jonmason

Hey guys, 

I’m hoping to collect some advice from some of you fathers/grandfathers that have successfully gotten younger kids into fishing. I was recently approached by a family friend and she asked me to take her 9 year old grandson fishing and show him the ropes. I happily agreed, sharing this amazing sport with anyone is a great honor in my opinion, but I’m a younger guy myself (23 years old) and this will be my first time introducing a youngster to fishing. I love reading books and diving into the nuances of the fishing and I want to make him a 9 year old fishing prodigy, however, I don’t want to overload him too early and leave his head spinning. Should I just start out by handing him a cane pole on a school of panfish and shut up? Maybe just let him come to me with questions at his own pace? And advice appreciated! 

-Jon

Just picked up a Ketch bumper board and became a KBF member! This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks again for sharing the information with me, 

One question: if I’m kayaking the fox and I do not have service will that impede the gps tracking in TourneyX? Am I only allowed to fish where I also have cell service? 

Wow this is absolutely awesome! Thank you for the information! 

Very cool, thanks for sharing! 

Very cool, thanks for sharing! 

Hey everyone! Been relatively inactive on the site for a while.. I've been very busy with grad school arrangments. I had a few nice fish the past couple of weeks before this random and brutal cold front came knocking on our door. My best outing so far this year was last Thursday, April 12th - landed 13 bronze in an hour and a half, two females over three pounds. Very rarely do I experience days that productive, I'll remember it for the rest of my life.   I've included some pictures below from a few of my outings. 

Anyways, to the topic at hand..  I was hoping you guys could list out some tournaments you may know of, or participate in. I have yet to enter this niche of fishing, but it definitely interests me. I do not have a boat, only a kayak. The only two tournaments that I am familiar with are the Bronzeback tourney and the golden bones carp tournament. Both of these are put on by Midwest Angling and happen to be fly rod only but I would be interested in participating in any event, be it fly rod or conventional tackle. Thanks and tight lines! 

Nice one, John. I just love finding things around the house to tie with. I'll have to give wine corks a whirl, never tried before! 

Rob, that sounds like a great idea. Not necessarily limited to the fly tyers in  the forum either. 

30 minutes ago, Rob G said:

Agree with Mike.  We never did the balsa wood thing but we did make use of the old cork stoppers that we used to get at the neighborhood hardware store.  In fact, I'm thinking about doing that again here shortly.  Ahh, this semi-retired thing really does have its perks. Ha

Tell me more about these cork stops. How's the price? I build rods and cork ring prices are getting astronomical. 

3 hours ago, Mike G said:

Doing it the old fashioned  way.  I am glad you are keeping a vanishing art alive.

Thanks mike! Appreciate the kind words 

On 1/31/2018 at 9:25 AM, Mike G said:

It's called Bubblegum, Bubba. No real man would use a sissy color like pink or shrimp. 

Rob, from your scientific background, would you say that Bubblegum would fade to grey 2-3 ft under water? They say Cajun Red line is invisible under water.

On 1/31/2018 at 10:20 AM, Rob G said:

Mike,

you're correct in that those teeth will often put an end to a fly quickly so I'm not wasting a lot of time tying up a bunch in yellow.  I generally tie my pike flies up in rabbit, which is tough enough to withstand their abuse.  I think the smallies might be willing to chase that extreme yellow at times, especially in stained water.

As to the red line question, there are several variables involved, the water clarity and amount of dissolved solubles, the amount of ambient light available and most importantly the depth.  As you go deeper into the water column, less of the longer red wavelengths of light are able to penetrate down there in order to be reflected from that line so it can't appear red.  In most cases, that would mean it would take on a much darker color but I'm not sure how the translucency of the material itself would affect the outcome?  but I do know that red solid materials do appear black at lower depths.  This is one reason why UV colors at the other end of the visible spectrum are being touted for lures and fly tying materials.  I do know that in 3 feet of clear water and probably deeper, that enough sunlight is able to penetrate down that far so that the red is very visible.  I have seen this first hand up in northern Wisconsin when a buddy of mine fished that Cajun Red line next to me while we were fishing bedded crappie in 3 to 4 feet of clear water.  I have read reports that often the line doesn't lose its color until even 9 feet down in some cases.  We really need an ISA pool and/or beach party to evaluate these lines and fly tying materials underwater though many or most fish might not perceive the visual spectrum quite the way we do.  

