Paul F

I read about this in the bronzeback bulletin this month... How many people plan on showing up? It sounds like it could be fun

Yeah, I have to agree with Jude. It would be far too much stress on the fish.

I am glad to see that there were many people who weighed in on this topic... I was discussing this exact subject with a good friend of mine yesterday night while we were fishing the river by his house. Proof in itself that the 5lb braid is stronger came when I cast too far and got snagged into a tree. I know for a fact that given the ammount of force I applied to remove my lure from the tree the mono would have broken... No doubt in my mind actually. But I was using braid and I was actually pulling on it so hard that the line damn near cut my fingers off. Needless to say, I have been fishing my braid for the past couple days. And I gotta say, It seems like I am getting less overall hookups but when I am getting into anything decent I don't fear I am going to lose the fish and the lure. Maybe I outta just start taking my medium heavy out with 10lb mono on it out?

I know the powers of loc-tite... I work in the auto industry. Even blue loc-tite is a little to strong got my likings (atleast for this application) I was thinking about teflon actually. I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the ideas guys!

I'm the same way! As soon as I feel a knick, I start cutting a re-tying. Suffix is the stuff to have, it holds its color VERY well and even after tons of abuse still looks new.

I tied it on a 1/0 hook... I wrapped the back end of the hook (near the hook eye) with .020 lead wire... I used zonker strips for the "claws" then tied on some red dumbbell eyes along with a few strands of rubber skirt material from a flippin jig and made the body by wrapping pseudo maribou around all of it. I then wrapped the mass of it with neck hackle and trimmed it all off on the top and bottom as to only allow it on the sides of the body imitating legs and such. I then cut a piece of thin skin and glued then wrapped it onto the top of the body. Also, I should add... Do not tie the eyes on the "inside" section of the hook, if you do then the fly will have a tendency to turn over onto the wrong side and the hook will drag on the bottom instead of facing upwards. I am fairly new to tying but so far this year all my best fish have been on flies that I created.

I keep suffering the heartbreak of breakoffs, I lost two expensive lures this past Saturday on 6lb Trilene and two very nice fish... As any fisherman can relate to, that is frustrating on many levels. Because I know I lost the fish, the lure and then there is some poor fish swimming around with my 10 dollar crankbait stuck in its mouth. I got out today to wade a stretch of the Duper that I had not yet checked out and I was really out just exploring but I tied on a rooster tail to fish along the way. I didn't catch even a small one for well over an hour of fishing and then I found a wider and fairly deep section of water that I decided to fish hard for a while and then turn back. I eventually hooked into something very large, and to avoid a repeat of last Saturday I had the drag set loose. I carefully played the fish out and was able to eventually get it close enough to get a look at it, And no sooner than I did it made a few small lunges and broke off. I really, truly, strongly dislike mono except for the fact that it is clear and doesn't spook fish as much as braided line does. Half of my arsenal of rods and reels have braided lines on them in various colors and strengths. It doesn't break easily, it has no memory and it is not as susceptible to breakoffs due to line twist. When I got back to my truck all I could think about was how bummed I was... Maybe that was that 20 Incher I've been after? On the drive home I realized that I had an extra spool for that rod and reel spooled with 5lb Power Pro.... But then I started wondering, Is the 5lb braid actually stronger than the 6lb mono? What does everyone think about this? Is the braid actually stronger than the mono despite being rated for less weight?

I didn't know the swampy looking one that is along the road was deep enough to support fish. I thought there was only one smallie rearing pond? Or is the roadside pond also a smallie rearing pond? Also curious, why are they draining them?

With my Orvis reel which is an all aluminum design and my metal St.Croix reel seats I find myself re-tightening all the time..... I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem? I certainly don't want to loctite the threads because I actually want to be able to remove my reel from the rod. I tried adding one wrap of thin masking tape around the threads in the areas it really mattered to see if it would help but I still found my reel about to fall off after an hour of fishing.

Shook the one week spider webs off my rods today... Caught a couple nice ones on a small lipless crankbait and a few on a tube

Chartreuse/white combos on all different kinds of flies have caught me a bunch of fish this year. But I have been tying with a more greenish hue cartreuse. Same can be said for olive colored flies too, quite productive.

I haven't had the chance to get out and fish in like a week, Which is not like me... I'm suffering withdrawals. How is the bite these days with the recent cooldowns? I need to get out and catch something, hell even a bluegill would make me happy.

I too was wondering the same thing... But since I slacked off this year and didn't even send in for my tags I guess its out of the question. I didn't feel like a repeat of last year.... 2 large deer, both shot before noon on opening day... gut, drag out and get right back in the car and head home.

I figured I'd better stop back in and let you all know that thursday night I caught a fish that had to have been 20 inches on my craw pattern. It had enough weight to sit on the bottom if needed or to go with the current if needed. I was pitching it at the side of a bridge piling and picking pulling it off the bottom to let the current do its thing. 3rd drift the current took it right into the eddy created by the piling, followed by a hard and immediate strike. Didn't take an pictures because I was alone though, but it was a nice fish!

Good to know, I tied one that looks pretty good. I guess I'll have to see if it produces fish though, 'cause lets face it.. Thats what counts

I guess I never thought about the harm caused by placing a fish on the ground... Hope I didn't offend anyone with my picture of a nice fish on the grass.. Here is a interesting read... Proper Fish Handling

Nice fish! I'm gonna have to ask my buddy at work if he knows this guy since he is on steelheadsite.com

I picked up some stuff to try and tie some craw looking flies... I bought one at cabelas to try to copy but I'm pretty much just gonna jump into it and try it. Anyone else tied anything that looked good? Let see some pictures!! Thanks

I would like to purchase a membership, but I have a few questions... Will I need to buy another membership at the end of 2010? Or would it be one year from when I purchased the membership? Do I need to attend all meetings and outings? Thanks in advance guys

Rob, I bought the same thing. I really wanted the Gold but it said it was unavailable... Even though the extra spools were available in gold..? 50 pairs of shoes is excessive, Just imagine what she'd say if you had 50 rods and reels.... I probably have 30 rods and reels but I'm 23, single and have no intentions of getting married anytime soon.

I bit the bullet and bought an Orvis Mid arbor today... Couldn't pass up the deal, It was on sale and I got a free spool with it. All said and done it was 115 shipped, which for a reel and an extra spool is a stellar deal in my opinion.

Well, it turns out that the orvis mid arbor and the pflueger are the same exact reel... Now it just comes down to what I like cosmetically.. I am also highly considering the lamson konic.. And I ran into another fly fisherman the other day who swore by TFO... So many options, I just want a good looking and quality product

25 bucks off of a purchase of 50 or more dollars? 25 bucks off would be great!

I was also looking at the Orvis bar stock reels too.. I guess I forgot to add that onto my list of considerations... From all the review reading I have done for both reels it seems everyone loves either reel option... I know orvis exclusively manufactures all of their reels overseas but does anyone know where they are made? Everyone online raves about the drag system on the Pflueger, yet some people have negative things to say about the orvis... Really I just want a reel that will stand up to abuse and will last me 10+ years... And because I wish to run lighter line I need a reliable and effective drag system.