Chris_in_Louisiana

I'm still in the accrual phase of my tying career, but I know of a few instances where individuals have donated to their local fly fishing club. If no one in the family is interested that is likely the easiest option. As an alternative, find a local kid who is getting into fly fishing and gift it to them. I received a large portion of my early materials by pure luck. I was visiting my grandparents in Florida and brought a fly rod along. Apparently a gentleman who lived a few blocks away saw me catching jack and ladyfish with my fly rod and decided that I was deserving of his "modest" (quite extensive in my young eyes) tying collection. He reached out to my grandparents and met me the following evening with a large sewing box filled with goodies. I still have the remnants of the grizzly saddle hackle that was included along with bits of deer hair and some hen necks from that box 25+ years later. Chris

Much appreciated as always, Kim! Chris

Morning guys, As it's too cold to venture out and fish this morning, I thought I'd go ahead and add another recent SBS from the blog. This started out as a larger Borski Slider-esque "crab" pattern with the intent of targeting reds, but I decided to downsize in hopes of targeting carp. In the end though, I think this may prove a better crayfish imitation for targeting spotted and smallmouth bass in streams. Thus far, the local largemouth approve. Hope it's of interest to some of you. Full SBS at the link: Hackle & Hair Crawfish Step-by-Step

Looks great!

Murdich Minnow Hook: Gamakatsu B10S Stinger #4 Thread: 70 Denier (White) Tail (bottom layer): Bucktail (White) Tail (middle layer): Krystal Flash (Pearl) Tail (top layer): Flashabou (Holo Silver) Collar: Flashabou (Holo Silver) over Synthetic Fiber (White) Body: Estaz Chenille (Opal White) Eye: Cheap Stick-on adhered with superglue Other: Silver Sharpie to color back

Thought about it a bit. Put me down for Clouser's Swimming Nymph. Never leave home without it. Chris

Count me in if there's still room. I'll have to think about which pattern, but I'm long overdue for joining a swap. Chris

Sorry. Just noticed your reply. Brian and Emily Constantino. I believe their new place may officially be in North Pole not Fairbanks. He's never really ice fished before, so it will be interesting if he does decide to take it up. And I'll certainly make a point of stopping by when we make it up. Chris

Morning guys, I just finished putting together another Step-by-Step and thought it might be of interest to some. I came across the recipe for this one in Barry Reynolds' "Carp on the Fly." Unfortunately, that's the only reference I've been able to turn up for it. As far as I can tell, it appears to be a take on Barr's Damselfly Nymph. Just upsized and tied on a 6x streamer hook. Reynolds' target is the titular carp, but I have to believe this will be great for any warmwater species in a weedy pond. An abridged SBS is below, but more details and the full recipe are at the link if you're interested: https://fatfingeredflytyer.com/barrs-dragonfly-nymph-step-by-step/ Hope it's of interest to some! Chris

Looks like a fun couple of trips. My sister and brother-in-law just moved up to Fairbanks. He's dead set on getting me up to ice fish at some point, but I think I'm going to hold off until at least next winter for that. I'll probably shoot for an early September trip this year. And consider visiting for an ice fishing trip at some point after that. Chris

Shoot me a PM, and I'll get you pointed in the right direction. Chris

Great looking rod! Chris

I can attest to tying up a few deceivers on 4/0 hooks using my Medallion (standard jaws) this past weekend. No issues at all.

Managed a nice little post-cold front bass while testing out some new Deceivers on Sunday. Missed a second one of similar size yesterday on lunch break. Really excited to see these fish as I've only landed one decent bass out of this pond in the past two years. They were quite common when I first moved in, but became extremely difficult to find after a boom in fishing activity during the 2020 lockdown. If anything the added harvest in 2020 may have benefited the pond in the long run as it thinned out the over abundance of 1 lbs fish. Now to go find one of the 8-10 lbs lunkers my neighbors swear are in there. Chris

Yep. Nice catch! I caught them up to about 7.5" on small streamers, woolly buggers and damsel fly patterns this past year. Hoping one of Kim's series of flies can push me into the 9-10" range before I submit for a state record. They sure are fun on a UL fly rod.

