. Like I said, I had no clue what I was doing.
7:30
Marvin: Yeah, that's neat, and of course, it's lucky for you. I think the Denver metro
7:35
Marvin: area is one of the trout fishiest places in the country in terms of the resource
7:40
Marvin: and the shops and all that sort of stuff.
7:42
Steve: Right it is it is it's it's phenomenal it's just absolutely phenomenal the there's
7:47
Steve: so many options uh you never even have to you know i mean you kind of have to
7:52
Steve: uh plan where you're gonna go because it just it just gets in your head and
7:55
Steve: you're like wow so many places i could go yeah.
7:58
Marvin: And and so you know that i guess that's about 15 years ago you know who are
8:02
Marvin: some of the folks that have uh mentored you on your fly fishing journey and
8:06
Marvin: what have they taught you.
8:07
Steve: Without a doubt phil,
8:11
Steve: uh filani is uh number one on the list uh uh that was a kind of a meant to be deal too i mean uh,
8:20
Steve: moved up here with southwest uh and i seen a
8:23
Steve: big billboard going back home where i was staying before i actually sold my
8:27
Steve: house in texas and uh said fly fishing show and i'm thinking oh wow i have to
8:31
Steve: check that out and it was at the denver mart didn't know nothing about it uh
8:37
Steve: I went there on a Saturday, and there was a jillion people.
8:43
Steve: And I got my ticket, and I walked around, and I'm just looking around, and this place is huge.
8:50
Steve: And Tammy, my wife, says it was meant to be. I said, because I could have went
8:54
Steve: straight, I could have walked left, and I ended up going right.
8:58
Steve: I seen a wall with people sitting against the wall, and I was like,
9:02
Steve: man, these guys are kind of flies.
9:03
Steve: Eyes and i walked around the
9:06
Steve: corner and uh there was one guy that
9:09
Steve: had just a bubble of people around you can't even see the
9:11
Steve: guy and i was kind of standing up you know kind of short like the
9:14
Steve: hobbit and i was trying to see who this guy was
9:17
Steve: and i'm thinking there's no way i'm going to get up there so
9:20
Steve: i i walked to the end and for
9:22
Steve: some reason instead of just keep on going i turned around and
9:25
Steve: a little uh bubble of people was dispersing i'm
9:28
Steve: like i'm gonna walk back here because obviously this guy's somebody because
9:31
Steve: there's a ton of people around this guy and i
9:34
Steve: walked by and i kind of peeked at him and uh
9:37
Steve: he does the same thing uh like jimmy
9:40
Steve: houston told people he wanted you know something that
9:43
Steve: catches more fish goes hey he goes you want me to show you a fly little catch
9:46
Steve: a bunch of fish and i'm like sure and uh we've been best friends ever since
9:52
Steve: he uh asked me where i worked and i told him i just moved here did you know
9:56
Steve: do you fly fish and And I remember him saying, well, do you eat a tie?
10:00
Steve: And I said, not like that.
10:03
Steve: And I said, I'm pretty horrible at it. And he's probably, you know, one of my...
10:11
Steve: Biggest mentors that showed me everything about nymphing and the small flies
10:15
Steve: and the mending and the you know everything that's the streamer game for me
10:20
Steve: came later that was kind of my own deals um another one is rick takahashi uh
10:25
Steve: rick taught me so much about tying making stuff perfect uh,
10:31
Steve: and he's such a humble guy and that humbleness is really roughed up on me uh
10:36
Steve: you know as a as a bass Bass guy, he could really be kind of a smarty pants.
10:42
Steve: And that's way different than any of the guys that I know now.
10:47
Steve: But there's a whole array of them. Scott Stisser, he's probably one of the best
10:51
Steve: tires I've ever been around.
10:53
Steve: He taught me so much about just making flies perfect.
10:57
Steve: He does Atlantic salmon flies and just watching him and him explaining how he
11:04
Steve: does stuff and kind of taking me under his wing and explaining just how perfect
11:09
Steve: you have to make these things.
11:11
Steve: And it's over time and talking to these guys, it's kind of cool when I could
11:18
Steve: tie 20 flies and I can have three guys that can, you know, really tie in front of me or watching me.
11:23
Steve: And I can throw those 20 flies up in the air and let them hit the table and
11:26
Steve: they won't know which one I tied first and which one I tied last because they look exactly the same.
11:31
Steve: That's to me is what these guys have done for me.
11:34
Marvin: Yeah, that's super neat. And so how long ago was it that you met Phil?
11:40
Steve: This will be the 11th year that I met Phil.
11:44
Steve: I've been here at DIA for 11 years. So yeah, it's been just that 11 years.
11:49
Marvin: Yeah, it's interesting. I can remember going to the Denver Fly Fishing Show,
11:55
Marvin: you know, gosh, it was probably, I don't know, three or four years before COVID
12:00
Marvin: when it was still at the Mart. And that was a neat place.
12:03
Marvin: And I was always super impressed because you could get a Bloody Mary first thing
12:07
Marvin: in the morning and walk the show.
12:09
Steve: Oh, they were so good.
12:11
Marvin: I will say Robert at the Gaylord makes great Bloody Marys, too.
12:15
Marvin: So, folks, if you're at the Denver Fly Fishing Show this coming year,
12:18
Marvin: look for Robert and tell him Marvin said to make a Bloody Mary for you and he'll hook you up.
12:25
Marvin: So, it's interesting to you, right? So, you know, you've got this kind of,
12:28
Marvin: you know, conventional background, come back to Colorado, but I know you chase
12:32
Marvin: a lot of stuff on the fly now.
12:34
Marvin: And so, I was kind of curious, you know, what's your favorite species to chase on the fly? Yeah.
12:40
Steve: Uh, like on the fly period.
12:43
Marvin: Uh, yeah, on the fly period. And if you need to, I'll give you two cause I feel generous this evening.
12:48
Steve: Uh, my number one is tarpon. Hands down is my number one is, is fishing for tarpon.
12:54
Steve: Uh, of course the next would be, you know, hard to beat, you know,
12:58
Steve: just some big old Browns.
13:00
Steve: It's, uh, you know, and they're right up there with carp, carp to me.
13:03
Steve: I just soap on, but, but yeah, it's, uh, I'm obsessed with the tarpon fishing.
13:07
Steve: And i i go quite a bit every june with a friend of mine that the guys down there
13:12
Steve: and it's just uh that's got me uh i don't know it's got me whack over them yeah.
