bryan hulse
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I agree with the damsel fly thing. I see that more than a caddis larvae. Regardless, fish eat it and I’m happy.
Hi Brian,
I saw your note but wanted to post this anyway. This is really rushed, hence the sloppiness of the fly, but I wanted to see how it looked.
I scanned this fly. A fast, simple way to get an image.
Bryan
bd,
I’ll try to photograph one for you. There isn’t much to it: an olive marabou tail, olive floss body, lie two or three peacock herls across the back extending the length of the tail, and a palmered brown or ginger hackle to the head. It is a sparsley dressed variation of a woolly bugger.
I’ve tried to fortifiy mine some by overwrapping the floss body with thin vinly ribbing (also gives the hackle a nice place to settle in to). The original pattern is unweighted.
Chuck Robinson, former owner of the Fly Chucker in Brentwood, gave the fly its name and was the person loosely responsible for turning Middle Tennessean fly fishers on to the pattern. A client brought in a fly that he had fished out west and asked Chuck if he could tie a couple dozen for him. Chuck obliged, but the patron never returned to take posession, and Chuck, not particularly impessed with them, put them away until one day on a guide trip. From what I recall the day wasn’t going well until Chuck tied on one of the forgotten flies. When asked what it was, Chuck said, “a guacamole stick bug”– so named because of the olive floss body and because he couldn’t remember what it was actually called.
Now, I’m pretty sure that what I’ve recounted is accurate (Chuck told me the story about seven years ago), or I’ve just learned how urban legends get started. Regardless, it is a fantastic pattern as is his Eat at Chucks, a purple floss bodied soft hackle with a thin red wire rib. I’ve caught fish with the Eat at Chucks in September on the Railroad Ranch section of
A quality flash is an essential piece of photo equipment; and today’s flashes are both extremely sophisticated and user friendly. I have a different tack, though.
As a beginner I think that you would get more use and have more fun using the $240-270 you would spend on an external flash by upgrading the lens. Either to something a stop or two faster, but most likely by increasing the range of the zoom. Nikon makes an 18-200mm f3.5/5.6 that allowing for the digital conversion would give you something in the way of a 29-320 mm lens. That is a lot of versatility. What you would lose in the super wide range you would more than make up for when it came to normal perspective shots, portraiture, and telephoto capabilities (your kid’s sporting events, a grizzly bear on the family vacation to Glacier National Park, girls at the beach if you are single).
The D50 has a pop up flash that is metered for the camera. And, while it won’t pop out a crap full of light like some of the bigger units, it will do nicely for fill work and distances up to about 10 or 15 ft.
Zach is a professional photographer and his portfolio speaks for itself. I couldn’t agree more that a quality flash will improve your work, but as a beginner and someone who might be looking to take pictures for an album or to post on the internet I think you would get the most use out of a lens with greater latitude.
Creeklover,
I’ve got a 20G color iPod and a music collection comparable to yours. I have 4,100 songs, a few dozen podcasts (including Zach’s), and 130 pictures on mine and still have over 2G’s of space left over. It took me about two hours a day for a week to complete my imports.
I run and exercise with mine; it is very unobtrusive.
For some reason every iPod accessory costs $30 or $70.
Some of the cane sites will have sections devoted to vintage fiberglass rods and they will cost about a third of what the new Scotts, Winstons, and T & T’s cost. Diamond back is still producing a glass series of rods, they are nice casting and affordable.
Do you use your LCD screen for composition and information? I have a Canon G5, a slightly more sophisticated point and shoot, and I use the screen because the viewfinder is little more than a sight.
Bryan
Thanks, Zach.
That’s pretty sweet. I’m thinking of buying a Canon 20D in the next month or two. I still have a few lens for my EOS 35mm, those being: a 20 – 35/2.8, an 85/1.8, and a 200/2.8. If what you think is correct I’ll still end up with a 32-56mm, 136, and a 320 without sacraficing any speed. I might cut my losses on the low end for a while and eventually pick up another prime lens in the 14-17mm range and be set for a few years. But, I’d still love to have another 300 some day.
Bud Lilly’s sends a weekly area stream report beginning in May or June that runs through Oct; it is a free subscription service. It will give you their guides’ and clients’ rundowns of how the fishing is going from The Henry’s Fork to the Park.
