Fly Fishing Thread, General info and Pics.

[MASSDRIVER]

I just thought I would start a catch all thread for line throwers. Nothing specific, but pics of your gear, flies, and maybe what's working for you now, and where.
Fly fishing is a great vehicle to express yourself with the camera too.
I haven't even got my licence for this year yet, so motivation is key!
Brent.

[brucered]

Just posted a pic of my Allen Reel in a reel thread, but here it is again.

It's an Allen Fly Fishing Alpha 5/6

[jmg]

Just posted a pic of my Allen Reel in a reel thread, but here it is again.

It's an Allen Fly Fishing Alpha 5/6

Nice reel. Happy fishing.

[ricardo9505]

spincaster myself. cardinal reels and a cheapo larger shakespeare. my rods I inherited form my cousin when he owned a boat.. alas the economy....

[bvance554]

I'm going camping over the long weekend at a little lake in WV with some really healthy sunfish. They're a blast to catch on a 4 wt and poppers. Maybe I'll have some pics to post when I return.

[oldbluelight]

I'm going to be unabashadly self-serving here and invite you guys to check out a new online fly fishing magazine http://www.southerntrout.com/. It focuses on fly fishing below the Mason-Dixon line and you fellows from NYC, Portland, Canada and California are welcome to come on down - if your passports are in order. See what you think about it and let me know. I'm supposed to have an article in the upcoming September/October issue.

[bvance554]

I'm going to be unabashadly self-serving here and invite you guys to check out a new online fly fishing magazine http://www.southerntrout.com/. It focuses on fly fishing below the Mason-Dixon line and you fellows from NYC, Portland, Canada and California are welcome to come on down - if your passports are in order. See what you think about it and let me know. I'm supposed to have an article in the upcoming September/October issue.

Bookmarked! No shame in self serving. If I had an article coming out I'd want to get the word out too. Let me know when you want to come fish VA and write an article

[bvance554]

I'm going camping over the long weekend at a little lake in WV with some really healthy sunfish. They're a blast to catch on a 4 wt and poppers. Maybe I'll have some pics to post when I return.

Not much to brag about. A lot of rain, a few small bass and sunfish. But still a great time.

[oldbluelight]

Thanks for the invite bvance554. I'm in NE Tennessee and I've fished in Virginia, primarily on the Creeper Trail in White Top Laurel, also with a friend on a private water section of North Fork Holston and on Cedar Creek. I have yet to venture that far north into Virginia but a lot of the streams in the Shanondoah National Park and Mossy Creek sound interesting. Your invited down to my neck o' the woods. South Holston tailwater is stupendous with a huge population of wild brown trout and good hatches all year round. Miles of mountain streams in the Cherokee National Forest and, even though I live in town, I'm only 20 minutes away from a brook trout stream.
Sorry about the rainy trip but glad you had a good time in WV playing with panfish. Bluegill on a fly rod are always fun and did you ever notice how most of them are scaled (pun intended) to fit in a skillet with room left for frying hoe cakes?

[Jim]

I'm going to be unabashadly self-serving here and invite you guys to check out a new online fly fishing magazine http://www.southerntrout.com/. It focuses on fly fishing below the Mason-Dixon line and you fellows from NYC, Portland, Canada and California are welcome to come on down - if your passports are in order. See what you think about it and let me know. I'm supposed to have an article in the upcoming September/October issue.

Hahaha Why don't ya'll come up to NY so we can show you around some trout steams! The Esophous or The Beaverkill, home of dry fly fishing in America. Ausable River, and a little creek we call the Hudson River and one called The Delaware River . We have over 70,000 miles of trout holding water in NYS.

Good luck with your publication! I hope we can see it on line.

[bvance554]

Ha! Yes I have noticed. Thats a tasty meal! I'm between Richmond and DC but still a little undewr an hour away from some good brook trout in the Shenandoah. The upper Rapidan River is easy to access but still hidden away and not crowded at all, which is often a problem when you're so close to such populated areas. My favorite is the lower Jackson River. Great year round tailwater, although access to the stream has become very limited over the past few years. The landowners won the right to post their private stream access, even if you're on a boat or wading. As a result the state quit stocking the stream, which in my opinion has improved the fishery. I haven't been to TN since I was a young kid, but I've heard a lot about it.

[oc_in_fw]

I'm going camping over the long weekend at a little lake in WV with some really healthy sunfish. They're a blast to catch on a 4 wt and poppers. Maybe I'll have some pics to post when I return.

They are a panfish, right? Blue gills put up a fight like a fish twice their size. Lots of fun, IMO

[oakeshott]

Hey, hey, hey. What's with all the freshwater talk? Don't any of y'all get salty with your fly rods?

I've barely fly fished since I got my hunting dog eleven years ago. She is a jealous mistress. Prior to that though I was nuts with it. Has much changed in the last eleven years? I know that when I started surf fishing with a fly rod on the beach off RI in the late 80's, there were only three or four other guys who would regularly show up in the surf with fly rods. When last I visited the same stretch of beach in 2000, there must have been fifty. Is that still the case?

bvance,
I'm in VA also and used to fish the Rapidan and the Shenandoah for smallies. What's this about landowners keeping people off the stream even by boat? I thought the law was fairly clear on streams being akin to right of ways and that landowners can only restrict access on their land. That's how its been for float hunting the rivers for ducks. Has the law been challenged in a higher court? I smell a cause.

oake

[oldbluelight]

Jim, I'll probably get up there one of these days to that famous NY water. Some of my favorite writers and tyers are from that water, Nick Lyons, the Dettes, Art Flick. Can you still get a drink in the Antrium bar in Roscoe? okeshott, Beau Beasly has an article on the Jackson River legal issues in the July-August issue. Check it out online at http://www.southerntrout.com/mag/. When it comes to saltwater, I saw "Jaws" and I have only one rule regarding fly fishing - Never fish where the fish can eat you! Years ago I sold Sage fly fishing rods with a lifetime guarentee and one of my customers came into the shop with his new rod in four pieces. "What happened", I asked? "Well I was bone fishing on vacation", he said. He explained that he'd hooked a good bone and it was on a hot run when the line went slack. He figured the bone had gotten away when he saw it headed straight for him. The bone went straight between his legs - closely followed by a shark! "The rod broke when I tried to climb it."

