westbranchfly

Glad to see I'm not the only clouser junkie out there. Tied a bunch of foxee red minnows, purple darters, and several larger half and halts today. I miss fishing the Susquehanna river.

@Britsnbirds, you're talking about furled leaders. Now I want to get my jig out and build a few. Thanks.

Thanks for the everybody's thoughts. I'm thinking that my fishing will be limited to the feeders and tributaries of bull shoals for now. Baitfish patterns it is. Heavy sink tips will be in order, I think. I'm certain my equipment will be fine.

I use short Skagit heads, and Skagit style casts that only require the head to be outed the tip top.

They typically load with the tension between the line and water surface.

No back cast room? Sounds like this is a job for the two hander. Seriously though, besides a Clouser, any fly pattern recommendations?

I'm guessing there are better chances for a wader during certain times of the year? I'm asking because I've never done it and it looks like something else to try.

I was wondering if anyone had ever fly fished for stripers on any of the local water?

I use either the HMH or terra, kinda depends on my mood. Most of my stuff, like Clousers and intruders are tied on rigid 3/32" tubes. Every now and then, I'll tie on 1/8" and use a liner, or a metal tube and liner.

My apologies, I just noticed the previous thread about them.

I've been tying and using tube flies on Taneycomo for a little while now. I was curious if anyone else in the area ties any?

Keep them sparse, and try a multitude of colors. You might look for the book "Clousers Flies".

You have my undivided attention. Two questions though, have you ever met Davie McPhail and do you spey cast?

I'm glad you enjoyed your day Jack. I'll help out how ever I can. Next, we start the Perry pokes and Skagit double spey.

That's great! I'd love to get into them with a fly rod. Definitely a bucket list item. Congratulations.

I'm glad it worked for you ducky. We all know that everyone frets over casting techniques, loop sizes, etc. In my opinion, one of the most over looked things is line maintenance and preparation. You can buy the best lines in the world, but if you don't take care of them, you're pissing in the wind. Regardless of rod type, single or two hand, a clean, greased, and stretched line is one of the biggest steps you can take for successful casting. I have a ritual before I ever string my rods. The head gets pulled off and set on the tailgate. Then, I pull off 80'-100' of running line. (Berkeley big game). I put on my rubber coated gloves and pull and stretch the running line, a few feet at a time. Once this is done, I put a glob of glide on an old dish rag. The running line is then respooled while passing through the dressing. I repeat this same process with the head. I use a felt pad dressing box for the head instead of the rag. This allows me to really Jack on the head and get it greased and do a final pull. If you really want to be proactive, take and clean the rod guides with a cotton swab. This will also be a tell tale to see if the guides are still smooth. Every so often, it doesn't hurt to pull your entire line off and give it a bath in some warm soapy water. Rinse, dry, grease, respool. It's just that easy. I feel this is absolutely essential to single hand lines. There's no sense in having good line sounding like 60 grit sandpaper when its shooting through the guides. These are my thoughts, do with them what you will. Remember this though, casting techniques will only get you so far. You must maintain your equipment.

Casting lesson? All I did was show you how to not plant a sculpin in the back of your head.

Matt, great links! The one essay says it all. If there's nobody in the area that knows anything about two hand casting, then we all have a very steep learning curve. This is the part that aggravates me most. The application for this method is here, and yet, there is no way for anyone here to get credible instruction. I asked a shop owner the other day when somebody was gonna put on a two hand guide. The answer was simply that there isn't enough interest. Now, that being said, I have to give credit to River Run. They have a spey and switch clinic once a year in March. They get some guys from Michigan to come in and spend the day with interested folks. This year it's $60 for the clinic. I'm gonna do my best to get there this year. I just wish there were more chances at stuff like this. I'm done pissing and moaning.

Wayne, what rod and line are you using?

Anytime pal. You talk about being excited, I didn't bother with my waders yesterday. I stood the on a grassy point, trying to figure out how I was gonna make a good anchor. Once I got it through my head, it was a simple matter of making the head anchor where I wanted, the thing flew. I've been trying to learn how to cast left handed and cack handed. So far so good. Once you kinda get the idea of making the sweep in the intended plane, the cast will go. This Skagit stuff just amazes me more and more everyday. I know we've already talked about it, but spend the money on Skagitmaster 1. You can get the DVD for 40 or watch it on line for 30. Once Ed explains the casting planes, it all makes sense. The line that really makes it for me is where he says," we're not changing the size of sinktips or flies we use to show you pretty casts. This is real world casting."

Matt, that's great! I have to get down that way some day. I finally got my other switch rod rigged with it's new head and reel. I went with a 540 grain airflo Skagit switch. I cast it a few times today, what a set up. Casts like a dream.

That's fantastic! Women fly casters rock. Now if I could convert my wife......

I use Skagit heads on my rods. The switch has home built head. I took an old 550 grain Skagit flight and shortened it to roughly 350 grain. I have a floater and 7-1/2 x 2-1/2 floater/ T11 sinker MOW tips for it. I use a 600 grain airflo Skagit head on the 12-1/2 footer. In a pinch, I get by using those MOW tips on low water, higher water gets the 10ish foot T8 and T-14 sink tips. After seeing some of Ed Ward's videos, I did away with plastic coated running lines. I now use 30# Berkeley big game mono on the switch and 40# mono on the big rod.