I’ve only been a few times–hardly an expert, but would suggest going in mid to late September. The crowds are beginning to dwindle, there are still some good hatches and terrestrial fishing. The weather will help if you want to get on the Fire Hole.
It sounds goofy, but not a day goes by that I don’t think of Yellowstone. This is only for a point of reference, but I’ve fished Alberta, British Columbia, Alaska, CA, CO, MT, ID–several really neat places across North America, but can’t say the same about any of them. It isn’t what I would call majestic in the same sense that one might describe Denali , the Grand Canyon, or the Tetons, but it is awe inspiring. Just broad shouldered, rugged country that stretches on and on, punctuated by geological and thermal features found in only a handful of places on earth.
It is the one place I don’t think I would ever take for granted or get too used to.Sorry for the gushing.
Mike,
I bought locally (the Fly Chucker). My yard attracts a lot of birds and from time to time I’ve found what are either cardinal or robin breast feathers that I’ve collected and used to tie smaller soft hackles.
They aren’t any more effective than partridge or quail, but are really pretty with a slight rust cast. I should probably check the game laws to see if posession of song bird feathers is illegal.
-kid,
Cutthroat, brown trout, rainbows, brookies, lakers, grayling, and white fish. Meandering spring creeks, brawling freestoners, meadow ponds, and sprawling lakes. Bald and golden eagles, osprey, grizzly and black bears, bison, antelope, elk, and wolves–awaken every morning to a different alarm clock sound.
Few if any snakes.
YNP is the most diverse, and arguably the best, fly fishing destination in the world and just an eight hour road trip from your home with a lot of great distraction streams on the drive up–regardless of the route you take.
Boxkid,
For the peacock I use two to three herls and fine copper wire, twist them all together, wrap to the thorax area, add a little light colored dubbing, then finish with the hackle.
The colored bodies have traditionally been tied with floss and make really pretty flies, but synthetics are available and are more durable.
Without dropping some money it will be hard to find a lot of smaller hackles in the ready prepared packs of partridge. That said, with some sifting and sorting one can usually find a few feathers suitable for 18’s and 20’s, but most of the flies I tie are 14’s and 16’s, with a few 10’s and 12’s for searching patterns.
Nymph hooks will help your flies to sink a little faster, dry fly hooks will keep them closer to the surface–depending on what the fish are doing having both is a good idea. Also, you might want to think about using the newer colored wires for body materials; they provide weight without adding a whole lot of bulk. Don’t forget beads.
Bryan
I’ve used the same soft hackles I use in TN to catch fish in ID, WY, MT, and CA. The partridge and oragne/green/yellow/purple (insert a favorite color) are classics and consistent producers. Drab colors are just as effective, but my favorite is a peacock bodied fly.
Try tying them in colors and sizes to match your local caddis species, with some odd ball ties thrown in for attractor purposes, and you should be set.
okieff,
I’ll check with my wife to see what might be going on.
You’re almost in luck. I don’t own any overalls, but then I don’t own any underwear either–and I play the jug.
Okleff,
Actually I think the Caney would provide more wading opportunities than the Cumberland. The public access points on the Cumberland are seperated by long driving distances; a boat provides a better means to them.
The Caney can be fished from just about any pull-off along its west flank from the Dam to Lancaster. From the right bank looking downstream the primary entry points are a little more spread out, but not like on the
dmk,
Not that this will help you with Itinerant Angler podcasts, but Cameron, who regularly contributes to the board, pointed me in the direction of podcast directory on the web. Great resource.
splitshot
bd,
If you’ve tried this, I apologize. But, sometime when the fishing is good and it wouldn’t be frustrating to try something different make a pile/puddle cast–some kind of in air mend that will create some slack in your line. Then, watch the belly between the last two curves before the leader. It acts just like a floating indicator. If it does anything out of the ordinary lift, the rod tip. It is a European technique that I read about several years ago and has worked for me on some very picky fish on some heavily fished waters.
Like newsman, I hate indicators and believe one can learn to be just as proficient watching and/or feeling the line.
bd,
I hope this doesn’t sound insulting, but are you trying to airialize too much line? Simply leaving all but the first 15′ to 20′ of line on the water should be more than enough to load your rod, then you can shoot the rest with just a haul or two.
This has been my experiences with sinking/intermediate lines.
Bryan
