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Everything posted by djtrout
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April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
Bream, PM some folks and ask <beg> them to make one more for you and mail to you. Why not? All for the cause. Be ye heartened by wife who embraces your passion so ... not bad! -
geez, the Savage is one of my favorite spots (I live in VA). I'll be traveling as well the next 3 weeks ...
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April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
Received mine today. Right down my alley; smallmouth season is in swing and every one of these is prime choice. -
I've always thought wally wings were an elegant dressing. I will be tying a CDC March Brown in size 12 with CDC hackle.
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Gadfry! talk about raising the bar ... niiiice collection. Don't need to tie any flies for my bass season, which is now underway (soon as I finish painting deck, deck furniture, planting the tomatos, squash, and pumpkins ...). That slider will be very versatile. I want to try that on my favorite big trout streams. Can't wait.
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boy I can't wait to see these flies!
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and use your imagination on the fox/grizzly "collars" ... I left it that way because I have a method for it, I actually like the idea of needing to be creative due to departing slightly from the party line ... which, btw, bores me.
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Likewise, but I went with the flow. There's just a wing. There was a wing and underwing in the original pattern, but dropped to a combo collar during the mutations. So - call it a wing if it's in your way ...
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Her Majesty's Fox Hook: 8 6xl Thread: Black Tail: 2 Peacock Swords Body: Muskrat Dubbing Rib: Blue Metallic Braid Underwing: Magenta Icelandic Horsehair Collars: Blue Fox (Fox squirrel tail)/Grizzly Hackles Head: Red Thread Fishingbobnelson, you're up.
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OK, I pick up the insanity here ... hang tight, be right back!
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April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
ditto to Tom, I look forward to receiving my hair bug! -
Ok then, I'm #6, all in!
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April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
Flies in mail. Ran out of white, local shop out of stock; so some will get white and some silver ... they'll fish. -
They look great. I'd add more wraps to the head is all. You might consider giving the back a little taper trim with the scissors. Just fine touches, they look good. I'm in the sparse camp when it comes to clousers; I think your material density is good.
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Rockworm: it may solve things if you just publish a list like last year and we'll go with it. I didn't jump in at first because your instructions said things would proceed in order of the "following" list. I think we should go with that - if you feel comfortable posting a list. I must admit, the start is interesting - it's the first pattern I've ever encountered that I needed to google the materials ... Just post the list, and we'll do things in order?
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April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
OK, a little late, my apologies. I will be mailing mine out Tuesday. -
April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
I'm coming along. Busy month with business travel set me back a bit, but I'm on it, worry not ... -
I'm in!
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What defines a fly as one for slow or fast water?
djtrout replied to thirstea's topic in Beginner's Corner
and to reinforce SilverCreek, it isn't about just the speed of the water. MORE important is the amount of structure available and type of stream bottom that provides pockets, and critically, the depth. Shallow fast moving water is easier to reach; in deep water you need to give more consideration for what SilverCreek mentioned, and that is the fish position and time to react to a morsel floating by. Remember that a fish is streamlined. Although they use protective structure as security from overhead predators, and also energy conservation, they do not have difficulty holding right in the middle of current, and will do so for periods of time. I always sample the unseeming middle as well as the holding structure (besides, the unseeming middle often has holding places that are un-visible to me). Of the slow water criteria, not lining the fish is most important to me. I just came off a trip to Elk River WV, very successful; there was one pool I was anxious to fish because it holds scads of nice fish in a relatively undisturbed area (meaning: good walk from parking access). There was already a fisherman there who had the whole pool to himself. I just had a seat, enjoyed the scenery, and watched. Not a fish in site (in this pool, it is about sight fishing) - they were hunkered down. I later learned the gentleman was new by only weeks to fly fishing, and although he had a pretty decent cast, he false casted many times right over the fish, on the final cast his line slapped the water sending ripples out. He also went first for the farthest water from his wading stance, which rendered the water right in front of him worthless (always fish carefully in front of your nose, or at least observe it before throwing the mile long cast; if you spook fish right in front of you you risk poisoning the entire pool). Anyway, the fish were hitting a small array of flies, key being smallish, but he had them hunkered down behind and under their rocks, with no interest in coming out. On streamers, I have just one tie standard. I use cone head buggers and dumbbell clouser-style streamers with no additional weight. How I handle depth and speed is with sinking leaders, sinking tips, sinking lines, and mostly just using soft moldable lead (tungsten) weight ahead of the fly. This works well for me, but I fish such a wide variety of conditions and I just don't care to tie a fly tailored for weight to every condition; some fishermen do. By the way, I used a sinking leader for the first time on this Elk River trip and I think it is quite nice for small-medium size streams. -
What defines a fly as one for slow or fast water?
