BilletHead

Ugh farther east and west prices are way out there. I did win a bid on a piqua size 10 round griddle. It's going to be nice restored. Will hit e tank when the chicken pan comes out.

Have you ever tasted Meade? You might change your mind. JD.

Two more big swarms captured since last post. Again, from my existing hives. Nothing yet in swarm traps that I have out that I know of. All I need to do is introduce one into a long hive and I have my nine hives filled. Two of these swarms are in the back and will be gifted to friends. Hoping for more gifts to appear. May save one of two for resource bees and brood. I will spare you all little videos and pictures of new catches unless you want to see them. BUT I will share something pretty cool. Remember nine weeks and two days ago I started a gallon of Meade? Today was the rack day. From one gallon jug to three-liter jug. A bit of aging again and bottle. this is how it started, VID_20220308_082121555.mp4 A swirl of the in the first process to get things going again was all that was done. We today transferred bottles. Really clear and did a taste test. Oh, my I had no idea! The air lock replaced for more clearing and aging. After the taste test I know one thing. there will be a five-gallon carboy ordered and the bees better get busy . Was told by A friend there is no way I could bottle this and keep one bottle a year to age longer. After the taste test I am kind of believing him.

Tell you one thing they will track down a smallish wooly bugger or nymph. That is how I catch mine. Sight fishing and stealthy casts! Nice Fish @Hawg.

Oh and @Hawg, Welcome and thanks for posting!

I was taught also that chicken fryers had no poor lips on them but that is not exactually right. This one stamped chicken pan. It has poor lips so the thought is not quite right. Here is a pic of the deep skillet from the Griswold and Wagner Blue book. FYI I'm looking for the lid to go with. Hint, hint I will post up when cleaned and seasoned.

They are pretty special. Not going to find them like that anymore. I picked up a real nice Griswold iron mountain chicken pan today at a garage sale. It is in the E tank right now fizzing away. It will go into my keeper pile and go into the cooking rotation. Will retire something out into the sell pile.

That means you too old buddy!

And early in the thread I said same thing. We can fix a guy up. Fly tyers are just that way.

Glad you are into them Glen, Did not happen for me and my favorite streams. Not there at right time and the rite times only lasted a day or two that I know of. Rain and high muddy water. Well done!

Goofy weather is correct. Me the mentor that is a scary thought. Just what I read and get from you and another bee guy I know. Really enjoy this and if someone else wants to try I will tell them what I have learned. Thanks for your Input JD.

The Sunday swarm, This is getting crazy here. Another swarm out of a hive. I carried over three hives from last season. I was able to tell where five of the swarms came from and I think the other as the smallest came from my hives also. Sunday Mayday the sixth swarm hit. I was messing around in the shop when Pat came in and said you have to come out here and see this. One of the hives was getting very active at entrance and as we watched the bee tornado started to form. I went back to the shop. Abot five minutes later she got me again and said swarm getting into a little brush pile where we burn over an old stump. Why there? Well Pat picked up the branches I had trimmed day before to capture a swarm. She pitched them into the stick pile and those swarming bees smelled that and keyed in on that location. I waded in and tried to figure out what to do. I went into the garage and got a single deep Langsdorf box and ten frames. Bottom board , cover board and lid Placed Some of the frames had brood wax and drawn wax. I placed the hive close to the pile and made a board bridge between them. VID_20220501_125703858.mp4 I had to try something to entice the swarm into the hive, maybe the queen would follow. The swarm was a mess and no way to dig into the pile and shake into the hive. I grabbed a handful of bees and put them at hive entrance. Not much movement and seemed disinterested. I needed to find the queen. So I went into the garage again and found another frame with brood wax and replaced the bridge. Bees then began to check it out. I was onto something now, We started They began to march towards the hive. VID_20220501_130830355.mp4 When this frame filled up I put it into the hive and took the other and bridged it again. Now I had a bunch of bees in hive to entice better. We spotted the queen once and I tried to scoop her up and dump her into hive but lost her in the mass of bees. Marching continued, VID_20220501_132930716.mp4 While this was going on went to the shop and got my queen clip. If we spotted her again I would get her hopefully. Well I finally did and snatched her up. Opened the hive again and dropped her in. Fanning at the entrance went wild as the bees were telling each other queen here new home. Then the real march commenced, VID_20220501_133555099.mp4 Bees were landing all over me. One on the neck between chin and lower neck. Could feel it crawling around. I dropped my head a bit to look lower and I am sure I pinched her and a sting happened. Dang it. Pat scraped the stinger off and I put on what Pat calls my Amish beekeeping hat. Piddled around more dumping bees at entrance now that I did not have to worry about the queen, VID_20220501_134139301.mp4 Went inside and ate dinner. When I came out pulled the frame bridge away. Put it away. Later on checked again. Not much left outside, After dark we moved the little hive right in front of it's new home. A long lang. To the right is another single deep Langstroth hive I overwintered. Not as strong as this swarm and I have a friend who wants it. I will move both of these hives a couple feet at night getting the weak one away and new one right where weak one was. On a nice warm day I will transfer from single deep box to long lang hive, If this one takes like the other swarms seem to have my goal of nine full hives will be complete. I hope to not have any more swarms to catch out of the yard but do hope to catch in swarm traps that I have out. There are people that want them if I do. I like to see freebees go to good homes.

