End of An Era

"All good things must come to an end."  So must the bad ones and so-so ones.  I don't how everyone feels about UPSTREAM, and I'm sure there are sentiments that range across the middle third of the spectrum of emotions.  I doubt anyone has very strong feelings one way or the other.

This is the last UPSTREAM entry.  I'm going to turn out the lights and lock the door on my way out this afternoon.  I'm migrating all of my stuff to Wordpress and consolidating my blogging on FishCampRehab.com.  You can also read my monthly column and feature articles in Florida Fly Fishing Magazine.

Thanks for reading!  Remember:  it's just fishin'!

Ken Morrow Joins Navionics Pro Staff

Ken hoists a nice Redfish from a canoe in Gasparilla Sound

When you mention charting and plotter software brands like Navionics, guys in kayaks or canoes waving fly rods back and forth don't usually spring to mind.  But Navionics' award-winning, global coverage, real-time updating charting software isn't just for commercial navigators and big-time tournament anglers anymore!  Through its state-of-the-art UGC data collection system and a web-friendly platform, Navionics has brought nautical chart and recreational mapping software applications to the masses.  By developing slick and aggressive value-packed smart phone application versions of their software, they can deliver the goods to consumers with amazing affordability, speed, portability, and versatility.  This isn't your grandpa's nav chart!

When I first saw a demonstration of the Navionics Mobile Marine & Lakes USA app on TV, I still did not own a smart phone.  I was very happy with my Milspec phone and unlimited package with AT&T.  I took a certain "retro" pride in the fact that I didn't have a smart phone.  But that thirty minute show on one of the outdoor sports channels changed all that.  I emailed my nearby fishing friends and asked if any of them had smart phones with the app on it.  Two of them did.  I drove over and played around with it on one of their phones that afternoon.  I was sold.  The next day I began shopping for smart phones.

I use my Navionics Mobile Marine & Lakes USA more than all but about four or five other apps on my phone - including the phone, contact list, and calendar.  It is the best $9.99 I have ever spent to improve my safety and enjoyment of my kayak fishing.  That is why I have joined the Navionics Pro Staff.  I am one of the very few, if not the only, Navionics pro staffers who exclusively fly fishes from paddle craft.  I don't own a plotter/graph.  I use the mobile apps, canoe and kayak, and fly fish - that's it.  Navionics thought it would be good to have someone with my unique bent on the team, and I couldn't be more enthusiastic about helping introduce kayak and canoe anglers to the many ways that Navionics products can improve their fishing activities.

Sea Level Tempest III Fly Reel Review

Lay into a twenty pound Striper on a fly rod and you've got a fight on your hands, right?

Fly fishermen along the central and upper East Coast and out on the West Coast of the US have a reputation for being a hearty lot who demand rugged performance and durability from their tackle and gear.  Rocky coastlines, rough weather conditions, hard-fighting fish, and barnacle-encrusted structures that place extreme demands on leaders and reel drags are the norm for saltwater anglers from these regions of the country.  From the original Korkers crampon-style sandals developed for jetty anglers in the Pacific Northwest to the best foul weather gear, many products in the history of American fishing trace their roots to the parts of the country where anglers head to the salt in pursuit of Striped Bass and Salmon.

One of the bright spots in our move to Savannah was the prospect of immediate access to a coastal Striper fishery.  Georgia's coast occupies a unique location in the Atlantic marine ecosystem.  The southernmost saltwater Striper fishery exists here alongside the northern range of good numbers of migrating Tarpon and even Manatees.  You could rightly say it is where cool meets warm.  This geographical reality sent me looking for some new fly tackle.  I needed some light Tarpon and Striper tackle that would handle both the one hundred pound class Tarpon we get here in the summer months and the thirty pound class Stripers anglers catch here in the winter months.  A good reel would be critical.

I always do a lot of research before making a major purchase.  To me, a good fly reel is a major purchase.  Anything that is going to cost me more than $200 is worth doing my homework for before I spend money.  I want to avoid trial-and-error if at all possible, and I hedge my bets against the odds by pouring over tons of literature and product reviews, talking to both amateur and professional anglers whom I trust, getting my hands on as many of the products I'm interested in as I can, and comparison shopping for price via the Internet.  My budget for a reel was $300, and I knew enough about fly reels to know that I was going to have to squeeze the market like crazy to get what I needed on that budget.  However, recent advances in production technology and changing attitudes toward outsourcing in the fly reel sector have put some high quality reels just within reach.  I still thought I might end up buying a used reel.

