Tarpon 2014

I'm late to the video game.  In fact, I have the technical acumen of those many generations before me.  In any event, here goes nothing.  We jumped a bunch of fish and got some on video.  In true fishermen fashion, the camera wasn't rolling when the fish got close to the boat. Until next year.

Fishing Report

Didn't get to do any serious fishing this weekend because most of the time was spent with family enjoying the holiday. I guess there are a few things more important than fishing. Nevertheless, I found some time to explore some of the local ponds for the first time since the great freeze. The bass and panfish still seem to be a little behind schedule. It took some time and coaxing to get one little bass but there is no better way to enjoy the first really nice day of the year. 

At one of the larger ponds I did see a HUGE dead bass. I can confidently say it would have gone 6-8 pounds. Sad to see a dead fish that size but I was encouraged about the fact that it existed at all.

Next up Tarpon 2014. Great way to close out April.  We have the 11 and 12 weights ready to go. It's time to play with some real fish. Hopefully the fishing gods bless us with good weather and happy laid up fish.

Real deal fishing reports to come.

Back to Deep Winter

With highs dropping into the teens and lows falling into the single digits and negatives we are back into the deep winter. Thankfully, there has been enough sun to give us a glimmer of hope that spring is around the corner in spite of the bitter cold temps. I could really use a warm up and some open water to cast a line. Spent the majority of Sunday's down time tying streamers for whatever. One was an outrageous streamer called the foosa, which was tied by the Great Lakes Fly guys. It's on a 6/0 2461 and runs 8 or 9 inches long. The tail is 6 schlappan feathers and a mixture of flash of the same length. You tie the tail in right at the bend of the hook above the barb. At that tie-in point you add a clump of bucktail on the top and bottom of the shank. On top of the bucktail tie in some Finn Racoon again on the bottom and top. Then you lash a large rattle at about the middle if the hook in front of the Finn coon and bucktail (be sure to add some glue to hold it in place). Cover the rattle with some medium crystal chenille. Then, in front of the rattle wrapped in crystal chenille, add two more sets of bucktail clumps, just as you did at the bend of the hook. Clump on top and on the bottom. You can reverse tie these for added bulk. At this point you are crowding the eye a bit but add an addition clump of Finn Coon to cover the bucktail on the top and bottom. Then glue in some eyes. This fly will not have a small neat finishing head. There's just nothing small and neat about it.

I didn't take any pictures but if you google Fossa streamer you'll come across some images. It's big and heavy, but that makes it a fun project and has big predator written all over it.

Anyway, flyfishing adventure DVDs, a fire, and big streamers on the brain just fueled my already raging case of cabin fever. The winter feels like it's going to last forever. 

Few Flies in Anticipation of Open Waters

With a short warm snap on the horizon I felt inspired to spend some time at the vice.  Spent most of my time tying saltwater flies but at the end I switched to ammo for local waters.  These are all variations of flies that I've seen but never tried.  On the right is a rendition if Jerry Darkes magnum meat wagon in a perch color scheme. It's tied on a 3/0 2461 Diiachi perfect bend. The wing is a series of Icelandic sheep which used in the original pattern. I used splayed bucktail underneath the sheep to give the fly the appearance of bulk. The head is olive palmer chenille. Also I added some copper flash and fire tiger flashabou to the body.

The two yellowish flies on top are Kevin Feenstra's fire detectors. The first time I saw this pattern they were being advertised as a king salmon streamer, now I'm finding that they are used for a variety of different warm and cold water species. Feenstra's designs aren't particularly pretty but the are absolute fish catchers if tied properly; function over form. These are also tied on 2461s but in sizes 1 and 2. The tail is a mix of pearl and mirage flashabou and pearl Krystal flash with pink bars. In front of the flash tie-in point I add two clumps of splayed bucktail. Then I spin a generous clump of deer belly as a collar. The head is made from ice dub, again generous clumps, in three colors. I suspect lazer yarn would be a good sub. The original pattern calls for a 4 bead string of bead chain - I did one with the bead chain and one with a small lead free db. 

Working our way down, are some synthetic Clousers (Clousers tied with synthetic streamer material) and a clouser  flash fly, which is a clouser with two chartruse hackles tied in behind the eyes in the "praying" form. The over wing and under wing are mixtures of flashabou and Krystal flash, then I lashed a clump of ice dub above the eyes.

