Tom L

Dai-Riki 930 Size 2.

Nice flies. See you've been playing with some bendback hooks also.

These are bendback CF minnows that I've been playing with as of late. Got the idea from Allen Rupp while watching him tying the bendback bucktail flies at the early-show last year. This one with chained eyes. This one with dumbbell eyes. These will be in the mixed coming your way for the blowout, John.

Nice tie. It should work.

Have one of his books, "The Orvis Guide to Redading Trout Streams". Very well written, easy to understand, and great illustrations. Was given a book, "Salt Coastal and Flats Fishing", as a Christmas gift. The book essayed by Tom Rosenbauer. Great pictures,fun to read and full of insight. The man knows what is his talking about.

My recent trip out to the northeast, I noticed that they like their flies sparse. I think most of their baitfish are quite transparent; and they mostly fish in clearer water and close to the surface. Fuller and denser body flies have their places too - like in low light hours (early morning, late evening, or even at night); or fish deep. I agreed with Rich's.

Based on my experience, the hinging effect (I also heard it's called a "kick" effect or a "dump" effect) occurred with "add-on sink tips" of 10' or more, but not on 6' or less. An "add-on sink tip" is a sink tip line that you attach on to your floating line with a loop-to-loop connection. I think the weight of the add-on sink tip line, once it's 10' or more, become too heavy for the floating line to transfer the energy all the way out to the tip; therefore, the line collapses and clashes down.

As for the Fox R, the SA Wet Tip Type 3 is my line of choice, if I had to get the fly down deep in high water. However, most of the time I found that a floating line was adequate even in high water. I like to point out that I mostly wade-fishing the Fox. Fishing while standing in knee or waist deep in the river is different from fishing from a drift boat. I'd tried the SA Streamer Express and the RIO Outbound I/S6 on the Fox while wading. Frustrations, frustrations! The lines sank too fast, wrapped around rocks, and a pain to lift the line out of the water. Sinking and sink-tip lines are highly technical. There is no one line fits all. Different situations call for different solutions. Hope my input serves as a starting point for some.

Over the past few years while learning and fishing Lake Geneva for smallmouth, I'd tried and experimented with several fly lines included sink-tip and full sinking lines. These were the lines that I'd tried: SA Streamer Express SA Professional Full Sinking SA Wet Tip Type 3 RIO 24DC RIO InTouch S6 RIO Intouch S3 RIO Outbound Cold Water I/S6 Airflo Six Sence DI S6 By far, the RIO 24DC was my favorite. It was easy to cast distance, line control, depth control, and was much less line tangle. Keep in mind, I mainly fished from a boat in 10-20 fow. If I fished deeper in 20-30 fow, the RIO InTouch S6 was my line of choice. This coming season, I'm planning to add an intermediate sink-tip line to my arsenals. There were times that the smallmouth chases baits to the face and all those lines that I had listed sank too fast out of the strike zone. A floating line would be fine for this situation if there was no wind and calmer surface; but that was not always the case.

Boots and waders manufactures warn again keeping them in the car for a prolong period in the summer, the extreme heat in the car can melt the adhesive and cause leaks. It also voids the warranty. Also, some garages can get really hot in the summer. Something to keep in mind.

I have a pair of Simm G3 waders since 2011, it has gotten smaller and smaller over the years. Luckily I bought them with extra room, but now they are fitted. I also have 2 Gore Tex jackets that also got smaller. I know what you're going to say - I'm getting fatter. But no. I have been maintaining the same weight over the years too. I remembered reading from an online forum (can't remember where now) that other people had experienced the same.

Not sure what kind of materials the Bass Pro waders are made of? But keep in mind that GoreTex fabric shrinks over time; so it is always a good idea to have extra room in a brand new pair of GoreTex waders and that goes for GoreTex jackets as well.

We had a total of 10 members showed up for the dinner meeting tonight. Wonderful companies and great conversations. Thanks Ed for setting this up and thanks everyone for attending.

Tomorrow 7:00pm, folks. The beers are chilled, Craig.

Only 2 more days!

Nice picture. Tried taking a few pictures with the new iPhone. Didn't come out well at all.

Right on, Eric. That's being said, I'd noticed that you don't use a leader when you fish a buzz bait or a swim jig. But do you use a leader on a float & fly? Low stretch is their marketing gimmick. I remember seeing some numbers like 5% on braid and 20% on mono. A new gimmick on fly lines is low stretch fly line. Basically, they replaced mono core with braided core. Rio's InTouch series and AirFlo's Six Sense series are good examples.

I use braided line to fluoro leader mainly on drop shot. Drop shot is a slow presentation. It has made a huge difference for me to have a fluoro leader. My set is braided line, a 2 feet of fluoro leader, a hook, a 2 feet of fluoro leader, and a pencil lead weight. The loop-to-loop knot that joined the braided to the leader does go into the first 2 guides of the rod and it does make a tiny little noise as it shooting out but it doesn't effect my casting at all. Now if we're talking about faster presentation like a spinner bait, a crank bait, or a swim jig, I'm not sure if you need it. I've seen my buddy, Danny, fishes straight braided line to these lures on Lake Geneva and he has been doing well.

A quick and effective way to join a braided line to a fluoro leader that I've been using is a loop-to-loop knot. 1. Tie a double surgeon's loop knot on the braided end. 2. Tie a double surgeon's loop knot on the fluoro leader end 3. Join the braided end and the leader with a loop-to-loop knot (aka hand shake knot). If you need to change out the leader, just snip off the fluo leader at the loop and reuse the old loop on the braided end. It is not going to be as neat as the back-to-back uni, but as strong and simpler. This is the same technique I use on leader-to-tippet on my fly outfits.

Scott - put me down for 3 days, if that's is ok. Never fish this river. Have heard so much about it. This would be a good time to learn from the veterans.

Congrats Eric, Grant, and Mark. Some nice prizes to take home. Great summary of the day, Eric.

Always enjoy Kelly's video. Thank you putting that up. I noticed that they fished fairly close to the bank.

Congrats Ed. Cheer!!!!

Yum! Whenever we go down to New Orleans to visit the in-laws, I'd have them. Boiled in Cajun spices and bay leaves are my favorite.

A nice write and very informative, Norm. This would be a good article for the bulletin.