jamie shard

Catch of the year!!!

Just wanted to say this was a great thread and I learned a lot! Hope to see you all on the water this spring!

FYI - I put this up on Craigslist... Be ready for spring! First $750 get's it! For sale is a lightly used 16'5" folding canoe. The frame is aluminum tubing, the skin is made of the same material as whitewater rafts, and the skin is tensioned by two air bladders running the length of the canoe. (A top spray skirt is included which allows it to function as more of a watertight kayak.) The 55 pound canoe packs into a single 43"x16"x10" backpack (also included). Capacity is about 650 lbs. Registered with title in the State of Illinois. You can find more information at: http://folding-canoe.com/ Retail price is $1525. Location: Wheaton, IL

Wow, thanks for the responses! I guess a good follow-up question would be: what would be a great boat for this kind of fishing/upstream paddling? My searching so far suggest a 12 or 14ft Native Watercraft Manta Ray is probably a fail-safe purchase. Too short? Any other suggestions?

I did a search and didn't quite find an answer to this question... Is it a realistic expectation that with a 12-14ft kayak, I would be able to put in to the Fox or Dupe and paddle upstream and fish back down? Or are downstream floats (with shuttle cars) about the only way to fish from a yak? Another way to ask it, on a scale from one to ten... How much fun is fishing using the shuttle system... How about the paddling upstream system? Am I going to be too exhausted to enjoy the fishing? Thanks in advance! -jamie s

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It's funny, I was searching for some rod recommendations and I came across an old post of mine. It's funny because I was searching for rod recommendations because I finally broke this rod! I didn't care much... except I didn't bring a back up rod. Short trip this morning! -j

Jude, Are you referring to the LiquidLogic brand or the Native Watercraft brand? -jamie s

Since space it at a premium in my tiny house, I use this method... First all my material is stored in drawers in my basement. I use several sets of plastic "flat" files (stack on left side of picture) for feathers, flashabou, rabbit hides, hook storage boxes, deer hair, etc. I use a set of plastic pull drawers made for screw/nail storage (on middle shelf on right side) for beads, thread, wire, rubber legs, and other misc. small stuff. All my flies are stored in another set of plastic drawer cases or tackle boxes (top shelf and middle shelf left side). So it is all packed into a small area. Like craig, I tend to tie one style of fly at a time. I grab all the material I need for a given pattern and then find a nice place to sit. I've recently started attaching my vice to a board, so I can really sit anywhere in the house. My vise has a small light attached, so lighting is always good no matter where I'm sitting. That's it! Hope that helps. -jamie s p.s. Yes, that's my bobber collection hanging from the cieling. If I'm not catching a lot of fish, I like to hunt for bobbers.

A question for veterans of this expo... Are the prices at Canoecopia essentially retail, or are there some savings to be had? I hear the selection is amazing, but are there also some bargains? Oh and another q: Do they have stock on hand to drive home with... or do you typically place an order there and get it shipped? Thanks! -jamie s.

Gotcha, I've started to realize that in the little info I've come across for individual species. What actually got me started on this was I was researching cold water info and started building a little table that had trout/char/sucker species spawing times and egg color/sizes. Then I started wondering if there was a classic text/reference that lays it all out from a multi-species, multi-season perspective for warm water fisheries. I haven't seen/heard of one, so I'm just picking up pieces here and there.... It's a long winter and I'm looking for some geeky reading. -j

Wow, perfect! Thanks! Okay, now do I dare to dream? Ideally, I'm also looking for something that describes the seasonality of fish movement/reproduction in a "warm water" river. Any suggestions? -j

I remember hearing about IL DNR having some good free or nearly-free references that provides an overview of the forage base in a few rivers. I couldn't find it with Google.... Was this just a dream or can someone remind me about these documents? Thanks! -jamie s.

Great story, got the juices flowing on this winter day! (edit) It was a good fish. It was a big fish. It was a good fish. (Just warming up )

That's what it says on: http://www.aswf.org/saltwater_flies_for_we...bob_rabbit.html I assume this means Mason mono and the sort???