I love seeing the kids twisting up bugs

I hope he doesn't mind me posting this, but I saw my bro-in-law's Instagram feed last night and he had some awesome pictures of my niece and nephew with the flies they tied. These are too cute not to share. Watch out for Ruby and Sebastian. They are gonna be badass fly tiers someday.

Hoppin' and Poppin'

Spring is right around the corner (even if we are supposed to get 4 damn inches of snow today), and with daylight savings time this weekend, later evenings means quick afternoon bass trips on the way home from work. I've been working on filling a bass box off and on for the past few months. I painted some popper heads a few weeks back and finally got the time to finish them last night.

I also knocked out a couple AZ Mini-Hoppers with the racing stripe foam.

It won't be long now......

It's so close that I can feel it....and the toothy critters are alive

This is the worst few weeks of the year. Everything is deader than dead. The ground is beginning the thaw and it is spongy with mud. It's still cold and damp, but we know winter is just about to head on out to make away for spring. It might hit 45 degrees, but the wind cuts right through you. Clouds seem to permanently stick around as if to let you know that we're still in the 7th inning stretch of winter.

 The only signs of life are the return of a few songbirds, and a few overly-eager tulips beginning to push up through the muddy popsicle we call Earth.

I'm ready for the trees to bud, the green grass, the hatches. It's so close I can just feel it. Just a few weeks away now.

My spring fever today brought me to an iced-out local pond/small lake on my way home for  5 minutes. I tied on a huge articulated streamer, roughly 8 inches, hoping I might find a toothy critter trolling the shallows for food. I stood sinking into the mud on top of dead brown grass, with the wind pelting my back with a touch of snow flurries, making it difficult to cast such a big fly with a 5 weight.

I knew I wouldn't have to cast far. They love to patrol the banks and structure this time of year. I know this water well and there should be a pickerel right around here.....YEP. There's a follower. I strip my fly in, faster now that I know he's in pursuit, and watch as he erupts on it about a foot from the bank, right in front of me.

It was not much of a fight since these fish are still pretty lethargic from winter, but it gave me hope that it won't be long now until I can fish in a t-tshirt and jeans again.

Some new foam - just in time for Terrestrial tying

I have new colors of the racing stripe foam available in the fly shop for a limited time. Head on over to check it out.

I also have custom cut Hopper/Chernobyl bodies available!

When in Altmar...

So, the trip to the Salmon River wasn't great for fish, but it was pretty damn fun. We spent 3 days hiking through 2-3 feet of snow, spey casting our asses off, drinking 8% IPAs, tying flies, fighting off colds, not sleeping, and doing a lot of laughing. We had a few hookups, and fights, but in the end, Bob landed the only fish of the weekend on a fly he tied using a new switch rod he just built. I was pretty damn happy for him. In the end, it's all about the memories you make getting up there. If you don't follow our crew on Instagram, here's a recap in photos. I also have some GoPro footage that I'll hopefully edit and post this week. Enjoy.

Resting with a beer in hand at Pineville
 

Bob, hiking in the water to avoid the waist-high snow


Boxes were filled, at least when we started...

Beer pyramid was forming


Impromptu tying session in the car on the way up


Probably my favorite picture of the weekend. Jack working below the Wires


Battle fishing at Altmar. This is where I came the closest to landing a fish. They were podded up, and so were the anglers.


No trip would be complete without a stop or two at Malinda's. Best fly shop ever. She even repaired Bob's rod for free.


Me, doing some boring indicator fishing in the lower fly stretch


The little man was excited to see me when I got back. He also got a souvenir.


Nick running a sink tip and streamer through Frazier


Sly Fox Odyssey, you are evil


You could say they got some snow..


John Ryan, swinging Ellis Cove


Lunch


Little black stones were all over the place


Late night tying sesh


Success! Bob with the only fish landed.


Thanks to the Lutz family for the hospitality and putting up with our late night antics, bad gas, and beer cans. It was great to see you all again.

F*ckin' IPAs..

The chumming idiot

Sometimes, Youtube leads you to some random shit, but this guy takes the cake. What an asshole.




 T-minus 48 hours until the Salmon River trip. Back to filling the fly boxes.

Custom racing stripe foam beetle strips now available

I've posted these a year or so ago and I realized that I have a lot of material left so I figured I'd throw some up on the site for cheap. These are stacked foam strips, orange ends and a black center. They are perfect for tying beetles that are easily visible from the top, but all black from the bottom. They are wide enough to cover sizes 10-16. I only have six sets available. You get four 6 inch strips of foam (A total of 2 feet), which is enough to tie dozens of flies. Free Dub The Thorax sticker with purchase!. Click here to go to the fly shop and order them now. More colors coming soon.

Synthetic Hackle

is an odd material. Anyone have some good ideas for it?

This is how it's done

Starting them off young.

Is it a contest?

This happened to me a few weeks ago. I wasn't going to post about it at first, but I figured I'd get everyone else's opinion.

