Green Drake Para Emerger

Another Emerger - The variations of this type of fly are endless.




Spent half a day in Little Rock and went down town to the Flying Fish for eats and drinks. (Tried to go to the Gander mountain but the hotel van driver said 8 miles was to far.) On a few of the walls they had the Bass Addoption wall of fame. I guess the rule is if you bring in a Billy Bass they give you a place to put it on the wall and you get a free plate of catfish. Next time I see one of these babies at a flee market for 1.50$ I'm buying it for the next time I'm in Little Rock.







My wife says that I have a habit of ordering the most interesting thing on any menu I see. I suppose that she knows me pretty well. Ive has snails, various sushi dishes, and even a few Belize termites (they taste like mint). For that have seen my brothers blog I guess it kind of runs in the family, I have never gone Bear Grills on a rattler but if the situation presents itself, I'll definitely try a plate of snake. In the meantime I tried these babies..... These are not chicken wings. I'll let you figure out what they are. By the way they are tasty!!

Sulfur Para Emerger

According to Orvis this Mayfly can be tied with the following recipe:
-Hook short shank nymph size 14-22
-Thread Cream 8/0
-Wood duck flank for Tail
-Rib mad from rootbeer krystal flash
-Wing post from yellow foam
-Ginger grizzly hackle
-Abdomen made from pale olive dubbing
and
-Thorax of dark Antron dubbing.

Mine is a mix of yellow, brown, and red paint applied in a form somewhat similar to what the finished fly might look like. The Orvis fly might be of more value.

Purple Demon & Fighting The Wind

A Tarpon Fly.

On Tuesday afternoon - in 20 - 25 knot winds - I took what little free time I had and took the wife,kids, and a set of my newly tied flies to the old bass pond. My Little girl had a bobber and worm and I tried to cast into the wind with my 2w fly rod. I was very proud of the little x-hopper I had tied but after 10 minutes of fighting the wind I gave it up and tied on a heavier streamer pattern I came up with on a whim. Basically its just a long strip of rabbit fur tied with a bit of strip for the tail then wrapped forward. What is great about this little guy is the swimming pattern it has after a short strip. The little tail just keeps swimming as the fly sinks. The rabbit fur I cut myself from a little black and white pelt. On the third cast I hooked this little bass. It hit it hard and jumped the whole way in. As you might be able to tell, not very big but very satisfying to know it hit my own version of a rabbit strip streamer. Anyway, by this time the kids had had enough. Between my casts I was recasting my little girls worm to deeper warter because the wind kept pushing it. After a while she became more interested in throwing sticks into the waster than fishing so I gave up on fighting the wind and decided that it would be better to play with it....




Kids love kites, and so do grownups!

Green Highlander

Deer Hair Caddis

Sulfur Emerger

Hoping to hit a little water in the next two days. Probably just bass- once again not enough time for the epic trout trip. Dang I wish I lived where trout were out my back door.

Also, Here is a banner I sent to my buddy Jason for his web site at Killbillies http://www.killbilliesoutdoors.com/ to link to my blog.

Rainbow Trout

Nice little streamer/lure.

Nice Rainbow Trout

ORIGINAL SOLD

Here is a painting of a nice rainbow trout. The idea for this painting came from fellow Blogger Bigerrfish, and his picture of a rainbow he recently caught (hope you don't mind Josh). Also for todays post I've decided to post the evelution of painting this small work. If you look close there is a very small fly in his lip.
First the Pencil Sketch.


Then add a little paint.


Drop in a few spots. Got to have the spots.


Then finish with a load of detail. For the bigger paintings I usualy follow a similar process but add more detail and invest more time into it. This painting is very small for the subject but serves well as a study for future works. I hope you enjoy and thanks again Josh.

Quill Gordon

Here is a darker version of the Quill Gordon.

