For the cheap at heart

[DFoster 0]

5 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

I generally don't prescribe to the match the hatch hooey and stick with general patterns that generally will imitate most things.  I don't believe even the best tied dry flies look anything like what they are suppose to look like. In a sense every fly we fish is merely a general representation of generally the real thing. 

Traveling light is a mindset. I have no unreasonable fears of not catching a fish of a lifetime because I don't have a fly in my pack. Overthinking fishing, like trying to pick a fly out of 500, is a buzzkill for me. The lord takes care of the simple minded. 

When it comes to choosing flies I couldn't agree more.  A Royal Coachman wet or dry always seem to produce for me but damned if I can figure out what the fish think it is. 

I wouldn't say I travel light though. I wade and tend to end up a long walk from my Jeep so I take a medium size chest pack.  Water, cigars, lighter, a snack and a micro first aid kit are the non fishing related residents.  I use everything I carry or it doesn't stay.  3 small boxes of flies -1 with dries, 1 with nymphs and 1 with a mix of wets.

[Jacks Grampa 0]

Lee Wulff said it looked like a piece of strawberry shortcake.

[Poopdeck 0]

4 hours ago, DFoster said:

When it comes to choosing flies I couldn't agree more.  A Royal Coachman wet or dry always seem to produce for me but damned if I can figure out what the fish think it is. 

I wouldn't say I travel light though. I wade and tend to end up a long walk from my Jeep so I take a medium size chest pack.  Water, cigars, lighter, a snack and a micro first aid kit are the non fishing related residents.  I use everything I carry or it doesn't stay.  3 small boxes of flies -1 with dries, 1 with nymphs and 1 with a mix of wets.

Well you always need water, a snack and a good cigar on a day trip. Three boxes of flies is traveling light. my first aid kit is a magic bus pill for migraines. Always keep a magic bus pull handy. It also goes in the shirt pocket. 

 

3 hours ago, Jacks Grampa said:

Lee Wulff said it looked like a piece of strawberry shortcake.

I believe he is right.

[DFoster 0]

16 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

Well you always need water, a snack and a good cigar on a day trip. Three boxes of flies is traveling light. my first aid kit is a magic bus pill for migraines. Always keep a magic bus pull handy. It also goes in the shirt pocket. 

 

I believe he is right.

For me it's always a game time decision  Choice A, take the absolute minimum and risk having to loose an hour hiking back to get something I need.  Choice B take more than I probably will need and deal with the bulk.   Last week while chasing fall fish I eventually came into a decent pool that was loaded with small size (12") large mouth.  Still fun on a 3 weight but sadly the streamer box was setting back in the Jeep.  

  The first aid kit is a great size.  I found it in the camping section at Target and it's a Coleman product.  The footprint is not much bigger than a credit card and about as thick as my thumb- just the basics to keep me on the water if I catch a piece of barb wire or have some other misadventure.

As far as the Royal Coachman/Wulff goes they always look like Christmas ornaments to me!

[Bill_729 0]

9 hours ago, DFoster said:

The first aid kit is a great size.  I found it in the camping section at Target and it's a Coleman product.  The footprint is not much bigger than a credit card and about as thick as my thumb- just the basics to keep me on the water if I catch a piece of barb wire or have some other misadventure.

+1.  I have found myself getting ensnared in lines leftover from people fishing for catfish (probably).  It is nice to be able to cut myself loose and move on.   That said, a little more of a "first aid kit" seems like a prudent idea. Mainly, I dread the day that I hook myself. I have knowledge about how to unhook myself, if necessary.  Fly line would probably make a good touniquit, if one was desperate.  I might add a few bandaids to my vest in case I get bit by a snake or something!  : )   My risk of drowning is probably not 0, depending on the locale. That helps make it fun, right?  : )   I DO wear a belt, and I haven't tipped over yet, but almost..lol

[DFoster 0]

10 hours ago, Bill_729 said:

+1.  I have found myself getting ensnared in lines leftover from people fishing for catfish (probably).  It is nice to be able to cut myself loose and move on.   That said, a little more of a "first aid kit" seems like a prudent idea. Mainly, I dread the day that I hook myself. I have knowledge about how to unhook myself, if necessary.  Fly line would probably make a good touniquit, if one was desperate.  I might add a few bandaids to my vest in case I get bit by a snake or something!  : )   My risk of drowning is probably not 0, depending on the locale. That helps make it fun, right?  : )   I DO wear a belt, and I haven't tipped over yet, but almost..lol

To your point- my wading staff is on a magnetic release like my net.  It hangs off the back of my pack on my left side (I'm right handed).  If I know wading is safe, the bottom is flat and without tripping hazards I leave it behind.  That said I do fish a couple of free stone rivers regularly that are like walking on ice and require a staff to navigate.  But it's one more thing to take along.

