Capt Bob LeMay

My best advice… with these old Medalists - just use it ! I actually have one for one of my 5wts and they’re still a great light weight reel. Any touch up you do will quickly get scuffed up as well - unless you pretty it up then leave it in a drawer somewhere… This particular design will have a few things to keep in mind maintenance wise… The screws that it’s assembled with will loosen up over time - so check them with a small driver occasionally.. If you ever use the reel in the salt make a point of thoroughly rinsing it off in freshwater afterwards - don’t use any soap or detergent either- just a tiny drip of good quality light gun oil (no 3 in 1 oil…) on any moving parts when the reel is dry… Hope this helps, mine is used in freshwater for peacocks and other exotics and in the salt for baby tarpon and others when the situation is right for a relatively light rod…

All of it very close to home… Most days I’m out of Flamingo or Chokoloskee and towing my skiff 93 miles one way just to get to the ramps…

Still doing a bit of freshwater scouting whenever I'm able since I'm wanting to find a good population of peacock bass in my local canals... Funny thing - in the canals behind all the houses down here in south Florida the peacock population is doing just fine - but none of those canals allow access with a boat.... and back in December the bigger canals that I can launch my skiff into - got a bad cold spell that killed off many of my local peacocks... Finally found a few peas the other day along with a host of other small fish species... The following pics show my first few - all on the same small popper... using a 7wt rod... a small spotted gar was my first fish that morning _ and came on my first or second cast that day, working around bonnet heads this baby largemouth came on the next cast this oscar was next - for those who've never encountered them - they're typically two to three times as thick as a bluegill - and can really pull - once again that same popping bug followed by this small bluegill with no peacocks hitting my flies... I finally resorted to a lure on a light spinning rod and found my first peacock that morning - followed by three or four more from the same spot... I only used two fly rods that day - an old Sage 7wt that I'd just made a new cork handle for - and a lighter 5wt.. Didn't find many peacocks yet (but that should change as local waters warm up in spring -then summer) -and only used two fly patterns all morning.. the SpeedBug - a saltwater popper using a soft foam head on a #1 hook... my version of Norm's Crystal Schminnow on a #4 hook for the 5wt rod... Note the wire weedguard... I only used my camera that first hour - the pics shown were typical of what I encountered up and down several different canals during the morning - just nothing like the 'glades - alligators everywhere I went as well...

Lots of weather changes currently... a day or two before I had a European angler with me get his first redfish on fly... We switch around a lot down here this time of year...

Water temps just a degree or two too cold for tarpon yesterday so we had to settle for these two small fish... We caught and carefully released three of these without moving in a river in the 'glades, this angler's partner did try to hook up one on ultra-light 4lb spin (their club requires a lure in this category so he did hook up - but with only 4lb line - it didn't last long... This nice over-slot snook was caught and released on plug casting gear out on the coast... Gray skies, winds blowing - still a great day in the backcountry...

Thanks for the workaround guys.. I realize that it costs time and maybe even money to host a site (and we're not exactly an endeavor that's likely to attract sponsors with deep pockets....). Once again thanks for the assist - and I'll try it out. It's nearly 4:45am here and I need to get rigged and running... Booked the next two days so it will be Sunday before I visit this site again... Tight lines, y'all...

I greatly enjoy checking out the patterns shown on the monthly thread. If I miss a page though - I'm not able to go back and take a look at it - a bit frustrating but suspect it's just a glitch or oversight. Sure would be nice if I were able to go back to page 9 but today it's page 10 and no way that I've found to go back to previous pages....

One other small point about material swaps... Hardly any freshwater tyer would ever even look at most of the materials I find essential as a saltwater guy (and years ago trying to explain my needs to this or that supplier -when everything they had was meant for freshwater... a bit frustrating... Nowadays there's lots of great materials for someone with my affliction - but that wasn't the case years ago at all..

