Man Did I Pay for Those First Fish of the Season

You know you can only watch so many fishing videos and video clips, before you just have to get out on the water. That water in this case was a private small lake of ten acres. I usually fish this place when everything else is out of kilter. The 4 wt. rigged with one of my Road Kills I purchased from Fly Fishing and Tying Obsessed was the choice of the afternoon. The cream color was getting the most attention with a tiny weight clipped on about a foot above the fly. The hits were extremely slow and most were not heavy enough to set the hook. After about an hour the action played out and I left the wind and the lockjaw fish to itself.

This trip didn’t help my sinus infection that started last week. It only got worst with all the wind and cold breeze. So I spent Saturday morning in Urgent Care getting a shot in my rump and a Z-pack that has made me feel worst than the sinus infection.

I am still waiting for the generation at the lake to stop so I can try out my Streamflex fly rod below the dam. I know the trout are waiting but I just can’t get to them with roaring water pouring out of the generators.  

Water temp was 52 which made for a slow presentation--lots of fun on the 4wt.

The New Hardy Greys Streamflex XF2 Fly Rod Unreal Quality

I know now how to justify getting my new addition to my fly fishing arsenal. I will just say I am getting my tackle in order for the upcoming spring. My last post dealt with this website I found called the Anglers Habitat Ebay Store. For those of you who are not familiar with the site, they sell all types of fly fishing tackle with an added bonus to accept your old tackle as a trade-in toward a new purchase. My new purchase in this case from Habitat was my New Hardy Greys Streamflex XF2 Fly Rod 9 ft. 4 pc 3 wt. I have to thank River Damsel for this purchase. I viewed her post on High Sticking and it was so on point that I had to follow through with this purchase----and am I glad I did. I received my Streamflex Friday and was blown away with the quality and the action. I haven’t fished it as of yet but you can bet I will be going out in the next week or so to give it a try. The appearance, lightness, fast action with a somewhat stiff butt action is what really impresses me about this rod. Oh did I mention that it is made in the USA? To put it simply I am pumped and can’t wait to get on the water with this stick!!!!----and last this fly rod is actually my retirement gift from the teachers at Maddox Middle School. A lot of memories will be made with this particular fly rod!

Wheeling and Dealing for another Fly Rod

Do I need another fly rod? Yes I do after watching the video clip over at River Damsel this week. RD told me she is waiting for her new high sticker to arrive in the near future. I have tried a little high sticking last year with my 7 ½ ft. Temple Fork. I realize then that it would take a much longer rod to effectively achieve success with the sticking technique. So today I started searching for that 9 ft. or better to get that added reach. After searching the web for a while this morning I found this great new website called the Angler's Habitat. This company will actually let you trade in any fly rod you own to go towards your purchase of a new one---how cool is that? I talked to one of their reps and he told me that you could do what they call trading up, which means as you trade up and purchase you could one day end up with your ultimate fly rod. I have a long way to go before I reach that ultimate fly rod; but after finding the Habitat today I have established a good start.

Sprucing Up Your Fly Rods And Reels

Fishing with good equipment is a must for me. I want all my fly fishing reels and rods to work to perfection when I am on the water. My fly rods need to balance out well with any of the reeds I am using. I have said this before but lightness is a big plus for me when it comes to fly fishing. Equipment appearance is also a biggie for me. I not only want top performance from the equipment but it needs to look good as well. I am really into the fly reel colors of silver or brass. You pair those reel colors with a maroon, dark green, or moss, colored fly rod and you got my color combo.
As for appearance for your favorite rod or reel the Mudhole has taken this to a whole new level. They carry a complete line of decorative wraps ranging from snake skin, weaving, marbling, and different types of inlays you can add to your fly rod, spinning or casting rod to spruce it up. One can even add a decal of his favorite sport team on your reel or fishing rod. The handle designs from this place are endless with the checkerboard to all kinds of decorative rings one can add. I really like the effect their butt plates have given to some of my fly rods. If any of you guys are interesting in adding designs to your fly rod you need to take a look at the wrap demo clip below----I really like the snake skin, one of my fly rods may be getting one soon.

Are You a Perfectionist When it Comes to Fly Fishing???

Do I consider myself a perfectionist? When it comes to fly fishing I would say I am close.  When I am on the water I am always trying to stay in touch with how the fish are reacting. This could be feeding habits, reaction to water levels, water temps, current flow, and hatch patterns. If I am having problems with one or more of these factors, then it really gets my goat if I can’t entice the fish into taking one of my offerings. So I do what most all fishermen do, I keep trying different techniques and patterns until I hit on something that is productive. Sometimes it works and sometimes I come up on the losing end. I always look back on every trip especially the skunked ones and try to analyze why I wasn’t successful and try to come up with a solution that will make the next trip a little more productive. Could those no fish trips be attributed to natural factors, less concentration on my part, dormant fish, or bad cast?
Sometimes I wonder if I am being too hard on myself when one of my casts goes astray. I not only want that cast to be precise but I want it to produce a fish every time the line hits the water. I not only enjoy getting the fish on with that super cast, but I want to make sure I play the fish to the point that one I land it and two that I don’t harm the fish in the process.  Back in the days when I fished in the bass tournaments using the casting rod play was not a factor: then numbers were the winner and the faster you could land the fish the faster you became the winner. I am still the same fisherman I was back in the day but my techniques and methods have changed since I returned to the fly rod. I am still trying to get that perfect presentation on every cast and again if I don’t I am still trying to figure out why what and how I can make it better. Just wondering are any of you guys a perfectionist when it comes to fishing?

Reviewing Nymphing Techniques and Set-ups

My last post dealt with my Nymphing by Numbers videos I got for Christmas. I went back and watched the video again, because I wanted to make sure I really understood some of the segments that were featured. The one segment that really got my attention was the section dealing with weights. The presenter in the video only used a weight to get his flies close to the bottom, not beadheads nymphs. In fact he said he never uses beadheads. He says they lack the action compared to your standard nymph flies. I agree after watching how he used this technique.
In his most used set-up there are two flies involved. One fly which is his anchor fly is tied at the end of the tippet with a weight or weights positioned 14 to 16” above it. He then places a tiny midge or scud 12” above the weight, and last is the indicator. The bottom fly he is using is most always a Stone Fly which is floating up with the weight bumping off the bottom. Hits are about equal on both flies. I know some of you guys have used this set-up and have been successful with it. I for one have not used it, but after seeing how many trout this guy landed with this technique, you can bet I will give it a try. He uses other nymphing set-ups in the video but the weight two fly method is what got my attention. As I stated in the first post, I am still in the learning stages here and anything dealing with improving my nymph fishing I am interested it. I am curious to know your favorite nymphing set-up that seems to never fail you. I will give all set-ups a try.

  

Sorry guys this is the closet I can come to his set-up. Not showing in the image above is the tiny midge he used above the weight in the image, in other words the weight seperated the two flies. I know this is a common set-up in fly fishing. I use the beadhead most of the time instead of the weight.