Replica Toy Fish

For the kid in all of us (and the real kids too) check out the Replica Toy Fish Company.


Thanks to Simeon Chambers, one of the founders of Replica Toy Fish Company, for contacting me about his toy fish. There are currently 16 different species represented, from muskellunge to alligator gar. Pending future sales, additional species will be manufactured. How badass would it be to have a toy bowfin or buffalo? These are some cool replicas for sure; my kids were drawn to them the second I removed the fish from the package. They are firm and sturdy and accurately colored. They should hold up well to abuse. I wish I had some as a kid.



The best reason to purchase a few toy fish? Because Replica Toy Fish is working towards helping educate our youth about our fisheries. Wholesale pricing is available for Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and other youth organizations.

Caveat Emptor: Products were provided courtesy of the Replica Toy Fish Company, in exchange for review and promontional use.

The High Five

Not content that Hurricane High Gravity is the cheapest tastiest swill out there on the market, I took a few reader's suggestions and recently diversified with a few different brands of high gravity malt beverages. I picked up the royal sampler for some taste tasting and review, because that's the kind of service we provide.

The Lineup:
Hurricane High Gravity, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 8.1% ABV
Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager, Steel Brewing Company, 8.1% ABV
Schlitz High Gravity V.S.L., JOS. Schlitz Brewing Co. (Pabst), 8.5% ABV
Camo Black Ice, Camo Brewing Company, 10.5% ABV
Earthquake High Gravity Lager, City Brewing Company, LLC, 12% ABV

The criterion for testing is simple. First, each product needs to be classified as a High Gravity Lager, with a minimum ABV of 8.0%. Second, the product needs to be cheaper than $2.00 per can and something that is easily concealed and transportable. Nothing wrong with 40oz. bottles, but 24 oz. cans are more portable and help minimize the burning sip of death, commonly associated with the last vile sip of piss-warm malt liquor that's been warmed from your hand holding the glass bottle. Finally, the beverage must be one that is available year round and easy to find in stores. No sense in getting your hopes up for a drink that is only available on rare occasions. This is a daily driver beer.

The current reigning champion is Hurricane High Gravity, but only because it has been previously uncontested. I am not going to go out on a limb and pick a predict winner just yet, though Earthquake gets the early lead simply for its high alcohol by volume rating. Only one with a refined palate such as myself will be able to assess and rank each entry fairly, unless you happen to be an expert critique of turpentine and mineral spirits. If so, we can form a consortium of swillers, a brain trust, if you will. I'll follow up with the rank and file of each candidate, as well as all the nefarious and putrid details of each beverage, and reveal my choice in a future post. There are no losers; All five of these drinks rang up for less than $10, with enough change left over to buy a lucky lotto ticket or a slim jim.

Now these are the kind of product reviews we can handle.

Caveat Emptor: The above mentioned beverages were purchased at full retail price by the roughfisher. There is no incentive or financial gain to be made from the review, other than a hopeful roughfisher wishing to be picked up for sponsorship by one of these beverage companies.

Product Review: Sixth Finger 5.5" Tungsten scissor

It's been nearly six month's since I laid my greasy mitts on one of Singlebarbed's “General Purpose” Sixth Finger 5.5" Tungsten scissors. I figure that's more than ample time behind the vise to give an honest review of what these tungsten laced snippers are capable of. Let's see how they fared.


I'm not gonna sit here and pimp these scissors to you; I'll let the consummate salesman Singlebarbed hock his own products. But I will give a brief rundown on the meat of these scissors. Here are the specs:

Sixth Finger 5.5" Tungsten scissor
5.5" length
Large, heavy jaw
Adjustable screw allows disassembly for blade sharpening or retightening
Tungsten carbide edges

Put into commercial service, these scissors have been put through their paces, seeing more than their fair share of abuse. Feather rachi, chenille, furry foam, latex, heavy wire, these blades have seen it all. No less than a half-thousand flies have passed before the tips of these blades over the past few months. To no surprise, these "GeneralPurpose" scissors have held up to the claim of being beefy, burly and brawny. The tungsten carbide tips have held up beautifully, cutting through 26 gauge wire without consequence. Following Singlebarbed's warning, I have refrained from cutting bead chain with these scissors, as I agree that a heavy duty shears or wire cutters is a more appropriate tool for that task. However, I did test them once to see if they would cut through bead chain, and they cut through a link of #8 bead chain with some flex of the blades. The body of these scissors has just the right amount of stiffness and flex that allows for strain-free use, especially under heavy sessions behind the vise. That's good if you want to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome like me.


The finish of these scissors is what has seen the most abuse. The blue paint that these scissors were coated in has started to chip off the metal in the high wear and exposed areas. Short of anodizing these scissors, flaking paint is difficult to remedy in scissors used heavily or commercially. It's possible that the salt residue from my hands and fingers led to the paint weakening, however, the likely culprits are damage occurring from repeatedly setting down the scissors on my tying tray/table, and the other metal tools I store these scissors with in my traveling fly tying bag bumping against each other. Regardless, the fit and function of these scissors are not the least bit affected, and this is merely a cosmetic issue.


You can pick up the General Purpose or any of the other Sixth Finger scissors over at Singlebarbed's e-commerce site. $29 will get you a pair of tungsten laced scissor goodness. Take it from me, if these scissors can pass the roughfisher test of abuse, then they will surely outperform any other scissors that you currently have at your vise.

Caveat Emptor: Singlebarbed gave me two pairs of "General Purpose" scissors for product testing, free of charge. He gave them to me not because he "likes" me, or thinks that I'm a "good guy", but rather because he knows that my penchant for burritos, malt liquor, and heavy metals will give these badboys the beatings that they deserve. The fact that these scissors were free had no effect on the outcome of this review. On the contrary, this review was completely subjective due to the fact that I had no financial investment in the product and little regard if they would have blown up at the vise.

Fishing For Buffalo

The quintessential book on roughfishing, Fishing for Buffalo by Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson is back in print. Hallowed as the bible of roughfisherman everywhere, the original printing was becoming increasingly difficult to find, even at secondhand bookstores, amazon, and ebay. Lucky for us, the resurgency of brownlining has garnered a second printing of this fine masterpiece.

Rough fish may be a lot of things—ugly, unruly, or elusive—but they are definitely not boring.

The folks over at the University of Minnesota Press were so kind to send a review copy to the Roughfisher Command Post, and let me tell you, it feels great to hold a mint condition copy of this book. Complete with species identification, biological information,tactics, and even some of the authors' favorite recipes, this book is a must have for any serious roughfish enthusiast.

While your at it, take a look at Dickson's other opus, The Great Minnesota Fish Book, illustrated by Joseph R. Tomelleri. Both of these fine works share a spot on my bookshelf.