August 2008 Newsletter
We'll start off this month with some exciting news on several fronts. First, we are working on an online storefront. This will allow you and your friends to purchase online almost everything we carry in our retail shop. We will accept credit cards, and we'll be able to ship nearly anywhere in the world. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of effort to enter all the products we carry into the storefront, so we will launch the storefront with a limited selection of products, but we will continue to expand our offerings as time goes by. Watch for a formal announcement in the next few weeks.

The second bit of news concerns some changes to the store itself. We are moving things around a little bit to accommodate a greatly expanded fly tying materials section. It's our goal to have everything you need in the shop (and, eventually, online) so you don't have to go anywhere else. It will take a few weeks for all the changes to be implemented, but new merchandise will be arriving regularly. If you have a favorite material that we don't presently carry, let us know and we'll try to include it if we can find a source.

The third item concerns a member of our staff. Many of you know Joe Johnson, our 11 year old fishing and fly tying whiz. Joe helps us out on Sundays at the shop, and he ties several of the patterns we carry in the shop- bet you didn't know you were fishing with flies tied by an 11 year old kid, did you? Well, Joe has been selected as a member of the US Junior Fly Fishing Team, and will compete in The America Cup, an international fly fishing competition to be held in the Frisco/Copper Mountain area in September. The Junior Team will compete on an equal footing with other National (adult) Teams from the US, Ireland, Australia, Japan, Hungary, Poland, and perhaps others. There are no special rules for the Junior Team. Matt Powell of Boulder, a friend of Joe's, has also been named to the team, Please join us in wishing Joe and Matt great success in the competition. You can learn more about the competition and volunteer opportunities at http://wwwtheamericacup.com.

Fishing Conditions
Fishing is on fire! If you're a dry fly junkie like most of us here in the shop, you gotta get out there. We are hearing good things about local waters (especially in RMNP) as well as the Colorado, Fryingpan, Roaring Fork, Yampa, Arkansas, Sout Platte and others. Check out the FishLog for local results, as well as the Reports page on our website for up to date info on other locations around the state. In these days of high gasoline prices, you don't need to drive very far for excellent fishing. If you have a story or pix to share from a recent trip, e-mail them to us- we'll add them to the in-store slide show and the FishLog.

Guided Trips
If you are a beginner or inexperienced fly fisher and want to improve your skills, or, if you are an experiencd angler looking for new waters to fish, consider a guided trip. An all day trip for two is only $295. A one person full day trip is $225. Four- and six-hour trips are also available. Our guides know Rocky Mountain National Park like the proverbial backs of their hands. All of them are great teachers and they will put you on waters that hold lovely browns, brookies, 'bows and cutts. No guarantees, of course, but you'll have a great time in any case.

What's New in the Shop
Tying Materials
Sparkle Yarn- add some flash to your flies with this yarn. It's great for a variety of applications on dry flies, nymphs and wets.

Darlon- lots of tyers like this material for wings, wing posts and the like.

Midge Diamond Braid- we've carried larger sizes for the past few months, but it's now available in a smaller size. There are many applications, from bodies to tails to wingposts for this product.

Women's Shirts- we've just received a shipment of ladies cap-sleeve black T-shirts with a very attractive "Happy Hour" fishing scene in shades of red. Our first shipment sold out withing days, so come in soon to get yours. We also have nice brown tank tops with a catch and release logo. Both shirts have the Laughing Grizzly logo as well. Our friend Miriam Brown describes both shirts as "cute", so that's all the approval we need.

Books- Not yet in stock, but due out soon are two very exciting new books:

• Colorado Trout Flies by Todd Hosman (Flyfishing Rocky Mountain National Park, Fly Fishing the Front Range)- This book features 34 Colorado tyers with two favorite patterns each. Local tyers include Mark Rayman, Al Ritt, Phil Cavendor, Mike Price, John Gierach and A.K. Best. Other Colorado notables include Brad Befus, Shane Stalcup, Rim Chung, Charlie Craven, Rick Takahashi, Ken Iwamasa, Pat Dorsey, Ed Engle and 20 others. Colorado is truly a hotbed of innovative fly tying, and some of the best are right here in Longmont and Lyons. Watch for an announcement for a book signing with Todd in the not too distant future.
  
• Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying- This is Charlie's first book and, as usual, it includes his marvelous step by step photographs and instructions. The book is oriented toward beginners, but any tyer will pick up invaluable tips and techniques. .

These are books you simply must have on your bookshelf or, preferably, on your tying bench. We should have autographed copies of both of these books on Wednesday, August 6. Rick Takahashi also has a new book in the works. We'll let you know as soon as it is available.

That's all for this month. See you on the water or in the shop,
The Laughing Grizzly Staff