A Møøse once bit my sister...
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...
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Federation of Fellow Fly-Fishing Football Fanatics
- Thread starter Middle-aged_Ball_Coach
- Start date
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...
Wind River Range? Golden trout?
I can assure you that if you should ever fish with me, I will NOT take that title away from him. I like fishing small streams, and I especially like fishing streamers, and both are probably true in large part because I'm a horrible caster.
It wasn't Bill Moos, was it? If he has a biting habit, it would go a long way toward explaining a lot of the otherwise inexplicable disdain for the guy.
@CrabHusker, I similarly had to learn on my own for the most past, starting at age 15 with what I now know was a very crappy Shakespeare fly rod. I didn't take up fly tying until I was 40 years old, but it's safe to say that shoveling snow and mowing lawns would have taken multiple lifetimes to pay for the never-ending supply of fly tying things that I've bought ever since.
If there's one thing that I wished I had known much earlier, it's that I should have started with a better rod. A second thing would be how important it is to have a good line to match the rod, and to keep it clean. I'm actually not a horrible caster anymore because I figured out that a lot of the problem when I was younger was that I didn't have very good tools. I'm too tight to fork over $800+ for the latest Sage or G Loomis or Orvis fly rod, but I now know that I can get an infinitely better rod than the cheap Walmart ones if I spend close to $100. After that it's diminishing marginal returns, but the $200 rods are certainly better than the $100 rods, and the $400 rods are certainly better than those. I don't believe that I have yet cast a rod that costs more than $500, and that's in large part due to the fact that I can't imagine buying one and explaining that purchase to my wife, so what happens if I cast it and think it's the greatest invention since the female body? Depression ... that's what happens. So I don't go there.
If you haven't tied for awhile, and you pull your supplies out, be aware that the finer fly tying threads degrade over time, so it's likely that anything smaller than 3/0 will break easily. Go ahead and check, and I'd even peel off several of the outer layers of thread to make sure--did I mention that I'm a tightwad?--but don't be upset with yourself if you find that the old thread keeps breaking. If you do buy new thread, you've got to try some of the new stuff that's now available. GSP is like tying with wire cable, except it's relatively thin. People like to use it on deer hair bass bugs, but if you use too much pressure, or if the hair is overly hollow, it cuts right through. Veevus and Griffith's are making threads so tiny that I have to just take their word for it that there's thread on those spools unless I pull out a jeweler's loop to check ... and the stuff doesn't break easily. It's amazing.
Before you buy any gear or supplies, check with me first. I'll loan you stuff for free, if possible. There are several buddies of mine from a Facebook Fly Fishing page who currently have at least one rod & reel outfit that they're trying out, and one of those guys is in western North Carolina. He decided to buy some of my stuff, but I could have him send whatever he doesn't keep to you. I bought a bunch of gear to help my high school students get started with fly fishing, but some unexpected life changes led to a job change, and I no longer am around people who use the stuff. I'd rather lend it out than have it just sit around.
If there's one thing that I wished I had known much earlier, it's that I should have started with a better rod. A second thing would be how important it is to have a good line to match the rod, and to keep it clean. I'm actually not a horrible caster anymore because I figured out that a lot of the problem when I was younger was that I didn't have very good tools. I'm too tight to fork over $800+ for the latest Sage or G Loomis or Orvis fly rod, but I now know that I can get an infinitely better rod than the cheap Walmart ones if I spend close to $100. After that it's diminishing marginal returns, but the $200 rods are certainly better than the $100 rods, and the $400 rods are certainly better than those. I don't believe that I have yet cast a rod that costs more than $500, and that's in large part due to the fact that I can't imagine buying one and explaining that purchase to my wife, so what happens if I cast it and think it's the greatest invention since the female body? Depression ... that's what happens. So I don't go there.
If you haven't tied for awhile, and you pull your supplies out, be aware that the finer fly tying threads degrade over time, so it's likely that anything smaller than 3/0 will break easily. Go ahead and check, and I'd even peel off several of the outer layers of thread to make sure--did I mention that I'm a tightwad?--but don't be upset with yourself if you find that the old thread keeps breaking. If you do buy new thread, you've got to try some of the new stuff that's now available. GSP is like tying with wire cable, except it's relatively thin. People like to use it on deer hair bass bugs, but if you use too much pressure, or if the hair is overly hollow, it cuts right through. Veevus and Griffith's are making threads so tiny that I have to just take their word for it that there's thread on those spools unless I pull out a jeweler's loop to check ... and the stuff doesn't break easily. It's amazing.
Before you buy any gear or supplies, check with me first. I'll loan you stuff for free, if possible. There are several buddies of mine from a Facebook Fly Fishing page who currently have at least one rod & reel outfit that they're trying out, and one of those guys is in western North Carolina. He decided to buy some of my stuff, but I could have him send whatever he doesn't keep to you. I bought a bunch of gear to help my high school students get started with fly fishing, but some unexpected life changes led to a job change, and I no longer am around people who use the stuff. I'd rather lend it out than have it just sit around.
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In order to keep this thread active, I'm going to try to post a link to a video or article or something every couple of days or so. I already posted some fly tying and a little Hank Patterson, so here's a video that hit me between the eyes like a sledgehammer, letting me know that I need to go fly fishing in New Zealand sometime before I die ... preferably during a mouse "hatch." If you've never seen this, and you like fishing for big trout, this video will blow your mind....
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D
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In. I'm about 3 years in to fly fishing. I don't get to go out as often as I'd like and the weather/flooding this year has seriously hindered my fly fishing. I'm mostly self taught with an assist to YouTube. My cast is still sloppy at times and my presentation needs work. I've had my best luck fishing lakes with a small wet fly so far, but I've pulled a couple of decent browns out of some smaller streams.