13:19
Marvin: It's kind of crazy it's kind of i would say that's probably one of the apex
13:24
Marvin: site uh fishing experiences you can have because i can't think of a bigger fish
13:28
Marvin: that uh you know people are pursuing on the fly that you get to watch you eat like that, right?
13:33
Steve: Oh, yeah, yeah. And I think this June I jumped, well, I got some to the boat,
13:38
Steve: but it was 24 that I got in a week period. It was insane.
13:43
Marvin: Yeah, that's good clean living, Steve.
13:45
Steve: Oh, yeah.
13:47
Marvin: So, and in terms of, like, trout places in Colorado, do you have a favorite river you like to fish?
13:53
Steve: The Eagle. It's my favorite.
13:56
Marvin: And what makes it special for you?
13:59
Steve: It's just... Uh, well, it's, it's, it's kind of special because Rim Chong goes there.
14:05
Steve: Me and Phil and Rim go fish there a lot. And, uh, uh, that's another guy that's
14:10
Steve: just one of my favorite guys to be around.
14:13
Steve: He's so humble and he's so patient. He's taught me just patience and he's, he's so funny.
14:19
Steve: Him and Phil get after it. Like, uh, oh, like Grumpy Old Man.
14:23
Steve: That's like the odd couple, Walter Matthau and Jack Lim.
14:26
Steve: And it's so funny the way they tease each other. But I go to the Eagle because of that.
14:32
Steve: They like to fish a lot, and it just turned into be one of my favorite rivers.
14:36
Steve: There's so many good places to fish there.
14:40
Steve: You don't have to drive. You look very far. There's a lot of fish in that river.
14:45
Marvin: Very, very neat. And, you know, it sounded like you kind of were bitten by the
14:49
Marvin: fly tying bug at the same time you started, became fly fishing curious.
14:52
Marvin: But was it really, you know, meeting Phil, say, 10, 11 years ago that kind of
14:57
Marvin: made you decide that you really wanted to get serious about it?
15:01
Steve: It was. It was, you know, like I said, I started it, you know,
15:04
Steve: in 09 with my buddy JB when we started going to Oklahoma.
15:07
Steve: But honestly, it's, you know, when I met Phil, that's when my life changed forever.
15:14
Steve: It was, it was special.
15:15
Marvin: Yeah, that's pretty neat. And
15:17
Marvin: so do you remember the, your first vice and the first fly you tied on it?
15:22
Steve: Oh yeah. It's, uh, uh, an HMH. You got it out at, uh, the bargain cave once again in Texas.
15:28
Steve: And, uh, my first fly was a really ugly hair's ear.
15:32
Steve: And a matter of fact, I still have that original fly, uh, you know,
15:36
Steve: and a couple of other originals because Tammy said, you know, keep your fly.
15:39
Steve: She goes, you might get better at this. She goes, that one's kind of ugly.
15:41
Steve: She goes, but you'll always be able to look at your first fly.
15:44
Steve: And now it's, I have that one in a shadow box. And then some of my uncle flies, I'm like, wow.
15:51
Marvin: Yeah, which is, I mean, it's a pretty cool process to kind of get there in 10 years.
15:55
Marvin: I mean, a lot of people, you know, quote, tie their entire lives and never,
15:58
Marvin: you know, really make a lot of progress, right?
16:01
Steve: Mm-hmm.
16:02
Marvin: And so what do you tie on today?
16:04
Steve: Day uh you know as i got better uh i was uh don talked to me from uh regal at
16:11
Steve: one of the shows and uh i got picked up by regal and and don's been good to
16:16
Steve: me and that's that's probably been,
16:18
Steve: oh maybe eight years uh that i've been on a regal and and uh he's such a great
16:23
Steve: guy that old that old regal family is uh is awesome and and you know the streamers
16:29
Steve: that i tie uh you know it's it's uh I'll never change vices.
16:33
Steve: I'll never even look at nothing.
16:34
Steve: And I've been, you know, approached by all the big guns and Renzettis and all them.
16:42
Steve: And I tell them, no, just I'm not even interested.
16:45
Steve: It's, you know, Don's real good to me. And I really like the Regal for my style of tying.
16:52
Marvin: Yeah. And is it basically the jaw mechanism and how tightly it clamps those
16:57
Marvin: big hooks? Is that kind of what you like about the Regal?
17:00
Steve: Yeah. It's just a pull the handle, let it go. And the, the, the hooks in there,
17:04
Steve: there's no knob adjust in or no, you know, none of the stuff it's,
17:08
Steve: uh, um, and you know, and I tie big flies and, you know, if I need some 24s,
17:13
Steve: uh, I'll just get them from Phil.
17:16
Marvin: He'll have that little, uh, that little drug dealer Ziploc bag that he carries with him.
17:20
Steve: Yeah.
17:23
Marvin: Um, and, uh, he'll, he'll set you up, uh, for sure.
17:28
Marvin: Or the, um, that's funny. And so, you know, I know you mentioned Scott Stisser
17:32
Marvin: and Rick Takahashi and Phil, but, you know, you know, I, those guys are,
17:38
Marvin: you know, to me, they're kind of, I mean, Scott, not, not really.
17:41
Marvin: Cause he does a salmon fly thing, but like, you know, Rick and Phil are to me
17:44
Marvin: are like, you know, mountain West fly tires.
17:46
Marvin: Right. But, but you're, you know, when I think of you and I know you've got,
17:50
Marvin: you know, trout, you know, buggy trout patterns with thumb quote,
17:53
Marvin: but I think of you as a predator dude, right?
17:55
Marvin: Yeah. And so, you know, who are some of the tires that you kind of follow,
17:59
Marvin: you know, on that predator fly front?
18:03
Steve: Oh, I mean, that's such an easy list for me. It's, of course,
18:06
Steve: one of my friends, Kelly Gallop, Blaine Chocolate, of course.
18:09
Steve: But that whole group, Russ Madden, Strolis, you know, Alex Lofka, Chad Johnson, Schmidt.
18:18
Steve: On that end, and, you know, I tie with all those guys at the Streamer Love Test.
18:23
Steve: Steve Daly's another one.
18:25
Steve: Just how can you not follow these guys? I mean, it's just meet,
18:28
Steve: you know, meet greatness is what I call them.
18:33
Marvin: Yeah dude it's uh it's kind of all those guys are kind of crazy it's kind of
18:36
Marvin: funny as you're kind of ticking through the names i was lucky you know some
18:39
Marvin: of the guys that travel more i i've been able to kind of spend time with but
18:43
Marvin: i mean a ton of those guys were up at schultz's event at bob in the hood yeah.
