"The dude abides."

[TheDude 0]

Yo!

 

My name's Brad. I'm 30 and I've been fishing since I was... hmm... well, a long-@$$ time. Yet, fly-fishing has been but a small part of my angling experience. I'm primarily a spin-caster. Throughout my childhood I caught mainly largemouth bass and panfish, sometimes carp. My bro introduced me to FF'ing (for trout) when I was in high school and I never had much luck... well, no luck to be precise, but then again, during that time I only went out maybe a dozen times or so and I get the feeling that fly-fishing is sort of like targeting pike (from my experience)--you have to do it a lot before you get the hang of it. It's not like catching 'gills with bobber and worm (though that idea always brings back good memories...) My brother also taught me about fly tying at this point, which I thought was one of the coolest things ever. "You make your own lures?! Nice!!" He taught me some basic stuff about dries, nymphs, streamers and terrestrials, took me out one time to seine for nymph specimens, and I even remember managing to tie a passable muddler minnow at one point.

 

Regretfully though, I went off to college and left all of my gear home Thus began a nearly ten-year span where I did absolutely no fishing at all... After a long confusing time spent in upstate NY I moved in with one of my college buds, who was living in the Cayuga and Seneca lake area of the finger lakes. He has a boat... and the fishing itch started all over again. We caught many a laker, trolling/downrigging with spoons and Yo-Zuri minnows the first season I was there and the following season ('04) we started tackling the local creek by canoe (which we previously thought was un-navigable--it's kind of a swampy area when the water's low). Hammering the channels and reeds with buzz-baits, or "ditch-weasels" as we dubbed them, we pulled in bass after bass, with some real winners in the mix, and the occasional longed-for pike (with of course plenty of other species, including a bowfin!?!?!).

 

I'd always thought fly-fishing was mainly a "trout/salmon thang" but here I come to find out that other types are just as popular! *Cheer* I've since moved back home to Baltimore, my bro got me an inexpensive Cortland fly-rod/reel combo for Christmas, and I'm looking to get reaquainted with fly-fishing, especially the fly-tying part. I've always been a creative type (I went to school for music, by the way), so tying flies is right up my alley. I got myself a cheap-o fly-tying kit to suit me until I know what I'm doing again and have taken the time to research what kind of stuff I'll want to be tying.

 

So at this point though I have three goals:

1) Integrate my spin-casting experience with fly-fishing to catch some killer bass and pike.

2) Learn as much as possible about tying my own flies.

3) Eventually master fly-fishing for those pesky, picky, snobby TROUT!!

 

...and perhaps even move on to other types of FF'ing (for stripers, musky, salmon, tarpon, bonefish... and whatever else strikes my fancy and/or travel budget). ... (My bud from upstate NY and I have a pipe-dream that we mention from time to time about running a guide-service where he handles the boating/big-water part and I handle the fly-fishing part ... 'twould be nice.)

 

So anyway, I like the look of this forum, lots of informative stuff here, knowledgeable folks, and it seems to be pretty active, so I think I'll be checking in from time to time with questions and random nonsense. Nice ta meet y'all!

 

TheDude

 

... and in case you haven't guessed by now, one of my fav flicks of all time is The Big Lebowski, heh.

[Michigan Trout Guy 0]

What's up dude.

 

"His wife goes out and owes money all over town, and they come and pee on MY rug?!!"

 

"They PEED on YOUR f!@#ing rug!!!"

 

"They peed on my f!@#ing rug."

 

 

"That's right dude.......they peed on your f!@#ing rug.

 

 

 

 

 

I love that movie. One of Goodman's best performances.

Welcome aboard.

 

MTG

[flounder 0]

welcome to FTF. we're glad to have you--really "ties the room together." I'm new to tying myself, but everyone here has been extemely helpful, and the knowledge-base is unsurpassed.

[wilcara 0]

Nice intro Dude - welcome from me.

[TheDude 0]

Hehe, dude, "really ties the room together", really ties the MOVIE together! Niiiice Yeah, I guess the ties thing is pretty appropriate in this forum.

 

@MTG I agree. I was never really a John Goodman fan until this movie. He always struck me as a stereotype sarcastic fat-guy actor until "Walter" hit the screen. Then the militant schizo Nam-vet thing (though always "right", i.e. the sarcastic "They're gonna kill that poor woman!") struck a chord with me, juxtaposed with the wonderful "s'all good" post-hippie-era everyman Jeff Bridges and the "that's too obvious" unfortunate idiot Steve Buscemi.

