Flysmallie

That thought never crossed my mind. You should see the big 10mm Fish Skull eyes I picked up at Plateau last week. They are some cool eyes.

Yeah. Sure. Just as soon as you dump some cash in my Paypal account. I'll try to get some shots of that tonight or tomorrow.

LOL

And your gurglers look great Lancer.

Uh, no. Close, but not really. To me a crease has a flat face for the most part like a standard popper. This thing is different. The bottom lip acts like a diving bill and tries to drag it under but the top lip prevents that from happening. The result is a rather loud bloop. But you could probably do the same thing with a crease fly. Lots of things that you can do with a crease fly. This thin one showed promise early on but it's one of those flies that I just never got back to. It glided more than popped and I think it would be great on a sinking line like Wrench mentioned. Tying like me is not hard. If you waste enough time in the garage and money on materials you eventually stumble into something neat. But you don't see me posting pictures of all the abortions either. I will admit that during these times of tying discoveries the amount of recyclable aluminum cans in my garage is quite high.

This one? Yeah I still like this one a lot. There are just so many choices for a gurgler. Should you add legs or not? The ones without legs move better in the water for skating or pulling. They probably better represent a baitfish. But I prefer the ones with legs for a dead drift or popping. Maybe next time we can talk about this. If you want a popper that makes a lot of noise then this is the one for you.

Well I guess I'll just have to agree with Joe then. If nobody ever does anything more than come on here and complain and fight then nothing will ever get any better. But I won't be out there anymore hanging signs and wasting a day that I could spend fishing. Plus going back and replacing the ones that were stolen. If that's a lot of time and money wasted then I'm no longer doing it.

Why not start an education effort through signage like what has been done with the Smallmouth Alliance signs? Something that explains the dangers of gigging gamefish. Explains the danger of destroying the resource as well as the financial implications. Will it stop 100% of it? No. Just like the smallmouth signs don't stop everyone from harvesting fish. But a lot of money has been spent on that so it must be working right?

Thanks guys. And thanks Marty for finally inspiring a name for the tan and orange one. White is my favorite but that tan and orange is a close second. So I'm sitting there tying those having some of that tasty goodness you left at the fly shop and it hit me. That color combination will forever be called Smoked Cheese.

I wondered about that, they are a little backwards. But I didn't want to question your superior intelligence.

Badger 175. Not really any different than the 150 John is using. I also have a cheap external mix that I use sometimes for basecoats or clear. The thing about a real airbrush is that you can dial it in to get a fine line or a wide pattern. Plus, being dual-action, you can really control the amount of product you are putting on.

30 psi! Little high to me with an airbrush. I like to be around 15 or less. You have better control and less overspray. I'll look around tonight and see if I have any extra regulators. I had a whole box of small new ones at one time. Now if I can just figure out what I did with them. Lower air pressure would also mean you use less air (obviously) and that would help with the water problem you are having.

Well that doesn't look like a fun boat ride. Especially if that happened in the dark. Nice fish though.

The NFL power rankings have dropped Philly to #20. Denver still sits at the top since week 1. The problem for Philly isn't Vick, even though he sucks. This week it will be Chip's entire offense. That fast hurry up 100% of the time offense isn't going to work so well in Denver. It's not necessarily about Denver's D stopping them, it's about the air stopping them. They will be gassed early, kind of like Chip's NFL coaching career.

I think Wrench went through a bad batch or something. I use 4's and 6's all the time and never have the issue that he has had. Yes I have broke some in the rocks but nothing major.

Philly has ZERO chance of winning this game. Hasn't everyone seen enough of Chip's team to realize that it is going nowhere fast. If they can't beat the Chiefs in their own stadium they have no chance against the Broncos in Denver. They should just stay home and save the embarrassment.

Personally? No. But I have spoke to some guys that use them. They work well. You don't have the control or color choice that you would have with a regular airbrush but you also don't have the expense, smell or clean-up that goes along with a regular airbrush. I plan on getting one that I can use in the house when the garage gets too cold. You can also get an adapter that will allow you to attach it to a regular air compressor because cans of air get expensive. Hobby Lobby has about as good of a price on them as anyone and usually you can find a 20% to 40% coupon for HL on a single item. They also have just about any kind of pattering material that you can think of. It's not going to be with the copic stuff but dig around in there long enough and you will find all kinds of useful crap like I do.