18:48
Steve: Yeah it's uh i was on the back burner for that i'm hoping i get in this year
18:53
Steve: i was i was late getting uh when i was uh um just they were waiting for somebody
18:59
Steve: to drop out and i I would have got in. Hopefully I get in there this year.
19:02
Marvin: Well, fingers crossed. It's a fun time. And, dude, that is, you know,
19:06
Marvin: folks, if you are about Predator streamers, that is an insanely awesome event.
19:12
Marvin: It's, you know, it's not huge. You get to spend time with everybody.
19:15
Marvin: It's a lot of fun. The culture at Schultz Outfitters is a great culture.
19:20
Marvin: And, you know, they, you know, it's not just fly. They do gear, too.
19:24
Marvin: And just a super, super great kind of old school way a fly shop should run.
19:28
Marvin: And, you know, Steve, one of the things I'm always interested about,
19:32
Marvin: you know, when you get, you know, fly designers as opposed to fly tires,
19:35
Marvin: right, is, you know, tell me a little bit about kind of your design philosophy,
19:40
Marvin: you know, for Predator flies and kind of what you think it takes to make an
19:45
Marvin: effective Predator fly. Okay.
19:47
Steve: Uh, my, my philosophy on that, I mean, it really, uh, uh, about like my whole
19:54
Steve: thing with, with my tying style now, I mean, uh, my predator stuff goes back
19:58
Steve: to my, you know, fishing the bass days.
20:00
Steve: And, and when I really started to, to think about doing this,
20:04
Steve: uh, I was thinking if I can make a fly mimic a fluke or a jerk bait,
20:08
Steve: which is my style of retrieving, uh, I would have something.
20:12
Steve: And so, I mean, that was my whole process, you know, when I sit at the bench, uh,
20:16
Steve: um, and I mean, you know, the head, the tail and the, the, the articulation,
20:21
Steve: uh, um, all that to me plays, I mean, it plays a lot into the, into the fly.
20:28
Steve: Uh but you know being on the bass tour i mean it's uh i mean if i threw a fluke
20:33
Steve: out there and i just reeled it in i wouldn't get nothing it's it's it to me
20:38
Steve: it's all about the retrieve.
20:39
Steve: It's it's really getting that fly to to make it do stuff um um it's kind of
20:47
Steve: hard to explain for guys that don't gear fish i mean it's uh um it's real funny
20:52
Steve: because people look at me when i'm when when I'm a streamer fishing,
20:55
Steve: cause it's just a whole different thing.
20:58
Steve: It's the people that do the, and I mean, no offense with the way people do stuff,
21:03
Steve: but I mean the strip, strip, stop, stop, strip, strip, strip.
21:07
Steve: Yeah. That's not even in my vocabulary.
21:09
Steve: It's, it's all like fishing a jerk bait. You want to make that fly move with
21:14
Steve: your rod, not with your line. All you're doing with your line is just taking up slack.
21:19
Steve: If you can pop that fly and make it move with your rod tip, up.
21:23
Steve: And not even mess with the line then you're gonna
21:26
Steve: you're gonna you're gonna start catching a bunch of fish and that's when you you
21:29
Steve: know make fish bite uh that really don't
21:33
Steve: want to bite uh but i put all that in my my
21:36
Steve: you know my predator fly kind of deal so to me it's just
21:39
Steve: uh it always reflects to my best days and
21:41
Steve: how my patterns are going to react you know with my style of you
21:45
Steve: know uh retrieving you know whether it's in
21:47
Steve: a you know current slack water which i love to fish uh
21:50
Steve: slack water for big trout with a lot of people in
21:54
Steve: the drift boat will just zip right by it and uh zip right
21:57
Steve: by some of the biggest fish they're around um so i put a lot of hours of testing
22:02
Steve: into into these flies just uh to see if they'll retrieve like i want them to
22:07
Steve: look and i do a lot of on the you know whatever you call it on the bank tuning
22:11
Steve: and the drift boat tuning i mean sometimes i'll hack them down to nothing yeah.
22:17
Marvin: I mean and so so for people that know like if they've watched,
22:20
Marvin: you know, conventional guys fish, I mean, I can see you basically retrieving
22:24
Marvin: line and pumping the rod tip, right?
22:26
Steve: Yes. Yes. And, and, and, uh, really it's, uh, that's all you're doing.
22:29
Steve: I'm, I'm just holding that rod tip down and I'm pumping that rod tip.
22:32
Steve: And if you see my hand coming back, it has nothing to do with moving that fly.
22:36
Steve: It's just getting the slack out of the way.
22:38
Steve: So I can keep that line tight to the fly. And, and, you know,
22:41
Steve: I go back to, you know, um,
22:44
Steve: one of the quotes in Kelly Gallop, you know, uh, like I said,
22:47
Steve: to me it goes to the retrieve but you know ellie always said you know fish aren't
22:51
Steve: looking to see how many things are wrong with your fly they're looking to see
22:54
Steve: how many things are right with your fly but in the end it's the retrieve is
22:58
Steve: what makes it effective yeah.
22:59
Marvin: And so with that pump you're basically what you're getting is you're getting
23:02
Marvin: a left right darting but you're also getting kind of that kill where kind of
23:06
Marvin: the tail kind of crumples over the head.
23:07
Steve: Yeah exactly so i'm i'm basically trying to walk the dog under water and i'll
23:13
Steve: pop pop pop and i'll kill it and then pop pop pop and I'll kill it.
23:16
Steve: And then usually it'll, that fish will come and you'll see them come and you'll
23:21
Steve: pop, pop, pop. And they're interested.
23:23
Steve: And it's not like a tarpon. When you miss it, you miss a strip, they're gone.
23:26
Steve: Uh, they'll see that thing start fluttering like it's wounded.
23:29
Steve: And as soon as you give it another pop pop, they, they can't stop.
23:32
Steve: They just eat it. It's a, it's pretty incredible.
23:35
Marvin: It's like Doritos.
23:37
Steve: Yeah.
23:39
Marvin: But it's interesting. So, you know, if you're, you are not, uh,
23:43
Marvin: animating the fly by stripping, does that mean that you're, does you're getting
23:48
Marvin: that, the swim action that you want, probably not with a lot of articulations
23:52
Marvin: and probably with more of a waiting and kind of head design in the fly?
23:56
Steve: Yeah, it's, it's really the, the head design, uh, to me that makes a, a huge difference.
24:02
Steve: Uh, when I do the heads, uh, and I've told people this when I do all my,
24:06
Steve: my time demos and, and, and just in general, um, if you watch my videos, is when I put the eyes on a,
24:15
Steve: I want them eyes just sticking out where they're almost goofy looking when you
24:20
Steve: look at the fly from the front.