A couple of months before the Striper season began, I stumbled upon a review of a reel that caught my attention.  The review was from an amateur angler with decades of Striper fishing experience in New England.  It was followed by comments from a few Striper enthusiasts out on the West Coast who were fans of Dan Blanton's.  They were all speaking very highly of a reel they all owned or had owned and wanted to purchase again - a reel that had just been reintroduced to the market by a new company with which I was a bit familiar.  One of my good friends and top gun Boca Grande Tarpon guide, Captain Al White, had introduced me to Sea Level the last time we were Tarpon fishing together via his new stripping bucket.  The bucket was a high quality and very handy large stripping bucket of foam construction, but these men were talking about the Sea Level Tempest III fly reel - a reincarnation of the former Albright Tempest, a staple among budget-conscious Striper fishermen.  These guys swore by them and were apparently glad to see that Ray Hutcherson, the owner of Sea Level, had bought all the rights to the Tempest reel and reintroduced it to the market.

I ran a Google search for the Sea Level Tempest reel and found more reviews, Internet chatter, and the Sea Level website.  Then I ran another search for Albright Tempest and got a lot more background on the reel.  The reviews were virtually unanimously impressive:  an economical workhorse more than capable for Stripers, salmon, and most anything else you wanted to throw at it.  Many people were still using their old Albright versions on a regular basis with no problems and only routine maintenance.  Folks told stories of dropping them down the rocks, backing over them with their pickup trucks, and other things you hope never to do to your fly reels, and picking them up and going fishing with them.  They spoke of the huge fish they landed on them.  They all spoke of the high value for the dollar spent, claiming the reel was comparable to reels sold for twice and three times the price.

Going back to the Sea Level website, I found that the Sea Level Tempest III sells for $250...within my $300 budget.  The Tempest III is a 9/10 weight fly reel machined from 6061 barstock aluminum with huge cork and draw bar adjustable disc drag.  It is a large arbor design with spool dimensions of 3 3/8" x 1" and frame dimensions of 3 3/4" x 1 5/8".  The Sea Level Tempest III weighs 9.2 ounces and holds 200 yards of 30 pound dacron backing according to the manufacturer's specifications.  However, I was able to put about 230 yards of 30 pound dacron backing on with 2 different 10 weight floating lines and 250 yards with an Airflo Intermediate Tarpon 10 weight line without coming close to binding the line inside the frame.  The Tempest III comes in black, blue, or gold hard anodized coating with an all-stainless steel internal construction.  It has a very easy right/left hand adjustment that requires no disassembly.  The reel also comes with a very nice neoprene reel case.  Each Sea Level Tempest III fly reel is laser etched with a good looking picture of a Striper on the frame.

I ordered my Sea Level Tempest reel in black.  I use it with my TFO BVK 10 weight fly rods, and I considered getting it in gold.  It would look good, but it would also flash in the sun on bright days.  I just don't like that kind of stuff.  So common sense got the best of me (as usual) and I went with function over form.  The black anodized finish is very slick and glossy.  The reel is far more handsome than I anticipated.

I came into a little birthday money, so I also ordered an extra spool.  Spools for the Tempest III sell for $125.00 each.  Have you ever bought a reel...especially a "bargain price" reel...where the spare spools just didn't quite feel the same as the original spool when you swapped them out?  Maybe they didn't slide on/off the spindle quite as smoothly, or there was something else just a bit hinky about how it sounded or felt compared to the spool that came on the reel.  I've experienced this a few times.  This didn't happen with the Sea Level Tempest III.  The spools fit and function identically.

The Tempest III's bearings are butter smooth, construction is rock solid, tolerances are plenty tight, and the drag is almost infinitely adjustable.  I was extremely impressed - right out of the box.  By the time I had both spools rigged with backing and fly lines I could not wait to put this reel to the test!

