Recent comments

You can easlily combine

Steve,

You can easlily combine a 7/9 wt reel with a 6/7 wt rod. It might be a little large, but that's just looks.

The line you need must fit your rod - 6 or 7 weight - no matter what you fish, trout, salmon or whatever. The line and rod must be the same weight.

And yes, you need backing. You need to fill the reel with something and also want some backing in case you hook something big. 100 yards or so will usually do, but your reel can probaly hold more due to its size.

The leader should reflect the thickness of your tippet and the tippet is decided by what flies you are going to use: small flies, thin tippet. Large flies, thick tippet.

Fishing loughs in Ireland may mean fishing several flies in a team, and for that you might find some inspiration in the article about the Diawl Bach.

Martin

Just starting out

Hi just starting out please advise..
I have bought a 7/9wt reel but bought wfs6 leader, my rod is a 9ft 6/7 wt. The reason my reel is 7/9 is because I want to go salmon fishing once i get some practice , what other lines would you suggest i need to get started . I need a backing line ? what yardage would you suggest, do I also need fly line , if so what wt do I need ,does it need to be the same as my leader, and then theres the tippet again do they come in wts if so what do you suggest . I will be mainly trout fishing but salmon may also be present as i will be fishing the loughs in ireland.

I read the book and

I read the book and really enjoyed his stories. Henry did a very good job.

I'm glad to read this!!

I'm glad to read this!! Everytime I'm at the river and see all the "d- bags" in thier outdoor outfitters gear it makes me laugh.... Vests, boots, baskets the most expensive rod and reel they could find etc. Looking like you stepped out of a bass pro shop ad is just plain sad. I was at the river this summer in AZ it was about 110 out. I was fishing in surf shorts and flops waste deep with a small box of flys in my shorts pocket. The "real" trout fisherman were ready for the runway,... looking at me like "what is this guy doing here!". I have a Garcia flymax that I got from a swapmeet for 10 bucks and a Pflueger Medalist reel that I paid 5 bucks for at a thrift store. I pulled fish out all day, while they caught 1 or 2 here or there. If you need to stay warm hell yes get some warm gear... But don't be that guy with the look of fishing... Because it doesnt help you get fish.... Or even make you "cool". I'm not going to lie though, at least you'll fit in at most rivers.

Nicely done.

Nicely done.

I have try to tie w

I have try to tie without a vise it didn't turn out well so you guys have my deepest resepect

I would like to tell

I would like to tell you that this is a guy that has no respect to nature or to fishing regulations in Romania ( 4 flies at once is illegal and he has never heard of C&R) , he poses into a flyfisherman but he never held a fly rod..... By no means he represents the flyfishing community in Romania and he is just trying to make money by selling ugly flies to people that dont have the appropriate knoledge .... I am ashamed that he claims to be a flyfisherman from Romania...

Andrei- Romania.

Beautiful job by eve

Beautiful job by everyone! A Slight edge to Chris. I am jealous because i need a vise to tie. I have arthritis in both hands and sometimes can't straighten my fingers in the morning. At least that is my excuse. Kudos to all the brave guys that gave it a shot.
Joel

Truely flytying art

Truely flytying art at it's finest,forgotten how beautiful these old style streamers can be,use to tye Gray ghost,& Pink Ghost for a gentleman,who has since passed on,boy do I miss tying for him,keep up the good articles,tight lines,friends.