If the secondary can cover them then maybe they could challenge them for a win in Arrowhead. But I think Denver is going to be tough for anyone to beat. I was surprised by Chokeland, of course one of those scores came in the last couple of minutes once all the damage had been done.

I’m not sure when it happened but it was fairly early in my fly fishing days when I found my favorite fly pattern. It’s really more of a method of tying than a particular pattern. But to me, any variation of the Gartside Gurgler is the best warmwater fly out there. Jack Gartside created the first Gurglers for striped bass in 1988. He used white during the day and black at night. But as he continued to have success he created many different variations. Jack himself is rumored to have tied at least 100 different variations before his death in 2009. That’s one of the things that make the Gurgler great; you have so many options available. The Gurgler at first look is just a foam popper. But there is so much more to it than that. Yes it is foam, but it is hardly a popper. The body is made up of a layer or layers of 1.5mm to 3mm foam. It has an extended turned up lip that creates a different set of surface disturbances than a flat or cupped face popper. There are four different ways that I fish a Gurgler. Pop it like it’s hot Really simple, fish the darn thing like a popper. It’s not going to have the deep solid popping sound of a true popper but it will be noticeable to any hungry fish. Plus the erratic darting action should peak their interest. Smooth V Pulling the gurgler slowly and steadily through the water with create a deep smooth wake behind it. This retrieve is sometimes just me pulling a foot of line through the guides giving plenty of time in between pulls. And sometimes I use a longer pull and the length of the rod to move it as much as 6ft. on the retrieve. Dead All of the biggest smallmouth I have caught on the gurgler have come from this retrieve, or lack of. Actually all of the biggest smallmouth I have caught on a flyrod have come off this fly on this retrieve. All you have to do is cast it out and let it soak. Yep it’s hard to just let it sit there and sometimes I will give my rod a little wiggle just to make it barely move. Not my favorite way of fishing a Gurgler but it has definitely proven itself. Skating This is my favorite way of fishing a Gurgler; it can also be the most frustrating way as well. When I’m skating a Gurgler I’m standing at the top or towards the top of a riffle and fishing the area just where the riffle drops into a pool. To skate it just cast across the end of the riffle and by holding your rod high you can easily skate the gurgler from one side to the other. The strikes are violent. Your heart will stop. And more than likely you will miss the fish. Holding your rod tip high is imperative to get a nice skate, but by having it that high it makes a solid hookup that much more difficult. If you will just drop the tip when you get a strike, instead of your reaction to set the hook, wait for the fish to turn on the fly and now you can set it. But that’s easier said than done once you see one of these strikes. And yeah they are not gonna be the biggest fish in the river, but they will deliver the most enjoyment. Here are a few variations that I tie. These (along with several others) are all relocating to Illinois to spend some time with Mic, so he should be able to give us a report on the success. If you want to tie some and want to start small just go with white. A solid white gurgler is the best variation out there; it’s also the original color that Jack used.

True. I bet if you told the LEO that there were a bunch of kids down on the river with a case of beer and bag of weed they would descend on that place like Apocalypse Now.

Nice job Mic. Is that an inline?

That's fine Al, you can have your opinion. Just remember that's it's YOUR opinion and that doesn't automatically make it correct.

Yeah Chief, there are no unethical giggers on this side of the state.

Boiling Springs on the Big Piney are great to deal with. They will do what ever you want. Gasconade Hills does a good job as well but sometimes get caught up with the rentals. Which you can't blame them since that's where the majority of their money comes from. And even though James River Outfitters has increased traffic on my favorite stretch, they are really good people.

I already did suffer through it. I'm glad you were lucky enough. But if you really look at it the only ones that were complaining about bailing them out were the ones that were closest to retirement. Oh and the piece of crap politicians. You knew the risk when you put your money in. But it's all good because YOUR money was protected (that my kids can pay for later) and they gave themselves all big fat bonuses for screwing the country. Time to quit living in fantasy land Al. There's a pizza place down the street from me. He has great food and a great atmosphere, but he's made some real stupid decisions and is going to have to close. This is going to hurt his family, his wife, his kids. I'll let them know that you will be sending them a check to make up for their mistakes. Too big to fail? Get real, you gotta stop listening to politicians.