Got a fly charter coming up and will need a half dozen of three or four different patterns… First though, it will take 30 minutes or more to clear off the various good materials as well as all the junk - on my tying desk…

They will eat a fly (and over the years we've hooked up a few...). At times small specimens will be found along shallow shorelines underneath overhanging mangrove and you never see them until one comes dashing out of cover, grabs your fly then turns to head home... In shallow waters (less than two or three feet) every now and then, poling a shoreline you can see a bigger specimen hanging out next to or up under a downed tree... We've hooked one or two in that situation as well but when they get up above 15 lbs you'll be needing a tarpon rod and even then they're hard to turn once they make the move back to that tree... It's helpful to note that every piece of wood under brackish or salt waters has lots of barnacles and small oysters attached to it (and every bit of shell has razor sharp edges so if a fish makes it back up under that tree - I'll be tying up a new leader...). The other place we hook them is accidentally when working flies deep for tarpon in gulf-side rivers... Every now and then one takes a big black fly meant for tarpon holding in small rivers that are nine to twelve feet deep. I have no idea what size they are since we've never managed to get one to the boat - but the fight is typical Goliath... not very fast - but pretty much un-stoppable - even with a 12wt rod and the angler doing everything they can to turn the fish.... We did get a little one a year ago on a fly -here's a pic... I doubt the ones that took us to school on the fly were very big - but they certainly had some horse power... When they get upwards of one hundred pounds they gradually migrate offshore and begin hanging out on or in shallow wrecks and around navigation markers - and will have lost the black markings they had as a juvenile... We call the bigger fish landlords since in the 200, 300, or even 400lb size range they can attack and eat any fish you hook on the wreck or next to any kind of structure -no matter how hard you pull to keep them out in the open. I've personally seen one eat a 15lb permit -like it was a cookie - in a single bite...

As we move into spring I'll be working in the backcountry of Everglades National Park, out of Flamingo or Chokoloskee, more and more... Here's a pic of a Goliath grouper (a small one...) caught and released on Wednesday... I'll be back in the Park tomorrow morning doing something a bit unusual, on the water an hour before sunup - then running nearly 20 miles to hook up with a party camping out on one of the Park's campsites, called "chickees".

Small snook from a docklight earlier this week... on a 9wt rod using a small white fly... I've run two trips this week, one locally in Biscayne Bay at night, the second over at Flamingo in the day time (the southern center of Everglades National Park..) I'll be back there tomorrow, running an hour before sunup to hook up with a party that's camping out in the backcountry... This is the beginning of the time when I'll be on the water almost continuously... Anyone wanting a booking between now and June (when the rainy season gets going - and clouds of mosquitoes make the 'glades a tough place to fish...) needs to call sooner rather than later... "Be a hero... take a kid fishing"

Doubt there’s any kind of standard sizing in that material… I’d be asking “what brand” if trying to follow a recipe with chenille mentioned…Haven’t used chenille in some years now. I used to use a good bit of it for bonefish flies years ago…

Thanks for this Denduke - looks like that Dollar Store (and although we have them down here I've never visited one...) has many of the same materials that I found in the "party stores" I mentioned... but in smaller amounts...

I can make any fly (and here we're talking a bit bigger bugs than freshwater types use... ) ride point up or point down -depending on what side of the hook shank the materials are on... Mostly I'll use a "neutral bias" with a fairly even distribution of materials on both sides of the hook - this allows the fly to ride hookpoint down - but if chosen where you place your materials is everything... I do often have some sort of weight up at or near the hookeye but all that does is determine the attitude of the fly and whether each time you pause while stripping the fly to impart motion.. the fly tips down towards the front.... Here's a few illustrations.... Flip Pallot's Prince of Tides (my version) - this bendback rides point up , suspends well and stays horizontal as it settles the Big Eye Bendback - same orientation as the first pattern. I can and often will add 1/2" of .040 square lead wire to the hook shank for my first step before doing the body - then the rest of the pattern, as a keel if I'm wanting the fly to sink faster - but it will still sink at a level attitude... The"clouser style" of patterns (and there are numerous variations is another example of the hook riding point up - as long as you deliberately keep the winging materials on the point side of the hook - no matter whether you're using lead eyes or beadchain eyes - no matter what size they are... Add a wire weedguard to a clouser style fly and you can work one through most snags without getting stuck.. A Whitewater clouser variant w/ wire weedguard - it will always ride point up as you work it once you've made your cast... The Silhouette - with its heavy hook, and even distribution of materials - it will always ride point down... . It also needs to be noted that unlike freshwater patterns almost everything we do for the salt involves patterns meant to be worked instead of drifted...

