The Sink Tip Poly Leader

 

If you fish long enough you may think you've learned everything there is to know about this great sport. There is always new gear, accessories, flies, and equipment to enhance the skills or catch ratio of any fisherman. Like many of you, I am willing to try a new fishing product if it improves my chances of landing fish. The Sink-Tip Poly Leader at Orvis is one of those products I purchased some months ago but never used until this past Tuesday. This is a sink-tip leader that can be used as an extension of your floating fly line. You simply loop to loop the leader to your fly line and you are good to cast. The leader has a monocore tip which I cut off and tied in a tippet ring instead so I could change my tippet much faster instead of using various knots to attach the tippet. Once you add two feet of tippet from the tippet ring you are fishing a leader about 9 ft. I choose the intermediate sink tip leader from the four sink tip leaders they sell. This leader sinks at a rate of 1 1/2 inches per second and by adding a bead-head nymph the tippet line is sinking close to the same rate as your sink tip leader. The Orvis link will give you a detailed description of all the Sink Tip Poly Leaders they sell. 

Jeff and I ended the season Tuesday fishing Ryan Creek on Smith Lake. I checked the forecast for Tuesday mainly for rain and didn't think of checking for wind. We arrived at the lake with wind gusts 10 to 15 mph and temps in the low forties. We knew the fishing was going to be slow and we had to find rock walls out of the wind. With that in mind, we proceeded up Ryan Creek in my Tracker Boat until we located the one wall suitable to fish. I found out years ago that there are two negative factors when fishing surface flies, wind and sun. We had the wind but not the sun. We were amazed we landed a few bluegills and smaller spotted bass with the surface temps at 65 degrees. The popper action ended almost as quickly as it started when peaks of sunlight penetrated through the cloud cover. With the surface action over for the morning, I knew what I was going to try, my sink tip poly leader rigged with a bead-head wooly bugger. I had been planning this trip for a couple of weeks. I even tried the sink-tip leader rigged with the wooly bugger in a small pond where Cathey and I walked. I was impressed with how easy it was to cast using my 5 weight Redington fly rod. In other words, I was sold after landing the largest Spotted Bass on Smith Lake this year. 

This pot-bellied female took me for a ride into the depths of Ryan Creek. I had my 5 wt. rigged with a  brown tensile wooly bugger which got her attention. I was casting the bugger as close to the rock walls and at times I would hit the wall with the head of the fly. My first fish on the bugger was a small rock bass, causing me to tell Jeff that at least one fish was interested in hitting it. As we moved slowly down the wall I continue to make shoot cast letting the excess line at my feet shoot through the guides of the rod. Once the fly made contact I started using different retrieves, in the form of short jerks, slow-moving retrieves, and at times letting the bugger drop and giving it a quick jerk. The slow drop and jerk motion is the retrieve that connected with the fish. 

I can't think of a better way to end my Smith Lake fishing season for this year. I've already started planning for Spring to arrive and land some more of these fantastic fighters on the fly rod. 

Shirts, Pants, Hats, Shoes the Works to go Sun Free

As I get older I have become more aware of the damage the sun can have on your skin. When I was younger I would fish all day wearing a short-sleeve shirt, shorts, flip flops, and a cap. The sun would blister me the first couple of outings but after that my skin was so brown I hardly ever got a sunburn the rest of the season. I was lucky I didn’t contract Melanoma in those early years. Nowadays I battle the sun's rays by wearing a long sleeve shirt, long pants, vented hat, vented shoes, and finger exposed sun gloves. All these products are listed below, with links to the website.

Magellan Large Pocket Shirt

Magellan Back County Pants

Reebok Light Weight Vented Shoes

Cabela Fishing Gloves

Redhead Aussie Hat

I wear all these products when I am on the water. I am a sticker for a good hat and this hat has to be my favorite of all I wear.

Testing The Furled Leader

Today I was back on the Sipsey to continue evaluating the furled leader. It passed the test last week as I used it high sticking pocket water. The main characteristic of the leader that really got my attention was its low memory. Once you remove it from the package and give it a slight stretch it is ready to fish without any coiling as opposed to a mono leader. I also noticed that I could control the placement of the tippet much better with this leader mainly because of the added weight of the strands that make up the leader. Also, the grey color of the leader helps me know exactly where my tippet was during the drift through the pocket water; superb leader for high sticking.

