wschmitt3

Thanks BCT,

Only caught one rainbow on a brown wooly bugger, the fish measured a hair below 13". Had two other pretty good bites. One before and one after the catch. First one I completely missed the hook set, I was embarrassingly slow, and second one I lost due to a failed blood knot. I caught this fish (pictured below) and had a snag or two just before the broken knot. I considered and decided not to re-do my knots and wish I had because it was a very nice fish. Also I didn't double up on socks or insulation on my legs and I am freezing after about two hours of knee deep wading.

I have been fishing on the Connecticut for the last week or so (with no luck) but today is opening day for the rest of the rivers in Vermont. I am so excited to hit up some of my favorite and most productive spots on my home river (Wells River) today. I checked water temps an hour ago and they are up to 45 so here's hopin' that there is at least a few fish awake and looking for some food. I don't expect much but I hope to take my first rainbow of the year today.

Fingers and toes crossed!

"Sink, he says"

Hahaha....

"There’s no bastards in the world who like to argue more than fishermen"

This forum is evidence of that.

Awesome article, thanks for sharing it.

the fibers wont split while youre holding it in your hand

This is true... but with the fleximent they sometimes split while being tied in.

The hard time I have had with this fly in the past lies mostly with the wing pads being tied in. When I used the fleximent it was too stiff and when I tied in the turkey the fibers they would split apart and when the adhesive would come apart it would show a slightly white/milky appearance where it split or streched. When I said

It holds the fibers together very well when I cinch down on them and they dont get milky white when the fibers flex and crack the adhesive when they are attached the way that the fleximent did.

this is what I was talking about. This fly, however, will never see the water as is I am about to sit down and spend some time on these and this one is going to get torn down to the abdomen so I can keep trying the wing pads until I am satisfied with how they come out.

The other day I was at the L.L. Bean store in Lebanon, NH and saw a fly there called the Overley's Spotlight Emerger, I really liked the looks of it but wasn't really hot for the parachute style so I combined the elements of it that I liked (maraibou body, sparkle shuck) with the elements of the quigley's cripple and I subbed in a snowshoe wing.

After I took the picture below I float tested it and didnt like how it floated so I cut down the hackle on the bottom and now it sits very nicely on the surface.

Its funny how the white snowshoe wing disappears against my skin. Now to tie a few more.

They look nice. What color thread did you use? I tied up a bunch thinking that a red thread was the traditional/original recipie but it turns out it was an orange thread.

Whipped up a quick one. I dont plan to sit down and to tie any more today. The adhesive I got works great. It holds the fibers together very well when I cinch down on them and they dont get milky white when the fibers flex and crack the adhesive when they are attached the way that the fleximent did.

Here it is. I need to extend the wing pads a little more to make them more prominent.

Ten minutes after giving it a good spray down it is just about completely dry. It seems to have bonded the feathers together nicely, its flexible and it has a nice light sheen on it. Much happier than the result I get using brush on fleximent, so far.

I just got some gloss Patricia Nimocks Clear Acrylic sealer at wal mart today.

From Amazon (pretty close to what it says on the can, didnt want to retype all the description on the label)

"Durable, clear coating that seals prints, also for use over paint, lacquer, and varnish. Use as a sealer on bisque and stain-finished ceramics. Preserve maps, documents, prints, etc. This clear, waterproof sealer produces a non-yellowing finish. May be used as a pastel fixative or over antiquing glazes and stains. An ideal quick finish for wood, glass, metal, cast resin or plaster. Available in gloss finish. Comes in 12-ounce aerosols spray."

Thanks you all for the input and suggestions. Ill let every one know how it comes out.

Home owners insurance wont cover storm damage to the car done on the property?

Not many people fish the mosquito "hatch" it would be an easy nymph to tie though. I'd go with a simple thread body with a little bit of dubbing or peacock or ostrich herl near the hook eye on a very small fine wire hook (size 20-22) for an emerging mosquito id add a wisp of cdc top and bottom and for an adult i'd probably just use a very small griffith's gnat. with that said many of the midge and buzzer patterns will work in their small sizes. Think black beauties, smoke jumpers, disco midge WD-40

Welcome, There are many excellent threads on selecting materials and tools for getting started. Don't be afraid to chime in with questions or start a thread if you have a question that you don't find already covered. I recommend spending some time in the beginners forum.

