Chris_in_Louisiana

The fishing tournament will run from sunrise Thursday, May 4, until noon on Saturday, May 6. You must be registered for the Classic to compete, and you can either pre-register online or begin fishing after registering at the event on Friday morning. We're sticking with two divisions this year; Adult and Youth (under 18). Anglers in either division may fish out of kayak, motorized boat or from shore. The tournament is a catch, photo, release (CPR) mixed bag format, so anglers will be submitting photos of eligible species (25 in total ranging from Bluegill to Tarpon, plus 5 wild card slots for unique catches) in lieu of a traditional weigh in. I'm serving a tournament director, so I'll be reviewing and approving entries throughout the weekend and keeping a leader board updated online and at the Classic site. The angler in each division who submits the most species wins. The tournament awards will take place at 1 PM on Saturday at the Festival site (Gulf State Park). Regarding geographic limitations, we'd love to see people fishing the park, but have expanded the boundaries from Mobile Bay to Pensacola Bay. This means any fresh or saltwater between these locations is fair game. As a bluegill is worth the same 1 point as a Tarpon though, anglers will have to decide whether its more beneficial to make a run in the boat or stick Lake Shelby or the beaches on site. PDFs of both the rules/species list and fishing boundaries can be found at this link: https://ffigulfcoastclassic.com/fly-fishing-tournament/ I'll be hosting a Zoom/Youtube Live Captains Meeting a few days prior to the event. I'll be sure to provide a link in this thread once it is scheduled. Let me know if you have any other questions. Chris

Good morning guys, Just wanted to extend an invite to a new event the Gulf Coast Council of Fly Fishers International will be hosting in Gulf Shores, AL. Dubbed the Gulf Coast Classic, the event is slated for May 5-6, 2023 and will be hosted at the Learning Campus of Gulf State Park (Gulf Shores, AL). As part of the festivities, we'll have 20-30 demonstration tyers, exhibitors from local and national brands, FFI Casting instruction and a series of free and paid seminars. There will also be a multi-day Mixed Bag CPR tournament as part of the festivities, and the festival will culminate with a showing of the 2023 Fly Fishing Film Tour. Regarding the Mixed Bag tournament, I'd highly recommend everyone in attendance participate. There's no entry fee (simply purchase admission to the Classic and you're eligible), and we'll be giving away some great prize packages from sponsors like Orvis & Bajio. While we're still working on adding to the prize package, the current 1st place package in our adult division includes an 8wt Orvis Recon and pair of Bajio Sunglasses. Not bad for a free tournament... We'll also be raffling off a number of prizes as part of the F3T showing on Saturday afternoon including an 8wt Sage R8 Salt fly rod. Tickets to the showing are $25 and will be limited to 200-max. Additionally, we'll have a few events of particular interest to the Fly Tying community. These include two tying contests "The Iron Fly" and "The One Feather Challenge" hosted by Fred Hannie as well as a series of paid workshops with Fred, Ed Lash and others. More info regarding the event can be found at the link below: https://ffigulfcoastclassic.com/ Hope to see many of you there. Chris Williams Director-at-Large --- Gulf Coast Council of FFI

Sorry for the delay, folks. USPS managed to lose my package for about a week, but the tracking number is finally showing my flies as in transit. Chris

In the mail. Two days later than planned, but USPS should have them to your door on Saturday. Chris

Half way there. I'll get the other half done this weekend and drop them in the mail no later than Monday. Chris

Good morning, Kim! I'm long overdue for joining one of your swaps. Put me down as tyer #5. Not 100% sure what I'll do yet, but probably something warmwater (Predator to Panfish). Gurgler or some variety of streamer are the most likely options. Chris

What about an appropriately colored version of Clouser's Mad Tom? I feel like that pattern may produce a fairly accurate profile in the water.

You as well! We'll have to meet up on the water one of these days.

Looks like I missed this one back in December. Great tie as always, Chug! I'm going to have to tie a few before my next trip west. By the way...I think our new friend, Larry, would love to try this out on the bluegill. Chris

I made it out, but sadly the weatherman lied. It was suppose to be a low of 50/high of 55 on the coast with negligible winds. It was 38 F when I arrived. Never got about 45 F, and the winds were gusting at 20 knots. I saw one redfish all day, but was not prepared to take a shot before it spooked. Apparently the fish still haven't come back out after 3-4 days of feezing temps. The raggedy crab is really nice as well. I've had a few newer tyers asking for suggestions on patterns they can tie with FTD materials that they recently purchased. Thanks to your Christmas box, I have a few new suggestions for them. Thank you again. I'll be sure to post some reds caught on these flies once the weather cooperates. Chris

Just opened an outstanding mix of saltwater offerings from @Chasing_Tails Can't wait to try a few out in the marsh tomorrow morning!! I'm thinking that 1/0 Bunny Crab will start the day tied to my 9wt in hopes of encountering some Bull Reds. While the #2 Foxy Lady will find its way to my 8wt should I stumble across any sheepshead. Big thanks to Chasing Tails for the box, and, of course, to Nick for once again putting this together. Merry Christmas everyone! Chris

First present is under the tree. Can't wait to open it. Thanks again, St. Nick!! Chris

Heading your way. Should arrive Thursday per USPS. Thanks as always for hosting.