Hey guys, perusing the forum when I saw this and wanted to weigh in... In the human eye, there are two things to detect color and light, these are rods and cones. Rod cells perceive contrast in low light. Cone cells provide color vision. Like your eyes, fish eyes contain both rods and cones. Their eyes are replete with the three chemicals that allow humans to see in a seven-color spectrum, plus a fourth chemical. The fourth chemical, common to most predatory fish, permits them to experience the ultraviolet range. Another fish-eye feature is "eyeshine." Eyeshine helps fish like walleye and deep-sea species to see well despite their dimly lit world. Reflected light bounces off a mirror-like layer near the back of the eye allowing light to pass through the eye twice. (Raccoons and other mammals that favor the night have the same layer in their eyes). It's important to keep in mind that the medium fish see in is denser than air, you need to remember that long wavelength light (red and orange) disappear in the first 15 meters of water. Short wavelength light (blue and ultraviolet) penetrate far deeper. Basically, in that first 15 meters of the water column, color matters. Now that that's out of the way.. take this into consideration: hold an object up to the sun and look at it. It doesn't matter the color, you won't be able to discern it, all you will be able to make out is the silhouette. This is why in dry fly fishing (or any topwater fishing) size and shape come before color. Now if you were fishing streamer patterns, nymphing, crankbaits, or soft plastics in gin clear water on a sunny day, nuances in color absolutely matter. If fishing in murky water or at night, contrast is more important (Choose a dark color like black). Hope this makes sense. Sorry for the long reply, I get excited when I can fuse science and fishing.

One more thing- as far as colored line goes (Cajun Red).. its all bologna, just a marketing ploy. A red monofilament line past 15 meters will actually appear black in color, perhaps this is beneficial because the deeper you go in the water column the darker it gets due to light penetration limitations, but it doesn't just disappear.  The important thing to consider when talking about fishing lines is refractive index.  The closer an objects refractive index is to that of water, the more invisible it will appear. We could get REALLY in depth with this but just know that the line with the refractive index closest to that of water is fluorocarbon. That being said when fluoro is knicked or frayed it will be very visible (more so than mono or other lines) so you need to be hyper-aware of that factor. Graduated with a degree in Biology and Chemistry this past May.. As you may have gathered, I am applying all that knowledge to fishing.. haha!

Welcome from a fellow ISA greenhorn 

Welcome from a fellow ISA greenhorn 

Hey Mike-Nice to meet you and welcome, I'm new to the forums too. I actually live in sandwich/millingon area and I chase smallies on the fly as well. If you ever want to meet let me know.  I'm out there in the evenings just about every other day. 

 Sounds like a great time. Very interested in participating, I'll check my schedule and try to get out there to offer a hand! 

8 minutes ago, mannym said:

Welcome. I frequent the section from Ottawa up to Dayton dam. This year, I will be testing the waters near Aurora through Yorkville. Hope to run into you sometime. 

 

 

Hey mannyn very cool! I'm sure we will, look for the blue Ford Taurus station wagon with fishing stickers all over the back. Big fan of the yorkville area 

1 hour ago, John Gillio said:

Nicely done!

Thanks John!

1 hour ago, Tom L said:

Very nice looking bug.  Definitely will hunt.  Like the way you used a net to paint and gave the fly its textures.

28 minutes ago, Rob G said:

that is cool, did you place a slit in the bottom for the hook shank or did you drill a hole for the hook to slide thru?

Thanks guys! Appreciate it.

Rob, I have a fine tooth wood cutting blade for my dremel, I cut a slit in the bottom and set the hook with a little epoxy, then I fill the slit with white foam and cut flush with an x-acto knife. After a few coats of gesso sanded and then paint and epoxy, you can't even tell.