I currently use an Umpqua Ledges 650 Waist pack. It is large but I like it allot. I do most of my fishing on foot so when I leave the house I like to make sure I have what I need, it has plenty of room for everything. That means a few (three usually) fly boxes, leaders, tippet spools, strike indicators, split shot, water bottle, head lamp, light weight rain coat(strapped to bottom in dry sack) even carrying 6-7 pounds of gear it is quite comfortable and it doesnt get in the way the way that a chest pack does.

I do miss being able to hang a net off of the neck strap of a chest pack though. My net has been a pain so far this year, I dont know why but the magnet I have doesn't seem to hold on quite as well as it did last year I may have to give a retractor another try.

I am also very seriously considering a Umpqua Steam boat creek or Simms Large Head waters sling pack I really like the idea of the sling pack. The carrying capacity and fit are great but lack of a full size water bottle holder on the out side is a big down side for me, during the summer I usually fill my water bottle with ice and water, the condensation will soak every thing in the pack and Id like to be able to have a rod tube attached for back country fishing, that leads me to my next thing...

I am in need of a replacement for my general purpose back pack I have been using a camelback 2 pocket hydration pack for 8 or 9 years and the zippers are not working well and it doesnt really suit my needs as a fly fisherman very well. It has a good capacity and excellent fit but it is lacking in many ways for fishing. With that said I am really impressed with the Surveyor backpack. It is really nicely made and fits perfectly.

Things may be up quite different up stream in Lancaster.

I am interested in a spray adhesive for treating turkey feathers for tying Kaufmann's Stone nymphs. I don't really want to do the trial and error thing and waste a turkey tail. I have used Dave's fleximent and a brush and it works but I'm almost out and I'd like to just do a feather all at once, easy and quick.

I'm still working on getting good at this pattern and I'm going to sit down some time in the next few days and perfect the technique for the wing pads so I'd like to treat a feather all at once before I do it.

I have read a few times that craft glue or fabric adhesive is the thing to use for this but I would like a brand recommendation from some one who knows.

When I recycle hooks from damaged flies or ones that I tied and later decided not to keep for what ever reason I usually cut the material off with an exacto knife. Be careful though a 20, 30 or even 50 cent hook isnt worth a nasty gash.

The Connecticut is coming up a little every day and is getting very tough to fish around here, I am not having any success fishing. So I couldn't say it would be a good time to fish the Connecticut this weekend since things are continuing to melt and we are expecting precipitation the next two days, I expect normal spring conditions on the Connecticut by Saturday(very high and fast flows). Call the Fly Rod Shop in Stowe. I believe they can give you an accurate report of the fishing conditions over that way (Winooski River, Mad River, Dog River,Little River), they don't tend to b.s. from what I understand. If it were me though I would bring it along just in case you see some fishy water thats open and fishable. Also the contitions tend to be very different west of the green mountains vs. on the eastern side of the state where I am so I dont know what to expect over there.

Are you taking the interstate or Rt. 302? I know of a couple beaver ponds along Rt 302 between the NH/VT state line and Montpelier on the Upper Waits River that should be thawed and have bookies you can fish to that are right along the road checking these out is my plan for opening day if my home water isn't fish-able due to run off. As long as the water isn't too crazy with run off a little black x-caddis or black gnat parachute or really any black dry fly should take a few.

Eide what do you call those flies and what is the material? Not the rabbit strip muddler flies. The ones on the scud hooks.

I.O.B.O Humpy fresh off the bench.

Saw the Hans Weilenmann video on you tube the other day, wanted to tie some up. I really like simple patterns. Only had time to tie up four today before the oven timer went off for dinner. Two in size 18 and two in size 16, I'm going to sit down some time tomorrow and tie up a few more in black and a few in natural dun I have some olive CDC I might tie up some with an olive body and a dun hump/wing.

They arent perfect but i think they will fish, I left the little loose pieces on the back end, its not how Hans does it in the video but I figure they cant hurt anything.

That's funny, I have the same lamp. I stripped off the base and integrated it into my bench thing.

Went down to the river for a little while today. Found a dead turkey and some march brown nymphs.

Hungarian Partridge for the legs then dark brown Squirrel SLF in a split thread.

Three inches of snow overnight. Whaaaaaaaatttt!!!!!!!!!

One more for today. Bead head Pheasant tail nymph, kinda a pheasant tail variation on the triple threat fly, at least that's what inspired me to tie this fly. I did a prototype (for lack of a better word) the other day and only got two done this evening (beer hindering finger dexterity) but I will knock out a few more tomorrow, I like the looks of it.

You better not!

I am kinda thinking the same thing. I fished mostly nymphs and buggers last year, I would like to fish dries more this year. Upper Sacramento, dry fly only? Is it an anadromous spawning area?