Rob G

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?

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

Brian, I have no problem with Bloomington, but I'm 80 miles away so difficult for me to set anything up there. Even Champaign/Urbana is 35 miles away for me. I attended one Trout Unlimited meeting there as well but the lights were turned down so a fellow could present an audio-visual which didn't work that evening. I will check out the lighting and if it is too poor, then will try to make other provisions. Edit: The room which has been reserved is not the same as was used for the TU meeting when I attended. The lighting is very decent but feel free to bring additional lighting if your aging eyes are in need.

Uh-oh, Vice Wars , I know everyone has their favorite but after owning several different vices, my Regal is my favorite for most everything I tie, especially all my larger flies. But realize the model below, although you can turn it over and around, it is not a true rotary vice like the Dyna-King (if that's important to you)

OK, here's what I have: Urbana Library Conference room / Lower floor (Not the Larger Auditorium) 210 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801 · 217-367-4057 Sunday afternoon, January 17th, 1- 4:00 PM Format still to be determined. Food and Beverage afterwards, countless places within the area. Let me know what you're up for. If possible please let me know if you plan on attending. Also please feel free to PM or email me if you have any further questions or comments and also continue to discuss what you would like to see at this event.

I (we) are the Danville guys

Very good point Jim, and so our format may not follow the same as up north when they hold the meetings at "One More Cast" but that's OK. I'm sure we can probably come up with something else that's still educational and fun. Since this may or may not become a regular thing, I see no reason why we have to focus on just one specific fly for the evening. It might be something like, hey, I need to tie up a bunch of Clousers for next season so I show up with my materials and the next thing I know, I'm giving someone else some bucktail and maybe they're handing me some different chrystal flash that I had not thought of. Or maybe we say, tonight is "top water night" what do you like to use and how do you tie it. Or we have a "Stained water evening" as in what do you like to tie and let fly in these conditions. With the freedom to try different things, we may find one format works and another doesn't. If we let people know enough in advance, we can always mail order our supplies to have for that evening as well. I know last year when we played around with our materials at that one meeting in Heyworth, I had a great time and learned somethings as well but only wish we may have had more time to experiment. Again, no set rules, so how would people who would most likely attend want to approach this ??

First thing would be trying to determine what might be the central point for most of the interest. I was thinking Champaign or Bloomington. Next would be to determine a time when most could make it. Unfortunately, no one single time will work for all, but maybe a Friday evening or Saturday/Sunday afternoon. With that information in hand, then we can find a place that will accommodate us. I just know as the cold weather sets in, I always enjoy building rods and tying flies and it's always fun to listen to others stories while I'm doing it, not to mention the food and beverage that follows. Another thing that might be of interest for some, as I know at least a couple of us like to build rods and we might want to have a day where we could help others give it a try. Since it's always neat in catching a smallie on a rod you built and a fly you tied. Anyway, just some wondering aloud.

Just curious if there was any interest in a more downstate or central Illinois fly tyer's evening of getting together, sharing some patterns and afterwards a food and beverage? Doesn't have to be a weekly or monthly thing.

Bringing back a thread from the dead, Rich, has this board ever done a favorite fly swap or somethng along those lines here?

For those of you who use strike indicators when fishing for smallmouth, when do you use them and how do you use them? How do you determine how high up the leader to set them? Thanks for your input.

Well, I got out on the river for about a half hour this afternoon and the chartreuse over white seduced one nice bull bluegill, one slab crappie, and one small largemouth but no smallies. Oh well, it's early, the waters high and stained but that thing does show up like a neon sign that says, "come get me"

Mike, excellent observation. Definitely what I've found over the years, The longer it takes to tie the fly at the bench >>> the quicker I snag the thing in a tree or underbrush thereby losing said fly

Mark, I'm not sure the blue spot on the gill of a sunfish, if seen as an eye by another fish, is an evolutionary advantage. I guess it might cause some confusion on the attack? Now if the dark spot is found on or near the tail as it is in some species, yes now that is definitely an advantage in avoiding a predator. But I do agree with you, yea, they look cool and I stick a pair of eyes on all my poppers and streamers if possible, even if Lefty feels they aren't needed, because if I'm not catching anything then my fly might as well look good.

I once read an article about surface bass fishing with Lefty and it was stated that Lefty frequently used a white foam popper body and two white hackles tied in at the back and that was it, no eyes, no paint or body markings and no rubber legs. I often wonder just how much do we tie for our eye and if often the fish couldn't care less.

the pink over white fly below is a Punisher hair fly, just about as long as I could make it. The other is the new craft fur fly and I trimmed it back or could of even made it slightly longer. Also notice the greater fullness of the of the one fly, simply because of the greater number of longer fibers that I could use vs. the Punisher. Now, this may not be an advantage and I might of made these flies too full, as I do like the transparency of the thinner flies. We'll hopefully

John, I've got a few cards of Punisher craft hair that I plan on giving you at the next meeting. This new stuff, although labeled craft "fur" is not only longer than the Punisher and just as soft as the Punisher hair (much softer than my card of black Punisher hair) but there are a lot more long fibers to work with. This stuff will make excellent pike flies as well.

Rich, the hooks are the old Mustad 3366. A nice all around hook that Mustad never realized as a flyfishing hook because it's sold in boxes of 100 for a very reasonable price. A couple swipes with a file and the hooks will be plenty sharp although right out of the package, they aren't as sharp as the newer chemically sharpened hooks. Btw, what's a Shabbona, isn't that an old song by the Knack

I came upon some different craft fur that seems to be longer and more silky with less under fur than others I've tried so I whipped up a few different epoxy head minnows. Sorry John, it didn't come from the land of the Vols. These are weighted and seem to have a nice undulating movement in my test tank (wash tub). I'm curious what color combinations would my fellow ISA members most want to try if given a choice ???

John, do you have a photo of the mini-bou? Sounds interesting, or maybe we should call it "itty bitty bou"

Barr's Bouface ?, I've always seen that big rabbit fur fly used for bass and pike, I would love to see the panfish that would take that thing.

Mark, I enjoy catching the pannies on the top using standard foam spiders, beetles, dry flies, and even an elk hair caddis, but I find I catch more fish under more conditions if I go subsurface such as a Bully blue gill spider, wet soft hackle flies and nymphs. Quite often you will see me using a hopper and dropper in attempt to get the best of both. YMMV