For today’s trip, I wanted to see how it would react when nymphing and dries were added to the mix. I arrived late today and had a couple of hours to give it a try. With no hatch occurring I decided to wade into position and let a nymph drift through a small run I hadn’t fished since last year. I was using a size 14 beadhead nymph and begin working it through the run. What I notice almost immediately was how much slower the drift was with this leader. The light 6X tippet stayed in front of the leader throughout the drift. Very little mending was needed because I was just letting the leader/tippet drift with the current. As I made cast after cast I would set the leader/tippet in position at the top of the run and the rest of the way it was on its own drift. I did notice at times the leader would overtake the tippet and fly in the fast sections of the run, but after a quick mend, it would correct itself and continue the drift.

Today was one of those outings that caused me to try numerous nymph patterns until I finally connected with a bow. This was my nymph trout for the day that help prove that this unconventional drift method really worked. Two other trout were missed that helped boost my confidence level.

I moved to another area of the tailrace to cast the leader using a dry fly. There was a small midge hatch occurring in a shaded deep run close to the opposite bank. The trout were surface feeding, but not what I would call aggressively. The midges were tiny so I tied on a size 20 Renegade. The white hackle on the Renegade helped me see the tiny fly much better. I was downstream from the hatch activity and casting upstream into the feeding zone. In other words, I wanted to see how the leader performed on a downstream drift coming back to me. As I made numerous cast upstream, I kept noticing how light the tiny little fly would touch the water. As the fly touched the water I would watch as the dry would float back above the leader/tippet without any mending, this I liked. The takes were always close to the spot where the trout were feeding. Using a 4 ½ ft. tippet enable me to get the fly in the feeding area without the furled leader being noticed; I was spot casting. I discovered this technique while watching videos from Jonathan Barnes, who uses the furled leader for all his fly fishing techniques. This downstream drift was my favorite technique I tried today and is one I will continue to use on future trips.



This rainbow along with others landed and lost was brought to the net using the downstream technique. I let this rainbow have the Renegade, which was deep in its throat. I hope it will survive to fight another day.   

Using Your Chest Pack as a Rod Holder

Every time I’m on the tailrace I keep reminding myself I need to share my latest find with you guys. I know some of you may already know about using your chest pack as a rod holder; when you are standing in waist or knee-deep water trying to change flies or even changing out tippets. I have been fishing in knee-deep water many times wanting to change flies but didn’t want to move and disturb the water I was fishing. I discovered last year the chest pack I was using was much more than an accessory pack.

The fly rod will rest in a perfect horizontal position when it is positioned behind the neck strap connected to the pack and pushed down behind the pack touching your chest. 

I changed from the fly fishing vest to the chest pack a few years ago. I found that I really didn’t need to carry the store in the vest with me to fish for three or four hours. I wanted something lighter and compact so the chest pack became my go-to storage bag.

One can fork out quite a bit of money for chest packs and vests. The pack I am using is the White River brand on sale now for 18.00 bucks for the large size and 15.00 bucks for the small size.

Big rains here today will continue to keep me off the tailrace for weeks.  

Indicators What’s Your Favorite

Indicators where do I begin; there are bunches on the market, that work to perfection while others need some more work. With most of us using the indicator nymph combo on a lot of our fishing trips; I thought I would share with you guys some of the latest ones to hit the market and some that have been around for a while.

Before you begin each two minute preview, let me explain why I am even doing this post: on my last outing I had a hell of a time removing the pinch on style indicator from my line. After the ordeal with the pinch on I placed the standard stick/football indicator on and wasn’t impressed with it either. The stick swells in the water making it difficult to remove once you are ready to fish a dry. My inner thoughts that day and days before kept telling me there has to be a simpler way to us an indicator, and I found it by doing a little research. Just curious, what is your favorite indicator and why?

