Mike G

Mostly for holding the beer.

Usually I toast with JD.

That works. Be sure someone brings a casting basket to try out

Hurrah! Finally found a good use for a kayak

Monday and today I was at two different Wally's. Both had a nice sale on some traditional hardbaits, spinnerbaits, and soft plastice. It was in an endcap display. Hard to beat the price of $1.50 each. The hard baits caught my eyes first. There were Rebels--WeeRs, Tiny WeeRs, Rebel Minnows in several colors in spinning or light casting sizes. There were Hula Poppers in two sizes and assorted colors. There were Heddon Zara Puppies in two sizes and assorted color and Mossboss Spoons. Cordel shad and trap baits. $1.50 each. Bomber Spinnerbaits in 1/4 and 3/8 oz white and char. The soft baits that caught my eye were Yum Money Hounds pack of 4 for $1.50. There were also craws and frogs. Finally I could not resist buying a 1/4 oz Lazy Ike again available in several colors making it hard to choose which one. So most of these are oldies but goodies -- nothing wrong with that at the oldies price of $1.50 each.

I'll be there. Can come early. Let me know if you need a hand with something and when to be there.

I like it picture and all.

Kevin, You have a real First World Problem there. Bass Pro gift cards with BP right down the street. Jim standing by to show you what he uses. (A guy in the Third World is lucky to own a hook and 20 yds of mono scavanged from a Mangrove at low tide.) And then you have us to advise you. Traditionally a guy with your problem looks for a new rod. Not my brother. He strapped his multiplier onto a medium heavy spinning rod, turned it over, and did just fine. By that I mean to say that you may already own the rod you need. Now I will go traditional and help you spend your money if you insist on spending it. There are a lot of Medium casting rods out there designed for 1/4 to 3/4 oz lures right in your price range. Of course Length is important since they come in lengths from 5.5 to 7.5 ft. That is where trying Jim's rods will help you narrow it down to what feels good for you. Right along with length goes Pieces. A 6-7 ft rod fits fine in a car or SUV, but it becomes another thing when you are flying somewhere. Travel rods in 3-4 pieces will fit in a suitcase. (Business travelers planning to sneak in some fishing like them because the folks at the office never suspect the boss isn't all business all the time.) I say that brand is subjective, though some are more sensitive about being seen on the water with a no-name rod since it is like dating a gal who isn't blond. Unfortunately your $150 max caps your ability to flash the really high end stuff like Loomis. For me the Bass Pro travel casting rod that delivers almost everything is the $150 TFO 7 ft Medium Travel Rod (TFGTRC704-3). That's just me. For your final selection, you can bring your reel over to Bass Pro and ask the salesman to try a few of the models they have on the floor. Or you can order with free delivery to the store. First World problems are the best problems to have.

That's bad news. I learned a lot from his video's and books. Though he was all about Largemouth Bass, a lot transferred easily to Smallmouths. He put information in practical terms that you could use on the water. Maybe his best piece of advice was, "Little fish are liars." That is, if you catch a small bass, it can fool you into thinking big bass can be caught in similar locations with similar lures and presentations. That's not likely. To catch bigger fish, you probably will need to find new patterns. We'll miss him.

Keep your day job.

I wish I could call it that, but it already had a name Morrish-Mouse. Though that makes it sound like something that Braveheart fished in 13th Century Scotland, the bunny strip and EVA foam peg it as 1980-90s. It makes a nice floating companion to the Vacuum Dying Bluegill. Originally I was put off by the specification of a #10 hook till I saw that it was a maverick Tiemco model that ran close to the #1 Mustad 3366 that I had in stock, It was an easy tie that begs you to try it in some other colors too. Having a nice video to follow put it over the top. http://www.intheriffle.com/fishing-videos/fly-tying/morrish-mouse/

Tim and Scott Thanks for the quick replies. I have Scott's PDF for my cave.

I hope we do. at reminds me of something that has been on my bucket list for over five years now. I want to get a placard or poster version of the sign to put in the mancave as a conversation piece. Originally I wanted a poster for my delux 100 sq ft executive cube at work or maybe a placard for my desk. I figured it would spread the word in a new place. I just celebrated the 5th anniversary of my retirement. Though it sounded like a good item for the ISA store to me, the response so far has been thundering silence. Though I do have the option of carrying a screw driver all the time so that I can harvest one if I encounter one streamside, I am not ready for vandalism yet. So, where can I get a paper version of that classic sign? Or can anyone send me a good JPEG so I can make my own poster? Thanks in advance.

Have you tried them? It looks like another take on the old "action disc" AKA a sequin or button threaded on the line. I wonder how much resistance they cause on a pickup. For spinning and casting there's always the Scrounger. Tie your favorite pattern on the shank.

