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| Leisenring March Brown copied from a photo, tried to tie it exactly as Leisenring, down to the elongated head. Orange silk ~ partridge hackle ~ tailing: 3 cock pheasant tail swords, short ~ fine wire rib ~ body: 3 or 4 cock pheasant tail swords twisted with the tying silk, & hares mask thorax |
The Chronology of a Reluctant Fishing
Icon
http://www.amff.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Winter-TAFF-2018.pdf?fbclid=IwAR23YIvriLCivrnisREe85x_z1jAQdth9G3eRkZt9PJsem3jJbCpr67YJL4
Down the Coast ~
Barred Surfperch
Nevertheless, when conditions
are right, the perch are there. Central Coast surf fishing holds all of the
elements that combine to create what I consider ‘world class’ flyfishing – no
crowds; beautiful scenery; moving water that must be read; good numbers of
hard-fighting fish willing to take the fly – & as a bonus they are superb
table fare.
Though they will take
attractors, shrimp, & baitfish imitations, barred surfperch feed mainly on
mole crabs (sand crabs), so a good mole crab imitation is essential. Surfperch
can be canny & selective. I’m always trying out new fly designs on them in
an effort to improve the arsenal of baits (which always seems somehow lacking).
The two patterns posted here are my current favorites. The Mole Crab patt (I
swear) should be illegal.
Proof Fly Fishing ~
Quality Rod Building Stuff
We fished during October
Caddis season, & both Dick & Jesse agreed that the market was lacking
in effective patterns for meeting this important hatch. Jesse asked me if I’d
submit a couple patterns, & I agreed, sending him samples of a wet & a
dry October Caddis. Happy to say, these are now in production & available
from Rainy’s. Jesse, a great tyer in his own right, personally oversees the
tying operation. He sent me production samples & at first glance I thought
he’d sent me back the samples I’d tied & sent him, initially. Closer examination
revealed they are well-tied & a bit neater than mine. Not a problem. A fish
or two & they’ll look exactly like mine.
Rainy’s Premium Flies : http://www.rainysflies.com/
Soft~Hackle Journal posts no
paid advertisements, but we do occasionally post links to marketers we consider
exemplary resources in both quality of goods & service. Getting ready to
build a 10’ 6wt for fishing the upper Columbia, I went shopping for components online & came across Proof
Fly Fishing, an outfit that sells nothing but fly rod building materials. I
wasn’t shopping for jewelry. I was looking for an affordable, quality reel seat
& cork grips. Proof exhibits a zen clean catalogue. There isn’t a confusing
number of choices. They offer several styles of reel seats, all well made. I
ordered a couple of winding checks, an aluminum reel seat, full-wells foregrip,
& short butt. These arrived within a few days, well-packaged. A couple of the small zip-locks holding components were tacked together with a nicely tied #14 Yellow Humpy. I was also pleasantly impressed at the quality of the materials. The grips are truly A
grade cork & well shaped. The reel seat is beautifully machined, cut
threads at proper tolerance, the knurling clean cut. At about the price of a
cheap-o reel seat, this one would be at home on any rod. Truly good stuff.
You can check out Proof Fly Fishing here: https://proofflyfishing.com/
 |
| Bird's Swinging October Caddis ~ Rainy's Flies |
Rainy’s Flies ~
October Caddis
All guides are fly tiers,
however when the season gets going it is nearly impossible to keep up with
tying, you go through so many flies, so most guides stock up with bought flies.
Quality is essential, & Rainy’s Flies are the choice of all the guides I
know. Had the pleasure of fishing with
sales rep Dick Sagara & Jesse Rider awhile back. Both of these gentlemen
are hard-core anglers & great fun to fish with. Jesse heads up Rainy’s
Flies, the company his mom, Rainy Rider started while she attended college in Utah
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| Bird's Octoberfest Caddis ~ Rainy's Flies |
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| Henry David Thoreau |
The Reel News
Thoreau on social change. https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/02/20/thoreau-social-change/
Sameness, a national
obsession. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/americans-remain-deeply-ambivalent-about-diversity/583123/
Losing waterborn bugs.
Losing more bugs.
Dominionism rising.
https://www.vox.com/world/2019/2/14/18221913/fascism-warning-madeleine-albright-book-trump
https://www.vox.com/world/2019/2/14/18221913/fascism-warning-madeleine-albright-book-trump
Columbia River Treaty update:
https://columbiainsight.org/a-new-columbia-river-treaty |
| March Brown ~ #12-#14 Mustad 3366 ~ orange silk ~ partridge hackle ~ tail whisps: gadwall flank ~ rib: UNI burnt orange floss ~ body: hares mask with a bit of UV shrimp pink dub mixed in |
From the Tying Bench
Spring is around the corner so, for the most part, my
focus at the vise has been devoted to the wee flies of the early season. In the
southern precincts of trout country March Browns will be coming off this month,
so of course I’ve included a couple in this issue of SHJ, Leisenring’s version,
& my own, in the photo above. Here’s
a few other patterns I've been tying:
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| Hares Lug & Plover #14 ~ yellow silk ~ plover hackle ~ body: hares mask & ear lug touched on the tying silk |
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| Black Sedge (grannom) ~ This one fishes for spent or in-trouble adult grannom egg layers ~ #14 ~ black thread ~ partridge hackle ~ egg sack: hunter green yarn ~ body: a few strands of black midge flash twisted with the tag of the tying thread, & thorax of dark brown dubbing |
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| Partridge & Peacock ~ If I could only have three, this would be one of them. ~ #10-#18 ~ brown thread ~ fine wire rib ~ body: peacock herl twisted with the tag of the tying thread |
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| Purple Haze ~ #12 ~ purple silk ~ partridge hackle ~ fine silver wire rib ~ body: a few strands of pearl midge flash twisted with the tag of the tying silk |
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| Allgrouse ~ #12-#14 ~ tan thread ~ ruffed grouse wing covert hackle ~ tail whisps: 3 ruffed grouse tail swords ~ body: 6 ruffed grouse tail swords & one strand of pearl midge flash twisted with the tag of the tying thread |
