Philly

Here's a thought for a pattern. Two years ago we had a clave up on the Grand River in Ontario. One of the attendees was from MI and we got talking about the Hex hatch and how to tie up some patterns. What I ended up doing was tying a couple for him, a dun and a spinner out of foam. Did an extended body with a segmented tail section, and used two foam circles for the body along with a bit of dubbing and some ultra hair for the wings. Got an e-mail from him later in the summer. The spinner worked well, but the dun with the ultra hair wing was a bit top heavy and kept tilting over and had few takers.

Mine should be in the mail by Friday. Two more bodies to tie up and then I just need to add the legs.

This showed up on another list I'm on. It might be of interest to those north of the border. The 2nd Fly Fishing Canada (FFC) Canadian Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium is being held October 17-20, 2004 at the beautiful Fairmont Kenauk resort at Montebello, Quebec. Less than two hours from either Montréal or Ottawa, this is an exceptional fishing destination with pristine lakes and its own hatchery and fisheries biologist. Browns, brookies and rainbows live in 32 lakes in this 100 square mile private reserve with an extended trout season. Although this IS a competition, the emphasis will be on fishing, conservation and FUN. Canadian anglers are being sought as both COMPETITORS and VOLUNTEERS for this event. You can enter as either an individual competitor or as part of a team. From the winners, the Canadian National Team will be chosen to compete at the 2005 World Fly Fishing Championship, to be held in Sweden. The fishing will be loch style (fishing downwind from a drifting boat) and follow the FIPS-Mouche regulations for international fly fishing competitions. (and, yes, on-site volunteers will also get a chance to try their hand at fishing these lovely lakes!) More information is available on the web site at www.ffcc2.com (French web site to come)

I'm an Account Manager(at least that's my title for now)with the Subsistence Branch of DLA. What do I do. Make sure my customers(the Armed Services)get fed and my vendor gets paid. There are always various "fires" to be put out. I get to do a bit of traveling now and then which let's me do a bit of fly fishing in some unusual places. Don't think there's too many people that have fly fished in Guam. Guam was my previous account. Now my customers are in Japan and Singapore.

I've caught several that I can recall on bass bugs. A mix of rainbows and browns. Three were rainbows, two came from a local stream, another from a lake in Vermont. The two I caught on the local stream when I was fishing for smallies. Both times the fish were crashing minnows and I just tossed the gurgler/popper in the general vicinity. The first time I was surprised when I found a rainbow on the end of my line. Same with the lake caught one. I was tossing gurglers and it inhaled one. The browns, 10-12 inchers, were caught on Crease flies while fishing on the Grand River up in Ontario.

I use mostly Salt water patterns. Siliclones and Semper Fleyes work well. Might want to look at Crease Flies and Bob's Bangers for some top water action. Two that have worked for me in Ontario the last couple of years have been blended Fuzzy Fiber minnows in light blue/white and chartruese/white, 3 to 5 inches long and an all White Spey Fleye, about 5-6 inces long.

A tip that was given to me a few years ago. If you're planning to tie a lot of caddis, rather than buying individual patches of deer hair, see if you can get hold of a deer's mask. The mask has a variety of hair colors on it and you can pretty much match most of the major caddis hatches. Length varies but on a good mask you can find hair long enough to tie medium size hoppers. Then there's always material to tie the world famous Deer's Ear nymph.

Just started thinking about salt water. My saltwater club is having an outing this Saturday, at Corson's Inlet State Park in South Jersey. Hopefully we'll be chasing stripers and maybe some early blues. Other than that I may give it a shot or two before Memorial Day when the crowds start picking up. I really enjoy the fishing after Labor Day, though I'm looking to get out more this summer. I may be one of the few people who enjoy catching the snapper blues. I take my 6 wgt out for them, and when they get in the 10 to 18 inch range they give a you a decent fight on the lighter rod.

A standard soft hackle would work for a caddis emerger. Partridge and Olive, Partridge and Chartruese. You might look at a CDC and Elk. I've found this to be a very effective caddis pattern, fished dry or wet.

Another thing with these nymphs(isonychia), is they have a distinct white stripe that runs down the middle of the back and are strong swimmers. You might also check for patterns under White Glove Howdy and Slate Drake.

I tend to use larger hooks for sunfish/bluegills. I tie my nymphs or soft hackles on size 10 and 12. My poppers on size 6 to 10. I've noticed a decline in the number of fish I catch. My 40-50 fish days are down in the 15 to 30 fish range, but I consistently catch the larger fish, in my local stream, 5 to 7 inches.

Welcome, I live in Philly, a permanent stop for me, being I was born and raised here. Not too much in the way of steelhead around here, unless you considered the sea-run browns over in New Jersey or a drive 4 or so hours north to the Lake Ontario tributaries. Still your in a good area for expanding your fly fishing horizons beyond trout. Any questions about spots in the immediate Philadelphia area give me a holler.

