Capt Bob LeMay

Great day.... adapting each day to new circumstances -- that's how you get it done...

As the reports of winter trickle down this way - we're still fishing any days we can... This past Friday and yesterday we were at two different parts of the Park (Everglades National Park). Friday it was out of Chokoloskee in bad weather conditions -winds, rain, and that special Ten Thousand Islands factor - a negative low tide mid morning, accompanied by strong winds pushing the water out... The result -lots of places to run aground even with the guy running the skiff knowing that it would be a challenge - just to get from here to there... Made it through an abbreviated day, only ran aground once (and didn't break anything but my pride) as I stepped out and pushed us off a sand bar way up inside... Run aground on a rising tide - no big deal - 30 minutes later you're floating again. Run aground on a rapidly falling tide - jump out quick and start pushing - delay a few minutes and you might be there for hours (another of those "ask me how I know deals"). We caught a few fish here and there but nothing to brag about... The next day, out of Flamingo, the weather was better - and so was the fishing - with speckled trout everywhere, along with redfish, and snook. Here's a pic of our best snook yesterday.. 30" long, a solid seven pounds. caught and released on very light spinning gear (10lb braid, 30lb fluoro leader, small jig tipped with a tiny bit of shrimp..) That fish made strong runs, ran into the roots of mangroves along the way several times, came to the boat two or three times, before finally coming to hand, for a quick photo or two... Not five minutes later along that same shallow wilderness mangrove shoreline, his partner hooked up with another snook, not fifty feet from the first - and it was definitely a bit bigger. This time the fish won - after an extended fight - finally breaking off and heading back into the tangles to sulk.. Just nothing like the 'glades - particularly in winter when most are out shoveling snow up north... On Tuesday I'll have a fly angler on board and you can bet we'll be working that same area - only two or three feet deep, thick mangrove cover - and a few fish that will take you to school given half a chance... Places like this are why - most of my fly patterns come with a wire weedguard.

Back when I was tying small flies for shops, mostly bonefish patterns, I was using Sally Hansen's clear as my head cement. When half to one third of the contents remained it was too thick for my purposes - so I did a bit of experimenting with thinners - and don't believe I ever got a satisfactory result -and this was while it was still in the bottle (guess I'm not a pro when it comes to finishes, except for rod building finishes...). The solution was quite simple, when the nail polish was too thick I'd buy a new bottle then load half of the new into the old to regain the consistency needed - and it worked perfectly, without messing with any thinners at all. The remaining portion of the new Sally Hansen's was carefully secured and not used at all - until it was once again needed to "thin" out the existing finish... and so it goes. At some point I found diminishing returns and wound up using a new bottle and starting the process over.. Years later, as a guide needing flies for the next day or night - I quit using any kind of finish at all - instead a touch of thin super glue (Krazy Glue) as long as they keep making it the "original formula" and I'm good to go. Once it dries out, it's ready to go and will last as long as the fly does.. No it's not the super shiny deep finish as the flies I delivered to shops - but it works exactly the same in the water.. Thread treated this way will need a good sharp razor blade to be removed from a fly or a bucktail jig...

Congrats on getting back in shape... Those of us without a proper workshop are probably wishing they had one...

The vise I work with is either from the late seventies or very early eighties - just a very basic, super sturdy item... Guess I'm in the dinosaur category these days...

How recently was that book published? Many of my favorite tying or lure crafting books were published so long ago that I doubt the items they mentioned are still being made...

Here's a pic of the eye painters I came up with - all those years ago... They still work well today. each nail set in a small piece of fishing rod blank and for a palette - the inside of the lid from each paint can..

Looks like dinner to me... Great catch on the big lake...

As usual we're fishing year 'round and I was on the water with anglers the last two days of the year - in slicked out, great water conditions - and no fly angler aboard... Tarpon were seen throughout the backcountry - but none of them eating anything we were using. The warm water condtions that brought them inside will end in a day or two and colder waters (much more typical for this time of year) will send them back out into the Gulf - but we're expecting them back toward the end of January - if the weather is mild... Here's one pic from our last day on the water with a great overslot speckled trout. Would have been perfect for a fly or popper... on a 6 to 8wt rod... "Be a hero... take a kid fishing ... "

They look really good... and I am aware that for most anglers - this isn't exactly the time when you can do much more than time spent at the tying vise. Down here, of course, we're on the water year 'round... and at times, barely able to have the flies needed for the next day.

Me? I feel like I'm still 17 - but my plumbing is every bit of 76 years old...

Recently on another site someone asked about patterns for barracuda..... Here's the one I tied up to show what we used when wading for bonefish - all those years ago.... Hook: Mustad 34011 (or other long shank in-line hook size #1 or 1/0) Thread: Danville's flat waxed Flash: pearl Flashabou, 6 to 10 strands with staggered ends, tied in first just forward of the hook bend on top of the hook shank Wing: long sparse amount of polar or other streamer hair on top of flash (modern synthetics a good substitute),color of choice Over wing- a single long narrow grizzly saddle hackle, tied in horizontally over hair and extending at least a half inch past the wing... Head: built up tying thread, super glued. We used several different color schemes with this streamer, all with basic white or cream wing (occasionally fl. yellow). Natural grizzly over wing, dyed orange or fl. green grizzly over wing - with thread color that either matched grizzly hackle color - or contrasted with it as brightly colored as possible in fluorescent orange, red, pink, etc. This pattern was what we used when one of those "sabre-toothed bonefish" snipped off one of our bonefish flies - long before ever heard of flat wing patterns.. Those small to medium sized 'cudas were always a nuisance oceanside on the flats. If we were feeling lucky we'd tie one on without any wire trace - but a short 6" trace of light wire (#3 or 4) was probably a better idea. This very sparse pattern was just the ticket... using a light 7 to 8wt rod for fish up to (and occasionally over 10lbs...

Doubt the filler adds much at all since the holes and voids are so small -but must admit I long ago quit using cork for popping bugs entirely, preferring to use pre-shaped soft foam heads - with not paint at all... Where we are the fish attack them without much of a look first the way some freshwater fish might...

When I read the title of this thread I thought it was about the tyer - not the materials... and so it goes. Must admit, though that this old tyer (and guide) still does have materials on hand that I bought - in the eighties... and the vise i use was purchased more that forty years ago as well. When you purchase your hooks by the thousand per size (and other durables in bulk) you're very likely to have items on hand that you've had for years and years... The actual organic materials.. those get consumed rather than aged mostly... I do notice, though, that some (not all ) of my synthetic materials do not age well at all- and end up as garbage if left too long to be usable... Fly tying, lure making - always enjoyable if you have time (and orders to fill). Not filling fly orders anymore -but still doing the lure making in quantity...

Whenever I'm working with cork rings for making rod grips, the glue up and cure is done as well as 90% of the shaping it's routine to fill any voids or holes in the cork's surface using plastic wood filler (the brand Plastic Wood) and a very small spatula, then smoothing out the surface with sandpaper after the filler has set up properly.... Should work well with cork heads for popping bugs, after the shaping and gluing process is complete, before painting... Hope this helps