Blog
My Experience at the 2019 British Columbia Provincial River Championships, PART I. By Chris Puchniak, Smart Angling Pro Staff
Le nouveau Maxia SX4 - une critique de Ciprian Rafan
Why Hanak is my hook of choice? by Almero Retief
Like most fly fishers out there, I have spent a significant amount of time and money in search of the proverbial ‘UBER hook’. In the end my decision to switch to (and now exclusively use) Hanak competition hooks, was informed by 5 key factors:
- Fit-for-purpose: designed, field tested, and fished by top national and international competitive fly fishers
- Durable: quality hi carbon steel delivers barbless hooks that can take a beating and land big or small fish with ease
- Sharp: chemically sharpened hooks provide superior penetration and hook sets
- Wide selection: available in popular sizes and covers all types of flies and patterns
- Wet and stillwater flies: H 260 BL and H 230 BL
- Spiders: H 260 BL
- Dry flies: H 130 BL and H 390 BL (Klinkhammer)
- Blobs: H 500 BL, H 260 BL, H 230 BL
- Boobies: H 500 BL (Allround) and H 230 BL
- Lures: H 230 BL
- Nymphs: H 450 BL (Jig Superb), H480BL (Jig Champion), H400BL (Jig Classic), H 470 BL (Jig Wave), and H 300 BL (original Czech nymph)
- Perdigons: H 450 BL (Jig Superb) and H 260 BL
- Buzzers: H 310 BL
- Streamers: H 900 BL and H 950 BL (XL)
- Bang for buck: you get what you pay for – a quality hook at a reasonable price!
I may not believe in Zombies, or the need to stockpile for survival in a post Zombie apocalypse, but I do see the need and value of having a healthy supply of Hanak hooks!
Tight lines, Almero
More About Almero:
Almero has been fishing for over 35 years. His fly fishing journey started back in South Africa, but it was really only after moving to Canada in 2010 that his interest and passion for fly fishing got elevated to the next level. He is a regular on the streams and lakes of Ontario, Quebec, and the Adirondacks. He also fly fished across Scotland (2012) and Ireland (2017). In 2016 he joined the Eastern Canada Competitive Fly Fishing League and since then has been mentored by some of Canada’s best competitive fly fishing anglers and our Smart Angling team to help him in his quest of becoming a holistic fly fisherman - one who ties and swings flies with equal passion. Almero is a very skillful tyer who obsessively crafts armies of flies for all species and fishing occasions.
Arcay Kingfisher, 10.6, 3/4 wt: a review by fly fishing guide and competition angler Ian Troup
Christmas came late for me this year as I just got my new Arcay Kingfisher rod this spring. I ordered the 3/4 weight to use in the upcoming World Championships in Tasmania and Commonwealth Championships in New Zealand. These dream fly fishing destinations are both known for big fish and for almost all my nymph fishing I use the Arcay World cup 2/3 weight rod and it's it fantastic, allowing me to fish really light tippets with great sensitivity and while this rod can handle big fish, I wanted something with more 'backbone' to land bigger fish quickly.
For the record I stay away from 3 and 4 weight's for nymphing as I'm concerned they'll be too stiff and break tippets, they're usually too heavy and too fast action. Knowing this rod was designed by a 4 time world champion gave me confidence to buy it 'blind' having never fished it before (I recommend to all my clients not to do this, ever). I fished the rod for some very large fish this spring and I've simply been blown away!!
First off, this rod is light, well balanced and has a soft tip that dampens effectively and the tip flexes perfectly to cast tight line rig or dry dropper. What really impressed me is the balance of backbone and power with tip sensitivity. End result – I was able to land these large fish in half the time and not break any tippets. I know there are a lot of great nymphing rods on the market, but not many I've seen that can do what this rod can do. Did I mention with the nano tech it doesn't break? Yeah, I flexed it to the cork on a 'big boy' and the rod survived to tell the tale. If you're fishing for larger fish on a tight line nymphing rig, I can't think of a better tool for the task.
Ian Troup, May 2019
About Ian:
Ian has been fly fishing for over 30 years. A firm believer that you never stop learning, Ian spends all his free time improving his fly fishing skills and has had the benefit of learning from some of the best anglers across the globe, including World Champions and guiding mentorship from the late Ian Colin James.
Ian has a passion for competitive angling and coached the first all women team to compete in the Canadian National Championships. He is a captain of a fly fishing team and member of Team Canada, having the honour to represent Canada internationally in multiple events, most recently as part of Team Canada’s first ever Gold Medal performance, winning the 2016 Commonwealth championships. Ian earned the individual Silver Medal at the 2017 Canadian Fly Fishing Championships.
He has been guiding for the past 15 years, along with being pro-staff for the Franklin Club fishery. Ian is a certified FFF Fly Casting instructor.