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Finn Maccumhail said:

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AggieChemist said:

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Man, you look a lot skinnier and younger in this picture AC.

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College kid I've taken under my wing. He burns my gas, drinks my whiskey and smokes my stogies andnthen catches the biggest fish of the trip.

Well then you need to teach that whippersnapper some respect.

AggieChemist said:

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Finn Maccumhail said:

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AggieChemist said:

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Man, you look a lot skinnier and younger in this picture AC.

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College kid I've taken under my wing. He burns my gas, drinks my whiskey and smokes my stogies andnthen catches the biggest fish of the trip.

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Time to put a poling platform on the aluminum bass boat and exact your revenge. Or get a drift boat for similar purposes.

You sound like a great wingman.

Spent a solid half day walking through the Everglades on Saturday. For some reason, largemouth bass are the hardest fish for me to catch on fly, but I managed to get two dinks after a few hours.



Put the fly rod down and caught bass on three straight casts with a spin rod and finesse worm. Pretty frustrating to think about.

Saw a peacock bass ambushing cichlids while hiking back to my truck. Peacock bass are piscivorous, so there was no use throwing the finesse worm at him. Stripped a crystal minnow extra fast and tempted this red eyed pea into a swirling figure 8 strike. He's sporting a pre spawn head bump.



I'm not exactly a stealthy hiker, but I tend to surprise deer every once in a while. This doe and fawn would have walked right to me if I could have been more subtle with a camera.



Bonus pic... Got home and saw this cara cara at the neighborhood pond. A buzzard scared him away. Kinda surprised about that hierarchy considering I've seen cara caras chase hawks.

holy hell those are fat. Nice work!

Memorial Weekend Fly Tying/ BBQ

Zoo Cougar (Kelly Galloup) Fly-

Ordered supplies months ago to tie up some Kelly Galloup flies. I have a few improvements to make but this was a fun first step towards some really cool articulated streamers!



Gartside Gurgler- one of my favorite flies! This one may be used for an upcoming trip to Lake Powell for largemouth or smallmouth bass. Sometimes this fly jumps over to the saltwater box...




Lefty's Deceiver- Lefty passed away recently and decided to tie some up for saltwater (and maybe stripers using a sinking line).



Managed some time away from the vice to do some BBQ work this weekend.

The ribs are always a hit, cooked for some good friends


Finally tried some of AC's famous Jerk Chicken, turned out great!


Since didn't fish this weekend, here are a few trips from the last couple of years. This is my wife (Rule #1) with a nice brown on the San Juan River.



My fishing buddy last year at an undisclosed location! Met him in downtown Houston to loan a 4 wt rod but accidentally put a 5 wt rod in that sock then "matched" with a 4 wt spool. End results, a 5 wt rod paired with 4 wt line... guess it worked out ok!



Anybody else into Spring Creeks? Great fun when it all comes together, can be extremely frustrating if everything isn't perfect! Nothing like being in a huge trico hatch (well maybe a big salmon fly hatch!)



The water is at times a bit deep and the bottom is very silty. Float tubes are used to "float" the creek making the least disturbance possible.


These trico flies are the devil!



After everybody goes home after the trico hatch, time to float the s- curves again and throw hoppers if the wind is up!



Have a few other trips that you may enjoy but maybe another evening.

NM

Whoops, meant to quote LRHF.

Ayto Siks said:

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Spent a solid half day walking through the Everglades on Saturday. For some reason, largemouth bass are the hardest fish for me to catch on fly, but I managed to get two dinks after a few hours.



Put the fly rod down and caught bass on three straight casts with a spin rod and finesse worm. Pretty frustrating to think about.

Saw a peacock bass ambushing cichlids while hiking back to my truck. Peacock bass are piscivorous, so there was no use throwing the finesse worm at him. Stripped a crystal minnow extra fast and tempted this red eyed pea into a swirling figure 8 strike. He's sporting a pre spawn head bump.



I'm not exactly a stealthy hiker, but I tend to surprise deer every once in a while. This doe and fawn would have walked right to me if I could have been more subtle with a camera.



Bonus pic... Got home and saw this cara cara at the neighborhood pond. A buzzard scared him away. Kinda surprised about that hierarchy considering I've seen cara caras chase hawks.

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Still mad at myself for not making a trip down to the Guad yet. Even after I drive a good 45 minutes out of the way to go fish a dry Blanco.

How do you like your Renzetti vise?

The renzetti master with the saltwater base works great. The vice has an amazing range of hook sizes and I like having a true rotary to wrapping hackle, wire etc.

Took me some time to fully appreciate how to utilize jaw adjustment so hooks don't slip in the bigger saltwater sizes (you can bend a 2/0 hook if you want with proper adjustment).

