Recently, I read and participated in a very excellent discussion over on the Facebook Group, "Fly Fishing Bloggers"
The discussion was prefaced on what is becoming of the fly fishing blogger scene. Is it drying up? Has it lost it's mojo? Blog posts are less frequent, blog views or hits are becoming more scarce, so, how do we rejuvenate the fly fishing blogging scene. Better content? What kind of content?
Anyway, you get the drift of what the conversation was about, and, I encourage all fly fishing bloggers, or, general fishing bloggers to take a minute if you can and check it out.
That led to another discussion that centered on a format of the various blogs still active to do some sort of re-introduction of their blog and their focus. So, here is mine!
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From the ponds in and around Loveland, Colorado.
I am a retired Fly Fisher & Fly Tyer who has spent most of his
fly fishing past chasing Trout in Stillwaters across the Western United
States with brief excursions on small streams and warmwater ponds.
I won't make any attempt to mislead anyone here, I have loved
fishing lakes and ponds for years. My passion has always led me to
these waters and the fun they offer to the flyfisher and fly tyer.
Although, most trips out were for chasing the big trout that lakes
produce, my secret passion has been the fun of fly fishing for Bluegill,
Crappie, Sunfish, and other assorted warm water fish. I am currently
taking an interest in getting to know more about fly fishing for Bass.
Perhaps even some Carp in the future. One step at a time you Ol'
Geezer, I remind myself!
Living in Northern Colorado where I do offers plenty of opportunity
for me to chase my dreams in warm water fly fishing and fly tying. What
I love most about it is that I can drive less than (15) minutes from my
home and be on the water with a chance at a good time. Economical,
time saving, and, that word "FUN" again. Which in turn means more
fishing and tying time for me. I am also very Grandchildren oriented
so I have plenty of other activity to keep me busy so time on the water
still needs to be worked around everything else.
I, also, have to be a very budget oriented Geezer. Being a Senior
Citizen on a fixed budget requires that I spend my money wisely and my
time efficiently.
I
take great pleasure in keeping my fly fishing time as simple as possible.
From the gear I use to the techniques I use. It works!
Please take the time to look around on my blog and
enjoy what is here. Your support is greatly appreciated!
It is a "Happening" time of year! Veteran's Day & Thanksgiving Day have passed and the Christmas season awaits us. This morning a good snow
storm greeted me as I pulled the blinds to peek outside to meet my day.
"Brr.....
cold is here, I said to myself." Any fly fishing time I get for awhile
might be in the way of a few fly fishing or fly tying videos and a warm
cup of Hot Chocolate or something.
Speaking
of fly tying, this is the time of year that I spend a good share of my
time focusing on tying and filling my fly boxes so that I am ready to go
next time I am on some water and the weather cooperates with me. I,
usually, will take some time to "organize" my fly tying bench. Meaning,
putting everything back in it's original spot so that I can start to
mess it all up again as I do, inevitably, when I set down for a Winter's
tying season. I have the usual list of fly patterns that I want to tie
up that I fish regularly. I, also, have a few new patterns picked out
that I want to try. Maybe they will find a way to become part of my
regular stock in my fly boxes. Besides watching videos about fly tying,
there are also many fly shops in Northern Colorado that offer free
winter tying demonstrations with some of the areas well know fly tyers.
These sessions are a lot of fun and there is so much to learn if the
fly fisher wants to learn about new patterns or what patterns are the
most effective in the area. If you don't tie flies, but would like to
learn, the shops also offer fly tying classes for beginners for a
reasonable fee. Check out the shops in your area. There is a wealth of
information to gain if you take advantage of it.
A number
of years ago, I offered a beginning fly tying class through my local
fly fishing club. I would like to share a scenario that happened on one
of those class nights. I hope you will enjoy this little story.
Winter tying season always brings back this memory. I regard it as the
"Coming of the Fly Tying Season." Let me introduce you to "The Nasty
Nylon Nymph".
I know I still chuckle every time my memory drifts back to the moment in time.
Before
I stray off subject, I had better focus on the story I am trying to
tell here. One of the things that a die-hard fly fisherman often times
does is to learn to tie his own fly for casting to his favorite fish.
Over time I became fairly decent at tying my own flies. Enough so
that I ended up teaching fly tying at schools and various public
settings. This post is about a “funny” incident that occurred one
night while teaching fly tying at the local high school. I know your
waiting to find out what “Nasty Nylons” has got to do with tying flies
and teaching others to tie flies. Well, I am about to tell you.
Let’s first address the nylons. You know those things are everywhere when not being worn by your wife
or favorite lady friend. They cling to everything in the laundry if
you are not careful. Their rolled up in your gym socks, their knotted
around your pants legs, there everywhere except nicely laid out for the
next time my wife wants to wear a pair. Now comes my calamity!
I
was, once again, teaching fly tying to a group of adults, both male
and female at the local high school. These were beginning fly tying
students so I had some flexibility with this calamity and I am not sure
they ever really caught it at the moment how embarrassed I was.
We
were going to tie a basic nymph pattern that night. Students gathered
around my desk so as to see the demonstration of what they then would
try to duplicate back at their desks in the classroom. In order, the
hook was placed in the position in the vise jaws so as to be held
sturdy while tying other materials on to the hook. My thread was
attached to the hook and the tail material added. Now I was ready for
the body material that was supposed to be some pheasant tail fibers.
However, as I started to reach into my fly tying box for the pheasant
tail fibers, there I saw it!
One of my wife’s nylons
coming out the sleeve of my shirt near my tying hand. Oh, No! To this
day I still don’t how the brain works and how it works so quickly. In
a heart beat, and, without hesitating for a moment, I pulled the nylon
from my shirt sleeve and cut a rectangular piece from it with my
scissors. I think the students were shocked, but, they looked on
anxious to see what I was going to do next. I attached the “nylon
strip” to the back of the hook with my thread. I was going to use it
to make the body of my fly with. Knowing that nylon is super fragile
(you know runs, runs, runs), I knew that I would have to use some wire
to reinforce the body of the fly or it would fall apart before it ever
hit the water. Thankfully I had intended on using some fine copper
wire that evening anyway. So I tied some on to the back of the hook. I
proceeded very carefully to wind the “nasty nylon” around the hook up
towards the eye of the hook and then reverse wrapped the copper wire so
as to reinforce the nylon body material.
In short
order, I had a fly body of reinforced nylon from my wife and some basic
dubbing wrapped around the front of the hook at the eye. Simple little
pattern and easy to tie. Besides I had lots of nylon stocking left
for my students to cut up and use that evening as they practiced tying
their own “Nasty Nylon Nymph”. Believe it or not, I hear they even
fished this fly on our local river and landed some trout with it. It
became a common request as I taught other classes to show other how to
tie the nylon nymph. I used it to break the ice at several tying
classes to create a little humor and help new fly tying students
relax.
Fly tying fun is what you make of it!