Welcome, I live in Philly, a permanent stop for me, being I was born and raised here. Not too much in the way of steelhead around here, unless you considered the sea-run browns over in New Jersey or a drive 4 or so hours north to the Lake Ontario tributaries. Still your in a good area for expanding your fly fishing horizons beyond trout. Any questions about spots in the immediate Philadelphia area give me a holler.

Nix: I'm from Philly and wander over the SE part of the state, though I do most of my fishing on the Wissahickon. I've hit most of the streams you've mentioned at one time or the other over the last 12 years or so that I've been fly fishing. July/August can be tough for trout but prime time for bass and pan fish. Anyway, as you get settled and want to start hitting the streams let me know or drop me an e-mail. If I can swing it I'd be willing to go out with you. Actually, once the season opens the FFO stretches should be less crowded. Remember they're the only places people can fish right now so they'll attract crowds.

Mozes: Don't underestimate the stockers, most will adapt to the food sources in the stream real quick. So unless you're fishing for them a couple of days after they've been stocked you'll be better off going after them with standard patterns rather than a pellet fly(which is deer hair spun and trimmed to shape). In PA I think they feed them Purina, and rumor is they also feed them minnows.

Don't matter to me, saltwater fishing is at least a month away for me.

Hope for a bit of warm weather. Last time I was up that way two years ago it snowed the day I got there, and that was the day after Memorial Day. I'd tie up a few Usuals, if you can't get Snowshoe you can use Deer hair for the tail and wing. Early season mayflies are dark in color for the most part, size 12-14 mainly. Because it's most likely going to be chilly and the water cold, you'll want some emergers as the mayflies will have a tough time getting off the water. You might tie up some Quigley Cripples. There are always midges around, if you have a warm day and some flat water, it wouldn't hurt to have a few midges in your box. Bring a few weighted streamers, or wooly buggers. Shenk's Minnow, or an all white wooly bugger, or plain old bait fish pattern, drew a lot of interest at the end of May. Might be worth a try earlier in the season.

My one chance at pike fishing comes on my annual trip to Ontario. It's usually in mid-July, so chances for a big fish aren't great. It's a mixed bag of fishing, but the last couple years, I've done mostly fly fishing. The main target has been smallmouth, so all but one of the pike I've caught has been on a 6 wgt, they've ranged from 16 to 28 inches. I've caught them on flies 5 inches or less in length. Two flies that have worked, are a Fuzzy Fiber minnow around 3 1/2 inches long, and a Spey Fleye about 5 inches long. The Fuzzy Fiber minnow was light blue/white or Chartreuese/White, and the Spey Fleye was all in white/pearl. Both are relatively easy to tie, the Spey Fleye being the hardest of the two. If you're interested I can post the tying instructions. Don't have any pictures of either though the Spey Fleye is based on Popovic's Semper Fleye and there are pictures of that on the web. If the pike are in there to control panfish, then you should find out what kind, and base some flies on them. For yellow perch or sunfish, a fire-tiger pattern should work.

A white Estaz bug. Size 6-10.

If you fish in PA you can't go wrong with a Green Weenie, with or without a beadhead.

NicK: I've found some 6 mm foam sheets in WalMart. As someone already suggested the door hangers, found in most craft stores and Walmart, and wouldn't be surprised if Canadian Tire didn't have them stashed away somewhere, would probabably meet your needs. I've been playing with some of the 6 mm foam, mainly black and white, making some bugs and poppers with it. I would suggest that if you're planning to wrap it down on a hook shank that you use a heavier thread, I've been using size G and be generous with the Zap a Gap on the thread.

Sounds better than the snow we had yesterday.

Mozes: I'm way south of you, I do most of my fishing from Brigantine/Atlantic City on south. If you're up north, you might want to check out the Atlantic Saltwater Fly Rodders. http://www.aswf.org They meet up that way somewhere. I believe it's one of the oldest saltwater flyfishing clubs.

I'm curious as how you connected the hooks. I've got a few tandem flies that I've tied up and have sort of settled on split rings or just straightening the front hook and creating a loop to slide through the eye of the rear hook. I've done a few Wooly buggers and Crease flies though my favorite is a 12 inch eel fly that I tied up for the fall striper run.

Most of the guys in my saltwater FF club use either 9 or 10 weights with the TFO being a very popular rod. I use a 9 1/2 foot 8 weight, though I do have it overlined and I haven't had any problems using it down the shore. In fact, I spent more time using my 6 weight last year than the 8 wgt. If you're going to be fising the back bays, and ICW and even the jetties then you'll be fine with the 8 wgt. A 9 or 10 weight is fine for the beach, ocean and inlets. I try to match the rod with the fish. Last year, I didn't run into a lot of big fish or bait, and the the snapper blues and schoolies were a lot of fun on the 6 weight with the 8 wgt being close to overkill. If you're comfortable tossing a 10 wgt go for it. Where do you fish in NJ?