24:22
Steve: The worst thing you could do to me, I mean, that I've noticed is people put
24:25
Steve: eyes on, they squeeze them together, and it just kills the action of the fly.
24:31
Steve: The way I put my eyes on makes my jungle junkie.
24:35
Steve: I mean, you can tie one that's white where you can do it clear water and just
24:38
Steve: pop it, pop it, pop it, and it's basically just zigzagging back and forth underwater
24:43
Steve: like a zero spook on top. but it's doing it under the water.
24:47
Steve: And I've tried it all kinds of different ways here in this, you know,
24:50
Steve: evergreen lake that's clear as a bell.
24:52
Steve: And I've squeezed the eyes a little bit, squeezed down a little bit more and
24:55
Steve: you get to a point where that thing just goes sideways.
24:58
Steve: And I mean, it's just, it's, you know, it'll sell the fishermen,
25:03
Steve: but it won't catch no fish.
25:06
Marvin: Yeah. So it sounds like you like a wedge head, right?
25:09
Steve: Yeah. Kind of like a wedge head.
25:11
Marvin: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's super neat. because it's always interesting it's
25:15
Marvin: like you know some people love articulation some people are tying you know swim
25:19
Marvin: flies and it's the weight right uh and.
25:21
Steve: You know.
25:22
Marvin: They're they're wrapping the the hooks with lead wire to kind of get the get
25:26
Marvin: that kind of kill that they want but you know you mentioned the jungle junkie
25:30
Marvin: and i know that's kind of the pattern i know there's the jungle junkie junior as well um.
25:34
Steve: Yeah but.
25:35
Marvin: Uh tell me a little bit about the fishing problems you were were trying to solve
25:39
Marvin: when you designed that fly.
25:40
Steve: Uh well i mean
25:43
Steve: yeah that it was uh it was
25:46
Steve: basically just uh what i was wanting to
25:50
Steve: do is is get a fly that i could uh pretty much
25:54
Steve: walk the dog uh underwater uh and just
25:56
Steve: make it do the jerking motions that a
25:59
Steve: fluke does uh almost kind of like you
26:02
Steve: know some of blaine's you know stuff when when the t-bone you
26:05
Steve: know when you jerk that that thing just go sideways um and
26:09
Steve: i wanted something like that that i could work fast under
26:12
Steve: the water just pop pop pop pop pop and and uh and one
26:15
Steve: that i could do it every time uh you know that wouldn't roll over on its side
26:19
Steve: sometimes and you know you have to dry it out and then you know you'd fish it
26:24
Steve: and it'd come be it you'd be okay that's it and i'll send it roll over on its
26:27
Steve: side it took a lot of a lot of uh trial and error and getting like to get the
26:32
Steve: head right and the amount of material
26:34
Steve: uh to get that thing right um and and like i said it's a it's a fish catching
26:40
Steve: machine i mean landon's wore it out in argentina and i've had it in brazil with pat dorsey and,
26:45
Steve: and uh uh nick from lamson took it to argentina i said it's the best you know
26:50
Steve: i had a bunch of magazines but it's uh you got to do your part uh with the with
26:56
Steve: uh you know and i had told these guys about the retrieve it's uh it's a cool
27:00
Steve: fly but if you do the strip strip stop uh it probably going to be one of your worst enemies.
27:06
Marvin: Yeah. And mentioning that, does that then mean that you like to fish a rod that's
27:10
Marvin: probably more like a bass rod that's stiffer in the tip?
27:14
Steve: Not necessarily, because Loomis has that NRX, that 8-foot by 6-inch,
27:20
Steve: and it's built for fishing off the boat where you can hold your rod down and
27:24
Steve: pop it like a jerkbait rod.
27:27
Steve: But it's got some flex in it, and it has to have a soft tip somewhat so you can work that fly.
27:37
Steve: Eye if it's if it's uh if it's too stiff um it'll just uh it'll it'll pretty
27:43
Steve: much just start scooting towards you and it doesn't give it the chance to really
27:46
Steve: go to the side by side uh when they came out with that rod it was like yeah
27:51
Steve: i gotta have it it's uh it's phenomenal yeah.
27:53
Marvin: It's interesting because i think about like how you know a lot of the rod companies
27:56
Marvin: have these like you know medium fast to the fast side of the action and the.
28:01
Steve: Those tips.
28:02
Marvin: Tend to be like particularly like of a troutier ride they tend to be softer like nothing wrong with.
28:06
Steve: Them it's just not.
28:07
Marvin: The right tool right for that job um.
28:10
Steve: Exactly but.
28:11
Marvin: You know back to the to the design on the jungle junkie so you know what was
28:15
Marvin: the secret sauce in the head was it the shape or the material or kind of a combination of the two i.
28:21
Steve: Think it was the street it's a it's uh and that fly is just strictly a
28:26
Steve: little bit of a tail and uh american tide flies aaron letero makes this uh magnum
28:32
Steve: dub and uh it's it's just longer than the short the seniors won't do it uh i
28:39
Steve: mean there's nothing wrong with the laser dub uh i don't ever use it it's too
28:42
Steve: short for for streamers for big streamers it's just uh,
28:46
Steve: It doesn't do right, and, you know, you could pile it on and pile it on,
28:50
Steve: and then, you know, you're really in a mess because your flies don't work right.
28:54
Steve: But it's all about the head that makes this thing and the way you put the eyes on.
29:01
Steve: If you squeeze the eyes whatsoever, it just doesn't work.
29:06
Steve: And, you know, I got a lot of pics of my flies facing you, and the eyes are
29:10
Steve: really flared out sideways.
29:11
Steve: Ways and and uh it's just the way the hydraulic works and
29:15
Steve: the water push uh it's uh
29:18
Steve: it's pretty phenomenal uh the way the hydraulic uh uh push affects the way that
29:24
Steve: fly just pops from side to side and it does it repeatedly and it never tilts
29:28
Steve: to one side or the other it just stays uh it just stays straight and and and
29:34
Steve: uh and uh man they come and they sure come and get it yeah.
29:37
Marvin: It sounds like You need a new sticker when you're tying next show season in
29:41
Marvin: 2025 that says, don't squeeze the eyes.
29:44
Steve: Yeah.
29:47
Steve: I've had people come over there when I put it on my little clip and set it there.
29:51
Steve: First thing they do is they pick it up and they squeeze the eyes.
29:54
Steve: And I tell them, I said, you can have that.
29:56
Steve: Really? And I'm like, well, yeah. And then they walk up and I go,
29:58
Steve: well, that ain't going to work.
