Dragonfly

Here is a Checkered Setwing dragonfly I did a few years ago. I was very pressed for time today and unable to even sketch out a new fly so had to revert to an older painting. It is however new to you and has only ever been seen by my family so there you go. It measures 2inx2in and of course is in watercolor.
And since we are posting older work I thought I'd share a few of my other works that where done in the past.
This one is of my daughter when she was barely 2 on a trip to the beach. 8x10 prints are available but as you can guess, the original is not for sale.
This one is of a trolley on the river front street in Savanna Georgia.

New Ink & Hanging In Portland

Here is another inked fly going along with the tee shirt idea. I did a wet fly last time so I figured why not a dry on this one. Besides, its something that fills in my daily fly post.


I had a little trip to Portland Maine the other day and was really looking forward to hitting the sites around town. I was especially excited to check out the Art Museum as they had two big influences for me in their collection. Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth. Unfortunately I came a week to late. I was hopping to see the watercolors these two artists are known for but the exhibit was taken down a week before.
I had to settle for a few of Homers oil painting (still a joy to see them in person) and Andrew W. fathers watercolors (N.C.Wyeth). If you read any Robert Louis Stevenson as a kid you probably have seen N.C. Wyeths work and just never known it. A the the end of the 1800 he did alot of work for a publisher and most of the paintings in adventure classics are done by NC Wyeth.

Well after the museum I wondered down to Old Port and cruised the streets looking for good eats. I got a bit of Lobster, saw the sites, and then caught the buss back to the hotel. I thought about bringing the fishing gear on this trip but with the time constraints and lack of transportation available I opted for a tour of the city instead. It was cheaper and was a good little getaway. I have been to Maine quite a few times - mostly Bangor - and really love the area.
The people are great, the sites are amazing, and during the summer, it is a real nice to stay. I have also been here in the winter.... I like the South in winter.
The final pic in this post is of Longfellow's home. As a guy that reads quite a bit and loves history, art, and all things nautical, Portland Maine is a great town to see. I look forward to coming back here when the weather is a bit warmer and I can spend a few days. Next time I am going to have to try and hit those Maine stripers in the bay or head in-land for native trout.

More Ink

I have been stuck on the ink drawing lately due to time constraints and because of the tee shirt ideas floating around in my head. Black inked prints are so much cheaper to have screen or digitally printed on shirts than full on color paintings. I have found a few good printers to do the work but am still shopping around. I also am spending the time perfecting the design. This is the latest rendering of the 'wet fly' tee image. I took a lot of the dark ink out and added more open space in order to give it a less fly in oil look. I think it works.
On the fishing front, not much to report. I do have a few getaways planned for the month but we will see how it all plays out. I might find an hour or so later this week to break away and hit a local bass pond I have been scouting. We will see how it turns out.

Inked and Tee

Here is another sketch as well as a few more thoughts on the Tee idea. Thanks for all the comments yesterday as well as the emails. I realized white was not an option for a tee shirt (you should never wear white while fishing trout, unless you enjoy the feeling of being skunked). The colors I am leaning toward now is a faded earthy green or dark tan. I mocked up another shirt but still not sure about the tag line. I liked the suggestions the other day and might have to hold a contest for the finished look and tag line. I also might have to alter the look of the art because with the thick black ink, it does truly look like the fly is swimming in oil. Maybe the slogan should be "The Only Good Oil Is Fish OIL". Here is another one I thought of just as I was walking into work this morning. "Imitation Is The Best Form Of Fishing" . I'm also thinking of placing tag on back instead of front. Any more thoughts?

On The Fly

Here is a new idea I got the other day. What do you think of this inked work on a tee shirt? I don't have to many tee shirts with fly fishing as a theme and thought about coming up with one of my own design. Do you like this design? I will probably make one for myself regardless but is there any YearOnTheFly patrons out there that might want one for $25 or so. How about a tag line? "Wet A Fly" is fairly generic. Any good Ideas? Colors?

Pen and Ink

Rising Brown For Good Cause

I have promised that I would be doing another watercolor soon and here it is. This Rising Brown however is not for sale. It will be auctioned off at a Trout Unlimited event for the Triangle Fly Fishers TU chapter this coming October. I managed to take a well lit picture of the rising trout today and amended this post.



Unfortunately I was fairly intent on this painting and completely forgot to take pics of this painting as I did it. I was a bit inspired to paint this one after my recent trip to Traverse City Michigan, where only the browns rose to my fly. As you can see, the rough looking Elk Hair Caddis made it to the painting as well.
I'm not a member of this chapter but had the opportunity to contribute to this organisation and couldn't pass it up. I hope it brings in a good price for them and I know that they will do a lot of good with it.

