kjackson

'76-- RPS and I are close in age. In '76, I was married, working for a timber company on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and was breaking in a new boat--a 10-foot Livingston. After being severely bitten by fly fishing and tying after spending two years attending U of M in Missoula, after the move to the OP, I was in thrall to salmon fishing--something I was familiar with since my parents had included me in salmon trips since before I was old enough to walk. They used to put me in some kind of lifejacket and then tied that to the boat on trips to Puget Sound. When the salmon bug bit again, I pretty much put away the fly gear and stuck with the kings and silvers and pinks. Did a little steelhead fishing and some fly stuff chasing searun cuts (did a lot more of that later in life). That was a time when the direct-drive Penn 109 was the reel of choice.

She's great; love her posts.

Oh, Herter's-- used to spend hours with that catalog. I think I still have an ultralight spinning rod bought back in the day. Still have some boxes of hooks from Herter's-- English bait hooks or something like that--think they are close to the extreme bend caddis hooks. My father bought them to tie some mink nymphs that one of his friends swore by. That started us tying flies... I was super excited when Herter's opened a store in Olympia. As for the red-and-white Daredevles, we generally couldn't afford them, but did use a bunch of Japanese knockoffs in that color pattern. My favorite was a thin-bladed spoon that was a killer on trout. It was light enough that I could cast it with a fly rod.

My first "adult" reel was a Winona--kind of a side-casting reel that you'll occasionally see on eBay listed as a "fly fishing" reel. Dad had a friend build a rod for me to use, with the Winona, to fish for steelhead, mostly in the nearby Puyallup River. The reel was modified a bit by taking off the line guide. Still have it kicking around somewhere, although I did change it over to a reel for lead core. Then I "inherited" a 5500 that my FIL wasn't using. That one I had a guy in Seattle modify to a direct drive for use in salmon mooching. Still have it squirreled away somewhere as well.

Hmmmmm. I envy you this trip; every fisherman should make at least one Alaska trip. The DIY approach is something I've not done, so I can't really respond to that. Been up there six or seven times and have a charter-boat view of the fishing. But the guys are right, silvers are a blast. They're tough and I think better eating than kings. In my experience, fishing from a charter can be boring, though. Sure, you get to catch fish-- a lot of fish, and chances are some of them can be pretty strange. But the charters I've been out on have a mindset that they are out there to fill the box with salmon (or halibut or lingcod or whatever) and keep every body happy. On my first Alaska trip, I brought a fly rod, thinking I could spend the day catching silvers from the bow of the boat. And I did that. Cast, retrieve, hook the silver, fight it, net it and go back out to do it again. With a two or three silver limit, I was finished in 10 minutes or so. The skipper wouldn't let me catch and release. You caught your limit, and you were done so that others on the boat could catch their limits. When everyone was limited, we headed out to chase halibut for the rest of the day. Don't get me wrong-- a trip on a charter is likely to be an adventure, and I wouldn't miss it.

This isn't as much fun as it seemed when I started sorting through the pre-Rapala Storm lures I have. So far, I've found over 50 original Wiggle Warts, a few Flat Warts, some short Warts, few Lightning Shads, a bunch of Hot'N'Tots in all three sizes as well as a big bunch of Thundersticks in various configurations and sizes and finishes. I still have one medium utility box to find that has Wiggle Warts and a Wee Wart in its original box. And I also have the fat version of the Thin Fin and a collection of Chug Bugs. But then I also found some Wiggle Warts and short-billed Warts that look like the originals but have a superlative finish-- like way better than the originals--but they're not Rapalas. I was told once that a Storm family member started a company that used the original molds and butyrate plastic to make Wiggle Warts, and I assumed that these super finish Warts were a result. But then I googled the idea and ran into Dave's Lures-- but he didn't do Warts according to the search. Apparently, another company did make a run at bringing back the Warts but is now out of business--or so I read. Dunno, y'know. Not sure how I'm going to proceed with this project, but I'll keep plugging away at it--pun intended.