I'm more than happy to put a fly in front of anything that swims (56 species to date in 2022). Locally that's a mix of saltwater species, bass, sunfish, gar, bowfin and the occasional carp. Trout, pike and other cooler water quarry find their way into the mix when time and budget allow. I selected saltwater as that is primarily what I've been working on as of late. Chris

Count me in, Nick! Wasn't sure I'd have time to tie, but looks like I should have time to put together a set of saltwater offerings this afternoon. Chris

Hey guys, It's been a busy few months for me, and it appears I haven't shared a Step-by-Step since early June. With temperatures cooling, however, I've begun restocking for trips to the marsh and thought I'd share one of my favorite topwater offering when chasing reds. A gurgler variant at its core, the Popping Shrimp has paid dividends for me when targeting shallow water reds at first light. For those interested, the full step-by-step can be found at the link: https://fatfingeredflytyer.com/popping-shrimp-fly-step-by-step/ Chris Materials: Hook: Gamakatsu SS15 (#1) Thread: UTC 140 Denier (Pink or Tan) Eyes: Mono Crab Eyes Tail: Craft Fur Antennae: Krystal Flash Legs: Barred Crusher Legs Body: Ice Dub (Tan) & EP Shrimp Dub (Sand) blended Back: 2-mm Thin Foam (Tan) Ribbing: 12-lbs Monofilament

Hey guys, As has been the case the last few years, my wife and I have submitted a few of her images to the Orvis 20 September Days photo contest. And for the third year running, one of her images was selected as a finalist. Voting is open now through 10/9/22, and I wanted to share a link for anyone who may not be aware of the contest. There are some great entries this year, so be sure to check out the link and vote for your favorite three. https://news.orvis.com/fly-fishing/vote-for-the-winners-in-our-2022-20-days-in-september-contest-and-maybe-win-something-for-yourself Be sure to comment at the bottom of the article as well as one commenter wins a pair of those fancy Orvis nippers. For those who may be interested, my wife's entry (listed under my name in the contest) is below. Tight lines, Chris

My wife sent me that the other day. I experienced sudden acute hearing loss in my left ear back in early April. The ENT was thankfully able to help me recover about 80% of it, but the tinnitus has remained. I'm hopeful these findings will go a long way towards improving treatment for tinnitus. Hearing loss and tinnitus are not something I had planned on dealing with before the age of 40. Hope your condition continues to improve, Steve! Chris

Oops...forgot the material list. Hook: Kona Big Game Hook (3/0) Thread: 140 Denier (White) Eyes: Dumbbell (Large) Tail: Streamer Hackle (White; 4-6x) Flash: Krystal Flash (Pearl) Body: Bucktail (White) Head: Deer Belly Hair or Bucktail Hair trimmed from the base of the tail (White)

Hey guys, With all of my May travels behind me, I finally sat down this week and put together another Step-by-Step for the blog. This one is the Andino Deceiver. Originally designed as a Golden Dorado pattern, it was recommended for snook on my recent visit to Costa Rica. While that didn't pan out due to rain, it turned out to be a solid Striper pattern as well on my visit to RI late last month. Here's the link for anyone interested in more details: Andino Deceiver Step-by-Step Chris

What a fish!! Congrats to her and you!

What a smallmouth!! Beautiful fish!!

Sadly back to reality this month. Not sure how I'll handle spending more than 10 days in the office this month. Still waiting to test out your flies by the way. Apparently (per my house sitter) there was a mayfly hatch while I was in Costa Rica, but I haven't had a good one since. Crossing my fingers for another soon. Chris

When I posted some pics from my Costa Rica trip last week, I mentioned it was the first of two fly fishing trips I had slated in May. The second was a trip north to participate in The Mayfly Project's 2nd annual 25 on the Fly tournament. I had fished the same Mixed Bag tournament in 2021, driving the 20 hours to New York for pre-fishing/Day 1 before detouring to Rhode Island for day 2 of the tournament. This year, we decided to switch it up. And instead of fishing NY with a detour into RI, I flew directly into Providence for two days of striper fishing before the tournament began. We then fished day 1 of the tournament in RI before driving overnight to central NY to finish things off. It was an absolute blast to say the least, and we did quite well landing 13 of 18 eligible species on tournament days. 25 on the Fly: Part 1 (Rhode Island pre-fishing) 25 on the Fly: Part 2 (Tournament Day 1) 25 on the Fly: Part 3 (Tournament Day 2) Enjoy! Chris *Note - Some of the pics are a little blurry as they're screen shots from videos. The tournament format requires videos of each release*

Oh man! Trigger salad actually sounds really good! Going to have to try that some day.