I have two things to say

#1 Thank god there will be a sequel

#2 if you're trout almondine and looking for work, you are in luck.

Happy Friday.

Dubbing reviews: Performance Flies SLF and Hends UV blend

I got a package in the mail from Performance Flies the other day and I was curious to try out the Hend's dubbing for some Czech nymphs. I really like their shellback material and the dubbing impressed me as well. It's got a great blue flash to it, long fibers, and it dubs really well. Instead of a czech nymph, I opted for a modified psycho prince nymph I've been working on with a shaggier appearance and a double set of white wings. The mottled shellback on the top gives it a natural look, but the bright purple is still flashy on the sides and bottom. I tossed a few of these to my buddy who fished the Salmon River in NY over the weekend and he said he pulled two steelies on one of these out of Ellis Cove on Saturday. I think I have a winner.


Next up is Performance Flies SLF dubbing. I also really like this. Long fibers, dubs easy, it's pretty thick so it's easy to taper and build up a body fast. I tried out Craven's Caddistrophic with the SLF and I like how it turned out. Now I just need to fish this pattern.I also wanna try this stuff for some underbody on some big elk hair caddis.


You can pick this stuff up over at Performance Flies for pretty cheap. Also don't overlook the great hooks, and Jan Siman dubbing as well.

Product Review: Chill Toque Hat by Sauce Headwear

First a Bugslinger package from TFM, then a Tenkara net, and now a free hat! I'm on a roll. I was chosen at random by the Outdoor Blogger Network to review this hat.

It's called a Chill Toque hat by Sauce Headwear. We've had a warm winter, but luckily I got it in time to test it out during a cold spell on one of the last days of February. I was kinda surprised when I got the hat because it had this spiral hole in the top of it. After wearing it and hiking along a stream for 15 minutes I quickly realized that the hole is awesome. It lets moisture escape, and this hat is really warm, so the hole really does let enough heat out so you don't start sweating. It really is a nice feature.




The only downside I found with this hat was the size. I ordered the largest one they had, but it was still a little snug on me. Although in defense of Sauce, I have a gigantic skull. I wear a size 7 and 7/8th fitted baseball hat, which means I usually have to order my hats online. It still fit, but I felt more like Michael Phelps in one of his little swimming bonnets than I wanted to.

(By the way, sorry Sauce. I'm sure you were hoping for a cute 20-something girl modeling your hat and you get a fat 36 year old dad with glasses)


These hats retail for $30, and if you spend any amount of time outdoors in the winter, I highly suggest picking one up (unless your head is the size of Utah, like mine).

Thanks to OBN and Sauce for the hat. I'll definitely wear it again, even if it does make me look like a swimmer.

The smartest fish in the stream

You all know what I'm talking about. There's your favorite local stream, and you know it inside and out. You know the hatches, the feeding lanes, and even certain fish that live in certain stretches. But no matter how smart you get, how beautiful your flies are, and how perfectly you cast, this one fish will not fall for your tricks. He may not be the biggest, or prettiest, but he's educated, and it haunts you every time he refuses your offering.


There has been a rainbow trout that I've started to consider the smartest fish I've ever faced. In the last 4 weeks, I've went up against him and lost every weekend. He loves to hold behind the same slate rock, and has a way of darting around the far side of it, sipping two bugs, and then running back to cover. He has this same approach to feeding every time I see him. He's not huge, probably a little over a foot long, but he is so damn smart.

I got to the stream today and he was the first fish I saw rise. I figured I would just take my time and work on him until I got him. It was a free for all with hatches and the fish were rising to everything from BWOs to midges, to caddis, to black stones, and even a few cahills or sulphurs (not sure what they were but today was the first time I've seen them this year). I started with olives. Size 18, not even a look. 20, nothing. Ok, let's try a 22. He rises, inspects, backs down. I cast again, he comes up again, stops fighting the current, and drifts downstream with the fly about an inch from his nose, examining it for a good 5 seconds before backing away.

This game continued with every fly I threw at him. As soon as my cast went over his head, he'd run out, take two naturals, and head back to his spot. It was driving me crazy. After about 200 casts, I was about to give up. I tossed out a size 20 Griffith's Gnat, and then was distracted by a young college girl jogging past in yoga pants. DAMN, missed a hit. Maybe he's not so smart. Tried the same fly again, nothing.

I walked a little upstream and sat down at a bench, just watching this fish continue to rise. An older gentlemen walked right into the spot and started to work the fish. He couldn't even get a look and went on his way. I decided to tie on the smallest fly I had and make one more cast before heading home. Out came the 8x with a size 24 Griffith's gnat. I got a look, but no follow. One more cast. Nothing. DAMN this fish is smart. I then noticed a brown feeding pretty fast and moving right into the same feeding lane. One more cast.

It landed perfectly, drag free drift, right in the zone. It was like slow motion. The bow had noticed the brown in his space and wanted to beat him to the fly. I watched him shoot at the fly like a rocket, I saw white as he opened his mouth. SET. GOT HIM.

