You may recall that last June I posted about a new Costa Del Mar advertising campaign where models of fish were created completely out of their sunglasses. These were to be donated at a later time to conservation groups. Well, notice came today that Costa donated the marlin sculpture to The Billfish Foundation and the tarpon sculpture to the International Game Fish Association (IFGA).

Here’s the official press release:

Costa Donates One-of-a-Kind Sunglass Fish Sculptures to IGFA, The Billfish Foundation

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Jan. 16, 2012 – Costa Sunglasses made a splash when it unveiled images of one-of-a-kind, hand built fish sculptures of a tarpon, blue marlin and bass built entirely out of its own sunglass parts in an advertising campaign last year. Now, two of these sculptures have found new homes with some worthy organizations.

Costa donated its tarpon fish sculpture to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) to be put on display inside its Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum.  First opened in January 1999, the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum attracts 75,000 guests each year who come to view one of the largest repositories of sport fishing history.  In addition to full-scale casts of world record catches in the Greats Hall, interactive fishing simulators in the Catch Gallery and hundreds of epic historical photographs, the IGFA’s headquarters is also filled with an impressive collection of permanent artwork – including the newest piece from Costa.

The blue marlin sculpture has been donated  to The Billfish Foundation (TBF), a longtime Costa partner. The organization plans to showcase the sculpture from February 16 – 20 in its booth at the 2012 Miami Boat Show.  Following the show, TBF will promote the sculpture online and at various events throughout the year before auctioning it off at their Annual Tag & Release Awards Ceremony in February 2013. All proceeds will benefit billfish conservation efforts.

A mix of lenses, hinges, frame arms, nose pads, side shields and retainer cord segments from hundreds of Costa sunglasses went into building the mounted fish sculptures. Each fish was built using the sunglass lens color and frame technology necessary to catch the particular species.

“The response to these fish sculptures has been incredible,” said Al Perkinson, vice president of marketing for Costa Sunglasses. “We wanted them to belong to organizations like IGFA and TBF that are doing great things in the name of preserving angling heritage and promoting sustainable sport fishing.”

The blue marlin model glows with dozens of Costa’s 580™ blue mirror lenses as scales and silver and black frame arms as fins. Side shields and retainer cords add realistic detail to the billfish body.

“Seeing the intricate level of detail and knowing there’s only one of Costa’s blue marlin fish sculpture in the world – it’s truly a priceless work of art,” said Ellen Peel, executive director of TBF. “It’ll be one of the main attractions in our booth at the Miami Boat Show and will help raise awareness of some of the important work we’re doing this year.”

For the tarpon sculpture, more than 150 Costa 580™ silver mirror and gray lenses were used to illustrate the scales. The fish also features frame arms to shape the fins and mouth, with a Costa ‘C’ logo accentuating its eye.

“Our museum is home to angling artifacts and art you can’t see anywhere else,” said Mike Myatt, Chief Operating Officer of IGFA. “The Costa tarpon sculpture will fit right in and serve as a great addition to our collection.”

Costa plans to produce and release new sculptures featuring additional fish species later this year.

Photo: Corey Kruitbosch

The Greenbacks of Trout Unlimited are excited to announce the 2nd Surface Film event showcasing top professional fly-fishing photography across the country at the Anthology Fine Art gallery (635 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204) on Thursday February 2nd, 2012. Similar to last year’s event, framed prints will be available through a silent auction to benefit Trout Unlimited.

This will be an exclusive preview event, and the gallery will be open to the public February 3rd and through the month of February.

New this year, the show attendees will vote for ‘best-in-show’ honors. The winning photographer will receive the National Trout Unlimited Professional Photo of the Year, a cash prize, and will be prominently featured in a future issue of Trout Magazine. In addition, a second place finisher will also receive a cash prize.

Please join us on February 2nd, 2012 from 7pm to 11pm to enjoy our industry’s best photography work, as well as live music and drinks. All ages welcome.

For more information, please visit http://thegreenbacks.org or http://anthologyfineart.com

The Greenbacks seek to promote native fish and their habitat through the engagement and recruitment of the next generation of Trout Unlimited members.

Photos from last year’s Surface Film event:

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Kirk Deeter over at Field & Stream has a pretty cool little contest going on right now. It’s focused on domestic pet hair, and how you use it in your fly-tying. While I’ve used my husky’s hair for a few years, I’m glad to know that others are catching on how to use items (or animals) around the house to help them with tying flies that actually catch fish. My husky’s hair has been used from everything to PMDs to Streamers, and in this case, a midge emerger.

Go over and enter your idea or picture for a chance to win a copy of his book, The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing.

Here’s Kirk’s animal of choice.

I got to meet up with my old friend Matt Schliske from Schliske Bamboo Fly Rods this past weekend to finally raise my first cane on the Poudre river in Fort Collins, Colorado. I met him and his family (thanks for the hospitality Marguerite) at their house and got a quick tour of the ‘shop’. After a quick mac & cheese lunch that mostly consisted of a conversation between his youngest daughter and her favorite color while she pushed a chair in my direction, as to scare me into a corner, we set out to fish a local spot with a few of his custom rods.

I’ll admit, my expectations were that of a sloppy noodle cast that was meant for only small creeks in tight spaces. Yeah, I was wrong. From the first time I picked up my favorite of the day – a 7952 7’9″ 5wt 2/1  Rio Grande – I was able to easily haul it for distance and accuracy. I never thought that bamboo had such a backbone to it. In fact, I was able to tie a few of my heavy streamers on it and cast with ease.

It had a blonde cane and spring green wraps tipped dark claret with a single dark claret intermediate wrap and triple tipping at the ferrules.  The ferrules were also over wrapped with spring green silk.  The reel seat was spalted maple with Struble nickle silver cap and ring.

While in awe of the pure craftsmanship and design of all the rods I fished that day, the fish just weren’t eating what I was throwing. A few hits, a few misses, but that was about it. That’s a December day in Colorado for you. Numb legs and the sun setting over the mountains after 4pm. Nevertheless, casting flies to fish that weren’t eating was better than sitting at home in front of the television watching my Broncos get beat.

Can’t wait to get one of these out on a late summer or fall day skating streamers to drifting dries. If you get a chance, take a look at the site. I’m completely sold on these custom bamboo rods and can’t wait to get one for myself.

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GreenFish has stepped out of the boundaries of clothing for conservation and into the world of technical gadgets for fishing. The new CPR Mount (Catch.Photo.Release) retails at $79.99, and about 5% percent of that cost goes directly to the conservation group of your choice. The CPR Mount’s patent pending Expansion Locking system secures the unit into most tube-style rod holders and rocket launchers. It also works with a Scotty Flush Mount. Now we just need one for wading, too.

Check it out here