Fly Fishing Tips

Fly Fishing Tips

Blue Liner Flows Review | USGS Stream Gauges

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Traveling more than an hour to go fly fishing often requires some planning. Weather and water levels are the two most important variables to understand before heading out. Everyone has their favorite weather apps, but this year more than ever, having a good understanding of water levels has been non-negotiable.

All water level data originates from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Surface-Water Data, which monitors over 13,000 stream gauges across the U.S. and more than 350 in Pennsylvania. The USGS has been transitioning to a new online interface over the past five-plus years. The updated look and feel have left some old features behind while adding new ones. I hate it.

So, I’ve been on the hunt for a desktop and mobile app that delivers USGS backend data through a clean, easy-to-use interface. Blue Liner Flows offers a solid solution for iPhone, iPad and Mac users, with apps built for both platforms. Most importantly, favorites and preferences sync across devices. There’s a free version, but I’ll be reviewing the $6.99 annual paid version.

Key features include: favorites, state selection, map view, latest data overview, discharge in CFS, discharge in feet, average annual discharge, various time views, weather forecasts, alerts, temperatures (station-dependent), turbidity (station-dependent), and other data specific to each gauge.

I found the app very easy to set up on my Mac. Once configured, all my favorites and alerts synced automatically to my iPhone. You don’t need both devices—an iPhone alone works just fine. I especially liked navigating between the state, favorites, and map views. It’s fast and intuitive. Most views display the key information I’m looking for, including directional arrows indicating whether water levels are rising or falling.


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Fly Fishing Tips – Blood Knots

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When you have been out fishing for a while and changing flies over a period of a day you loose quite a bit of your tippet. One of the preferred methods for joining two different lines of similar size is the blood knot when joining sections of tippet or leader. This is one of the best methods for extending the length of your tippet.

A quick animated instruction for the blood knot and well as others can be found at: Animated Knots by Grog.

Aging eyes and dark evenings can really challenge some to tie this knot. I know plenty of nights I have calculated the time to tying tippet ratio. The last thing I would want to do is tie a blood knot at dusk.

The folks at Anglers Ace provides a simple little knot tying product that could save some time. Here is a quick slideshow showing how the product works.
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