Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition (Cabanalesque v. Gaunt)

 

 

Bar Rafaeli

 

 

Oh, speaking of airlines, British Airways ordered rocker, Joel Madden, to cover up his tattoos or he could not travel on the jetliner.

SI apparently (I missed it) opted for a woman of substance rather than a the sallow, ribs showing, hollow thighed sticks we see slinking down runways at fashion shows, and seems too, part of the SI process of late. Such images have no place in a ‘sports’ magazine! Oh hell, I don’t care that much. Just that Bar Rafaeli is one hot, little babe; sweet personality too. Leo is a lucky young man. OK, enough gratuitous flesh. I know it offends those of you consumed with melting polar ice caps and CO2 emissions. You should go back to your Regressive-Primitive Gardening and leave the Bar in a bikini on the airlines to the rest of us.

The Orb (Callibaetis/Mayfly Emerger)

I have written about my creation, The Orb, several times. Before you know it, it will be time to be on the stillwaters and fishing to emerging Callibaetis. This pattern holds the promise to seduce subsurface trout.

I have been asked to post pattern/recipe for The Orb:

Your choice nymph hook; Size 14 (size 16 later in season)

A clear plastic bead strung onto hook

Tail: 3 Ostrich hackles tied in. Wire rib tied in (can be gold or Krystal Flash strand)

Body: 1-2 Ostrich hackles tied in at rear and wound forward to thorax area; wrap wire ribbing over Ostrich body for flash and support.

Thorax: small amount of  light brown UV Ice Dub, dubbed up to clear bead. I have used a couple of other dubbing w/flash but not too much.

Please use Search bar (upper right) and put in The Orb and Callibaetis. I remarked before how I witnessed on East L. (Oregon) the emerging nymphs just below the surface (top foot) hanging-bobbing at angle with just this glowing ‘Orb’ visible. They they emerged very quickly. This gave me the idea of the bead, which should help float the nymph (not too heavy a wire hook). You could go straight to a dry when you see the hatch…or some other emerger-dry type pattern. However, this pattern, with a floating line or an Intermediate would slowly present this pattern in the top several feet at the pre-emergence. Or a floating line with tippet greased to within a foot or less of the fly. Don’t use a metal bead…go light and stay in the zone. Good luck!!   

Dark

 

Asleep At The Switch (Confirmation of ‘you look like a train wreck’)

Montparnasse, Paris, 1865

Fly Fishing & etiquette’s oddities

In my life, I have fished with all manner of gear. I am still comfortable throwing hardware (spinners, and spoons), or using a sometime educated thumb on a level wind. All fishermen are territorial by degrees and, to me, no one seems more territorial than a fly fisherman. Don’t step in below him on the hundred yard long drift or you will receive dirty looks or worse. Drift fishermen in a boat are the same way as they vie for the untouched hole first thing in the morning. Bank bound drift fisherman get up at 0-dark-30 to be first on a drift or hole.

Generally, the drift fisherman will let you cut in below on the bank as long as you don’t crowd him or mess with his cast-drift. A fly fisherman scoffs at the ten anglers occupying a hundred yards of drift from the head to the tailout.

Now, two handers I can see. Room is needed and the expectation is there to work down through a run, step by step. A single hander working up or down stream through pocket water is less apt to fuss if someone comes in above or below. Is it the solitude interrupted by Earl and Frank as they noisily cut in? Is it the disturbed fish that you won’t get and they won’t touch? Is it that they will get that fish that was meant for you and will damn well kill it? I think it is territory of first take. You don’t mind if they follow the etiquette of cutting in above, into already worked water that must be devoid of fish or your masterful skills would most probably induced the take. It is all very awkward to watch and listen to as a neoprened gear guy nods politely ‘good morning’ and enters the stream fifty feet below you…a virtual mile to gear guys…and you lay verbal claim to the river from Maupin to Max Canyon. Ok, maybe not that bad. And, rarely that crowded to warrant a tizz fit that only makes you look like (no offense to my brethren across the pond or a private club here) like a tweed covered arrogant twit on a private beat. 

