Bear Friday

Upper Gallatin River Black Bear

Came upon this black bear last summer as I was working my way upstream on the Gallatin River in Montana just below the mouth of Specimen Creek. Fishing stonefly nymphs on a brutally hot day in late July. At first glance, with the unaided eye from about 150 yards away, I thought it was a grizzer bear. Further scrutiny through some medium sized glass proved it to be a blackie so after snagging a few pix I continued on my merry way upstream. After all, this wasn't the infamous Hickory Run Bear that created such a fuss with all those flatlanders back in good ol' Pee-Aye a couple of years ago. Shortly after this shot was taken, the bear crossed the river and then disappeared into the tree line on the far side.

Stonefly nymphs were graciously provided by Mathew Long of Long Outfitting out of Deadrock, Montana

Canon 75-300mm f/4.5 hand held and zoomed in to 300mm. Camera settings were chosen by the Gods at Canon. Range - 150 yards.

NAME THAT PRODUCT

Time for a new game, name that product.

This product was for the 2006 Big Woods Summit. It under went extensive testing during the summit with mixed reviews. You can see the product next to the field testing sign. This was one of many products that undergo testing every year during the annual BWS. Another product that was tested includes Stealth Wadin Spray, no pictures are available. This product proved unbelievably successful. But after the loss of several testers the product is only available to the members that have a VP status and higher. I will continue to search the archives for photos of this wonderful product.

After a hard weekend of field testing, the pro staffers are provided with a hearty buffalo roast. The recipe is a well guarded secret, but I will reveal some of the secrets for this wonder site. It requires a 5-7 lb hump roast, potatoes, carrots, onions and possum pepper. The roast should be slow cooked for 8-10 hours and is best served with Blithering Idiots, High Life, IC Light or other Malt beverages. After consuming the roast the above product gets severally tested.

Fellow staffers can look forward to sampling ribs from a young buffalo cow at this years summit.

No Shortage of Talent Here

This month we feature the ungodly talents of the Midger. This extraordinary frictionated turkey call was handcrafted without the use of power tools by our VP of Operations and Director of Catch & Release a couple years ago and was presented to the Chief during a Big Woods Summit ceremony. Midger is not only a talented callin' device maker, he is an expert turkey hunter, bear hunter, deer hunter and God only knows what other critters are in danger.

What Others Are Saying

Every once in a great while, perhaps once in a generation, a new blog comes along that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Old RBF himself, the chief and CEO of the RBF Pro Staffers has tossed together a site that is refreshingly original, highly informative and endlessly entertaining all at the same time. You won't find too much information on where you should put the strike indicator on your leader (thank god), or Czech nymphing or which company makes the best 5-weight or any other of the latest fads that have infiltrated the sport but if you're looking for some amusing anecdotes from the mountains of central Pennsylvania & WyMont, a good shore lunch recipe or are just suffering from chronic & acute buttock boils this is the place for you.

So pull up an Igloo cooler, pop open a Blithering Idiot and click on over here to check out the RBF Pro Staff in blogsphere as the Chief gets the site all tooled up. I promise you'll Exit Laughing (apologies to Ed Zern).

Where Am I ?

First!

Ok, it's been a while since we played a version of "Where am I"? This one is fairly obvious but I'll make it multiple choice so it'll be even easier. Ok, so where am I?

a) Death Valley National Park.
b) Mammoth Cave, Ky.
c) Hungry Horse, Montana.
d) Twin Sisters Hollow, Hammersley Fork, Pa.
e) Yellow Creek FFO section, Pa.
f) The Dry Tortugas.
g) Looking north towards the old Buffalo Ranch from the alluvial fan at the mouth of Amethyst Creek, Wy.

If you know the correct answer, or think you know the correct answer, please jot it down on a slip of paper and stuff it into a box with a 600 mm f/4L Canon EF super telephoto lens with image stabilization and a tripod support collar and then mail it to me, Wade Rivers at my home address.

Dear Chief,
Please go easy with the saliva on the knots on my 18' 6X RBF Ungodly Stealth Dry Fly Leader.

Over and out.

Wade Rivers

Cooler Fishin

The RBF Pro Staff, always creative, introduced a new fishing method - Cooler Fishin. Midger and Flyrodder put considerable time and effort into the development of this novel and relaxing fishing method.

Simplistic, yet demanding. One must sit upon a cooler loaded with one’s favorite beverages whilst angling. Casting, hooking, landing and releasing all must be done from the cooler. You are however permitted access to the cooler for refreshment purposes.

The Chief, intrigued with the new method, tried it August 2006 at the Paradise. After a very hot morning, fishing the tricos, the Chief hauled his cooler to the water's edge and began casting to rising trout. He managed to hook and release three on a midget trico nymph. He didn’t know he was being watched from a distance. A fellow approached silently from behind and spooked the Chief when he asked, “Are you one of those pro staffers?” The Chief turned around and after seeing a dude all decked out in Orvis garb, responded, “No, I’m the Chief!” “I thought so, I read about Cooler Fishin on the internet when I checked to see about fishing here,” the dude stated. This dude was from Kentucky and he knew about Cooler Fishin! True story!

