ditz2

What fish? I ain't seen no stink'n fish!

Hey Salty....Have you ever tried a craft fur shrimp? I caught a lot of trout on a tan version on either a 4 or 2 hook on the ML which is just north of you if I remember correctly. Simple tie....craft fur tail barred with a sharpie, bead chain eye and a body of craft fur in a dubbing loop. That's all doc....I started with a size 6 but they were too small and the trout was taking them to the gills. I upsized and they didn't take them quite so deep. They also cast well and the gulls like them too. Never saw a red to throw at so I can't say about the reds.

Yep, he has black. The cream may be light enough. I generally like off white better than pure white anyway. I am no expert on hackle since I don't tie for trout but the hen may work out better for me anyway. I see that the gentleman has several levels of 'grades'. Is length of hackle the grading criteria?

Gee Mike....if you are back casting very many fish I might suggest that you get a lighter rod. .....I never fish trout and I also never fish dry flies but with my craft foam flies or poppers I sometimes find that I must let the fly sit still for a considerable time to allow the fish to decide to eat. On many occasions I have seen fish run for cover if the fly is moved after it lands on the water. Different strokes on different days.

I have a large drawer full of craft foam from HL, Joann, and Michaels and I use C/A glue with it quite often with no problems.

Thanks for the quick response. I will surely check it out. I have been looking for some cheap white and some black hackle

Great technique. I don't use a lot of peacock but I do the thread/herl thing but I have never put the hackle in with with it....Should be a much more durable fly tied that way. Thanks for posting and nice SBS. I wonder if wrapping the hackle around chenille would work the same way. I may have to try that with wooly worms too

Is anyone willing to share a trusted source of india neck hackle? I would be interested in a few.

Kirk...Sorry for the late comment but I forgot to mention that the popper that Lefty gave you is my favorite color.....Yaller.....I do lots of yaller and I have done a few copies of those bugs. The heads are done but the tails have not yet been added.

Some how I missed this when it was originally posted. Sure is Purdy and everybody needs a 1wt or 0wt. I personally would like to see one a little shorter but that should make a fine fish catching machine.

I surely would have major concern about it's use as well..... The question that we should also be asking is who is going to make meg bucks from it use and or manufacture. ...The deal is....always follow the money

Jaydub.....I believe that you are correct about the original system reels. I bought the largest of the series and it was the first reel that I owned that that had an exposed spool rim......It is called a system 11.

I guess the work 'warm' leaves a lot for interpretation. I have been to the Boundry waters area in June, July, August, and the first part of September and I would never have called the water warm. The trip in the first part of Sept. It frosted on us several times. ....One of our group took his son of about 12 to a beach like area for a bath and poured a bucket of water over his head to rinse his hair and the poor fella had a bad headache for the remainder of the day. That water was cold.

Somebody on this forum mentioned a $25 reel just a few months ago so I looked it up and sent for one. It actually seems to be a great reel and probably in the Okuma class. I doubt that It is backed up by a fantastic service and parts availability but for the money who cares. The drag seems to be good so I loaded it up with a 7wt line and backing and intend to use it for carp. I think it will work out fine. I just dug out the reel to check for a name but there is no identification anywhere. Even under close examination the reel looks good. Maybe the original poster will pipe up.....Mike is absolutely correct....Most fresh water fish require no drag and a click pawl reel is more than needed. All of the early series SA reels were made by Hardy. I have one of the first ever models and it is Hardy made and was in the $100 range 40 years ago. This was when 3M first bought them. They are good reels but I doubt they will last any longer than the $15 Medalists of the same era. A little prettier maybe but I would rather have a Medalist to rely on and the Medalist is more quiet. The clicker on the SA scares off the carp where the medalist does not.

Thanks for the reply agn54

+1

I do stay out of the boundry waters now. I am too out of shape for the heavy activity required for the portaging. It is a wonderful place to go and I did it several times and would go back. That was the only time there was ever an issue and it was not really bad but it seemed that there had been a conspiracy to set us up for a huge fine. Fines up there can go into several thousand dollars for offenses such as taking glass containers into the area. If you go into the boundry area you best know the rules and you better follow them. It can get quite ugly otherwise. If you are interested in some unpressured fishing it is a great place to go and it is beautiful. The area is visited by a lot of people every year but few even bother to take a fishing rod. On the several visits I have seen a few paddlers but never anyone else fishing. We always set up a base camp in an area that gave easy access to many other fishing locations. From base camp all we needed to take with us was cooking tools, foul weather gear, and our fishing stuff which was a rod/reel and a bag of lures. I never toted my fly gear. Each of us only took rod/reel and tackle and a spare rod/reel in case of a mishap. The best option was a small bait caster and a light rod. .....These trips were not fly-ins.....you carried everything in on your back and then brought it back out. I wore the same clothes out that I wore in and if I got to feeling too nasty I would take PTA bath. The water is very cold and will give you head ache if you just jump in. The big lakes can and do get very rough. Go prepared and take only half of what you think you really need. Breakfast was Oats and coffee and fish and taters was the other two meals. What great memories.

nice ties AGN54, is that minnow craft fur?