[oakeshott]

Jim, I'll probably get up there one of these days to that famous NY water. Some of my favorite writers and tyers are from that water, Nick Lyons, the Dettes, Art Flick. Can you still get a drink in the Antrium bar in Roscoe? okeshott, Beau Beasly has an article on the Jackson River legal issues in the July-August issue. Check it out online at http://www.southerntrout.com/mag/. When it comes to saltwater, I saw "Jaws" and I have only one rule regarding fly fishing - Never fish where the fish can eat you! Years ago I sold Sage fly fishing rods with a lifetime guarentee and one of my customers came into the shop with his new rod in four pieces. "What happened", I asked? "Well I was bone fishing on vacation", he said. He explained that he'd hooked a good bone and it was on a hot run when the line went slack. He figured the bone had gotten away when he saw it headed straight for him. The bone went straight between his legs - closely followed by a shark! "The rod broke when I tried to climb it."

OBL,
I'll check out that article. Love that line "the rod broke when I tried to climb it".

I am generally of your way of thinking on the topic of being the predator not the prey. Love to fish in the salt, but not as big a fan of swimming in it. The big toothy predators are unpredictable. One time, when fishing with a guy named Wally Albrecht (ask any veteran Keys guide out of Key West or Stock Island...they'll know Wally) we were anchored up over a wreck about 45 miles out in the gulf. He had a chum bag tied off the side of his boat. Naturally, an assortment of barracuda floated up and positioned themselves around the boat in that silently disturbing way they do. After we'd been there about 20 minutes, one of them, for no discernible reason, attacked the chum bag and ripped it apart.

"Wally, why'd he do that?" I asked. "Dunno, never seen that before", he answered. "Never seen that before" from a man who'd been a professional fishing guide for 20 years and a commercial fisherman for 20 years before that. Whenever people ask me why I don't snorkel or scuba dive, I tell them this story.

[bvance554]

bvance,
I'm in VA also and used to fish the Rapidan and the Shenandoah for smallies. What's this about landowners keeping people off the stream even by boat? I thought the law was fairly clear on streams being akin to right of ways and that landowners can only restrict access on their land. That's how its been for float hunting the rivers for ducks. Has the law been challenged in a higher court? I smell a cause.

oake

Yes, I guess a group of landowners challenged it a few years back. Some Commonwealth law or something that goes back to King's grants. It basically gives them rights to the birds that fly over their land and the fish that swim in their water. I've never floated the river, but at the few access points you can see from the water where the landowner has posted their land, or in this case water. And if you read the signs it says if you drop a line in the water you are considered to be trespassing. (Not a quote). I've never heard of anything like it before. Here is a good link;
http://www.virginiariversdefensefund.org/media-coverage

After reading some more I guess there is still an on-going legal battle, so we'll see what happens.

[joshua1970]

here is a link to a funny story on Mark Tinsky's Amsmoke pipe making page, from when I went to visit back in 02ish.... still gives me a chuckle;

http://www.amsmoke.com/Writings/beautiful_MT.html

only pic of me fishing tho, and it was small... but feisty


and some pics of me on a recent trip (May 2010) to the Owyhee river in Southeast Oregon... beautiful browns.

an Owyhee Brown.

another...

and another...

catch and release ONLY....

and another....


didn't have a camera the last two days... I almost never take fishing pics, our guide was there for pics on the first 2 days of the trip. can't wait to get back!

[joshua1970]

and now for some of the actual fishing pics:

telling my buddy mark where to cast...


caught mid-cast


nymphing a little run, fish on.


Mr trout decided he wasn't done....


changin a fly at dusk... I'm getting old.

[brucered]

awesome pics josh. if that's small, you must land some big ones.

i've fished way way back when i was about 14 in Oregon, Portland to be exact, when visiting relatives down there.

and yes, catch and release is all I do. we fish for fun and fun only. besides, our youngest has a fish allergy, so no fish on the fire around the campsite.

no pics of me landing any fish on my fly setup , but here is one landed on a baitcast while camping and the kids gathered around.

fishing is just about done for this year in our parts, but i'll be back at it again next year.

[joshua1970]

awesome pics josh. if that's small, you must land some big ones.

i've fished way way back when i was about 14 in Oregon, Portland to be exact, when visiting relatives down there.

and yes, catch and release is all I do. we fish for fun and fun only. besides, our youngest has a fish allergy, so no fish on the fire around the campsite.

no pics of me landing any fish on my fly setup , but here is one landed on a baitcast while camping and the kids gathered around.

fishing is just about done for this year in our parts, but i'll be back at it again next year.

awwww, the look on the little ones' faces is pricelss - just priceless!!!

thanks for sharing my friend - and one day I'll make it to MB and we'll wet some lines. I promise I'll get you into fish :)