Meet the Chief

Esteemed founder of the RBF Pro Staff. Self-proclaimed genius. Prolific inventor creating numerous ungodly contraptions including RBF Stealth Wadin Spray, RBF Fart Suppressor, RBF Ungodly Stealth Dry Fly Leaders and the ever so deadly RBF AP Bombay Emerger to name a few.

I’ve been fishin for longer than I can remember. I yanked my first lunker out of the Juniata River over 53 years ago. Got’em on my very first contraption, a RBF San Juniata Worm. Often copied, but never duplicated.

Fell head over heels over a Polish country girl in 6th grade. Taught her how to filet trout, skin fox and flesh coon and other necessary tasks. Married the pretty thing in 1977. The Fair Maiden has been at my side every since.

I like to fish alone; you catch more fish that way. I do on occasion however like to fish with characters. The most notable character that I ever fished with was William Conrad aka Frank Cannon and the narrator of the popular Bullwinkle Show. I spent a couple of hours listening to a score of Bullwinkle and Rocky episodes and smoking a Cuban cigar and drinking some fine California wine back in the parking lot at Allenberry. Never got the balls to ask him where he had his waders made. Mr. Conrad was one fine human.

I was also fortunate enough to fish with Vince Marinaro. I stumbled upon him and his nephew on Clarks Creek in the late 70's. I knew it was Vince when I saw the huge landing net stuffed into his hip boot, recalling reading about the use of such net in one of his ungodly books. Vince showed me how to cast downstream to rising trout, and later in his nephew's truck camper, how to tie his thorax dun. We ate homemade cookies and drank strong coffee. Mr. Marinaro was also one fine human.

I continued to fish throughout the ages, sometimes alone, sometimes with ungodly characters but most times with the Fair Maiden. The Fair Maiden is quite handy with the flyrod and often times outfishes the Chief. She simply murdered'em on DePuy's Spring Creek in Paradise Valley, MT. She also outfished Joe Humphreys on Big Fishing Creek; but that's a story for another time.

After several heart attacks and a successful heart surgery by a fly fishing surgeon in 2004, I settled down and founded the RBF Pro Staff, a group of ungodly fine humans. The rest is history.

Fly Fisherman Magazine

Advance copy of the April Issue. Finally, a real angler on the cover! Bowhunter will show you how to roast buffalo, see the latest innovations of the infamous RBF Pro Staff and learn who actually created the Gooseberry...the deadliest fly ever tied to a leader.

JUDGMENT DAY

-New Amended Version-

Saint Peter stood, at Heaven's gate,
Where all souls come to learn their fate.
Saying to some souls, "Enter in!""Go to Hell," to others, "you are steeped in sin.
"When up from earth, with a great riffraff
Came all the members of the RBF Pro Staff.

The angel Gabriel, peering out,Said, "What, the devil, is that ungodly noise about?"
"Gabe," said Pete, "There's always lots of ungodly noise,
At any get-together of the Pro Staff boys --
Those are anglers and they all tell lies.
About the trout that got away, their fierceness and their size --

They want to have a summit here, for our brooks are full of ungodly trout,
But I won't have any liars, and I'll keep those characters out;
No liars enter Heaven, and I'll most distinctly tell
The whole danged Pro Staff, to go to Hell."

Then, at a little distance from the precious pearly gate,
The Pro Staff fellows paused to talk and cogitate;
The gang just back from a western horseback fishin trip
Let a few choice words rip.

But Goose said, "This is the only way --
"You'd best leave this to me boys," he said.
"Just let me handle Pete and in a flash we'll be inside upon that Golden Beat;
I'll show him that he's one of us, because he used to be,
Himself, a brother fisher, in the Sea of Galilee--

Goose proclaimed with a hardy laugh
That Pete would be an honorary member of the Pro Staff.”
"Agreed! Agreed!" the Pro Staff cried, but the Chief said, "Wait!
"Amend it thus provided that he doesn’t fish with bait."

Saint Peter observed the Pro Staffers and he waved his hand at them.
"Come in! Come in!" he shouted, for he was now a Pro Staffer, too,
And he knew that they, as a whole, were a most harmless crew.

Saint Pete declared that “fishin requires sufficient libation.”
So they passed the pretty blue bottle in celebration.

So all the Pro Staffers got to heaven, thanks to the Ambassator of Good Will and Pete
And their last field testing report reads, "Fishing here is neat."

-----------------------
The Chief

WELCOME RBF PRO STAFFERS

The RBF Pro Staff finally entered cyberspace.

The Chief
------------
“Soc un gran pescador!”