djtrout replied to thirstea's topic in Beginner's Corner
Think about it from the fish's perspective: fish see and readily hit size 20 nymphs in roiling water. Their view of the water column is not ours. That said, of course if YOU want to track the fly, use a bushy one to float in fast water; however, even though the current may "drown" a more sparsely dressed fly, that doesn't mean it won't be effective. Just keep a sharp eye out on your line and keep tight lines. In fast water, make sure you deliberately swing your fly at the end of the run, er, float, as it were. The difference is size and visibility of flies is something we tiers and fisher-folks cuss and discuss, yet I'm not sure biologically speaking that bigger flies are truly more visible to trout in ways that have a significant impact on fishing success (with some key assumptions made here, such as a trout "on station" in an eddy). The key to understanding is again, realize that our perspective is not the fish's. I fish whatever fly I think the fish might want, without too much regard for water / fly matching. There is one consideration for those who like to get into entomology, and that is that certain species hatch in calmer water whereas others tend to be found drifting faster water. If you look into that, you may decide to let that inform you to a degree. -
April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
Fisherboy, yeah, Crawcito is decadent. Looks good though, I believe I will try it this season. -
April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
My baitfish will be 3-4 inches on a size-to-be-determined bass bug hook, probably size 1/0 plus or minus 1 size. I need to get going ... :-) -
Just returned from a business trip, and my flies were waiting for me. Nice assortment.
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April showers start bass bedding...Monthly Swap
djtrout replied to vicrider's topic in Fly Swaps & Contests
Here in VA I'm all about smallmouth. Brooks, Rainbows, Browns are off-season trips for me. Coming now into the season and getting hyped up for floating rivers. In contrast to my trout fishing, I use only 3 or 4 flies for smallies. For this swap I'm going to try an articulated version of my go-to baitfish pattern, meant for mid-water column stripping, in white and red. I've never tied or fished an articulated pattern, but I'll succumb to the latest and see if I can create a worthy pattern. My array for smallmouth consists of the baitfish streamer, a clouser bucktail, a crayfish pattern (seldom used), popper, cicada. I have a ton of flies I tied that I'll never use. 3 years ago I lost 2 full boxes of flies in a canoe tipping on the New River, but I never replaced those flies because they weren't my go-to. For fly fishing I stick pretty much to top and mid depth with streamers and surface stuff. If I want or need to go deep I go to the spin or baitcast rod and throw senkos and tubes. My river kayak is loaded with my 7 or 8 wt flyrod, a spin rod, and a baitcast rod. I am still in search of the perfect fly crayfish pattern. I have tied an arsenal of clouser crayfish and clawdads, but I never use 'em. Go figure. Crayfish was my first pattern to attack when I first tied bass flies 15 years ago, so I also have a collection of "precious memories" ... good for not much else ... :-) Looking forward to receiving my soft hackles and getting going on this month's contribution. -
vic - I hear ya. I think it will be fun if I keep it simple; of course bass can be such voracious feeders the time I spend on the details of flies is more for my own benefit :-) The idea of an articulated crawdad appeals to me. So ... now I am in serious period of contemplation - what to tie. I have classic craws in my collection but I like streamer and surface action, rarely use them. On the articulated, my concern is encouraging short striking, guess I need to be careful how far out I stick the articulation! I want a single hook fly, don't feel like I want to get into the super hawg ties with double/triple hooks. Baby steps, man.