we didn't choose the cheapest hobby by far, but damn I enjoy it. Trying to build more experience and skill before I get into fly tying, that could be obsessive for me.
there's just so much gear. always a good looking fly too. have you priced out gear for tying? that's absurd. materials and tools and a bench. i wouldn't mind tying stuff like midges though. you need so many colors and styles here.
I'm in the same boat, I would like to start tying but the sheer quantity of materials and gear has held me back. I could go overboard with it real quick.
I wear waders a great deal for both work and play, have worn a lot of different brands, and can comfortably say you get what you pay for with them more than any other piece of equipment. I'm team Simms for life, but generally wear Redingtons for work and feel they're the best bang for the buck.
I've tried to wear waders for play, but they lose their effectiveness once I cut the hole in the crotch. Also, the wife gets really pissy afterwards when she has to clean the swamp mud off the sheets.
City trout. Was too windy to go out. Arkansas Game and fish stocks several ponds at some Little Rock parks.
I've had a pair of Simms waders for over fifteen years now. Bought a second pair five years ago. Both are still in good shape. If you are willing to pay for them, I can't recommend them highly enough. *I guide fishing trips on the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.
Wait, for real? I'd love to hire you for a trip I'm planning after labor day. *Pending Mom going back to Tetons and not elsewhere.
It was cold. Caught 50+ over the weekend. It was a grind because the spot has been hot for weeks and there have been a bunch of people out there for that whole time and it's a pretty small body of water. Most of these are 10-11. The biggest was the 12.5 in the top left. Apparently other people were catching 14+ and my buddy missed one at the hole that was in that class.
They're great eating and they're never shy biters. If you get into a school of them while fishing for walleyes, they're damn near impossible to keep off your line.
i think i've heard the term white perch and crappie used interchangeably but some juggsian research shows they are completely different fish. i know ppl that are all about some white perch fishing down here
That was the bitch this weekend. The bite was so timid. Lots of marks with no bites after a front came through Saturday afternoon.
I had the same problem with the crappies on Saturday. A couple of buddies have been pounding the crappies, all of them being in the 12-14" range for about 3 weeks straight. When I got to the lake on Saturday, my screen would show 6 feet of solid red marks, but they wouldn't even sniff the bait. We moved to another lake and found some biters, but they were dinks.
Right now, planning to come out week or second week after Labor Day. Spend a few days with Mom in GTNP and do the North Yellowstone loop, then head north. We did full GT and South Loop last summer. From there, I'd like to head north for the week for fishing and to see Glacier. Looking like a full Western Montana trip. I'd like to go guided one day and then spend another few fishing myself. I got guide info at the FF show here in Atlanta last week. I had a very nice conversation with Seth at Four Rivers, I would enjoy going with those guys. Also spoke with Bighorn Angler and Gallatin River Lodge. At minimum would do a half day float and get direction on where else to go in the area. I haven't gotten too deep yet as I'm planning to NC Trout Trail trip right now and Mom should accept her NPS gig at GTNP this week pending she gets a private cabin to herself. She is 68 and lived with 24 yo last summer, was an experience for her. *I love my girl, but I'd like to go more rustic on this trip to camp and fish, running water is her limit.
Uncle Si i actually do have a question for you, could be outside of your wheelhouse. I just got a new full sinking line for my 6 wt and the last 18' of the line is a tungsten core sink tip with no welded loop or pre-tied loop on the end. What knot would you use to connect this type of fly line to the leader? should i use a handshake knot, a version of a nail knot, triple surgeons, bloodknot, etc? My other sinking lines had factory tied handshake knots, and i tie my own leaders for my streamer rods so I can do whatever, but with the tungsten core of this line i'm not sure if I need a particular knot.
