Paflyfish - Holiday Fly Swap - 2011

Just got my flies back yesterday and they all look great. All I have to do now is wait for the snow and ice to melt to see how well they work in the mountains of Colorado.

What I sent out

What was returned

Back to the vise

I finally had sometime to brake out the vise and tie some flies for what I hope will be an excellent dry fly year. I tied up some size 20 midges and parachutes, as well as a foam hopper. I am not really into foam flies, but I have had the supplies around for ages so I gave it a go.



I also went down to my new local fly fishing shop, the Laughing Grizzly (http://www.laughinggrizzlyflyshop.net/index.html). The guy there seemed really nice and the place was full of supplies; additionally he said he was from PA. I picked up some books to start learning the water and hopefully the rivers will be full of cutthroats when I get the chance to go out. There is some open water around the place, but the weekends snow might put a stop to me going out this weekend. Something that I might have to look into is at the Laughing Grizzly they do build your own bamboo fly rod, which sounds pretty amazing; even though I have already seen a pile of glass rods and a couple of bamboo rods (~$150 - $500) for sale at a giant garage sell here in Longmont.


For the evening read I decided on a nice wheat ale with a name that I hope to replicate this season.

Florida

Well it has been ages since I got on my blog, which I can explain. Firstly, I was in Florida without any fly fishing gear, but did end up buying a hand line and ended up collecting a few permit off the rocks; my personal best was ~8" long. I also got the chance to try my hand at net casting, which was piles of fun if I had more time and something to throw at.


The second reason for no posts is after Florida I drove 1600 miles from PA to CO to set up my new base in Longmont, CO. Hopefully, the weather will allow me to get out soon and get some images of the CO trout up. 5 min walk from my apartment is a lake and it has fish in it so summer better be coming soon.

Holiday in the Keys

Here are just a few photos from the Keys. I am completely unorganized for fishing as I was planning on sitting by the pool, but after seeing some fish I might have to grab a rod and go out to the rocks where I am staying. So far it looks to be too windy for fly fishing and the beach where we are at has been covered in seaweed and rubbish as the sea is pushing inland. Still, we have seen some fish around the place so it might be a goer if I get my a into g.



If you look hard enough you will see a Tarpon that was about 4-5 feet long cursing the docks in Key West. There must have been about half a dozen of these guys lurking around waiting for feeding time.

2011 - Holiday Fly Swap

Finally got all these guys done. I have been stuck at 20 for a few weeks due to other commitments. The theme of the swap was soft hackles, so I did a holographic wet fly.

Thread - 0/8 red
Ribbing - Crystal flash
Collar - Peacock herl and partridge

Spring Creek

It has been almost a month since I was able to get some fishing in. Well today this was going to change and I headed to spring creek for a six hour session. What worked, basically anything I tied on; royal wulff, pheasant tail nymph, eggs and Griffiths gnats. The day ended with over ten fish in the net.

Recent flies

First course of the day was to go tailgating before the Penn State game. Nice big fluffy snow flakes meant for a cold event.



So here is the range of flies that I have been tying.

1. Black bugger

2. Another black bugger

3. Black and Red rabbit strip

4. BWO with a turkey quill body

5. Traditional pheasant tail (pheasant tail + copper wire)

I could not find the fine gauge copper wire I wanted in the fly shop so this wire is actually from an RF tag that I got when running a 5K fun run at Penn State. There is still some varnish on the wire, but it is very thin and just what the pattern asked for.

6. Wulff with holographic mid body (was bored so I changed it up)

7. Royal Wulff - not a good tie as I left too much space at the head

8. My typical Royal Wulff