Flies

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24
Sep 09

Pop’s Bonefish Bitter

My friend and fishing buddy, Shane Kohlbeck, told me if I wanted to fill my box with flies other than Gotcha’s that I should tie up some Bonefish Bitters.  I’d seen these flies before, but I’ve never tied with epoxy, so I was unsure about the Bitter as a pattern I should really pursue.

I found a nice write up on the Bitter, brought to popularity by Craig Matthews (who is just an outstanding/upstanding guy) owner of Blue Ribbon Flies (West Yellowstone) and co-founders of 1% for the Planet, along with Yvon Chouinard.  Craig named the fly Pop’s Bonefish Bitter after a guide he knew and wanted to honor.

I found a tutorial on-line that is pretty good.  The tier uses epoxy, where I used a UV knot product.

So… epoxy.  I have a toddler in the house and the idea of epoxy doesn’t sit well.  Not that I even tie when she’s awake, but I don’t like epoxy’s rep for toxicity.  With that in mind, I tried hot glue.  Sure, I’m a stay at home dad, so I have craft supplies and tried my hand with the hot glue gun.  Horrible… I really, really suck at hot glue flies, as it turns out.  UV Knot Sense was mentioned and I found a similar product by Rio and used that.  One attempt at tying with the UV Knot stuff and I’m pretty much sold.  Below is my first Pops Bonefish Bitter attempt in a #6.

My first Bitter

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20
Sep 09

Flies Flies Flies

After driving from Maine to Logan Airport (which my Garmin had never hear of before, for some reason), flying from Logan to SFO and then driving 2.5 hours East all with my 2.5 year old, I’m tired.  Dead tired.  Really, really, tired.  So, how about some fly tying vids from good ole’ Youtube?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUieJnQfokc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

I’ve been tying a bunch of Gotcha variations.  They are just soooooooo easy.  Seems that about 80% of bonefish patterns vary in materials/look/concept by about 2%.  A Charlie is similar to a Gotcha with is similar to lots and lots of other flies.  Just hope the fish don’t want crab patterns (which I have not started to learn just yet) or epoxy (my efforts to replace epoxy with hot glue or other substitutes have utterly failed not gone well).

You can hear this guy’s dog doing some heavy breathing, which may remind you of a few dozen dogs you’ve met in your life.

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02
Sep 09

Bach’n it

I can’t really make any bold or youthful statements about how hard I roll or how Xtreme I am.  Right now, the wife is away in the city for work, as is our normal schedule these days.  My daughter is asleep, after trying to stall that inevitability by asking for a fishing story… yeah, this girl has me wrapped around her finger.

The house is still.  Dog is asleep.  TV is off.  Pandora is streaming a mix based on Metric and I’m at the vice.  I can’t overstate how optimistic this act is.  If anything, I should be tying up Eng Thengs or BHFB PT’s.  I’m not, though.  I’m tying up variations of Gotcha’s.  If I get to use these flies at all, it won’t be until March or April.  But here I am… tying (well, typing right now, but you know what I mean).

I have it bad… what can I say?  I think it is because bonefishing is just so different from how I normally fish.  I’m a river guy, a nymph guy… I cast all day, strike all day, reading the water is mundane because out of the 600 or 700 casts I make, only a few of those are going to yeild a fish… maybe 30-60 strikes in a day.  Bonefishing though… the stalking, the hunting, the clear water of the flat, the mangroves and the rays.  Man…  I need it in my life.  NEED.

So… on these bachelor nights, I may tip a Downtown Brown, Moose Drool or Newcastle here in the mountains, but my thoughts are thousands of miles away.

My episodic bachelor pad

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