30:02
Marvin: So was the Jungle Junkie the first pattern that Umqua Feather Merchants picked up from you?
30:08
Steve: It was it was the first one uh uh that
30:11
Steve: they picked up and it was uh yeah and
30:14
Steve: it was a different name i designed it for
30:17
Steve: a pike fly because you know i do love to pike fish and you know i do it here
30:21
Steve: i do it and my wife from michigan i pike fish a lot and uh it was a pike fly
30:26
Steve: hands down i mean that was no uh no you know joking around uh and when i went
30:32
Steve: there to umpqua to turn it in uh that's That's when the late Dave Student was there.
30:36
Steve: And, man, was he tough. It was...
30:41
Steve: He looked at it and uh he liked it immediately i mean usually they yeah would
30:45
Steve: do the waiting period and the whole thing i mean they didn't just pick it up
30:47
Steve: like it made instantly but,
30:50
Steve: when he uh when i found out that the committee picked
30:52
Steve: it up uh he called me and uh i went in there to see him and and i had so much
30:57
Steve: respect for him it just uh it was just he just seemed like the guy you didn't
31:01
Steve: want to play with and he said stevie goes we're gonna you know pick up your
31:05
Steve: flag goes uh but uh i want to change the name on it i said i don't care what
31:09
Steve: you call it you put it in your catalog, you can call it whatever you want.
31:12
Steve: And he said, we're going to try it as a South America fly. He goes, I think it'll be great.
31:18
Steve: He goes, and sure enough, he goes, how about we call it the Jungle Junkie?
31:22
Steve: And I said, that's awesome.
31:23
Steve: So I can't tell people that I named it. It was Dave that changed the name on
31:27
Steve: it. And man, it's just been a wildfire fly.
31:32
Steve: You know, Yellow Dog says it's one of their top South America flies that they sell.
31:38
Marvin: That's super cool. So what was, you know, kind of stepping back a little bit,
31:41
Marvin: kind of what's that normal kind of UMQA selection process for, uh, what's it like?
31:48
Steve: It's tough. I mean, it is, uh, it is tough.
31:53
Steve: Um, it just, it's, yeah, it's so tough to say the least.
31:57
Steve: I mean, the best hires in the country on this thing and, and it's,
32:00
Steve: uh, and actually the guys that pushed me towards this was Rick and Phil.
32:04
Steve: They were, Rick was probably the biggest pusher of it.
32:09
Steve: One of the fly tying shows and I had this, that very fly.
32:14
Steve: And when I showed it to him, he goes, what? He goes, you gotta admit,
32:18
Steve: nobody ties flies like this around here. He goes, it's all tiny stuff.
32:21
Steve: And I said, he goes, you need to go find Dave and show him that fly. And I said, who?
32:29
Steve: And, you know, I went to meet him and then went through the process.
32:31
Steve: But, I mean, it's just, you know, me and Phil always joke about,
32:37
Steve: you know, getting through Dave's student, you know, going through the gauntlet.
32:41
Steve: We called it going through the gauntlet. You made it through him, and the fly was perfect.
32:45
Steve: I mean, it's not that they're not now, but, I mean, he was tough.
32:47
Steve: And then you got the whole process of the committee. Most are on the,
32:50
Steve: you know, U.S. fly fishing team, Josh Graff and Russ Miller.
32:53
Steve: And there's just a bunch more. It's just really tough, you know.
32:58
Steve: And what people don't realize is just because you have a fly in the catalog
33:01
Steve: doesn't mean you're a shoo-in.
33:02
Steve: I mean, me as well as a bunch of other people, you take your Umpqua Hot Shot
33:07
Steve: and you're going in there going, hey, I got another fly that's been,
33:09
Steve: and they're just like, yeah, we don't like that one. And you're like, what?
33:13
Steve: So it's tough.
33:14
Marvin: And so, you know, for tires that aspire to have Umpqua or another shop pick
33:20
Marvin: up their flies to produce, do you have any tips for them?
33:26
Steve: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's.
33:30
Steve: Number one would be just.
33:32
Steve: Open up your imagination and stick to your guns and sit there at the vice with
33:37
Steve: the bare hook on there and just, just think about, just open up your imagination,
33:41
Steve: put your imagination and put it on the hook.
33:44
Steve: And, and, um, you know, that's number one. Uh, number two would be, uh, tie a lot.
33:50
Steve: Tie every day if you can, even if it's just a little, a little fly,
33:54
Steve: uh, um, you know, just tie a lot and refine your techniques, uh, with, uh, you know.
34:02
Steve: Thing i got from kelly you know is your thread pressure
34:05
Steve: your thread pressure is the number one priority to
34:09
Steve: make everything perfect uh that that to
34:12
Steve: me trumps everything is thread pressure you know
34:15
Steve: keep my you know an eye on that
34:18
Steve: uh and number three would be
34:20
Steve: fish them a lot you know uh like i said do some you know some bank trimming
34:25
Steve: weekend take some scissors with you uh and you know i'm talking streamers you
34:31
Steve: know and fish them a lot and i mean fish a lot and sometimes you don't have
34:35
Steve: to be fishing for a fish just don't you know see where you can how you retrieve that fly
34:38
Steve: and if it's doing you know not kind of what you want it to do it's got to do
34:43
Steve: exactly what you want it to do uh and you know that's a recommendation and i just tell people i mean,
34:49
Steve: if you stop at any point and say oh man that's close enough for me it ain't
34:53
Steve: good enough i'll tell you that right now it's got to be right and it's got to
34:57
Steve: be exactly like you make it you want want it to be yeah.
35:01
Marvin: Because they've got some serious anglers are going to go out and fish those flies right.
35:04
Steve: Oh unbelievable unbelievable yeah.
35:07
Marvin: And so if we come down to you know down down from mount olympus down to where
35:12
Marvin: all the mere mortal fly tires live.
35:13
Steve: Um i.
35:15
Marvin: Always like to ask you know people like you and phil and you know people that
35:19
Marvin: production tie you know if you have like three tying tips that you can share
35:23
Marvin: you know again with us mere mortal tires that can kind of help us you know know,
35:28
Marvin: make our life at the vice a little bit better.
35:32
Steve: Um just uh i mean three tips to make you better tire yep uh,
35:39
Steve: tie something every day if you possibly can i mean it's uh um and and don't get too uh,
35:47
Steve: don't get too sucked in the rabbit hole uh with you know a bunch of uh you know
35:53
Steve: techniques and and watching you know just you know there's there's so much stuff
35:59
Steve: you can watch and so So many guys you can watch, uh,
36:02
Steve: like the list that I gave out that I follow.
