Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

On Saturday, my wife had a Pampered Chef party to attend, so my daughter and I took a trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge is located east of Smyrna and covers 16,251 acres.  Most of the land is tidal salt-marsh with the remainder being upland area.  There is a 12-mile auto tour with 5 hiking trails.  This would be a great spot to bring the bikes and bike around, since there are bike racks located at the head of each hiking trail.  It was a cold, windy day in February, but we still saw quite a few birds.  What did we see?  A whole bunch of different birds.  I'm not a birder.  We did see snow geese, coots, a heron, vultures, some sort of hawk, and maybe a bald eagle (the sun was a really bad position for a positive ID).  Here are some pictures.

 

Is that a beaver lodge in the picture above?  Certainly looks like it to me, but I'm not an animal expert.  These were all over the marshlands in the refuge.

Super Bowl Block Pool Winnings

So the crew over at Stripers Online ran an awesome Super Bowl block pool where several members graciously donated prizes.  It cost nothing to enter, which was awesome, and even more awesome was the fact that I hit on one of the prizes.

I am now the proud owner of a R.M. Smith Fat Bastage that was made as part of a special edition for Stripers Online.  Thanks to the member who ran the pool and thanks to the member who donated the plug!  I will definitely be putting something in to sweeten the pot for next year's winners.

Lancaster Fly Fishing Show Wrap-up

Saturday I attended the Fly Fishing Show that was held at the Lancaster Convention Center.  This was a new location for the show as it has bounced around several spots in PA trying to find one that worked.  I think they may have hit on a winner here.  After a nice ride through the country side, the building was easy enough to find.  Parking was located via a garage attached to the convention center.  The convention center itself is fairly new and was really nice.  If you are looking for a show on the magnitude of Somerset, this isn't the show for you.  If you are looking to get to talk to the "celebrity" tiers (I used the quotes not as a knock on the tiers, as these guys and gals are great, but more as a misuse of the word celebrity), talk to vendors one-on-one or walk around the floor without being a giant crowd this show is the one.
When I first got there I walked the floor to get a lay of the land.  I wasn't looking for much, just one material I had had trouble tracking down...red antron yarn for some parachute flies I owe someone.  Found that.  I also picked up some sculpin wool to tie some Shenk's minnows.  Then it was time to head off to what I really enjoy, the featured tiers and talks.  I got to see Ed Shenk tie up the Letort Cricket and also Shenk's minnow (see purchase of scuplin wool above).  George Daniel tied up some of his favorite nymphs, all of which can be found in his book.  I also saw Bob Popovics tie up some surf candies, these will surely find a way into my boxes for the salt.  Eric Stroup was the last tier I watched and he tied up his favorite guide flies, flies he keeps in his box at all times because they are quick to tie and definitely catch fish.  I also sat in on George Daniel's talk on Dynamic Nymphing, which was a giant plug to his book, and I fell for it.  I ended up purchasing the book and having George sign it for me at the show.
After the show, I attended the International Fly Fishing Film Festival.  This was well put together and featured 7 films in the "Short" category and 6 films in the "Feature" category.  These films ranged from fishing unnamed streams with awesome editing to creating awareness of the plight of a particular river or region.  My personal favorite short was "Devil's Gold" by Castaway Films.


My favorite feature film was "Chasing the Run" by Patagonia Nation.


New Teaser - Chasing The Run | PatagoniaNation.com from PatagoniaNation on Vimeo.

Five Stages of a Fisherman

A lot of discussion going on over at PA Fly Fish based on this post by Rick Clark on the WFN site, specifically the five stages of a fisherman.  Rick states them as follows:
Stage 1: Catch A Fish
Stage 2: Catch the most fish
Stage 3: Catch the biggest fish
Stage 4: Catch a difficult fish
Stage 5: Enjoying fishing independent of catching

I find myself enjoying those stages at different parts of my fishing outings.  My first goal is to catch a single fish.  Once I get the smell of the skunk off, it was a successful trip.  Having accomplished that goal, my next goal is to either catch a lot of fish or catch a big fish.  I'm happy achieving either one of those.  Of course, they work together.  The more fish you catch, the better chance you will catch a big fish.  It's just playing the odds.  Catching a difficult fish is a goal when it presents itself.  If I find a fish in a difficult lie and I decide to go for him, then I'm happy when he takes and I'm hooked up with him.  I don't head out in the morning with the intent to target difficult fish in the stream, I take those situations as they present themselves.  And of course if I don't catch anything, then I find myself in stage 5, I'm just happy to be out there and not working.  So to wrap this up, I don't think the stages are a progression that you go through as you grow as a fisherman.  I think the stages happen as you progress through your day fishing.