[Bill_729 0]

9 hours ago, DFoster said:

... and without tripping hazards

It always amuses me to think about writing the Department of Natural Resources, or whoever, and letting them know about the "tripping hazards" that they have out there in the river...under the water--some of them are sharp too. .  I'm sure they'll get right on it!  : )

[Poopdeck 0]

2 or 3 years ago I slipped and fell in the creek and split my knee open. Looked like a shark attack. I was only about a 1/2 mile from my truck but it felt like a 10 mile trek back and it hurt like hell. Ever since I carry a wading staff all the time. This is not optional anymore. It's just a birch tree branch with purple and black paracord handle that I call old smokey.  He is starting to split at the bottom so I may have to dig a new one out of the shed where I have a small collection of staffs drying. Being cheap at heart, all these wizbang collapsible staffs seems like a poor use of my money since I have no desire to carry them around collapsed and affixed to my body in some manner. Old smokey is in my hand every step I take or floating in the water when I'm standing still. 

[jamieofthenorth 0]

This is a brilliant idea! Thanks for the tip, Poopdeck. 

[samsonboi 0]

Try dunking ‘im in cheap spar urethane next time. If you thin it a LOT and leave it in for a couple days it’ll start impregnating with the grain and last much longer.

[chugbug27 0]

On 8/12/2020 at 7:06 AM, Bill_729 said:

Just please don't tell me you would rather use a shoe boxes-

Mom may have been a bit difficult at times, but she did try to raise me right. She called these "Polish luggage," and yes, that's where her parents came from... and that's where the fly boxes go. Hard to mess with tradition.

[Poopdeck 0]

2 hours ago, samsonboi said:

Try dunking ‘im in cheap spar urethane next time. If you thin it a LOT and leave it in for a couple days it’ll start impregnating with the grain and last much longer.

Yes I spar varnish them but I don't put anything on the tip so it gets ground off and chipped. They do last for years and I have plenty of spares ready to be assembled in the shed. A good trick for the paracord wrap, I like a katana wrap, is after wrapping it pour boiling hot water over the wraps and let it dry. As it drys the paracord shrinks and becomes super tight and set in stone. I've used my current one for a couple or so years now and the wraps are as tight as the day they dried. You have to use paracord that's to military specs and not some of the cheaper craft paracord for this to work. 

[fshng2 0]

On 8/12/2020 at 4:28 PM, Jacks Grampa said:

Lee Wulff said it looked like a piece of strawberry shortcake.

Regarding Royal Coachman.
This had my wife and I both chuckling.
I imagine fish drool and smack their lips at the mere sight of one.

[Bill_729 0]

On 8/14/2020 at 10:18 PM, Poopdeck said:

Old smokey is in my hand every step I take or floating in the water when I'm standing still. 

I assume you swing it around behind you somehow far enough away so that you don't trip over it.  What did you decide on an an optimal length of connector and what do you connect it to (a belt loop in my waders is all I can think of)?  I may have one of Smokey's cousin's in the closet to try out in a similar fashion...   And no, I don't mean my old cat of the same name..

[Bill_729 0]

17 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

Mom may have been a bit difficult at times, but she did try to raise me right. She called these "Polish luggage," and yes, that's where her parents came from... and that's where the fly boxes go. Hard to mess with tradition.

CB,

Ha! What, you don't like shoeboxes!?!   Since I mentioned that I spent $7 on my tote from Harbor Freight, it's probably apparent that I have moved on to the "land of milk and honey"... As the kids say, YOLO ("You only live once...")!   : )   Actually, I have an aluminum fly box that I probably spent about 2 hours wages on from the 1970s, which is easy to tote, and a greeting card box I use for some of my fly over-stock (the latter being flat, well-worn, and also my first fly box).  I once worked for an "outdoor retailer" which sold such things as aluminum fly boxes, so I practically  "had to" buy one, they being "right in my face";  and especially in light of my 20% employee discount.  My parents were raised following the (real?) depression, and some say "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree".  I have learned, or at least,  am frequently seeing evidence, that the secret to many things in life is "balance".   BTW, I gave myself my 2nd "pandemic haircut" today, and am doing the math on how rapidly my new hair clipper ($37.99) will pay for itself. I estimate, not too long (a little pun for you there!)  I'm looking forward to getting a wading staff like Poopdeck's. There are some fairly steep inclines I walk down just to get to the water, and I would be glad to have one.  A wading staff in one hand, a fly rod in the other, what could go wrong?  :  )

Bill