Rob G

Make sure you throw them with an open loop or you'll have a mess on your hands.

 

MP

I throw open loops whether I want to or not

Does anyone use the equivalent of the western hopper and dropper for smallies? I was thinking about a large topwater grasshopper or popper pattern with a smaller size 8 or 10 wooly bugger being pulled below. Or how about running two small wooly buggers in maybe different sizes or colors in tandem similar to a multiple nymph technique ? I'm just wondering what it would be like to pull off a double on smallies

You can't put the Genie back in the bottle. They'll be there eventually in numbers, it's only a matter of time. Oh, and yea, I "snagged" a 45 lb Big Head this summer where they were not supposed to be yet.

Well I just finished building a new 6 wt rod the other night, so today I whipped up a couple Clousers and headed down behind the house for a few casts on the North Fork of the Vermilion River. The moving water hasn't frozen yet and so I got in a few casts. That is until my guides and line started icing over. Doh! No strikes but was enjoyable just to get out even if only for a few minutes. Is it too early to wish for warmer weather?

We should have a few meetings in Central IL. and have some members get together for some fly tying sessions. I know I would like to learn.

I'm looking forward to the January fly tying meeting and the fish fry afterwards. Hopefully they won't run out of catfish this time.

Jonn, do you tend to use the 10 or 20 lb Suffix superbraid for most of your fishing?

kend, it very well may be me and in my head but I just don't like my line being that white and visible cutting thru the water. As far as fly fishing, most will tell you that we don't want our fly line to pass over the fish on the drift (or even on the false cast for that matter) but rather keep your cast if at all possible just short of the fish and allow only the leader and tippet to pass over the fish, better yet, the fly alone should pass over the fish for best results. Again thank you for your thoughts.

I was curious if anyone has used a braided line that held onto its green color after fishing a while. So many that I have tried seem to lose their color and turn white-ish after a few times out. Also, has anyone tried the invisible SpiderWire? Does it really become translucent when wet and less visible in the water? Thanks for your input.

Joe, what are you using for a the plastic lip and do they twist in the current or ride pretty stable with lip and hook down in that fashion?

Well, since I started this mess and have read with significant interest the following posts, I'm beginning to agree with what has been stated above, that we as fishermen probably do spend too much time thinking about color and not enough time about depth, profile and size. It's easy to understand why, since we as humans are so readily able to see subtle color differences, we assume that fish are able to see them as well. And since we as humans are always searching for a cause and effect relationship (when in reality there often is none) and when you throw in the fact that lure manufacturers and fly tying materials are sold in every hue possible so that more material$ or lure$ will be purchased, probably explains why. I like Craig have seen rare instances where I was able to treat the day's fishing as though I was managing a controlled experiment, unfortunately it hasn't happened often and was while fishing for crappie or bluegill. In those cases, it was evident that color was an extremely significant factor. If you ever get a chance to read the book, "What Fish See: Understanding Optics and Color Shifts for Designing Lures and Flies" by Colin J. Kageyama, I would suggest doing so. Maybe because I evaluate people's eyes all day long and have a better understanding of optics then most, I'm a little biased but it did make for some interesting reading. All in all, thanks for everyone's insights and as for me, this year I'm going to weight my buggers more fully in order to get them down in the water column and we'll see if that rings the dinner bell more often

My thing is that I almost always wade and have been known to take the occasional plunge and have yet to trust any container from preventing my camera from getting wet but maybe this year. How do you carry yours when on the water?

Guys, I wrote an article for the ISA Journal on polarized sunglasses recently that might answer many of your questions but I'm not sure when Steve Jordan intends to run it. As an eye doctor that has spent a lot of my life on the water, I have faced many of your same concerns.

Rick D, could you please offer some photos? I built a pair out of an eight foot piece of four inch PVC cut in half and capped on each end. I just have never found a great way to attach to the side of my canoe. They create incredible ballast and are cheap and easy to make but need better ideas on attachment.

Excellent, two thumbs up and five stars.

Mark, have you got any pics of your work? To me, that's one of the most difficult ties, a nice looking deer hair bug or Dahlberg Diver.

Mike, as a boy in Wisconsin, we used to catch those crayfish literally by the bucketful and we would then remove the muscle just posterior to the digestive gland and sperm duct (the tail) and mom would baste them with butter and broil for our version of poor man's lobster. "Mmmmmmm...... crawwwwwwdad......."

Most good rods, on todays market, use Fuji reel seats and guides.

 

There are rods on the market that do not have Fuji components.

Some are just generic "no-name" components, that are grabbed out of an old sour cabbage barrel on the assembly line.

The rod OEM may specify what they want on their rods---

but---

the customer may get a substitute lower grade component, and not know it.

This is very common on big box house-brand products.

If you're going to be building your own rod, take a look at the Batson line of guides and reel seats and those by American Tackle, excellent quality and warranties. Fuji makes a nice product but there are now several out there with greater options and better pricing.

http://www.batsonenterprises.com/

http://www.americantackle.us/

Wade, are those bead chain eyes? They add some nice flash, good work!

Rich, can you submit a couple of craws? This is basically a Clouser Craw but I added eyes and some root beer chrystal flash to the antennae but otherwise just a copy of Bob's excellent work. I intend for this one to get really wet this year.

Rich, the one nice thing about this fly is that the two pair of saddle hackles add a nice undulating movement on a strip and stop retrieve. Also when it does come to rest on the bottom the hackles must be more buoyant as they they tend to raise upward kind of like a craw in a defensive position. And the truth is that I'm pathetic in trying to tie realistic flies and do much better with the impressionistic ones if I can add some movement.

No not him,

I mean him..... <img src="http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/uploads/1166595504/gallery_485_21_126094.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

My submission to the Craw Club Contest

WadeT, I was going thru your gallery of fly photos and I noticed that you hadn't given names to all your fly creations. Come on now, where is the fun in that. You have to give them a ridiculous name or it isn't a true fly pattern

John, I don't know about the part where the rockies taste like shrimp but I do find them tasty. We catch a ton of them fishing for walleye during the darkness of night in WI every year and so I have not yet kept any here at home to eat. I might just have to keep a few and compare them to their Wisconsin brethren.

I have to work another booth on Sunday but I'll definitely get over to the tank to catch John's presentation at 1 PM. Looking forward to it.

An issue came up at the last central Illinois meeting, one that I had never thought about and that is this;

What do you do when you catch a rock bass, spotted bass, or largemouth bass while fishing for smallmouth in the river? I have always released everything that I catch on the river but am I doing a disservice to the smallmouth? Assuming the largemouth or spotted bass are large enough by law to keep, is it better that I take them out so as to reduce the competition for food in respect to the smallies and at the same time reduce the chances of cross fertilization, hybridization and production of sterile offspring. I often catch a lot of rock bass, should I be keeping the larger ones for table fare, again as to reduce the competition for a limited food supply and allow the smaller ones to remain so as they can become the smallie's table fare? I mean if we can have an impact on the smallies by removing them, would it then not be possible to have a negative impact on other species by removing them and in turn have a positive long term impact on the smallmouth population? What are your thoughts?

Rich, I agree, I might also take a long dry saddle hackle and palmer it tightly from the back to the front, taking care of the bare hook and adding a zillion legs.