Super Glue

I'm hoping to spin up a few bugs tonight, and I've been making a little list so I can reload a few items I like to use when I go to the Fly Fishing Show Friday.

But something that hit me, was a trick I learned pretty recently.  Maybe 5 years ago.  When doing flies with smallish heads or beads and hidden whip finishes behind the bead (seated into the dubbing or other material so the finish is not real visible), put super glue on your thread over roughly, the 1-2 inches from the fly towards the bobbin.  Now do your whip finish.  The glue saturated thread seats nicely, and by the time you snip the thread, it's completely set up and not coming undone.

This can be done with other glues as well - they just don't dry as fast.  For example, normal thread cement works - and then you never worry about filling the hooks eye with cement.  Thin UV cure products have worked for me doing this as well - things like CCG Hydro.

Maybe the coolest trick using this approach, I saw the guys on the fly fish food blog discuss a while back.  Tying a parachute, they saturated the thread with super glue as I noted above, but then just over wrapped the hackle on the post a few times, gave it a couple seconds to set up, and snipped.  Served double duty by creating a great durable hackle on the fly but also made what for me at least, is the hardest part of doing a para fly - finishing it neatly.

Any way, that little glue trick was on my mind and I wanted to lay it down for others.

have a super day -
Will

New stream and a favorite fly

A friend of mine works for MassWildlife, and in talking about streams that have been sampled for cold water fish, he noted one surprisingly close to me, that, embarrassingly, I'd passed many times but never thought to fish or explore.

This is the time of year to check it out.  It's a short stream running into a reservoir, and a good chunk of it's short run is through a pretty nasty overgrown meadow/swamp.  After my quick recon mission Saturday, I can see that there are three times of year to fish this stream: mid-late fall, winter and early spring.  

It's sort of fishable in summer, but cross referencing mental images of the area in full bloom with the foliage types I found... ooph, not going to be enjoyable come summer.

That said, it's a great looking little stream.  Mostly 2-6 feet wide.  gravel bottom.  A bit of weed in places, lots of woody debris making deep scoured out holes and cover AND lots of great undercut banks.

First view of the stream.  A nice run.

Here is where the stream shifts from woods into that swampy overgrown area.

Hemlocks - always seem to be around wild char streams!  The side I was on had a bit of an undercut and good depth - maybe a foot.

Many of the deadfall - and some standing dead spruce in the area were just choked with amazing lichen.  Super pretty - my pic does not do it justice.

After my walk on the stream - and skunk number two of the year :) - I hung with the kiddo's and we all made a home brew Pizza for dinner.  Always good to see 4 year olds build anything, but especially something they get to eat.  Ha!  Once they went down, I pondered flies that I had to restock.  With school starting up again, my vice time is likely to get short here for a while...

Then a fly hit me squarely - the Telico nymph.  If you have never used this little Appalachian creation, you should.  I've tied simpler versions using peacock colored wire vs peacock for the rib, and using nymph skin for the back vs peacock, but either I dont have as much confidence or pleasure in fishing them... or they dont work as well as the original.  Regardless, this fly is awesome.

Decades (ouch) ago, a friend introduced me to this fly when we were fishing a local pond that was home to some wild (it's a centuries old stone dam on a stream which has wild trout) and stocked trout. He was fishing the fly and catching, and gave me one and I started to catch fish as well.

Since I've always carried them, and fished them.  They have caught trout, small mouths, all kinds of sunfish and chubs for me.  Plus, the fairly dense body, sinks pretty well even in unweighted versions.  I've tied it in bead head for larger sizes and that's worked too.  In the end, it's just a great little fly worth adding to your arsenal.

This is a little one, #16 standard nymph hook (Tiemco).  I most often fish 12-16, but carry a few long ones - #10's or 12's but on 2-3X long curved nymph hooks (think heavy stimulator hook - but any longer hook would work).  I have not fished a "big" one on a small stream, but on a few larger local rivers the big ones work great.

Have a super week!
Will

What's bad about skunks?

Let me say that I don't have an issue with the skunk.  It happens more than I'd like to admit.  I'm fortunate to have good water near by, so it's not constant... but I definitely get visits from our white striped little friend often.

And what's wrong with that?  Nothing!  I'm a huge believer in process focus.  Life, or performance in any of the the venues you enjoy, certainly feels better when you focus on the process vs the outcome.  An easy example is research on happiness showing people who spend "extra" money on experiences like trips or meals etc are happier than those who spend money on fancy items - like that new Scott Radian that looks so good at the local fly shop ;).