Finally, a foxy flash tail clouser which is tied in a 60 degree Bend jig hook in size 2. The tail is pearl flashabou and the over wing is olive fox and the under wing is white fox. I used small white dbs with this one. The fox is tied in just as you would tie in bucktail for a normal clouser. 

Looking forward to swimming these along the Lake Michigan shore and some inland waters by me.

This wasn't a particularly good tutorial so let me know if you have any tying questions.

Off to work.

Tight lines.

Pure Michigan

Pick up softball game ... in February ... on a lake ... Pure Michigan.

Swung flies for about an hour but stopped when our reels froze solid. Which leads me to - swinging flies in single digit temperatures ... Pure Michigan.

Come on Spring.

This is just silly...

Lots of snow and then this happens -

The family is down in Florida, "stuck" because of all the cancelled flights. Dad is calling me with reports of redfish and snook eating flies. I'm stuck on a train because it's too cold for the switches to work properly. I see it's going to be a long winter...

Book Review - Part 1 of 3

Recently, I picked up 3 fly fishing or tying books. Two of the books are established titles and one is new. Generally, I enjoyed each book for different reasons. In each of this reviews I will provide a general description and pros/cons.  We will start will the titanic book called "Fly Patterns" by Randall and Mary Kaufman. The Kaufmans have been a name in the industry for as long as I can remember.  Although their shop is no longer, their name lives on in the pages of this text. 

DESCRIPTION

There is no dancing around with this book - it is what it's title says it is. It's a massive book with page after page of flies and their recipes.  From page 29 to 435 are chapters of flies organized by dries, nymphs, emergers, streamers, steelhead, warmwater, and saltwater.  Each page contains 9 color photographs of flies with its recipe below each picture.  Note, this is not a resource for learning how to tie flies.  Although it does contain some helpful introductory descriptions of materials and hooks etcetera, this is just an encyclopedia of patterns.  If you want a source of inspiration or if you are looking for a recipe for a classic pattern, this is your book.  Now for pros/cons.

PROS

I'm pretty neurotic about flies and fly tying, so I'm comfortable saying that I'm familiar with most patterns out there. With the birth of blogs etcetera there has been an uptick in fly pattern design. Now, if you're all over the tying blogs and forums you will quickly notice that the newest patterns are not included in this book. While there are many modern patterns represented, this book clearly focuses on the mass produced patterns. Most of the patterns are ones I had seen before. To be sure, there were many I hadn't seen, but most were familiar. Did I know the recipes before this book, absolutely not, at least not until now.  So, if you're looking for the new hot pattern this is not for you. However, if you're looking for that "new pattern's" lineage this is the book. Most of the cool creative patterns out there now are merely adaptations of the styles found in these pages. Are you looking to start your own lineage or haves fishing situation that calls for a unique pattern but your are not sure where to look for design ideas - start here. Steal some of the parts of proven patterns that may have gone stale but have strength in design and innovate from there.

CONS

It's huge. It's expensive. It doesn't contain all the newest hot patterns (but see above).  It's saltwater section and warmwater section is a little weak (this is a trout pattern heavy book). It appears to be focused on patterns used west of the Rockies and there are some errors (not many however, especially in light of how many patterns).  None of those are particularly problematic. My primary criticisms are that it can get a little repetitive.  For instance, there seem to be 30 stimulators represented  (slight exaggeration). For patterns like that I would prefer to see a couple variations followed by and editorial note with tips on how to alter it with different materials.  Also, along a similar line, I'd like to see more notes following the patterns. I would like to see the recipe and then see a note saying "that's the template now try it this way..." The fun in fly tying is the creativity side to it. Sure, part of the fun is coming up with the alternative yourself. But I'd like to know what Randall or Mary Kaufman think might work.  I'm of the school of thought that believes creative ideas beget creative ideas and the Kaufman's have created some powerful patterns (Kaufman stone anyone).

CONCLUSION

Worth having in the library but I wouldn't call it a "must have" unless you are REALLY into flies. I will probably burn quite a bit of time staring at its pages but I'm weird about flies. If you enjoyed flipping through Kaufman's former catalog you will certainly enjoy this book.

Until next time,

Tight lines.