I finally outsmarted him, and it felt better bringing this fish to hand than any fish I've caught in a long time. I think the most amazing thing about this fish was that he was rising again in the same spot a few minutes after I released him.

building an army

Its been a while....

Well, I've had sick kids, and a health scare that had me out of commission for most of last week which is why this place has been dead. Good news is I have lots of content coming up in the next few days including new bugs, some new material reviews, some fishing reports, and a review of some sweet headgear supplied by OBN.

More later but for now, I'd like to say that I can't believe I'm terrestrial fishing in March! They're small fish, but still fun on hoppers.

sloppy casts, crappy flies, and a repeat of last weekend

On Sunday, I decided to hit the same stretch of water I hit last weekend because I had so much fun with rising fish. I headed up solo, and to be honest, it was pretty much identical to last weekend, only about 5 degrees cooler.

I opted for the sloppy-tied CDC n' Elk Caddis I posted on here the other night. I found fish rising in the same stretch, but due to increased fishing pressure and a lot more people wading, they were really hugging the opposite bank. With the current moving fast about 6 feet out of the bank, the only shot I had at the consistent sippers was a long really sloppy roll cast with a lot of extra line stripped out, to give the fly a few extra seconds near the risers. I had my first fish on in about 10 minutes after I got there, and proceeded to land 4 more, and lose about 5, including a monster brown that slammed my caddis so hard that he broke off my 8x tippet after only having him hook for about 5 seconds. Nick joined me for about 15 minutes before I headed out, but I won't say how he did. (If you read this blog often...you can probably guess)

In all seriousness

As a parent, today's incident at Chardon High School scares the hell out of me. I remember watching the Columbine incident on TV many years ago and while it was upsetting, it really hit home today when I think that my kids could have been at that school. My heart goes out to the children who were murdered and injured and their families. The reality is, this could happen anywhere and at any time.

What I think upset me the most is when I found out that the alleged shooter made posts and posted pictures on Twitter referencing what he was about to do, at some point last night. No one did anything about it. If one person would have spoken up and reported it, this could have all been avoided.

I know myself and the majority of my readers are very active in the social networking community and I think we all share a responsibility to report things like this. All I'm saying is, if you see something like this that might rub you the wrong way, it can't hurt to report it, whether they are a high school student or an adult.

RIP to the student that has passed away and I wish the rest of them a speedy recovery.

-Mike

Product Review - Sage 1830 Reel

I got to talking to someone the other day that was new to fly fishing about buying a new small stream fly rod setup on a budget. I went over line sizes, action, etc, and I made a few suggestions in a rod and fly line. When we go to talking about reels, I realized that I've been beating the hell out of my Sage 1830 for almost two years now and it has never failed me.

I picked this reel up because I wanted a new small stream 4 weight setup, and at the time, I was a little strapped for cash. I was at Cabelas browsing through all the reels under $200 and I was considering a Ross or a Lamson. Then the sales guy said "How about a Sage?" I obviously know that Sage makes amazing rods, but reels? I was a little hesitant.

After taking a look at it, testing out the drag, and making some test casts in the parking lot, I decided to give it a go. It's really light for it's size, and has a nice titanium finish. I think I paid around $160 for it at the time, but you can now pick it up for under $140.

The drag on this reel is amazing. It's really sensitive and can be adjusted quick and easy with a turn on the knob. I'm not sure if Sage actually makes this or just had their name stamped on it, but it's definitely a workhorse.

The finish is great. I usually keep a rigged up rod in the car and this thing gets thrown around, dropped on rocks, dipped in water, and it's still looking almost new. On average, I fish about 3 times a week, and I have yet to run in to a problem with it. Only the handle is machined, but I don't think it really matters.

Here's the official specs that I pulled off the Cabelas website:

Sage's new 1800 series represents the ideal combination of incredible performance at an unbelievable price. Each features light, all-aluminum construction, large arbor, quick-release spool change and a premium sealed graphite drag system. The innovative "floating tripod" drag provides the kind of smooth startup, consistency and power you've come to expect from reels costing three times as much. A machined ergonomic handle makes for comfortable retrieves. The entire reel is protected by a tough, nonglare titanium finish for enduring good looks. Includes a padded neoprene case.

Diameter 3.37 inches
Weight 5.5 oz.
Capacity 100 yards 12lb w/WF4
Line weight 3-4

You can visit the Sage website for more info. I'm not sure they make this model anymore, but if you can find one, it's well worth the price. I've landed probably over 1000 fish on this thing and it hasn't failed me yet.





This product review was done on a reel that I personally purchased. Sage is in no way affiliated with this review and I did not receive anything for free.

Sloppy flies on a Friday night

I had quite a few beers tonight while at the vise. The results aren't beautiful, but I'm still going to try and fish them.