There was a fly fishing shop in the Cherry Creek area of Denver called the Flyfisher that was my candy shop. Before I was old enough to drive, I'd talk my dad or one of my older sisters to drive me there and I'd wander the isles of materials looking for A) Stuff I could tie a useful pattern with and B) Stuff that fit in category A but also fit in my budget. That was the hard part. I remember a nice grizzly hackle neck costing $20 back in the late '70's, which was triple any other neck and could fill a bag with other fly tying materials, so I danced around that one for a few years. Still caught fish, but funny how much those little black segments and stiffer hackles
I'll second both the starting with a better rod, reel and line sentiment and the law of diminishing returns at a certain point. I have a lower end Sage and Orvis rod, but never understood the $500+ prices some people paid for rods or reels. Most of my fishing in trout streams involved casts shorter than 20 yards and most much, much shorter than that. I never dropped big money on waders or wading shoes, etc. and I've caught fish all over the US. One of my Colorado buddies was a big 'name brand' guy and while he was a good fly fisherman, he didn't catch more fish than I did but spent much more on his gear in a year than I did in my life. The wife never had much say in what I spent, but I'm kind of picky about what I spend money on. Your point is very valid though. Don't blow the bank, but don't go too cheap or your fishing will suffer.
I pulled out my stuff when I was in Charleston a few years back and tied some shrimp and streamers for Reds...I never ended up casting. I did experience the thread breakage you're mentioning, but was shocked at how well my necks, feathers and fur kept in plastic bags and containers for.....years if not decades. I also tied a couple dozen pheasant tail nymphs for a co-worker who was making a trip back to Wyoming to fish and had been told by his local buddy that the pheasant tail was the ticket. It didn't take long to get back in the swing of things, but I know I'm not where I was. I'll enjoy getting back there though.
I'm good, but maybe some of the others here need some gear. I'll pick up some new line, leader and tippet material and more than likely a new reel, because I just think it's time, but I've got four or five good to serviceable rods and reels and still have dozens of flies and misc. crap to get me back in the water. I've got a young Project Manager that works for me that is an avid fly fisherman and we're going to be hitting a few of his favorite haunts. Looking forward to it.
Where you living now?
Other than the thread, hackle and fur will keep as long as it's free of bugs, but eventually the stems of the hackle will get brittle. I've never had the problem yet, but I've heard various cures from lotions to things more exotic, but I don't see how that would work with a dry fly hackle. Also, fwiw, if you haven't bought any new hackle for awhile ... your mind will be blown, 2x. First, the prices are going to take your breath away. Second, pull out a top-grade Whiting saddle hackle and start looking at the individual barbules. Dr. Whiting has bred his birds to now have the most amazingly consistent feathers imaginable, and each one is packed with something like 2-3x the barbules from a similar feather 20 years ago. In other words, 2-3 wraps of a size 14 saddle hackle now has more barbules than 5 wraps did 20 years ago.
Have you used CDC feathers? Coq de Leon feathers? Chickabou feathers? I'm sorry if these are dumb questions, but there's just been so much new stuff that's been made available that it's mind-blowing.
I don't know what species of fish you're targeting, or how much you want to spend on a new fly reel, but, again, I'm a tightwad, so I can send you links if you want some Chinese knockoffs from Ebay. There are some new brands that have come along that are cranking out better reels than I'll ever need for very little money. If I'm not going to plop down $900 for the new Orvis Helios 3 fly rod, you're probably not shocked that I'm also not going to pay those types of prices for a new Abel or Tibor or similar reel. I just spent several weeks putting in low-ball bids on Ebay for used saltwater reels in 9- and 10-weight sizes.
As for my purchases and making my wife happy ... we're high school teachers. If I splurge on myself, it affects everyone else. She's great with money, so I'm aspiring to be better.
Have you used CDC feathers? Coq de Leon feathers? Chickabou feathers? I'm sorry if these are dumb questions, but there's just been so much new stuff that's been made available that it's mind-blowing.
I don't know what species of fish you're targeting, or how much you want to spend on a new fly reel, but, again, I'm a tightwad, so I can send you links if you want some Chinese knockoffs from Ebay. There are some new brands that have come along that are cranking out better reels than I'll ever need for very little money. If I'm not going to plop down $900 for the new Orvis Helios 3 fly rod, you're probably not shocked that I'm also not going to pay those types of prices for a new Abel or Tibor or similar reel. I just spent several weeks putting in low-ball bids on Ebay for used saltwater reels in 9- and 10-weight sizes.
As for my purchases and making my wife happy ... we're high school teachers. If I splurge on myself, it affects everyone else. She's great with money, so I'm aspiring to be better.
Have you ever seen a fish jump out of the water to take an insect?
Anyone fish big streamers for trout? I use the same "flies" and techniques for smallmouth.
This is Kelly Galloup's most famous streamer, the Zoo Cougar....
"Zoo Cougar"?
Sounds like my older sister who works at Henry Doorly....LOL
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Do you know anything about Kelly Galloup or his other streamers? If not, here's a sample of their names (and I promise you that I'm NOT making this up):
- Sex Dungeon
- Pearl Necklace
- Butt Monkey
- Peanut Envy
- Stacked Blonde
- Barely Legal
- T&A
Edit: I may as well drop a link here for how to tie what is probably the strangest name for a "fly" that has ever been invented. If you ever do a search for this streamer, you have to be careful because you never know what's going to come up in the search. By the way, this particular video has Galloup tying and explaining the design and the purpose of this pattern, and it's a commitment in time to watch it: an hour and 11 minutes. It takes probably about 15-30 minutes to tie the pattern, depending on how organized and efficient you are, so the rest of the video is a lot about the purpose and design of it, etc.
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