Had to google handshake knot. Never heard it called that before. Personally, I don't use that set up as it is too wind resistant and gets caught in the guides. Use the provided loop to tie an Albright knot for line to leader connections. I'd use a nail knot for the sink tip, keeping it as slim as possible. I quit using the triple surgeons a couple of years ago because I was loosing too many big fish on the hook set right at the knot.
this is the first full sink line i've used, and previously purchased sink tips were ready to go from the package or had a mono tip so i wasn't connecting my leader directly to the sinking portion of the line. the handshake is the easiest for me when i have to replace my leader, but yes it's a pain in the ass getting through the guides sometimes. i use blood knots and maxima green when building my streamer leaders and have been happy so far with those.
Let me know when you start planning. That is a great time to be out here and most, if not all, of the rivers should be fishing well. I don't know Seth or the guys at Four Rivers but that is a great area. Plenty of excellent options.
Finally have the answer to the age-old question, "do fish have orgasms?" That thing had a serious O-face going on. :rapezy:
Looking to get pops a new depth finder.. looking for something more user friendly than tons of bells and whistles as he's not very tech savvy and only going to need it to mark spots/ easy to see structure for bass and crappie on Weiss won't be fishsing multiple lakes or anything like that
went with the albright knot fyi. it wasn't nearly as bad as i assumed but 10 wraps on the sink tip required a lot of work to cinch down properly
all the knot demo's said 10 loops, but the jump from 8 to 10 was really a bitch. i may drop back down to 8
Any Floridians in here? Going to be in Miami in March and thinking of bass fishing on lake Okeechobee.
I'd imagine y'all will fish some big stoneflies tomorrow. Be sure to provide an update after the fact.
My expectation too, I even picked up a few at Bass Pro for my own adventure. Myself and another guy who I met in our Orvis 201 class, going with RTA for our 301 deal. Talked to the owner at the FF show a few weeks ago and he said he'd honor it from last summer, I'm stoked.
My impression too, really like the owner Chris and Aaron, going with owner's brother John tomorrow. I've become buddies with a guy who helps with the Orvis classes who does Healing Waters with veterans, looking forward to working with them down the road.
You veteran fishermen able to tell me what this is? Friend speculates a Northern Pike. I'm (obviously) an amateur.
No, but hopefully in the next few weeks now that Delayed Harvest has started. One of the guys a the FF show told me to wait until March/April and that works better in my schedule. I think I'm going to do a day with Rivers Edge Outfitters and then two days on my own when I go. Went with a local outfitter for a few hours last Saturday for my Orvis 301 on the Chattahoochee and had a blast. It's really incredible how much I picked up from the guide, John, who is the owner's brother. I feel that I'm getting better every time I get out on the water. Caught a 7' wild brown trout on a blue assassin, which is just a blue lightning bug, and it was really bc I set every time I pull out of the water to recast. He put a strike indicator on my line and it made all the difference in weight casting in the wind, felt that I had so much more control and was significantly more accurate. He used a half a toothpick to secure the indicator so I bought some toothpicks at Publix Friday afternoon and to get some cash for parking. Side note: Walking out, ran into Cam Newton and his baby mama, got a War Eagle Buddy back from my War Eagle. This was a better guide experience than on the Snake River this August. Felt like we were treated more as tourists out there, but I did have my girlfriend with me, which is very understandable. This was a pure fishing education, will definitely go back and plan to go duck hunting with him next winter. Great dude and operation. Really got the background and logic behind the instruction. In Wyoming, it was simply, "Cast there." Makes me really want to get a flat bottom boat or canoe for the river. Was on my way to Paces and fished the east side from Whitewater. Was still a bit smelly and murky, but they had stocked on the lower Paces boatramp earlier in the week. I couldn't get down to the area I wanted to with my time constraints, but will try again hiking through the woods with a collapsed rod. Plan to go back either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week in the late afternoon if I can get away. I'm trying to get on the southern tip of Long Island. Stopped into the Orvis store in Buckhead and had a really nice conversation with Shannon who was on loan from the Alpharetta store. Will go back to him about Public Land hunting for hogs and turkeys which starts up in a few weeks. He showed me tension loading to throw up stream which I had seen at the FF but didn't hear the context of when to use it as I was back a ways. Also, need to stock up on my bass and crappie flies for pond fishing in town, there is one just a mile from the house I'd like to give a throw at.