found a new hobby

[D-Bone]

First of all, I think this is a great site and hats off to the creators and contributors. Alot of good info flows through the site. I am fairly new to fly tying and can I say, I am hooked! (no pun intended) What a fun hobby. My wife bought my kit for me 2 1/2 years ago and it took me a good year to get into it, but now I can tie my favorite patterns, and I'm loving it. In fact, just about every day I try to tie a few. Its kind of like reading the paper, just a daily thing for me now. How and when did you all get started on tying and what is your favorite pattern (s)?

D-Bone

[mcgx2]

I started fly fishing about 25 years ago. It took me a year or more to really get the hang of it because like most kids I thought I knew it all. Finally an older friend kind of took me under his wing started teaching me the hows and whys. Like you I've been hooked ever since.

For fly tying I was basically self taught. I bought a couple of good books, started simple, took my time, followed the directions, and it seemed to work. After I caught my first fish on a fly I couldn't get enough. I read everything I could get my hands on, Attended all the sportsmans shows, demonstratins, FFF conclaves, surf the net, etc. asked a lot of questions, made a lot of friends and 20 years later have no regrets.

I thought about the favorite flies question and it is too hard for me to answer except to say I really enjoy the ones my sons think they need to catch fish.

[Strike]

I am a novice compared to the majority of you guys, but none the less I really enjoy fishing and tying. It all happened about 10 years ago when I was 14 and I saw "A River Runs Through It" Ever since then I had an interest in learning how to fly fish instead of using worms. It wasn't until about 2 years ago when I took that interest and did something about it. I bought a cheap Cabelas fly-rod combo and have been hooked ever since. I am still trying to perfect my casts and learn more about the habitat and when to use what fly, but I find it a very good way to relieve stress and let the worries of life go away. I took up fly tying last Feb. and enjoy that too. I am still learning how to tie and how to get better at doing it, but I really like to be able to sit down for a hour or so and just relax and tie. Being that I am such a novice tyer, I couldn't tell you my favorite fly to tie. Have a great Christmas!

[Jason B]

I started flyfishing about 10 years ago, and started tying about 6 years ago in pheonix in a cement pond during the winter months. They stock them with rainbows during the winter months. I was fishing with bait saw some guy thowing a fly and went over to watch. This nice man called me over and let me try it, i have loved it ever since. My dad bought me a fly tying kit for my birthday one year and i have been doing it since. Right now one of my favorite patterns is a sow bug i tie, it has been really effective on the Provo. Another pattern that i like to tie is different variations of a Cicada for the Green.
Jason B

[Light Cahill]

Please share your scud recipe. I just use a shaggy flashback hares ear to suggest scuds, but I'd like to give yours a whirl.

[Jason B]

Light Cahill,
I don't know if you were asking me for the sow bug recipe. You said scud but here it is:

Red Back Sow

Materials
1) #18 strait nymph hook
2) Small red vinyl
2) Wine color thread #08
3) Silver wire
4) Light Tan rabbit dubbing
5) Silver or copper bead head (i have found more sucess with copper)


How to
Wrap thread to back of hook going down a little on the hook.

Tie in a strip of Small red vinyl and silver wire.

Wrap with dubbing to almost eye of hook. Make sure that you wrap the dubbing tight

Pull vinyl over top of dubbing and secure. Wrap silver thread TIGHTLY till the eye of the hook and tie off

With velcro or a dubbing needle pull the dubbing out to the SIDES


Many people make them big and bulky but they are more flat
Good luck write if any questions
Jason B

[Light Cahill]

Thanks, I was asking for the sowbug one, I just typed in scud as most scud/sowbug patterns are similar. I know on the Provo, I've found thousands of sowbugs under stones, especially in the slower waters 2-3 miles below Deer Creek. I presume the red suggests a dead sowbug that has dislodged from its hideout. Wonder if sowbugs work well on the Middle Weber?

