Cigars

Heading up north to swing some flies next week so I picked up a few cigars. My friends went thus weekend and are hiting browns and cohos.

Fall leaves and crap on the bottom

The local rivers i fish are covered on the bottom with leaves and jet-some this time of the year, but I fish mostly a full sinking line. In order to combat this I usually throw my flies with a 1mm foam head. I run about a foot and a half of leader and then the fly. The water is only 5 feet or less so the line normally drags by the bottom. The fly floats up a little and generally keeps it out of the bottom layer of crap.

Smoke 'em if they are Cohiba's.

reverse tying

This is what I call reverse tying in order to keep the heads stacked neatly layered instead of them wrapping around the hook. By wrapping towards the back of the hook, you are holding the material in a tight clump the whole time as you tie it down.
This is with the thread on the outside ready for the next layer.

I tie in the tip of the clump of material and then wrap to the back of the hook, instead of forward like normal.

Continue wrapping until you have secured it towards the back, then wrap back to the front in preparation of the next clump. You should try to only have one layer of thread in each direction.

This style makes the head tall and skinny instead of roundish. Once eyes are added it will be round and not a large oval.

Bloody sardines

Mess of sardines tied with custom one batch of dyed yak. New supplier of yak was trying to get me an orange I liked.

Aluminum pliers

So I have wanted a pair of these for a while but been unwilling to spend $100, these were $30 on ebay. they have passed my quality concerns. The only issue is they don't fit my chest pack as nice as I wanted.

Saterday fishing

Order of "mini's"

This order of mini's is on the way to Chicago tomorrow. I call them mini's becaude they are 1/2 the size of a normal fly.

Casting vs Shooting Line

Throwing a large fly should generally use the term of shooting not casting. Here is my take,

Casting: throwing a long line with multiple false casts.

Shooting: throwing for distance with normally only one or two false casts.

Every time you false cast, you use the body strength of a cast; keeping the false casts down to a minimum means more fishing before you get tired. Shooting a longer line means you can fish more water with less casting. More line on the water is more time between shooting and allows your body to rest more. All these things add up to a less tiring day on the water. As we get tired our casting/shooting falls apart and I find I get more frustrated with timing and distance issues in my shooting.

I run a ten weight pike taper on my 8 weight Axiom/TiCR x. I only shoot so it doesn’t over weight my rod. I could never cast this large of a line. The larger belly allows me to throw 10 inch or bigger flies 70+ feet with one false cast all day long.

Here is the process. Lift the fly off the water with close to half the belly still out of the rod. Make a large haul like you are throwing a backwards cast and use the water to load the rod. I lay the rod against my forearm to help create an anchor point. On the back-cast you should be feeding line. This will normally feed enough line to clear the belly through the guides. Now the forward cast has a full belly to shoot properly.

Since the line is a ten weight it also has a larger mass to over compensate for the larger fly. You really do not feel the larger fly on the line as much as you do with an 8/9 line. This helps to make the rod feel better in the loading and casting as well.

Sunday fishing

Nice warm day in October, almost 80. Very windy but a good float. Saw lots a wildlife for as late in the year as it is. A few smallies and only one little pike.

Hauling the line off the water

So here's a trick when hauling heavy flies out of the water. I lay the rod butt against my arm and use it as an anchor when lifting up. This helps to put pressure on the arm and not all on my wrist. This has helps me sustain longer when throwing big flies and not getting as tired.

Latest fishing

Been on the water the last few days. Weather is great but fishing has been terrible. This is the only little fish landed in the last two days.