Swamp Fly

Thanks! Bookmarked for later. Swamp

Just received an email from the PA Fish and Boat Commission stating exactly what you said about the season opening. Apparently I'm still on the email list. I along with a group of friends would drive up to Kettle Creek from Florida and spend a week fishing and harassing each other. Cell phones didn't work, no TV reception, and if I really wanted to know what was happening in the outside world I would look at front page in the newspaper dispenser which was in front of Deb's Restaurant in Cross Fork. We did that for over ten years. It was great, we caught some great fish, made better memories, and aliens could have invaded the rest of the country and I wouldn't have known for a week. I wouldn't have cared if I did know. Listening to Phil grouse during the mandatory visit's to his Kettle Creek Tackle Shop was always a treat. Been 8-9 years since I've done that, I miss it. Some of those friends are gone now. Those of you that fish in that area remember how lucky you are next time the water is boiling because the coffin flies are thick. Be safe out there! Swamp

Just looked it up, enter Hoarding 2.0. After scanning over the article I looked, I don't think much will change. I'd say it's more of a mostly flaccid lockdown. Don't do anything unless there is a chance the state can collect some tax money off of it. At least the kegger parties might be over for real now. Guess I can still go fish the creek tomorrow, it's on the list of okay things. Swamp

Even more reason to be a fly fisher, most rods are much longer than 6'. Time to pull out a two hander...go ahead get close to me and see what happens. LOL Mike, I thought is was an official recommendation not an "order". Did that change?

Thanks for the link. Looks like they don't have that style in 1/16 but they do have some other options. I might drop them a line to see if they have some "off menu" items that are better. While there are times that I have done well with bright colors along the trail, I consistently do better with natural earth tone colors (I don't really consider tan/sand to be "dark"). Maybe it's because they see so may bright lures and flies. That is unfortunate with the Alley. I would have figured that the fish would be turned on with the outright hot weather we've been having (90+ since Friday). Every year it seems the fish want something different, it usually takes me a trip or two to dial in. Years ago I couldn't let a yellow and green Chernobyl Ant be any where near the water for more than a few seconds before something ate it, haven't been able to make them work at all for the last few. Last year it was medium to bright green buggers/leaches. Chart or fl. yellow popper always seem to do well along with yellow or while spiders for topwater. Tan divers tear the bass up most years. We'll see what's shakin' this year. Swamp

Capt. Bob, those look great. Can you get those in 1/16th oz.? I use UL spinning gear in the spots that I just can't fling a fly and 1/16th is the sweet spot for the blanks that I use. Commercial speck jig hooks just don't hold up for me so I don't bother. Throwing a tiny storm popper under the bridges is lethal. Usually can't see a thing, I just keep it moving and wait for the firecracker to go off. My favorite fly colors along the Trail are tan or black with just enough green pearl flashabou to look like a couple of scales that have been knocked off. A tan diver or in the surface bug are my go to flies. I only fish two lures when spin fishing. The smallest Rapala minnows in black over silver or gold is one. The other is the small storm hopper popper that is clear with black and brown highlights. I've tried the other popper colors and have never even been bit. I'm convinced they hit that color popper because they can't quite see it well enough to realize it isn't real. Swamp P.S. PM sent

I was thinking something similar but more along the lines of Tamiami Trail for Tarpon and Snook. Nice jigs Tidewater.

I figured they were about done. Missed them again. Proud young angler there and he should be. Nice mess o' big breem. Those Myans are all full grown too. I've been tearing the tilapia up on small black buggers or road runners with soft plastic shad/minnow bodies when the wind is up. They can be a hoot on light gear. At least the ramps seem to still be open in your neck of the woods. I hear most of them are shut down over here on the coast. I hope the Glads are not shut down, it's about time to go poke around. Swamp

Yeah, must be about as dangerous as standing by the desert section of the buffet! Those walkers turn into offensive weapons systems in a hurry. I'm 6'3" at 210+ lbs and have been studying martial arts for over 40ys, those Broads scare me. Discretion is definitely the better part of valor. "Yes Ma'mm, please go right ahead I insist." Never met a piece of pie that was worth getting cut off at the ankles. Swamp

I can't imagine the pressure you are under being responsible for your employees and to a lesser extent the pet owners. My folks adopted an older semi-stray mini pincher last summer, the family didn't want her any more. While the dog was not physically abused per se, she was neglected, badly over weight, bad teeth to the point of a fractured jaw etc. Needless to say the dog goes to the vet a lot. The dog had done something to her back or hips and was in pain so she needed to go in last week. The vet has taken a novel approach to the situation, owners have to stay in their vehicles and the staff comes out and take the animals inside to be treated or just treat the animal outside. It is essentially a drive through vet now. Obviously not something you are in a position to do since your patients are much worse off than the average veterinary office "emergency". People are coming up with unique ways of coping. While I am not in your area, I still want to thank you for what you are doing especially since there is a risk to you and your staff. Your job must be challenging enough under the best of circumstances given the nature of an emergency clinic. We love our pets, yes even the "foul retched creature" who laying is currently at my feet trying to look cute enough for me to want to rub his belly. I call him that on a regular basis so he doesn't get too proud of himself, I also tell him to go play in traffic but he summarily ignores me. He is also known as Snorri my shelter rescued Norwegian Forest Cat. I don't want to thingk about a situation where he needed urgent care and none was available, so again thank you. Swamp

I can relate. After about a year and a half I am finally ready to have a gathering in honor of my wife. It was supposed to be the weekend after Easter. Had to make a bunch of phone calls to cancel because of all of this. It's the right thing to do for so many reasons not the least of which is that my wife would be horrified if people were to be endangered because of her in any way. It still sucks. I have nothing to tell people as to when it will happen now. Sorry you have to deal with the same kind of thing. I've at least have some distance from her passing, it's still fresh for you and yours. Best wishes. Swamp

