Tom L

To improve casting, the line is more importance than the rod. If you can afford the $70+ lines, any brand would do. Up size the line 1+. A 9wt steelhead/salmon taper and a 6wt bass taper. Lots of time you can find them on sales.

Funny. More harm than good.

Kudo to John and the team for putting this event together. Every year it's getting bigger and better. These are some of the mental notes that I judged down from the casting: Kabuto glass is pure beauti to look at and joy to cast; Orvis Recon is a very well rounded rod at a mid point price, accurate at short and mid range, easy to cast and still have enough gun to shoot 70+; Orvis H2 has a lot of feel and light in the hand than any other comparetable rod, even the tip-flex has enough bend and feel at mid and short distance; the new Sage Salt is truely a surf and rip rod designed to cast long distances and pick up sin tip line, good for blind & fan casting in big waters; Sage Method is very similar to the Salt, but slightly stiffered at the tip and less feel at short to mid range, a cannon to big lakes, it will cast much better with a RIO Outbound Short; Sage One is a more well round rod than the Method and the Salt, if I can have only one rod, it'll be the one; Ron's 2wt 1oz Sage is quite a rod for such a small stick, got enough power to fight the wind and yet so light/small that that its deceiving. There were so many toys with so little time to play them all. Again, big thanks.........

Manny, it looks very similar to the Morrish Sculpin which has a dumbbel eyes; a rabbit strip for body & tail and a another rabbit strip for bellly, and rabbit fur for head. There are subtle differences between the two though; such as rabbit fur head vs craft fur head, rabbit strip belly vs craft fur belly, rubber legs vs no rubber legs, hackle collar vs no collar. It also looks very similar to my Foxy Crawdad (one of the flies that I sent you). It is actually an off shoot of that fly.

Tried wool head before. It makes the fly very heavy, once soaked. The upside is it sinks fast, but not very enjoyable to cast. Also, tried deer hair head before. The deer hair make the fly buoyant and sinks slow. Craft fur allows the fly to sink fast and it shreds water quickly. These are the few differences I had notice so far.

I've been goofing around the vise and came up with this pattern: 90 degrees jig hook, dumbbell eyes, rabbit strip body & tail, Krystal flash tail and underbody, craft fur belly, rubber legs, hackle collar, and craft fur head.

Yep. Tried it on 30lbs Power Pro. Cut thru with ease. The nicest thing about this device is that after cutting the tag end of the line it always leave a short enough tag so that you can easily find it the next time and the line won't coil out and get caught in the zipper of your sling pack or tangle on things. There are a lot of gadgets out there to catch fishermen, but this is one of the thing that is really useful.

Hey everyone. Just want to share a little tip that has been work very well for me. I've been using these "Shark Tooth Line Cutters" for the last 2 years. They have saved me a lot of time and frustration on the water. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Loon-Outdoors-Shark-Tooth-Tippet-Cutter-2-Pack/1309670.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dkvd%2Bshark%2Btooth%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=kvd+shark+tooth&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products KVD the Bassmaster also his own product lines. I first found out about this thing by accident. About 2 years ago when I bought a Maxima Fluoro Line (200yrd spool) for tippet (since I do a lot of fly changing )after reading one of Jon Graham's post, the shark tooth came with the spool. But when I bought the same Maxima line the second time, it wasn't included in the spool any more. I was hoping to get the second shark tooth to put on another line size tippet, but ended up buying them separately. Has anyone been using this?

Rob, I normally fish them with a sink tip line, just as you'd suspected. If you want to use a floating line and want them to sink quicker, then try a tandem flies rig with a Clouser in front. A few suggestions: I'd found that substituting marabou with craft fur would make the fly much lighter and easier to cast once the fly get to a certain size and also sink quicker too. If you want a diving action, try some wraps of wire toward the front to counter the deer hair buoyancy and shape the head flat on the bottom (taking the cue from the Dahlburg Diver). I've not try this yet, but it might work. Tom

Rob & Mike, I totally agreed that most of the times the presentation is more important than the fly itself. However on rare occasions, having the right presentation just isn't enough; the right fly and even the right fly color is also needed. Smallmouth are opportunistic feeders most of the time; but at times, they also can be very selective as trout. This had happened to me enough times that I'd come to firmly believe in this theory. The latest was this past Monday fishing with Ron and Eugene on the Rock R. We threw everything in our fly-boxes, but only the brown Foxy caught fish. That same day on the Fox R, I changed many flies and colors; but only the chart CF Muddler caught fish. http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12098

Thanks Chuck, one string puppet master.

Sure, Allen. If there are interest, we can plan on tying these over the winter in one of those John L's tying nights.

Nice tye, Ryan. That must be one of the most difficult and time consuming fly. Kudo....

After encountering the selective smallies on the Rock R (while fishing with Eugene and Ron) and the Fox R (on the way back) this past Monday, I've been pondering. Last night as I was tying flies, David James Duncan came into my head. In "Trout Grass", he said we (fly fishermen - I think lure fishermen are included) are puppet masters, the rivers are the stages and the fish are the audiences. We make believe that the fly which made out of feathers and synthetic materials that we tied to the end of the line are alive. We make it dances and moves. And if we do a decent job of convincing, Our audiences will respond. Just want to share this thought with you as you're heading out to the river on this long Labor Day weekend. Be A Puppet Master

Whether felt or Vibram soles, I always had studs on them. Can't afford to take a tumble while steelheading. The Patagonia's stud bars seems like a good alternative, but has not tried them yet. Has anyone? I bought them early this year at a 40% off. These are the old model G3 Boots. They are the most comfortable wading boots I owned; and they dry very fast compared to other. Simms got a new updated version of the G3 boots out this year and they are not discounted.

I've been throwing a tandem flies rig of the Foxy Crawdad (olive or brown) and the CF Muddler (white, yellow, tan, chart, brown) all year round on the Fox River. Like John said, I would beef up my fly a bit (only the CF Muddler though, the Foxy stays the same size) one size larger in the Fall; but not by much. Just from a size 4 to a size 2; or from about 2 1/2" to 3". Most of the larger fish preferred the Foxy, but occasionally they'd only take the CF Muddler and only a particular color (last Monday was a good example). Eric offered a lot of good tips. Only thing I'd like to add is that structures with deep water near by is a big plus; but be mindful that the fish sometime can hold in only a foot or two of water. An area may have several sweet spots and the fish would hold in certain sweet spots under certain water flow. These will reveal thru time and experience; or if lucky, someone would share them with you. If you're after big Bronzebacks, Sept and Oct are the months. Best of luck.

John, looks like an olive Foxy with a brown/black collar should do the job of imitating that hellgrammite.

A number #50 midge. Need a 10X mag glass.

Did you take that pic right out of the company's advertising webpage? Awesome pic and nice ride.

Make great Muddler's wings and tails.

Thx for the heads up. Will stop in soon to check it out.

Manny, I have a few flies to spare. PM me your address. As for the pickles, I'll take a rain check.

Update 7/27/2014: Finally had everything ready and took the boat out for a test drive on the Fox this morning. I opted for a Minn Kota Terrova i-Pilot 55lbs trolling motor (no outboard yet) and was able to connected my old Hummingbird 385ci depth finder from the kayak to the trolling motor with only one adapted cable needed. A bilge pump was installed also. The auto pilot and the electronic anchor on the i-Pilot worked great when the wind and the current were not too strong. The motor couldn't get me pass a spot with too strong of currents, so I had to turn around. btw, I also took up to another dandy of smallie from a root ball close to shore. This is the spot. Flooring and carpeting are next.

A nice photo essay in the issue, Tim.

Count me in..