DFoster

ROYAL COACHMAN WET HOOK: #12 - #8 2XS -1XL NYMPH THREAD: BLACK #70 TAIL: GOLDEN PHEASANT TIPS ABDOMEN: PEACOCK HERL – NATURAL/RED FLOSS THORAX: PEACOCK HERL – NATURAL COLLAR: HEN - NATURAL WING: DUCK QUILL- WHITE HEAD: GLOSS NAIL POLISH

Nice work everyone.

WOOD DUCK HERON HOOK: #10 2XL NYMPH WET FLY THREAD: BLACK #70 UNDER BODY: BLACK THREAD BODY: WOOD DUCK FLANK HACKLE: INDIA HEN -BROWN HEAD: S.H. HARD AS NAILS

That's really cool Mark- thank you!

368 years old? "The Soldier Palmer dates back to very early fly fishing times. Possibly as old as the early 17th century, it was well known and noted by Izaac Walton in his Compleat Angler 1653". SOLDIER PALMER HOOK: #12 1XL 1XS STANDARD NYMPH THREAD: #70 RED TAIL: 8 STRANDS RED FLOSS ABDOMEN/BODY: RED FLOSS RIB: OVAL TINSEL -GOLD HACKLE: BROWN COCK DRY FLY- USE THE LONG BARBED SOFT END OF THE FEATHER HEAD: S.N. HARD AS NAILS

Wow Mark- Tiger Rock Fish, is that from Alaskan waters? It almost looks like it should be on a tropical reef somewhere.

Thanks Skeet, his dad takes him fishing with spinning tackle but I'm the only fly angler in the family (at least for now 😜). I have been blessed by God with two wonderful daughters who despite both being college educated in the greater Boston area are still sane. They're both married to solid guys and our entire family does everything we can to be positive influences for all 6 of the grandchildren. The boy went on a successful bow hunt with his father last week and saw the 8 pointer before his dad did. You can't beat young eyes and hearing! Here is another first photo from this September, one of my 5 granddaughters with her first solo fish on a fly rod and on a fly that she tied with a little help from me. Solo meaning I never touched the rod. After a few refresher casting lessons on our lawn we hit the stream. She made the roll cast, saw the take, set the hook and landed the fish. All with minimal coaching from me. She caught 8 more in a little over an hour of fishing. Great memories for me to be sure. You never know what passions a child will find in life as they grow but I hope at least one of them will stick with the sport. I have to leave all this stuff to somebody!

I generally fish alone so no one is there to take a photo of my "firsts". I did take this photo last week- My grandson with his first Fall Fish on a fly. He was using my 5' 3" 3wt and this fish put up a hell of a fight. I think he's "hooked"- 😄

I've never seen one before- Nice looking vise, appears to be good quality.

Wow- I have to say I didn't expect to see streamers mentioned so much. My own bias has me thinking of streamers as warm weather flies and it never occurred to me to use them during or after the spawn. Years ago when I was new to fly fishing I had a fly shop owner recommend that I not fish anything big after the spawn and I took that as gospel. I generally don't do a lot of November/December fishing so my experience is lacking for the late fall, but this year it's been warm locally. Based on the behavior of the fish last week streamers makes sense. A #10 swinging winged wet fly isn't too different in presentation than a small streamer and that's what they were hitting on. Thank you all for your advice!

Really skillful work from both of you.

I always seem to struggle with trout fishing in the late fall once the water temps start dropping to match up with the air. The Brooks and Browns spawn and the fish get sluggish. The local prevailing wisdom is to fish the bottom with small flies (#18 or less). I spent the better part of 2 vacation days last week fishing small flies dead drift near the bottom with nothing to show for my efforts. 3 weeks ago I had 15 fish in 6 hours on the same water. Down to my final couple of hours of daylight, I decided would fish my way back to where I parked. Since this meant heading downstream a good distance, I decided to swing a pair of winged wets to cover as much of the river as possible. Right away I got a wild brown to hit a #10 Silver Invicta and later both a brown and bow to grab a #12 Royal Coachman wet on a downstream swing. The water was generally 3’ to 4’ deep, fast and there was no weight on my line so the flies were swinging near the surface. Considering nothing was hitting my upstream nymphs or soft hackles the wet fly presentation saved my day. As much as I would love to think I solved the riddle of late Autumn trout fishing my brain is telling maybe the warmth of the afternoon sun just woke a few of them up? Anyway I'm planning on fishing again this weekend and would like to hear what your go to flies and techniques are when the temps start to drop?