Before I could get out and chase Savannah's Stripers I would put it to a test on a different species altogether.  I do a lot of in-shore fishing for Redfish and Sea Trout.  So I kept the rod rigged and ready.  Eventually, I got my shot and hooked up with a Jack Crevalle over ten pounds.  He took off on a bruising run and put up a tremendous fight for his size, but he was no match for a 10 weight fly rod and the Sea Level Tempest III.  He wore out quickly and I brought him alongside the boat.  However, he had chewed through the 20 lb. leader and I lost the fly right at the boat, so I don't have a nice grip-n-grin picture of me, the fish, and the rod-n-reel to show you.  The best made plans...

Lost Photos

Apparently, when you try to remove the photos that Google + automatically sucks into your profile and displays to the whole world without your permission from your Google + account, it deletes them from wherever they may reside on their host servers as well.  Fuck you very much, Google!

To my readers who may be wondering why they're staring at a bunch of black boxes all over my old blog articles, that would be why.

Saltwater Flies for Fishing Florida's Gulf Coast

Flashtail Whistler

I'm just tossing up some photos of several examples of the more recent saltwater flies I've been tying.


I'll be heading back to Florida in January to stalk the skinny water of the Florida winter's negative low tides and backcountry creeks and canals in search of Snook, Sea Trout, and Redfish.  If Mother Nature cooperates and sends me some fair seas, I may hit the Gulf to see if I can find some Little Tunny, Mackerel, or Jacks.  So I have some holes to fill in the Cliff's Bugger Beast that carries my Florida saltwater flies.

Gold Epoxy Spoon.

What you see here in no way represents the complete arsenal of flies I carry for fly fishing saltwater in Florida.  I'm simply sharing some snapshots of the fly patterns I'm tying to replenish stocks and to make some improvements.  Then there are some seasonal favorites that change about twice a year.  Of course, the Bugger Beast is well stocked with staples such as Clouser Deep Minnows in various colors, a few crab patterns in rust and black/gray, a wide array of bait fish flies such as EP Minnows, bendback flies of various types, Lefty's Deceivers in a variety of colors and sizes, Tarpon Toads (never forget the local residents), and a hodge podge of other fuzzy stuff on hooks.

Ron Whiteley's Estaz Marabou (Pink)

Winter is a good time to fish for Snook in the creeks, rivers, and canals of the backcountry in Florida.  Often times, weather fronts will shut down fishing out on the bigger water of the Intercoastal Waterway, bays, and the Gulf, but the tighter confines of the creeks and canals will be sheltered from rising winds and waves.  Fish seek this shelter as much as it provides functional and safe conditions for fishermen.  And winter is the time of year that Snook are in the backcountry most of the time anyway. Fishing the creeks and canals after any amount of rain is usually a good idea if you're looking for Snook, and white flies with some flash tend to ring their dinner bell.

Ken's Lucky Penny

Grassy flats with a lot of sandy pot holes in them are where you find the Sea Trout and Redfish on the rising tide.  In many of the areas that I fish in Florida where this habitat is abundant, the spin tackle anglers who are "in the know" these days often cast a DOA Shrimp in a color called New Penny.  I fooled around with some materials and a 3X long Gamakatsu saltwater hook until I got the color and profile right.  I call this fly Ken's Lucky Penny.  It's a very effective spot-casting or searching pattern for deep grass flats or fishing skinny water when casting into sandy potholes.  On the deeper flats, I fish it on an intermediate line with a 7-8' leader.  In skinny water when I'm spot-casting it, I go to a 10' leader and a floating line.

UV Pink Gotcha

I catch some of the biggest surprises on Gotcha flies along Florida's Gulf Coast!  I tie them in several different color combinations, but the wing is always plain white fur - the real thing.  There are no substitutes. Take it very easy on the flash in the wing, too.


You always want to carry a variety of bait fish and shrimp patterns, but I've got it narrowed down to a few that always work, are fairly uncomplicated, and are plenty durable.  I fish spots along a stretch of coastline that stretches for about 150 miles as the crow flies and transitions from one climate zone to the next from the northern end to the southern.  So there is plenty of variety in both conditions and habitat to choose from, but the fish species and forage are the same.