This is one indictor I haven’t heard of the “ Fish Pimp”

 

The Yarn Indicator

 

BioStrike Indicator

Insta Set

Frog Hair

Pinch On indicators---the video shows how to remove the indicator from you tippet; a light tippet will break using this removal method

Tear Drop Slip Foam Indicator

Still Water Indicator

Famous Thingabobber

 

After finishing the research I have to admit the  Fish Pimp and the

Insta Set are my two favorites. I will give both try.

 

 

 

Fly Fishing Bargains Can Still be Found

Mel’s post recently concerning the ever increasing prices of fly fishing equipment got me doing a little research. There are still bargains out there for the fly fisherman who isn’t concerned about using the top of the line fly fishing equipment. I found out a long time ago when I was doing the bass fishing tournaments, that I could catch just as many fish with casting combos that cost half the price of the top of the line combos. Same thing wholes true for my fly fishing equipment. It’s hard to believe that our local Wal-Mart carries fly fishing supplies and fly fishing combos. They are not the top of the line products but their equipment and supplies will get the beginner started in fly fishing.



This assortment pack at Wal-Mart will cost you 15.00 bucks, just the forceps at Orvis  will run you 15.00 to 20.00

Quite a bargain at 5.00

Most of these nets will run you 80.00 and above at different fly fishing outlets

Courtland 8 ft. and 9 ft. 5/6 fly rods

Bargain Combos

Great Price on Teton Float Tube---75.00

The cheapest Chest Pack at Orvis is 75.00—this White River Pack at Bass Pro will cost you 25.00--I'v been using this pack for the past 3 years

Telescopic Walking Sticks at Wal-Mart will serve as a great walking staff when you’re on your favorite stream or tailrace. This is the walking stick I have been using for the past 3 years and it works just as well as the folding or telescopic version at Orvis which sells for 100,00. The Wal-Mart Stick sells for 10.00

 

Hope I’ve helped some of you guys out with your bargain bin shopping!!

The Gnat, Beadhead and the Popper

Tuesday’s trip involved using numerous flies to attract some hits from some early spring bluegills. I only got to fish a couple of hours, so I had to make the most of what was given to me. The fish today were in a sluggish hitting mode, from the results of freshwater, and some cool nights.

I did manage to land my first crappie using my 3 wt. and the black gnat. I always heard where there is one crappie there is more but not today.

My one bass of the morning using the Betts popper, nice fight on the 4 weight.

 The beadhead grub got this female's attention. After a brief pause for the photo she got her freedom.

My one counter of the trip using the Betts popper; got to love landing these gills using the fly rod!!!

The Contour Roam2 Camera Added to my Fly Fishing

As stated in my last post I like to find and watch good fly fishing videos on the net. I recently found some great fresh water videos dealing with warm water and cold water fly fishing filmed by Carter Nelson who lives in South Carolina. He has mastered the art of filming his fishing trips using a headmount camera. After getting some filming pointers from Carter last week, I decided I would do some research on video cameras and found one I was really impressed with on Amazon.

 The Contour Roam2 on Amazon was reduced half price at 98.90 with free shipping. The main thing that impressed me about this camera was the compact size and lightness. It attaches to your cap or hat and wherever you point your head it films. Carter said the only draw back to using a headmount camera is remembering to move your head slow as you work an area.

I have thought about filming some of my trips for years, but assumed it was just too much trouble. Using this camera is a breeze, meaning some of my first trips this season will probably have some video to share with you guys.  
  
 

Another Fishing Accessory I Just Can’t Live Without!!





I read a post the other day concerning fly fishing accessories. It got me to thinking about just how much we as fishermen whether its cold water or warm water spend on all these add-ons we place in our fishing arsenal.  If I read about or see a fishing item I think I just can’t live without then most of the time I buy it; well here is another fishing accessory I decided I just couldn't live without, the fly fishing license plate.
I know how all of us love this great sport of fishing, so I thought why not spread the word, especially to the young,  as we drive to and from our favorite fishing destinations. The following plates were some of my favorites I found online and thought you guys might want to see:

Really impressed with this plate

Outstanding Brook Trout Plate

For all of us who love the Bluegill

Awesome Brown Trout



Bass on the Boogle Bug Poppers

Can’t forgot the Crappie Fishermen

 

Catchy fly license plate

My favorite---all these license plates and many more can be found at Café Express

  

Fly Fishing Magazines We All Enjoy Reading

If one fly fishes they probably read an array of fly fishing magazines and buy fishing equipment and supplies from numerous tackle magazines. Receiving magazines in the mail is like receiving a Christmas gift every month. Some we paid a monthly subscription for and some we receive because we purchase an item or two from their company. In either case it’s a way to add knowledge and enjoyment to a sport we are all continuing to learn and love with each passing season.

