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The maiden voyage of the PAC-13 drift boat.

6/13/2013

Last week Terry and I dunked the Outcast PAC-13 in the river for her maiden voyage down the Brandywine. Obviously we took along fishing gear, but this was to be more of a "dry run" for the float trips we will be running this summer. We put it in at our uppermost put-in (at this time) the Lenape picnic park and floated to one of our take-outs on a private section of the Brandywine.

First time in the river.

This is a really cool pic. We should frame this one!

The big moment!

We started off drifting down the river with Terry on the oars and me on the bow. One thing became apparent right off the bat. Casting and fishing out of a drift boat is NOTHING like walk and wade fishing! After a few impromptu lessons from the boss and a learning curve that I made much harder than it needed it to be we started to get in sync. Pick up, cast, strip, strip, strip, repeat. There is no time for false casting and the strip is an aggressive, long , fast strip. One thing I had to wrap my brain around is that the boat is always moving down river. Shortly into the trip the first ever fish to be landed on the boat came to hand...

I am honored to have landed the first fish on the boat.

As we continued to float down the river Terry remarked at how easy the boat was to maneuver. I was surprised at the complexity of the oarsman's job. There is much more to rowing a drift boat than just floating down the middle of the river. Positioning for a river left or a river right cast, back rowing, looking for casting obstructions etc. are all part of the job. With two fishermen in the boat this will be quite the intense job. Terry had me in the game the whole afternoon, a true professional!

Rigging the 6 wt.

About an hour into the float we really started to get things down and started to land a few fish including a few nice Smallmouth. Unfortunately, the nicest fish had other plans when it came to picture time and back in the river she went. A solid 15 to 16" Bronze-back was the days best. One thing for sure, once you float in this boat you won't ever want to float in a canoe again. The stability of this boat is amazing. Weather sitting or standing casting is no problem. With the two of us and enough gear to stay on the river for two or three days the boat floated in less than 6" of water! The bow casting platform is very roomy and easy to work from. At no point did I feel like it was too small. If my back started to hurt I would just sit down and cast from the seat, the line of sight was not as good, but it was a nice break from standing.

Here is a short video of Terry bringing the boat through a narrow section of the river. Believe me, he makes this look easy. This was a tough slot to navigate.

If you have been thinking about floating the Brandywine, or looking to cross a few fish off of your "Challenge" list let me say there is no more comfortable way to do it than in our PAC-13 drift boat. If you have been floating in a canoe you really should try the PAC-13, the stability in this boat is unbelievable. Give us a call at the shop (302)654-6515 or contact us through email here if you are interested in more details about out summer float trips down the Brandywine. July is already starting to fill, but August is wide open. We look forward to hearing from you.

Tight lines...

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Thank you for you support

12/16/2012

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Well, the "Holiday Open House went off yesterday and to say we had a good turn out would be a huge understatement! The shop was packed from the time we opened the door until the time we shut down at around 6:15 pm. It was great to see all of the familiar faces as well as many new faces. Terry and I would like to apologize for not being able to spend as much time with all of you as we wanted to, there were so many people to get to. Hopefully everybody had as much fun attending as we did hosting. Here are some of the pictures taken throughout the day.

The first thing we did was to unveil the new shop logo. As I hung the new "shingle" I was very proud of my son Tyler who made the sign for us. What a great job he did cutting, routing, and finishing it. I Feel it is more a work of art rather than a shop logo. Thanks buddy, you did a great job and should be proud of your work.

Phase two of the new logo unveil was the "wear your Marblehead with pride" package. We had the new shop hat in several colors available at the show. We bundled it with our new window decal, a custom machined key chain, and a shop fly box. Response to this was strong as several of these packages went out. I am really looking forward to the first time I see a window decal or a hat on one of out local rivers.

Speaking of works of art, local artist Bart Gelesh laid out a showing of his work that was unbelievable. I truly admire the artistic abilities of others as I literally cant draw a stick figure. The fish in his paintings look like they are going to swim right off of the page. I really like the "Forest Brookie" and his renderings of the American shad. Check out www.bartgelesh.com to see more.

Bart working a sale to Ed Collins

Good choice, the Stonefly nymph in this picture is awesome!

