Rob G

It should cast well with the Brees behind you

John, it looks to me that the fibers are too long and sparse for polar chenille, but I could be wrong. The Estaz Grand has longer fibers like that but again they are much more dense and expensive.

John, I had the same thing happen to me many years ago on the Middlefork when a hatch occurred and I could see some real brutes coming up and roiling the water and yet they wouldn't hit any of my standards. I just happened to have one mayfly imitation in my box (for whatever reason I don't know) but they hammered that thing untill finally it was no more. Again I then tied on one of the more usual suspects but with no success. After that I almost always keep a few such flies with me. If nothing else, if the smallies aren't on, you can sometimes grab a few sunfish with them.

Mark,

thanks for digging up the video as that really gets the juices flowing, especially on a day like today when we're getting pelted with snow. I'm hoping the smallies will test the fragility of the fly for me but in my tub test, splitting the wing definitely adds to its buoyancy and along with a little dry treatment or silicone, I'm hoping to keep it in the film longer.

Started tying some elk hair caddis and wondered if I tied these on a larger size 10 2x long and split the wings, then just maybe a smallie would be interested if I were to splat these things along the river's edge underneath a tree or bush. Kind of a moth imitation. As Timothy always says, "anybody can take a smallie on a woolly bugger or Clouser but if you want to prove yourself to me, then show me something else you can catch them on" ha ha, hopefully this one's for you T.

At the very least ya think they could've gotten a photo of a stool.

 

Now that would be a fine specimen.

Was there on Sunday and it was OK. Definitely fewer vendors than in the past and overall not as large as some other fly shows I've attended. Jim made a nice presentation in representing the ISA and river smallmouth fishing. Nice setting and plenty of room to expand if they decide to keep it there.

That material's been used for quite a while in making minnows that you can color to your choice. I've never tried them but they seemed to have a nice action in a test tank where I saw one on display

I'm just wondering what we can tie using Dalmatian hair. Mudpuppy imitations?

The Firehouse works for me but only if I can slide down that brass pole.

Mick Batson gave me the heads up on these close out Fly rod blank blems, in case you want to practice on building a rod before you jump in there and spend $400 on a Sage blank or if you just want an inexpensive project to pass the cold evenings. They probably fish very well and I know Jim Z will be all over these

http://www.utmostenterprises.com/BLEMBLANKSSEPT09.htm

Sundays generally work better for myself and the other Danville guy(s) as well. If ever interested in future use of the Urbana library, I need a 5 weeks notice in order to reserve either the smaller or larger room. Thanks

Let's see, several types of buggers, those on steroids similar to Holschlag's and other more standard variations. It was nice to see the Bohemian chenille being tied in a several different styles by John, Jim and Fred. Thanks again Rich for the samples and instructions you sent down. Of course Tim was tying some incredibly realistic large mayfly patterns that would catch any fish any where (too beautiful to actually use imo). Steve was spinning deer hair and cutting up a rabbit pelt in order to produce a nice olive fishgetter. Ben was recycling road kill squirrel in the best possible way with his craws. Overall the three hours went by very quickly.

Just wanted to thank everyone that came out for the first downstate central Illinois fly tying gathering. We had 11 people show up and had a great time displaying some new patterns and techniques and were able to donate a few flies to the cause. Afterwards many of the group headed to a nearby watering hole that served a great sandwich and countless types of lager. Look forward to doing it again possibly in February at a likely location of Normal, Heyworth, or Urbana. The format will be decided later on. Hope to see everyone there.

John, I've got the same model and it does a great job with everything but the only problem I have with it, is when I take pics of the smallmouth I catch, it always makes them look so much smaller than they really were. No Seriously, my 18" fish look like say a common 10 incher, it must be in the optics

I say, sure, bring him along. No secret knock or hand shake needed to get you in. BTW, I've got a bag full of materials that people can work with if they so desire to experiment, donated by a very gracious fly shop.

O.K. I'm interested in any ISA Bug and Worms with chenille,bohemian or otherwise, but is there any other decision as to what we are doing as far as materials, etc? It's hard to believe we are into January, and the 17th isn't that far off!

Fredmo,

I've tried not to focus on any one type of fly or topic and have tried to leave this first tying session pretty much open. I think you should bring whatever materials you would like in order to tie what you feel you can enlighten the group with. The other goal might be to bring materials in which we could tie flies for donation to the Blowout and/or new member packs. I'm hoping this works OK for most.

Ben and Brian, sounds great. I'm sure hoping the weather is better than it is today.

Ben, any photos of your crayfish ? as I'm always on the search for a more simple and effective crawdaddy.

Rich has been so kind as to send down some significant amount of large Bohemian chenille and instructions for tying the ISA Bug and worms. He also sent a few samples of others "flies" that can be created with this material. Looking forward to playing with it.

For smaller stillwater applications i.e. stripits,ponds,quarries,small lakes the best choice is a floatube.

Not if you want to cover much water IMHO.

John, do you have this one or the angler Pack. Can you easily use a double paddle on it if you wanted? Very interesting at only 33 lbs.

Pardon the pun, but maybe I'm missing the boat here You see, I feel I already own a sit on top kayak, it's my canoe, and those sit-on-tops mentioned are heavier than my canoe @ 54 lbs. My main goal is to lighten the load but I might be naive in all this.

Can you tell me if it is difficult to take along a fly rod without collapsing it while paddling?

Ron . . . as the owner of a 17-foot Wenonah Spirit II kevlar canoe in which you floatfished with me on the Kish earlier this year

Who's Ron?? Never been on the Kish??

I have also thought of replacing my Wenonah royalex 14 ft Fisherman model canoe with the kevlar ultra light version, also about 38 lbs but a lot more $$$.

Again, thank you for all your suggestions.

I was wondering if anyone routinely fishes out of a small (10 ft) kayak. I was looking at one with interest since it only weighs 38 lbs and would be easier to transport than my 14 ft Wenonah canoe. Just curious what your experiences have been. As always, thank you for your input.

Could there be a play-off game on that Sunday? I realize Bears fans don't have to worry about it but we Colts fans, well we might have to bring in a TV or laptop