36:04
Steve: And I mean, just get a little bit from each of them and, and, uh, make your own way.
36:09
Steve: Uh, it's just, uh, you know, that's, that's another one.
36:13
Steve: And, and, uh, just, uh, have confidence in what you're doing.
36:17
Steve: I mean, just, uh, and don't give up and just, just, you know,
36:20
Steve: get better at it and, and just, that's it.
36:24
Marvin: Yeah. How, how about, um, so I know you do a lot with like, uh,
36:28
Marvin: deer hair and things like that. had any tips for like handling hair um that you can give folks.
36:33
Steve: Uh get good thread uh you know it's a you know just get strong thread and make
36:41
Steve: sure that you clean your hair i mean it's just you can't clean it enough uh
36:46
Steve: there's always an under for you know just just you can't get it completely clean.
36:51
Steve: Um, and I, I don't really spin my hair at all.
36:56
Steve: Um, it's, uh, I get just a gigantic clump and, uh, um, I just,
37:02
Steve: I just, I stack it, kind of stack it, but I stack it around the whole hook and,
37:07
Steve: and then I'll make a three wraps and I'll just, you know, pull it tight.
37:10
Steve: And, uh, to me, it works a lot better. I tie a lot of mice, you know,
37:14
Steve: uh, like we talked about the night fishing.
37:16
Steve: I mean, I tie a lot of mice with caribou hair and, uh, that works better than
37:21
Steve: spinning. It's more consistent, uh, when you do that, uh, learn how to do that.
37:26
Steve: Um, and, and it's, uh, it's, it's easier and it's way more consistent.
37:31
Marvin: Yeah. And then in terms of like, you know, uh, like dubbing,
37:35
Marvin: are you, you know, I know you mentioned that, uh, like laser dub was too short,
37:39
Marvin: right. For the jungle junkie.
37:40
Marvin: Uh, are you, are you spinning noodles or are you doing dubbing loops?
37:46
Steve: Uh, I do, I do dubbing loops. Yeah.
37:49
Marvin: Got it. Uh, anything you want to share with folks there?
37:54
Steve: Yeah. Don't make them too long. You can make a loop way too long and it just,
37:59
Steve: and there again, that goes back to your thread control.
38:02
Steve: Um, you can always put another one on there.
38:05
Steve: Uh, so don't try to get everything on at once.
38:08
Steve: Uh, if you can't handle the, you know, the, the thread pressure,
38:13
Steve: where it's the same, make a short loop.
38:15
Steve: And a lot of times, all you need is a short loop.
38:19
Steve: And just make sure as you're wrapping around and you're preening everything back,
38:25
Steve: just make sure your thread pressure stays the same all the way around there
38:28
Steve: because you don't want to have a slide that's a couple of wraps of tight thread
38:32
Steve: and then you got three or four of loose thread and then tight thread because
38:35
Steve: a tooth will get in there and it's over.
38:39
Marvin: Yeah, it'll become loose and broken thread.
38:42
Steve: Absolutely. Yeah.
38:44
Marvin: So, you know, doing the dubbing noodles, have you ever, I mean,
38:48
Marvin: do you venture into kind of brush land or have you kind of stayed out of the brush world?
38:52
Steve: No, I figure some brushes. I mean, the brushes are kind of cool.
38:55
Steve: And I have the little Stompo Turbo Twister.
38:59
Steve: I make a lot of my own brushes, especially for the big pike flies because I
39:03
Steve: can get these things that just look nasty. And, and, uh, you can't buy it.
39:06
Steve: You can't buy those kind of brushes, uh, that you can create on your own.
39:10
Steve: And, uh, um, you know, that's just, uh, I really do like making my own.
39:16
Marvin: Yeah. It's funny you say that. That reminds me of seeing David from squimpage
39:20
Marvin: flies and Edison making brushes. And that was a pretty amazing thing to watch.
39:24
Steve: Oh yeah. Yeah. Cause you look at it and you're like, man, you can't even buy
39:27
Steve: nothing like that. And you can't.
39:30
Marvin: Yeah. And I mean that whole, you know, to me, I think that makes me think about
39:33
Marvin: Bob Popovich and, you know, him solving that size mass problem in fly fishing.
39:38
Marvin: And it's just amazing, like beast flies and stuff like that.
39:42
Steve: Oh, yeah, yeah. It's pretty amazing.
39:44
Marvin: Yeah. So I know you're a tinkerer, right? And so I know, like,
39:50
Marvin: people that tie a lot, they're always playing around.
39:52
Marvin: Like, they've either found a material that they're experimenting with or they're
39:57
Marvin: trying to figure out a new way to glue their fingers together with the latest
39:59
Marvin: resin. And what are you playing around with on your time bench right now?
40:05
Steve: Oh, right now it's a Semperfly came out with some new, new stuff.
40:09
Steve: It's, uh, uh, just, well, they have a whole bunch of new, their,
40:13
Steve: their, their stuff is so amazing.
40:14
Steve: Uh, they got a bunch of new stuff they come out with for, I'm,
40:17
Steve: I'm messing around with streamers, uh, um, with, uh, just some of their dubbing. That's like crazy long.
40:24
Steve: And, and, uh, uh, some of their chenille, that's just the colors is just crazy.
40:28
Steve: And they have so many different lengths of it.
40:31
Steve: Um, so I'm, I'm, I'm messing around with that right now. And,
40:34
Steve: and, uh, it's been working pretty good.
40:37
Steve: It's, uh, I'm working on a new top water, uh, frog, you know,
40:41
Steve: for bass, you know, uh, I can get over to Texas and, uh, you know,
40:45
Steve: hit the lily pads and, uh, fish around that thick hydrilla and,
40:49
Steve: uh, it's going to be weedless and it's, uh, and it's articulated.
40:52
Marvin: Oh, there you go.
40:54
Steve: Yeah.
40:55
Marvin: Yeah. That's funny. Cause I was, uh, I was talking to some guys from,
40:59
Marvin: uh, rather outdoors when we were flying back for my cast and you know they were
41:03
Marvin: uh i was like the space alien right because i was a fly fisherman and and so
41:08
Marvin: uh you know i was telling them that there are some instances where the fly rod
41:12
Marvin: is a better tool and to me fishing lily pads is one of those oh.
41:17
Steve: It's it's hands down awesome.
41:18
Marvin: Yeah you know and i just like and they're like well why is that i was like well
41:21
Marvin: guys because you don't have to bring everything back to the boat every time
41:23
Marvin: i was like dudes when you're done just lift it and put it back yeah.
