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kschu

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About kschu

  • Rank
    Advanced Member
  • Birthday 07/02/1959

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  • AIM
    n9kju
  • Website URL
    http://www.SmallieFishing.com/

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  • Location
    Wheaton, IL
  1. I got my set on Saturday. I'm always torn up about whether or not to fish them. I have several from the last swap that I just could not bring myself to putting on the line. What if they got to close to a tree? I can live with losing a fly when a fish breaks it off. At least I got to feel that "tug" on the line. But when I lose it to a tree or get one stuck in the rocks, that just hurts. Maybe I need a bigger piece of water. Where the trees are not quite so close. Great stuff. Thanks to all. SmallieHunter, I'll be watching for the next one. Thanks again. Ken
  2. As the long absent stranger opens his mouth, we hear "I'm in". Put me down for a dozen Cactus Chennile Damsel flies. One of my favorites. I just love new smallie patterns. Hey Will, do you remember, is that what I sent in for the first annual smallmouth fly swap. I could do something different. It is good to be back. Ken S. p.s. That 16.5" April 2004 Smallie was caught on a 4 wt outfit and one of these damsel flies.
  3. Hi Scott, We tied an M&M Fly at our tying session last Monday night. It is a modification on a clouser, tied with Marabou. I had done these before. I got 4 nice bass on a #10 version of the M&M the prior week, all 17" or more. Three Smallies and one BucketMouth. I also got a 10" bluegill. I had never even seen one that big before. These are rare up here in Northern Illinois. I have never seen a Bluegill bend an 8 wt rod like that before. Since this has been the most successful pattern of this years pre spawn fishing, I tied up 13 of them this week. I just got a padded envelope for the swap flies to make their return trip. I'm packaging the flies and will slide the padded envelop in a USPO Priority mail (2 day) flat rate envelope tomorrow morning on the way to our club's casting clinic. Scott, you will have the flies on Monday. Two day delivery for under 4 bucks. I love those flat rate envelopes. I had already tied 8 standard variety clousers when I decided to switch to the M&M. I love this little fly and figured the whole idea behind a swap is to see new and different variations. I hope it does as well for the rest of you as it does in my local waters. I'll add a couple of those first flies in for you Scott. Call it a thank-you for your efforts. Sorry to cut it so close. My wife had surgery this week. I should just plan for the unexpected and tie earlier. This is only my fourth swap, so I guess I'm still learning. Tight lines, Ken S.
  4. And mine arrived today. I knew I should have come home for lunch. I took the afternoon off to go fishing. I spent 7 hours on the ponds at work. What a great way to spend the day. Now I wish I had some of these flies out there with me. Oh well, I'll have more for next time. There are some really sweet looking flies in this set. Not a bad one in the bunch. Got several Bluegills. Sometimes when you find them, the Smallies are right near by. One bluegill was so large I thought I had a bass on until I got it up near shore. It was 10 inches long. That had to be the largest bluegill I have ever brought in. And I got a 17" smallie as well. Both on a Red/White #12 M&M Fly Candy (like a clouser, tied with Marabou instead of bucktail). It was breezy (abt 10 MPH), not a cloud to be seen, temp about 60 degrees and the fishing action was very slow. But hey, any day fishing is better than time at work. Ken S.
  5. Congradulations guys. How neat to share a birthday. Although I wonder if Will went through a phase where he was wishing he had "his own" birthday. I envy you guys. I have always got the impression that you two are good together. My Dad and I get along great and I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. It was a sign of his love when he took me out at 10 years old in a small rowboat in Wisc. so I could go fishing with my cane pole. You see, my Dad does not swim and unless it is a beach where he can stand or a hot tub, he does not go near water too much. For him to take me out in that boat was quite a gift, although I did not see it at the time. I wish my Dad had more of an interest in fishing. But I would not trade him under any circumstances. Happy Birthday guys. May you enjoy many more years together, fishing or whatever it is that you do. Ken S.
  6. And I can't hardly object since I'm the one who suggested that this would be the time for Michael to join his first swap. Lucky 13 it is. Ken S.
  7. I can get a set of Clousers done by 4/31. Count me in. I'll send mail to a couple of my ISA buddies. I think at least one of them is ready for his first swap. Ken S.
  8. Thoughts and prayers going out for you Al. I had a cousin with the Rhuemetoid (sp?) arthritus. I know how much she went through. It is wonderful that they have a treatment that can help you. I pray that it all works out. Hold on tight to your enthusiasm. A positive outlook will help you get through the recovery. And Daryn is right that you should be careful about the pain killers. Blessings to you and yours, Ken S.
  9. BigBender, It is great that you are putting this kind of effort into this decision. It is very good that you are willing to spend the right amount of money to get something that you can use now and will last and/or hold it's value. You have obviously researched this as you have narrowed things down to four good choices. Now, I could tell you my opinion. But the thing you need to invest here is some time with each of these vises to make your own opinion. I am a huge fan of try before you buy. I recommend you go to the dealer and tie at least one fly with each vise on your list. I would put your list in order. I would save the one you are most likely to buy for last. I would do the same fly, a pattern you are comfortable with, on each vise. You will get a chance to form your own opinion as to what you like and what you don't like. Before you spend the money, spend some time. I lead a monthly fly tying session at the local fly shop. One guy swears by his peak vise. One guy is thinking of buying a dynaking to upgrade from his Thompson. Two of us have Travelers (including me) and love them dearly. Everyone has an opinion. You need to form your own. And I'll add that I don't understand what the problem with the O-ring is? It has been no problem for me. I've been tying with this vise for a year now. I have the screw type jaws, not the cam jaws. I have no problems or complaints. Best of luck. It will be interesting to hear how this works out for you. Not so much which one you decide on. I would enjoy hearing an update a month after you get whichever vise you pick. Ken S
