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Michael T

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Everything posted by Michael T

  1. Dry or Die.....love it! Ryan, thanks for posting; I had not seen that before. Please note: do not watch on a beautiful Friday afternoon when one CANNOT leave work!!
  2. Hey Jude! I was lucky enough to win an item or two at the Blowout. However, I didn't know my pic was going to be published, or I would've combed my hair. Bwahahaa. A few years back I was fishing the DuPage and happen to notice a guy spey casting. At the time, I had NO idea what that was.....and I kept thinking "should I wade down there and show him how to cast....my god! he's using two hands...what is he DOING!?" Ah yes, never to old to learn.
  3. Cory, thanks for scheduling this Woolly event. I found it refreshing to pay this long-time standard fly at visit. I can't tell you the last time I tyed a Woolly Bugger, but maybe as many as 3 years. I spent some of this weekend tying several as small as a #10 1X-long hook up to a #2 3X-long.
  4. The fly had a workout in the fast water of the Fox Sunday morning. It looks AWESOME in the water; point up and the tri-color krinkly Super Hair makes it look pretty real. Yes Rich and Nick, it's got maybe 8 turns of 0.025 lead wire under the front half of the mylar. Alan, no sword....yet. Jonn, this one might be a Monday night fly at OMC. We should probably take a vote with the group. Otherwise, I'll submit one to the Newletter or one here. Thanks for the compliment Craig and Gary. Unfortunately, I didn't have a sink tip or intermediate line Sunday and the Fox was up. Plus the air temp was in the 40's, not ideal contditions. Note to self: that Jude-guy didn't respond....that makes me nervous. He's probably trying to copy this already and claim it's his.
  5. While I still spin-fish, I fly fish much more often. I've got a number of Gamakatsu 1/0 and #1 wide gap worm hooks. These hooks are extremely well made and as sharp as the premium fly tying hooks. Here's my WG Minnow with mylar tubing covering 0.025 lead wire, 3 colors of Super Hair, and 60-sec epoxy to fill in the head area and hold on the eyes. Hey Al Kwit!? A few years ago you told me I should create a fly that work as well as the Fluke. Well, I don't know if it's as productive, I hope this one is a good start.
  6. Here's the tubing shown tyed in at the front of the hook: Push the tubing back over itself: "Roll" the tubing down the shaft : Tye it off and leave the frayed ends: The Trojan fly paid off on the Fox today. Hit the river with Jim Jones for a few hours. 3 minutes after Jim called it a day, the Trojan fly saved me from a skunking.
  7. Great pic Alan! I'll get a few pics of the Trojan in a hour; the camera battery is dead. The Trojan Fly is well.....a minnow pattern. I still think the original material I used and had Monday night is Flexicord not EZ-Body. I'll take some pics of both materials. The EZ-Body material seems to be a stiffer less supple product, but it will work nicely for the Trojan as well. I have a bad habbit of taking the material out and throwing the package away. Both are a tubing material used for minnow bodies and most famously used for Zonker patterns. There's also a mylar tubing which is a very similar material. Joseph gave me a short length of small diameter mylar tubing to experiment with. I spent some time at the vise this morning and found a use for all the wide-gap worm hooks I don't use much any more.
  8. As Rich commented about a small river with overhanging trees, I hit an area of the DuPage I haven't been in two years. It's a narrow section, with a deep hole at a bend with overhanging trees. It's a no brainer when it comes to low water condition in the dog days of summer. In fact, this spot is such a given at hitting some smallies, even "that Jude guy" might catch a fish! Of course, someone would have to explain to him about not throwing rocks in the water before fishing. He did this the last time we went fishing, running along the bank skipping stones and giggling like a 8-year old girl.....very annoying. But seriously, that hole paid off with several nice fish on Clouser's Swimming Nymph. One in the 16" range, and 6 others all 10" to 14". The FlyStick Light lived up to its name: the 12 inchers put a nice bend in the rod and the 16 incher took a fair amount of time to land. While fighting the 16 incher and with the water crystal clear, another smallie of equal size was chasing and doing everything it could to steal the fly. Too bad I didn't have a trailing fly. I put an old fly reel with the 6wt Orvis line Friday morning. That was a mistake; there's no life left in that line and felt sluggish almost sticky as I tried to shoot some with each cast. In the backyard, this combo was terrific, so I guess the heat of the day and/or the water softened the line up way too much. Fortunately the smallies were cooperating and took my mind off how poorly the line performed. After a few hours, I broke for lunch and changed reels/line. I placed a reel with 5wt Clouser line on the new Ross rod........sweet! The 5wt line was just heavy enough to load the rod and carry a medium sized deer hair popper. It really is a great combo, but I wonder how