Royal Coachman

Got into Saginaw @ 5pm, Found a gander Mountain across the street from hotel, one hour later a crap load of hooks, beads, and various fly fishing gear. Had to force myself to walk away from buying another reel, and a fly box, and some backpacking gear, and this, and that. Tell me, is there a man out there that doesn't enjoy an outdoor sporting good store..... wait... Eureka Moment!!!! This must be how my wife feels when she gets new shoes....

Poached Cains River via Brk Trt

Once again I am poaching flies from other blogers. This one comes from Brk Trt Small Stream Reflections blog. http://smallstreamreflections.blogspot.com/.... The original is a GREAT fly tied by Phil Foster.

Here is a little philosophy for those outdoors types that hunt, fish, and generally enjoy the primitive life. I was reading a little Zane Grey the other day and I came across this gem. "...Not to practice strive, not to use violence, not to fish or hunt is to retrograde as a natural man. Spiritual and intellectual growth is attained at the expense of the physical."
Now that is something to think about. What he was talking about before this quote was how high minded some naturalists are about the primitive sports like hunting and fishing. It seem that even in 1919 there were those that looked down at the sportsman as barbaric and did not understand his passion. He goes on to say that someday he himself might attain this lofty ideal to watch nature and not interact with it,,,,, and then went on to talk about how hooking into a bonefish will forever change ones life.
Anyone who has hooked into a bull of a fish or felt the heart race before realeasing the tention on a full pulled bow can attest to the connection one feels to nature. I dare say that the connection one has to the natural world while hunting or fishing is something that a non outdoor sportsman will ever understand. That being said, preservation is KEY to our human race enjoying the fruits of the natural world in the years to come. God set up the order and its our duty to preserve every aspect of that order. A balance is necessary and figuring out that balance is where it gets tricky....

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...