Some size 20 generic micro nymphs






I picked up some barred olive CDC the other day and decided to whip up some CDC and Elk caddis. These are size 20 and really sloppy, but they look to be a perfect match for the bugs I saw last weekend. My experience last year with CDC on caddis patterns is that the longer and bushier the CDC, the better they fish (and float)


The ammonite nymph. I'm still out of nymph skin and scud back so I used ziplock bag. I didn't realize I had a tear in it until after I took the pic. I'm still gonna post it for the hell of it. I do really like this technique of folding a partridge feather over the thorax and pulling down the fibers for the legs.


And finally, Craven's Pigsticker. I picked up some Mustad 37160 hooks for dirt cheap this week and when I googled them, this was one of the first patterns that came up. Quick and easy to tie. (I will admit, I tied these earlier this week but they were still sitting at my vise so I took a pic.


If you'd like recipes or instructions for any of these patterns, feel free to let me know in the comments and I'll be happy to provide them. Back to drinking. Happy Friday!

Massive articulated streamers? Oh yes.

Lots of material. Some fish skulls. Some 30 lb nylon coated wire. These things are fun as hell to twist up and I can't wait to chase some warmwater fish and maybe some big browns with them.

They are all size 6 2XL streamer hooks. The lower half of them are marabou, some flash, and some rubber legs. The upper halfs are a combination of more marabou, schlappen, craft fur, Senyo Laser Dub, and some more flash. I mixed up the fish skull sizes and eye colors. Click through for hi-res photos.





Want to win a few of these meaty monsters? Become a Dub The Thorax fan on Facebook and follow us on twitter, and keep your eyes peeled for more info soon.

I absolutely love dry fly fishing in February

After a long week, I was looking forward to some time on the water on Sunday. What orginally looked like bad weather turned into an almost 50 degree sunny day. I spent Saturday night tying up a bunch of midge patterns, both weighted and dry, and I was hoping for the same rises we ran in to last weekend.

I had planned to fish with Matt, the Functioning Fishaholic. I had fished with him once before after the tying symposium, and unfortunately he got the skunk. I didn't want that to happen again. I told him we'd find rising fish and I was hoping it was true. I had remembered him saying he only caught one trout on a nymph before, and I thought it would be cool to have him get his first one on a dry fly.

We quickly rigged up, hiked about 150 yards upstream, and there was no need to walk anymore. There were risers spread up and down a 100 yard stretch of water, and as luck would have it, there were plenty of other fishermen, but not in this stretch.

The Little Lehigh used to have a no wading restriction in the heritage stretch, and since they lifted the restriction, this stretch of water has been plagued with people standing right in the middle of the stream, directly on top of some of the best holes. If you're one of those people, no offense, but c'mon man, you can roll cast to the opposite bank without getting your feet wet. Just because you can wade, doesn't mean you should.

Moving on, I started off with a size 20 Griffith's Gnat, and Matt opted for a Griffith's he tied, but with brown hackle. We instantly noticed bugs coming off and skating across the water. There was a variety of black and brown midges, a few BWOs, and believe it or not, a really nice dark tan caddis hatch, around a size 20. Matt's fly was a pretty damn close imitation. He ever pulled a black adult stonefly off his neck. It was like springtime; bugs everywhere, you were comfortable in only a hoodie, and I wasn't complaining.

It didn't take long before I was in to my first fish, a little wild brown trout with some nice coloring took my dry after about 10 minutes and like 40 casts over his head.


After landing him, the ducks and geese decided to go absolutely bonkers in the stretch of water we were in and all the rising stopped. They were splashing all over, diving under water, and all the trout darted.

I went another 50 yards upstream and I found where they went. About 15 to 20 fish were surrounding a fast chute, gorging on caddis as they came down the bubble line. Nick also showed up and started fishing just above me. I hooked in to another wild brown, this one about 14 inches and brought him to hand. Absolutely beautiful fish. I almost want to get this picture framed, even though he wasn't huge.


Matt was still fishing downstream from the geese and only had a few misses. I motioned him over and gave him my spot. It didn't take him long. I watched him land his first dry fly trout, a wild brownie, on his own fly. Doesn't get any better than that.




After those two were caught, the hole spooked a little and the rises were more sporadic. It also didn't help that other fisherman noticed us hooking into fish and were creeping up into the opposite bank, spooking them even more. I never understood why people have to do that.

We fished for about another 45 minutes, each of us missing a few, before calling it a day. Nick unfortunately got the LL skunk once again. I swear that stream hates him.


You can check out Matt's version of our trip here, and below is a video of his interview from this past weekend with Delaware Valley Outdoors.



The fishing was great, but I think my favorite part of the weekend was some time in front of the vise with Michael. He's started to get good at Honeybug Inchworms! I do have to whip finish for him though.


In other news, I'd like to give a shoutout to Morgan over at Tight Lined Tails of a Fly Fisherman for the flattering post he did about some of the bugs I've been twisting up. I met him through Instagram and he has a really great site which has something that my site has been lacking these days... Daily updates! Head on over, check out his blog, and follow him. Some good reading!

Also, I'd like to apologize for not posting up the stacked foam beetle tutorial I mentioned in my last post. My memory card got wiped out so all the pics were gone. I'll redo it shortly.

If you need me, I'll be counting down the minutes until spring...