This is a good place to relate an incidence that I was involved in several years ago......A group of us visited the Boundry Waters every year and we usually used the same outfitter every year. We had been out in the wilds for a week or so and ate a lot of fish but had no way to bring any back to civilization since there was no ice machines back in the Quetico. We had done this trip several years and never had any problems. On this particular trip we stopped at the outfitters and we all took some badly needed showers and readied to take the last leg out of the area. The outfitter said that he had some frozen walleye fillets that we could take with us since at the time an angler was allowed to take one days limit of fillets out of Canada back to the states. We all huddled to discuss the option and we reluctantly decided to pass on the offer so we left the area fishless. Just before getting back to civilization there is a Border check station. Every year someone would go up and 'check out' of Canada and return to the canoes and off we would go. This time 2 DNR officers came down to the dock and split us up into 2 different groups and put us on opposite ends of the long dock and grilled us on taking any fish out with us. Of course we all said that that we had no fish. The conversation was intense and lasted several minutes. The then required that we empty the canoes of all our gear and had to spread it all out on the dock. They found no fish and they seemed disturbed by all this and they huddled and had a private conversation. They finally allowed us to go on our way but the whole ordeal seemed like the officers were sure we were dirty. I still believe that for some reason there had been a conspiracy to set us up for something. .....I sure was happy that we did not take the frozen fish though it should have been legal as I see it. Any thoughts?????

My most memorable was several years before I even knew about fly fishing. I was about 10 years old and I 'borrowed' dad's spinning outfit. The reel was loaded with some kind of thin braid line. I was fishing a deep pool of a smallish creek and drifting an unweighted crawday tail down stream from the bank which was above water level about 6'. I hook a 7 or 8# carp and it ran up and down the creek. About half way thru the fight the reel came loose from the rod because of those darn sliding mounting rings on the cork handle. I managed to save the fish and got the reel back on the rod. I finally got the fish to the waters edge and it took one flop and broke the rotten line and swam off. I won't relate two other stories but one involves another carp and the other a huge sucker of some sort. I still like rough fish fishing.

Many years ago someone offered a frog type pattern tied on a keel hook. I don't think that keel hooks are any longer available which is too bad IMO. These were available in the early and mid 70's I think. I don't have a pic of them but I will try to describe the fly as best as I can and the hook did ride up. The tail was either 4 or 6 narrow hackles tied in splayed and they were probably about 1/3 to 1/2 the hook length. The body was deer body hair tied in parallel to the hook shank with thread wrapped around the body hair in a loose pattern. The head was spun deer body hair spun and flared. It was trimmed close to the shank on the top and bottom but left long on each side but it was squared off on the sides so that what was left was a flat like square head. As I remember it was available in yellow, black, and a mix of yellow and green frog type color. They were available from several common and popular sources. The hook design never gained a lot of popularity as missed strikes seemed to be a concern. I think that if one opened the hook point a slight amount the problem could have been minimized. I think also that the depth of the eye end of the off set was reduced a little the hook would have worked the same and hooking would have improved. I think they would be a good hook to tie bait fish patterns on. They were similar to many of the current worm hooks but the flat area right behind the eye was longer allowing more room for attaching materials.

Carbide is not a coating.....I have no thoughts plus or minus on this vise personally. But I am stupefied that so many would be afraid to invest in a $129 vise but yet will go out and drop $800 on the latest rod offered by some superrod company that is unproven as well. I don't see the logic

There are many great vises in the $$$ area you are willing to spend. As a beginner you have not idea which vise will work best for you. I see you as having 2 options. Get a decent cheap vise and tie for a few months and then you will have a much better idea as to which vise you might prefer. I think the best option is get a Nor-vise to learn on. It has many great advantages and it would be best to learn from the onset rather than have to re-learn after learning on another vise and then switch to a Nor-vise. It has a totally different technique requirements. I am an old dog and I learned on a set of vise-grips welded to a rod that was held in a home made c-clamp. It actually worked pretty well and I still have it. As suggested above go to the web site and watch the videos. I don't personally own one and I am old enough that I am not interested in learning to use one but it would be wise for a beginner to start there and it appears that you are willing to spend the money. It is not just a vise. It is a system. You can ever do dubbing brushes on it. One does not need to be considering a pro tying future to get benefits from the system. If I was still 30 or 40 I would not hesitate to invest in one. 67 is not the age to start using one IMO. It sure looks like a great system to me. .......But if you decide to buy just a vise there are many that are fine quality vises. I will add one last comment....I have been tying on a vise that was something less $100 for 8 or 10 years and I have few complaints with it and there are several others that I am sure are just as good or better for the same money. My point is that $100 will buy a fine vise that will last for years. If you are going to spend 3X the $$$ buy something special. Go to a site called Ohioflyfishing or something like that. They did a really nice comparison of many vises in different Dollar ranges.

Crackaig...I don't fish trout but that is a great looking nymph.

I just carry a simple shoulder bag that has a few small external compartments. The smaller the better so I don't carry a bunch of stuff that I really don't need. I am looking to buy a fanny pack that will hold a couple of water bottles and maybe some simple lunch. Being diabetic requires some carbs to be carried. I really like a vest but it is just too hot down here to wear one in the warm months. Wet wading is almost an absolute requirement.