What do you think?

Foam Fly Swap?

Owl Jones is running a fly swap.  It's open to 25 tiers total.  The fly has to be a terrestrial pattern and has to incorporate foam into it.  Get over there and join the 2012 Monsters of Fly Tying swap (I'm pretty sure Owl has that phrase trademarked now). A huge thanks for OJ for being the swap master and making this happen.

Sunday Randomness

While I was helping my wife clean the house yesterday (getting ready for Super Bowl guests today), my sister-in-law was in Vermont and visiting the Orvis Flagship Store in Manchester and decided to send me some pictures to rub it in.

The pond at the store.

Orvis Rod Factory

Thanks to Dub the Thorax for the shout out in his blog and welcome to the readers who were sent my way by him.  And if you haven't read Dub the Thorax, head over there and check it out!

Russ Maddin's Circus Peanut

With winter time and a lack of fishing, I switch over to mostly tying and not so much fishing.  To break the monotony of just filling my boxes, I participate in fly swaps if I'm interested in the theme.  Over on the Pa Fly Fish forum, someone suggested an articulated streamer swap.  I'm really going to fish streamers hard this year to hopefully have some success with them, both for trout and smallies.  Since we did something similar last year with the Meatbox Swap and it was a huge success, I decided to join up.

I choose for my pattern the Circus Peanut.  As far as I can tell, this fly was originally tied by Russ Maddin, if I'm wrong I'd love to give credit to the tier who first created this fly.  Here is my step-by-step for this fly.

Materials List:
Hooks: Two 2XL long streamer hooks in size 2-4 (I'm using Mustad 3306 Size 2)
Thread: Black 6/0
Eyes:Waspi Painted Eyes Size Medium
Tail: Marabou
Flash:Crystal Flash
Body: Crystal Chenile
Hackle: Black Schlappen
Legs: Sili Legs


Step 1: Attach the eyes to the front hook.  Use the Figure 8 wrapping technique and apply some glue to firmly lock the eyes into place.  Set aside to let the glue dry.

Step 2: Moving to the rear hook, tie in marabou tail and wrap up hook to create bulk for body.

Step 3: Tie some flash into the tail.

Step 4: Tie in chenile and wrap 3/4 of the way up the shank.

Step 5: Tie in 2 sili legs on each side.  Wrap chenile up the shank a few turn.

Step 6: Tie in 2 more sili legs on each side and wrap the chenile up the shank a few more turns.

Step 7: Tie off chenile and tie in your hackle dull side facing down.

Step 8: Make a few wraps of hackle and tie off.  I like to make a few thread wraps over the hackle to make sure it lays down over the body.

Step 9: Whip finish and apply some head cement.  The back hook is now finished.

Step 10: Using 7 strand jewelry wire, attach back hook to front hook.  This is an important step as it will determine how the articulated fly will swim in the water.  I like to tie one end of the wire to the front hook, then come up through the hook eye of the second fly and attach the other end of the wire to the front hook.  This ensures that the back hook will track the same way as the front hook.

Step 11: Tie in chenile and wrap up 3/4 of the hook shank.

Step 12: Tie in the legs as we did on the rear fly.  Wrap chenile up to the point right behind the eyes.

Step 13: Tie in the hackle dull side down and make a few wraps.  Tie off hackle and wrap thread over it to make sure it lays down like before.

Step 14: Wrap the chenile over the eyes in a Figure 8 pattern, make one wrap of chenile in front of the eyes, tie off, and whip finish.  Apply head cement.

Finished fly: