kjackson

Thanks for the replies. Since there is no broad support for general use, and I don't fish small creeks, I'll add the rods and the 3-weight line to the sell pile. They will be there with the spey rods, Kwikfish and Storm Wiggle Wart stash that needs to disappear.

I've been looking for a rod blank tip that has wandered off after our last move and thought I might have tucked it in a fly rod case to keep it safe. So, I started looking and found that I have way too many fly rods, many of which I've never fished. Some were salesman samples, and some were sent to me when I wrote a product review column. Others I bought at estate sales. Some are collectible, while others have sentimental value. I discovered that I have a pair of 3-weight rods, and it's a line weight I've never fished. I have a couple of 4-weights and several 5-weights, so now I'm wondering if there is any reason to keep the 3-weights. Unfortunately, I don't live very close to trout country, so I'm wondering if there is any reason to keep the 3s. I'm perfectly happy using a 5-weight for bluegills and can't think of a reason I'd need anything lighter. Comments? Suggestions?

I used a .45 ACP shell for years as a hair stacker then graduated to a .45 Long Colt. Both worked better (as I recall) than the "real" hair stacker I eventually bought. It's either that or my tying skills need serious refreshing...which, thinking about it, is the case.

Ah, Zane Grey-- I read just about everything he'd written back in the day and still have a few favorites in the bookshelf. Haven't read any of them in quite some time, so I'm not sure if they still have appeal. I did pick up his "The Last of the Plainsmen" at a buck-a-bag used book sale. I was thinking it was a work of fiction until I googled Buffalo Jones and started reading about him. Now, I'm wondering how much of that book was factual and how much was fictional. Roping mountain lions? Really? He--meaning Jones-- had to be one tough bird.

I guess it helps if you live in the country-- we were living on the Olympic Peninsula across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and a couple of hours south of Campbell River-- and fishing for the same species. But the books were not so much instruction manuals as inspiration for me. Haven't read any of his books in a couple of decades, so my tastes may have changed, though. I did find one of his novels and was didn't care for it at all. I did take one of his flies, the Western Steelhead Bee, and morph it into a deer-hair winged version that I could fish on the surface on the swing. Caught my largest searun cutt on it.

The first rod I built was a 7 ½-foot, 5 weight Orvis Fullflex glass rod. It was a great rod for the upper Clark Fork. I still have it and will use it this year if I get around to replacing the guides. Found another one here in Clinton--which really surprised me. Love that old fiberglass.

I found the same thing when looking for a 5'6" spinning rod. They simply aren't there-- I did find some in the light/mod-light actions in the walleye ranges. I ended by taking a casting rod I liked for topwater and turned it into a spinning rod. I'm not sure this applies to casting rods, but a some of the split-grip spinning rods could be shortened by modifying the rear grips.

Two of my favorite fly-fishing writers/tyers were fishermen first and creative fly tyers second. Roderick Haig-Brown is an excellent writer who created flies for his trout/steelhead/salmon fishing. His "fisherman's Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer" series is superb. Polly Rosborough was the other. His book on tying fuzzy nymphs did more to popularize the dubbing loop--if he didn't come up with it-- than any other writer I can think of. He was a commercial tyer and responsible for me having several lifetime supplies of Nymo thread.

Decided I needed to see if the Beattys did do the book, so I shook off the laziness and brought it downstairs.

Without checking the book as I'm lazy (but will do tomorrow)... I think the FFF pattern book was written by the Beattys. It was an Amato publication. I'll give you song and dance tomorrow... Interesting about the orientation of the fur... I've tied a small number of zonker flies but never looked at the way they fished. Most were used for chum salmon where I just swung 'em through the schools.

Not according to an FFF pattern book I have, but then again there are probably more Hopping Johns out there. The pattern the book shows is pretty much as I've tied it-- except it was all white on a standard, long-shank hook. I'm playing with the tie a little bit. I'm not sure that the orientation of the zonker strip makes a difference in the way the fly fishes on the strip. If we get open water in the near future, I'll try checking that out.

Here's the latest, a Hopping John tied on a #4 Fenwick worm hook. I've also tied it in white, but I'm having trouble getting the zonker strip to lay right. Open to other suggestions for must-have colors.

