Finding Nature While Fishing In SC

Yesterday I took my Tenkara rod up to the foothills for a little trout chasing and found more than I was looking for.
  I enjoy all types of fishing as most of you know, whether it is fly fishing, spin fishing, and if the situation calls for it - even bait fishing, but as a rule I tend to enjoy casting a fly more than all the others.  Tenkara fishing is just another way for me to be connected to the fly in a more direct way and for fishing small streams it is, in my opinion, the best tool in the box to catch fish.  It allows ease of travel, with simplicity and a direct contact with the fly that a traditional fly rod and reel rarely can duplicate.

  So when I headed to the hills to search for trout, I was expecting to catch a number of browns - due to water temp - and maybe if I was lucky, a rainbow or two.  What I was not expecting was to get a hat trick of species completely disconnected from each other.
  Just after sunrise I hooked into a number of browns that eagerly took a Killer Bug made from my wife's knitting yarn but after the heat began to hit the water I hooked into a few sunfish and even an eager river bass that had some stunningly sharp coloring.

  The Sunfish however was the winner of the day for color.  As many of you can attest, a river/stream sunfish is one of the most brilliantly colored fish in fresh water.  They are by no means a big fish or one you want to brag about but they are magnificently colored.  Pictures rarely do them justice but if you appreciate beauty in nature than you must give the little guy his due.

   Another added bonus I discovered was the amount of wildlife that joined me on the river.  Below are just a few examples of the other colors in nature that astound me.

This Marbled Orb Weaver - that is its real name, I looked it up - almost became real close friends when I came inches away from planting my face in its web.  Only his bright coloring made me check my steps and for that I am thankful.

Countless butterflies refused to sit still for a photo but this guy - probably near the end of his life - cooperated.

By far one of the largest caterpillars I have ever seen.  I haven't looked it up yet but would love to hear your thoughts on what it would be.  I was thinking a Luna Moth but that is only because it is so big.  Any Ideas?

  Overall it was a good morning and as the heat took hold around noon, I packed up and headed home.  I love nature and all it has to offer.  Getting out to fish is only part of the experience and if you don't take advantage of all the beauty that surrounds your time in the woods than you are doing yourself a real disservice.

Weekend Fly Tying & The Flying Midge

  Besides tying a few flies this weekend I inked a little flying midge to start off your week.  Good luck to anyone that attempts to tie this puppy up.  I wouldn't suggest fishing it either.

Like a lot of my recent little doodles I really cant explain it.  I started out with a little line and it all just kind of morphs into a weird kinda angle winged midge thing.  This kind of doodle is what you get when your stuck in an airport with a bone chilling -15 degree wind howling outside and no plane to take you home.
  Simply put - I Need To Go Fishing!

I also took some time Sunday afternoon to tie up some wet flies using bodies of wool I scored from my wife's yarn basket.  Its not the first time I've raided her stash and since I was running a little low on floss for bodies of flies I decided to see what she recently had stocked up on.

  What I found was a nice 85% wool 15% mohair mix red that just screamed to used on my fishy flies.  I had to thin it out a bit while tying it into my bodies but the result was a great selection of blood red bodied wet flies.  I even decided to tie up a few Sawyers Killer Bugs with the material.  I am not sure how well the fish will accept the new color but I figured that since I have had such great success with the original Killer bug, a new color would be well worth the try.

    For the wet flies It was just a simple ingredient mix of #14 hooks, weight, brown thread, red wool, and a Hungarian Partridge.  For the Killer Bug I just left out the Partridge and used a little copper wire.

Butchered Sawyer Bug

  Of course I couldn't just tie up only a few blood red bugs so I used a few remaining Partridge feathers I had plucked to tie up a few green and brown wet flies to fill up the box.  Keeping with the theme of the day I used poached yard for these flies as well.  I have had a variety of success with the brown color yarn on other flies but very little with the green colors but I have never used either color on a wet fly.  Perhaps the addition of a grizzly partridge will help to make these more appealing to those finiky trout.  If not then I am sure the sunfish will love them once the lakes start warming up.  Either way I am sure to get some use out of them.

Enjoy your week.

Friday Fly - Trout On Yarn -Channeling F. Sawyer

    For today's Friday Fly I give you evidence that a fly doesn't need to be fancy or involve a lot of material in order to be productive.

 On Monday I tied up a simple yarn bug under the influence of Frank Sawyer and his killer bug.  I had been watching a fishing show on the internet that documented a few of England fathers of fly fishing. Frank Sawyer obviously was a key part of that history and his Killer Bug and simply tied Pheasant Tail are as iconic as any flies fished in the last hundred years.  What amazed me was not how he came up with them but the materials he used to create them; simple wool yarn, and copper wire.
   Two materials, that's it.  As a guy that can appreciate the keep it simple stupid thought process, this approach to tying flies struck a cord with me and I dug through my wife's yarn box for something to I could use.  What I found was a Acrylic/Poly blend in light taupe color.

   Using some bright red wire I got from the craft store (used for jewelry making I believe), an olive thread, and a #16 nymph hook, I came up with a Killer Bug of my own.  Unlike Sawyers bug I left a little extra yarn near the head and clipped it short as a wing casing or legs, or whatever a trout might think it might imitate.
   Yesterday I got a chance to try it out.  After going through a box of previously productive flies and still not having a fish to show for it, I tied it on gave it a shot.  In short order I drifted it deep in a pool below a line of boulders and got the only fish of the day.
   I never named it and not sure I should since it is a direct result of watching Frank Sawyer's bio but it might just be different enough to lay claim to a name of its own.  It also got a fish so it has at least earned a place in my box. Maybe the Sawyers Poly Killer?

   The trip out was also my first outing as the new owner of a Fall river Bamboo fly rod received through the OBN.  I had been itching to get it some action since receiving it but other obligations and a bad stretch of weather had held up any chance of it seeing water.  After spending five plus hours casting it on a stretch of the Saluda river I finally feel that it is mine and am still excited to have such a beautiful piece of work to fish with.

Tying Flies With Kids

  This afternoon found me wrapping up some work and settling down to a cozy fire and a little instruction in the art of tying flies - or as the kiddos call it Fly Tying.  After finishing up a bunch of nymphs (More on that later) My daughter wanted to tie her own bugger and after a short demonstration she settled in and took feather and thread in hand.

  Along with some instruction on the way, she began to create her own Woolly Bugger. 

  After a little trouble trying to get those little fingers to do what she wanted them to, do she began to get the hang of it and before I knew it she had a good first attempt on the vice.

  I promised her that when we next visited the stream (or bass pond ;-) we would give her hairy bugger a chance to hook into some fishy gills.  Her hopes were high and inevitably she brought up the last time she had a hand in making a fly.  We called it the Grinch due to the season and the color she had chosen for the non-traditional Tenkara fly.  It had done well - 5 fish in about as many casts - and she never has forgotten it.  Hopefully this time with a fly tied by her hand, she will not be disappointed.  As it is I am tempted to set it aside as a memento but I will probably wait till she gets a chance to fish it.

    As for my attempts at tying, I took inspiration from Frank Sawyer and his Killer bug to create this little bug.  It doesn't have any name and is NOT made from the legendary Chadwicks 477 wool yarn ($200 a pop !!!  My word, that stuff better hook fish!) but I think it might do just fine.  I added a little tuff near the head for effect.  I thank my wife and her yarn box for the use of a few strands of her Acrylic/Polly blend. 

And finally here is my take on the southern inch worm pattern The Green Weenie.  Basically I added a green pearl bead.  Nothing to imaginative but I made it my own and the next chance I get I will try it out.