rediscovering the renagade

[campfire]

Well I am in a "hurray up and wait" mode at work and really bored so I do not take responsability for what I do next. I recall one of my fathers fishing stories about back in the late 40s before spinning reals, monofiliment line, float tubes, pontoons or breathable waders. The way to fish for trout was a bamboo fly rod, hip boots and dry flies. He and some friends were at Cleavland Reservoir one Saturday evening along with a lot of other fishermen. No one was catching fish. Finally, his friend caught a fish next to him. He asked the friend what he caught it on and the friend answered, "renegade". My father tied on a renagade and caught a fish. My uncle on the other side of him asked the same question with the same answer. Soon the word "renegade" could be heard echoing around the lake and everyone who had one caught fish. Growing up in the Uintas the renagade was allways the most consistant producer behind a bubble. I somehow got the impression that it worked better if it sunk just under the surface film so as not to make a ripple. I my later years as I became more dedicated to fly fishing (Also spending less time in the Uintas) I kind of strayed away from the renagade trying to match hatches on streams and doing more streamer and nymph fishing. But last summer I was float tubbing in a very small reservoir in the Manti-Lasal area. One morning there was a thick midge hatch and I could not buy a strike. I got quite fruststrated and finally tied on a small renagade and caught several fish before my wife called me in for breakfast and to go ATVing. Then a few weeks ago I was nymphing a local stream and having some success on a sow bug. Noticinig that the sow bug was quite bright I wondered why I would not work as an attractor. I moved the sow to the attrator position and on a whim I tied on a #18 renagade as a dropper. Bouncing the tandem flies on the bottom I caught 13 fish and 12 were on the renagade. Some one once told me that fished as a dry fly, a wet fly or a nymph, the renagade is the most reliable fly he has ever fished with. With all the modern patterns and new material and flies that realistically immitate natural food I cannot help wonder and marvel at the success of this simple, old pattern that seems to resemble nothing. But fish still are attracted to it.

[RipRap]

Some may laugh, but a bead head renegade has been a great producer for me up in the Uintas many, many times. A little bit of a change from the original dry fly, but nonetheless, a great pattern.

[F/V Gulf Ventur]

Second that! Try adding a red head... "redneck renegade".

[Jason]

I concur. The Renegade is one of my favorite patterns. I should fish it more often.

[spotter]

Flyfishing wasn't our primary means of catching fish growing up. However, when a fly and a bubble were employed, more often than not, a Renegade was used. Interestingly enough, we also used to fish Cleveland in the evening. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories.

I didn't make it up to the expo this year but the renegade had some revival at the show this weekend. Maybe that is what brought about this post? There is a nice write-up on the history of the pattern and variations thereof. Check it out here:

http://www.srcexpo.com/

[ben trod]

I ran out of large prince nymphs on a local river I was fishing on Sunday 22nd,(I use larger princes on this stream to avoid some of the whitefish) and tied on a double renagade. The browns just loved it fished as a nymph or stripped as a streamer. Four double renagades is what I went through, and some time later after a large quantity and quality of browns visited my net, I thought, why haven't I tried this before. Because of the latest and greatest flies, we tend to forget those tried and true patterns.

[dingding]

One of my favorite dry flys of all time is a renegade style foam ant. Size 14,16, or 18. You use strips of small rainy black tube foam, or cut strips from a foam sheet. Wrap hook with black thread. Tie foam in at the bend with black thread so the foam overlaps the back and front of hook, then grizz hackle at the bend, wrap-in 4 or 5 turns. Now wrap up the hook shank with thread, and tie in foam again just down from hook-eye. Grizz hackle again there, 4 or 5 turns. Whip-off at head. Now simply trim back the head a little so it overlaps just over the hook-eye, and trim the bend end so it's just a little longer (i sometimes even make a couple of little corner-cuts to round-off the front and back ends for more realism.) Head cement at the wraps, head and a tiny along the thread bottom for longevity.

Anywho, if you likey renegades, you'll love this. It's rad for fast pocket water and smaller streams. It's stupid-easy to tie, plus it's a great floater/indicator/attractor that gets a lot of dry attention with the beadhead dropper-dry technique.

[cheech]

You said Rad.

That makes me think of the movie. Nothing beats a choreographed bike dance dubbed to "Send Me an Angel" by Real Life.

[JayMorr]

hahaha I just watched that movie not to long ago. OH MAN!

