DFoster

There's an old episode of the Simpsons where Lisa is walking through the forest and all the animals are cute and happy. "Good morning Mrs Owl"! "Hello Mr. Chipmunk"! She says, and right after she passes by them Mrs. Owl kills and eats Mr. Chipmunk. I made my grandchildren watch it -twice.

Well said sir. There is an interesting scale here that I hadn't really thought about. At one end there are the practical anglers. They fly fish as an enjoyable means to an end -catching fish. At the other end of the scale are the Craft anglers. They take pride in catching a fish from studying and using established traditions and methods. I think the enjoyment we all get out of fly fishing is the same no matter where we fall on the scale.

Most people don't see the elegant beauty of a rusty boat trolling a net. No wonder they never made "A Net Drags Through It" into a movie.😆

Why not hit it with some fly line conditioner after you clean it? The stuff is cheap enough, a small bottle last forever and it will probably cast like new.

LOL, I kind of figured you and Mr. Chell would have a difference of opinion regarding my statement that fly fishing is “difficult” and a “study” so let me clarify. I look at fly tying as part of fly fishing when taken as a whole it is a lifelong study. Books have been written just on the knots. Obviously it doesn’t need to be so complicated, you can buy a fly, tie it to a 20’ length of mono tied to a stick and catch a fish. My grandchildren fish that way often. For me though I’m fascinated with all of it, knots, flies, rods and the history. I agree with you both that the fundamentals of fly fishing are not too difficult. The average person who has never held a fly rod could go out with either of you and within a few minutes learn to cast well enough to catch fish. But remember it’s you’re years of knowledge and skills that are the reason said person has a shot at easy instant success. You will have already tied the arbor knot to the backing, tied the Albright knot to the fly line, tied the nail knot/perfection loop to the leader and tied the blood knot to the correct weight and length of tippet. You will have selected the proper fly and surface/sub surface/upstream/downstream set up. You will select an obstruction free area of water to cast that you also know has fish. You’re the reason they know how to dead drift/swing or strip the set up on correctly. After you show them how to set the hook you’re the reason they don’t start cranking and break the fish off. And don’t forget this is a fly that you had the skill to tie well enough to fool a fish. After you net their first fly rod Bluegill they think to themselves “That was easy”. We learned do all these things because we have a passion for the sport. I think most people when they are exposed to the big picture are content to buy a set up from Walmart, Texas rig a rubber worm and have at it. That’s fine, I have a great time fishing for Largemouths with conventional tackle out of my Kayak too but fly fishing is another level, it just is. An activity with hundreds of years of history that generates passion bordering on obsession is going to create “mystique”. As it is with Golf, Ferraris, Fenway Park, English Fox Hunting; It’s just an undeniable part of fly fishing. I embrace it, not for the purposes of being part of some exclusionary angling hierarchy but because the mystique comes from centuries of history. I'm a very seasoned and accomplished trout stream fly fisherman and I'll be the the first to say that if you put me on an ocean going boat for stripers I'd be lost. Fly fishing will teach a person humility. There are plenty of elitist snobs out there just like there are at the golf course and what they’re generally good at is crushing someone else’s enthusiasm. I think they’re a byproduct of the mystique not the other way around. After leaving a fly shop with my first fly rod I remember thinking “wow those people have attitudes”. Eventually I realized they were trying to instill in me the same respect for the traditions of the sport that they had. They were a subtle as a brick about it so I can understand why that can put people off. "You don't want to be a hack do you? Then learn to tie a proper blood knot!" Still rings in my ears but today the blood knot is a close friend.

Part of the enjoyment in fly fishing lies in the fact that fly fishing isn't easy or simple. I know the people at Orvis want everyone to believe its easy but I would argue worm and bobber fishing is easy, fly fishing is another level. To me fly fishing is a study and to do it well an angler needs to put in the time and effort to learn and develop the required skill sets. Certainly the fish don’t care how much money we spent at Orvis. It’s work to learn this sport (tying the knots alone drives people away) but there is a lot of satisfaction when we do it correctly. Just like golf or the piano- If you don't enjoy it your simply not going to work at it enough to learn what you need to know to have success beyond pure luck. That’s why I tend to agree with the view that in the post covid near future there will be some really nice gear cheap on ebay. I remember when “A River Runs Through It” came out a lot of people spent a lot of money thinking they were going to be Brad Pitt. Some of them got there. Some of them went once or twice before selling their equipment and some left their stuff in the garage next to the Fender guitar they bought the day after the Van Halen concert. It's nice to know that most of us fall into the "serious" category with regards to the sport.

There are those who believe pest control at your home is "murder". Now I must confess I just murdered a spider this morning. I'm sitting here eating my eggs with a glass of milk and contemplating if the chicken and cow had intellectually stimulating lives while in captivity of the evil human farmer. Suddenly this spider came along so I My wife made bacon! gotta go-

I stopped using head cement years ago and finish my fly heads with plain beeswax. A couple passes on the tread just before the whip finish. It's an old technique, when pulling the whip knot tight the friction melts the bees wax and it grips after it solidifies. The down side is It's not glossy and not as pretty as a head sealed with cement or resin. On upside it prevents divorce by not destroying the finish on fine furniture. And I like that it's an "Old Timey" touch. I use Overtone's for certain types of dubbing and when I need a little extra grip.