I hit the stream for an afternoon of fishing. It was relatively quiet with only one other angler working the upper part of the run I wanted to fish. As I walked by him, he said hi. I said hello back, and asked how he was doing. He said he hit 13 fish so far in the past two hours a little downstream. My initial thought was that he was full of it. It's 30 degrees out  and you had to work for the fish here. He then said it's been on fire and he was at "Stream X" yesterday and caught 26 fish. Again, I knew he was full of it, especially since that stream is really tough to fish in the winter.

I looked where he was casting and I said "Oh, I see some there." I counted seven and he responded, with "yep, just got to this run, and I'm going to hit all 7 of them." The next cast he hooked into a small brown trout, brought him to the net, and quickly released him. "Soft hackle pheasant tail" he said.

I congratulated him on his fish and walked about 50 yards downstream and started working 3 trout holding behind a big rock. Three minutes later I hear him whoop and holler and sure enough, he's connected again. This time he yells "Size 26 WD40!".

I keep fishing for about 15 minutes and finally pick up a fish on a baetis nymph. In that time, he's caught 3 more fish. My frustration (and maybe jealousy sets in) and I keep at it. Boom. He connects again. I then notice that after every fish, he's adjusting his leader, switching flies, moving to smaller tippet, and then fooling another fish. This man was fishing like it was a contest to catch the most fish in the least amount of time.

Another 15 minutes pass and I'm with 2 fish landed to his 6. Every time he hooks a fish, he makes a big scene, yells out the fly he used, then releases the fish.

Then I saw a 13 inch wild brown trout floating belly up past me and I got pissed off. As that happened, he hooked the 7th and final fish in the hole and yelled "size 22 orange scud!". He walked past me and said "well, this run is wiped out, good luck" and chuckled as he lit a cigarette and walked off.

This got me thinking. This guy was technically doing nothing wrong. He wasn't posing for a picture with each fish, and was releasing them as soon as he could (even though one inevitably got gut hooked)  but was what he was doing totally ethical? As fly fisherman, we all go out there with our rod, reel, and box of secret flies hoping for a 10 fish day. This guy was obviously a great fly fisherman, but is pulling every single fish out of a hole really the right thing to do?

To me, fly fishing is calming time on the water that gets you away from the kids, wife, job, stress, etc, and constantly changing your rig and trying to nail every last living creature in a run just isn't right. Personally, I would have stopped at maybe 3 fish and moved on downstream.

My personal opinion (and I know opinions are like assholes..everyone has one) is that if this guy does this everywhere he goes, it's actually hurting our streams. As anglers, we should be working to protect our streams and the fish that thrive in them. Pulling every single fish out of a hole just isn't the right thing to do. Or again, am I just sounding jealous right now? I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks. Thoughts?

Getting ready

Here are some new ones for the trip next week. Some ZLB nymphs, some stones, Clear Cure Goo eggs and some buggy Matuka Princes. Happy Saturday.

2013 Fly Fishing Film Tour - Win FREE Tickets!

I came home from a long day at work on Wednesday to find a Fedex package on my doorstep. I open it up and find a press kit for the 2013 F3T, a few Dale's Pale Ales, a DVD screener,  sweeeeeet F3T hat, and two admission tickets good for any show.

First off, if you aren't familiar with the show, stop by their website and check it out. They travel around the US and Canada showing the best fly fishing films on Earth, handing out sweet swag, and helping local fly shops and businesses generate revenue along the way. Click here for the 2013 Tour schedule.

I had a chance to watch the screener, and I plan to give a full review on the films, but I will hold off on that until most of you have attended the show. I can tell you that there are some great stories, stunning footage, and HUGE fish. There are two shows in PA this year, February 21st at State College, and March 10th at Oakmont. Unfortunately, both are 4+ hours away from me and logistically with work, I can't make it.

That actually works in your favor because remember I mentioned I had two free passes? Yep, I'm giving them away.

Here's what you have to do:

1.Follow us and the fly fishing film tour on your favorite social network, either FB, Twitter or Instagram. Links to Dub The Thorax on Instagram can be found above.(if you are on the mobile site, scroll all the way down to the bottom and click on "click here for full web version".)
F3T Social Network links:
F3T on Facebook
F3T on Twitter
@flyfishingfilmtour on Instagram

2.Share this post on above social network.

3.Leave a comment below saying where you shared it!

BONUS ENTRY- Email us a pic of where you stuck your Dub The Thorax sticker and double your chance to win! All submissions will be featured on the blog.

BONUS ENTRY #2 - You live in the state of PA. Triple you chance to win. (Sorry left coasters, but I gotta support my locals!)

Contest will end Thursday, February 7th at 11:59pm EST.

Here's a sneak peak at Urban Lines, one of this year's featured films.


Urban Lines - Fish Where You Are from The Fly Fishing Film Tour on Vimeo.