"Pure Joy"
WORLD NOMAD ADVENTURES BY OTHERS ON THE MOVE & THEIR PICS
Archive for November, 2011
13
Nov
11
Winter Blues: Fly Tying & More
Now, as I see the leaves quickly turning and the first Winter storms rolling in off the Pacific, I start planning for Winter activities to forestall that gloom from the never ending grey days.
Autumn Meadow Hawk Dragonfly...The Last to Visit as the season turns. LPZ
I am particularly concerned this year because I am rehabbing from a surgery that will limit my fishing time for months to come. That will take away one option to beat the Winter Blues: swinging and nymphing flies for Steelhead. But, there is nothing to say I cannot get out and take a walk along the river to watch others and to study the rivers at their low water points and blown out points. A little brisk air will do me good.
Photography without a fish in sight is still an excellent past time and trains your eye to look up and around and not just at your feet cautiously judging the pathway.
Now you could watch old movies, learn parts of a different language, learn to brew beer, raise crickets, take a photography course, do jigsaw puzzles…the list goes on and on, especially if you are house bound. I would suggest clearing off a corner of that table that is occupied by the 1,500 piece jigsaw puzzle and setting up your new fly tying tools. Take that course at a local fly shop, community college, or if too far from a shop or school, watch on line e-books like Tim Rolston’s, and explore the net for excellent how to videos and Step By Step (S-B-S) tutorials.
There is an eventual downside to this fly tying thing. If you don’t Winter fly fish due to weather, ice, snow, rehabbing, life’s struggles then you will become antsy to use your new creations. Tying mayflies in December begs when will those mayflies eventually emerge? Yes, months from now, in many instances. Nonetheless, tie away. Study the images, techniques, pattern pictures and match the image so to speak.
Also, use the Winter to study the why’s of patterns. Why are you tying it? What does it represent? How is it to be presented and why? This will push you toward understanding the habitat of fish foods and in the watersheds and lakes you most often fish. Not all rivers and lakes are equal. Each watershed or lake has its unique habitat and insects etc. On the water time helps answer some of that (or raise many more questions) but you can also find helpful information on line, especially for major watersheds, about hatches and timelines.
That research will help you plan your tying around trips. Fly tying is so much a part of trip planning and part of the anticipation. Will your creations work? Are they good enough to fool wild fish or even planters? Not life and death, just fun. Blow Ye Wind, O Blow
Now, if you are really bored and want to learn Arabic or Quilting or Whittling Wood you can visit this site on beating the Winter Blues….I don’t see Learning Fly Tying on their list…lame. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have your priorities properly arranged, so take that course: beginner’s, refresher for a beginner (you took it way back but didn’t continue), an intermediate level class is sometimes offered by shops (make sure the patterns are practical for your probable exploits..by that I mean if you don’t live near the salt and are unlikely to fish for Bones or Trevally, then forgo a class that includes salt water patterns in Idaho or Utah let’s say).
Additional ideas: cooking classes, post holiday exercise classes (I know, you’re a slug), driving your kids to all manner of athletic endeavors on early Saturday mornings, cleaning out the gutters and did you turn off the outside water yet?….I think maybe the cooking classes and brewing beer classes have better merit in the long run to lift your spirits.
12
Nov
11
Fly Tying’s Discerning Eye
The pleasure of fly tying obviously enhances our fishing experiences. A store bought fly, enticing a fish is fine. A fish taking your creation is the best. As you learn to tie you will follow the pictures in books, magazines, ezines, ebooks, or by looking at flies you have purchased, been given or studied in someone’s fly box or in a little cubicle in a fly shop. More detailed presentations of the fly’s recipe/pattern will provide steps on what to do with the materials. Video clips will show you. All this is the progression the sport has arrived at in the last few years.
Byron Haugh’s Caddis Wet Fly Pattern (photo Hans Weilenmann)
Eventually, as beginning fly tier, and going forward, you will be able to look at a fly and recognize a pattern’s materials, and as with the above fly (Byron’s Soft Hackle) recognize a pure fish catcher. Often, they are simple patterns to tie and simply perfect on the water. You will also, soon see the color variations or material substitution options for many patterns. The above pattern would easily lend itself to different abdomen/thorax colors while retaining the same partridge wing/peacock herl head.
Speaking for myself, I periodically come across a tying technique and by looking at the fly, I cannot quite tell how they arrived at the look. Examples over the years that I have come across are the abdomen weaves, loop wings, split hackle stems wrapped for an abdomen (Breadcrust).
Truth be told, most of the complicated design techniques are not necessary to catch fish. They are there to expand your tying skills, or relieve your personal boredom with the same old ways. Innovation in synthetics add some zest to tying. Natural materials are often blended with synthetics.
