Dave 'n' Fishn...Dave

Today's feature: FishnDave's recent post regarding the Bass Gurgler.

Three of Dave's creations, #4 on the left two, #2 on the right.

Everything and its fishy mother chases this fly. At least in warm water they do. Go to Dave's blog and read the last few posts that feature the use of this fly and you shall see things beyond awesome. 

As he states in his post, the original credit goes to a fellow poster, Jim Smith, on FAOL. Rather than hang on walls, buildings, and billboards, this poster gives out great fly recipes. (Cue the seal laugh. It was punny! *Ar Ar Ar*)

When I bought my first fly tying kit and materials, I found that I had enough to try this fly as well as the Dirty Rat, with one exception: I didn't have eyelash yarn, only chenille. But, I gave it a whirl, and man o manny wammy, Sammy, do these flies produce. Here's my third attempt at the fly, chenille body only.

 

And here is the second and third and fourth and... well, several more real-life testimonials to the effectiveness of this fly.

 

Tie it. Toss it. Love it. Thanks Dave for the great post, and thanks Jim for the great recipe.

 

Is it Wednesday or Thursday?

I couldn't help but ask myself this question when I started writing this post. It has been a crazy week. I'm starting to do house calls for folks, with the majority being bed bug inspections. If anyone has never seen a bed bug, here it is:

The common bedbug, Cimex lectularius

They are about the size of an apple seed, and are blood-sucking vampire spawn from hades. Really. I honestly see no point for this insect, because they only feed on human blood, and they have no known natural predator besides spiders, which can't come anywhere near to being effective at controlling population because of their breed rate. Did 3 different inspections for them today, and they all came out positive.

But on to the fishing.

Went out Monday hecka early and threw my first personally tied flies, the Dirty Rat and the Gurgle Bug.

I got an amazing strike on the Dirty Rat, but from what I can tell, I put too much maribou on both of them. Seems like there was too much fly, not enough hook. If anyone has any other input as to why my hookset failed, let me know.

The Gurgle Bug took the First Fly Trophy, though. The action was great, with lots of twitching and, well, gurgling. I tied on my third version - seen here - and caught a bass four feet from shore as I was pulling up for a close backcast. Instant hookset.

Dark picture, but the fly is grasped between my birdy and ring finger closest to camera.

Needless to say, I settled with tossing the Gurgle until I left for home.

Green sunfish, non-photogenic.

Beautiful spawning bull.

Another big, gorgeous spawner.

One of the biggest greenies yet. 

 I was apprehensive at first with this fly because the original recipe calls for Eyelash Yarn - which until this writing I thought was fly fishing specific, but is really a yarn that people use in crafting - to give it body and simulate legs. I'm sure this gurgler would be gorgeous with the yarn, but the brown chenille did great.

I wonder if I could tie a "bed bug" fly. I think I would call it the "BiSViSH Fly". Remember? Blood Sucking Vampire Spawn from Hades?

Maybe not. But keep your eyes peeled on my blog. You never know.

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.

On my "must tie" list: The Dirty Rat

Poor, recently-graduated-from-college, enthusiastic fly fishermen dream of the day when they can begin to tie their own flies.

I am no exception.

So, I have herein decided to begin a "must tie" list, which I will refer to personally when I forget all about the amazing patterns I see online. I figure it may also be useful to those of you who read this.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

The Dirty Rat

 

Many thanks to Jackie Treehorn of Hatches magazine for turning the morbid observation of rodent immersion into an amazing looking pattern.   

Fly fishing for bass with a mouse pattern is definitely a lot of fun! I plan on trying it with Northerns this year sometime, too.

Tie away, my good friends. Tight lines!

P.S. The only other fly I've seen fish take as or more aggressively on top of the water is the Chugger. Check that one out while you're here!

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.