Cricket & A Bluegill

>Here is a little Ink and Watercolor Cricket for my daily fly post to go along with a the next picture. Hit a small pond nearby just before the sky opened up in hopes of a few bass but only ended up with this bluegill. I didn't see any surface rises so I shifted from a hair bug popper to a dark woolly bugger with a red collar. This guy inhaled it just before the rains came.

Hair Bass Bug

Blue Doctor

Atlantic Salmon Fly.

Green Drake & Killbillies Outdoors

What dry fly fisher doesn't like the look the Drake has as its riding high through the eddies of a mountain stream.


Also, I found out the other day a buddy I work with started his own outdoors business out of West Virginia a few months ago. Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping are their areas of interest. Some of the videos on their site are sick - including one linked below, I heard of fishing with your dog but a deer? http://www.killbilliesoutdoors.com/fishing-video.html Click the Holly River Video and wait for this guys Buddy to arrive. Ok, I know this guy is spin fishing but that's not the point (his jig is a hand tied feather streamer if that counts.) That's just cool. Incidentally this is a wild deer and not his pet, he was just fishing when it showed up. Anyway The company Is Killbillies Outdoors http://www.killbilliesoutdoors.com/index.html So far the site has only been active for a few months but Jason aka Bellyeyes tells me many more videos and products will become available in the coming months. So visit his site and if you feel so inclined, support a good ol' boy grown company...

Rabbit Strip Bass Diver

Another bass bug.

March Brown Spider + Bass

I like the bead on this march brown spider. It adds to the attractive nature of this effective fly.
Also had a chance to wet a fly again on Wednesday at a little pond nearby. It wasn't the first time I've fished for bass on a fly but it was the first in quite a while and I almost forgot how much fun it is, especially when the fish are hitting. A Buddy of mine showed me the spot and on his first cast - crank bait popper - a nice bass hit it like a truck. It was the last fish he caught. I on the other hand hooked up with quite a few on everything from an olive woolly bugger to a small Adams. My buddy was a little impressed. He'd never seen anybody bass fish with a fly rod before. I think the sight of nice bass exploding from the water to hit my hopper might have made him a convert to our noble art... Anyway, It was highly enjoyable and I look forward to doing it alot more often. The best part is it was only a 5 min drive instead of the 50-120min drive it takes me to get to the closest trout waters (which is why those that follow my blog may notice a lack of ACTUAL fishing posted on my blog....) So, don't be astonished if you see more bass than trout start appearing on my blog. I wish I could live in an area where trout were within walking distance but such is life.

Emerald Spey

.

Bass Bug Popper

Blood Red Steelhead

I enjoy Steelhead, spey, and salmon flies. I only wish I lived in an area where I could fish them. The closest one gets to the colorful, striking colors of a Steelhead fly around the southeast is a bass bug or salt water streamer.

Steelhead Yellow Gold

Black & Blue Prince

Browsing blogs I visited the midge-mans blog and found a nice prince. His will catch trout, mine will not but I hope you like it.

100TH Fly - Nation's Special

What better way to commemorate this blogs 100th posting of 2010 than with a special fly. Mr Nations Special is a B. C.  fly for large lake rainbows.
    I got to tell you that this daily post commitment has so far been at times a little taxing and yet rewarding. I am encouraged daily when I get feedback on my flies from friends, family, and fellow Bloggers.  With 265 flies to go I am looking forward to improving my paintings as well as my fly tying and get more days on the water.

Yellow & Blue

Light Casual Dress

The Mouse

9-3 Streamer

I just love fishing streamers.  The fish always hit them hard and it is near impossible to miss a strike.  An added plus is that they are great looking flies.

Pheasant Tail

Various types of this nymph abound and are consistently effective. This is piece is a pen ink pencil wash.

Quick Pencil Buck Tail

I've never added jungle cock cheeks to any of my flies but I know back in the day they were quite popular with most streamer fishers. Artistically they look great but I believe they are endangered now and realy expensive. There are some good imitations out there today that behave just as good as the real thing. 

Small Sulphur

Hellgamitte

DamselFly Emerger