I can see how a different style of vice would be useful for tying some of the bigger patterns (regal comes to mind). Renzetti sells an arm extension that gives you more room behind the fly but I switch too much between small and large flies. For patterns like a clouser minnow, some people flip the hook in the vice when adding the final deer hair) to add more room.

I buy things with a 20 yr time span in mind and I have no doubt This vice will be on my table. Tying up some elk hair caddis later today for a coworker that will backpack into the Wind River range over the July 4th holiday!

A few elk hair caddis flies destined for the Wind River range in July!

Trip Report (1 year Late...) for the Bighorn Lake in Montana. As noted a year ago, the runoff was high and the water temps were warm. We had a group of guys, good scotch, cigars and time to burn but fishing was off. "What did ya say, carp fishing?" , "lets do it!". We had 3 boats for two days, on the first day boat one went to the river with terrible results. Day 2, we had 3 drift boats rowing around the lake looking for carp then casting ant or cicada patterns to the fish.


Did I mention the lake is incredibly scenic?




Looks odd but drift boats are ok on a lake as long as the wind isn't blowing!


This is a deep water lake but the carp are hanging out at the surface enjoying the warmer water and hunting cicadas that hit the water. You can spot the fishing from a hundreds of yards away then row to the area and sight cast.


Never gets old bending the rod- only had a 4 wt for this trip!


Lots of action, had a few doubles


A few of the fish just hammered the flies but most were very cautious and slow on the take. My fishing partner for the day landed one carp that pushed the fly up about 12" out of the water then lowered back down without actually eating the fly. The fish circled then slowly sipped the fly for the win! Patience was rewarded,



Cicada pattern. Also used a large ant in the mornings before the cicada's were out.

If you haven't been to the Bighorn, make the trip, it is a great river and perfect for beginners that want to catch trout. Runoff isn't the best time to go but my trips were centered around some work stuff..

In St Paul for two weeks. Didn't feel like going back to the heat for the weekend.
So I changed my flight, stopped by Cabela's bought a 3wt 4pc combo for$70 and some nymphs.
Spent the day on the kinni catching browns.

Lake Powell Trip Report

We took a dual family 3 generations trip to Lake Powell for a week! Fun time water skiing, cooking, drinking and fishing! I tied up some shad colored clouser minnows hoping to see some striper boils and wasn't disappointed.

We rented a 20' i/o runabout for skiing/ fishing. Each morning, I manned the wheel to drive 3-5 people on a trolling expedition to catch stripers. We caught 3-8 fish per outing but the fun really started when the striper would chase shad to the surface and a boil ensued. Spot the boil, reel in the lures then position the boat near the boil and kill the trolling motor (I wish, big boat motor). Once this was done, I manged to get a few cast with my fly rod while ducking excited people chunking lures with big treble hooks.


Didn't catch any big stripers on the fly but was exciting to pull tight each time!




My niece with her first striper trolling


Another successful little kid caught one


You can't fish all day, we managed to teach 3/4 little kids to water ski


Not a great picture but you can see the houseboat in the background

I tried to fish stripers deep during the heat of the day with a full sinking line but failed miserably. Managed a few smallmouth bass and a catfish fishing from the banks near the houseboat. If you make the trip and have a ski boat, don't forget to pack your fly rod and some shad imitations!

Time to start tying some callibaetis and trico patterns for the next out of state trip!


Callibaetis comparadun with goose biot body

Anyone else seen the new Grizzly trout cans?

For the ladies that enjoy freshwater fly fishing! Custom made by a poor soul that can't wait to get hop on a plane for Idaho soon. I like to give these to friends wives who join us on trips, helps get them involved in the sport and helps friends get a "hall pass"! Each pair is made to match their personality... Some have a parachute color that match the accent colors on the ladies waders (Simms has a light blue accent color for ladies waders). These were made for an Auburn Tiger.

Have a good trip, & post pics.

Alright guys, got a couple questions for yall. I decided to give this a try and grabbed a rod, reel, and line combo that was on sale at cabelas. I'll start by mostly pond and stock tank fishing for bass and the like. I've also bought a few flies and a pack of leaders, so to finish out I'm curious:

- Is there a big difference between flourocarbon and nylon tippet? And which would yall recommend for my situation? One costs about 3 times as much as the other...

-I read earlier parts of this thread and got some clouser minnows, a few bass poppers, and frogs. Are there any other particular flies yall like for bass?

I'm looking forward to getting lost in another hobby I dont really need.

agfan2013 said:

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Alright guys, got a couple questions for yall. I decided to give this a try and grabbed a rod, reel, and line combo that was on sale at cabelas. I'll start by mostly pond and stock tank fishing for bass and the like. I've also bought a few flies and a pack of leaders, so to finish out I'm curious:

- Is there a big difference between flourocarbon and nylon tippet? And which would yall recommend for my situation? One costs about 3 times as much as the other...