Here's today's report out of south Florida where we have so many different options each day (or night)... Go here for details.. .https://www.microskiff.com/threads/salt-on-monday-freshwater-yesterday.109946/

If you check the tying schedule I posted about the Swamp Rabbit you’ll note an “under tail” listed. It’s only there to provide support for that rabbit strip tail - instead of the mono loop most have read about… and it really works. Not only for rabbit, but any soft material like maribou for instance… Preventing the tail from fouling (wrapping around the hook when wet) is a high priority among most tarpon anglers - and the shops that support them… Done properly the sparse bucktail support blends in with the rabbit or other soft material so well that most don’t notice it…. Unlike that mono loop.

At times I've both colored bead chain eyes with markers (pentone or Sharpy) and also heated and powder coated.... Mostly though, the fish in my area eat anything properly presented and a number of my patterns have beadchain eyes in the standard silver or brass colors...

I do a lot of rabbit strip flies for tarpon.... Here's a pic or two of the Swamp Rabbit... Hooks: Owner Aki , 2/0 up to 4/0 Thread: Danville's flat waxed nylon Under tail: very sparse bucktail in same color as rabbit strip around the hook shank just forward of the bend Flash: a few strands of pearl Flashabou (or Flashabou Accent) Tail: Rabbit strip on top of "under tail" Note * I cut my own rabbit strips from full skins and prefer skins with thicker leather hide... at least 1/8"wide... Body: Rabbit strip palmered forward from hook bend to w/in a bit more than 1/8" o hook eye Nose: Single wide, webby dyed saddle, color of choice tied in front of body by the butt end of the saddle (with as much of the fluff left on that saddle as possible) then palmered forward almost to hook eye , then tied off and a generous head is built up of tying thread Wire weedguard - optional Eyes: painted on after tying and thread is sealed with super glue (Krazy Glue) - optional - but desirable..

That might be one of Dave Whitlock's patterns...

The last time I found plastic beadchain in many different colors and sizes I was at a party supply store… The kind of place for Mardi Gras supplies - or decorations for St Patrick’s Day - or a kid’s fifth birthday party…. Doubt you’ll ever find this kind of store outside a big urban area. In fact the one near me only lasted a year or two and is long gone…

I don't use the Octopus hooks -- except for Octopus Circle hooks (and they're used with live baits - about the size of a 12 -14" trout...). Here's a relatively new hook on the market that I'm experimenting with a bit - but it's not cheap -the Owner Aki Light. If you enter those three words on E-Bay you'll be able to get a good look at them being offered for sale... and they're in-line , not off-set.... An alternative is to head for your nearest big box tackle shop (Bass Pro comes to mind) and survey the hooks they sell to use with plastic worms for something that will meet your needs. They'll be relatively light wire, with a large gape, and in-line, not offset... Hope this helps

I used to have a few of those early SA reels that we used in saltwaters (not the best idea - but they were what was available.. back in the mid-seventies when I took up fly fishing in the salt). I wouldn't value them very highly (and have no idea of their current worth). Here's what I would suggest though... Those reels were actually Hardy Marquis reels - re-branded for Scientific Anglers. You might find a similar size Marquis and use that as a guide for pricing.. I'd expect the SA branded reels would not hold the same value as the Hardy ones, though... Hope this helps

Here's what I've done on occasion... When I have a new spool with the thread so tightly buried that I can't find it to begin with... I take a slender needle and work down into the thread between the end of the thread and the side of the spool l - right where the notch is that's supposed to keep the thread secure until you mount it in a bobbin. Work that needle between thread and the side of the spool - then gradually work it up so that it catches the thread in the notch and you should be in business... I probably have an advantage since I only use larger threads (3/0 monocord is my smallest thread and mostly I'm using flat waxed nylon..). I also use so much thread tying commercially that I buy my threads by the box of a dozen spools at a time - so I certainly get some practice starting new spools of thread... Hope this helps..

Years ago I gave them a try, using fibers from low quality plumes picked up at a craft store… They looked good dry, but when they get wet they never contributed much to any pattern I was working with so I quit using them….. All of my stuff, of course is for saltwaters..