the Clouser 6wt would perform? I didn't bring the reel with the Cortland sink-tip, but the dozen casts in the backyard with it seems like it'll be a winner too. The 7wt Clouser I think would have been too heavy in the water. With the added tension the water and a soaked fly gives to the rod, I don't think this combo would work. The 5wt Clouser/Ross rod combo roll casts beautifully. After 6 hours of fly casting the Ross in Friday heat, my arm stil felt reasonably fresh, which is another benefit of this outfit. One thing I didn't notice at the Short Rod casting event was the locking nuts to hold the reel have O-rings to prevent the nuts from backing off. Very nice feature. The cork is also high quality and full wells which I prefer, not the cigar style. AirborneMike: treat yourself to this rod, while I've only been trout fishing once, but I could easily see this rod doing double duty. Rich: don't make me laugh! You and "that Jude guy" are going down in 2010. Steve: 3 new rods? get your own post!! Steve dropped by my house once once with his daughter to see my Bulldogs and pick up some fly tying material. My wife was upstairs working, man she was CRABBY that day. Steve, you're probably wondering what drugs she's been taking to turn into the flyrod-buying wife. That's top secret as I'm working on a patent. RonG: it was a double; hallucinogens unnecessary. Don: Don't encourage "that Jude guy", just pretend he's not there. Brandon: This rod is a no-brainer, especially at its price! Mark: I admit, the tension of the week disappeared instantly upon seeing the fly tube, but no....not dreaming. Joe: bwahahaaa...no, thank goodness. Gary: Sorry I missed your visit. John: This new rod is all due to you, since you put that outing together with Joseph supplying the rods.
  9. So it's Thursday evening and I left work ontime....how strange for me, but I have taken Friday off. I told my boss I needed a mental health day and would she mind that I take tomorrow off. She laughed and told me to enjoy the river. I'm so transparent. I make it home and sit on the couch with a gin and tonic, just mixed by my wife, ready to relax. While I though she followed me in from the kitched, I hear her walking upstairs. After a half a minute, she walks around the corner with her arms behind her back and a big smile. She says "I have a present for you" and hands me a minty green fly tube! There's no mistaking that miserable color of the Ross FlyStik Light! WOOHOO! She bought me the 6-weight 7'11" Ross fly rod!! SCOOOOOOOOORE! Now how outstanding is it that she not only paid enough attention to remember I talked about loving this "nasty colored Thin-Mint green" short flyrod at a recent casting event, but she drove to One More Cast and asked Joseph for help. Being the top-notch gent that he is, he remembered exactly which flyrod I loved and packaged it up for my bride. Cheers mate on remembering it was the 6 and not the 8 weight. I took it to the backyard and casted using 4 different reels each with a different line. What a blast casting this rod, changing reels and seeing the difference in a 6 year old Orvis floating 6wt, a Clouser 5wt, a Clouser 7wt, and a Cortland sink-tip 6wt. I can't recommend this rod enough. I tried not to sing its praises too much at the short rod casting event, but after some quality time with it tonight, it's a beauty! You gotta love a woman that'll buy you a new flyrod for no other reason than "for being you."
  10. It was my pleasure to have partnered with Cory on this event. John Loebach is a trooper and organizes an event like no other. Thanks to One More Cast as well. I tip my ISA cap to all who decided to give deer hair a try that day. Learning the techniques of creating a bass bug is daunting to say the least and requires hours of dedication. It's not for everyone, but for those who can't get enough of spinning or stacking, it's a labor of love.
  11. I won't stay on my soapbox too long, but 10 years ago people scoffed at free-range raised animals and organically grown groceries. But let's face it, the CAFOs are our own Corporate Culture of maximizing profits at the expense of human decency run rampant. For all you who find this story horrific and it is an atrocity, where do you buy your meat, on sale from the local grocery store? We’re all guilty of that from time to time, but doesn't this fuel the CAFOs and other irresponsible farmers? Everyone should be incensed at the farming practiced in the video. But if you're not willing to change your shopping and eating habits, CAFOs are here to stay.
  12. More like what the Bulldog dragged in. I've been laying low, honing and polishing my tying skills, waiting to take back my precioussssSSS. Smeagol knows about frogs....my preciousssssss.
  13. Hey Ron! To clear things up, the fly rod at the Cast and Compare is not from the same company as Jim posted. The fly rod company is based out of Colorado: http://www.elkhornflyrodandreel.com/flyrods/ex3.cfm this link is the EX3 series. The purchase of that 4/5 fly rod was the best I made. If I was smart enough at the fly show, where I bought it for show price, I would have bought another in a 7 weight or so. I picked up the road and reel at the show for $160. Clearly, they don't have that same price now.
