Order Ready For Pick-Up

eeeerrrr....I mean shipping.  Just a quick update to let you all know that I am still alive and kicking.  Here is an order for a dozen yellow/black/yellow size 10 gurglers heading to a customer in the South.  O and I have a new camera so stay tuned for some more updates on flies I have tied recently. 

Daughter Catches First Fish on the Fly Rod

My daughter and I decided to hit the river again Monday evening.  She has been begging me to try fly fishing.  She tried it a little on Sunday while we were there and really liked it.  So, we decided to go back and give it a whirl on Monday.  For the first hour and a half we were there, she did some spin fishing and I was fly fishing.  I was using my go to fly which is the Road Kill Nymph in different colors.  I have to say it was tough fishing.  In the entire time I spent there which was about two and a half hours, I only managed to land 11 fish.  Of those 11, four were smallies, one was a red eyed rock and the others were long eared sunfish.  I did manage to hook about a 20 inch catfish.  Notice I said hook and not land.  We had worked our way across the river to the far bank.  I was using a Road Kill Nymph in size 10 in yellow and black.  The area we were fishing was the area in which I landed the catfish I caught on Father's Day.  I tossed my fly up under a tree and got an immediate strike.  I actually saw the fish roll and try to swim down stream with my fly.  I went to set the hook and thought I had lost the fish.  My line had gone slack and there was no fight from the fish.  After many, many curse words said by me, I pulled in my line to cast again.  When the line was within 10 feet of me, it took off again.  I didn't realize that the fish was still on there.  For the next five or so minutes I fought the fish.  We moved back across the river to the bank we had started from.  I was hoping to get it into shallow water.  I saw it a few times.  That ghost white under belly and blue/gray top.  Catfish, I said to myself, and a big one.  I would say it was around 20 or so inches.  Anyways, back to the fight.  I had finally made it to ankle deep water when it happened.  You all who fly fish know what I mean.  That horrible moment when the fly exits the mouth of the fish.  That fish that is the "one."  You know it is big.  You have seen it.  You have been fighting it for a while.  What a terrible feeling that is.  My heart sank as I was fighting that catfish one second and then the next second I could feel the fly pop out.  I fell back a little.  As I did so I watched the catfish roll on its side and head back out to deeper water.  Remember when I said earlier that many, many curse words were said?  Trust me, many more were said this time around.  Boy was I pissed.  Afterwards I did have a good laugh about it.

After I lost the catfish we decided to move to another hole.  After a short while, I lit a cigar and allowed my daughter the chance to practice her casting with the fly rod.  She was doing OK.  As the evening progressed, another hatch of white flies occurred.  We were smack dab in the middle of it.  It was getting rather dark so I decided to switch to something small and bright.  I put on a size 10 retro lime-a popper but in balsa wood.  I make mine square shaped as they seem to be a lot more quiet and glide through the water easier.  After a few casts, my daughter had hook two long ears but lost both.  Finally, she manged to land one who had eagerly swallowed the tasty looking popper.  She was very excited about it.  I took a photo of it but there isn't a flash on my cell phone camera so it didn't come out well.  She was very happy though and promptly stated "OK we can go home now" and so we did.  A night to remember for sure.

First long ear of the evening

Nice smallie taken on a Road Kill Nymph tied in white and black by me

This is what happens when you don't hold the smallie right and he jumps a little in your hands.

First fish ever on the fly rod all by herself.

Father/Daughter Evening On The River

My daughter and I decided to do a little fishing yesterday evening.  Typically when we go she brings her chest pack and her Zebco 202 rod and reel.  I only fly fish for the most part anymore.  We wet wade the river and usually have a good time.  It is no secret that she had some severe health problems which doesn't always allow us to spend time together.  Well that coupled with her teenage attitude given she is 16.

Anyways, we hit the river in search of some smallies.  Upon arrival, our first spot was taken so we moved down river for a while patiently waiting for the teenagers to leave.  We caught some nice long eared sunfish and I managed to land two smallies.  My daughter was doing pretty good landing some decent sized long ears.

