CoachBob

Calcasieu Lake (Big Lake) in Cameron Parish, Louisiana is famous as the best big speck fishing grounds of the USA. There is serious wind 90% of the time so, if you don't cast in the wind there, you don't fish.

Hints for foam poppers: 1) use a hook with a 3x long shank, which will resolve hook setting issues and give you more space to dress the tail 2) to create a hole in closed cell foam bodies heat a bodkin over a candle flame and quickly poke it through the closed cell foam. This takes great care as a hot needle eats up foam and a wrong angle can ruin the popper body. 3) Super glue is the best adhesive to use on closed cell foam. The super glue creates a new molecular structure on the surface of the foam and, for example, gluing two pieces of foam together become a permanent bond. Loctite brush-on ($2.92 at Wal Mart) is the easiest to use. If you want to REALLY get into working with foam you can make your own popper heads if you go to www.softtiles.com and buy interlocking foam mats to punch out of. They are 1/2 thick and come in 1'x1' or 2'x2' and many colors. This is the ONLY site that will sell small quantities and it is sometimes more practical (shipping wise) to buy several of the smaller mats. Then go to Harbor Freight (store or online) and buy a "hollow punch set" for $5. This gives you nine punches of various sizes. You can then super glue on punch outs of similar diameter from sheet foam to make an infinite number of color patterns.

My fly tying table faces (is immediatly next to) a window. For many years I tied in an alcove and eventually found it claustrophobic. Then I moved the desk facing into the den and found keeping the front AND BACK of the desk neat was too much work. Eventually I moved to an east facing window looking out on a grassy lot and the fronts of my neighbors houses. In the AM the sun provides all the light I need for the table and I can see the weather and neighborhood activities, as well as the arrival of the mail and UPS trucks. I don't think I could go back to facing a wall again. What's your preference? Why?

Tier : Chip Evans Materials list Hook: Mustad 3366 sz. 2, *4, 6 Thread: Uni Thread 6\0(weedguard, skirt, legs & hackle belly) Uni Thread 3\0(foam tie in at rear & front) Weedguard: Hard Mason 12 lb. Skirt: Soft saddle hackle palmered Back: Sheet foam (closed cell) sz. Thin Legs: 6 Neck hackles splayed Belly: Saddle hackle palmered Eyes: 7 mm. Doll eyes glued Glue: Fly Fishin' Glue (Carlson Tackle Co.) or similar in high viscosity * denotes preferred size Tying instructions Attach weedguard at rear of hook slightly behind the start of the bend. Tie in soft saddle hackle with a small portion of the marabou still on the stem and palmer forward 6-8 wraps. Tie off hackle and tie off the thread. Cut foam pieces to template provided Mount 3/0 thread and tie in both foam pieces at the same time with the foam extending behind the hook bend. Tie off 3/0 thread and clip. Mount 6/0 thread and tie in neck hackle legs (3 on each side) splaying outward. Tie in saddle hackle for the belly of the fly and palmer forward to just behind hook eye. Tie off 6/0 thread and clip. Mount 3/0 thread and fold or pull foam pieces forward creating a slight upward curve in the foam. Make two small cuts with scissors on either side of foam at tie in point of 3/0 thread. Tie down foam to the hook just in front of hackle belly with about 6 wraps of thread and advance thread in front of foam. Bring weedguard material forward and slip through the hook eye. Make 3 wraps of thread and adjust weedguard length. Fold back the remaining weedguard material and tie off with 10 wraps of thread. Whip finish and cut excess thread. Apply glue to each side of foam and to the underside of foam filling in all gaps and spaces. Place eyes on side of foam and apply pressure until eyes have adhered to the foam. Color the foam with prismacolor markers after glue has dried. Excellent photos can be seen at http://www.bearsden.com/product6245.html

Got one and very pleased so far. Note that shutter lag increases significantly if you are using live view. Note also that in sports mode the multi shot burst is almost inescapable (not necessarily a bad thing). My problem is that there are so many options and functions I am still having to refer to the book constantly. Good shooting.

http://www.hiflyshop.com/shop/index.php?cPath=43_105_258 http://www.anglersportgroup.com/default.asp

Stimulators. You can buy Randy Kaufman's book or go to http://www.goldenstateflycasters.org/Flies/Stimulator.html for the recipe. A really good photo is found at http://www.riverbum.com/Stimulator-Yellow/ It is a functional fly -- catches fish and serves as a strike indicator -- and is a fairly challenging tie to do it right.

As June bugs are a form of beetle, a foam beetle pattern in brown should do well. A generic pattern (in Word)GENERIC_BEETLE_PATTERN_Handout.doc is attached.

