headscan
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Posts posted by headscan
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As I'm driving into Calgary, I see your SUV and a few fellows with really long rods standing around it. What happened too "too much ice dudes?"
I am thinking of going tomorrow as I did not get into town in time today. But I did read a part in my book yesterday where he talks about turning fish into numbers, in other words instead of appreciating the fish for what it is, you think of it as "number 7". I'm concerned that if the weather is too damn cold, I'll just be out there to catch "December" instead of enjoying a fine morning spent fishing. Going to have to think about this.
In all fairness Max was at home until he called Al and we told him the bite was on where we were. Didn't realize someone could drive across the city that fast...
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Supposed to be nice but windy. Gusts up to 70 kph so if you're fishing be careful not to give yourself (or your fishing buddies) any new piercings of the fur and feather variety.
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I took a look at the Enrico Puglisi stuff the other day. It seems interesting, but all the colours I saw were more suited to saltwater so I didn't pick any up. Tried an intruder-style fly with DNA and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
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The Longest Silence is a great book. I'd put McGuane up there with Haig-Brown as far as high quality fishing authors.
Got a 2wt 8'2" Loop Opti Creek rod and a friend tied me some great looking intruders. Now I can't wait for spring to get the rod out on Stauffer and the intruders into the lips of some west coast steel.
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Updated forecast says +6 now. After the last couple weeks I'm guessing FC is going to be almost as busy as a summer day...
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I'm using a 420 grain compact skagit on the 5 weight but just an Airflo 40+ 7 wt line on the 4. There are a couple new grain weights coming out but I haven't seen them on the shelves yet. The new 360 grain should work well on the 4 weight and the 390 might work better on the 5 weight than the 420. Really looking forward to the new Airflo Compact Scandi lines for these rods as well. They're supposed to start at 270 grains and go up to 540 in 30 grain increments. Since Tim Rajeff had a hand in designing both the Decho rods and the Airflo lines they should match up well together.
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If the forecast for Saturday holds I'll know how it fishes then...
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My highlight was just to be able to get on the water with good friends. Also managed to improve on various things just through practice - spey casting, fly tying, catching bigger fish with increasing consistency. Took a trip out west to fish surrounded by gorgeous scenery as well.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get out to some places I had hoped to but now they just go on the list for next year.
The ugly for me was having some jackass hit my car while I was on my way to fish. My car wasn't drivable afterwards (the car that hit me was totaled) but my friends came by the scene so we transferred all my gear to another vehicle and still fished.
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Heh, knowing Environment Canada it'll be +3 for about 5 minutes around 1pm then drop back down to -11. If the forecast holds I'll be heading out to cast my new spey rod at the very least.
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I tie them one at a time. Instead of mounting them on either side as some do, I like the effect better if you lay biot flat across the top of the hook at a 20' angle. Pin it in place tightly with your finger and wrap forward starting at the junction of the biot. Note only do you get the exact spread you want but it's very easy to do. Works for me....
That's how I mount the wings on a prince nymph, but I don't know if I like that look as much for the tail of a copper john or if the wire would squish them. I'll give it a shot and see how it looks.
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I was tying some copper johns yesterday and came to the conclusion that I hate biot tails. I tie the far one in first then the one on the front side of the hook. When I go to tie in the second one, the first one shifts. Then when both are tied in and I go to wrap the thread back up the shank they both shift. It ends up taking me twice as long to tie in the tail as it takes to do the rest of the fly. Any tricks for tying the biots in with less hassle? I've tried tying both biots in at once and almost threw my vice across the room, so that isn't going to work for me.
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So looking at the forecast out to Dec. 30, the highest temp is -4 on the 29th and 30th I'm not the biggest fan of guaranteed iced up guides and fishing in slush, but it's looking like I'll have to deal with it to keep this thing going. Hope the forecast isn't too wrong, or I may be forced to pull a Hawgstoppah and go out when it's really cold just to catch one trout.
Hell, if it gets as high as -4 I may have to head out as well. I've been off work the past week and seriously jonesing to get on the water. Not that -4 is great, but if you give a starving man a saltine he'll think it's as good as a Ritz...
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using that stuff for surf candys and deceivers makes the fish on the bow crazy! P.S. where are you getting it from i am running low on it!