I pulled out a salmon box where I knew I had some Mag Warts, and they were there with a bunch of Poe's Hawg Boss crankbaits, and Luhr Jensen Hot Shots. Then I took a quick look at a stack of utility boxes and found some Wiggle Warts mixed with some of LJ's attempt at building its own version of the WW. I know I have at least two more large boxes to look through, one of which has a bunch of Wee Warts. But the trouble is that there are also a lot of LJ's Hot Lips crank baits in all three sizes, and I start to remember some trips... I'm going to fish those (unless someone wants to buy them), and I will cry when I lose the last ¼-ounce Hot Lips. I think I only have a few Flat Warts Flysmallie, but there may be more surprises left as I've not touched my walleye crankbait boxes. In my brief search, I ran across a couple of boss with dozens of in-line flashers and some regular flashers as well, not to mention a few Dpsey Divers and Jet Divers. And trolling spoons and Rooster Tails.

Curious...about the messaging problem. I'll try to get back to you about colors and in what I have available that color. However, I've found that I have stuff stuck away in boxes and crates and am always finding things I've forgotten. It may take awhile. Most of the crawfish color variations are intended for salmon and steelhead. The Mag Wart was a champion in the PNW.

As part of my efforts at spring cleaning, I want to clear out my stock of pre-Rapala Storm baits. Yeah, I know that Wiggle Warts are like gold in some respects, but I have more than the standard-size Warts. I have quite a few of some of the less popular baits: Magnum Wiggle Warts, Wee Warts, Thundersticks in various types, and some others intended for saltwater use. If any OA folks are interested in specific baits/colors/finishes, let me know. We can work out the details.

Yes, indeed, but I mostly used saltwater hooks as most of what I did was chasing searun cutthroat and chum salmon. I know they will work as will a number of other hooks I have in the collection. It's more a reaction of a recommendation that I don't have in stock, and if I'm to follow the pattern, then I "need" to pick up something else.

It figures that a recommended hook is one I don't have...Mustad 3366? I don't believe I ever bought them. I used a ton of 3399As and have a lot of them in stock. Plus a strong selection of the newer versions of Mustad. But I do have the B10s I think in a fair range of sizes. And a bunch of VMC hooks (a friend was a sales rep for VMC and gave me his stock when he quit). Undoubtedly, I will find a hook that will work. But I'll need to buy the squirrel zonkers because the rabbit strips I have are all too wide and definitely in colors that are, let's say, bright.

I'm beginning to hate posts like these...I love the flies, but jeez. I have thousands of hooks for fly tying but none like Billethead is using. Nor do I have any slotted tungsten beads. And let's not even get into the micro squirrel zonker strips. I have a lot of rabbit zonker hides, but they're all rabbit and in steelhead and salmon colors. And then try to find Needleoft Plastic Canvas Yarn in the right colors... the only thing I do have is a coffee grinder for blending dubbing. But if I buy some beads, I might be able to work with them on the stash of Octopus hooks I have. They might work there...but still, I'm trying to thin the herd of fishing and tying gear I have. I really don't need to buy more... And then I realize that if I buy some crappie-size tube-style jigheads, I could use a lot of the short hoochie skirts that are filling a box in my basement, and Amazon does ship free if you spend enough.

Kinda reminds me of dropping a drift boat off the side of the road so that it would slide down the hill to the river. I was blown away the first time I saw that. We did catch some steelhead, though.

I looked through my stash as well because I have too many rods, and I have a wealth of nine-footers-- 4 wt, 5 wt, 6 wt, 8 wt (several of those), 9 wt, and 12 wt. The only 9 for a 7 is one I made after I broke the original 9 ½ for a 7, and it's not for sale. I did find an 11'3" for a 7 wt Redington, but I'm guessing it will turn into a crappie rod for some use. I'm not sure why I changed over to 6- and 8-wt rods and skipped 7. I'm guessing that was because I was focusing on searuns with a 6 wt and coho and chum salmon with the 8 wt.

