flpanfisher

Nice looking fly simplejack looks like you fixed the problem.

Awesome looking fly and for such a worthy cause. As for tying a fly with a bald eagle feather, that would be very illegal. The only people allowed to have a feather in their posession would be a native american indian and I believe they must have the appropriate paperwork. It is used in their religious ceremonies.

Hey fish shaman, sorry I haven't been on much, been working 4 pm - 2 am, which really knocks the snot out of me. Hopefully, my schedule will change and I will have more time soon. As for gear I have a 7'6" 4 wt and an 8'6" 3 wt that I use for panfishing...I just love the rod bend with those things. For a leader, I use about 6 foot of an old tapered leader with a 6 lb test Ande clear tippet about 4-6 foot or a furled/twisted leader of 6 lb Ande with a 4-6 ft tippet. It seems to work well. The flies I use are normally floating flies usually made out of foam...poppers, flat foam spiders, hoppers etc tied onto a 6-10 aberdeen or a 3x long curved shank hook. Haven't been able to get out much lately due to hours and rainstorms here this summer. They both seem to coincide (if I'm off, it's raining). But things may gel this fall for me and I'll be able to get some fishing in. Feel free to send me a private message and I'll give you my email address and you can message me anytime.

I leave all of the fins on them, just scrape off the scales, cut the heads off and remove innerds. That's the way they like them. No, they don't survive the winters up here. They are in a more southern part, and especially in miami to okeechobee. It can get down into the 20s here at times and they don't care for less than 50s I believe for peacock bass, not sure what temps the cichlids can withstand. Most of the lakes here are shallow saucer lakes and they heat up and cool pretty quickly. I heard that they tried years ago to stock peacock bass up this way and they didn't survive. I have never eaten a cichlid, but on a trip to okeechobee one time, a bunch of guys out of NC went down along the tamiami trail and hit the canals and came back with large coolers full of them. They filleted them just like bream, but never heard how they tasted.

Nooooooooo, wading is definitely out down here as are belly boats and float tubes. Too many gators and water moccasins, not to mention you would probably sink knee to thigh deep in muck if you waded. The gills are deep here too right now from the heat. A week or so ago, I caught a few bream for a good friend of mine (a veteran) who is in the final stages of cancer. He enjoyed a fish dinner every now and then, but has gone to an all liquid diet. Things should pick up for us again about October/November when it cools down a bit and the shallower bite is back on. Good luck with your fishing.

Welcome out of hiding. I too love the pull of a panfish on my line, in fact, even though in Florida we are completely surrounded by salt water, I have only fly fished it once. Panfishing is my passion, not so say I will never fish the salt again, I just prefer using the lighter weight rod.

I think your site and blog are really nice, hope to see more of your flies in the future. Maybe you will get some more time on the water soon, instead of daydreaming about it. Very nice box of flies, it would be welcomed by any fly angler I'm sure.

Nice SBS, looks very easy. Thanks for the video.

I use the 3m contact cement, I dip a plastic putty knife into the contact cement and spread it over the surface evenly in a thin coat on both pieces, let sit til just tacky then place the pieces together and use a roller to seal them nicely after each layer is added. Make sure the pieces are squared up or even around the edges when you place each piece on top of the next. Once you put it down, you won't be able to move it around. Some people use small dowels between the glued layers to line it up, then remove the dowels to allow the pieces to come together, much like laying down a formica counter top. You could add weight on top of them if you wanted, but not sure it's necessary. Just start rolling from the center to the outside or from one side to the other on smaller blocks to alleviate any air pockets between layers. Let the blocks sit for a few days to cure and voila! Drill or cut and shape then apply to hook. I normally put super glue or crazy glue on the thread wraps before sliding the foam onto the hook and this helps hold it together more along the hook in addition to keeping it secure to the hook so it doesn't slide or roll. If you use a slit at the bottom to place it on a hook, ensure the foam is rejoined all along the slit after placing it on the hook to keep it securely where you want it

Might do well for small to medium snook, red fish and trout, wouldn't use it for tarpon, prolly undergunned for that, probably light for permit and Jack trevally also, could work for bone fish and flounder also. Way too light for sharks. So it depends what you are targeting.

My swap flies came in the mail yesterday. They are great. Everyone who sent flies in did a wonderful job on them. I forgot the toe tag on mine (sorry) it was the turned chartruese foam popper with olive maribou tail. I tied it on a B 10 S size 6 Gamakatsu hook for a larger hook gap. Let me know how they work, or anything I could do to improve them.

any pics of a complete set of them for the swappers to drool over and others who didn't join can see what they missed until they arrive at their destinations? If not, that's cool, just asking.

as swapmeister, you are entitled to mine, or donate to casting for recovery chapter or wounded warrior project if you'd like.

anyone heard from hooked01, looks like the last time he was online here was 20 April. Hope everything is ok and nothing has happened to him.

That's awesome. Very nice looking fly, better than I tie currently.