To your point- my wading staff is on a magnetic release like my net. It hangs off the back of my pack on my left side (I'm right handed). If I know wading is safe, the bottom is flat and without tripping hazards I leave it behind. That said I do fish a couple of free stone rivers regularly that are like walking on ice and require a staff to navigate. But it's one more thing to take along.

For me it's always a game time decision Choice A, take the absolute minimum and risk having to loose an hour hiking back to get something I need. Choice B take more than I probably will need and deal with the bulk. Last week while chasing fall fish I eventually came into a decent pool that was loaded with small size (12") large mouth. Still fun on a 3 weight but sadly the streamer box was setting back in the Jeep. The first aid kit is a great size. I found it in the camping section at Target and it's a Coleman product. The footprint is not much bigger than a credit card and about as thick as my thumb- just the basics to keep me on the water if I catch a piece of barb wire or have some other misadventure. As far as the Royal Coachman/Wulff goes they always look like Christmas ornaments to me!

When it comes to choosing flies I couldn't agree more. A Royal Coachman wet or dry always seem to produce for me but damned if I can figure out what the fish think it is. I wouldn't say I travel light though. I wade and tend to end up a long walk from my Jeep so I take a medium size chest pack. Water, cigars, lighter, a snack and a micro first aid kit are the non fishing related residents. I use everything I carry or it doesn't stay. 3 small boxes of flies -1 with dries, 1 with nymphs and 1 with a mix of wets.

Guilty your Honor- nice spot George!

Wow- Nice work sir!

Our local dollar store carries pill organizers that would make wonderful dry fly boxes. $1 and they will fit in your pocket. I have one that I use everyday (for medication) it's a couple of years old and still works fine.

That area isn't bad Norm. Two types of people in the world, organized and not. I take 5 minutes when I'm done to return everything where it belongs followed with a quick vacuuming of the desk top. Mark Knapp say's "organized people are too lazy to hunt for stuff" - that's me.

Enjoy!

Happy belated Mike! The slab is looking nice!

LOL you sound like Capt. Pierce (Hawkeye) from MASH!

It's like I tell my Grandchildren- Fishing wasn't easy for us back then, I remember having to run from the T-Rex to just to get to the local river when I was a kid.

To my eye it's a Fall Fish. In my area they are most often found in the same waters that hold trout. They handle warm water better and are found in pretty much every river and stream with moving water year round. I often fish for them through the hot months when I don't have the time to drive to cold water rivers. For me Fall Fish are a great way of keeping my casting, drifting, hook setting and knot tying skills up for Autumn trout fishing, not to mention remembering where I keep everything in my pack. They also fight like trout and are a lot of fun on light tackle.

George you are so right. Due to the power outages from the tropical storm last week we had all 6 of our grandchildren for 5 days- we only lost power for a couple of hours and they were out for days. The tying desk is in a room with a door, my "Fortress of Solitude" and perfect place to be when the chaos and noise levels exceeded my threshold. I was also fortunate to get out on a the river while my wife an daughter took the tiny monsters on a long hike at a nearby state park. The water is really low at this time of year and therefore deserted -perfect. Tough fishing, really shallow, knee deep water was a "pool". I could see the brookies but are they spooky at this time of year. Still a great morning- I caught lots of quiet and I didn't have to watch Frozen for the 37th time! Parents that have more than 2 children are like superhero's to me-

Here's my baby Mogup with the new taller stem. Dyna King Barracuda is a fantastic piece of engineering. I love the function that allows both our vises to pivot the jaws up. It really opens up the back of the hook. I also love that everything on both vises is stainless, brass or tool steel.

Same here, there's always peace that needs keeping and that usually means getting back by noon to "accomplish something" Lol. Unfortunately the Swift is a 50 minute ride for me so it's always a choice of less time on a better river or more time on a lesser river. You're lucky to have it so close. I can get to the Still Water and Quinapoxet in 25 minutes but often I just hit the local spots for Fall Fish.

At the Fly Fishing show there were several vendors selling Pearsall in almost every color. Not inexpensive though, I believe I paid about $6 per spool.

His advise was "For Rainbows on this river fish small, nothing big". " And by small I mean #22-#32". "Dead drift on a high stick/ short line and wade with as little movement as possible". He is correct, for Rainbows on that river small dark color nymphs will usually out produce any thing else you can throw. Because of the small tippets and hooks required it's pretty challenging to land a large Rainbow once you hook them. You have to play the fish to tire him enough not to break a 7X at the net but not to the point of exhaustion. I'm happy to say as a rule the anglers on that river show a lot of respect to the trout and use as much time as necessary to release a tired fish. It's common to see someone gently holding a fish in the current until they oxygenate and kick out of the hand. Because its really easy to break a fish off on the light tippets almost everyone you talk too is barb less. The river is probably the best Brook Trout fishery in our state so when I'm there I'm fishing for Brook trout. I'll be using #14-#18 but I still catch a fair amount of Rainbows on them. Just not as many as the nymphing guys. If I'm targeting Rainbows specifically I'll go down to #18-#22. I'm guessing fishing a #28 probably sounds crazy to a guy from Alaska where the Rainbows eat adult mice?