5 Seconds of Fame

Pretty cool.  I'm quoted in an article on Iowa's Urban Trout Fishing, which is in the February 2010 issue of Iowa Game & Fish magazine.  The article is written by Juli Probasco-Sowers.

Early February, 2010 - Fly Tying

OK...here's a few other flies I tied this weekend. These are some patterns that guys on another website like to use for carp:

Squirrel-tail Clouser:

Headstand:

And then here's my first attempt at a shad minnow using that Velvet Spun chenille...it wasn't really what I had in mind, so I'll keep trying...still, this should probably catch white bass!

1st attempt at a "Stone Palmer" fly pattern

This is my first attempt at this aquatic “stonefly nymph pattern”, which was described by a gentleman from Argentina. Of course his looks much more realistic than mine…but what the hey?
Now for the "disclaimers"... I hadn’t really used some of these materials before in the way described, and I made some substitutions for materials I didn’t have (or didn’t want to use). I was also not familiar with the technique for making the legs bend in a natural-looking way (plus this was one of the materials that I substituted, so maybe it doesn’t work the same anyway?) So…I ended up burning off on leg section entirely, and sort of botching the others, so I still need to work on that. Also…I made the “rookie mistake” of crowding the hook eye with the materials.

All of that being said…I thought it turned out ok, and sort of looks like a real bug! (with badly messed-up legs!). ;o)

Top Views:

Side View:
Bottom View:

Still more Flies

As you can see, I've been busy NOT FISHING!

Here's some more flies I tied over the weekend. I don't even know what to call most of these, but I'm sure others have tied similar stuff before. If anyone knows of the true name for any of these, I'd like to know...at least maybe I can title my fly pictures correctly:

Miscellaneous nymph...

Size 10 Clouser Deep Minnow tied with craft fur:
A "modified" Cap Spider (small glass beadhead instead of a jighead):

A small size 10 crayfish pattern of my own design:

A dubbed-bodied pheasant-tail nymph.

A fairly simple rubber-legged nymph:

...and a Mohair Leech:

More fly ties, January 2010

Here's some flies I tied recently:

This is a Griffith's Gnat. I used brown hackle instead of grizzly. I don't know why I did that.

Below is a beadhead Clouser Swimming Nymph. I used possum dubbing for the abdomen. Looks like there's a big gnarly guard hair sticking out of that!

Below is another idea for a crayfish pattern. It seems ok, but still not exactly what I'm looking for. Getting closer, I think.

This is a beadhead PTN. A lot of folks on here seem to like them, so thought I'd give it a try. This is one of my first attempts at this fly. I think I could've done better with the peacock herl thorax, but overall not too bad, and it should catch fish!

"Icicles at Night"

Testing out my new camera.... The first is the actual color picture, the second is one I converted to "grayscale".

Icicles at night:

Pond in Ankeny
1-15-2010
6:15pm-10:15pm
10" ice thickness
Fish sought: crappies
Fish caught: 17 crappies, 2 bluegills

Got out Friday night. First 2 hours were pretty steady, last 2 hours weren't very productive...plenty of fish showing up, but they just wanted to annoy me, rather than feed. I was too comfy and lazy to move at that point. Figured the attitude of the fish would be the same everywhere on the pond anyway. It was still fun!
I used a BFGS special vertical-style jig tipped with a couple red maggots.
This pond is about 15' deep, but I fished holes in 5', 7', and 9' depths, and caught fish in each. I moved deeper as the evening progressed, which actually seems counter-intuitive. But I started shallow, so I only had one direction to go, really.
The fish weren't big, but I'm not complaining:

Banner PitsDate: 1-14-2010Time
Fished: 12:45-4:00pm
Fish sought: trout
Fish caught: 45 rainbow trout

Left work at 11am, went home to dust off my ice-fishing gear (I hadn't been out yet this ice season...in fact not since Nov. 24!), and then headed down to Banner Pits. The DNR stocking truck was still there, but the stocking was already completed.

I spotted a small opening near shore amongst the many that got there before I did. I asked the anglers on either side if they minded if I drilled a hole there, and they gave me the green light.

I still had a Cicada blade bait tied on from last year, and I was too lazy to try anything else. I took some maggots with me, but never bothered to use them.

The fish were hitting fairly well for the first hour, then it slowed down considerably as the trout started to disperse. I started off about 10' from shore. When that bit slowed down, I drilled a hole 2' closer to shore and caught more fish. When that slowed, I went another 2 feet closer to shore. Caught more fish. Drilled one more hole about 3'-4' from shore, and caught more fish before I needed to leave.

