Adventures in "trad" fishing.

[moreammo]

Nice one!

[BowBuddy]

Yep balance is key good job though especially if you hadnt been tying very long

[SwampRabbit]

I definately haven't been tying long... I'd say about a week

The best part is the kids love to watch and my son wants to tie his own flies. He has a small box of flies that he has tied (with dad's help of course.) I let them pick the colors, etc. Never seen a pink/white grasshopper before... but the little girl loves pink!!!

The biggest problem with tying flies, is that you can make way more patterns than you could possibly have time to try

[SwampRabbit]

So I made another hopper to address the issues in the first one and it lit up the bass on the pond at the Y tonight! The bass I am catching are getting bigger and bigger. 3 bass in 20 mins. The first half hour I was trying a brown one.

You need to catch up Chunky, you are falling behind.

[Chunky]

Wow, we'll done, I am so far behind and really jealous. I have construction at the ranch this week and have not gotten any fishing in. Must fix that soon.

[SwampRabbit]

Did you buy any hoppers? If not, I will tie you some of those too.

[Chunky]

No I didn't, I really appreciate it. Let me buy some materials. I also have boxes of old hide bits and pieces, perhaps some of that hair is useful?

Is there an evening next week we can meet?

[BowBuddy]

Where are yall fishing, i have some kayaks and cannot

[SwampRabbit]

No I didn't, I really appreciate it. Let me buy some materials. I also have boxes of old hide bits and pieces, perhaps some of that hair is useful?

Is there an evening next week we can meet?

Heck.. no problem. I like making them. The problem is I don't need more than a couple at a time because I can just come home and whip some more up.

Don't buy anything!!! I've got plenty of materials to make like 100s of stuff.

However, hide bits can be very useful. I'm using deer hair and was kicking myself that I didn't keep any from last year's harvest. Will not be making that mistake again. Deer (Elk, WT, etc) hair is good stuff. A little bit goes along way. I've barely made a dent on a 4" x 4" peice that we bought. (it was weird BUYING deer hair even though it was only a $!) The nice thing about having more is I can dye it different colors.

Buck tail and Squirrel tail are a couple of items I'm going to try and get some of so I can make some minnows. But I've told myself that I am not going to purchase those.... they will come from me harvesting them myself (or somebody else.)

Where are yall fishing, i have some kayaks and cannot

We are north of Houston. A tad far from ya.

[Limbwalker]

I have fished for those with trout bait before. I don't know how well they take to flies

They will take flies. Bigger issue is finding the room around those ponds after they have stocked. They are usually lined with bait fisherman.

Great thread by the way. I love flyfishing and agree it's a lot like traditional archery. However, when I really, really need to catch a fish, my flyrod is usually what I reach for. I just catch a lot of smaller fish on it, but that's part of the fun.

The other evening, I was with my daughter fishing at a very small local pond, and I broke out my flyrod. I had a spinner on hers and she was getting bites but no catching. As soon as my flies hit the water, I started bringing in bluegills. My daughter was not so impressed.

It's one of the best ways to pass the time a person can choose. Glad you guys found it!

Love those flies by the way. Esp. the spider. That looks deadly!

Good job and keep it coming!

[SwampRabbit]

Is there an evening next week we can meet?

This week sure is flying by too! Next week should be good. I'll check the calendar to make sure. Suggest a week day that is best so that you are not in a rush.

They will take flies. Bigger issue is finding the room around those ponds after they have stocked. They are usually lined with bait fisherman.

I actually noticed that when I was one of the bait fisherman. I noticed one or two guys trying to fly fish with a bunch of us going plop plop plop plop. Always tried to give him room just so he could cast. Kinda felt bad for the guy.... now I'll be that guy.

It's one of the best ways to pass the time a person can choose. Glad you guys found it!