I receive a couple of fly fishing online publications as well as numerous free fishing magazines that includes all type fishing as well as fly fishing. I have found ordering just one tiny item from any of these companies will usually get you a free magazine for months, which is fine with me.

I always want to share with my fellow bloggers, so with this post I thought I would give you all some insight into some publications concerning fly fishing. I am sure most of you are familiar with some of these publications, but as I did my research I discovered some that was new to me. Let’s start with one everyone may know about:

 

Fly Fisherman--- This magazine is one of the most well-known fly fishing magazines available.

Fly Rod and Reel--- This print magazine also focuses on the fish themselves, their habitat, and what tackle is best for each situation.

Eastern Fly Fishing---One of my favorites; the magazine is available in print publication as well as digital download.

Northwest Fly Fishing--- Fly fishing in the great states of Northern California, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming as well as British Columbia, Alberta, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory and Alaska.

Southwest Fly Fishing--- For fly fishing anglers living in the Southwest area of the United States.

The Drake Magazine--- Unbelievable amount of information about fly fishing found in this one magazine 

American Angler---This publication is considered the fly fishing authority of fly fishing.

Catch Magazine--- Official journal of fly fishing photography and film

Fly Tyer Magazine---Official magazine for the fly tyer, the beginner and the seasoned tyer

Angling Trade Magazine---An array of fish fishing information

Fly Fusion---North American fly fishing authority

Fly Fishing and Tying Journal---America’s leading publisher of fishing books and magazines, serving anglers since 1967

Hatches--- A publication with a strong devotion to professional writing, beautiful photography and informative articles

Rod Maker Magazine--- Worlds leading publication for custom rod builders

J Stockard Fly Fishing---Dealing specifically with fly tying and supplies, not a monthly publication

Southern Trout---Need I say more, really close to home!!

Hope this list of magazine publications will be helpful for those of you considering subscribing to new issue of fly fishing.

 

 

Advertising My Favoritte Fishing Products

I am sure that all of you who follow my blog I have notice from time to time that I mention products that I used when I am out on the water fishing. I do this not to receive something free from the company which I do at times; but simply because I am so impressed with the performance of the fly, fly rod, or any other fly fishing accessory that I may be using at the time. Most of these products are sold through small companies and a few through large companies. The larger companies have many more avenues to promote their products as oppose to the smaller companies. A lot of the smaller companies use referrals, product reviews or their own website to help move their products.

Over the years while writing post in my Fishing Through Life blog I have featured many fishing products which have brought me great success on the water. So today I thought I would once again give a shout out to some of my favorite fishing products I am using.

 

Flies and Poppers----Boogle Bug Popper---BreamBugs—FlyDeals—Ultra Light Lures—Roostertails, Tiny Crank Baits, Small Grubs and Tiny Rapalas

 

Fly Rods----Redington Fly Rods—Greys Streamflex Fly Rods—St Croix Fly Rods---Ultralight Fly Rods—Dawai Spinmatic Spin Cast Rods—Micro Lite Spinning Rods

 

Fly Reels & Ultra Light Reels---Redington Drift Fly Reels—Venture 3 Gloomis Fly Reels—Orivs Battenkill Fly Reels---and how could I forget my Pelican Boat.



It is good to be back on the blog circuit, after my wife and I spent some time in South Carolina, and in and out of Tennessee checking on our daughter, who is expecting their 3^rd child. Somewhere near July 17^th. my wife and I will become Grandparents again, which we are looking forward to.

By the way I can't wait to get back on the water Thursday!!!!!

