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toolman

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Posts posted by toolman

    Hatch Time,,,

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    A few of the top producing dry flies on the Bow for me, this season, were PMD Sparkle Dun's, #16, #18. Especailly from mid July through late August.

    Another stellar dry pattern was a Peacock Caddis, which produced many large fish in late May through till mid June, during the intense Caddis emergence that we had.

    We also had an epic hatch of Classinea Stoneflies in late June through late July. A Skid bitch in the first two weeks of the hatch was king, then a Fat Albert produced well into August. Most of the epic Stonefly dry fly fishing was over by sunrise. In fact, many of my best dry fly days started at 3:00 am and ended at sunrise or started at sunset and ended near midnight. It sure was worth the many sleepless nights.

    Sink Tip Vs Full Sink?

    in Ask the Pros

    Posted

    Take a look at the new Guideline PowerTaper 3D (Triple Density), full sinking shooting heads. The Intermediate/Sink2/Sink4 will cover most of the water and still be easy to lift/cast. These heads are designed to be custom cut to suit your fishing conditions/rod. For your 6wt. Sage, use a PowerTaper single hand 7/8 and simply cut it to the length/weight required to load the rod to your preference. Attach a shooting line to your backing, loop the shooting head to the shooting line and you're ready to go.

    http://www.guideline.no/?module=Webshop;ac...late=engWebshop

    Switch Setup For Sink Tips And Big Flies.

    in Spey Casters Lounge

    Posted

    Your Skagit Head + sink tip + tippet should add up to between 3x - 3.5x the rods length. So, for a 11'3" rod, that would equal a 34' min. - 39' max. line system length. Use the shorter 3x ratio for larger/heavier flies and the longer 3.5x ratio for smaller flies, longer tippet. Tippet lengths should run from about a min. 2' to maybe 5'-6' on average.

    For sink tips, consider fixed 10' level sections of T-8, T-11 or alternatively, 10' Rio Mow tips in T-8 or T-11. link: http://www.rioproducts.com/product.php?recKey=157

    Also, consider picking up a copy of Ed Wards "Skagit Master" dvd. link: http://skagitmaster.com/

    Good Luck and Good Fishing!

    Greg

    Need To Learn A New Cast.

    in Spey Casters Lounge

    Posted

    For making upstream presentations, the Snake Roll is my favorite cast. This cast is great for lifting deeply sunk flies and will generate high line speed to energize the D loop and subsequent forward casting loop. It is also a very clean cast (touch and go), creating very little disturbance on the water.

    Casting Streamers?

    in Ask the Pros

    Posted

    What flyline are you using? Most general purpose WF lines are not all that well suited to casting large flies/sink tips. Using a line with a short bullet taper will help you cast big stuff, even in the wind. I like and use a Guideline Bullet fly line on my 6wt. Most line mfg. will have similar tapers.

    As for the casting advice, I would recommend a couple of hours with a casting instructor.

    Good Luck!

    Spey :)

    in Spey Casters Lounge

    Posted

    I guess I should clarify and state that the gentleman who sold me the rod suggested the 420 compact scandi not the salesperson at fishtales. I will look at picking up the lighter weight head for smaller flies. Would you suggest the airflo compact scandi or the beulah elixir scandi designed for the rod? Can I use the head I have now for the larger flies instead of the compact skagit? If so what length of tip should I be using? Thanks for all your help, this is all completely new to me. It has been really fun learning, but I still have a long way to go:)

     

    Would you suggest the airflo compact scandi or the beulah elixir scandi designed for the rod?

     

    I have cast/fished with this rod using the Elixir line and it is well matched, but I really like the Airflo Compac Scandi heads.

     

    Can I use the head I have now for the larger flies instead of the compact skagit?

     

    It will be difficult to cast/turn over larger/heavier flies/sink tips, compared to the performance of a Compac Skagit head.

    Spey :)

    in Spey Casters Lounge

    Posted

    Beaulah recommends a 380 grain Scandi head for the 6/7 Classic. You can use Airflo or Rio 10' Polyleaders for sunk fly work with smaller flies. For larger, heavier flies, use an Airflo 420 - 450grain Compac Skagit with either T-11 or T14 tips, cut to desired length (I generally use 8'-10' of T-11 or T-14). You can also use 8wt.-9wt., 15' Rio DC sink tips, which can be cut back from the front, to smoothly turn over the largest/heaviest fly that you will fish with. (generally cut back too around a rod length). If you plan on nymphing, use a 9' Fluro leader off the end of the Scandi head. Good luck and have fun!

    Swinging.

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    Never rule out the red one, even on the swing...

    Of course I would never, but....hahaha.

    As for swing flies, I usually try and teach people to just take the indie off and swing whatever they were nymphing with as a means of getting them into the swing game. Then, once the tug drug kicks in, they are usually more willing to learn the different swing methods and line systems used to make better presentations. Like all fly fishing tactics, there is a learning curve and an investment of time/money for tackle ect., required to have consistent success.

    Swinging a Water boatman on a fast sink tip/fluro leader should produce a few good slams on the Bow right now. Hang on tight!

    Spey :)

    in Spey Casters Lounge

    Posted

    Hey guys, i just recently got into spey fishing and i love it! The casts are so beautiful not to mention you can cast a ton of line! I love it, cant wait to use it on the steelies and salmon on V.I.

     

    One question though, how do i go about using the spey on the bow? Do i throw a nymph rig or streamers or what?

     

    A little late with my reply....

    Hi Jeremie, welcome to the Spey brotherhood!

    Spey rods are excellent for nymphing and fishing streamers on the Bow. A spey rod can give you great casting/line control to make great presentations. I use a variety of line/sink tip/leader systems including Floating/Full sink Scandi heads with fluro leaders/poly leaders, Skagit Heads with T-14 Sink tips ect. The Bow has a wide variety of structure/conditions and there is a proper place/time to use all of these line systems. Getting proper casting instruction, having your lines/tips/leaders dialed in to your rod properly and making time to practise is crucial to your success. Try and learn all of the different Spey casts as they all will be usefull and neccessary at some point. Asking lots of questions is a great way to shorten the learning curve. Maybe you could tell us what Spey rod/line that you are using.

    Good luck and have fun!

    Greg

    Sunday Spey Gathering

    in Spey Casters Lounge

    Posted

    We'll be hitting the Bow again this Sunday afternoon, October 18th, to play with the Spey/Switch rods/lines and work on the casting skillz. We'll be on river left (east side), across from the Fish Creek Boat Launch, starting around 1:00pm. These informal Spey gatherings are a lot of fun and a great opportunity to try lots of different rod/line combo's and meet some of the nice folks in our Spey community...The weather forecast looks good...

    Everyone is welcome to join us...Hope to see you there.

    Greg

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