Where was I going with this? Oh! Keep it simple. Perfect the simple techniques for real. It will show if you don’t. Don’t speed off into more complicated patterns and techniques until you seriously perfect proportions and knowing why your are tying a particular pattern. What does it represent and how is it presented? Otherwise it is like students I have had. They didn’t fly fish. They tied because it was a craft endeavor, like quilting.
But, if you want to thoroughly enjoy fly fishing, then take that Winter class for beginners or intermediates. If you have been tying, inventory those fly boxes. What do you need to re-stock?
As you commence your Winter tying, pay attention to the first few flies you turn out. Study the proportionment of the materials, the spacing, the durability of the fly. Make a target list on post it. Try not to wander off the list too far as you explore and experiment. Get back to those basic patterns that served you well this past year. Tie those first then experiment.
Recently, I was privileged to receive a demo copy of Tim Rolston’s Essentials of Fly Tying Techniques E-Book. I was immediately struck by the comprehensive quality and forethought that has gone into Tim’s intended release. He obviously has thought through how to teach beyond the written and drawings. It dovetails together ever so nicely and in the end, you have this easy going acquisition of little gems (patterns and techniques). Very enjoyable and impressive. Tim’s investment of how to make a perfect tutorial tool is so visible. He put a lot of himself into this effort.
CHEATER SOFT HACKLE WET FLY BY TIM ROLSTON
(An example of Tim’s teaching style from his blog site Paracaddis)
Order Essential Fly Tying Techniques E-Book via Inkwazi Fly Fishing
STUDY RECENT WEATHER AND AVALANCHE FORECASTS
If you snow shoe or cross country ski in the Pacific NW back country grab this site and study, study! Uncover the person in 15 minutes=90% chance of survival; 35 minutes=50% chance of survival; 60 minutes under snow?=10% chance of survival. Plan by studying weather patters and take classes.
10
Nov
11
“SwittersB change your look”
I do get the suggestions that I change up my blog’s face page header etc to provide a fresh look. Either they get bored or they assume my viewship are bored with the look.
Well here is the deal. That picture of the backlit Adams and tippet is near and dear to me. I never grow old of looking at it. Sorry if you might. My son, Tony, took that picture. It is an Adams perched atop his thumb, the hook point ever so gently embedded. The sun was setting. He snapped it as the fish were rising around him. He is often creative, even while the fish are busy. He is comfortable he will get his fair share and sees the bigger picture. He has that creative eye. So, the picture stays to remind me of him and to show my favorite time of the day to fish.
SwittersB and Tony in the day.
This is a nice sculpin pattern highlighting a few interesting materials used in the construction of the pattern. Shape/profile and movement are enhanced. The video speeds up at points to expedite the more tedious portions. If you miss a stage then ‘re-wind’. Nice work…. Helmet Head @ Catching Shadows c/o Agitated Angler.
Helmet Sculpin @ FlyMenFishingCompany.Org
08
Nov
11
Fly Fishing’s Hope & Change
MULTIPLE FLY BOXES, MATCHING THE HATCH v. A FEW FLIES
Some ideas by Paul Schullery
My choice of a few from the many. I just love tying. (SwittersB)
No, not much to do with fly fishing…well, I suppose the thumb factors in here and there. I was seated in a doctor’s office today for a followup visit, post op. Muscles repairing and nerves tweaking have made for some difficult times of late. ‘Difficult’?
In the doctor’s lobby, I came upon the November 2011 issue of Men’s Health and perused the insides. Lead story, with a promo from the Editor, our wounded warriors are suffering ever increasing losses of their genitals because of the greater use of IED’s in the Afghan theater. More profound is the VA has a traumatic injury protection program, an insurance policy, that attaches a value to lost body parts: thumb $50K each, foot $50K, hand $50K each, eyes $50K each eye, lips $75K for two lips……the list goes on and on, but according to the author, Bob Drury, there is currently no compensation for the loss of a penis, or testicles. Of course, compounding all this is the probable loss of lower limbs. The Afghan War has become notorious for multiple limb loss per wounded combatant. I am not certain if all combat soldiers automatically qualify for the insurance policy. I hope they do, as seemingly inadequate as it seems.
British Developed Tier II Body Armor Codpiece
Some soldiers have had the forethought to store their sperm prior to heading over seas. Obviously, there is horrendous mental adjustments for the wounded warrior on so many levels. I will simply offer that the VA must develop some form of compensation for the loss of a genital component (regardless of sex). Further research will evolve with genital reconstruction and hormone replacement therapy because of these ever increasing injuries from IED’s.
Yes, I have some pain, but I will get better in time. I am lucky. I am trying to figure out if I will be able to fish this Winter. Others with all manner of traumas are mustering the will to live and somehow adapt. Attached is a very graphic/violent video…you don’t have to watch it to grasp the reality.
