Tim Angeli
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Cracking stuff Tim! What Cicada pattern do you favour ?
Thanks David. I prefer a peacock-body PMX. They float well, have a great profile in the water, cast nicely, and most importantly, the fish smash them. That being said, there are a lot of great cicada patterns that work very well. The thing that really sets the PMX apart for me is that it is buoyant enough to hold up a decent sized tungsten bead nymph, when needed, which is something that many of the other popular cicada patterns do not do well.
Here are some crease flies that have worked in the past for me. Both colors got eats. The tails occasionally fouled, so I have since started tying them with bucktail. Shorter, stiffer synthetics work well too.
Excuse the crappy cell phone picture:
Here is one of them moments before it was inhaled by a GT that we estimated at about 30 kgs:
I recommend tying a range of sizes too – I’ve heard quite a few reports where smaller crease flies would immediately get smashed, but the fish would spook off the bigger sizes.
Yup, that’s me with the beard, Zach. I started growing it when I started writing my thesis hard-out. I had planned to shave it when I submitted, but that happened in August and I’ve still got the beard. I bet it was awesome to see Slough Creek when the fish were on cicadas. I’ve found that cicadas are one of those bugs that seem to make fish go a bit silly. When they’re keyed in on them you can do no wrong. It would have been awesome to see Slough like that.
Tim
Hi Colin,
You should be able to make the NYAP heads by yourself for cheap – you just need a relatively thick chunk of foam. You could potentially glue two pieces of the 5mm foam from a craft store together. Alternatively, I’ve had good success with crease flies for GTs (a NYAP is very similar to a crease fly anyway). Tie on the strongest possible hook (e.g., Gama SL12s), and I suggest using bucktail (and flash) for the tail of the fly. I have used long synthetic tails but they tend to foul, even with mono loops tied in to mitigate the fouling. I’ve also found that you don’t need a very long fly, so bucktail is sufficiently long.
Cheers,
TimThat is awesome, Joao! Thanks for posting that – it’s always really cool to see the fishing, landscape, and scenery of a destination that is as isolated as Madeira. Looks like a beautiful place.
Tim
This is great to hear, Mike. I have always thought of home printing as being cost prohibitive, for me at least, but it sounds like it is becoming very affordable. I’ll be keeping an eye out for a deal on a printer like this. Thanks for the heads up.
My brother converted a really cool 1950’s era fridge into a kegerator. He said it was easy – I think he just bought a kit for the internal components from some random online store. I’m planning to make one at some point, but I don’t have the room for it at my current house.
Nice article Zach. Very well written, and the shad kill sounds like one of those events in fly fishing that can be absolutely magic if you hit it right (e.g., Hex hatch, cicada emergence, salmon fly hatch, etc).
I agree that camo waders by Simms would have a large market, and as you pointed out Zach, it seems that the pieces are in place where they could offer a collaborative camo wader with Sitka. That seems like it would be an absolute home run in terms of marketing, although I suspect Simms may prefer to remain independent with a camo wader to maintain the future possibility of further expansion into the hunting soft goods market. I’m 99% sure Simms used to make their guide wader in camo years ago, so potentially that did not sell well for them and they may therefore be reluctant to release another camo wader. However, in my personal experience, there is a definite desire from duck hunters for a Simms camo wader. I have had numerous duck hunters ask me for advice on waders, and basically they all want the same thing: a bootfoot, camouflage, durable, goretex wader. For many of the duck hunters (and trappers) I know, Simms is already the standard for durability and reliability, as it is in fishing. Furthermore, Simms already added one of the pieces to that puzzle this year with the release of 2 bootfoot models of the G3 guide wader. I expect that those will sell quite well to duck hunters, but a camo model would no doubt further increase sales, and could also expand Simms reign further into the hunting demographic as well.
As far as lined waders go, there is no way I would ever buy a wader with an attached liner of any kind. Layering based on conditions gives far more versatility, and a pair of fleece / capilene pants are much easier to wash than a pair of lined waders. My waders already get funky enough throughout the season without a liner in them, I can only imagine the smells that would accumulate in a lined wader. No thanks!
After hearing months of hype surrounding the Radian series I was chomping at the bit to fish one these rods. I always find it interesting to see if the hype of these new rods/gear is actually justified, and in this case I would fully agree that it is. I finally got my hands on a Radian (a 9′ 5wt. demo rod) for the last couple weekends, and it has immediately vaulted to the top of my wishlist. There is not much to say about this rod that hasn’t already been said, but I will echo two of Zach’s above observations – the two characteristics that impressed me most were the exceptional lightness of the rod, both in physical weight and swing-weight, and also the full wells grip. The componentry and finish are top notch too. Time to start saving my pennies because this will surely be my next rod purchase…
I can’t really blame Filson for trying to capitalize on the hipster demographic. Their gear / clothing has always been on the premium end of the price spectrum, and while most of their stuff doesn’t interest my taste in gear, the few Filson items I have are some of the highest quality stuff I’ve ever owned. I have a Filson belt that has lasted about 10 years of daily use and doesn’t look much worse for wear at all. I expect I’ll get another 10+ years out of it, easily. Granted, it’s just a belt, but nonetheless, the quality is impressive.
