FishDragon

Yeah I caught him and quite a few others off of PEI. Mainly between PEI and Cape Breton.

934 lbs Bluefin Tuna, Not on a fly though.

Depends on the waters you fish and how far north you are fishing. The farther north the bigger the midge. I find size 18 to be the right size for the areas I fish but I have seen chironomids and midges so small they look like ground pepper.

I never had a complete break but I did have a break on the part of the rod that slides together. It was on a 4 piece rod and the second section from the bottom developed cracks where the two pieces of the rod slide together. I was doing a short roll cast and the part cracked and the rod fell apart. It sounded like a gun went off. Anyway I put the rod back together and just kept fishing it. Never had any more breaks with it.

Thanks for the links. Exactly what I was looking for.

Hi everyone Does anyone have some info or pointers on tying the riffle hitch? Thanks

That is a great little fly. Did you use McFly Foam for the beard?

I am hoping to be doing mostly spey casting. The whole reason I want a small spey is to spey cast with. I can roll cast almost as far as my overhead cast with my single handed 5wt now. There are quite a few places I fish where overhead is not feasible due to having trees and brush behind you. Also roll casting is something I do most of the time when I can now unless I am fishing dry's and it was the first cast I learned.

Thankyou Piker20 That clears up a point I was to sure on.

I am really wanting to dive into this spey thing right away and order everything I need but I just bought a house and have a new family member about to make a debut so I am holding off for a few months. Maybe by the middle/end of June I will be setup properly to become a spey nerd! He gave lots more ood advice as well but I can't remember it all. Spey fishing is feeling like when I first started fly fishing/fly tying , lots of choices and so much info you can be overwhelmed.

I snagged a small yellow brookie last year. Wish I had a picture but its belly and sides were yellow while it's back was a light olive. Had all the same markings as a normal brookie as well.

One thing I learned about Spey fishing is that the lines and rods are designed for a certain type of fishing, casting, and conditions. That being said for me I am planning on fishing for small steelies, brookies, grilse, and small salmon. Most of my fishing would be done on medium to small rivers and I would be swinging wets, nymphing, streamer fishing, as well as different forms of salmon fishing with flys ranging from size 4 and smaller. He was familiar with the area I fish and he suggested a switch rod no shorter than 11' and up to 11'6" with a scandi line. I mentioned several rods and I am leaning towards a 6wt TFO DeerCreek Switch rod for my needs. Bob mentioned they would be able to handle 15lb fish no problem. The TFO being a little longer will be easier to cast than the 10'6" Beulah switch and it is a progressive flex opposed to Beulah's tipflex. The shorter the spey/switch the harder to cast especially when you are new to the art of spey casting. He designed both of these rods and from what I understand he is the fellow who first started producing switches. The line I am going to get custom made by his shop http://www.meiserflyrods.com/speyshop.php, well actually Steve Godshall will make the line but he does work for Bob Meiser's shop. The difference of a trad. spey line, a skagit line, and a scandi line are numerous. Too numerous to explain and I don't know alot about all the types of lines but he recommended the scandi type line for me as it is an all around line that can do everything I need and want to do. Also for beginners it should be easier to cast and learn with. He said 80' should be pretty easy to achieve. Next up is grain weight. The weight of the line needed to properly load the rod. For the Deercreek he mentioned that it could handle between 400-600 but I should try to get line somewhere between 375-425. Confused yet? I am. I mentioned I had seen quite a few fisherman with 7/8 wt Beulahs with 8wt line on for single handed dry casting that is all wrong. The line isn't nearly heavy enough to load the rod to get the proper action. (Ex. Deercreek 6wt Switch has a overhead casting line of a 10wt Rio Outbound line suggested to properly load it). Now I asked him about reels and balancing your rod and he mentioned with the belly of the line in the water the rod should balance on the last 4 inch's of the cork and never up on the graphite. Als he said to get a reel you can palm. Myself I think I will get his 7/9 reel or his 8/10 reel to be able to fit the larger lines and backing. The best advice I can give is to contact him through his webpage and give him a call. Explain what you are fishing for and the type of rod you are thinking of using. He will go through everything with you and explains his suggestions. Great guy to talk to. Here is his webpage again http://www.meiserflyrods.com/speyshop.php

Had a conversation with Bob Meiser and he cleared up quite a few things regarding rods and lines.

Hi everyone. I am looking into ordering a 6/7 Beulah switch this spring/summer and I will be using it for trout and atlantic salmon. I am new to the switch/spey side of flyfishing and have some questions about lines and their types, like scandi, and skagit. Also curious about MOW tips. I am thinking of getting a line that I am able to use with MOW tips so I have some options when fishing different depths of water and I am not sure of what I should be looking at? Also was looking at getting a Nautalis FWX reel for the setup but I am curious as to what other reels would be good for the same price of $300. Does the weight of the reel affect casting as the FWX is very light and won't help balance the rod very well. 7/8 Reel with line and backing is still 2 ounces lighter than the rod. Dave

No select marabou here. Most people don't use marabou when tying flies here for salmon. They usually use bugs and hairwings.

Size 20 is the smallest I tie myself but mostly have found size 18 to be a good size for chironomids.

Turkey biots are also great for tying chironomid patterns and are great for baetis nymph patterns.

I ordered some of the 1mm catgut. I have a fly fishing buddie going to take a coil off my hands so for around 12 dollars each with shipping it isn't too bad for 10 feet. Should do me quite a awhile and I think it would be very good for chironomids. And as far as I know lykos33 it is what was used for blind eyes on classic flies.

Here is a link for Catgut you can purchase from Canada. It is used in repairing old grandfather clocks. http://www.perrinwatchparts.com/cat_name/Catgut.aspx You can get 20' of 1mm catgut for 18.30CAD. Not to bad for a rare material.

This is a good step by step as well. http://flytying.ro/masa_muscarului/hairy-catgut-nymph-526

I use the same light when curing Diamond Hard UV Resin. Works well.

Same for me. The tippet rings haven't affected the leaders ability to float at all.

Thanks for the links oldtrout58. As for things I take with me are forceps (one with a built in tippet cutter and jaws for clamping on split shot), tippet spools from 4lb to 12-15lb so I can make new leaders, 3 fly boxes (one for nymphs, one for streamers, and one for drys), floatant, split shot, and indicators/hoppicators along with a water proof camera. I sometimes will take some sinking tips of various weights for fishing the middle/bottom of the water column. Also some cigars and a lighter. If I am going out for a day I will take food, water and a rain jacket depending on time of year. Also take toilet paper because if you don't have any your day could be ruined. If I am salmon fishing I will leave all my weights behind(not allowed to fish weighted flys or use weights when fishing for Atlantic salmon here, save problems if an officer wanted to be an a-hole just because I have some on me) and usually only take wets and a few common nymph patterns. If I am expecting possible trouble I will bring the regulation book.

What do you use for a seine OldTrout? I am thinking of getting into some entomology just because I want to know what is really down there.

Well at my local fly shop they are getting in some silver grade saddles in and they are only $39 but he has only gotten silver/gold badger, nat. brown, and black saddles . Also had a bunch of pro-grade herbert miner saddles but they are all gone now, think it will be some while before we see the grizzly saddles in the shops. The feather craze took all of the feathers for around 11 months here, and they are just starting to use the feathers in the salons. Alot were bought and shipped down south to the states. After looking at an online fly shop and the saddles they are selling either my local shop is under priced or they are over pricing them online, considering the fact that the main distributor of fly materials is only charging the shop an extra $9-$10 per saddle I think the online world is over charging. The good news is that we are seeing them again and the craze is dying off