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Everything posted by throwinflys
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i've often wondered about not using a strike indicator and if you would be able to feel a strike. honestly i've not actually nymphed before but i'm done with not catching fish. hahaha. i like the idea of using a big attracter fly as a strike indicator too. its just hard for me to pick an attracter to use here in michigan. i guess a hopper might work but i like to use mostly natural materials and tying hoppers with sponge and foam dont appeal to me for some reason. I'm not aware of any good larger attracter style flys that would work in michigan. we have a big hex hatch and those things are HUGE but other than that i dont know of anything big enough to not be pulled under by a dropper. i guess you could fish a smaller dry with gink and let it get pulled just under the surface of the water like an emerger.
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mike. i saw an article where the guy sandwiched pink in between olive color so that from the bottom it would appear olive, like moss floating, but it had a pink middle so it was more visable. I just cant be convinced that a trout doesnt notice something out of place when a big pink thing comes floating by. plus equally important as sight is, there is the advantage of being able to control the depth of your nymph rig.
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Wondering if any of you tie your own strike indicators. I've read some articles lately about tying natural colored strike indicators for the purpose of not spooking fish with bright colored plastic balls. I want to tye some olive indicators but i'm wondering what kind of yarn or other material will float the best?
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Grenades are hard to buy ... especially these days. Also, they kill everything within the shock distance. Go to any electrical supply house and buy a hand crank A/C generator, two copper rods about 6 feet long, some styrofoam, and a set of jumper cables. Secure the styrofoam to the copper tube to float them ... you do not want them touching bottom. Attach the jumper cables to the copper rods and the generator and start cranking. Oh, if you're in an aluminum boat, don't do this with bare or wet feet. Net the fish that float to the surface. If you want to get fish from a larger area, use a gas-powered, portable generator. If you get caught following these directions, I am writing this under duress ... a giant otter is standing behind me with a flipper to my throat. AWESOME! why bait fish when you can electro-shock!? hahahahahahaha
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was he the one with the flyship in Toledo?
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i'm no expert but i know the difference between nicking my thread on a hook and their being burrs inside the metal tube and the thread coming out weak. i've had to run fine sandpaper inside 2 times already to fix that issue. the vise has screws that keep falling out when you try to clamp down the hook. also the materials that cabelas sent, EVEN if i had the right size hooks, are badly dyed and they widen out so fast that you can only get MAYBE three wraps before the hackle is a few sizes too big. really only good for wooly buggers. but i tied probably... oh... 6 wolly buggers on the olive hackle i got and i have no more usable hackle in any size 6 and under. the only materials i really liked out of the kit were the peacock herl and marabou. OH and the "nice box" they have the kit in... falls apart. mine is almost complete garbage and i don't even ever use it.
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i'm no expert but i know the difference between nicking my thread on a hook and their being burrs inside the metal tube and the thread coming out weak. i've had to run fine sandpaper inside 2 times already to fix that issue. the vise has screws that keep falling out when you try to clamp down the hook. also the materials that cabelas sent, EVEN if i had the right size hooks, are badly dyed and they widen out so fast that you can only get MAYBE three wraps before the hackle is a few sizes too big. really only good for wooly buggers. but i tied probably... oh... 6 wolly buggers on the olive hackle i got and i have no more usable hackle in any size 6 and under. the only materials i really liked out of the kit were the peacock herl and marabou.
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who put out the kit? what were your expectations regarding that kit? please explain which materials where uselees where the materials useless because you didnt know what they were or how to use them? i understand about the the vise and maybe some tools, but please help others understand why kits are so bad My kit was from cabelas. all of the hackle that i got in the kit were WAY too big. the chenille was also too big to tye anything in the hook size range i got in the kit. the kit came with crappy hooks too (lazer sharp). the general tools like the bodkin and hackle pliers were good but i had a FIT with the bobbin getting burrs and breaking string. also it came with the worst ever assortment of threads all too big. basically they send you the hooks to tye the smaller nymphs and dries, but no materials to make anything that small. it all boils down to the fact that fly tying is extremely delicate and precise. if you have to spend your time messing around with your equipment, it will get old FAST and your flies will not look very good. the first day i got to really enjoy tying was a month after i got my kit when i placed a big order to jstockard and just got the stuff that i needed and would actually tye flys that float and look right. if you are resourceful, its pretty easy to come up with cheap if not free materials. i got a lot of free turkey feathers, deer hair, peacock feathers, mallard, and pheasant all by just asking people i knew who hunt. i really wish i would have gotten a nice vise to start and materials to tye say... 5 patterns and then just tyed them until they came out perfect, then pick 5 more and go to town. its the best way i've found to keep tying new things and to make sure you aren't just tying 1 or 2 and moving on to the next fly.
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i started with a kit and i found 90 percent of the materials useless and the vice is pretty much worthless after only owning it for 5 months. i'd just spend the money now. i deal with my vise because i want to spend my money on more materials to tye new patterns and not have to spend a big chunk of my budget on a vise. just start with a decent vise. i hear the peak rotary is nice! and j.stockard sells them for 150 new
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Got mine yesterday and it seems very handy and quite more durable than i expected. i was shorted a petri dish so i'll have to call and straighten that one out
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Au Sable over the weekend
throwinflys replied to Steeldrifter's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
AWESOME! i'll be trying for smalllies next weekend here downstate. -
having a hell of a time with my leaders!