58 minutes ago, Tom L said:

Welcome to the ISA! Sounds like you will fit right in.

Thanks, tom! Excited to be here

37 minutes ago, Kev-mo said:

Welcome. Make sure you come to the Blowout March 3.

Will do! Thanks 

Hey gentlemen, 

New to the ISA so go easy on me. This fly is a hand carved and painted balsa popper finished with a coat of epoxy I did a little while back. The block of wood holding it up was the starting material. Went for a "bass-like resembalance" with this colored creation.  Let me know your thoughts and happy to be part of the ISA clan. 

33 minutes ago, Dick G said:

Welcome to the group. You will find that the ISA has a very active fly fishing-tying contingent.

Hey Dick,

That's great to hear, I was snooping on the bassbuggers thread earlier. Some quality info and ties! 

Thanks, Terry and Ed. Looking forward to meeting ya'll! 

14 hours ago, Eric said:

Welcome.

How do you report conditions on such a large expanse of the Fox? In my experience it can vary greatly from pool to pool as you go north to south. At what type of frequency are you reporting river conditions and via what channel(s)?

Hey Eric, 

Great question- you have in one sentence succinctly worded the bane of my reporting existence. I live about two minutes away from the water (millington is where I grew up fishing) and I am fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to get out on the water every other day for a good couple hours on average. Additionally, my girlfriend lives way north in Harvard and we drive to see each other very often, so I am usually able to make some stops on my commute to take some temps, get an idea of clarity, and throw some casts if I am lucky. I also rely heavily on a few key USGS stations along the river (if you have an iPhone download stream map, best $10 I have spent on an app).   Admittedly, I do neglect the river on the stretch where route 52 crosses over in Serina on down to the Illinois. Which is a real shame. There is a lot of potential, especially the overall depth for dead of winter bassing as well as summer musky. Between the angling potential and scenery, it is one of my goals to better familiarize myself with that stretch. I usually recommend general colors (White, black, olive), flies that are capable being fished different ways to cover multiple strata of the water column, and impressionistic flies that broadly cover the food chain at any given time of the year. The true unfortunate fact is I am only allowed 200 words per week for the "angling advise" section, I struggle to cover tips on one species with such little wiggle room, let alone the vast potential the fox has to offer. In my orientation, they informed me it was more of a rough gauge for anglers. I do the best I can and try to hone in on hot species/areas for given conditions. I actually was just appointed this position with Orvis and they are still setting up my account, but you can catch my weekly reports in the next couple weeks on their website. If you are a fly fisherman and interested in enlisting  for one of the many Illinois tribs, or if you're interested in helping me cover a stretch of the Fox, I'd appreciate it! It's a commitment but if you're out fishing anyway you are likely already acquiring all the necessary information. I am the only guy reporting for Orvis in Illinois so they could definitely use your help. Additionally, if you have any products or websites it will help with promo. I am starting to production tie and this will help get the word out there.  

Hey Everyone, 

I caught wind of the club at the expo this past weekend, very excited to be a part of a group that loves stalking bronzebacks as much as I do!

I am 23 years old and I have been downright obsessed with every facet of fishing my entire life. Currently in the process of applying to graduate schools to obtain my Ph.D in ichthyology or limnology. At the moment, I am an ambassador for iFlies fishing boxes and I am the Orvis conditions reporter for the fox river from the chain o' lakes on down to the Illinois. I mostly chase smallmouth on the fly these days and I'm behind the vise just about every night; however, I do have plenty of conventional tackle that I put to work from time to time. When I'm not fishing locally for bass you can often find me in Wisconsin, Indiana, or Michigan chasing summer skams or winter ganaraska/little manistee strain chrome. I live in out in Sandwich - anyone in the area give me a holler! Definitely could use some more fishing buddies in my circles. Hoping to get out and help on some of the local restoration projects, look forward to seeing some of ya'll there. Also very eager to learn new tactics and techniques from everyone on the forum!

-Jon Mason