Capt Bob LeMay

Very nice… catching one that was slot size, a bonus…

I'm pretty much a road warrior, towing my skiff around 20,000 miles a year - year after year from my house to boat ramps nearly one hundred miles away any time i'm booked... I saw that video and thought of all the near misses (and the mis-adventures I didn't miss) while towing my skiff up and down the road.. Here's a pic from my most recent road trouble (and yes - my skiff did get a ride home that day - on the top of a flat bed wrecker - trailer and all... ).

Going at highway speeds in heavy traffic,  I noted a bit of vibration in my steering wheel and after checking by display and finding out that my tire pressure was okay.... believed I was dealing with a bad tire-  and kept heading home... When I slowed for traffic the vibration became much more noticeable so I pulled off the Turnpike (Florida's Turnpike down here in south Florida..) and found one of my trailer wheels to be very badly damaged, understatement... The damage was so bad that two lugs on the hub were snapped off and the remaining three were ground down to less than half their normal diameter, while all of the lug holes on the rim were destroyed as well... Although I keep a spare hub ready to go (and have two spare tires for a single axle trailer with all the tools for roadside repair...) I decided that caution indicated a wrecker...

No one I spoke to had ever seen something like this (not a good sign...) and we suspect that someone intended to steal the wheel -but got spooked away after loosening the lugs - or I've got an enemy... One thing is certain - I'll never get in my truck to go down the road without a careful visual inspection of all the lugs on both tow vehicle and trailer ever again - no matter how tired I am at the end of the day...  Trailers used in saltwater always have a problem with lug nuts that are hard to remove when needed - so there't just no chance that the lug nuts loosened up on their own..  Iv'e very carefully not mentioned a word about what happened locally - not wanting to provide someone with the slightest satisfaction (or provide any incentive for someone to do this sort of thing...).  Most of the folks on this forum are a long way from my area...

"Aren't boats fun?"

A few additional thoughts... I used to be on the receiving end of saltwater reels by the bucketful that needed cleaning, repair, prayers. (not hard for a reel in the salt to end up so frozen up that even with a torch and elbow grease - it just won't be repairable...)..  My de-greaser was always mineral spirits (most days you can find it labeled as "paint thinner" in any hardware store - and as I break down a reel I drop each part into a bath of spirits.  Once they've soaked a bit each part is then scrubbed off with an old toothbrush - the allowed to dry on a paper towel... With reels used in the salt you have three issues to inspect for - corrosion, old lube or grease that's turned into glue or varnish... and whether there's any damage.. that bath and scrubbing will remove any old lube any corrosion or damage will usually have me ordering new parts (if they're not already in hand)... Generally speaking,  the mineral spirits won't harm plastic parts or paint -but it will remove any glued on stickers - so if they're present I keep any contact with mineral spirits to a momentary use only.. no soaking...

For fly reels, which hardly ever need any de-greaser at all unless some previous owner has put way, way too much grease or oil on it... just a thorough rinse in very hot water to remove any dirt or sand - then a careful work over with clean paper towels then a re-application of lube where needed... If you must use cleaners of any kind - keep them away from the fly line since the plastic coating on any fly line is very vulnerable to a host of different chemicals... 

Lastly, these days my ability to repair any reel ever made (as long as I have a good schematic and the needed parts...) are coming to an end.  In fact you'll have a hard time finding even a few reel repair guys in any tackle shop you visit today... Most reel manufacturers have moved offshore and parts - even for well established makes are getting harder and harder to find (and for me personally I no longer have the parts wholesaler I dealt with for thirty years...).  Wish it weren't so...

A bit about polar hair for those not familiar with it's characteristics..   It's a unique natural hair in that it's hollow and becomes translucent when wet...  Unlike deer hair and others it won't compress when tied in so you won't be spinning or flaring it.   One thing it is very good for saltwater tyers will appreciate - it doesn't cut when struck by fish with sharp cutting teeth (mackerals, barracuda, sharks...) so it's quite durable (and I love it for very simple, long, barracuda patterns... ).

More to say about what you can do with it - but all of my efforts are for the salt and I know not many folks here leave their freshwater haunts.. Me, I still have a supply of very old yellowing polar bear hair - from almost fifty years ago now - back when enterprising souls would buy a moth eaten old polar bear rug - then cut it up and sell it piece by piece to any tyers that would buy it.  In the years I was tying for fly shops and others I never once sent out a single fly with polar in it, but now I'm beginning to use it up since soon it will no longer be usable at all... Here's a pic or two ... 

this simple, clouser style pattern has worked very well for my night charters, fishign in docklights along the coast... The hook is a Mustad 34007 1/0..

experimenting a bit with 1/0 and 2/0 jig hooks - the polar in these bugs was only for the tail - using other materials to complete the end result.  I found that the polar hair would readily take simple barring with a black Sharpy pen as well... I've had some good results with these in the backcountry of the Everglades - but still not good enough to replace other patterns I hand my anglers...  If I were still fishing bonefish up on the flats in crystal clear waters I'm sure that the polar would do very well as winging for many of the typical bonefish patterns we used... on Crazy Charlies, Gotchas, small bend backs and snapping shrimp patterns or similar patterns... 

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…