  10. QUOTE (lanvaettir @ Feb 28 2005, 02:18 PM) Hey look ... a can of worms on a flytying site! Nicely done. Thanks, I needed that. Ken S
  11. Thanks Sawcat, This whole discussion started because I wanted to see how others determined the proper amount of material to use when tying a Clouser. I had been taught the "toothpick method". I did not know what others might be out there. Yours is the first method I've heard that measured the amount based on a size relative to the hook being used. I like using that kind of measurement. It seems that one of the basic rules (or maybe I should say goals) of fly tying is to make sure everything about the fly is proportional. Whenever I have a pattern that I would classify as "one I need to work on", it seems the work I need is getting proportions right. Now I have to try your measurement once and see how that compares to the proportions I have been using. I'm trying to picture how much hair I'll have when measured against the gape. This will be interesting. Ken S.
  12. I have a Renzetti Traveler. I use all the features. I bought mine about a year ago. It is not the latest cam style of clamp, but I do not have any problems with this clamp. In fact, I bought this vise after trying it and a Dyna-King. I liked this clamp better than the Dyna-king. And for my large paws, the Dyna-king just was not comfortable for me. The arm felt like it was getting in my way. I got to see the Nor-Vise in action at a fly show earlier this month. Norman was demonstrating his creation not far from the table we had set up for the ISA. I must say I was impressed with what he could do with that vise. I would not turn one down, but I can do what I need with my Traveler and don't see a need to add a Nor-vise as well. If I did decide to add a second vise, I would certainly consider the Nor-vise. One other thing I have not seen mentioned yet. Renzetti does make something called a "clouser arm" for their "true rotary" vises. You can check the Renzetti Clouser Traveler vise on the Renzetti web site for a picture and more details. One last comment: The name "True Rotary" is a Registered Trademark for Renzetti. I know that some have been using this as a generic description for any in-line rotary vise. I have done that myself, but I do use a Renzetti. Try visiting TrueRotary.com. This takes you to the Renzetti web site. More later, Ken S.
  13. I just got a note from the ISA officer who was tallying up the results of our Bronzeback Blowout. Each prize that was donated had a small box in front of it. Attendees bought raffle tickets for $1 each. Each ticket you dropped in a box by a prize gets you one chance to win that prize. We keep each box and the tally them up later to see what prizes draw the most raffle tickets. This helps us determine what sorts of prizes to solicite for next years events. The boxes of flies (that had 5 winners) brought in the most amount of $1 tickets at the fundraiser. Thanks again guys. Ken S
  14. Well folks this years blowout was a huge success. There were about 200 attendees. Lots of funds raised for continueing conservation and education efforts by the ISA. I posted the following on the ISA forum this evening: Thanks to all. There were 16 flies in each box. I really liked that this prize had several chances for folks to win. I don't know how many tickets were in that box, but I like having a five in ??? chance as opposed to a one in ???. And in the two years now that I have attended the blowout, winning one of these was the only prize I won. (And then I gave it away, go figure). I still have one more kit. We will raffle that off at a meeting or at a bassbuggers outing. More on that later. As a side note, I got more flies in the mail yesterday, while I was at the blowout already. One set was mailed on Feb 8th from Nova Scotia and apparently took a while to get through customs. These sets came from fly tying buddies of mine that I know through the 'FlyTyingForum.com'. We got contributions from six tiers (counting myself) from that forum. These are awesome guys who came through in support of the ISA. I will figure out how to add these latest donations to future prizes. I'll at least add one of each to the one remaining set. Those who donated flies for this prize are listed below. Each donated one set of six flies, unless otherwise noted. I've listed the screen names for the tiers from the "FlyTyingForum.com" (FTF) Dr. Rob Girder ( 4 sets ) (ISA?) Alan Sherman (ISA) Joseph "ATroutBum2" ( 2 sets )(FTF) Michael Taylor ( 2 sets ) (ISA) Ryan Van Duzer (of Fly & Field in Glen Ellyn) Bob "OSD" (FTF) Rick "TroutTraveler" (FTF) John Loebach (ISA) Keith Grady (ISA) Ken "kschu" Schumacher (ISA & FTF) Rich McEligot (ISA) Late arrivals: Darrin Smith (FTF) Mark "LuvinBluegills" ( 2 sets ) (FTF) Other's had offered, but did not get them in on time. I understand. Stuff happens. Thanks for thinking of us. Tie a few and set them aside for next time. I am sure that we will do this again. If I got anyone's name or affiliation wrong, please forgive me (and let me know) Thanks again. Ken S. -- Fly Fishing Coordinator - ISA
  15. QUOTE (luvinbluegills @ Feb 25 2005, 03:30 PM) YOU catch fish????? Part of me is laughing really hard but the other part of me is saying "let's be nice". My wife is looking at me funny because all she hears is the laughing. We had a guy named Craig in the ISA. He came up with a fly called the "M&M Fly Candy". It is somewhat similar to the 'Crappie Candy' pattern that McFly put up the link to. Craigs fly is quite a bit simpler. It is basically a clouser tied on a smaller hook, using bead chain eyes rather than lead dumbells and Marabou instead of bucktail. The fly is listed in the FFF pattern book with Craig's name on it and everything. Craig was one of the instructors at the very first fly tying class I ever attended and this was one of the flies we tied. I can't seem to find a picture of one. Ken S.
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