Neal Osborn
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Thanks everyone – it really was a great trip.
Adam – I don’t know the name of that section of river – it is possible you are correct.
Daryl – Thanks for the comments – the cloud shots are actually taken without a filter. They are however exposed for the clouds and then rendered in LR or Photoshop using a gradient filter.
out of curiosity – why did you use crosscut rabbit on the tail section? I generally use that only for palmer wrapping a body to create bulk and movement. Tails are usually a standard zonker. I would love to see a picture (or better yet fish it with you ;))
This guy is also super bad **s. LOL.
On a sinking tip line this fly will call all fish to it within seconds. I have no idea who invented it or what it is called but I bought 6 earlier this summer in chartreuse and black. I am still trying to work out the best method to fish it without getting snagged in moss. When it works it is a killer fly for bass.
Keith,
I just posted a reply over at NGTO regarding the Shoal Bass flies that are working best on the DH section.
As for the Gully Worm – it is certainly a killer pattern and I have fished it all summer with good results. Keep in mind that the foam tail is actually very important because it keeps the fly true in the horizontal position. When you strip the fly dives but the foam tail keeps it riding up and straight. Without the tail the fly does not look realistic.
Short quick strips = action similar to a standard worm. The difference is that you won’t be using lead weight on the head like in bass fishing. Therefore, you need to either use split shot or even better a sink tip line 😉
Also, I am now using a wire “V” weed guard instead of that silly little loop guard that just gets fouled up.
Green, chartreuse, brown, and black are the best colors. White is crap.
Hi Tim,
This is an interesting topic. I thought about it for a few weeks and came up with a few technical points.
1. As you know there are many different consumer types for fly boxes. For example: a)the weekend fisher who needs one or two boxes for store-purchased flies, b)the moderate fisher who needs three to five boxes for dries, nymphs, streamers, and specialty stuff, c)the wade fisher and float tuber who needs water proof boxes, d)the trout and saltwater guy who needs lots of boxes for different locations, c)the fly tier who needs boxes and never has enough, etc.
2. I think you need to market the specific needs of the fly fisher. For example, the wading fisher with a chest pack needs low profile boxes. The weekend warrior needs an antique looking Wheatley box. The floater/kayaker needs waterproof. The boat fisher and/or guide needs functionality and space.
3. IMHO lots of people think they need waterproof boxes but it isn’t always necessary. We are seeing lots of waterproof chest packs and bags coming out so the waterproof concept might be changing.
4. Fly tiers need boxes for storage as well as fishing. This is a big one for me because I will often tie 2 dozen of a certain pattern for “the season” and they could never all fit in a single box. Thus, I often store my patterns and replace the working box as needed. These home storage boxes don’t need to be expensive.
5. Lately, many tiers have been going more toward Plano-type boxes, especially for saltwater. This applies to bass and warmwater fishing also. The patterns are often big and webby and don’t fit well in the small low-profile boxes.
6. I have found no perfect solution for holding flies with weed guards, aagghh.
7. Let’s talk about boat bags and storage! Many bags are soft sided and simply have a big open space on the inside with lots of side compartments. AAGGHH. They look cool but those side pockets just catch your fly line all day long. Furthermore, they need to have dividers inside to separate the fly boxes from the gear and/or DSLR camera. On the water, you need to have quick access to the fly boxes in a way that makes sense. This is why I love clear see through boxes for boat bags with compartments.
Here are a few additional thoughts from my own collection.1. For wade fishing and/or float tubing I love the CF style boxes. They are waterproof, low-profile and hold a ton of flies. I particularly love the ones with a middle divider because it makes the box hold many more flies – very nice for nymph and dry flies but not so good for streamers. I can comfortably put two in a Simms Chest/Hip pack.
That folding middle is awesome. I used to have one box each for nymphs and dry flies respectively. However, I now have one box for each “type” of fishing. Example, one for the local tailwater and one for the mountain streams, each has nymphs on the left and dries on the right with patterns specific to the water being fished.
2. For streamers and articulated flies, the standard CF style boxes are good but I found a better solution for my style of fishing. It’s also important to point out that most of my big streamer fishing is done from a boat. The technical part is the comparison of the CF style box to the Enrico Puglisi rubber-nib see through box and why I made the switch.
The CF slotted foam streamer box has 10 rows on each side and can, in most cases, hold 60 non-articulated flies (i.e. wooly buggers or dear head buggers, etc). However, the slots are fixed and the hair from other flies is always impeding
the hook from lodging securely. Here is an example of my old streamer box with exactly 62 streamer flies.
The Enrico Puglisi rubber nib see through streamer box has 25 rows and the dimensions are just slightly larger than the CF box. At first, I was skeptical about it’s holding capacity because it is only one sided.
However, you can see below that it holds all 62 flies (from both sides of the CF streamer box) plus 3 additional flies. The technical aspect to this involves those great rubber nibs that allow you to “feel” and “push” the hook into place and cram more flies along the horizontal.
It also makes a great articulated fly box because the nibs will take the two hooks much easier in the vertical. Here are thirty articulated and wiggle minnows.
The downside is that they aren’t waterproof. So they are great for a boat bag but less functional for a chest pack.
3. This is my travel waterproof boat bag, The Patagonia Sub Divider. It holds 5 fly boxes of the CF/Puglisi style on one side and a DSLR and lens on the right.
It is half the size of the Patagonia Great Divider (which by the way can hold 20 fly boxes or 14 boxes plus one Bugger Beast or 12 fly boxes plus a DSLR 2 lenses and gear).
4. I LOVE these plastic boxes to hold flies at home. They are also used for saltwater water streamer patterns. I don’t know who makes them but I get them from my local fly shop, The Fish Hawk.
5. I HATE this CF saltwater box because it has fixed slots and I either need more space or have left-over empty space.
6. I LIKE the Cliffs Bugger Barn. It is good for Clousers and smaller flies.
7. The Orvis compartment boxes are pretty cool. They hold saltwater patterns like Crazy Charlies really well but the size is a bit odd.
8. And Finally, The SA see through boxes are something I thought I would love but over time a few problems have arisen. First, they are slippery! When you have two or three in a chest pack they tend to slide out of the open zipper or your hands. Second, the size is a bit odd compared to other fly boxes. This creates a gap in the chest/hip pack which makes things jingle around when you walk. However, they are my go-to boxes for warmwater fishing, especially bluegill, crappie, and carp.
Organization is the key 😀
Neal,
The image stabilization option in iMovie isn’t getting the job done 100%.
Image stabilization in Final Cut works well but as you know it takes forever and it crops the composition. Oh well, still pretty amazing HD video for a phone.