Bead Body Bug

Here is a bead body streamer I've come up with that might be able to get down to those deep hole trout without the help of added weight. I would like to see some of those great fly tiers out there come up with a good color version of this fly.

Rainbow Rise Sketching

Almost forgot to post today. This happens to me every so often and I go into quick sketch mode. I plan on hopefully getting an original - well planed out watercolor for you soon. Till then, here is a rainbow rising. 

Blue Green Salmon Fly

Fishing Wet Traverse City, MI

This weekend I was stuck working so no football, BBQ, or family fun. The good news is that my job took me to Traverse City Michigan. Why is this a good thing you ask, well only about 3/4 of a mile from my hotel is one of the nations best streams for fishing (or so I am told).
The Boardman runs strait through the heart of the city and is home to big trout, great lake salmon runs, steelhead, bass, muskie, and pike. As you can guess this gets one fairly excited especially if one has not been fishing in quite a while. So rigged up with the hopes of hitting big salmon coming in from the bay, I set out the other morning eager to hook into a monster.

Only one day to fish and I had only 2 &1/2 hrs for fishing if I got up before dawn, which I did - in the pouring rain and 60 degree temperatures and 30knt winds. I had not packed for this, what I had also not packed for was trout. I had only packed 3x tippet and big leaders with my 7w expecting big fish. What I didn't know, and further research would have showed, was that although the occasional big salmon does come in the beginning of September, they are not stacked in there.

In those early morning hours I shivered continuously, struggling to find a fly to prob the dark waters for fish I could not see, and struggling even harder to stop my fingers from shaking so I could thread the hook. I did get two bites of a streamer but no hook ups. As 8:30 rolled closer, I had to pack it in and made the call for the hotel van to pick me up. Cold and defeated I headed to work to pine the day away for another chance at those waters.

After work, and with the 7pm sun falling fast I quickly got my gear and headed back. This time I was able to see the waters in a better light and only found a few small brown actively feeding the midge hatch. This would have been great had I packed my midge box. I'm not sure how it didn't make it into my gear bag, but it didn't so the over sized streamers had to play. an hour later I gave up and found a ragged caddis, tied it on and took a stab at trying to fool them despite the big tippet. Most of the over fished browns snubbed it but with a few cleverly disguised presentations I managed to hook into three smallish browns after much persistence.

So as the sun began to set and more storm clouds began to gather on the horizon, I packed it in and left as happy as a bum that just found winning lottery ticket. With big smile on my face I headed back for dinner and a quick daily fly post. You might say to yourself, Why is he smiling? No Salmon, only three small browns and near hypothermia, sounds miserable. Well for me it was a combined 5 hours of vacation that made work fly by. I caught fish and took everything mother nature threw at me to try to keep me in my room.
I went out and did it despite the hardship and came out victorious. I'll take those three beautiful browns any day over the inside of any hotel room or airplane or office building.

Inked Nymph

Here is yet another ink sketch. With a preview of a fishing report.

I went fishing this morning and got skunked, but so did every other soul on the river. Got a full day of work then plan on trying my luck later this afternoon. Where am I fishing you ask? You will have to check in later to figure it out. Hopefully by Sunday I can have a full report with a pic of a fish in hand.

Bass'n

Had a free minute and sketched this bass out then had a little fun with photo editing. I am hoping to get a bit of free time this month to do a bit of fishing. we'll have to see how it all shakes out but there might be a fishing report come the weekend. I have a geared up 7w and big browns on my mind. The weather report for the local I'll be fishing says wet, wet, wet and I failed to pack my rain gear but I doubt it will stop me. It never has in the past...

Also, I just got a package in the mail the other day from HopperJuan with a few great stickers. If you haven't checked out his blog you are missing out on some great looking flies. I true tying master. Check out his Blog HERE

Pencil Leaping Trout

Here is a Pencil sketch of a leaping trout going after a fly. Ive been doing a lot of Japanese type stuff in the last few days and this has come out in my sketch. I didn't plan it that way when I sat down for a few minutes to sketch this out but when somethings been in my mind for a few days, it just kind of comes out.
Unfortunately there hasn't been a fishing report lately due to an overworked schedule. Right now I barely have enough time to sketch, but the daily flies still get done.

Hairwing

I have been super busy lately so I apologise for the string of picture posts without commentary. Today is another one of those days but I will ask this question and leave it up for comment.
Has anybody else been hooked on this show on Animal Planet called River Monsters. The star is not a fly fishing guy but it is still exciting to watch. Big fish, simple large bait with simple large gear, hook into a big monster with massive teeth and you got good TV.