My First Flies

With the new job and everything, being on the water in the early morning has been hard to get to because I would rather get every ounce of sleep that I can.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got my first vise. Of course, I started tying some flies.

 I opened up my Ultimate Guide to Fly Fishing and followed the instructions to tying on for the first time. The bobbin is stiff and nonadjustable, but who cares? I know I didn't. I started wrapping away.

First on the list was the Dirty Rat. I followed the instructions, got down to tying the nose, then was pleasantly surprised by my wife snapping pictures. 

 

 

And....

Voila! A Dirty Rat.

It's so cute! The face ended up thin and the tail a tad short, but not bad for a first go round. Had to tie two, of course.

Dirty Rat #2. Wider face and a more prominent nose, plus a longer tail.

I set aside an hour this morning to hit the water before my wife wanted me to be home to let her go running. We both slept in instead.

Tonight, the wife - after dealing with her less than pleasant job and a boss that sent her home because of a business casual t-shirt, the reason why being beyond me - is out with her ex-roommate Lanae watching television and eating junk food, so I decided to jump on something I had gotten in my email: Dave's test of a Bass Gurgler. 

 

After following his link to FAOL, I clarified as to whether I could use chenille, pulled out my razor foam and:

Attempt #1: foam not long enough (it tore on the back) and funky maribou, but fishable.

Attempt #2: Better maribou, foam definitely long enough, deeper body.

Attempt #3: Best maribou yet, chunky little chugger!

Probably the coolest thing so far after trying just two flies is seeing how the different steps in the process come together to form something that looks segmented and alive. Such a cool feeling. Do you remember what it was like when you felt that the first time?

Store-bought plus five hand-tied

I can't wait to get these out on the water. The water I fish is primarily bream, hybrid and Green Sunfish laden, so the aquatic fare for the bass is pretty limited. I'm pretty sure we're looking at noisemakers or frog wannabe. We'll see how they do. Hopefully I can have a day like Dave's!

(By the way, Dave, I think your coloration on that chugger contributed to your awesome day fishing because the breast on those greenies gets pretty yellow, and their fin gets extremely dark during the spawn. Maybe the flash of yellow against the black was just too much for them.)

Justin, my new vise, and the experience at Bass Pro

Ok, so I'm super stoked.

Yesterday after work, I went and picked up the munchkins and went to Bass Pro. My sister gave me a $50 gift card for my graduation and said to buy something "big, that you normally wouldn't be able to buy."

I went straight to the fly fishing section, with visions of poppers, rattle frogs, nippers and a whole lot of little stuff I otherwise wouldn't be able to buy dancing through my mind.

Then I stopped.

In the display case was a bunch of fly tying vises. Had my eyes deceived me? $14.97 for a vise? No way!

A little ways up and to the right from that vise was the same vise, but sitting in a box with a bunch of tools I recognized. Ok, seriously, $19.97.

I quickly switched gears and went around the corner, baby on my back and 4 yr. old in tow. I needed help finding materials, and an opinion on the $20 kit.

I found Justin:

Justin with Bass Pro Shops, Fly Fishing Department, Council Bluffs

More on Justin later. What I found, though, was that he looked very familiar.

He began to explain his experience with the kit, which he owns and uses as a travel kit. I must have started foaming at the mouth or something. Not that he said anything, I just... felt like doing so.

I whipped out my smartphone and showed him the pattern for the Dirty Rat . We both kind of mumbled about how we didn't know what 'chickabou' was before deciding to go with good old maribou. He helped me compile the ingredients, with pointers about different adhesive and eyes.




The goods.

As we were discussing thread or something, I realized where I recognized Justin from.

"Did you teach the fly casting classes at some point?"

"Yes I did."

Turns out, Justin was our instructor when my wife and I first took casting lessons about 18 months ago! She was pregnant with our youngest at the time, and needless to say I was impressed then with his helpfulness and courtesy then. He hit another home run last night.

I will be forwarding a link to this post to his manager with top marks for his helpfulness. If anyone needs help in the Omaha/CB area, head to Bass Pro on Tuesdays and ask for Justin. (He mentioned that he ties a LOT of flies, and was using them in Colorado just last week.)

After awkwardly informing him that I had a blog, and asking to snap the above picture to give him credit, I took the babies to see the fish tanks.


Ruth diggin' the fish tank.

 Ruth (eldest) was such a good girl. She listened very well and held my hand and/or stayed close the entire time.

And, ladies and gentlemen, I now own a vise and all ingredients and tools I need to tie the Dirty Rat. Expect fly reviews, pictures and product reviews on the kit in the future.

Hopefully, I can get a picture of my flies in the mouth of something this size.

In Weight Watchers, they would call this the "before" picture.

Dead week ends with a little warmup.

My family is in town for my graduation. My dad, his wife, Diane, and my brother, Michael, all drove in from near Provo, UT to spend the weekend.

My bro and I have already planned some time on my favorite pond.

Turns out we had a chance to hit the water a little early. We took my daughters up to scout the fishing.

There was a big Asian family harvesting massive amounts of Green Sunfish. One other mother and son shared in the awesomeness of this pond, and we mutually swore secrecy against telling anyone about it.

My bro introduced me to the Muddler Minnow and a couple new little bass and bluegill bugs, which we promptly lost. We didn't manage the hook-sets and the fights right, since he had his trout leader on. Got some pictures of the fun ones, though!

Mike hooked into some big green sunfish first. I had to explain the difference between those and the common bream, or bluegill. 

Then, my 4 year old explained that she needed to go potty. I held her just right off in some privacy, only to feel my right leg getting warm. No sweat, though! I'll take one, as a Dad.

After that, we got down into my favorite bass waters. (Yes, pee on pants and all.)

They are definitely much more active as the water hits just the right temperature and the fare explodes for them.  Mike and I traded off on the pole after I hit the first one. Dropping those chuggers in the water amongst some weeds and watching the bass smash them made that adrenaline kick in for the both of us. It was wonderful to share that with him again.

We had a blast! That's my 1.5 year old on my back.

Last bass of the day took the last bright green foam chugger of the day. Darn that blasted trout leader.

On the way back up to the car, we walked past a gentleman with a tripod headed to take pictures. He is from Colorado, and we chatted for a little bit about hitting 6 lb. rainbows at midnight in some of those lakes out there.

All in all, a great time, and we're just warming up.

Job change and dead week.

Goodbye, US Cellular.

4 years of experience in retail wireless. Just finished my last day about two hours ago.

On to Business Account Management at Terminix!

This week, as mentioned in my previous post, I am graduating from College. I like to call this dead week. The best thing I can do for our home and family right now is help my wife juggle all things that must be accomplished before family comes into town, and that means no fishing.

Be expecting some product reviews. I've got a Panther Vision cap I got from my sister that I want to review, plus I might do one on the fly line I use.

In the meantime, check out River Hunter Flies new creation, the "Gut Buster"! Read his post about it.

Looks great for warm water! Shoot, I'd eat it. If I did that sort of thing.