Outdoorsman Thread

[Eustace]

Here are a couple of colorful fellows that I caught and released today. Longear sunfish: one of my favorite fish. They bite aggressively, fight hard, look beautiful, and taste good. Locally they are known as Red bellies.

Interesting! Mel, can you take a picture of the fly?

[mrwatch]

Eustise, in today's Ripley's Believe it or Not. Say's that in Bulgaria if a person nods the head up and down it means (no) and side to side is (yes). The opposite of us. Great as I like to learn. Lot's of good information from them.

[Colonel26]

I was too busy to take pictures today, but the wife and I along with the two youngest boys went to the lake for some bluegill. Simon, the youngest was jerking them out of the water like nobody’s business.

We wound up with four big ol slab sided keepers. Used a Mora to take off the heads and scale them. They’re waiting in the freezer now ready to join what we catch tomorrow. Lord willing.

[Colonel26]

Here’s three more, and the mora I used to clean them. These will join their brethren from yesterday and wait on a few more.

[Colonel26]

I found these today in the beehive. See those long cells hanging down? Those are superceedure cells. That means the old queen ain’t keeping up anymore, can’t put out eggs like she used to, so they’re raising some new queens. The strongest will kill off the others and she’ll become the new queen.

[Quick Steel]

Fascinating. A bit grim as nature always is, but definitely interesting. Thanks.

[Dinadan]

Nice bluegills, Colonel. I like to catch those big dark ones!

Bluegill

Interesting about the bees. At least you still have some. In my back yard honeybees are now rare to nonexistant. I have some blueberry bushes and dwarf pear trees in my garden. A decade or so ago honeybees were the primary pollinators. Now it is bumblebees and tiny wasps

Eustace - here is the fly I was using. Unfortunately, no one makes these any longer, so pretty soon I will be using something else.

fly

[Colonel26]

Thanks guys.

Mel I have a dumb question, maybe some others might be able to use the information too. I have gotten hold of a fly rod and reel and I think I would really love fly fishing for pan fish, maybe the odd bass. What in the way of flys, etc...would you recommend as a good place to start? I really have no idea at this point what to load my tackle box with.

[Dinadan]

Thanks guys.

Mel I have a dumb question, maybe some others might be able to use the information too. I have gotten hold of a fly rod and reel and I think I would really love fly fishing for pan fish, maybe the odd bass. What in the way of flys, etc...would you recommend as a good place to start? I really have no idea at this point what to load my tackle box with.

Colonel, that is a real hard question. The flies I have been using are relics that are no longer made. Until this year I had completely given up fly fishing for around thirty years. When I started again I found a few old flies on Ebay that i have been using for now. Based on my experience I think that the rubber legs that give a fly the spider like look are the most important factor. I have ordered some of these to experiment with but i have not used them yet.

foam files

I think that using hook size #12 catches more fish than any other size but they tend to be small. Size #10 catches fewer fish but they are bigger. Size #8 catches the biggest but also the fewest. I drop the fly close to a cypress tree and just let it sit for maybe ten seconds then I barely twitch it a time or two. Then a couple of more vigorous twitches. Sometimes the bluegills like it to sit for longer, half a minute, before they hit.

You will need a fly line dressing like this one:

dressing

Coat the line with the dressing before you start fishing to make it float longer. As for line I use an average quality line, this is my choice.

line

I do not bother with some of the refinements. Instead of a special leader I just use a six foot length of ten pound test mono for a leader. Instead of a metal loop on the end of the main line I just make a simple knot in the line and tie the leader to the line. Hey - I am a redneck flyfisherman! You will want a knife with a hook disgorger to get the flies out of the fishes mouth. When I am fly fishing is the only time I actually use that, but it really works for getting a fly out of a bluegill's mouth.

hook disgorger

[Colonel26]

Thanks Mel! I’ll start looking around for gear.

[Eustace]

Eustace - here is the fly I was using. Unfortunately, no one makes these any longer, so pretty soon I will be using something else.
fly.jpg

Next step of fly fishing is fly tying. This fly is very easy for tying. Why don't you try?
+1 for SA fly line.

[bighomer]

Thanks guys.

Mel I have a dumb question, maybe some others might be able to use the information too. I have gotten hold of a fly rod and reel and I think I would really love fly fishing for pan fish, maybe the odd bass. What in the way of flys, etc...would you recommend as a good place to start? I really have no idea at this point what to load my tackle box with.