You seem to have Indian Creek nailed. Biggest smallie I hooked in Beaver came from the other side of the lake...I really didn't get it sorted out before we moved north. Walleyes always seemed to catch my attention instead of other species., and I never did do well in Indian Creek.

As part of me recapturing my garage by getting rid of things I'm not using, I ran across a pair of manual downriggers that have been sitting idle since we moved from Puget Sound. So... I'm thinking they are h8gh on the list. I'll be fishing Truman and the upper end of LOZ and maybe Stockton. I can see the possibility of their utility in the deeper water of Truman and maybe Stockton. Is that really practical? Is there any kind of fishery that suggests they might be useful? I realize that I can use them, but I can't see that they might be a bonus tactic given that I've seen zero reports on downriggers being used around here. Inquiring minds want to know... TIA

And it has a new home. Thanks, Daryk.

And I answered...

A quick internet search lead me down the rabbit hole, and I came across one site where one guy wrapped 2mm foam around the hook before he glued on the outer foam on h is crease flies. Since he over wrapped the foam around the hook with thread, I'm not sure it added any flotation. Will have to play with it when I start on the crease flies.

Like Quillback, all my dolly catches were incidental to trout, salmon or steelhead fishing. I caught a few in the upper Bumping River, but they were really small--like under 10 inches. The first dolly I caught was in the Puyallup, but I don't think I'd fish that river. Did catch a bull trout-- kissing cousin-- in Rimrock Lake on the east side of the Cascades. If I had a life-list desire for a Dolly Varden, I'd head to the Olympic Peninsula and fish the salt beaches. Granted, you'd probably be catching more cutthroat and coho than dollies. You might also scroll a bit in the WA fly fishing site, look for comments about the Miyawaki beach popper. I remember some threads about him catching dollies with it (planning on adding that popper to my white bass box).

Wow...amazing trout. Never got a chance to fish Dworshak when I lived in the PNW. Did fish Roosevelt a lot which had its share of big rainbows, but never did catch one over five pounds or so. I did catch a Lahontan in Lenore that went 6 or 7 pounds (can't remember which at the moment). I hooked and lost a couple of really big rainbows in the Spokane River, FWIW.

Thanks for the input, gentlemen. That has given me some thoughts, and I even went down to the basement (tackle storage) and started to look for hooks and materials. Fortunately, I have most of what I need to get started, and what I don't have I can probably find a decent substitute. That visit to the basement also told me that I really need to get rid of a lot of fishing gear I'm not using and probably won't use--a byproduct of writing a product review column for a dozen years or so. I like posting in OA because I trust the people here, but I'm thinking I'll need to get used to dealing with EBay... but thanks again for the input.

I realized I was going winter crazy when I started shopping around for a new online fly shop. I decided to come here and ask about shops that weren't expensive, got to reading Ham's Brazil adventure and got sidetracked... At that point I realized I didn't need a new place to buy more stuff; what I really needed is some different patterns to work on. So, my big deal this year is to concentrate on fly fishing for whites and hybrids-- something I've not done much of. I know about Clousers as I fished them quite a bit for searun cutthroat back in Washington. A help on color combos beyond chartreuse&white would be nice. However, what I really need is ideas for other flies (including sizes). I feel comfortable in thinking that some of my old steelhead/salmon/cutthroat flies might work, but I need other projects before I go crazy(ier) and start looking for a new fly shop. TIA

That's a standard in the PNW--or was when we lived there. Supposedly, the original was tied with pheasant rump feathers twisted and then wrapped as the body followed by the rump hackle. But it seems to work quite well with just about any body material and color you want to try. The ones I tied and saw the most had longer hackle fibers than what we might think of as normal. That fly brings back memories...thanks!