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Freddo

Casting Class Tomorrow Morning; Need Fly Suggestions (please)!

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Oh indeed, I was not accusing Freddo of mishandling fish, just a mention how I do it. I'm no internet police here but at the same time some folks just plain don't know. And Mike I agree, wet hands, get the shot, put it back or take it. It's the individuals call on all that stuff. I do feel if a person is catching and releasing it makes sense not to wreck the fish. I saw some spin fishermen in a boat recently, first they were right off shore from me, decided to anchor, banging and clanging in the aluminum boat. When and if they caught a fish, the fish was literally skiing over the surface of the water they cranked it so hard and fast, whack goes the fish off the side of the boat, boom goes the fish dropped in the bottom of the boat and them swearing because the barbed treble hook is stuck. And finally splash, the fish is back in the water. Great sportsmen I thought..

 

On the bait fish Freddo saw, I thought Golden Shiner from the description too. You don't need an exact match Freddo, size, siloutte a hint or insinuation at the color.. Then action, how you retrieve may actually be more important than exact match.. Try something generic,Micky Fin rainbows like in some waters for instance. Just sayin. Tie a Black Nosed dace in about teh right size, alter the patterns, use a silver body and gold rib ( I find those work in a lot of places I go to).

 

Also , rainbows can take a faster retrieve than some other species generally speaking ( sometimes).. That alone should get you away from pan fish with streamers. Streamers and a slow lazy retrieve is a sure bet for things like perch, chubs, maybe Crappie etc. Obviously with flies you kind of got to do what the hatch is doing. But ya know what, I've seen trout and slamon take a stripped caddis, your panfish probably won't go for that

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Hi Men -

 

About the fish handling since there's some talk about it. I care about them. I just bought a better net to avoid the poor mess that last trout faced. I need to smash the barbs too for easier release. And as far as releasing, I do release most fish I catch unless lunch or dinner is a idea we head out with. I appreciate, like all your posts guys, the support and that you do care about the fishing -and- the fish.

 

I'll get to tying some streamers soon and thanks for the pattern names Dave. It looks like I'll need some "more" materials to tie them. I no longer need excuses to get to the fly shop, I just don't have a huge inventory; it's growing though!

 

I should get out to the water again this weekend to see how it goes. Maybe I can get a streamer tied before the trip. Is a wooly bugger considered a streamer?

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Woolie Buggers can be considered streamers. They can be a good base for a sculpin rendition. Good base for crawfish. Good base for large stoneflies. All depending on little modifications and how they are fished.

 

I think you want somthing that flashes a bit and shows some side profile though. I recently watched a decent video on tying a Golden Shiner using Ice Dubbing as body and wing material. As mentioned in another post I'm taking a liking to some fake furs these days, like Syn-Yak and others.

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Woolie Buggers can be considered streamers. They can be a good base for a sculpin rendition. Good base for crawfish. Good base for large stoneflies. All depending on little modifications and how they are fished.

 

I think you want somthing that flashes a bit and shows some side profile though. I recently watched a decent video on tying a Golden Shiner using Ice Dubbing as body and wing material. As mentioned in another post I'm taking a liking to some fake furs these days, like Syn-Yak and others.

 

Hi Dave -

 

If you can share a link to that video, I'd appreciate it. You can PM me if needed (I'm not sure of the rules in here for posting live links; I suppose I should read up).

 

With your advice, I went out today to the same spots on the same river I fished last Thursday where I caught that first trout and where all those minnows were loving my Zug Bug. This afternoon I used that woolly bugger pattern you mentioned a while back having a peacock body and black marabou tail. I caught three nice rainbows on it (I missed one too). They were not slamming it as hard as my first trout the other day but it was great to see that rainbow color flash after setting the hook and knowing it wasn't another sunfish. I was using about a size 8-10 I think. I guess the size of it stopped the shiners from trying to take it because I caught "0" of them (but they loved the Zug Bug on Thursday). I caught fewer sunfish too. So size may matter a bit. I do want to try the Mickey Finn and Black Nose Dace after I get the materials to tie some (for trout and bass). I considered using the olive and black bugger patterns today too but had such great success with your material selections at the lake while learning to hook set, I went out with those on the line. They work extremely well!

