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vicrider

Get your EPI pens ready SWAP

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With a house full of grandkids they've been pushing me to tie the things they see in the yard, and most of them are capable of stinging or biting...So I thought...how about a swap of things that can bite or sting us. There are a lot more than most of us care to have around. Some of them being bees, bumble and honey, wasps, hornets, ants, flying, red and piss types, even mud daubers that look scary. I'm sure you guys can think of others that are basically land dwelling but end up in the drink at times. I've read that the best time to fish a bee is in afternoon showers since many get knocked in then. Tho technically not stingers even dragonflies make some people nervous.

 

I don't think we need to restrict the tie to only one person to a pattern since no two people are going to do a bee or wasp the same way, but it would be nice to get a decent amount of variety. I'm sure some can think of things I haven't. Let's open this up and see how many we can get involved at this vacation and fishing time of year but some of us still spend too much time at the bench. Maybe someone can even come up with a plan for an articulated small snake. HHMMMM, gives me thought.

 

DUE DATE...August 22nd

 

SWAP IS FULL

 

Nick Szabo

PO Box 361

Cheyenne OK 73628

 

1. SM.....................Wasp & ?...Ready

2. joseph russell....horse fly...Received

3. fishinbob............mosquito...Received

4 RiffleSS..............poisonous spider...Received

5. Flytyer................red ant...Received

6. atxdiscgolfer......biting ant...Received

7. Fisherboy..........caterpillar...Received

8. Jolly Red...........Mini Spider...Received

9. redeitz...............McGinty....Received

10. Bryon A...........Rusty's Bumble Bee ...Received

11. Jimdbrem........Cupboard ant...Received

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I thought about biting flies after I posted. Horse flies are pretty darn big characters but those darn deer flies land on your arm and take a chunk out. Leave a little blood trail running down your arm. When we lived up in Finland MN the army worms marched in huge numbers and devastated the forests from the shore to the Iron Range and beyond. The next year they brought in huge numbers of Sergeant flies by air to combat the caterpillars. The flies lay their eggs in the cocoon of the army worm catepillar and the young eat the caterpillar larva. Well, the sarge flies didn't bite but they were so thick it was unbelievable for one summer. When you stood still for a minute your arm would be covered with them. The darn deer flies would sneak in amongst them and rip off a piece of flesh. When you slapped at them you never got the deer fly but you'd slaughter a half dozen sergeant flies and make a big mess on your arm.

 

One warm morning I came out of my house to go to work and it was like a Stephen King movie. The side of my house in the sun was so covered with sergeant flies you could not see the siding, and yes they did turn the beige siding into a brown speckled mess that had to be washed. I had my 12' boat under a tree in my yard when the army worms marched thru. When I went to use the boat I had to hose out an inch of army worm droppings to use it, and it stunk like what it was.

 

The good thing was that one summer you could go out in Lake Superior and look for the seams where thousands of moths would be in the bug slicks and most any thing you through in the way of a brown bug would get clobbered by 2-5# cohos and occasional steelhead or lakers. Cleaning them you'd find their stomachs actually stretched by the moths they were gorging on. Fortunately the taste was fine and they didn't taste like moths, at least not yet.

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Considering the timing, vacations, fishing trips, and all those summer activities, plus actually beginning to think about kids back in school, let's look down the road a ways and figure on August 22nd. That gives 5 full weekends to ties some fairly simple patterns. I'd like a closer date but that's because I'm retired and sometimes have a swap fly run done before the swap is even full. So does that give you enough time to jump in?

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This is a cool swap idea. I hope you guys post some pics and that someone ties the cow killer. It has one nasty sting.

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So Kudu, join us with a cow killer. Not sure what that is but if it stings or bites or is poisonous OK has it.

 

Just had a thought. Years ago up on the Baptism in MN I was in a sleeveless t and a something landed on my arm. Just as I slapped it I saw it was a little green caterpillar. Well, no big deal...until every little place the little bugger splashed his guts on me welted up and burned like heck within a few minutes and was a lot worse than any bug bite would have been. So a little green caterpillar would make an easy tie for someone to get in with and believe me, they can create pain and swelling.

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A cow killer is a large red/black ant that screams if you pick it up with forceps, it can extend it's stinger to almost an inch long and are named because they hide in hay a lot where cows or horses will accidentally ingest them, and they repeatedly sting from inside, sometimes enough times to kill the animal!

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I'm in with an olive body, chartreuse hackled caterpillar to match one I saw today.

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