Now before you think I am not capable of such behavior or that I think I am superior, I am not. If I am camping, the arrival of the Beverly Hillbillies with quads, boom boxes and screaming kids sets me off into a territorial, dirty looks giving mode with gazes sending mental daggers ‘you better pick some place else to camp and not beside me, you bunch of a…….’ See, I am just as territorial.

Recently, I commented in a post of fishing the Sandy R. re an outting in which a sled came upstream close to our drift. The two gear guys exited the boat not thirty yards above us. That should be good, but they invaded something else I hold equally dear, and I suspect most of you do also, our solitude. My sliced and diced previously unsullied father-son time, with an amazingly loud music blasting from the sled and the two twits slinging corkies and eggs working down our way, as if meth were coarsing through their veins.

This reminded me that yes, fly fishermen are sometimes rightfully perceived as arrogant buffoons, but let it be said that the same ilk that spew forth empty egg/shrimp containers, gobs of fishing line, cigarette butts, beer cans and Mepp’s packaging along the shoreline are equally rude and arrogant and often just shy of a genetic alteration, were fly fishermen more inclined to carry armaments. 

This confusing rant is borne from…the hell if I know…just pause and weigh how to be most respectful to whatever type of fisherman you encounter. Manners, social graces and a smile or smirk go a long ways to taking away your intrusion into their solitude, reverence, memory, ‘the moment’.              

New Zealand Stillwater Dragon Pattern (Nice Looking Pattern)

N.Z. Dragon Fly

I could only produce this picture from a NZ Fly Fishing site and the quality is a bit fuzzy and too small. But, you get the idea.  I really like the looks of this pattern. Olive Green Swannundaze, or how about a lighter brown Swannundaze? Good possibilities here. 

Hook: 8-10 long shank (2-3x long)
Body: olive green Swannundaze (how about brown?)
Thorax: olive green Swannundaze
Wingcase: brown turkey, over both body and thorax, then lacquered (could substitute pheasant tail fibers)
Legs: end whisks of turkey wingcase (or, PT fibers)
Head: black thread

I have seen double bodied type flies out of Idaho and Montana, so when I saw this pattern it was immediately familiar. I don’t believe the bodies are separate but simply separated by a thread tie off of the wingcase. Perhaps there could be an underbody to build up a taper? Is his a taper built by tension on the material like the micro tubing patterns? Perhaps if someone knows the name or total technique they could write so it can be shared??

“This sort of compromise between feasibility and risk is common in large resource extraction projects…”

Excellent, clearly presented ariticle re oil refineries, environment and weighing the options.

Mt. Redoubt, Alaska

 “This sort of compromise between feasibility and risk is common in large resource extraction projects like the oil drilling in Cook Inlet. In theory, risk is carefully weighed against benefits of development. However, the corporations developing a resource receive a greater portion of the benefits than the public with whom they share the risk. This conflict of interest between the public and industry muddles the issues involved and leads to a reactive policy of handling hazards, like we see at the Drift River Terminal.”

Oil Storage Tanks Below Mr. Redoubt

Scented Flies (Ethical, Reasonable or Too Far?)

Saw a recent baiting post at F & S Blog regard using scents on flies. Frankly, I don’t care and neither should you, unless you are of the ilk to pass another law to ban yet another act. I don’t use scents for fly fishing. Have I experimented? Actually, I have but in a half assed way. No significant results. I really never had much success with using scents on hardware or a piece of yarn either. Yet, my brother-in-law swears by scents and he is a non-bait, plunker, who rarely comes away without meat.

But, we fly fish to visually seduce our prey. Like a hot babe walking down the sidewalk, we are drawn to her visually. The attraction is their…we don’t have to smell her. But, what if  she has a disqualifying body odor once close. That is my only concern. I try to not bring any unwanted scents to the fly: pipe tabacco, cigarettes, gasoline, sunscreen, jalapeno tortilla chips. I clean my hands now and then. Besides I don’t enjoy contending with Anise or Shrimp Oils on my pipe tabacco.