 

Tonight at the lake there was mayflies all over the place. They were kinda big and have a couple of long hairlike things coming out of their abdomen. I just looked at pix and that's what they were; they looked white against the water as I looked at them from about 8' above (we were on a boardwalk on the dam of the lake). Little by little I'll learn the local hatches and insects. I flipped a few rocks too and all I found were tiny little wiggly guys. Some resembled scuds and wiggled a lot. I "think" I came across one caddis larvae too (green and caterpillar like; very small). I need to carry my 10x loupe with me and head there without fishing gear to focus on that for an hour or two. I feel it'd be time well spent.

 

Now to scope out some new places to fish. I'm going to hit the NJ Freshwater Fishing Digest and Google maps to build myself a collection of maps and access points to get to other places to fish.

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Hopefully tomorrow I can try out my first ever leader I tied after work is done (the weather here should be fine). Thanks DaveG for encouraging me. I've got at the ready, one 7.5' 2x to try casting the bigger flies with. I'm looking forward to getting the hang of knowing what leaders work best with which flies and now having the material to tie the leaders, it's just time out on the water and learning.

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The new home tied leader worked great - I was able to cast this with ease (7.5' 2X)! Sorry for the delay posting. So exciting to tie the flies *and* now the leaders too! This streamer is sort'a kind'a like something I saw in an image and I used what I had here to dress it. The squirrel tail is from a local road kill; poor critter came to good use. A small largemouth enjoyed it and I suppose the big ones would too. Here's an image I shot in the back of the vehicle before the gear came out and headed down to the water:

 

002.jpg

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Awesome news Freddo! I'm glad to see you're still learning. I'm a really big fan of anything made with the color white within the pattern. minnows, poppers, terrestrials.... I guess it really depends on what works best for you in your area. I'd visit a reputable fly shop and see what are the most bought patterns in your area that would be my approach.

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Thanks for the inspiration PJ2! The shops here that advertise in "Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide" get copies to give away for free and I grab one when there are new copies. The publication has a "Fly Fishing Guide Hatch and Pattern Chart" in it and there's a chart for each state the publication serves. The chart lists streams, the insect/fly, sizes, and dates. Quite nice and most likely requires some interpolation as not every body of water is listed. It was great to get me started knowing what's out there near me without becoming an entomologist overnight.

 

The squirrel tail streamer in the image is the first streamer I've ever tied (I tied two that night and gave one to my son). He gets at least one of everything I tie (and actually has more flies than I do at the moment because he received all my "beginner tied flies"; and they've caught gills galore). It was fun to tie a streamer after tying wets and nymphs since I started. So far the only dries I've tied and fished are the elk hair caddis.

 

I was going to log what caught what but realized I'd be at my laptop more than the rivers/lakes. I learned this quick after I was able to cast effectively... "FISH LIKE FLIES"! I would wager that I've caught more fish per outing using a small fly than I ever would in a day using the salmon eggs that were my staple for fishing, I've also found that in a river I've fished for many years using "only" salmon eggs produced more species than I knew were in there...because they like the flies!

 

After my mere third fly fishing trip to my local river (third of my life) I realized I may never go back there with spinning gear again. This is just WAY more fun!

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Somehow I missed the update on the 17th-18th ( preparing to see and then seeing Kelly I guess). Great news then Freddo !! A double win with the fly and the leader. You can now spin off of that pattern and make some variations of it.. I'd keep the red tag and maybe try some different throat colors, for instance. Yellow comes to mind, also a natural colored throat, Again for variation. You may find that one produces better for certain species or waters, weather conditions, or just over all even.

 

Take care and keep your eyes open for a Macked Red Squirel out on the roads, those tails are another variation. I actually use red squirel tail in my Muddlers these days.

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