41:27
Steve: Yeah it's uh you know and
41:30
Steve: then with you know like i said with that with that technique i use for the
41:33
Steve: streamers here for trout i mean it's the same thing you know i would do you
41:36
Steve: know with the frog uh you know on a bait caster and you get that rod down and
41:41
Steve: you just pop it you can zip it in between lily pads pop it on another one zip
41:44
Steve: it off pop it on another one uh you know you try doing the strip strip strip
41:48
Steve: that ain't gonna work i've tried it.
41:52
Marvin: Yeah Yeah, you might make a salad. Yeah. So the other thing I like to ask super
41:57
Marvin: avid tires is, you know, I bet you that you have some super oddball tool that
42:03
Marvin: you may have even made yourself that you can't live without.
42:07
Steve: I can even without a doubt tell you that's that stupid finger brush I have.
42:12
Marvin: Is it a cat brush? Is that what that is?
42:16
Steve: No, it's like an Enrico Poblisi. It looks like a dog brush, but it's just big
42:20
Steve: enough that you can put your finger in it.
42:22
Steve: And, uh, it's just for, for brushing out streamers and brushing out dubbing
42:27
Steve: and care or whatever that little finger brush is just, uh, uh,
42:32
Steve: yeah, I mean, it's, uh, it's funny. It's a, they ever quit making their luck with time.
42:38
Marvin: Yeah, it's funny. So you're the second person probably within the last two months
42:44
Marvin: that had mentioned that as their favorite tool.
42:47
Marvin: Adam Hortenberry, I interviewed him to help him promote his flytine event,
42:52
Marvin: the Rhode Island Fly Bash.
42:53
Steve: Oh, yeah, yeah.
42:54
Marvin: That's his favorite tool. And I think, you know what I think it is? I think it's a cat brush.
43:00
Steve: Yeah. And it's, it looks like a cat brush. It's just, you can put,
43:03
Steve: you can put it on your, you know, your finger index finger, middle finger,
43:06
Steve: wherever, and just, uh, it does the best job for brushing, brushing,
43:09
Steve: dubbing out. It's just ridiculous.
43:11
Marvin: Oh, well, there you go, folks. And, you know, so I know you're chasing Tarpon,
43:16
Marvin: you know, you've been down in South America, Central America,
43:19
Marvin: you know, do you have any kind of travel or hosted trips you want to share with our listeners?
43:24
Steve: Yeah, you know, it's a, I got some open spots, you know, if anybody's interested,
43:29
Steve: I'm hosting a trip with, to Brazil, you know, on Rio de Lua,
43:34
Steve: October 18th through the 27th with Nomadic Waters and Michael Williams.
43:39
Steve: And let me tell you what, what a great organization.
43:42
Steve: Michael's just top-notch. His guides are, you know, when I went over there with
43:47
Steve: Pat, I mean, these guys are the best in the business for doing what they do.
43:52
Steve: And Michael's operation with the cooks and the way you get treated and the equipment
43:57
Steve: is, you know, talking boat stuff because, you know, you're taking your own fly.
44:01
Steve: But they supply stuff if you don't have them.
44:04
Steve: And for people out there that don't fly fish and say, you know,
44:07
Steve: I want to give that a shot.
44:09
Steve: They got spinning reels and all the hard baits and, you know,
44:16
Steve: sassy shad, whatever it is they have.
44:18
Steve: But it's top notch and it's unbelievable.
44:22
Steve: The five days we were there, there was, I think, six of us fishing.
44:27
Steve: And they keep their little baseball clicker because they get back to the main
44:31
Steve: boat and they argue about who's the best guide.
44:32
Steve: And it's funny. They're just like us. You just can't understand them.
44:35
Steve: It's hilarious. And, uh, I think we landed over 3000 fish in, in five days.
44:41
Marvin: Yeah. It's interesting too. And Michael does a great job. And I think the great
44:45
Marvin: thing, you know, it starts with great people, right?
44:48
Marvin: You know, Mike, it does, you know, Michael and his U S team are great.
44:52
Marvin: The people he has down there are great, but I also would say,
44:54
Marvin: you know, his approach makes fishing in a very inhospitable place,
45:00
Marvin: very comfortable with the houseboat and kind of running off the boat.
45:05
Steve: Very comfortable and and uh it's uh like i said if anybody wants to get a hold
45:09
Steve: of me on that i got spots open uh we're only taking eight people on this trip
45:13
Steve: i'm hosting so it's not going to be a boat full of people um i said i got a
45:17
Steve: few spots if you're interested get a hold of me and uh,
45:20
Steve: and grab a 10 weight and it's on there.
45:23
Marvin: You go and uh you know is there anything else steve before i let you go to get
45:26
Marvin: to your green chilies because i know you told me i know one thing that you should
45:29
Marvin: you tell me about is your trip to Ireland, but is there anything else?
45:33
Steve: Oh, yeah, well, you know, just, I mean, the basic, you know,
45:36
Steve: stuff that did this, I tell,
45:37
Steve: you know, people to get better, just, you know, start fishing a lot and tie
45:44
Steve: more and, you know, and really go out and try to, you know, dissect your river,
45:50
Steve: your lake or wherever it is you're fishing.
45:52
Steve: Fishing and uh um you know it's just
45:55
Steve: uh um you'll know when you
45:57
Steve: arrive when you really start you know uh getting to the
46:00
Steve: point where uh you know you're going
46:03
Steve: to try to find the fish it doesn't want to be found and then you know get
46:06
Steve: your ability to the point where you can catch the fish that doesn't want to
46:09
Steve: be caught and that's just uh one of the things and you know one of the things
46:14
Steve: i always tell people at my seminars uh when i do the tie-in at demos or you
46:19
Steve: know it's out wherever i go and i get up there and and uh i tell people getting
46:25
Steve: bites builds confidence,
46:27
Steve: and confidence builds more bites and that's what it's
46:30
Steve: all about you know find your confidence streamer settle down and fish it and
46:34
Steve: every time you go to the river you're going to get a little bit better uh and
46:38
Steve: don't be afraid to switch it up you know and and and barrier retrieves clear
46:43
Steve: water versus dirty water high
46:44
Steve: water low water you know find out what they want feed it to them and And,
46:48
Steve: you know, just find yourself a simple system and make it work for you.
46:52
Steve: And, you know, I always tell people at the last, you know, last part of that.
46:55
Steve: And I said, don't use your line to move the fly.