Hooked a pelican on the cast-- chucking a jerkabait toward the mangroves when a pelican flew up and into the line, which slid though the bill and hooked the bugger up. Thankfully, it was on a guided trip, and I didn't have to deal with it. In the PNW, I've hooked and landed a bunch of different diving birds-- a puffin, guillemots (sp?), a gull or two and a bird we called "twitterbutts". All but the gull were deep--one took my herring at 120 down, which I still find hard to believe. Never stomped on one, though.

Off to Amazon... like I need more stuff to tie with.

Do any of you fish beads for trout? I've done it in Alaska, and it is terribly effective there when the almond are spawning. The reason I ask is that I have a ton of beads and small octopus hooks that work with them. I could use the beads as bodies on walleye spinners, but then I prefer floating bodies for spinners.

That's just what I need-- another pattern to play with. Thanks sooooo much; I'm still trying to finish the series of BUBflies you started. As for th leaf blower snow removal-- I had hopes for that, but the snow in Clinton is too heavy, thanks to the warm ground/driveway/sidewalk. I shoveled a path out to the bird feeder and realized I'd rather wait for the sun to return. We've got at least 8 inches plus-- there are drifts up to two feet in places. What is the body and tail material?

We've got what looks like 8 inches of snow here in the lee of the house. It's drifting to the windward side, and some of the drifts are 16 inches or so. Still snowing...sigh. Time to get off the computer and back to working on fishing gear and tying flies and jigs.

Here's a quick shot of the Gurglers I used for cutthroat. All are tied on saltwater hooks about size 6... They didn't have much other dressing than the tail, body, hackle and foam wing.

I've used small Gurglers in saltwater for cutthroat both stripped and skated. Haven't tried the Gurglers in a river, though, so YMMV. Also, I hooked one of my largest trout ever on a small midge pattern that had a small, foam block as a wing. I was sitting on a rock, flipping the fly in the run at my feet when the bugger did a perfect head-and-tail rise to take the fly. Since the nail knot was inside the guides, he didn't stay around long.

This fly intrigued me, so I did a bit of research on its origin, and decided I needed to tie a few. The first all-black versions looked so good--they would be excellent Montana flies--that I added a dark-olive version. Then I thought an all-white version would be good for crappie, and then... I think I'm addicted. Will winter never end?

Hooks...I have thousands of various brands, Mustad included. I have Partridge hooks from a WWII rehab tying kit (for wounded soldiers) plus samples I've picked up from sales reps, at shows and so on. Right now, I'm trying to thin down the stash of VMC tying hooks I have, plus some Fenwick super sharp worm hooks. As for Mustard-- the older ones often enough are a touch on the dull side, but a Luhr Jensen hook file takes care of that. My only concern is wire strength on some of the older VMCs. I'll have to hook up with a few hybrids to test that.

That style of hook is the reason I started tying flies. While I won't say how many decades ago that was, but the hooks were sold by Herter's as English Bait Hooks., so that may give you an idea... My dad's coworkers told him that a fly with a dubbed mink body tied on a EBH hook with a bit of black hackle was a killer on trout. So he ordered the kit from Herter's and started tying, and his friends were right. It's a killer pattern. I was 10 at the time, and it didn't take me long to jump into the fun of tying flies. As an aside-- I used the hook, weighted at the bend to tie an upside-down mayfly imitation that I fished in sloughs off the Clark Fork River when I was in college. It worked well. I've tied up a few Bullies in different colors to see if the 'gills like them.

Sold

On the clear-out-the-basement-stash block is a nine-inch (blade length) and a six-inch fillet knife. The six-inch has a bit of surface rust on the blade (from a test filleting rockfish) while the longer knife is unused. Both knives have what looks like an anodized finish, but it could something else that is no longer carried by Cold Steel, the manufacturer. Each comes with a plastic sheath. I want $28 for both--$20 for the knives and the rest is postage. But, wait! There is more! Buy the two knives, and I will throw in an unused MagLite for free. I'm keeping the batteries as they came out of my keyboard. But the case is good. (As a side note, the two batteries that came with the light corroded and ate a nice hole in the owner's manual without touching the case itself or the light.)

In a switch, I used to do fairly well with jerk baits on coho from shore. It didn't seem to work with fish that were staging off the mouths of creeks, but when they were traveling, they would smack it. I wish that I'd played with it a bit at Neah Bay.