 

"'Phone's ringin', Dude."

 

"Thank you, Donnie!"

 

... always identified with Donnie, 'cause... well, my first name's Donald. Always identified with The Dude, 'cause, well... I'm a laid-back kinda guy...

 

"F--- it, dude. L'es go bowlin'"

[Graham 0]

Hey Dude, I'm like totaly stoked you joined. Nice intro, looks like you really want to tye and fish flies, do it well, and f%?&*n nail those snobish trout. You've found a cool place to hang out and learn to do it. Welcome aboard.

 

Graham

[TheDude 0]

@Graham... your realistics look freaking AWESOME!! I'm completely mystified at this point as to the whole "realistic" bit--it's new to me... "ching, ching: cash-money"--but, damn those contest shots look incredible, man... Kudos! And thanks I always manage to find myself amongst a buncha weirdos anyway, so may as well be a bunch of fishin'-smart weirdos, eh?

[Michigan Trout Guy 0]

Dude,

 

You nailed it. I almost forgot about Donnie.

 

"Are they Nazis Walter?"

 

 

"No Donnie, these men are Nialists...nothing to be afraid of."

 

"Are they gonna hurt us Walter?"

 

"No Donnie, these men are cowards."

 

[bentflyrod 0]

Hello Brad !

 

Welcome to the Fly Tying Forum! I do have to correct you on one thing, we are not weird, we are eccentric! I hope you enjoy it here!

 

BFR

[GHow 0]

Hey Dude,

Spin-casting is nothing to be ashamed of:

 

 

Zebco UL3 on a Eagle Claw fiberglass 4ft 10in "Feather Light"

[TheDude 0]

Not a chance!

 

I still intend to do as much spin-casting as fly-fishing. Now when I head out for bass and/or pike though, I'll be taking a fly rod with my spin casting stuff. Variety is a good thing

 

Nice bass, by the way! Ooo, pics! That's a good idea... I'll post some after sorting through them. All my pics from the last two years are in no particular order on my hard drive. It's about time I browsed them again anyway. The itch is getting stronger every day now.

[Graham 0]

Yo Dude,

 

Thanks for the supportive remarks, truly appreciated. Below I'm posting a couple pic's of a killer pattern that should get off you to a good start fly fishing and tying. I'm not sure what the correct name for this fly is, I'm sure others tye something very similar. The fly is simply a strip of fur tied on at the rear of the hook, creating a little tail, and then the fur strip is wound around the hook and tied off at the head. It’s super easy and fun to tye and this fly will catch many species of fish, including bass, pike and trout. The strips of fur can be bought at any fly shop, typically called Zonker strips. Fox, muskrat, rabbit etc work. White and black are good colors as well.

 

Graham

 

 

 

 

[TheDude 0]

Here we go.

 

 

Yay, lakers! (Caught on black/silver Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow and/or gold Warden Flatfish, both trolled behind a flasher rig)

 

 

One of the prettier ones we pulled out of that creek last year. (Caught on chart. buzz-bait)

 

 

He's a little anemic looking, but he still gave a good fight. This will always be my favorite one, since he was the first one I ever caught. (Chart. buzz-bait again)

[TheDude 0]

Oh wow That's a neat looking fly and seems super easy to tie. Thanks for the tip.

 

Actually it reminds me a little of the one fly I've "tied" in the last year. I was explaining to my bud about fly tying and we collaborated on a MacGuyver-style pike fly to help me demonstrate. We took two trailer hooks we'd been using on the buzz-baits and strung them together with a little guitar wire Then I cut up some some flashy silver ribbon stuff into thinner strips and tied it onto the front hook with some 6lb test for the tail and body. Then we found some gold tinsel garland and cut a little section out, wrapping once just below the head and again secured it with the 6lb test. We used a small wooden bead from a handmade hanging-plant holder for the head and left about 3 or 4 inches of the guitar string in the front of the fly for a built-in wire leader! That was one fun fly to tie. We laughed about it for hours, heh. Never did get a chance to throw it though. Maybe one day...

[Guest]

Welcome Dude, want to go bowling?

 

My favorite line from the movie is what Bunny said to The Dude when they meet (unprintable here, rent the movie if you don't know). The Dude's response was exactly what I would have said.