A good number of folks stopped by to see what I was using, since I seemed to be doing much better than everyone else. Probably all the fish were caught less than 3' beneath the ice.

There were some folks next to me that brought their 4-yr old son. He was energetic, sharp, and competitive! I had fun bantering with him. We were giving fish names...I told him I was just catching the same fish over and over...because it was my pet fish "Rob" I had brought to the lake so it could get some exercise. He named his "boy" fish Dorothy and Sally...

What's a report without pics?This was probably the biggest one I caught. I didn't measure, but I'd guess it was close to 15":

More Fly Patterns Tied-Up

Here's some more fly patterns I've been tying lately:

This is a lead-eye zonker bass worm pattern:

This is another lead-eye bass worm pattern using very thick chenille:

This is a Craft Fur Baitfish pattern, tied behind a beadhead:
This is a very different-looking Craft Fur minnow pattern...this is small...Size 10 hook:

Here's a Scud (aka Freshwater Shrimp) pattern...thought it also might work good for ice-fishing:

Speaking of ice-fishing, I tied up the next two patterns on 1/64 oz jigheads. The rabbit fur moves very well in water, and I hope this will entice some finicky fish into biting.

Fly-Fishing Articles I've Written

I've submitted a handful of articles to the Fly Anglers Online website over the past couple of years. They've been kind enough to use them. For those interested in perusing these articles, I've included the links to them here (in no particular order):

Warmwater Fly-Fishing at Night:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/articles/warmwater/2009/warmwater20091221.php

Late Summer Mid-Western Reservoir Outing:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/warmwater/ww011809.php

Iowa Bluegills - Spring '08
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/warmwater/ww062308.php

Fish When You Can!
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/warmwater/ww072108.php

Fly-Fishing Around Central Iowa
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/warmwater/ww060208.php

Iowa Stocker Trout - Fall 2009

I fished Lake Petoka on "stocking day" yesterday. Great weather! It was 48 degrees...light rain. Wind wasn't bad.
I didn't get there until almost 2 hours after the fish were stocked, and apparently I missed the big FRENZY! Most folks had already caught their 5-fish limits quickly on spinners and small spoons. The action had pretty much died by the time I arrived. I probably saw a half-dozen caught during the 2 hours I was there.
I was hoping to catch some on fly gear. I tried Clousers, a Rabbit Fly, Boa Yarn Leeches...I had looks and follows, but no takes on any of them.
I tried spinning gear, and caught 2 rainbow trout on Reef Runner Cicada blade baits. Had a lot of follows on those. However, the water where I was fishing was rather shallow, so I had to move these lures faster than I really wanted to in order to keep them above the bottom.

Some flies I've been tying lately...

I've been tying more flies lately, so I thought I'd share some of the patterns that are working for me...or that I HOPE will work for me.

This is an "Epoxy and Mink Baitfish" pattern, but I used neither epoxy nor mink. The fur strip is Pine Squirrel.

These are excellent bluegill topwater flies tied using sheet foam...called "Gurglers":

Below is a Clouser Deep Minnow...this is a small version tied on a #10 hook and using Craft Fur instead of bucktail. I think the craft fur is a better choice on Clousers this small. I've been doing VERY well with these lately on bluegills and hybrid sunfish:

Below is a Stayner Ducktail pattern. The mallard flank feather is tied flat on the back...which is supposed to give it great action as is slowly sinks, and when it is retrieved. I haven't fished this pattern yet, but it looks pretty good:

This is called a Rabbit Fly. Rabbit fur tail and wing/thorax, dubbed body, and peacock herl head.

This is basically a Pine Squirrel Cheater, although I added some soft hackle near the eye of the hook.

Some EP-style baitfish

A crayfish pattern:

A zonker (rabbit strip) minnow pattern tied with a heavy conehead:

Some examples of the Boa Yarn Leech patterns that have caught a BUNCH of fish for me this year:

Night Fly-Fishing 11-13-09

We had an unseasonably nice evening on Friday night, so after supper and a bit of time with the family, I headed to a local pond to do some fly-fishing.
It was slow, as it has been for several weeks now. But, I did manage to catch a few fish. I stuck with the #8 yellow boa yarn leech pattern, and landed 3 crappies, 3 bluegills, and this 19" channel catfish. The catfish was a nice surprise this late in the year, and put up an excellent fight on my 5wt fly gear.