Fishing is absolutely about the process for me.  Fly tying as well.  It's that chance to just be there.  To hear the water and the environment around it.  To feel myself experiencing the situation and required actions - the process.

Because of that, fishing trips like my lunch time sojourn today, which was a skunk show, are just as rewarding as the day's like one to a major stream about 45' from my home last spring where I had to have landed over 50 browns and bow's over 13".  It was crazy!

So, while I didn't even have a tap, today's trip felt great.  Fun to see the stream in a pretty darn frozen state, and to see how a new pearl over pink floss and white marabou streamer I've been playing with looked in the water.

Here's the scene...

Dead center is the stream.  The snow was frozen solid, I really wish I'd had worn my ice creepers!  Amazing to think that 6 months from now, you cant see 20 yds right here the leaves are so thick!

My favorite spot on this stream.  A great corner pool... the leafy debris from fall still has not washed away despite a few decent rain events... and now, most of the pool has a skim layer of ice.  That log in the water dead center... Awesome spot - when the ice allows access :)

Not sure what Ill name it.  But, this fly is super simple and feels good.  White marabou, pink floss tag with a pearl body that has silver rib.  Moves great in the water and I suspect it will work well... But today, it just shared it's shimmy and shake with me.

Hope your 2016 has started out great!

Will

Starting Young... And Happy Christmas / New Years to all!

Last weekend, after doing some grocery shopping we were about to do some final Christmas shopping, but the boy really wanted to go home... We had to go by home to do the rest of the errands, so he and I stayed home and the girls kept shopping.

We started out playing catch with a football.  Then tag.  Then Will wanted to see how the circular saw worked.  So I hacked up a 2 X 4 real well... Then he saw the chain saw.  We had to do some pruning on a spruce that blocked a walking path around the house, so I gassed up and let Will hold the blade cover and wear the big hearing protection (and stand well back) while I trimmed some limbs.

After all that fun, He leads me back in the garage and see's my 6wt BVK.  I don't know how many of you have cast one of TFO's BVK series... But wholly smokes - they cast like an 800+ dollar rod and cost about 225.  Great rods.  Any way... Will remembered trying to cast it once before, and asked if we could go cast...  So we did.

First we went all Lefty Kreh and I stripped out about 20 feet of line (meaning 20 feet beyond the tip of the rod) and he just had fun making it move horizontal to the ground - swinging the rod left and right.  Then he started sort of roll casting on his own.  He liked the "loop" so he started just trying to make the line swing round all silly.  In the pic, you can see the line is caught up a bit in the apple tree in our front yard...

He'd have me make loops and then he'd make some.  Then he realized that if he tied the leader to the apple tree, he could jump over the line when I held the rod.  That lasted a few minutes until I lifted the line before he could jump, and thus he "missed".  Now we had a new game and we'd go back and forth taking turns lifting the rod so that the other couldn't jump the line.

All in all, it was about 20' of the 4 year old playing with fly casting.  It was awesome :).  Maybe some day he will find satisfaction in this activity just like I have...  Up to him.

Not sure if everyone who may see this celebrates Christmas, so if you don't, happy holidays!  But if you do, enjoy Christmas eve and day.  And happy New Year to all!

Be well

Will

Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving Holiday!  The list of things to be thankful for is amazingly long, and I'm just super glad our family gets to spend the holiday together.

I'm excited to be about a week and a half out from my winter break from school.  The fall term's have been good, but man... put grad school, work, and family on a plate... and things are busy.  I'm looking forward to going to bed before 10 a few times :)

That said, I have managed to get out to bowhunt a few times before work.  I filled my doe tag, and the family is going to have awesome, free range and truly "organic" meat for the year ahead.  Very happy about that.

Prior to getting down to track the doe, another group came through and I snapped a pic of the "leader".  I've never snapped a pic of a deer while on stand before, so this was really fun.  Nice to see these amazing creatures just doing their thing.  They are really, really, awesome animals.

Last Friday (I think) I shot out to a local wild brookie and brown trout stream near home.  I never changed flies, and just drifted a sort of modified picket pin.  I forget the name, but it's similar to a fly Don Bastian ties - rust hackle tail, silver tinsel body, squirrel tail wing and peacock herl wrapped for the head.  Simple, and that's what I was after.  Simplicity.