  14. Now John, why haven't you checked with your personal tackle consultant at Al's Tackle Supply? I've got the St. Croix 7' Premier medum-light you mentioned. This was money well spent. If I had one complaint, it's that it's a 1-piece rod. It's got a nice sensitive tip and plenty of backbone down the blank. And, you're on target with the long handle. Happy shopping!
  15. ALL the thanks must go to John. Yet again, John successfully schedules, assembles, and hosts another outstanding Bassbuggers outing. Oh yeah, he cooked lunch for everyone too. While I'm not in the market for another flyrod, I think my favorite of the day was the Lamiglass 9 weight. I've never casted a flyrod from this manufacturer, so I really had no expectations one way or the other. This rod was smooth, lighter in weight than I would have thought, and allowed me to shoot a respectable amount of line on the second cast. There was no "getting used to" the rod or learning how it reacts; perhaps this is the meaning of finding the flyrod which best fits your casting stroke.
  16. You guys crack me up....except that Jude guy (get off the computer Jude; shouldn't you be sitting a your vise dreaming up another fly?). It's true, I do spin fish, not often though. Terry is a bad influence and I blame him for going over to the dark side more times than I'm likely. I do find myself loading up on a variety of soft plastics on a spin trip, but the fluke is on 80% of the time. Don't get me wrong, it's not that they work or anything.... .... 'cause they don't! They just cast nicely. Cool Hand Fluke indeed! It was nice to see Al O at such a chance meeting that afternoon. Glad to hear you had a productive afternoon. Articficial fluke hatch, man if that's not mixing fishing styles! Come on Nick, fess up! You've gone beyond the dark side: fishing for those ugly greenies on still water (I shivver just thinking about).
  17. I'm spin fishing the DuPage the other day with Terry D, and cast my fluke to a really fishy spot. DOH! it wraps around a tree branch. I can't march into such a good looking area and free my lure, so I grab the reel's spool and pull to break the line. Tye on another hook and fluke, but in a different color. 30 or 40' upstream I hook a smallie and it goes airborn. When I land it and begin to remove the hook I first think my fluke is gone, but I see the tail of a fluke sticking an inch out of the gullet. Cool! I remove the hook and start to gently pull the tail of the fluke. The fish releases it, but the fluke is not the same color fluke I just put on.....and it has a hook in it..........and it has about an inch of red power pro. THAT'S MINE! That's what I had wrapped around the tree branch and broke off. Same fluke color, same hook type, and red power pro! What's the possibility to catch a fish and retrieve the lure lost just a few casts earlier?
  18. While I think it's priced right Steve, it's a downright beautiful rod. St. Croix did a real nice job on the fit and finish.
  19. I got this rod late last summer and it's been casted about 2-dozen times in the back yard. Then, I put it back in the tube. It's never been on the water and there's nothing wrong with this rod. I bought another manufacturer's rod and it fits my casting stroke better than this St. Croix. The model number is A907.4 and found here on the manufacturers website: http://www.stcroixrods.com/rods/default2.a...amp;section=fly This rod retails for $260, but I'm willing to take $200 for this brand new rod and tube.
  20. Besides, there's nothing more exciting than watching a smallie take top water. He uses conventional head cement. It's not exactly that it maintains the tight pack while tying, but helps somewhat and it makes for a very durable fly. It's applied after the half-hitches and the pack. I'll loosen the vise's jaws and rotate the fly so that the hook's eye it pointing up, then push the deer hair back to expose the shank, then add the glue liberally at the hitches. The only thing I don't care for about deer hair is they do soak up water eventually. Tighter the pack the less they soak and the longer it takes. I haven't experimented with flotants and such....perhap that will help. I think it's his first deer hair dvd: Hooked on tying - Spinning Deer Hair with Chris Helm. He's got several dvds that he works with other accomplished tyers who work with deer hair. I took a class with him at One More Cast a year or two ago and it's most impressive watching him work the razor blade. Tying with deer hair is one thing, but shaping them is a WHOLE 'nother thing!
  21. Well done Mark. I learned by watching (and rewatching many times) Chris Helm's dvd. His little Brassie tool works really well and he's not shy about applying glue to those half-hitches between bundles. Adding the glue takes a little time but the result is the best way to maintain a tight pack. Next step: using different colors in bands or making the belly a different color than the "wing." Or, spots on a frog's back? You've sparked my interest in spinning some deer hair.....blast you Mark! It's been a good 6 months for me...time to break out the gel-spun and brassie.
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