Here are the Four I watch, 7-Day Forecast 37.75N 94.3W (weather.gov) For my general area Then storm prediction center Storm Prediction Center Convective Outlooks (noaa.gov) Then the rainfall prediction map, WPC 5- and 7-Day Total Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts (noaa.gov) The last one is kind of the one @Phil Lilley posted. It tracks what has already fell in the area like @Quillback suggested, Rainfall totals for the last 24 hours to 3 days - high resolution map – iWeatherNet Last but not least I check my rain gauge

Wonderful All is forgiven. Retriving with line to fight fish. Forget the reel. Strip line in through finger touching reel handle. Let line pile up at your feet and keep feet off the line. If you have a bigger fish running let line slip under finger on run. You are the reel, you are the drag. Reel is for storing line and giant fish . Do you have any Flyfishers in your area for a few lessons? I know of the Ozarks Flyfishers and just learned there is a Christian men flyfishing club up there somewhere. Meetings and outings.

Double tapered line, Fly Lines : Understanding Fly Line Taper and Why You Want to Know It (bigskyfishing.com) I don't use double tapered lines. Weight forward for me. Never seem to spook fish. Tapered leaders, Four Reasons for Tippets and Tapered Leaders | MidCurrent Would you use the tapered leader? To what diameters? Why/whynot? Yes definitely. On trout use commercial tapered leaders. Diameters depending on fly thrown and quarry size. On warmwater make my own with sections having loop to loop knots connecting them. No hinging noticed for me between sections. Tippet on end again depending on quarry. Put on end of tapered leader to extend life as you tie flies on or break off. My tippet on warmwater species will vary from 6lb to 14lb and may go up from there if needed. You will get many opinions again from others. Try and find what you like. Do what you like and works for you.

Bingo! Why I use them.

My TFOs are actually my favorite rods.

Love me some flathead catching. Really surprised you touched it.

So glad for you Travis you all are safe but sad because some folks are having a hard time out there. GREAT picture man!

My money is on Emily, sorry Wrench a woman on a mission is an amazing sight. I want ringside tickets please.

Swarm 3,4 and 5 oh my, Last Thursday late in the afternoon a small swarm on the apple tree scion. Pat got home early from working on her day off. Not sure which hive it came from? Easy grab and dump into the layens quilt hive, VID_20220428_160153845.mp4 Bare handed this swarm. They made their selves right at home. Queen inside! VID_20220428_160704196.mp4 Then today things got really interesting. Pat said something going on with the Utah hive. Sure, enough a tornado of bees boiled out into the air and onto the little apple tree but missing the scion. Now have to get creative. VID_20220430_112627637.mp4 After settling down a but some tree trimming. Lucked out had a young man neighbor who made a layens hive and came over so we could make him some frames. Knows nothing about bees or beekeeping. I'm teaching him what I know (not much) to get him going. No time like the present to let him dive in. Suited him up and he went to work! He then snipped of the rest of the branch, and I carried it to the Cow layens hive. Shook them in and closed the hive! Second swarm of the day. It actually started swarming out of an unpainted long lang as the first swarm of the day was settling down. Busy we were. Best thing it had settled on the dwarf cherry tree scion. So much easier to do. It was another big swarm. So heavy a wad fell off and hit the ground, Not a problem when I looked through the dropped bees no queen spotted. So took scion and dumped into the fish layens hive. Then took and empty frame with drawn wax. Held it to the bees on ground and they all crawled onto it. Walked over and shook it off also into hive. Crazy. Closed that hive also and shot one more small video , VID_20220430_122725462.mp4 Queen in here too, new home! I can't sing either VID_20220430_122725462.mp4 We have one more hive to fill for our yard giving us nine full hives. Get that done and have plan on gifting six more swarms to others needing them. Share the love, share the freebees. Hoping they all come from swarm traps instead of swarms from existing hives.

Atta Boy Travis and Bro!

Ditto what at what @jdmidwest said. If small bass and panfish with smaller flies you can get by with a five weight. Personally with those choices go with the six weight Randy. I like to throw big stuff and do a seven and eight weight. Even bigger depending on the quarry. Ok I really want to see you succeed here. When you decide to take the plunge and get your outfit bought let me know and I will get you some flies tied. Man I wish I was closer! Line choice again like JD said start with the floating. Get that figured out and if you like the hobby then diversify a bit. Wichita, Bartlesville , and Tulsa have local fly clubs and meetings. Do not be afraid to reach out and ask for some local assistance. Just like here on the forum you will find helpers and those other types . There are many opinions here on this game. Just don't get overwhelmed with the input and get sensory overload. Nothing hard about this.

Ok Randy, Lets get a thread going on general flyfishing topics. See if maybe we can get you possibly going.

Getting close! You have got this figured out