I managed to catch a couple little chubs.  While some folks poo poo species like these, they are really amazing.  They are also really pretty.  Look at that chrome and steel!

I managed one lone little brookie.  Several hook ups, but only one came all the way to hand.  Amazingly, I'd fished a number of good holes with good takes and misses in many... And in this one little spot, that is about the size of a laundry basket, often cut off from the stream by a gravel bar and at most 12" deep that I caught this little guy.  I was absolutely amazed he was there - I've never had a take or caught a fish in that hole despite dropping a fly in it almost every time I'm on this stream.

Keep enjoying the outdoors - it's an amazing time of year to be out!

And, keep enjoying life - it's a gift to be thankful for, for certain!

Will

Regal History Video

Growing up in Petersham MA, I was only 10-12 miles from the early home of the Regal Vice Company.   After getting into tying as a kid, with a basic starting kit, I remember my parents bringing me to the Regal factory when I was in grade school, around Christmas.  We looked at the cork drag reel's they were also making at that time (mid-late 80's), and then at the vices.  My dad let me pick out a medallion with the brass base as my Christmas gift.  My parents were not fishermen, but always felt that you could do more with good tools, and thus, were not against what, looking back, seems like an extravagant purchase for a kid!

Any way, I tied on that regal for years, and only a few years ago was given another, newer regal with stainless jaws and a pocket base as a gift.  Lucky guy!

So, you can probably tell I'm Regal Vice focused :)

When I bumped into this video, I thought it was great, and figured it was worth a share - it's a bit of history on Regal vices.  I had no idea for example the first ones had an Oak head!  enjoy:

It's been a good few weeks overall since my last post.  No more salmon fishing due to falling water, work, school and family - as well as hitting the deer woods.  Managed a nice little buck with the bow and now will be more focused on when I get into the woods - looking for a big mature buck and letting everything else pass.

Good times!

I hope all of you are well - Enjoy the midst of fall!
Will

Hi-Lite of the day..

Finally had some good rain, bringing the local salmon river up from a trickle to about 13.5cfs, which is a solid little flow but not "high" on this river.  Thankfully, it was high enough to get a few fish to start coming up from the reservoir below.  A few follows... and landed one about 20".

Lucky for me, a nice guy named John was working his way down stream and we were chatting just as this fish took.  He got a nice view of the fight - which included 4 solid leaps well into the air - and took a pic for me from the other side of the river.  If you ever see this - thanks John!

The fly of the day, and one I really love for this (or bass fishing, or trout fishing...) is Steve Culton's Hi-Liter.  You can see my version below.  I dont use a bead, I just wrap the underbody with some .20 non lead weight.  Rides great in the water, and with a loop knot, it dances seductively - especially when swung through the current and given the wet fly wiggle so to speak...

Here's my version of Steves great fly...  You can see his step by step, and a bit of his story regarding this fly's development here: http://currentseams.com/2015/09/22/the-hi-liter-soft-hackled-streamer/

I've been in the woods some with bow in hand... but thus far, the deer have evaded my attempts at bringing them home for super :).  On opening day a gorgeous, probably 3.5 year old buck came by only 10 steps out, but was, surprisingly given the 19th of October is early for rut action, totally trolling for does and would not stop - just kept trotting on nose to ground.  Since, I've seen a few does with no shots and had one deer of unknown gender come by in the dark prior to shooting light.  Enjoying some relaxation in the trees though... it's good for me!

That's where I thought I'd have a shot, two runs intersect there dead center (above pic) and though hard to see there are three scrapes.  Another week and this spot should produce a sighting or two.

This is the little swamp coming off the edge of a pond.  Often they come from over there, after bedding for the day behind some homes.

There are some white oaks behind me dropping like crazy - so good eats for the deer in this area.  The open spaces are this weird (and currently dry) canal that goes around a shruby blueberry covered island at the edge of a pond.  Deer often bed on this impenetrable tangle.

Some times I call that stand site the "Engine Block Stand", because, blocked by trees in the above pic, is an old truck's front end - I'm talking 30's or 40's truck.  It's all rusted out, and never will be useful again, but its cool to see in the woods, and makes you wonder what was going on and why it was left there...

Hope you all are enjoying some of the amazing sights, sounds, smells and adventures fall offers!

Will