You need to see the colors on the head of this American Shad

What Bart is to the brush and canvas Andrew Neithe is to the vise and thread. Andrew spent the day tying and talking flies with everybody. It is a pleasure watching him tie and teach as he really takes the time to explain in detail the patterns he is tying and the techchniques he is using. I was bummed as I only got a limited amount of time to watch him tie. Hopefully you got to spend more time with Andrew than I did.

Here Andrew is talking over a pattern with Dave Schaffer

A late, yet welcome edition to the open house was author Beau Beasley. Beau spent the day signing books and magazine articles and talking conservation. Anybody who has spent more that a few seconds talking with Beau can tell he is a very passionate individual. We should all take a page from his book (no pun intended) and get involved in some of these environmental issues. To see and read more check out Beau's site here.

Here is Beau working the crowd.

Our new drift boat was on display and we think it was received well. You can check out more information about our float trips here. We are looking forward to a fun and fish-filled summer on the Brandywine. Book now as we think these spots will fill quickly. Congratulations to the grand prize winner!

Even Santa and his helper think the PAC 13 is cool

On top of all of this we had our shop raffle with may great prizes, a ton of great food prepared by Mary Ann, casting demonstrations by Terry, impromptu casting lessons by Tim, and all in all a great day at the shop.

Congratulations to the winners. We will contact you on Tuesday.

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Terry and Robbie throwing the TCX two hander.

A Marblehead Flyfisher would like to thank Andrew, Bart, and Beau for their involvement in the event, Mary Ann for all of the wonderful food, and the members of the "Rat Squad" who helped out working the crowd. Most of all we would like to thank you the customers. Without you events like this don't happen. We really appreciate all of your support and want to extend our sincere gratitude.

From all of here at A Marblehead Flyfisher INC.

Thank you!

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Second Annual Holiday Open House

11/24/2012

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We would like to invite you to our second annual Holiday Open House. Come join us Saturday December 15th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm for good food, great friends, and plenty of fly fishing talk for everyone. Be there as we unveil the new shop logo. We will have plenty of new shop hats and window stickers so you can show your "Marblehead" pride.

Come meet the president of Niethe Associates LLC, Andrew Niethe. Andrew will be helping us launch two new product lines:

We will have the full line of Galvin reels on display for you to see. We will also have plenty of Clear Creek gear including the new Spite Hill lumbar pack. In conjunction with handling his product lines Andrew is a master tube fly designer and he will be demonstrating his skills at the bench.

Stop by to meet local artist Bart Gelesh. Here is an excerpt from Bart's website;

My name is Bart Gelesh and I paint fish. I’m an avid fisherman in both fresh and saltwater but my interest is not restricted to just game fish. I’m also a huge fan of America’s lesser known natives and I keep several aquariums full of beautiful wild caught specimens I’ve collected with friends in my travels.

While I do paint some of the more popular species in the angling world, when possible I like to shine a light on some of our lesser known fishes. Through my work I hope to create an awareness of the wonderful aquatic diversity that surrounds us and share my passion for life on, in, and around the water.

Feel free to please contact me at bartgelesh@yahoo.com with any questions, requests, or comments.

Bart Gelesh

Here is a sample of some of his work and it is absolutely beautiful! This may be a great way to "immortalize" your fish of a lifetime.

The photograph

And the painting

Feel free to check out more of Bart's exceptional work at bartgelesh.com, or come out and meet in person on the 15th.

Check out our new Outcast PAC 13 float raft and take a chance on our grand prize; a 6 hour float trip down the Brandywine for you and a friend this summer!

That's correct, A Marblehead Flyfisher will be running float trips down the Brandywine river this spring, summer, and fall targeting the many species of fish in our local, blue ribbon river. Be one of the first to reserve your spot, we are sure they will fill up quickly.

plus all of the new gear from

As always, Mary Ann will be putting out some great food. We will have several items up for raffle And many door prizes for the children.

Mark your calendar's for Saturday December 15th. We look forward to seeing you all there.

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The maiden voyage of the PAC-13 drift boat.

Thank you for you support

Second Annual Holiday Open House

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