If "fishable" is the key, here's what I observed from Carpenter's crab. He starts with a sheet of rubber or laytex. He has a stencil and draws the outline of the body, legs and claws on the rubber. He then uses an exacto knife to cut out the form. He then uses sharpies to color the rubber. Next he creates a wool body around the rubber and attached mono eyes. Not a fast tie, but it looks exactly like the photos you first posted and he assured me it was fishable.

How do EP fibers differ from superhair?

John Carpenter does that fly -- and it is beautiful and fishable. He was demonstrating it at the 2008 GCCC expo. Someone on this site probably knows how to contact him.

Pretty, but with that much non-buoyant material, you will probably experience flotation issues.

I have fished saltwater from a variety of locations, but not the surf. The surf most available to me is Florida east coast, generally clear waters on a gentle slope with small rollers. Wading (swimming) or looking from the piers I rarely see predators attacking bait fish in the shallows. Without wading to my armpits, casting beyond the rollers is not very feasible. So... What's the trick? Shooting heads? Spey rods? Should I just expect there to be fish under the rollers? Honestly, I haven't tried it because it seems like wasted effort. I never see anyone else trying. But... There are plenty of stories about fishing the surf -- none of which explain how it's done. (Thanks a lot.) If I knew how I'd probably get addicted. Howz it done?

Got this story from my favorite fishing equipment shop owner in Florida. His prices on sinkers suddenly went up and I asked why. He explained that his former source was a man who made the sinkers in his shed behind the house. A neighbor called the feds and said he had a cocaine laboratory in the back yard. The feds busted in and beat him up and confiscated the lead melting equipment. When they found out it was only a sinker making operation they got really concerned that they would be facing a lawsuit for a very abusive false arrest. So...they had the IRS check his records and found out he had not be claiming the income from his sinker sales and threatened to bring charges for tax evasion. He backed off of his lawsuit and, guess what, they still prosecuted him for tax evasion. Apparently this is a true story, as there was no reason for the shop owner to lie to me. As Louisiana's infamous governor Earl K. Long once said, you can't beat the federal government because: "They got the bomb."

I am reminded by my daughter that not everyone may be on the same wave length as my opinion. So...if you want sources for non-lead weights, go to http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/reduce/sinkers.cfm. This article is going to tell you why lead is bad (consider that as you will) but the most useful materials are at the end where they list types and sources of non-lead weights. Although I don't have a weight:size ratio for lead versus other materials used for sinkers, considering the high water this year, IF there is something heavier than lead that will get a nymph down but not bulk up a leader, it might be worth the extra cost.

Found it. jobabylures.com and arkiejigs.com (I bought most of their inventory)

For those serious about photographing flies, you might consider a serious investment. Frontgate.com has what they call "professional photo studio in a box" which sells for $199. Go to the site and put in "photo studio" in the search window. The product will come up. Here's an example of the kind of photo you can get (and 6 colored backgrounds are available for the studio).

http://www.hillsdiscountflies.com http://www.flyfishing-flies.com http://www.hookedonflies.com http://www.discountflies.com http://www.blueflycafe.com https://www.anglersdream.net http://www.flydealflies.com http://www.percysflies.com

Does anyone know where I can find lumaflex silicone skirting material other than at livingrubber.com? This works perfectly for several saltwater and bass/bluegill patterns and apparently is no longer manufactured as skirts. Unfortunately, I'm looking for skirts so I don't have to buy a spool of one color. Got any sources?