Ding Ding....I am going to tie some of those up. I do not have to many ant patterns in my box.




~JayMorr

[Foamy8]

I was just thinking about Rad not too long ago.

Trying to do the backflip...was like totally amazing. Everytime my brothers and I would watch that show, we'd build jumps and try to do cool stuff. We usually wrecked. We didn't have a balance beam to ride on, so the curb worked...sort of.

[Mr. Loopy]

You have to love crappy Canadian film making.

I have RAD on DVD and watch it frequently! "We ought to go to Hell Track and rip that mother down!!..."

[nativecutt]

I watched rad the other day on the Spanish Channel (Telemundo).....my wife doesn't like it when I watch the spanish channel cause "those girls don't have any clothes on". I don't even speak spanish either but watched the whole thing en espanol. It was as the title says "Rad !".

[Jason]

Oh man....major flash back. I loved that movie when I was a kid. I was totally in the BMX and freestyle scene. I had a GT Performer tricked out with pegs, etc. Ah, the memories. We had a couple quarter pipes and ramps in the neighborhood and spent every spare minute riding. Even did a few races down in N.S.L. and at the fair grounds. Good times.

[JayMorr]

Ok....so this weekend I am gonna have to sit down and bust out some renegades to a couple DVDs....


Rad

Gleaming the Cube

and of course ..... "Breakin' - Electric Boogalu"


JayMorr

[F/V Gulf Ventur]

Dude, don't forget "Thrashin" !!

[FlyMan]

Your're the loser, Punk!

http://www.mgm.com/title_clip.php?title_star=BREAKIN2

[Mr. Loopy]

I would personally throw Beat Street and North Shore in the mix too!!

[cheech]

Oh man....major flash back. I loved that movie when I was a kid. I was totally in the BMX and freestyle scene. I had a GT Performer tricked out with pegs, etc. Ah, the memories. We had a couple quarter pipes and ramps in the neighborhood and spent every spare minute riding. Even did a few races down in N.S.L. and at the fair grounds. Good times.

I had the orange schwinn predator with all the pegs and a rotor etc. That was one grarley bike. We'd ride around with our shovels looking for places to build jumps.

[Lonnie]

I had the orange schwinn predator with all the pegs and a rotor etc. That was one grarley bike. We'd ride around with our shovels looking for places to build jumps.

"You got like 3 feet of air that time...."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub0VUFFgB-0&mode=related&search=

[Mr. Loopy]

I had the orange schwinn predator with all the pegs and a rotor etc. That was one grarley bike. We'd ride around with our shovels looking for places to build jumps.

I had the aqua color Schwinn Predator. I thought it was so cool. My brother had some "Dyno" freestyle bike that was more top of the line. Him and his buddies would tease me about my Schwinn. I was just stoked that I had pegs and I could spin my handle bars all the way around!!

[cheech]

I had the aqua color Schwinn Predator. I thought it was so cool. My brother had some "Dyno" freestyle bike that was more top of the line. Him and his buddies would tease me about my Schwinn. I was just stoked that I had pegs and I could spin my handle bars all the way around!!

That bastard probably had a gyro too instead of a rotor.

Schwinn ruled Vernal. GT was like a lamborghini that you never saw, but there were posters of it everywhere.

[Mr. Loopy]

That bastard probably had a gyro too instead of a rotor.

Schwinn ruled Vernal. GT was like a lamborghini that you never saw, but there were posters of it everywhere.

You know he did. We lived in Scottsdale, AZ at the time. GTs were all around.

Nobody teased me about my Steve Cabellero skateboard though, I had it decked out with the best wheels and trucks. I crashed in the empty swimming pools with style!

[Grizz]

Nobody teased me about my Steve Cabellero skateboard though, I had it decked out with the best wheels and trucks. I crashed in the empty swimming pools with style!

Gleaming the Cube? Did you thrash like Christian Slater?

;-)

peace

[F/V Gulf Ventur]

I would personally throw Beat Street and North Shore in the mix too!!

Good call Mr. Loopy!

Turtle: Stay loose, haole.
Rick: What's a haole?
Turtle : A tourist, a mainlander, like you.
Rick : I'm not a tourist.
Turtle : Whatever, Barney.
Rick : What's a Barney?
Turtle : It's like Barno... Barnyard... a haole to the max, a kook in and out of the water. Yeah?

Turtle : (to Rick) "I can tell you're a pretty lame surfer by the way you wear your shorts"