  


 

 

How to Use One Leader All Season

Today’s read is a follow up to my previous post concerning the leader loop. I discovered through that post that all you guys change out your leader from time to time during the year. The majority of you change your leader using the loop to loop connector method. I used the loop to loop for a short period of time last year until I discovered that it was wearing the fused loop in my fly line some, so I decided to clinch knot the leader into the loop. By doing this I eliminated the rubbing of the leader loop against the fused loop of the fly line. The constant bending of the two loops caused the wear; the clinched knot solved that problem for me. I never changed my leaders at all last season on any of my fly lines. The tippet ring eliminated changing leaders often during a fishing season.  

This handy little gem has not only solved interchanging leaders, but it has also saved me money. I can purchase 20 tippet rings 2mm for 5.00 that will last me for 5 years or more. The following paragraph will explain the one leader per fly line theory.



 

My new 9 ft. leader is used until I snip off at least 7 to 8 inches of tippet due to changing flies. Once the leader is less than 8 ½ ft. I snip 2 ft. from the leader and tie in my tippet ring to the remaining leader and connect 3 ft. of tippet to the ring. I have found that 30 yards of tippet will go a long way during a fishing season. I use this leader for the rest of the season, only changing out tippet as needed. The leader is changed if abrasive places show up in the leader, which didn’t happen this past year. I have been experimenting with these rings for a couple of years and found that the best size is the 2mm. It is ever so tiny; you will need to leave the ring on the pin until you thread the leader through the ring. Once you have the leader end through the ring remove the ring from the pin and tie the leader to the ring; then simply tie the tippet into the ring and you have your leader. The ring doesn’t affect the action of the leader or the presentation of fly. It is so tiny that it becomes fused into the two lines. Guys you might want to give this set-up a try this season it has worked well for me.
 

Check Out These Awesome Links Concerning Fly Fishing

As most of you know I like anything dealing with fly fishing. I recently came across the following sites that has a world of information dealing with fly fishing for trout and super size bluegill. I think you might want to bookmark some of the following sites for future use:

I was drawn to site because I was looking for some decals to place on my Pelican boat. I was surprised to find an assortment of items here dealing with fishing.

If you love bluegill fishing with the fly rod, then this is the site for you. If you want to see some super size bluegills, check this site out!!

Flyfisher is a site similar to the bluegill site but much more detail when it comes to fly fishing for trout. This place has an insane amount of information for the avid fly fisherman.

Eastern Fly Fishing is a subscription magazine published six times a year with some fantastic articles on fishing the eastern part of the United States. They are presently running a 90 day free trial.

Perfect Fly Fishing Journal is actually a free publication that I get free, even more information concerning fly fishing.

 Hope everyone finds something useful scanning through these sites that will be beneficial for you come spring.

Budget Shopping and Deck Building

I guess most of you have notice my fishing post have been lacking lately. My son-in-law asked me a couple of weeks ago to help him build a 16 ft. square deck onto their present deck. So I volunteered my service. This has turned out to be quite a project. We should finish it up by this Labor Day weekend, and then back to some serious fishing.

I did manage to make a trip to the Bass Pro this past week. My wife’s car needed some repairs, which was going to take the better part of the morning; so with the loan car Ford gave me I headed out to the Bass Pro Shop to do some browsing. I was not on the search for anything special. I knew that the first place I was going to visit when I arrived was the fly fishing department. As I entered the department, one of the clerks asked me if I had seen the new chest packs they just got in. I told him no, so he proceeded to show me all the different sizes and brands they had on display. Being a budget minded retiree my eyes immediately focused in on the thirty bucks White River chest packs. I knew the William Joseph, Sage, and Simms that was on display were a cut above White River, but for a starter pack this one was in my price range.

 

 

As I get older I have discovered that fishing light is the best fit for me especially if I am wading. This smaller chest pack is going to be much lighter for me as oppose to my present fishing vest.

 

 

I also purchased White Rivers small fly box for 5.50 which measures out to be 4 ½” X 3” ------this smaller box fits well in the chest pack along with the other essentials items I would carry along for a morning or afternoon outing. I will be testing both of these items out later this week on the tailrace.