I ain't trying to step where I ain't wanted, but seeing as how you being my neighbor and all, there's plenty of places to get popping bugs around here, I always liked Betts hot'n pops and others mostly in chartreuse, but it's good to have a variety of colors, l always seemed to have better results with those with rubber band legs but yor milage may vary . I loved to walk the creeks aroind here and catch those bluegills, warmouths, and red eyes but It got to where people around here didn't want you on their property, plus my feet got to point I just didn't enjoy it as much. Enjoy that flyrod ain't nothing more fun, with your clothes on anyway.

[LongBlade]

Mel is spot on - probably size #12 or 14 hooks are best for bluegills - they love little spider like flies though any simple fly will work... fly rodding for bluegills is about as simple as one can get - no complicated leaders, a floating line and the reel is not even that important as a bluegill will never take you to the reel ... unlike big freshwater fish (trout, salmon, black bass etc) or saltwater fish which is my primary fly rodding turf...

As Eustace noted - those flies are very easy to tie but one needs to learn the basics of fly tying as well as having basic vise and tools. I am truly not trying to toot my own horn here - but I have taught fly tying for many many years and have been an invited fly tyer for fly fishing shows across the US as well as in Europe (though the last few years I have taken a hiatus from shows for personal reasons)- but I have tied in Italy (Italian School of Fly Fishing in Abruzzo) to England (a number of times - British Fly Fair Intl and a few others), Ireland (Irish Fly Fair) etc... I have also written a number of fly tying articles (even had some published in a few fly fishing magazines in Germany and Sweden where the articles were translated), contributed flies to multiple books - but all these were not directed at beginners but advanced tyers... anyway much easier to show someone in person beginning to tie than through words (text and photos) though some videos can help... It is always best to watch someone expoerienced when you begin tying and tie along with them (i.e. watch one do one) .. As I am now retired for the past few years besides doing local lessons I am also going to start tying flies to sell on the internet - basically flies for any type of fly fishing... I can take orders now but am planning a website etc with prices, details etc... anyone interested can email or pm me... not sure what thread or subforum to post this on given this is a knife forum ... But of course always willing to field any questions as well

To me there is nothing like using a fly rod for fishing and has been many years since I used spinning tackle - the fly rod is a one to one connection with the fish - as we say you can almost feel the fish breath when you rate connected

[Eustace]

...

Lee, is there somewhere on the Web a place, where I can see pictures of yours flies?

[FRJ]

Good post Lee, I liked reading your accomplishments. I have two of Lee's flies which will never be fished.

These little sized 12 deer hair flies (deer hair Caddis) will beguile any self respecting sun fish.
They dry quickly with a false cast or two and the deer hair is hollow (apparently) allowing the fly to float easily.

[treefarmer]

My dad grew up in Colorado and he loved fly fishing for trout. When he moved to Florida in the late 40's, he continued his fly fishing but not exclusively. He figured how to catch a bass on a fly rod, it had to do with something he called a "popping bug". The baits he fly casted looked like big bumblebees, they had a concave face and would make a splash or "pop" when moved with the rod tip, just like fishing with a top water plug.

When I was a teenager, he and I were fishing along a canal for bass one afternoon. He was fly fishing and I was using a spinning rod with a purple worm. That's about all I remember except he handed me his fly rod and pointed to a bush about 50 yards up the canal and said, "Go up there and catch that bass that's been feeding around that bush." I believe I could have got the bass to hit a rubber worm but since he handed me his fly rod, I gave it a whirl. After a couple of false casts, the big "popping bug" landed above the bush and began to float with the current toward the bush. A big swirl and the fish had inhaled the bug and the rodeo was on! I ended up getting down in the water in order to land the bass, it weighed 6 pounds! Not a big fish by folks standards today but a memorable one for me!

A fly that floats and has legs surely must look like a cricket or grasshopper and we all know what happens when a cricket or grasshopper is thrown out on a pond full of bluegills and bass. We used to keep a 4X8 sheet of old plywood by one of the ponds when our kids were little. They would lift the plywood and catch the native black crickets that were always under it. Then they would toss the cricket into the pond and see if he could make it back to the edge with out becoming a fishes' supper.
Good memories!
Treefarmer

[LongBlade]

...