Good looking flies, Kim! I've still got the series you sent me tucked away in my warmwater stream box. I plan on putting them to use when I try to set the state Grass Pickerel fly rod record (Currently vacant) later this winter/spring. So, assuming things go according to plan, this will be one for the record books before too long. Chris

Spent some time this weekend tying up a few larger deceivers for my trip to the northeast in May. Really liked the one below, so I decided to give it a test run out back. Caught a ~4 lbs largemouth on the fourth cast. Not bad for a chilly January morning. Hook: Kona BGC (4/0) Tail: Whiting Streamer Hackle (Olive/Highlander Green/Orange) Body: Bucktail (Olive/Yellow/White) Body Flash: Hareline Ice Wing (Minnow Back) Throat Flash: FTD Northern Lights (Red/Red)

I've been 99% fly rod only for the past 3 years. I found it was too easy to give up on the fly rod in adverse conditions (especially windy days in the salt). And, as a result, I felt I wasn't improving as much as I could with fly gear. So...the spinning rods began collecting dust. As my skill with the fly have improved, I just don't see a reason to even consider spinning gear anymore. I landed 45 species, ranging from Bantam Sunfish and Brook Trout to Grass Carp and Tiger Muskie, on the fly last year. And I'm shooting for 50+ species this year (9 so far). I do keep the spinning gear maintained for when friends visit though. Chris

Believe it or not, that was after the tide had risen for half the day. We were belly crawling kayaks through the muck to get out there at dawn. Well worth it though when the fish are biting.

Hey guys, Thought I'd share a few photos from my first marsh trip of 2022. These trips have become a bit of a tradition as the redfish can be on absolute fire if I time the tide and weather correctly. That proved to be the case two and a half out of four days on this trip as I landed ~40 reds on day 1. And combined with my cousin for 90-100 reds before the weather went south. Other highlights include a flounder on the fly for both of us, a sheepshead I sadly lost and the large trout (20+") my cousin caught on spinning gear from the side of the road (fly rods weren't even rigged yet). More pics and the full story are at the blog link below: https://fatfingeredflytyer.com/january-redfish-2022-edition/

Slowly stocking my winter redfish box the past few days with a couple bushy Borski Slider variants and some crab/craw patterns. Sliders are tied on Gamakatsu SL11-3H (#1) hooks and the crab/craw is tied on a Gamakatsu SS15 (#1).

Thank you, Scott!

I was playing around with redfish patterns this weekend and decided to downsize some for my carp box. Hackle & Hair Crawfish Hook: Gamakatsu SL45 Bonefish hook (#6) Thread: 140 Denier (Brown) Weight: Dumbell Eyes (XS; Black) Eyes: Mono & UV Resin (Black) Mouth parts: Marabou (Crawdad Orange) over Krystal Flash (Rootbeer) Claws: India Hen feather tips (Crawdad Orange) Thorax: Ice Chenille (Burnt Orange) Abdomen/Legs: India Hen feather (Crawdad Orange) Carapace: Deer Body Hair (Natural; though I probably should have used a darker brown)

They can be fished as either a streamer or nymph And, yes, I tied them as part of a trout box re-stock. I did, however, give them a test run with the local panfish on Tuesday afternoon. Happy to say the local Crappie approved of the olive version. Just need to go back and make some tweaks on the next few. Primarily a few wraps of flash around the shank to the rear of the Ostrich Herl.

Sat down at the vise last weekend for the first time in quite a while. Mayer's Mini Leech (jig-style) Hook: Firehole 516 (size 16) Bead: 2.5mm slotted tungsten (Nickel Black) Thread: 70 Denier Tail: Pine Squirrel Zonker Body: Ostrich Herl