My flies… lining up for battle.
These are my glass back reverse bunny gotchas. I love them so.
I think they are sexy.
I seem to tie this pattern more often than I tie anything else. I just kind of love how they look. Can’t help it.
Flies
08
Oct 13
Scott’s favorite flies
I’m not the only one thinking about flies, it seems. Here’s a post from Scott Heywood about one of his favorites. He gets pretty deep.
I should love this fly. Afterall, the Shane in Shane’s Psycho Puff is my friend Shane. Still, I haven’t had luck with this fly, but that may be because I don’t fish it often and tend to reach for it when everything else hasn’t worked, which isn’t the best testing ground.
I may need to give this fly a second look.
07
Oct 13
I like tying
But I have to get in the right state of mind to do it. If I’m going to try and pound out a bunch of flies (and Dan, I’m starting on that task, fyi), I need to prepare the space. I need to clean up all the bits and snips from previous sessions. I need to clean up my desk and get things ready.
I do like tying though. I like the process of creating. I’ve always loved sculpture, as an art, but I’m no sculptor. Tying, though, tying is building something which, in the right light, can look a little bit like discrete pieces of art, purpose built and intended for personal, private moments of greatness.
Production.
25
Jul 13
I hate trout flies
I started tying trout flies when I spent a summer as a guide on some of the prettiest waters in California (or anywhere else). I needed to fill my boxes with quick, practical flies that would catch fish. That meant dark nymphs in a #16, probably a bead head.
PT’s, AP’s. Maybe an Eng Theng if I was feeling cocky. I tied hundreds and clients lost just about every single one, but that is why I tied them.
Once I started tying bonefish flies… I kind of put all that stuff away… the bead heads, the #18’s, the 6/0 thread, the dubbing and Pheasant feathers.
My table or bench started to see craft fur and crystal flash and EZ Braid. The threads were Big Game. The hooks started at #6 and went up to #1/0 and then even larger for other species. I have come to love bead chain eyes and have growing opinions about the various materials one uses to craft a saltwater fly.
sigh…
I was asked to tie some trout flies for a donor of a river conservation nonprofit (one I used to be the Development Director for) and I said “sure.”
Now I know it… I hate tying trout flies. I’ve been ruined. Not only can I not find all my materials, but the hooks are so small! How did I have room to put all the bug parts on an #18? Wing case? Damn.
I’ll buy my trout flies, gladly, from fly shops I visit and enjoy.
I’ll tie my saltwater flies, which I enjoy tying very much.
15
Jun 13
Something new
Today I’m going fishing, both literally and figuratively. I’m going to try and find stripers inside the SF Bay. I’ve never done this before and I don’t know the water, or the fish. We’ll see how it goes.
Going to take out the new Vapen from Redington. I’ll be casting a T-400, so it might not be the most pure of casting experiences, but I’m looking forward to getting this bit of newness out on the water.
If I can find them (doubtful) this should work, right?
12
Jun 13
Sending my children off
I remember just a little while ago when they were nothing… just a collection of bits and pieces.
They had no form.
They had no purpose.
They were there, really, all along, just not assembled.
Then, I took out the thread, the joiner, the welder, and I started to wrap this in and then that. Each part has a purpose. Each part has a role to play. Some for flash, some for structure. Wraps and more wraps and snips and cuts.
Pauses. Evaluation.
Imagination. Picturing where they will be, how they will behave while they are out there, in the world, fulfilling their purpose.
My babies
These are going off to the Bahamas in someone else’s box for someone else’s bonefish, but I’m glad to play a part, to be part creator, to set my children free in the world to fulfill their destiny.
13
May 13
Palolo
It might happen, it might not. It’s hard to tell right now, but when we head to the Keys, the Palolo might be on. It isn’t dead perfect, but what is?
Not a complicated fly.
19
Apr 13
Picking the right fly
Deneki recently ran a post about picking the right bonefish fly. Worth a read.
Now, that’s a real issue for people like me who walk out on the flats with 600 flies. If you only have a dozen flies, it is likely an easier decision tree.
The boxes.
Here’s how I usually pick a fly.
- Depth. Deeper water required heavier flies. However, it seems, from my very limited experience, it is almost always bead-chain eyes. I have lead-eyes and mono-eyes and it is almost always the bead chains that win.
- Big fish, big flies. Someone told me that and I bought it. Heading to Biscayne Bay I’ve been told I need 1/0’s. The bones of Belize require flies in the #6-#8. A #6 or #4 seems to go over well in most places.
- Go with the pattern that has worked. Seems like a good call, no?
- Never fish the stuff I haven’t fished before. That’s not a good thing, but I notice the flies I’ve tied but am unsure of… yeah, those don’t tend to make it out of the box. Sometimes I wish I would take more risks.
- When in doubt… put on a Peterson’s Spawning Shrimp.
In the end…
- Relax. It matters way less than we think it does… probably. Presentation over fly selection, within reason.
28
Mar 13
A tour of the boxes
I’m done tying… for now. I’ll need to tie more for Florida, but for this trip, I really can’t put much more in the boxes. I even added a generic box to my Cliff Box line up so I’d have a place to go. I’m guessing it is about 600 flies. I tied about 90% of these (I have a couple poppers, two crab flies and two different tarpon patterns I didn’t tie).
The boxes.
Nice lineup.
I’ll be throwing some of these in GBI, 100%
Even some crabs in there.
A bit of everything
Looking forward to putting some of these in the water.
20
Mar 13
Tying a Cuda Fly
A very interesting tie… and it is key you watch all the way to the end… all the way.
😉