[Strike]

Curtis you asked about the Cabelas rod. I will tell you this about the rod: It only cost me $89 plus shipping and I got a 4 piece rod, reel, line, backing, and leader. So for someone like myself who didn't know other fly fishermen/fisherwomen, it was a really good way to go. I didn't know the first thing about casting or fly fishing. I had the guys at a local fly shop set my stuff up (since I didn't know anything about the correct knots to use) and they showed me how to cast. I practiced casting on my lawn. A group of church friends and I went to the Green. We all went to run the river but I would wake up and try to fly fish. I still remember how cold that water was against my bare calves. I didn't have waders yet, so I brought swim trunks and Tevas. I met a guy that could see me as the idiot I am, and showed me how to fish. I still have a tuff time with that whole drag free drift thing. But to answer your question the rod is a very stiff rod, and the line didn't turn over too well. The drag on the reel broke this year up at the berry. But for under $100 I think it was a very good set up. I am getting a little nicer rod for Christmas, so the cabelas rod will be my back-up/ loaner rod. I have bought a lot of cheap stuff. And I really think that I pays to get the good stuff in the long run if you are going to be using it for any extended period of time- Especially with tying material.

[Strike]

Hey I ended up getting married to one of the girls in that ward. She pretended to like Fishing before we got married, she even planned dates for us to head to the river and throw flies. Then once we got hitched, she hasn't wanted a fishing license since. So be careful when scouting out those wards! They will play you like a fish.
I ended up getting a Sage DS 9ft 5 wt rod. I really like it! I am going to try and get out of work on Fri. and go a wet a fly. I have never been fishing in weather like this before so I will have to learn how to minimize the ice on the guides and stuff like that. I hopefully have enough warm clothes so that I can stay out for more than a couple of hours. Any suggestions from anyone?

[walksinwater]

strike,

It is time to go do something warm if the guides freeze up solid within 3 cast. 10 to 20 cast, the temperature is worth staying out.

I have tried the cooking oil on the guides with little noticable effect. In fact I had one of my lines crack all over after using it.

That fine water spray off the line freezes and the layers do build up over any coating eventually.

Polartec! to keep you dry and warm. Worn under a lite rain jacket with a hood. Gloves to keep the chill off the fingers.
And a good meal to warm you from the inside.

Follow anti-hyperthermia guidelines.

may your new equipment fullfill your dreams.

[Light Cahill]

I loved your story about marrying a girl that pretended to like Fly-fishing so she could get hitched. That's hilarious. A friend of mine married a girl who liked to go fly fishing... she had proof though. She owned a Sage (she asked for it for Christmas), some seriously expensive waders, a float tube and even tied her own flies, when she wasn't doing needle-point work. Lucky man eh?

My wife is a good sport, she accompanies me on trips once a month, or goes on fishing outings when we go camping. I tried to teach her fly casting, and she was doing well, but I should have been more patient with her instruction. Once I bought a canoe, it added a boating aspect, and made it more fun for her. She's caught a couple using our spincasting outfit, and I was more excited about her landing her first 8" Rainbow than the 20" Brown I took on the Provo last month.

Back to the subject of winter fishing, we must be crazy to pound the water in this weather. I've yet to catch a fish this winter. Too much guide ice, cold feet and hands!

[Larry S.]

I am sitting here at 10:00 am where my Channel 2 Weather bug says it is -15 degrees at the Logan airport(about a mile west of my house)and here you are talking about going fishing? I can only hope that this is Nature's way of thinning out next Spring's crop of fly fishers and that the streams and lakes will be less crowded.

Just kidding,of course! Actually I envy you(sometimes) the drive to not give up. Some people(like Crosby) don't know when to come in out of the cold. I haven't heard from him for a while. He's probably that big icicle on the side of the road up north of Preston :^) !!!

This is the time of year to tie and refill my boxes for spring(or LATE winter). I can catch many more fish over the vise than I ever do on the water.

[Conehead]

I used to rock and ice climb in this kind of weather. I remember getting home and having my hands begin to thaw--the pain!! Then the next week, I'd go do it again. I started flyfishing about 6 years ago, and every year I try to get out on New Years day--ya gotta start the year out right! Flyfishing in this weather is "no worries." Some of my largest fish were caught in blinding snowstorms. This is a great time to try all those microscopic midge patterns. I love it!!