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
NAILED IT! watched some videos. going to practice tonight. THANK YOU! -
May 2013 Flies from the vice
throwinflys replied to riffleriversteelheadslayer's topic in The Fly Tying Bench
piker- thank you! i'll be sure to keep posting pics as I come along! jd- those look sweet. I had never fished with a wooley bugger before this past weekend. i'd tied a few olive ones with ice dub instead of chenille and when I got to the river and no fish were rising, I took advice from a guy who had hooked and lost one fish on an olive bugger. so I threw it on and caught my only 4 fish of the weekend! -
i'll be getting one next week for my birthday... (i think) haha. i'll let you know how i like it!
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May 2013 Flies from the vice
throwinflys replied to riffleriversteelheadslayer's topic in The Fly Tying Bench
I've only been tying for 4 1/2 months (or since christmas) so they aren't perfect but here's my first "flies from the vice" submission. -
having a hell of a time with my leaders!
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
i was wondering if my backcast was the culprit. i'll throw some line later and try to pay attention. i have a size 6 leader on its a brand new yesterday rio leader. and YES i do use an old piece of innertube! HAHAHAHA! -
having a hell of a time with my leaders!
throwinflys posted a topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
OK, so i haven't experienced this problem before this last weekend. my leader keeps wrapping itself into the worst knots and snagging on my flyline. I broke my 4wt rod so i'm using an l.l. bean fiberglass 5/6 wt and when i watch my cast, everything appears to be good. i dont flail my arms and my loops are nice and tight, but i always see my leader waving around and twisting through the air. what are some common errors that would cause this. i've tried new leaders and different sizes and i just cant keep them from knotting up! -
My Grandpa and I struck out Friday after fitting all of this into the back of his Lincoln Town Car , on our 8th annual opening weekend to Grayling, Michigan to fish the Au Sable river. When we got to the river I immediately set up my fly tying stuff so I'd be ready if I had to make a MAD DASH back to the hotel to tye some more of a hot pattern. Saturday morning we got up and after breakfast and a stop in to Gates Au Sable lodge to get the word and see some friends. After determining that the south branch in the Mason Tract was going to just be too high to float we decided to head to Thindera to put in. When we got to the river around 1:30 we were greeted by some of the best opening day weather we'd ever seen. It looked like this... 67 degrees and i got a sunburn. we had PLENTY of midges and blue wing olives. but we didn't see ONE SINGLE RISE! Several guys stopped by and would wade a while and give up saying there were no rises. we all tried drys, nymphs, streamers, and emergers to no avail. the bwo's that were hatching looked to be size 16s so i used that and 19 bwo's in both dry and nymph. not a single rise or hit. So we packed it up around 7 to begin again the next day. on sunday we went to a spot called dam 4. again, perfect weather and a water temp of 50 degrees. BWO's were hatching all over again as well as midges. saw several caddis pop off the water too. much bigger than i expected. we waded about a mile with no strikes until we came to this spot. i pulled three small trout from a log here on a #8 olive wolly bugger tied with olive ice dub instead of chenille. this wasnt just us. no one we talked to caught anything either. so to bed we went waiting for out drift boat trip on a drift boat we rented to float mio to cummins flatts. When we were pulling into the fly shop that rented us the boat it was 9:45 and 60 degrees. i had HIGH hopes. we fished all day and caught not a single fish and broke 1 rod. (my 4 wt of course...) the three drift boats we played checkers with all the way down the river all struck out as well. i dont understand it. beautiful weather, bugs, water temps over 50... should have been great. oh well. i had a great time and made a lot of good memories. e'll give it a shot in another few weeks. thats fly fishing though. never say always or never. haha. also... "its called fishing not catching" pics of the float from mio to cummins flatts.
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MICHIGAN TROUT OPENER! whats in your box?
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
God hates bait chuckers and penguin fans! HAHAHAHA -
MICHIGAN TROUT OPENER! whats in your box?
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
WORMS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha. -
MICHIGAN TROUT OPENER! whats in your box?
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
THOSE ARE BOTH GREAT PATTERNS! i just found a 3 person drift boat that i rented for monday and tuesday in mio! i'm pretty confident this will be the best year of fishing i've ever had! i've learned so much in the last year that i was missing in 6 years prior. Thank you to this site for being a GREAT resource for learning. -
MICHIGAN TROUT OPENER! whats in your box?
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
ok so plans are all set up. the weather looks like i'll be stretching my fishing trip out till wednesday! as i said earlier, i'll be with my grandpa and i'm wondering if you guys know any good shallow stretches to wade? -
MICHIGAN TROUT OPENER! whats in your box?
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
GREAT PATTERN! i'll try to tie something similar tonight only i'll have to use goose biots and zlon instead of hivis -
MICHIGAN TROUT OPENER! whats in your box?
throwinflys replied to throwinflys's topic in Fly Fishing Gear & Techniques
how do you fish a muddler as a dry? i'd never heard of that! what does it represent. the guys at gates just wrote me back and said size 14 hendricksons with tan ultrafine dubbing bodies are a MUST.