DFoster

Nice fish on a classic river!

Thanks all! I hope those memories will last a lifetime with the little man- Besides I've got to leave all my fishing and tying stuff to someone!

This spill over is a wonderful place for anyone to learn to fly fish but especially children. There is a steep drop off at the shore edge and you only need to be able to cast out 10' or so to reach the deep water where the fish hold. It's a forgiving location with few things to snag on and room for a reasonable back cast. The pool is loaded with nice blue gills who don't care much if your drift isn't perfect. Friday I was able to take my 7 year old grandson out for little while. As you can see in the video his casting needs a little work but he's only 7 and better technique will come in time. The hook set was a bit of a problem with lots of strikes coming with a little too much slack line out. Also with the 5' 3" rod he was using you can't take up much of it when lifting on the strike. Learning these basics is just part of it and he did his best to follow a few pointers. I'm proud to say he was able to land 9 fish on his own in a little under an hour. Another and perhaps more important teachable moment occurred when he sunk a #14 foam hopper in his calf almost to the hook bend of the barbless hook. I quickly popped it out and while I put a band aid on him we had the "This is why we use barbless hooks and ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS wear sunglasses when we fly fish" discussion. A small band aid from the first aid kit is far better than the pain inherent with removing barbed hooks. There was no crying but I still asked him if he wanted to stop and head home. He looked at me like I was crazy and said sternly "I want to keep fishing"! I couldn't have been more proud.😊 IMG_0734.MOV

Yup- I have a can just like that. I don’t know about the other brands, but it certainly works well with Sally Hansen’s.

The shipping system hasn't been the same since covid. My daughter and son in law ordered a new standing freezer from a box store. It had some minor cosmetic damaged when it was delivered so they called to get an exchange. Our daughter told them that no one would not be home for the delivery but that the damaged freezer was in their unlocked garage and to just exchange it. When she got home she found that they had delivered to them someone's complete kitchen including a dishwasher, a stove and a refrigerator. Yet the damaged freezer still remained. More phone calls eventually resulted in the pick up of the kitchen appliances followed with a delivery of a new undamaged freezer but they still left the damaged freezer. After a few months my son in law sold it cash, considering that as a fee for putting up with stupid people.

I'm not familiar with the LL but a great fly rod is something to use an cherish. Good for you Gene!

I use 3 head lockers depending on what I'm doing. SHHAN is great stuff and it's what I use on most of my flies. If the pattern calls for U.V. resin somewhere on the body I will also use it on the head. I also prefer U.V. for gloss heads like those on winged wets. Bees wax on the thread prior to the whip finish works well if I want a dull head.

Thanks Mark- The Ausable Bomber was a "go to" brook trout fly of a friend who is now passed.

Small but wild-

FLAME THROWER- VARIANT HOOK: #6 UP EYE THREAD: #140 RED TAIL: YELLOW AND RED BUCK TAIL TAG: GOLD OVAL TINSEL- RED FLOSS ABDOMEN/BODY: LIFE CYCLE CADDIS DUBBING ORANGE RIB: GOLD OVAL TINSEL HACKLE: ORANGE AND RED HEN WING: NATURAL BUCK TAIL CHEEKS: JUNGLE COCK HEAD: S.H. HARD AS NAILS

AUSABLE BOMBER HOOK: #14 2XL DRY THREAD: FIRE ORANGE #140 TAIL: MUSKRAT GUARD HAIR ABDOMEN/BODY: AUSTRAILIAN OPPOSSUM HACKLE: BROWN AND GRIZZLY WING: CALF BODY HAIR HEAD: HARD AS NAILS

If you intend to fish with your flies you will be amazed at how little the fish care about premium materials. When I started I caught some really nice trout on some really poorly tied flies some of which I tied from feathers that my grandson collected from their chickens or from under the bird feeder. The dogs in our family had undercoats that made reasonable dubbing. After all using what was at hand is how this craft got started in the first place. Expensive materials have their place but save the pricey stuff for after you get some time at the vise. Good luck and enjoy!

According to Eric Austin the PMD No Hackle Dun is "the most difficult fly to tie correctly, bar none." I can't say I've ever tied one so I don't know. His video is below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Hpt4kMt4o

Nice fish Guys!