Not wanting to clutter another thread, I thought you might find this interesting. I recently came across an article (August 1995 Fly Fisherman) which noted that the EPA had made splashy headlines in 1994-5 with the release of data that claimed thousands of tons of lead sinkers (about 500 million units) were manufactured each year in the United States and released into the environment. EPA assumed they were all released (i.e. lost) into the environment. This EPA document followed on the heels of the 1991 national ban on lead shot and subsequent Fish & Wildlife Service surveys that supposedly found a significant reduction in lead poisoning in birds after the lead shot ban. So what happened to the proposed national lead sinker ban between 1995 and today? Well...New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Maine have enacted (and Massachusetts has proposed ) versions of lead sinker/jig bans. These states justified their legislation on the mortality of loons due to lead poisoning, with studies that claim lead sinkers account for 30-50% of adult loon deaths. They explain that birds eat terminal tackle (hook, line and sinker ) or eat split shot sinkers to use as grit in their gizzards. As the sinkers are ground along with sand and rocks, the lead is released into their bodies in concentrated form, leading to debilitation and death. It is claimed that 2% of all waterfowl die per year as a result of ingesting lead shot and other lead objects including swans, geese, ducks, and cranes. Okay, so what happened to the national lead sinker ban? Simply stated, the impact of lead fishing tackle has not been documented or even well studied. Some claims suggest that as much as 3,000 tons of lead per year entering the waterways of the U.S. and Canada in the form of sinkers – essentially, not far below that contributed by lead shot before 1991. But...there are no reported cases of large-scale fish die-offs due to lead sinkers. Why? It seems that lead does not bioaccumulate in the food chains of freshwater aquatic vertebrates – i.e., you don't find progressively greater amounts of lead as you move up the predator hierarchy due to big fish eating little fish. Such concentration of lead as there is in fish seems to be more a function of mine tailings than sinkers, and what lead there is concentrates in hard tissues such as bone and teeth which pass through rather than are absorbed by predators. Which brings the subject back to birds. Scientists consider 0.35 to 0.60 ppm lead in the blood (5-6 ppm in the liver) to be indicative of lead poisoning in waterbirds. Yet studies reveal that most secondary contamination of predators, derives from ingestion of lead shot and most of the lead pellets and pieces from lead sinkers in fish pass harmlessly through the digestive systems of predators or are regurgitated. How they make this distinction is sort of a mystery, nevertheless, the arguments continue that lead is harmful to an enormous variety of wildlife, and lead fishing sinkers and other lead tackle contribute significantly to the risk. Confusing? Absolutely, and while you can still buy lead sinkers practically anywhere other than New England, sinkers are now made from an array of alternative materials including copper, bismuth, steel, brass, tungsten, and ceramic. The cost for this political correctness is: (1) four to eight times as much expense for any of these compared to lead and (2) brittle split shot that can’t be reopened without splitting. Will there be a national ban on sinkers? Will lead sinkers and wire become unavailable to the public? The current EPA guidelines are aimed at discouraging home manufacture of lead jigs and sinkers than at commercial manufacture and sale of lead sinkers. But who knows what they will do tomorrow. Now let’s see, did that pattern call for 10 or 12 wraps of lead wire?

Sony W300. Brand new release. 13.2MP point and shoot Will do macro. $350

phfishtales cited article is quite good. As for cost, here's some estimates: Vise: $50 - $150. You want a rotary vise. "True" rotary vises are more expensive and you could probably get by without one, but you really can't do without some sort of rotary function. A crown vise is $50 or so and for another $30 you can get it with a pedestal base (almost mandatory) in a wooden carry case for $50 from flyfishtools.com. Hackle: $40-60. Unless you are tying small dries, you can probably get by with a lower grade cape and saddle. Usable saddles suitable for salt water flies can be as cheap as $12, but you won't get anyting small enough for trout flies on it. Hooks: Around $10-12 per 100. You don't need to start with 30 styles and sizes, or the finest quaility hooks, and the best price for mustad is usually at hookhack.com. Thread: About $1.50/spool. I would probably start with 6/0 or flat waxed nylon because you will tend to break smaller thread a lot when you start out. Tools: $20-50 You must have one or more bobbins, fine scissors, hackle pliers and a maratelli whip finisher. I started out using my wife's cosmetic scissors and soon found out Dr. Slick was worth the money just in saved aggrivation. Everyone's price for tools is about the same, although Cabelas.com does come out lower for some things. If you get a maratelli whip finisher and learn to use it (instructions on this site and all over the web) you will save yourself a lot of frustration. You can hand whip finish (many folks preference) but, again, the aggrivation factor is worth some cash. Miscellaneous materials (dubbing, flash, ribbing, etc): $30. You can get this from fly fishing stores or look for alternatives from Hobby Lobby or Michaels craft stores. The cost depends on what pattern you want to copy.

Hook size will dictate fly size and strike:catch ratio. Larger than an 8 is going to be unproductive. A 2x to 3x long size 10 or 12 is excellent for bluegill foam patterns. Be careful. Long legs or long tail will induce short strikes.

and if you're going to cite Webster, you might try citing the whole definition: From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fly%20fishing: Fly fishing -- a method of fishing in which an artificial fly is cast by use of a fly rod, a reel, and a relatively heavy oiled or treated line

As a late comer to this site I didn't exactly expect such vitriol from fly fishers. Such caustic comments don't quite seem to fit the "community" profile. Thanks for the quick lesson. Oh, and if you want to discuss the physics of a roll cast, try one with your spinning rod. Won't work without fly line. Now, if you all would visit http://czechnymphs.com/tying/tying_2004_002.html (part of the premier site on this subject) you will find that the czech nymph was developed to replace the jig fly that was banned in international fly fishing competition. Why the ban? Well, either because it worked too well or because it isn't considered fly fishing. Czech nymphs pass muster because the lead is covered by a dressing (just as many other nymphs have lead wire weighting). Consequently, czech nymphing still dominates in most competition -- without the fisherman having made a single cast. In my opinion -- which I still believe I am entitled to hold -- czech nymphing and it's offspring are a different activity than fly fishing. I have admired fishermen on trophy waters taking 20 trout per hour high sticking while the rest of us barely escaped the skunk. My immediate reaction: "should have brought my cane pole".