Tying with the boys

My twin 7 year old boys have become more interested in flytying this winter.  They have actually started to ask to tie flies occasionally.  Usually it's some pattern they see in a picture or magazine that is so complicated and requires dozens of rare and expensive materials.  By the time we sit down to tie I can usually convince them to try something a little more simple.  Over the winter we've tied up various streamers, nymphs and foam bugs.  This weekend they saw some crease flies and gurglers I have stuck in some foam on the wall and they wanted to give them a try.  First Keegan had to tie up a foam ant since his brother tied one up a couple weeks ago and he didn't have one in his collection yet.  After we got through that I helped Kai tie up a crease fly and Keegan a gurgler.  The best part to them was tying the flies with white foam so they could color them up with permanent markers after.  We caught a few little native brook trout in a local stream on worms this weekend.  We'll have to start trying a few flies soon.

Couple of favorite pike flies

Ken at Pike Adventures asked me what's been working for me for pike flies so I threw up a few pics.  These flies might seem a little fancy and fragile compared to most pike flies but I really enjoy tying them.  I love tying with natural materials like bucktail, marabou and feathers and mixing all the different colors together...oh and they usually need to have lots of mixed flash although I noticed I cut back on flash on one of these.  These guys really swim fished fast or slow.  I try to balance them so they don't immediately dive nose down on the pause and instead sit there horizontal or slowly glide downward.  For this reason I don't normally add eyes or epoxy towards the front and try to use lighter wire hooks.  Yellow perch and other combos with orange and chartreuse have worked best for me.  I can't wait to get out there and fish them.

Still around

I'm still around fishing and tying when I can fit in the time.  Got geared up to do some steelhead fishing but the river blew out and the predicted weather called for 15-25 mph winds and heavy rain so I ditched that plan last minute and decided to do a little pike fishing instead before the nasty weather hit home. 

Launched a driftboat with a friend on a perfect, spring morning at one of the few spots that wasn't still locked down with ice.  There was just enough wind to slowly push the driftboat along the shallow flats as we fan casted the area trying to cover as much water as possible. Had a solid bump early on that sure felt like a fish but might have been a log or weeds even though the fly came back clean.  It served to increase my focus on the presentation.  It wasn't long before I actually hooked up with my fly about half way back to the boat.  The fish made a series of short 5-10' bursts and took most of my loose flyline before I gained the upper hand and slowly worked the fish back to the boat.  I was surprised by the size of the fish as it was the largest I've landed in the short time I've been chasing pike.  Unfortunately the fish was hooked deeply and we both lost a little blood in the process.  Hopefully the fish survived after a quick pic and release in the cold water.

Caught a few more average sized pike including one that didn't want to give my fly back.

The wind really started to pick up later in the morning as the storm came in that kept me from going steelhead fishing.  We fought the wind the best we could and called it a day around mid afternoon.  Good first day on the water it was great to fish some new flies tied up over the winter.  Of course I got some new ideas about flies I want to tie and tweaks that need to be done to existing flies making the ones I have already in my box somewhat obsolete.  I don't mind at all since this process keeps my mind actively thinking about this great sport.

I also got to try out a new Rio striper intermediate line which replaced a very worn out older version.  It's a great feeling to cast a nice, slick line that doesn't tangle constantly.  The bad news is I managed to step on it or get it caught on something over the course of the day, stripping off some of the coating of the running line.  The core of the line seems solid still so I'll keep on fishing it.

I've been so busy and while sneaking in a little fishing and tying I haven't felt like writing here much.  I want to thank everyone else for regularly updating their blogs with great reports, stories and flies.  Won't be long and some better weather will be here along with a few stripers making life a little more interesting.