Rob G

Thanks Ed for posting that story about my local waters. Don't be simple minded and think this problem is due to the current administration in the White House. It's been brewing for almost two decades. I and my fellow river walkers knew it was coming a long long time ago. This stems from the large corporate utilities that have your state and local politicians in their pocket. I could fill this page with my disappointments in the way this has all been handled but I won't. For those that don't know, there are three branches to the Lower Vermilion River that I fish all the time. Years ago, a "spill" of extremely toxic alkaline agents near the U of I destroyed all life, not just an incredible smallie population but all life in the Salt Fork branch. It's taken 10 years to finally start producing again. Then 2 years ago, the same river gets hit by a farm fertilizer/manure spill, although not as devastating, it's rebuilding time. But this problem with the Middle Fork branch, this is the big one, a gift that is going to keep on giving for years and years to come, all the while Springfield and Dynegy fiddle. And what the map above doesn't show is the 2nd area further south that is also beginning to fail. The cost of the clean up will be staggering.

You mean like these two? I love bicycle touring in that area and stumbled upon these bad boys a few years ago. As for the trifecta, I did see a Moccasin but he was too quick for me to get a shot.

thanks siusaluki for sharing those photos. I haven't fished Lusk and Big Creek for so many years and those photos just have me yearning to haul my 4 wt. down there when I go cycling in that area come spring. One thing I remember is not a lot of access points and long walks in between where I could get out because of the terrain, and never mind the banjo playing in the background, Ha Did you spend much time down around the mouths where they enter the Ohio? I remember the water getting pretty stained by that point and getting more difficult to wade

Mike, you're correct in that those teeth will often put an end to a fly quickly so I'm not wasting a lot of time tying up a bunch in yellow. I generally tie my pike flies up in rabbit, which is tough enough to withstand their abuse. I think the smallies might be willing to chase that extreme yellow at times, especially in stained water. As to the red line question, there are several variables involved, the water clarity and amount of dissolved solubles, the amount of ambient light available and most importantly the depth. As you go deeper into the water column, less of the longer red wavelengths of light are able to penetrate down there in order to be reflected from that line so it can't appear red. In most cases, that would mean it would take on a much darker color but I'm not sure how the translucency of the material itself would affect the outcome? but I do know that red solid materials do appear black at lower depths. This is one reason why UV colors at the other end of the visible spectrum are being touted for lures and fly tying materials. I do know that in 3 feet of clear water and probably deeper, that enough sunlight is able to penetrate down that far so that the red is very visible. I have seen this first hand up in northern Wisconsin when a buddy of mine fished that Cajun Red line next to me while we were fishing bedded crappie in 3 to 4 feet of clear water. I have read reports that often the line doesn't lose its color until even 9 feet down in some cases. We really need an ISA pool and/or beach party to evaluate these lines and fly tying materials underwater though many or most fish might not perceive the visual spectrum quite the way we do.

I have a couple streams nearby that contain suckers that are somewhat light rose in coloration so we'll see. I also tied some up in just bright yellow that should be killers for pike but they'll probably tear this fly up. And though we don't have many pike this far south in our streams, I'm spending 2 weeks fishing in northernmost Wisconsin/UP this year where they'll get a shot at them towards evening along the edges of the bullrushes.

Thanks siusaluki, that is very interesting and explains a lot.

If I remember correctly, only Big Creek contains any smallmouth down there. The other streams have both the LG mouth and Spotted bass. We almost got a study commissioned on that several years ago by the Biology department at SIU as to why that was the case when those streams are so close in proximity and have similar habitat.

A sampling of the articulated flies I've been tying. Adding a couple new colors to the arsenal, and hoping that fluoro. shrimp pink might be the new chartreuse. Also, from Timothy's inspiration, an articulated McGinty : )

A few more Stealth Bombers from JimZ, our fly tying instructor extraordinaire. He's considering adapting them for stripers as well.

You won't find many if any superior mallard feathers when you buy the stuff in the typical bag. You need to buy flank mallard feathers in this collected fashion. I found a fellow who was selling large flank sets on ebay for a great price a few years ago. http://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-bronze-mallard-flank

that is cool, did you place a slit in the bottom for the hook shank or did you drill a hole for the hook to slide thru?

Definitely needs some tweaking and I must say, it feels so dirty to be mixing mallard with foam but we'll have to see what happens when you "just add water"

We had an excellent time at today's gathering, had about a dozen show up. Below is a couple of the many Stealth Bomber flies that we tied. We know these are going to be "killer" flies as evidenced by the last photo : ) Mark your calendars and try and join us for our next gathering on February 18th. 1:30 PM Bloomington Fire station on Hamilton Drive.

Mike, you'll have to give us some guidelines for that stealth Zoo Cougar. Btw, like Rich, the first Stealth Bomber I ever saw was Mike's contribution to our Topwater Fly Swap back in 2014. I never had a chance to fish it since I was forced to give up my collection of flies to a late comer of that swap. I tied up one today and I like the way it sits down in the surface film. I could see how you might get this one to dive and juke, but the proof's in the puddin'.

One of the flies we will be working on tomorrow will be a Stealth Bomber. I will be bringing various colors of flat foam and some tailing materials but feel free to google the images of that fly and get an idea of what other materials you would like to use.

wish you could make it down to Bloomington, I think you would enjoy yourself, and we could all learn from the ole' Chub master himself

Thank you asherman for those links to the Stealth Bomber and your positive review. In fact, I think we are going to spend some time at: this Sunday's Central IL Fly Tyers Gathering at 1:30pm at the Bloomington Fire Station on Hamilton Road (shameless plug) and work on tying some of those. I've got plenty of 2mm sheets of various colored foam and will print out those tracing patterns, and I know we have a lot of tailing and finishing materials as well. I'm intrigued with the fact that it is supposed to dive and want to see for myself if that open space does actually capture an air bubble as well.

Tom, those look really neat. Thank you Mike and Tom for posting some photos, just what this thread needed was a dash of color. I'll post what I've been tying in the next day or so and encourage others to do the same. Rob

Lowes Do you need a new mop...... minus a few little nibs? Maybe you could spread the wealth with all your fly tying buddies or..... the great dilemma>>>> "Hey Honey, I bought you a new mop" This would not go over well in my house,.......deduct x-number of days fishing

OK Rich, I went over to "We Be Mopflies" and wonder what is the material used for the body, it can't always be mops? Correct? Is it a thick chenille or yarn, similar to what you make your worms out of. Edit: OK, watched a couple Youtubes and see car washing mitts, ha

Leave it to Rich to find some useful fly tying material in the housewares aisle of your local dollar store. Btw, there was a fellow tying those mop flies at the Indy show today, almost a burnt orange body with dark brown head. I have no idea where he came up with that material/color.

Ben, I finished doing just that several days ago and reclaimed numerous hooks, or at least the most expensive ones anyway. I also spent a couple days going thru all my fly boxes and deciding, what worked, what didn't and what do I need to restock. Once I get those ole' reliables done, then I'll be more likely experimenting with newer patterns and materials.

I will tie some reverse Blockheads up for you and charge you only $3 a piece. But I won't guarantee that they will dive. Haha

Just curious if any of you industrious fly tiers out there have been taking advantage of this colder weather in order to tie up some newer or older patterns and would be willing to share what you've been working on? Photos are always appreciated and they don't have to be flies intended solely for smallmouth. Thanks