46:58
Marvin: Yeah, those can be fighting words in some parts. But when do you head across
47:02
Marvin: the pond and go to Ireland?
47:03
Marvin: You were invited to go, Ty. Was it the English Fly Time Fair?
47:07
Steve: Yeah, the Irish Fly Fest, which is in Northern Ireland. And that is...
47:13
Steve: The middle of november we're we're flying into dublin tammy's going with me
47:17
Steve: and uh we're going to rent a car
47:18
Steve: and i made sure they gave me one with the steering wheel on the right side,
47:21
Steve: and which i had to pay extra for so it was i didn't
47:24
Steve: care and uh uh we're gonna drive into northern ireland it's about a two and
47:30
Steve: a half hour drive and uh it's not it's not just a few americans ever get invited
47:35
Steve: to this and uh um i didn't think i had the you know what flies they you know
47:40
Steve: i'm I'm thinking, what am I going to tie up there?
47:42
Steve: Well, they want me to tie my streamers, and that's why I got invited.
47:46
Marvin: Yeah, they want pike flies, right?
47:49
Steve: Yep, they want some pike stuff, big stuff.
47:51
Marvin: Yeah, and so have you started to kind of pencil in your 2025 show season so
47:56
Marvin: people want to come and kind of hang out with you because you'll be sitting
47:58
Marvin: next to Phil, and Rick will be sitting on the other side of Phil, right?
48:02
Steve: Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, Denver show for sure, and we talked, I'm going to do Atlanta.
48:06
Steve: Uh and uh um i can't do the uh the symposium because i think that's the same
48:14
Steve: time i'll be in ireland and uh i'm gonna try to hit a bunch of them uh you know
48:19
Steve: just uh i do the salvo ground up i'm gonna go i get invited every year to do
48:23
Steve: the streamer love fest so that's that's a blast,
48:26
Steve: uh hopefully i make it up to the boxcar this year if i get a you know get a
48:30
Steve: shot for that and uh And that'll be awesome.
48:32
Steve: But I'll hit just a bunch of shows. I'm going to try to hit a bunch and hook up with Landon.
48:40
Steve: And I get such a deal on the rental car with my Southwest deal.
48:44
Steve: And it's nice to hang around Landon. I'm going to go to Virginia again to that.
48:49
Steve: And I'll go back to Texas, New Braunfels. That show was phenomenal.
48:52
Steve: I'll be back down there to that.
48:54
Steve: So there's quite a bit. I'll make sure I post a bunch of them on my website.
48:58
Steve: But I'm going to try to hit a bunch of them.
48:59
Marvin: Yeah, that sounds cool. You have to come hang out in Atlanta in the Articulate Fly Hospitality Suite.
49:04
Marvin: There's always goodies and ample alcohol.
49:09
Steve: Absolutely. Yeah.
49:10
Marvin: And so we didn't touch on this, but you actually will tie custom fly orders
49:14
Marvin: for folks. If folks want to get some flies from you, what should they do?
49:18
Steve: Uh just you can contact me on instagram uh you know it's a maldo at goose killer k-i-l-l-a 67,
49:24
Steve: uh facebook just get on my name send me a personal message
49:27
Steve: and uh um i'll tie whatever you want um and i won't change what you want or
49:34
Steve: try to explain to you something different that i like and i'll tie them exactly
49:37
Steve: like you want them uh and uh just you know any colors you want any style you
49:43
Steve: want uh doesn't have to be streamers
49:45
Steve: or whatever it is i'll tie it for you and just get Get ahold of me.
49:47
Marvin: Yeah. And just because, you know, sometimes fishermen are not great planners.
49:52
Marvin: Um, what's the lead time on your custom fly orders generally?
49:56
Steve: Uh, if you put in, if, if you was to what's today, Thursday. Yep.
50:01
Steve: If you put in, if you put in an order today on a, on a few dozen,
50:04
Steve: uh, maybe even the streamers, uh, I'll have them, I'll have them to you by next, by this coming Friday.
50:10
Marvin: Well, there you go. Yeah. That's that great. You, uh, you've worked those double
50:13
Marvin: shifts at the airport. So you got a bunch of days stacked off, right?
50:16
Steve: Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, I take my stuff over there and I tie it there, too.
50:20
Marvin: Oh, which I forgot to ask you. What's your favorite glue for gluing on door plugs on airplanes?
50:28
Steve: No, it's just Elmer's.
50:33
Marvin: Well, there you go.
50:34
Steve: I think we have a problem with those because we're using wood glue,
50:36
Steve: and I don't think the metal is attached.
50:38
Marvin: Oh, you didn't do the glue joint where you put glue on both ends and let it
50:41
Marvin: dry and then glued it again?
50:43
Steve: No.
50:47
Marvin: Oh, man. But just for the record, you guys don't have any of those airplanes in your fleet, right?
50:53
Steve: We do not. No. Yeah.
50:54
Marvin: I didn't think you had any Boeings, but Lord knows United does.
50:59
Steve: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
51:00
Marvin: Well, that's funny. And so, back to get a little bit more serious before we
51:05
Marvin: go, what's the best way for folks to follow your adventures at the vice and
51:09
Marvin: on the water and in the field? Because you hunt elk, right? Yeah.
51:13
Steve: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do. I mean, just follow me on Instagram. That's where I post everything.
51:18
Steve: I got a lot of YouTube, but, you know, I got a lot of videos in the works.
51:22
Steve: As a matter of fact, I'm editing some stuff and I'm going to plaster a whole
51:26
Steve: bunch of videos coming up here in about two weeks on just techniques and just,
51:33
Steve: you know, how to put the eyes on and all that stuff.
51:37
Marvin: Well, there you go. And, you know, I will drop all that stuff,
51:41
Marvin: Steve, for you in the show notes.
51:42
Marvin: And I don't want to keep you from dinner, but I really appreciate you hanging
51:46
Marvin: out with me a little bit tonight.
51:48
Steve: No, thank you, Marvin. It's been a pleasure. I always enjoy talking with you,
51:52
Steve: hanging out with you when I see you.
51:54
Steve: And you've got a great show, and I appreciate you even asking me to be on it.
51:58
Steve: I'm honored. I am. Thank you.
52:00
Marvin: Oh, I'm honored to have you. When we're done with the interview,
52:04
Marvin: we've got to get the Eastern-style, North Carolina-style barbecue cook-off calendared up, too.
52:11
Steve: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll keep in touch with you.
52:13
Marvin: You bet. Take care.
52:15
Intro: Well, folks, we hope you enjoyed the interview as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you.
52:20
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52:25
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52:33
Intro: Tight lines, everybody.