I have owned and killed many birds

I have owned and killed many birds including chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys. I have read the killing techniques listed here and I think you all would benefit from my experience. Instead of gassing, decapitating or smothering, try bleeding them out. If you don't have a killing cone, simply holding (or hanging) a bird up-side-down by its feet will cause the bird's blood pressure to 'overwhelm' their brain and they quickly pass out. You are then able to stick the bird, right under the beak where it joins the neck, with a sharp knife. The blood will flow immediately and the bird will calmly bleed to death while 'sedated'. A killing cone keeps the bird from flapping in the last throes, but a bag with a hole cut in it will serve the same purpose. I especially like using a garbage bag for large birds: cut a bird's-head-size hole in the bottom corner, put the live bird in the bag, it will naturally seek the hole and willingly put its head thru the hole. Then you can wrap the bag around the bird's feet and hang the whole shebang with the bird having its neck exposed. All flapping is done within the bag and you already have a bag for unused bits. I have found this to be non-stressful for any bird. The meat stays tender, the birds are calm and quiet so the rest of the flock doesn't wig out. Good luck and be nice to your birds!

Fishing discoloured

Fishing discoloured water NZ

Adirondackflytyer,

Adirondackflytyer,

A Brassie goes Prince goes rubber legs goes... crazy! It even has peacock herl, and a fishing friend of mine once said: any fly with herl in it can catch fish!

How can a nymph like that fail?

Nice fly and nice photo as always.

Martin

fantastic images!!!!

fantastic images!!!!!!! congratulations!!!!!! this is a very nice video!!!!

wohhhh, very nice te

wohhhh, very nice technics in photoshop tools!!!!!!!!

Nycflyangler,
 
 It'

Nycflyangler,

It's not really fair you call it a "streamer" hook, because what I use is a standard or long shank wet fly hook. A hook such as the Partridge Captain Hamilton Nymph YH1A is excellent. It's available down to size 18 and fine for this fly and many others.

Martin

What brand and model

What brand and model hook are you using for this? It's hard to find streamer hooks smaller the #12.

A tool

Here's a youtube video I found for making zonker strip cutters out of double edge razor blades and nuts, bolts and washers.

Martin,

Martin,

This is the impoundment that feeds the river and the view one sees coming off the water..Bridgeport reservoir..,

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn202/planettrout/EWRBRIDGEPORTRES5-…

and one of the views on the way up to the alpine valley where Bridgeport, CA is located...my daughter Ally above Mono Lake...

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn202/planettrout/ALLYMONOLAKE-2-.jpg

I have been coming to this place since I was a little boy...it is where I met Frank Arcularius on the water (see Ray Bergman's TROUT) and watched CA FF legend, Ned Grey, fish a brace of wets, when he was in his 80's...

PT/TB

Tim,

Tim,

As always great flies, and a nice stretch of river! If my legs could carry me I'd love to fish a place like that.

Martin

Flyman,

The NZ wa

Flyman,

The NZ wading gear is something else, and you hit it spot on. Meny Kiwi's often wade in shorts, long underwear (even nylons as I hear it) and a pair of wading boots. You can as far as I know wade bare legged, but the sand flies would kill you, so you need some protection. And breathable waders haven't made it to NZ it seems...

Martin

Nice video of the NZ

Nice video of the NZ fellow and the big brown - but why is it every time I see a native NZ fly fisher he, or she, isn't wearing conventional waders? They seem to always wear some sort of long underwear, or tights, wading shoes, and basketball nylon shorts. What's up with that? Is the water so warm that they don't mind wading wet?

Gal did a great job

Gal did a great job of playing and landing a very nice rainbow.

Pretty good looking

Pretty good looking flies for a crazy old Tech Foreman...

AMAZING!

AMAZING! All my life since I was about 8, I have been using half blood knots and clinch knots for fly fishing, spinning and bait fishing. (I am now 17) And just decided to do some basic test without a gauge on some knots.

The unimproved and improved Clinch knots are horrible compared to the Trilene, Palamar and Orvis knots.

I can so simply break 6lb line (just what was lying around) on the half blood knots and the clinch knots whereas with the aforementioned other 3 it's much much harder... regardless of how similar the Trilene knot looks to the clinch knot and half blood knot, it's at least 1.7 times stronger.. which is a huge difference.

From now on I will be using the Trilene knot in place of everything I used a half blood knot and clinch knot for.