You are not kidding. The last couple of weeks have been going by pretty quick. It's nice to have something to do outdoors and not be dreaming about the upcoming WT season when it's still a few months away. Also, I can go fish within minutes of the house. Wish I could say that about hunting...

Love those flies by the way. Esp. the spider. That looks deadly!
Good job and keep it coming!

Thanks! We'll se how well it works. I fished a prototype of it that I snagged a gill with, but not nearly as conclusive as the hopper experience from last night. There is no way my box won't have a yellow bellied green hopper in it for the forseeable future

And feel free to join in... this isn't the Swamp and Chunky show... throw in a few pics and some stories so us newbies can learn!

[Randy M]

Here's a few of mine...

Belize bonefish
[IMG][/IMG]

Colorado trout
[IMG][/IMG]

Grand Cayman bonefish

[Loreva13]

Nice pics Randy!

[Seacoal]

Anyone in the Fort Worth area ever do or want to do some trad fishing? I'd love to find a partner and get about it

[SwampRabbit]

I forgot to actually tell the story of the 3 bass... cause it was a pretty good experience.

I arrived at the pond at the Y after dropping off my son at class. As was typical, the small dock/pier was empty of anybody fishing or sitting and enjoying the pond. This pond is full of lilly pads and hydrilla, so I like to use the dock if it is available. I open the box and decide to use the brown/orange hopper I made and tested it out. The previous saturday morning, they were hitting the yellow/green, but I wanted to try one of the new ones to see if it made a difference. Well, after 20 minutes, nothing was really going after it. I tried different retrieves, etc. I didn't want to give up on the pattern. The water was clear and I could see a few bass even just swim under and ignore it completely. I swallowed my pride and decided to change it up.

So I decided to try a blue gill spider I had made. Not the foam spider, but a different pattern. This one would sink... maybe they just didn't want to rise for food. But alas, I had absolutely no luck with it either. I gave it maybe 10 minutes without any signficant attempts to take it.

With 20 or so minutes left, I decided I would try the yellow bellied green hopper again from a few days ago. This time I started out blind casting towards the edges of the lilly pads. I had done it with the brown hopper, but drew a blan. Deep down, I knew they had to be there and this time, things would be different. On a twitch, twitch, twitch, pause popper style retreive I got a solid hit. In fact, it surprised me so much that I practically set the hook and brought the fish up through the air to the dock (about a 20' flight) with my long strip set and rod raise. He managed to hold through all that and I pulled him out of the thick salad he landed in. Estatic, I decided to cast back over to the other side along the lilly pads. Got a bump, but was a miss. Second cast drew a blank. 3rd cast and on a slightly longer pause... BOOM! Just like the first. But unlike the first, I was ready for it. Gently set the hook and slowly strip retreived him in.

At this point, my attention moved towards the bass that I had seen along the shoreline reeds that lined the entrance of the dock/pier. I knew he was laying there waiting. My brown hopper hadn't been enough for him not too long ago. He would occasionally make his rounds to some blue gill beds and then swim back home, never even giving the brown hopper above his head an initial look. I wondered if this one would be enough.

The first 2 bass were all blind casts and all I could see of the take was the splash in the water. I wanted this other bass.... I wanted to see him take it. So I casted just beyond the line of reeds and slowly twitched the yellow bellied hopper back towards me.... nothing. Cast it again.... twitch, twitch, pause, twi---no... wait... wait... and bam it happened. I saw his head come out of the reed grass. His mouth opened up and snagged the hopper off the film and in an instant start to turn back away from the ripple, only to get whipped back from my line accellerating back to set the hook.

In all my fishing, I have yet to see a fish rise to hit my bait or lure like I did in that case. I usally just fish bait below the surface... or if I fished a topwater, they were too far away for me to see the take like that. Not only that... but I knew he was there. I was after THAT fish. I wonder if he is back in there now wondering how I got the better of him. I know I am sitting here relishing in defeating him... with some kids craft foam I bought at Wal-Mart!

-Scott