I spent 15 years in the Marine Corps, blew out my knee a third time shredding the anterior cruciate ligament and ending my career. For that, I was only awarded 10% disability..about 129.00/month. I have never asked for anything, if it was something I wanted or needed, I paid for it. I wrote an email to one former Marine veteran (which I didn't know he was at the time) asking how much a system he developed called the RexFly, which I had seen on youtube, would cost as my shoulders have deteriorated and thought it might make it easier to cast with back in March 2012. He explained it was only in the developmental stage and didn't know how much it would cost with manufacturing etc. and said when he got it done, he would send me one free of charge as I was a Marine Brother. I was floored by his generosity and told him I would be more than happy to purchase one of these and pay any associated shipping, but he wouldn't hear of it. I offered to help him in any way possible with publicity, write ups of the project anything he needed and he said ok. I have posted it on warmfly.com a warmwater fly fishing site. But being so new here, and not knowing how it would be received, I have been hesitant to post anything about it. A few months ago, he posted it as a project to get funding on a site called Kickstarter.com. I immediately ordered one to payback the one he offered to send me free to help him get his project off the ground. He met the funding requirement and production started. Over the past year, we have communicated back and forth via email. He posted a video of how to set it up on youtube recently and he added a great chest pack to it. I asked him how much it would cost and ordered the chest pack last Tuesday. While I was reading posts here today, it all came in the mail. I guess my point on all of this is, if they were a stand up servicemember who pulled their own weight in the military and did their job with pride and professionalism, if they wanted something they would pay for it or be willing to, not beg or ask for things for free. And especially not expect something for nothing by using their past military status preying on this country's patriotic spirit to get things free. In my opinion, this type of person probably wasn't a stellar performer when in the military either. This is why I buy what I can, when I can, if I can and expect no one to just hand me stuff. And if someone wanted to send me something free or at a reduced rate, I would do my best to reciprocate with flies I tied for their style of fishing or help them in whatever way I could, not turn around and resell it. I will go further to state that there always exceptions to every case as some veterans have truly been left with nothing from trying to deal with the bureaucracy and all of the stumbling blocks the government has placed before them to be compensated for their injuries and possibly their lack of employability. But these things must be scrutinized carefully and a reasonable dialog back and forth for a while between the parties to assure you are not dealing with a scammer is probably the best option to not fall victim to this. If it is alright to post the links to the Rexfly system or product reviews etc. on here, could the site admin or owner drop me an email or pm as I am not sure of the protocol. The system was developed for people with disabilities (shoulder problems, missing or injured arms) to still be able to enjoy the sport of flyfishing.

Very nice looking poppers. I used to turn cork, but the quality of the cork I had was poor and took a lot of filling. Now I just use the foam. I got the cutters and turners from Steve Winters several years ago and it is much easier to work than cork or balsa to me.

McRad, I didn't mean to offend you with my post. If I was crass or short in my wording, I sincerely appologize. I think they look very good and as I said in an immediate edit after the initial post at the end, I would be proud to have tied these. Again, sorry if I offended, it was not my intent.

I have a question for you McRad, are you tying for perfection or for the fish? I see nothing wrong with the hackles you have tied on as far as appearance. They are thicker than many I have seen tied, (the width from front to back) but fully functional. Are you trying to get the whole feather wrapped onto the hook? I'm no expert at tying flies, but I don't think you have to use the whole feather, sometimes less is more or better. Take tenkara flies as an example, usually only a few twists around the hook and that's it. If you are tying for perfection, which I sometimes try to do, I get frustrated because my hands and fingers don't want to cooperate, or the materials have a mind of their own, or I don't employ the proper technique. In this case, I go to youtube and watch the experts and try to mimic how they do it (a lot of watch, rewind, watch rewind, tie along, rewind, double check the tyers technique vs mine) and then decide when enough is enough. I watch Davie McPhail and Dave Camiss videos which I find very helpful, there are some here on this site with helpful videos on you tube also. I don't trout fish here in central Florida, mainly because we don't have them this far south that I can find. They may be more picky on what they take, I don't know. But I would think that if you offer those flies to a fish, they would take them. Just my humble opinion (which means nothing), but I think they are sufficient quality to catch fish. I would be proud to have tied those. Scott

Very nice SBS with great pictures showing every step. Might have to tie a few of these up for some Florida panfish. Thanks for the time and effort you put in on this.

Very nice video Colton. I like your Blog also, very good introduction of yourself and your passions. You seem to have a good attitude and approach toward both tying and fishing. Keep up the great work!

Glad they made it there alive. Can't wait to see all of the flies tied up and returned later! I left the tails a little long and the barbs on the hooks so the recipients can trim to their desired size and flatten barbs if they like. I personally flatten all of the barbs on the flies in my box, but for a swap, I left it up to the recipients.

I would like to join your swap. I will figure out a popper to tie and let you know soon, if I am accepted. It will probably be a foam popper of some sort.

This may work, or it may be stupid as I am new to fly tying. If you tie in a piece of mono down both sides of the hook when you do thread wraps, might this also help in making a flater hook shape and platform for the foam to ride on before you use super or zap-a-gap glue? With or without glue, I envision it to help keep the foam from spinning on the hook as freely.