Will, Thank you so much for this and everything else that you have been doing. I know that it is for the most part a thankless job you have been doing since when everything is running well no one notices but when things go south people start gathering in groups with pitchforks. Thank you Swamp

Jeeze, I'm glad he is alright. Most people that I know that have a carry permit are actually carrying right now. That might have ended differently, over orange juice... I agree people are nuts and even worse some are dangerously stupid. One of the things that we can do and not have a whole lot of "social contact" is go fishing. I'm blessed here in FL because I can do that year round without relying on "hard" water so I've been doing some ultra light spin fishing lately instead of fly fishy because of the gale force winds that have been prevalent as of late. I decided to go to Bass Pro yesterday to pick up some extra panfish jig bodies in case I can't in a few weeks. Since I was already there and the neighborhood is in the midst of a racoon population explosion I went to grab some extra hollow point ammo in .223. I found what I needed easily enough but I noticed not a single box of pistol ammo on the shelves. Really? Are people expecting to shoot the virus? I have a bad habit of not confining my inside my head voice enough and that comment got me some dirty looks from the line of people that I assume were reserving ammo from the next shipment. Someone close to me looked at me with mirth and quietly said he thought people were afraid of looters. I laughed and replied that looters tend to hit when everyone is away like during hurricanes, if things get bad it will pretty much be guaranteed everyone will be home. More dirty looks. At that point I felt it best to get on with my shopping before some white picket fence owning suburban prepper wannabe decided to get confrontational about it, not worth it despite the amusement it might have provided. Besides I would not have been blameless since I made the comment to start with. Swamp

I followed Nivekers link. Thanks. Mike, with that box in the middle I think that is a commercial fishing vessel and not likely a net boat but rather a long liner. Who knows how long that head was just sitting in the water before being hauled up, that would explain the lack of blood. The "article" said the head weighed about 100kg so about 220 lb. I suppose that could be correct but I'm not so sure. With the perspective of the photo the head could be just about any size, the head is close and the person farther away. To my eye it looks like three distinct half circle bites on the head so it may not have been that big of a shark that ate the rest, maybe even a number of sharks. Given the way the piece was written and vernacular used I don't know how much I would trust any "facts" from it. Still an entertaining piece and fun to think about in that horror movie kind of way. It reminds me that there are very large creatures out there that could just about eat us without chewing. Swamp

Nope still don't, but I'm a firm believer that when something isn't working right check the idiot using the equipment. In other words it's probably on my end, might be a Firefox issue or my ISP protecting me from all the bad things out there. Thanks for checking. Swamp

Twist my arm..ouch, ouch! LOL! Done! I need to start looking at the water height stations and then we'll hit it. That one came out of the river? I had no idea they were in there. I know the Myans are in there, I can even catch those in my cow pasture during rainy season. Not sure if the Oscars are in the river, I'm not sure but I think the Mayans are a little more cold hardy. Are the specks still in the grass or are they done? Swamp

Hey Duck, don't forget to use some Hoppes #9 for that extra clean feeling! Before toilet paper there was newspaper, before that they used rags (you washed your own), and before that the rabbits steered clear of the outhouse.... All of this reminds me of an old East German joke: A man together with a bunch of strangers is riding in a street car, he has two big bags full of toilet paper rolls. Everyone else in the car is staring at him until finally someone speaks up and asks if he would share which store had that much toilet paper was for sale. The man say that he was very sorry but he was actually coming back from the dry cleaners. Swamp

I'm not seeing anything in your post and my curiosity is peaked because Sebastian Inlet is part of my old stomping grounds. There is a spot just off of the south jetty that is called Monster Hole every once in a while there is a reminder of why it is called that. Then again in front of Spanish House, which is a few miles north of the inlet, a very dear friend of mine was in the line up waiting for a good set when a great white swam by. He said it rolled over far enough so that it could give the guys the hairy eyeball as it cruised by. Apparently everyone decided without saying a word that surfing wasn't that important that day and paddled in. Swamp

I can tell you from first hand experience that Jaguar Guapotes are indeed tasty! Nice one. BTW for those interested yes they will readily take flies. Caloosa, how are the water levels south of the Lake? Once they get low enough the fishing will just go insane and I'm starting to get twitchy! Swamp

Is it just me or did the site get a facelift? Maybe new software or provider? I saw nothing but a blank page since Fridayish. I finally got something just now. Not complaining, just curious. Swamp

flytier, I hadn't visited Jim's fly Co before this. Thanks for that. Swamp

I hope it was barbless. He said she was talking to him, not that she was over it. Of course the salad had barbs in it! JK, glad the pooch is okay. I have been so fortunate with my pets, including the cats. Other than an occasional/casual sniff none of them have ever had any interest in any of my tying gear. Swamp

Perfect use of a deer hair loop/brush. I use the same technique on flys that don't need to float like a cork since I never seem to get the density I prefer for bigger bugs. With the foam these look like they would float for days. Darn it, now my fingers are twitching and I can't rationalize tying right now! Again those ties look great. Swamp

I'll bet that will skate nicely! I wonder how that would do as a caddis pattern in the right colors. Thinking further, that would make a great bass pattern if tied on a stinger style hook. I'm going to have to tuck that away for future use. Nice pattern and a great example of it, thanks for sharing. Swamp

I'm with Mike, never seen ANYTHING eat one fish or otherwise. I do know the remnants will eat automotive paint so that does not bode well. Your fly looks good though and I would not be surprised if it gets eaten with gusto. I thinking that you might do better with it when the naturals aren't around if they taste nasty! LOL Swamp (who just notice some love bugs flying around a few days ago...)