Monday, April 25, 2011

I've got some catching up to do..

I've been a bad blogger. I haven't had an update in almost a week. A long cold winter stuck indoors with plenty of time to blog and tie flies has given way to birthday parties, doctor appointments, surgery, sick kids, funerals, longer hours at work, evening fishing trips, mowing the lawn, planting trees, taking my son to the park, etc etc. Life happens and sometimes there's nothing you can do about it. I apologize for the lack of action. Hopefully you'll still stop back on occasion.

So, here's a brief update of what's been going on..

Fishing
I know it's the best time of the year to be out on the water, especially for trout, but it's just been awful in PA, at least for me. All of the rain has made every moving body of water look like a chocolate milk shake with some branches stirred in it. As soon as it starts to clear, more rain comes along. I haven't even really been having luck at night.

On Saturday, I tried some streamers in the creek behind my house for some leftover stockies. After 20 minutes, I was sick of chocolate milk and snagging debris, so I opted to hit the local lake. I've mentioned this place in previous posts. It's full of largemouth, crappie, pickerel, bluegills, and bullhead cats. I got there at dusk, hoping for some nice bass, or maybe a pickerel. I started stripping a black bugger with some blue flash along the banks and after about a dozen casts, something hits it really hard. I lock on to the fish and then realize that it's not a bass or pickerel, but maybe a crappie or gill. Turned out to be a pretty decent bluegill. A few casts later, I hit another one, maybe about an inch bigger. Not what I was hoping for, but still fun on a 4 weight.



About 20 minutes later, I hooked in to a nice pickerel, about 18 inches on a white bugger, but he did the death roll at my feet, spit the hook, and swam away smiling. Oh well.

Besides that, it's been skunkville for me. I need some trout in my life.


Tying
Not much to report here either. I knocked out an army of rubber legged CJs. These things take me about 8-10 minutes to tie each one and they take too many materials for my liking, but they do work so I suffer through the time on the vise.


I also have been meaning to try out Shark's caddis larva. I was going to dedicate a whole post to this, but Gaeron over at TreartonFly beat me to it. These things don't look that great when dry, but they look just like a bug when wet.




Family
Well, Easter came and went and that damn bunny left my son like 4 baskets of candy, various Thomas trains, clothes, and books. Everyone loves to spoil him. He had a blast with his Easter egg hunt.




Not sure if I mentioned this, but Michael is obsessed with cows. There's a farm down the street from us that we stopped by while taking his great grandmom home after our family gathering. The cows run right up to your car. He was in heaven.


Now, here's some advice. Next time you buy a mower, go self-propelled! Mine finally died last week so I splurged in a 4 speed Troy Bilt 75 XP. I love it. I had some help while mowing tonight.



Also, before I go...Feel like winning a $50 Cabelas gift card? Then swing on over to TROUTRAGEOUS and play along.

15 comments:

  1. The caddis looks like a killer, I'll have to check out Treartonfly to check out the recipe. Your son looks like a keeper as well as do the gills. I'd take a few for dinner right now.

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  2. maybe u can help me some night with a few flys if been trying to tie.

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  3. I've been wanting to tie and try those caddis flies for a while now and never get around to it. The thing looks so real when wet.

    How do you get all that help with your lawn?! :)

    Thanks for sharing.

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  4. @Co and Passin - thanks! Bluegills are way too boney for my liking though!

    @RH - what are you trying to tie?

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  5. Nice photos, nice gill and nice flies. I too have been busy so I understand. The weather here in MD isnt much different from that in PA. Rain has ruined a lot of fishing trips as of late.

    Jeff
    www.gotflyfishing.blogspot.com

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  6. Dub, you gonna put up the ingredients for that shark caddis? Looks tasty.

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  7. Is that synthetic peacock herl? Mine always look flat and crappy. They lose all their color.

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  8. @ J and M - thanks, and yes, the rain has been awful.

    @ Jaybirds - http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/sharks-caddis-larva/

    His look much better than mine. Enjoy.

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  9. Also, as for the peacock, it's just standard Cabelas strung peacock herl. A little trick - tie it in at the tip (top of the feather) and stroke it back a few times before winding. That pulls the tiny hackles out and gives it more life.

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  10. Hey Pal,

    Looks Like everyone started posting the recipe and stuff for the caddis larvae on their blog...lol. Nice job on it.

    Gaeron
    www.treartonfly.blogspot.com

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  11. at least I gave you a shoutout for beating me to it!

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  12. You seem like a materials junkie. Thoughts on synthetic herl? Seems a lot easier. Thanks

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  13. I've never used an actual synthetic peacock herl. I've bought a few synthetic peacock dubbings that were produced stateside but I didn't really like them and they never really produced as many fish as actual peacock. The only stuff I found that comes close is the Jan Siman UV Peacock dubbing, which is a synthetic dubbing from Europe, and kinda pricey.

    The best herl I've had is from either Cabelas or Orvis. Buy the big packs of strung herl. My favorite is the green died stuff. It looks super bright in the water. If you think the basic stuff looks dull, I would try that. Also, seriously try my previous suggestion of tying it in tip first and stroking the fibers back to puff them out. it makes a huge difference. Also, always use at least 3 strands of herl and it wont look as flat.

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  14. Thanks Dub. I'll be giving it another shot tonight.

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  15. Thanks for the shout-out. To be honest, as soon as I saw the pictures I was just overwhelmed. They are most excellent! Just read what you said a minute ago. Thanks so much!

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