George I wouldn't give it any thought either. I just can't see parts failing on the TRV design with normal use. I suppose if your using it to hold rifle targets you could miss and hit the vise? I'm pretty sure that would void the warranty any way-

George it looks like the fly fishing shows will happen this coming spring. If they do you should bring your vise to the HMH booth and show Mr. Larrabee.

I'm aware of the Central Park fishing and there is plenty of salt water to the North and South of the city. I should have said the "mountain stream fishing is terrible".😉 At one time I worked for a company based on Long Island and every 2 weeks I would make the 5 hour commute to the office. On the Friday afternoon return voyage the bartender on the ferry did slight of hand magic and he was really good at it. There are a lot of really talented folks in that area. NYC has a lot of great things to offer as does any major city. A massive diversity of food, entertainment, sports, art and culture all of which are wonderful ways to spend a few hours or days. However living in a major city for me would be miserable, simply put I'm a country boy.

To be honest 6-8 is all we really need for freshwater here in the North East to- BUT every time I see a convincing looking fly somewhere on the net I just can't help myself and have to try it 🤗. And.... that's how I end up with too many flies some of which I don't even know the name of (a condition I suspect many of us have to deal with). Lately I've been forcing myself to tie no more than 4 of any untested pattern. That way there's not as many to cut down if they don't catch fish.

I was hoping you would chime in on this Silver- His statement sounded questionable and as we know opinion is often presented as fact within the sport of fly fishing. I often fish a fly called the "Old Master" originally tied with a body of wrapped heron hurl - (grey dyed goose here in the U.S.) and the fish don't seem to have any trouble seeing it.

NYC is a nice place to visit but the fly fishing is terrible soo-

That doesn't even look real - Wow!

Great find! Side note- I watched a youtube clip a while ago about pack/wader selection and the host stated that it had been "scientifically proven" that most fish including trout have trouble seeing grey colors which is why the Great Blue Herron and the Simms Pro vest are the color they are. For that reason he advocated selecting grey for fishing clothing and gear. Ok, I don't know if any of that is true but it sounds good. However some of our most successful flies are more or less grey in color and you would think that if the fish have a harder time seeing them that would not be the case? Does anyone out there know?

Organizing and arranging fly boxes is a never ending battle for me. My fishing is slowing as our weather cools so I've started working through my boxes in preparation for "fly tying" season. Which patterns to keep and which ones will meet the razor blade. I'm always trying new flies and some of them just don't produce for me on the rivers that I fish and I can't have them taking up valuable room in one of my boxes. Some times too many choices is a bad thing so- last year I scaled down and decided I would only carry 2 boxes for most days of fishing. Mainly (1) a large tacky for nymphs and (2) a 7" x 4" double sided for drys, soft hackles, winged wets and streamers. I have a 3rd large box for salmon streamers for use when the salmon are spawning on the Still Water. Finally a "scrap" box. This is for my less well tied flies or flies that are pretty beat up from combat- I don't use these for our wary trout but they still will catch the local blue gills, fall fish and perch just fine. There are some good videos on fly box organization on youtube that might help you out-

That's very kind- I wouldn't even need that much but a very small amount would be appreciated. I would just like to try and try to blend my own copy based from on a sample. When you get settled send me a PM and I will forward you and address.

CP you have been blessed to have known the love and loyalty of a true friend. Have pity for those who live their entire lives never knowing the wonderful joys of a good dog. I'm sorry for your loss-

It looks to be about a size 12. I know the Swift well and I know the Brook Trout there will gladly grab a large dry. Was it also effective on the Swift Rainbows and Browns?

I tied this one pretty faithfully to Jack's recipe (I added the black dot eye). GARTSIDE SOFT HACKLE HOOK: #8 3XL STREAMER THREAD: #140 WHITE UNDER BODY: THREAD TAIL: 3 STANDS OF PEARL FLASHABOU BODY: WHITE MARABOU TIP TIED AND PALMERED HACKLE: WOOD DUCK FLANK- NATURAL HEAD: THREAD S.H. HARD AS NAILS