Lefty's Deceiver in Steelhead synthetic yak hair over UV white syn-yak.

Winter is a great time of year to head to Florida for a fly fishing vacation.  Escape the chill of winter, warm the bones, and stretch a fly line in a beautiful sub-tropical setting.  Catch a few fish you don't have a shot at every day.  Yet, it's not the highly-charged, high cost, high-humidity and temperature experience that is chasing Permit and Tarpon in their prime seasons.  I think winter fishing in Florida is the best of what Florida has to offer the fly angler.  Don't get me wrong!  Hooking into a Silver-sided freight train that weighs more than most men and moves as fast as most cars is an experience of a lifetime.  But it is just that:  one of those things most folks want to do once...maybe twice.  Most of us can't afford to do it without saving up for it for quite some time, either.  But the in-shore fishing that is best in winter is an "every man's game" sort of experience.

Rattle Shrimp

Freedom Hawk Kayaks Pro Staff

Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14

Hinesville, Georgia.  Freedom Hawk Kayaks of Newburyport, Massachusettes is rolling out the first production run of the new Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14.  Sporting a modified hull design with more freeboard, an over-hanging splash lip on the bow, and self-bailing scuppers in the deck, the Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 is a fourteen foot version of the famous, award-winning Y-design pontoon fishing kayak which has become an instantly recognizable icon in the kayak fishing world.  The Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 was designed to improve the "big water" experience of Freedom Hawk kayak anglers by making the boat drier and more seaworthy in rougher conditions without changing any of the fundamentals of the proven Freedom Hawk design.

The Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 includes the patented three position outrigger pontoon system for which Freedom Hawk is famous, a ton of dry storage, an integrated battery storage and trolling motor transom, paddle holders, the unique Freedom Hawk stand-up bar, a high-back seat, flush mount rod holders, and more standard.  The trolling motor mount kit, a variety of push and stakeout poles, two seat upgrades, paddles, and various rod holders are all optional accessories currently available.


I've been fond of Freedom Hawk kayaks ever since I fished out of one the first time a few years ago.  The design concept is just plain old-fashioned brilliant.  But I've been testing boats and searching high and low for the best possible adaptive kayak fishing platform for almost four years.  And there were a few minor features and one major one that I didn't see on the previous Freedom Hawk models - at least not in the right combination.  David Hadden, Freedom Hawk's owner, came out with a 12 foot version of the kayak a couple of years ago and a trolling motor mount accessory, but there was none for the Freedom Hawk 14.  The Freedom Hawk 12 just wasn't enough boat for saltwater, in my opinion.  More freeboard and a self-bailing hull are big advantages for big water and adaptive kayak fishing applications, too.  But the trolling motor provides an alternative means of propulsion that is nothing short of a must-have for a serious adaptive kayak angling program.  You're going to have some program participants who can't paddle or who can't paddle well enough to keep up or complete a trip.  Your primary goal in adaptive outdoor recreation is to provide the participants with as much independent function as possible without compromising their safety.  So you don't want to be towing them around or putting them in a tandem and having someone else paddle for them if that can be avoided.  So I haven't accepted any of the various partnership, pro staff, dealership, or other endorsement offers that have come my way from paddle craft manufacturers before now.  But with the roll out of the new Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14, all of these attributes have come together in one competitively priced paddle craft from one of the industry's most respected manufacturers.  And it just so happens that my good kayak fishing buddy and fellow adaptive kayak fishing enthusiast, Cory Routh of Ruthless Fishing, LLC recommended me to David Hadden as an addition to the Freedom Hawk Kayaks pro staff about two weeks ago.

Pathfinder in Y configuration

So I am proud to announce that, after spending some time over the past few days talking to David Hadden, I have accepted his offer to join the team at Freedom Hawk Kayaks.  Look for my detailed reports on the new Freedom Hawk Pathfinder 14 and the line of Freedom Hawk accessories in the coming weeks and months.  I'll be taking delivery of my Pathfinder in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, you can take a look at this slightly outdated video of the Freedom Hawk Pathfinder prototype introductory video.  Don't pay too much attention to the stuff about what accessories are standard and what is optional.  That's the part that isn't quite accurate.  And there are actually more accessories available than David demonstrates in the video.