Lee, is there somewhere on the Web a place, where I can see pictures of yours flies?

Eustace - There is not one place on the web but sprinkled here and there - but here are some as I have many photos of my flies that I tie from the old books of the 1800s using old blind eye hooks, silk gut, vintage tinsel also from the late 1800s/early 1900s (Note - these are for collectors and not tied for fishing though they can be) -:

Classic Bass Flies (also called gaudy wet flies and mostly from the Marbury book of 1892):

A few Classic Salmon flies from Ephemera (Fitzgibbons) 1852:

Two commissioned free-style flies from me tied using vintage materials and design - eventually framed for delivery to the client -

I'll post some of my fishing flies later on when I have time ...


The flies Joe posted are great for bluegills or trout ...

Fond memories Treefarmer - love it and thanks for sharing ...

[Eustace]

Yeah, Master Class!
I look forward to photos of your working flies. Especially those for sea fishing.

If moderators consider it, they may post the latest posts in a new topic in this section - "fly fishing".

[jerryd6818]

Dang Lee. Those are too pretty to fish with.

[Colonel26]

Thanks guys.

Mel I have a dumb question, maybe some others might be able to use the information too. I have gotten hold of a fly rod and reel and I think I would really love fly fishing for pan fish, maybe the odd bass. What in the way of flys, etc...would you recommend as a good place to start? I really have no idea at this point what to load my tackle box with.

I ain't trying to step where I ain't wanted, but seeing as how you being my neighbor and all, there's plenty of places to get popping bugs around here, I always liked Betts hot'n pops and others mostly in chartreuse, but it's good to have a variety of colors, l always seemed to have better results with those with rubber band legs but yor milage may vary . I loved to walk the creeks aroind here and catch those bluegills, warmouths, and red eyes but It got to where people around here didn't want you on their property, plus my feet got to point I just didn't enjoy it as much. Enjoy that flyrod ain't nothing more fun, with your clothes on anyway.

Thanks neighbor! I appreciate he help. I had no idea you were a fly fisherman. I appreciate the information.

Thanks to all y’all who’ve shared your advice. Now if I can just get the time........

[Steve Warden]

Stunning work, Lee!!

[LongBlade]

Thanks Eustace, Jerry and Steve ...

Jerry - "too pretty to fish" - In truth back in the 1800s these were tied to fish by all - still to this day some folks, though a minority, fish these flies but tied on modern hooks and mostly in Europe for salmon. I have tied some of the classic bass flies for fishing on my vintage blind-eye hooks and even with silk gut and actually caught my biggest black bass on one about 10 years ago - but I take much less time to tie those I fish and I don't do it often in this style - I just wanted to experience fishing those flies with gut as anglers did 100 years and more ago (and even on old bamboo rods and reels ) - the ones you see in the photos can take me anywhere from 3-6 hours per fly - but keep in mind I am tying the ones you see in the photos for the frame to keep the history alive and as keepsakes for anglers to hang on their walls....

Maybe we should start another thread under General Discussion as Eustace suggested just for fly fishing and tying ...

[jmh58]

Lee.. Those flies are STUNNING!! WOW the colors are KOOL!!! John

[LongBlade]

Thanks John ...

Just a side note - in the 1800s it was thought that salmon flies (most of which originated in Europe - particularly the UK) were tied to imitate butterflies - and salmon don't eat butterflies but that was the thinking... the bass flies I attached above were based on the old salmon flies but was American ingenuity in the 1800s to tie "gaudy" colorful flies to catch our species such as the Black Bass or Largemouth Bass as many call them (Smallmouth Bass too).. As I noted above remember these were original patterns designed in the 1800s and I am just replicating them but using vintage materials from the time period... BTW - all the flies above had names but I didn't include them..

[LongBlade]

Yeah, Master Class!
I look forward to photos of your working flies. Especially those for sea fishing.

If moderators consider it, they may post the latest posts in a new topic in this section - "fly fishing".

Eustace - Here's one shot of just a few of my fishing flies for Striped Bass (click to enlarge the photo) - the flies are 4-7" long for a perspective and tied on 1/0 or 2/0 hooks... funny I don't usually take many photos of my fishing flies but will try and take some more photos of other fishing flies in my fly wallet or box..