Hand-tied flies, thunder showers, and hungry trout (pics).... [Archive]

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Skyler

07-18-2009, 10:49 AM

Been kinda bored for the last couple weeks, and have been needing a project, lol. Considering all the hunting I do, and all the stuff like this I have laying around...

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/3492/1001258.jpg

I decided to start tying my own flies again. Found some of my old tying gear from when I was like 14, and brushed the dust off, lol. Here is my make-shift tying station for now:

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/4463/1001257.jpg

The finished product. I need some better hackle (and better skills, lol):

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4420/1001259q.jpg

Well, with my flies in hand, I headed up to the river yesterday. The goal? Simple, to catch fish on my new flies, lol. Got up there and it was clear out, nice flows, not too fast, not too low, and tons of bugs in the air. Started out with a baetis dry and instantly caught a few 6" wilds. Kept pressing upstream, and I found a real nice pool. I ran the baetis wet-style into the tailrace of the pool and out of the logjam came the first respectable fish of the day:

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/7758/1001245.jpg

Caught a few more on the baetis before I switched it out for one of my peacock hurl nymphs. Thats when all hell broke loose. I suddenly hooked into a fat 16"er and he gave me the fight of a lifetime! Three pools, and several logjams later, I was still helpless to stop him. Fighting a big angry brood-stocker on a 2 pound tippet ain't no joke! Finally I tired him a bit, turned him, and got downstream and landed him. Here is a gratuitus Wingnut pose, complete with teethmarks in my blank, lol:

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/1336/1001248.jpg

Headed downstream to some nice pocketwater I like to fish, and caught this guy sunning. About 5 feet total length, and full of piss and vinegar. I am 6'2", and was standing at full height with my hand at shoulder level when I snapped this pic, and he still touched the ground! He tryed to bite me like 6 times too, lol:

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9868/1001244p.jpg

After that, God decided to scare the living crap out of me. CRASH!!! Thunder and lightning hits right over me, makes me jump in the middle of a cast, and somehow gets me tangled in the trees, lol. Apparently God DOES have a sense of humor! This went on for a few hours, and then it started raining pretty hard with the sun still out. Beautiful weather IMO. Steam was rising, rain was falling, thunder was crashing, and fish were jumping. Even saw two rainbows (real rainbows, not trout, lol) at once. Felt pretty damned good compared to the nasty 100 degree heat I had just come from. The bite seemed to open up with the clouds, cause after that I was nailing 'em. I switched to a San Juan worm and caught about ten more on it, also tied on a hot pink chenille microdot (I named it my "Stocker Rocker" lol), and caught a few more on that. All in all, the mission was a success. I tied flies, and the fish liked 'em, lol. Not sure of exactly how many I caught, but it had to be at least 20, all caught on my own flies! Looks like I won't be bored for awhile, lol. Anyways, here are a few more pics. Enjoy...

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6578/1001246t.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6512/1001247o.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1638/1001249g.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2192/1001250c.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/1741/1001251.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5020/1001252m.jpg

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9642/1001253d.jpg

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9154/1001254x.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7091/1001255n.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7886/1001256p.jpg

Tight loops.

-Skyler

Flying

07-18-2009, 10:55 AM

Right on :Thumbs Up:

I keep eyeballing or rabbit....for Zonker strips:LOL: (jkg of course)

bass assassin#23

07-18-2009, 11:02 AM

nice report and pics. way to catch them on your on flies.

Skyler

07-18-2009, 11:03 AM

Right on :Thumbs Up:

I keep eyeballing or rabbit....for Zonker strips:LOL: (jkg of course)

Thanks. Yeah, I have plenty of rabbit and squirrel fur, he he. Also have quail, pheasant, dove, and chukar feathers on hand. After this coming upland season, I'm gonna be set, he he he.

tacklejunkie

07-18-2009, 11:09 AM

bassgrandslam

07-18-2009, 11:25 AM

wow! you tied those on a improvised vice? DUUUUUUUDE!!!

those look almost too tight!

great pics too!!

thanks for the post, i enjoyed it, but where were you?

Skyler

07-18-2009, 11:38 AM

Saw that nice thunderstorm cloud from down the hill yesterday and had me pondering the good times to be had in the hills in the crazy weather.
Nice work on the flies and good sized fish. Looks like your tying skills are pretty good to me. The high pressure and heat sure brought out the reptiles ey?