-I read earlier parts of this thread and got some clouser minnows, a few bass poppers, and frogs. Are there any other particular flies yall like for bass?

I'm looking forward to getting lost in another hobby I dont really need.

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What weight rod did you get?

I'd go with the cheaper option on leaders and tippet. If you're worried about mono being less resilient, size up. Bass in a muddy pond won't care.

Your fly selection is probably the 3 of the best. Might throw in some hoppers and divers.

Went with a 6wt

Idaho (and some MT) Trip Report

A good friend of mine has been riding the MS-150 with us from Houston to Austin for the last few years. He has a son that loves fishing but my buddy doesn't really fish. Hopped a flight to Spokane and met the guys at the airport then we drove all night to camp on Kelly Creek in Idaho. We had a great time and caught some small cutthroat!


How to set up camp at 4 am!


First fish on a fly rod!


Maybe he can learn to like this!


On our first morning, we hiked about a mile into an area with a small tributary to get some privacy. Made for a long 24 hours with work the day before but we didn't have any competition for water!

My friends dropped me off in Missoula, MT and then drove back to Spokane. Picked up a rental car and found the only shop in town open on Sunday at 4 pm to get some beta on where to head on my way towards Ketchum, ID. Fishing report for the Bitterroot (East Fork) sounded promising. Secured a hotel room and jetted off. Beta indicated needed to be on the water by 6 am. After a slow morning (2-3 fish by 1:00) headed off to Idaho.

As I drove along the upper portion of the Bitterroot, the water became much smaller with beautiful pools and runs (sorry, didn't any scenic pics). Hopped out in my flip flops and scrambled down to the stream and first cast raised a beautiful cutthroat (missed him, guess I was surprised). Threw on my wading boots, buff and sling pack and caught 1 dozen + fish from 5 or 6 different pullouts along the road. All hopper/dropper and nothing large but very much needed after a dismal morning.



Fished portions of the Salmon river around Stanley, ID then picked up wife at 9 pm in Hailey.

No trip to the valley is complete without a humbling trip to Silver Creek. The trico hatch was pretty wimpy while we were there but still had fun hoping to catch a spring creek monster on 6x/7x tippet.




Nice bull moose on the way into Silver Creek!


This is a beautiful place!


No large fish this time, super exciting regardless of size to catch fish on size 24 trico spinners


Wife had success, getting better year over year. Hint- 12' leaders are the minimum on spring creeks!

Who doesn't like Tenkara fishing?



This is trail creek behind our condo, perfect for 20 minutes with a tenkara rod

The next pics are in the area but location will be "undisclosed" Let's just say, it was a great day!



Caught a nice 17/18" cutthroat after watching a great run for about 10 minutes. After locating the fish, waded into position and made a single cast that was too tempting to ignore. It was a terrible spot to land a fish but managed to get him in the net.

We spent an afternoon on the Big Wood- fishing was great. Landed a beautiful 18" cutthroat that jumped out of the net after removing the fly. Not many pictures from that afternoon, too much action! Tried the Big Wood on a Saturday afternoon again and didn't catch a single big fish (all 6" or smaller). Had a good breeze and hoppers on the water but area had been hit hard in the morning and the fish wouldn't move...


Now- back to fly tying for a trip to Chile at the end of the year!

Your Idaho trip beats mine. I'll add my post to this thread, though. Flew into Helena and showed the wife around, spent a 24 hours in Missoula and picked up a new (cheap and used) pair of wading boots because my Simms suffered tread separation, then spent the majority of Friday on the North Fork of the CDA. We were about mile marker 35-50 up from Wallace (closest "town" was Prichard). No size, but caught a few cutthroat and had an awesome time despite temps being over 100 degrees.

https://instagr.am/p/BmXTGUbhVdX

Saw an Aggie vehicle a couple of times with an Association sticker and Idaho plates. Pretty unexpected.

Big flies are for big fish; size 12 parachute adams. Updates in January 2019!



A few years back, wife caught a bull trout on Rock Creek in Montana in late April. Snowshowers ran us off of the river, thank goodness for a distillery in Philipsberg, MT. BTHO Northwestern State- Go Jimbo, let's get ready for Clemson!!!!

Anyone ever been around Lake Tahoe this time of year? I'll be up there in two weeks and thinking of trying some fly fishing one day

tx.ag15 said:

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Anyone ever been around Lake Tahoe this time of year? I'll be up there in two weeks and thinking of trying some fly fishing one day

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Never been, but I always see articles in SW Fly Fishing about the Truckee on the California side. Can always go chase monster cutthroats from the bank in Pyramid Lake, doesn't look too far Tahoe.