Paul F

Well I guess I am going to give the clouser line a go ahead then... I was thinking about making some 3-4 feet sink tips for my 5wt anyhow so I will make a few extra for this setup too.

As far as overlining... I overlined my 5wt setup but that is because I was a beginner and everyone I talked to recommended it, I didnt know that it was so popular even amongst experienced fly rodders. Perhaps some 7wt Clouser line along with some various length sink tips for fishing deeper water is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Thanks for all the advice and insight guys.

The choice of line depends on how you plan to fish it. A full sinking line is a bit more difficult to pick up, but if you do one or two aerialized mends or a simple roll of the line to get the line to the surface and make your backcast while the line is still moving you will have the general idea of how to cast the line. If you have difficulty with this concept the sink tip line makes the most sense since it gets the line down but you don't have to get the whole line to the surface before you make you backcast. It's actually a good line if you aren't fishing below about 5 foot deep. And it's easier to manipulate, mend, etc.

 

Personally unless I'm fishing real deep all of the time I prefer a RIO Clouser line. It handles the "Big Nasties" real nicely and if I chose I can always still use a popper. You could also use a floating line and pick up a sink tip that can be loop to loop connected to the front of the line between the line and the leader. Or you can use a sink tip leader. I've used all of them and they all work fine. The sink tip adapter that a lot of companies make (i.e. Orvis, Cortland, etc.) are nice since you have the floating line and if you find you need a sink tip you can just put it on right on the stream. It's fairly compact and fits in a chest pack or vest nicely. The Cortland tip is about 12' and comes in 3 ips (inches/sec) sink rate, 6 ips, and 9 ips. I cut it so that I have two pieces of 4' and 8' so that I can vary the amount of sinking line I want depending on the depth and flow rate of the water.

 

I hope that helps.

Thanks a bunch mike, I have never fished an all sinking type line and I was kinda concerned about the pick up. I am not afraid of a sink tip, as most of the line will be ontop of the water. This new rod feels kind of stiff and I'm worried that using line with a less agressive head on it will not load properly. How well does that Clouser line seem to load up your rod(s)?

I recently bought a new 6wt rod and I now have a reel to go with it. Now truthfully, I really didnt need this rod but I was looking for something with a little more backbone to throw larger and heavier streamer patterns.

Now it would seem that fishing with floating line is the easiest but I feel that it is a weak link when trying to fish streamers in any kind of water deeper than say, 2-3 feet. I have been thinking about trying a sink tip line or an intermediate sinking line, but my concerns are that they will be too hard to manage. I have been looking at the Scientific angers streamer express line along with Rio Clouser. The SA line is an intermediate sinking type, whereas the Rio is a floating type.

I am really leaning towards the Rio Streamer tip line, as it seems like an awesome product and will be easy to handle.

I guess I am just looking for some advice regaurding sink tip lines versus intermediate sinking type lines... Or am I ok staying with a WF floating line?

Whats wrong with casting with one hand and switching to the other? I fly cast with my right hand, yet I fish all spinning gear with my left hand.

And as far as bait casting goes, I honestly believe that a baitcaster is a superior fishing tool all around... But thats just my opinion, Spinning reels have their place but for a majority of the fishing I do I find that baitcasters are my "go-to setups." Having control of the spool along with a typically higher retrieval rate is a big plus in my book.. Because after all, Its always easier to slow down your retrieve than it is to speed it up.

Glad to be of service! I'm looking to get a 9 wt. saltwater outfit sometime this year and the Lamson Litespeed is my first choice for a reel. The older versions supposedly had some issues, but the new ones are supposed to be one of the best reels out there. Now if I could just settle on a rod!

 

B.J.

The guy I bought my Konic from also had a litespeed 3.5... And it was broken, And he claimed he had hardly ever even used it being that he had it on an 8wt.

If I had more money, or could even justify spending that kind of money I would pick up an ULA Force SL by lamson... Hands down one of the best looking reels I've set eyes on in a while.

You should check out the Guru and the Velocity by Lamson, They are both good looking and even better performing according to my reads about them. The price is still up there in my opinion but it is what it is I suppose.

Even at the risk of sounding ignorant I am going to ask this question...

I was reading about furled leaders just a few days ago, And I honestly do not understand the point of them.... Now I am fairly new to fly fishing but I have been using a 9 foot sections of Flouro and tying loops into the ends of them and running that straight onto my fly line... Some people I have talked to told me that was pretty standard and some other people could not believe that I was not running a tapered leader with 4-6 feet of 4-6lb tippet.

So ultimately, my question is: Would a furled leader replace a tapered leader then? And If one were to decide to use a furled leader (or a tapered for that matter) how would they go about adjoining the two sections(leader & tippet)?

Thanks for your help guys, I felt a little uneasy applying that much force to remove the spool but after I got it on and off a few times it became a little more easy. From there switching it from left hand to right hand retrieve is a no-brainer.

This is a very good looking reel and it weighs nothing, I cant wait to get out and play with it!

I picked one of these things up cheap, but without an instruction manual...

I cannot figure out how to get the spool off to change it from left hand to right hand retrieve. Any help out there?

Thanks in advance!

I have an old school 4wt bamboo orvis rod I'm kinda looking to sell... Its in excellent condition and is still in the original alluminum rod tube. Might be more than you are looking to spend but it is a gorgeous rod... PM me if interested.

I cant imagine fishing a 1wt rod... It must be like fishing with a cooked spaghetti noodle!