Yeah, the thunder and lightning was crazy. I was glad that I was using a glass blank, lol. Not too into being a conductor in a lightning storm, lol. As for the herps, those gopher snakes have definitely been out in force lately. I've caught about 5 or so already this year. Unfortunately, I haven't seen or heard ANY rattlesnakes this year. My king snake misses his weekly rattler meals, and I miss sauteeing the big ones in garlic butter, lol. I've actually been feeding him mice lately.

As for the tying skills, thanks. It boosts my confidence a bit. I thought I would suck big time now, what with my thick, numbed, and toughened martial arts hands. Turns out my brain works better now, and it makes up for it, lol. A few weeks of practice, and I think I'll be tying #20 dry midge patterns no problem, he he. Patience seems to be the real key. Hell, that #16 baetis took me about an hour, ha ha ha!

P.S. I'm about to just drive over to your house to drop that gun off, lol. When you hitting Perris next? I'll definitely roll this time. I've been craving a bit of bass action, what with all this trout fishing. In fact, I can just swing by your place early to drop the piece, and we can carpool to the lake from there in my car, he he. Hit me up, bro. Late.

Skyler

07-18-2009, 11:42 AM

wow! you tied those on a improvised vice? DUUUUUUUDE!!!

those look almost too tight!

great pics too!!

thanks for the post, i enjoyed it, but where were you?

Thanks, I was at the main stem of the Santa Ana, above seven oaks. My improv vise is actually an exacto blade handle clamped in some vise grips. I have some prior tying skills, as I started fly fishing at 13 and used to tie my own stuff (poorly I might add, lol). But this time the internet is available, so with an hour or two of youtube training, I am well on my way to commercial quality flies, lol.

steve092

07-18-2009, 12:05 PM

Nice job man!

Must feel good slaying them on something you made!

Skyler

07-18-2009, 12:50 PM

Nice job man!

Must feel good slaying them on something you made!

It is somewhat satisfying catching them on your own creation, though the store-bought flies do seem to fish better. Hopefully mine will work that well in a few weeks though.

tacklejunkie

07-18-2009, 01:05 PM

Skyler

07-18-2009, 01:21 PM

Any fly you tie on your own is probably better than store bought.
In my short experience, you can tie them to last longer. A lot of the store bought flies can be low quality and fall apart easy.

Some of my current selection flies will last several fish or I'll lose it before it falls apart.

Even with a hair stacker I never can quite get the hairs on an EHC to stand up like a store bought though.

I actually made (or attempted to make) an EHC with squirrel tail hair, but took it apart afterwards as it wasn't up to my standards. I found I could get the hair to stand up right by making a few really tight wraps behind the hair clump, and then adding one tight wrap of thread around the clump itself (parachute hackling style) then wrapping forward. Unfortunely I screwed up the body hackling big time and trimmed too much off on the front, then gave up, lol. I used the hook for a nymph after disassembly.

But yeah, you can definitely make 'em tougher yourself. Just by adding half-hitches and head cement at key stages you end up with a WAY tougher fly. That picture of the flies was taken AFTER fishing with them, lol.

Skyler

07-23-2009, 09:05 AM

Came up with these guys last night. Think I'm starting to get the hang of it, he he he...

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/536/1001260s.jpg

Also popped out a few really nice Adams-style dries using cat hair for dubbing, dog hair for a tail, and cigarette filter wings, lol! Too much fun.

sweetfish

07-23-2009, 12:03 PM

Hey Skyler,

I think I have an extra vise that you may have. I will check to verify this and hit you up if you want it.

Nice skills on the flies and fish.

Skyler

07-24-2009, 09:57 AM

Hey Skyler,

I think I have an extra vise that you may have. I will check to verify this and hit you up if you want it.

Nice skills on the flies and fish.

That would be hella cool! I'm still using that exacto handle at the moment. Just let me know. I'll tie you some flies in exchange for it, he he. Thanks!

SkunkyZach

07-24-2009, 11:25 AM

Skyler,
Those are some sweet looking flies. Theres some detail in those bad boys...

bassgrandslam

07-24-2009, 12:40 PM

DCCTrouserTrout

07-24-2009, 05:30 PM

Those are some nice looking flies. Better than I can do... ha ha Looked like a hell of a nice day fishing out there.

The Angler

07-24-2009, 09:13 PM

Great report dude as always.

U needs to teach me how to fly fish before u move out to Alaska:Cool:

PWBUILDING

07-25-2009, 01:45 AM

you got more than me
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9868/1001244p.jpg

smokinflies

07-25-2009, 09:14 AM

awesome report bro.