(look on tuffleye showcase to see DNA deceivers)
I think Fish Tales is the only shop in town that carries it.
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Shouldn't you be saving for a spey rod for your Vancouver move instead?
http://www.flybc.ca/forum/index.php?showtopic=13454
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Yeah, DNA is the white and olive stuff on that Clouser instead of bucktail. It isn't too stiff, but not exactly limp either. The biggest thing for me is that it doesn't hold water, so should be easier to cast and sink faster.
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Has anyone been tying with DNA? Just wondering what kind of flies everyone has been using it for. So far all I've done with it are Clousers, which I think is the most obvious pattern for the stuff.
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Al pretty much nailed it. The in my opinion part is what's important there. I prefer the up close and personal feel of nymphing with a single hander. I'm not opposed to nymphing with the spey rod (if you go to the top of the first page of this thread you may notice that I started it) and I use the same casts with both types of rods. When it comes to swinging streamers and other big flies I prefer the spey rod hands down. For dead drifting nymphs, I'll use the spey in the winter so I can stay out of the water and still get my rig out to a wintering hole with little effort. In warmer weather though, using a spey rod to cast to fish within 20 feet of me is like hammering finishing nails with a sledgehammer. I prefer to use the right tool for the job. As a Toolman you should be able to appreciate that. In my opinion.
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Yeah, hands down the single hander is far better and more enjoyable for nymphing than the double hander in my opinion. I'm only using the double hander now because I'm too cold to wade. I can cast my Opti Coast with three nymphs and an indy 50-60 feet out no problem, but it becomes a lot more difficult to mend that much line with only 9'6" of rod compared to 12'+ and it involves a lot more stripping and shooting. I mainly use doubles, circles, and perry pokes when nymphing both the single and double handers because they're extremely efficient casts.
I impress pretty easily Al, yet I'm still unimpressed by some.
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you guys that fished the Pitt, did you fish the upper or lower. It's been a decade since i've been on the upper but if you've been there you know why it holds a special place in my heart. How did it fish for you guys.
On that note I've only had my spey rod on the bow this year. I am taking it to costa rica in 2 days, hopefully I will land some cool fish.
Just a little ways upstream of the lake. There were salmon in the water but they weren't taking. The water was quite clear and it was a sunny day. Did catch a lot of bulls and a single steelhead smolt.
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Oh, and I swear, I will not buy a Dec Hogan 4 wt!
Yes you will. I know it and you know it. You're too weak to resist. Then you'll let me try it and I'll end up buying one too.
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Nah, it was the 17' 11/12 with the SA XLT line.
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I think I took the most away from the Bow simply because it's where I did the majority of my fishing with the long rod, so it's where I got the most practice in. Spent all of my time casting either Scandi or Skagit and discovered I have a preference towards Scandi lines.
The water I used the long rod on was:
1. Bow River
2. Pitt River
3. Stauffer
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Since I saw the article on speypages (sorry, on a slow connection and I can't find the link), I've had good success welding polyurethane coated lines (not so much with the PVC). With the thicker spey lines I use a smaller diameter PU coated line and melt it all together to form the loop - for the running line end I double the line up, and add a third length in the shrink tube.
http://speypages.com/speyclave/showthread.php?t=31079
Yeah, I've been wanting to try those as well but haven't gotten around to getting the shrink tubing and heat gun. Looks very cool though.
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The Ridgeline 20lb running lines are yellow....The orange is 30lb.
It's actually 25lb and it is orange. The yellow is the 25lb slow/int. running line. The 30lb is mint green in floating and translucent aqua blue slow/int.
http://www.flylines.com/Flylines_AirfloFly...unningLines.cfm
Dec Hogan Echo 4 Wt & A Book Recomendation
in Spey Casters Lounge
Posted
Played with the Decho 4 for a few hours today so I thought I'd post a mini review. The rod is a lightweight cannon. It feels like it has a little more flex than the Decho 5 but definitely stiffer than my old Beulah 11'6" 5/6. Casting three flies and an indy didn't require much effort and even a smaller rainbow managed to bend the rod over. If anyone is looking for a trout spey rod (not an 8 wt spey rod meant for anadromous fish like steelhead and salmon) this is definitely worth a look. I think Fish Tales even has a couple of Decho demo rods including the 4 and 5.