She asked if we could try the deep hole, which was our first spot, and I said yes.  We moved back up river and found it open and ready to be fished.  We landed more long ears, some red eyed rocks and 1 fall fish.  Sadly no more smallies or largemouth.  Last time we were in this area we hooked up with some nice sized largemouth.  I also let her have a go at fly fishing.  I was using a Road Kill Nymph and kept that on for her.  The added weight allowed her a better chance of casting further.  She loved it.  She actually did pretty good with the casting as well.  We have plans to hit the water again tonight provided the weather holds out.  It is supposed to rain pretty hard later this evening.

All in all it was a pleasant day on the river allowing father and daughter a chance to bond a little.

Wow It Has Been A While

since I last posted.  Sorry about that people.  The last two weeks were extremely busy for me.  Not only was my full time job filled with long hours and stressful situations but I also had a lot of fly tying to do for orders.  I did the math last night and since July 4 I have tied up 176 flies.  The majority of them have been poppers.  We just completed another order for our local Orvis store.  This order was for 8 dozen poppers.  We still need to make another 6 dozen.  I did some Fruit Cocktails for a fly swap on Fly Tying Forum and then we did orders of various sizes for people.  Most, if not all, contained poppers and Panfish Persuaders.  I have been getting up before work and hitting the vise for a few hours.  After work I have been coming home and doing the same thing.  It made for some long days but it was worth it.  I actually enjoyed it as well.  I wish I had photos but let's all remember that my camera was last seen tumbling end over end on the bottom of the Monocacy River as the current swept it away 3 weeks ago.  So far work hasn't given me a new camera.  I must say though that I will only be using it, once I get it, to take photos of my flies.  It will no longer be accompanying me on my fishing adventures.  I learned my lesson from losing this one. 

Randy over at Leaping Bluegills received an order of our flies.  He did a nice write up about them here if you would like to see it.  I am excited for Randy to come back from vacation so we can see how well he did with the flies. 

It has been over two weeks since I last had a line wet.  I am hoping to chase some smallies either tonight or tomorrow night or even both if the wife will let me.  I am caught up on orders so right now we are trying to build up our stock which means that I don't feel bad hitting the water.

So stay tuned for more updates and again I am sorry for the delay in posting until now.

Crappie Day....

pun intended.  We had a couple of orders for flies come in during the week.  I was able to get everything completed in a short amount of time.  The problem with them being shipped was that the stupid US Post Office decided to shut down on Saturday.  Every post office we went to was closed.  Yes we got mail but I guess that they decided to shut the post office down to save money.  WTF???  I don't mind except that a sign or notice or some advanced warning would have been nice.  So with popper bodies drying, the orders completed and ready for shipment, and nothing really for me to do, I was able to sneak out for a while with Greg on Saturday. 

We decided to hit the lake where I did so well last time and Greg had that awful day.  I am happy to say that he had a somewhat better day.  He managed to finish the day without needing stitches and only losing one large, around 4 pounds, largemouth that I am pretty sure brought a tear to his eyes.  Overall though we did well.  Again, the hot fly of the day seemed to be the clouser.  I make mine in a size 10 2X long hook with Kelly green over yellow and some red flash.  I landed around 35 Warmouth, 30 Crappie, 8 Gills (some rather large), 3 Largemouth, 2 Yellow Perch and 2 Long Eared sunfish.  Not bad at all if I do say so myself.  Some thoughts on the crappie.  I can honestly say that I have (a) never caught that many and (b) actually targeted them.  They really are a neat fish.  To watch them chase and swipe at the fly was a lot of fun.  They really do like a good streamer pattern stripped.  Drives them wild.

On a side note, I would like to say that yes I count my fish.  Not for the reason that people might think though.  I have been keeping a log book of my fishing adventures since 1998.  It isn't always about what I catch.  It is more really about the temps, conditions and what flies worked.  It is nice to be able to go back, relive those fishing trips and remind myself what was working at what time.  If you haven't started a log book of some type, due yourself a favor and start one immediately.  They really are worth their weight in gold.

I would also like to comment on my photos.  I apologize for them.  I had to take them with my Blackberry.  Let us not forget that my camera is still at the bottom of the Monocacy River and I haven't been able to replace it as of yet.  I still hope you enjoy seeing them though.