SilverDoctor

If you intend to practice on grass you should check out a grass casting practice leader either commercial or make your own. They are basically a leader with short 2" pieces of mono or leader material tied onto about a 12" length. It grips at he grass to try and simulate water drag on the bottom of the D loop. I does help to simulate the action but nothing is like casting on water.

Should work but you had better put a swivel on one of those babies. I think from a casting point of view on steelhead there are a lot of other patterns that would be more suitable. I always try to contact local fly shops to see what is popular for the river at a given time.

What weight is the rod?

Jungle cock is a standard on most classic full dressed salmon flies if you follow the full pattern. In my view it has always added a bit of style to a pattern. Nowadays however its pretty much anything goes. The price of Jungle cock is high even in low grades so you can always pick out a dedicated tier when they use it in fishing flies. There is now other substitute that is close to the feather.

I used elastic band at one time but found the water sun and weather seemed to affect them. The deemed to dry and crack. Maybe it was the variety of band.

good Idea.

well said!!

Count me in on the dark computer bags, wish you could buy em.

I like to carry my net handle up, that way the lower part of the net dangles and gets caught up in bush effectively tripping me, yanking me back by the shoulder or snapping back and nailing me squarely in the back. It also acts as a great catcher for flies on a bad back cast. Mind you it has carried my lunch, water bottle, caught dragonflies and the odd errant indicator. It's been a basket for mushrooms, blueberries, and saskatoons. I once used it to scoop up a large rattler in BC to get it out of the way. My net is a bit of a comfort to me as it gives me promise of willey browns yet to enjoy it's webbed interior. I like running it under a trout that will not fit inside, smug joy. I often never use the little wooden sidekick but feel lost without her, so she hangs behind my shoulder encouraging me to take just one more cast in the failing light with promise of things to come.

Thanks for posting, it's not the quantity of fish but the fishing experience. Sounds like you had a great experience.

Welcome and see you on the water.

I love the south end also. In the past I would just park in the Sikome lot and walk in.

Depends how you approach it. You do need an outlay of equipment and materials. Just slip down to a local fly shop and you can get an Idea of costs. If you do a search on the old forum I did an article on fly tying. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll post it again.

Was planning on going but got called in to work for an hour. Also I'm suddenly committed to going to Ikea with the wife today. Ah well, will spend some time tying flies this afternoon. I need to finish up an order for a shop in BC. of 200 Steelhead flies.

Thanks for posting, I also fished the Miramichi river many times with my Dad. Some of my fondest early memories where in that area.

Rain, That mens I'll be out tomorrow morning for sure.

BUT DON'T DRINK THE WATER!!!

I had ordered some fly tying stuff from Bill at the Fishing hole, it came in yesterday and they gave me the sale discount. A class act down there. Noticed a few fly rods at 40%. Lots of goodies on sale.

Best wishes to your family. You definitely have the best catch of the year.

He does beautiful work, does he still live in Cape Breton? I remember seeing an article on him in Fly Fusion.

There have been 3 or 4 hopper threads recently, try doing a search.

1) Bow River fishing - to fish till I can no longer walk. 2) Cutthroat stream fishing - then get a buddy to lean on to get me me to the stream 3) Stillwater - after the above still have enough energy to teach fly tying.

A great source of power on the back lift is the body turn. transfer the pull off the water using you body turn instead of your arms. You can cast all day that way. Much easier on lazy old farts like me. My personnel preference is leading with the foot under the upper most hand because this feels natural for my casting style. If you feel more comfortable with the opposite foot pointing to the Angle of aim then go with it. Your grip can be really light on the rod, I sometimes even cast with two fingers on the upper grip and only my palm under the end of the lower. Keep it at waltz beat for the correct timing. In other words, Spiral -2-3, Sweep -2-3. Shall we dance? One of the great benefits of my gut is carefully and strategically placed as a counter weight to the rod in traditional Spey style, swinging in the wind like a haggis (and I'm not even Scottish). it also supplies me with great wading traction, a place to rest my scotch and a fly tying bench. I'm wish I was fishin.

It wasn't me

Letort Hopper Dave's Hopper are great. Here is the one I really like.