You will be fine with your 5wt setup. You will probably find that you will have a hard time loading your rod with 4wt line. I am actually running 7wt line on my 6wt rod because the 6wt line I had on it simply made any kind of short distance casting very difficult. On the othe hand though, the 7wt line is hard to control on farther casts. I guess you should do as Ron says and try the 4wt line out to see if you like it.

Hidden lake is five minutes from my house, I can take pictures but I need to know who to email them to. Let me know..

Ahhh, I see now. You have to buy a dozen and a dozen is automatically added to cart.

I spent nearly all of my 2010 fishing season taking the time wading and fishing about 20 miles of river near my home. Using printed images from google earth, I would explore a new section of it each time out. I now know all my hot spots and good access points, It was actually extremely enjoyable and I plan on doing the same thing this season.

I floated the galena river a few years back... Its muddy and shallow, Didn't catch a single fish either.

You'd be better off fishing the mississippi if you are looking to fish from a bass boat.

I personally want to float the apple from the dam in hanover out to the mississippi, But the locals in hanover tell me it is too much for one day. I have relatives that live in eagle ridge so all I would need to do is call for a ride and there would be someone there to pick me up in 20-30 minutes, But I would have to paddle like a madman to get it done in a day... If it were even possible.

Thanks for sharing Mike... I had a lengthy conversation with a co-worker of mine over lunch just about a week ago about the effects of catching spawning bass. My argument was that they probably do not return to the nest, And apparently I was partially correct.

Usually out of principle I will not fish for them while they are spawning but now I have solid evidence as backup. For whatever reason, In all these years I have been fishing I never really thought to read up on the effects, I just figured it was unsportsmanlike and left it at that.

Never seen one in the DuPage river, but I occasionaly find one stuck on my leg when I wet wade in the vermillion river..

Either way, If it has good action in the water something will eat it. I too used to fish the berkley power leech in ponds that I knew had no leech population and yet the bass were slamming them with a vengeance.

I don't know anything about preserving bucktails but I did a Google search and found this, I think it will help you.

 

http://www.flyfishin...ead.php?t=27830

Thank you, I did some googling before I posted this but various mixed suggestions had my head spinning...

I typically split the tail from the base to the tip, remove the bone, scrape the hide clean of any fat and meat. Cover the hide in borax (NOT to be confused with boric acid). If you can't find or don't have borax than use plain salt. The borax may absorb moisture from the hide. Allow it to sit overnight, shake off the wet borax and apply a fresh coating of dry borax and allow the hide to cure. Befor you use it, make sure to put it in a plastic bag into the freezer for a few days to kill any ticks, etc. or you can zap it in the microwave for a short time. Either way, make sure that the hide is allowed to cure until it's dry or you're going to have hair coming out of the hide in short order.

 

And don't forget the rest of the hide! It makes for great deer hair poppers, mice, etc. The white belly fur is ideal for use as is or dyed. Every deer has different hair consistency, length, coarseness, etc. depending on where it was harvested, the time of year, the age of the deer, and the harshness of the weather. If you do the rest of the hide, you'll need to do the same thing as described for the tail except you should anchor it to a board with the hair side down.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Chris Helm is a good source for deer hair information. A.K. Best is also a good source of preserving and dying flytying material.

Mike,

Thanks so much for all the info. I think I am going to stop and pick up some borax on the way home from work tomorrow...

But how much of the flesh do I need to try to remove? What is the best method to remove fat and excess flesh on the hide? I really want to go all out on this thing and keep all the good stuff I can use, It adds to the whole element of things (shot the deer, tied fly with hair from deer, Caught monster smallie on said fly)

My dog helped get some of the fat off of the inside of the hide for me already since I would not feed her the precious meat and she had to make do with the fat and small pieces of meat left on the hide...

Truthfully I really only want the white hairs for tying clousers but I will also keep some of the brown body hairs for poppers and whatnot. Unless of course, Anybody else wants some?

I got a deer on friday and if I can, I would like to use the tail for tying purposes...

What would I need to do to be able to preserve it for tying purposes? I am sure there is some sort of hide tanning that must be done or the flesh wil rot, correct? If it is not too much work I would be willing to give away some of the body hair to anyone interested...

Any guidance would be appreciated!

address and deadline?

Recipe?

Looks fairly straightforward.. What does the body consist of?

Can you send me your address Rich mc?

 

How many are in so far?

Looks like only 4 people so far..

that would work. it would also work with just a peacock herl wrapped behind the bead.i was told by a veteran ice angler that gill baits need to have some body mass to them so when they suck the bait it will easily get vacummed in.sort of like when a vacuum tube sucks in a whole tissue compared to say a penny. early ice fishing at shabbona has the gills in less than 5ft. who wants to join the swap ? rich

Rich,

I want in.. I think. I am fairly new to tying but I think I can pull it off.

I am slightly confused tough, Are we (Participants) going to all tie the same exact fly? If that is the case then I would need to make sure that it is a fly I could tie...

Please let me know,

Paul.

Rich and others, help me out here since I haven't a clue what constitutes a good ice fishing fly. Should it be significantly weighted so it gets down quickly? Should it have ample room on the bend and point of the hook to secure a real larva? Should it be brighter than what may be considered normal under non-ice conditions? In other words, are these flies more for attraction and to hold a real bait or do they imitate something that the fish would actually feed on? And at the risk of showing my ignorance, do you drop these in a hole and jig them up and down or do they just sit there while one is having a beer and a brat while watching Da Bears beat up on the Pack inside a heated shanty?

I wanted to ask the same questions but you beat me to it.. I would gladly try my hand at tying something up that might lure a wintering bluegill into biting.

Where can I find a stripping basket like this? Does cabelas sell these?