Introduction Here is the long awaited pattern for the Dying Bluegill. Besides unlocking the secrete of the horizontal wings on the Bluegill fly, it also provides the method for tying more traditional fake bunny vertical wings. Though it is similar to tying double bunnies, the use of fake fur strips provides a way to create the more rounded shapes typical of pan fish, shad, and saltwater crabs. How many pictures are enough? That question bothered me as I put this together. With a little research I found that Bob Clouser’s treatment on tying his Minnow covered six pages and used 27 pictures. For the same pattern Skip Morris used two pages and nine pictures. One of my oldest books on tying has hundreds of patterns and practically no pictures. There are eight or nine patterns on each page. Here I am giving you one picture and one and a half pages. Dying Bluegill Pattern and Tying Instructions Materials in Order of Use Hook: Eagle Claw 413 1/0 Thread: D Wt. Nylon Rod Winding, Red and Black Thread Wax Tail: Guard hairs from Distinctive Fabric’s Brown Husky Fur Wings: Strips of Distinctive Fabric’s Brown Husky Fur Throat: Distinctive Fabric’s Orange Extra Long Hair Fur Shoulder:Ring Neck Pheasant Shoulder Cheek:Ring Neck Pheasant Back Eyes: Imitation Jungle Cock Additional Items:X-Aacto or Excel Medium Concave Blade (#28), Pliobond Adhesive Wing Preparation Clamp top corner of Husky Fur swatch in vise jaw with fabric side facing you. Use concave blade to slice 3/16 to ¼ inch wide strip from the edge of the swatch cutting with the lay of the fur not across it. From the long strip cut two smaller strips the length of the hook shank. Taper both ends of each strip to a point. Notre: Husky Fur guard hairs are in small tufts spaced about one inch apart unlike guard hairs on natural fur. The tier should cut strips so that the tufts come out symmetrically when the wings are installed on both sides of the fly. In my original pattern, I cut the wing strips so that no tufts were included in the wing. Put a coat of Pliobond on the fabric side of each wing and allow to dry. A toothpick does a good job of spreading the Pliobond Tying Instructions Start thread at 60 deg bend in hook. Note: if you want to include dumbbell eyes, beads, cone heads, weed guards, or wire weighting in the fly, take care of that at this point. Wrap thread back to the end of the shank and tie in a bushy tail of Husky Fur guard hairs. Tie tips of the wing strips opposite each other on the shank in front of tail with the lay of the fur sloping toward the tail. Wrap thread forward to 60 deg bend. Apply coat of Pliobond to fabric of far side wing, lay wing along hook shank, and tie off at 60 deg bend. Apply Pliobond to fabric of near side wing. Allow Pliobond to get tacky without drying completely. Lay near side wing along hook shank and tie off at 60 deg bend. Press wings firmly together so that they wrap around and cover the hook shank. Tie small bunch of orange fur on top of wing on one side to form throat. Tie brown striped pheasant feather on top of wings for a shoulder. It should reach almost to the hook bend. Tie blue toned pheasant feather on top of shoulder to form cheek. Tie Jungle Cock eye on top of cheek. Invert fly and repeat application of shoulder, cheek, and Jungle Cock to other side. Whip finish and partially form tapered head with black thread. Tie off black thread and cut. Use red thread to make a red band on the head. Tie off, cut and cement. Variations with Vertical Wings

Nice. It reminds me that there is a school of thought that says the bugger is the only fly pattern you need for underwater. Tie it on size 22 to 2/0 short, medium, and long shank hooks in colors from white/white/white to black/black/black and all combinations in between unweighted or weighted with wire, beads, or dumbells. Leave out the palmered hackle and add eyes; you have a Shannon Minnow. Sub fur, hair, silicon strips or feathers for the marabou tail. Sub wool, dubbing, floss, peacock, mylar, latex, or the next space age material for the chenille body. So you can spend a lifetime on buggers alone. Get tying.

Nice Easter Parade of Flies. "Sink the line and float the fly." Let us know how that works. I keep meaning to try it, but never get around to it.

You want that drawn with pencil, charcoal, or ink?

Jonn, Is there a site or somewhere to see what they look like? PS I too believe this will end.

Pattern? Can't wait to see how Eric does on it the first time he tries it.

OK 1/16 tsp Polyester 1/128 tsp Pheasant Feathers 1/256 tsp Imitation Jungle Cock 1/64 tsp Black Nylon 1/128 tsp Red Nylon 1/64 tsp Steel Dash Sally Hansen's Bring all ingredients to room temperature Mix Polyester, Steel and Nylon Add Dash of SH Garnish with Pheasant, Jungle Cock, and Red Nylon

If you can tell me when fly patterns became recipes, I will get right on it. Actually I will probably be getting to it anyway though I sure would like to know when fly tying moved from the workshop to the kitchen.

If there is a 4th stage, master, pray describe it as master Hewitt so ably described the 3rd. For many are they who claim to have seen it yet can speak only of faint shadows glimpsed through the bottom of recently emptied glasses just before sleep fell upon them.

Then you are in the third stage? Or is there a fourth?

Yellowtail corkalon corks have two virtues. First they do not carry the enzyme that skunks wines corked with natural cork stoppers. Second, even after you poke a corkscrew through them, they make a good blank for a lure body. Here is the Airick model Spintail Popper. Unfortunately I did not finish in time for the Blowout. Can you imagine how many would have bought raffel tickets?