Mad Dash To The River

Thursday was a horribly slow day at the mercantile store.  I guess many folks are busy trying to get those last few gifts under the Christmas tree.  I found myself pacing back and forth, from one end to the other of the store and there was an uneasiness in me. 

That uneasy feeling stems from me constantly watching the weather, and in that I knew another northern front was headed our way and expected to arrive on Friday.  If a fellow didn't get to the river on this day, then it might be a week or better before conditions improved. 

Shortly after the lunch hour it became more than I could bear and I informed my young boss I would be taking a very long lunch break.  I assured him, however, that my return to the store would be imminent and he should not worry his young self.  My mad dash to the river was on.

Of course I just wanted, and needed, some river time.  But, there was another reason I wanted to hit the Blue and see if the bows were frisky... or not.  On Sunday, I had fair success with the Frenchie fly pattern and all this time the question on my mind asked if this pattern's performance was a fluke or real deal?

Wednesday night I churned out a bit more than a gaggle of Frenchie patterns in sizes 14 and 16 of the colors pink, chartreuse, and olive. This pattern calls for ice dubbing for the thorax, but due to my fly tying material inventory under some kind of austerity currently I used rabbit fur.  On Sunday, the rabbit fur didn't seem to matter at all to the trout - they seem to rather like it. 

I think fly tying is a marriage between the tyer and material.  As a tyer, I should never let myself become divorced from the vital materials needed.  Besides, this philosophy I carry is also a good excuse to go out and buy more stuff. 

I arrived at the river at almost exactly 2 p.m.  It was, for the most part, overcast with the sun making sporadic and feeble attempts to break through the soup in the sky.  The wind was solid and unrelenting straight out of the south.  The temperature was comfortable, even with the wind.  The river today was a pretty as I have ever seen her.  She is still showing that unique emerald hue, clear as a bell in most places, and today the river just looked fresh.  However, I am sad to report the flow and volume is diminishing.  Hopefully this weekend's rains will replenish.

 

As I walked across the top of Horseshoe Falls, there were bugs - lots of bugs.  Bugs in the color dark brown or black and skittering everywhere.  About 100 feet upstream I could see the trout keying on these critters, but that stretch of water is almost impossible for the fly fisher to get to without some kind of sailing vessel. 

 

I walked out on the ledge that Van and I favor whenever we come to this particular place.  It is deep here and I'm not sure exactly how deep, but I do believe it is one of the deepest runs on the Blue.  I would be fishing under an indicator today, but did not set my indicator to the depth of this run.  In other words, I fished it much more shallow than the rule of thumb tells us to.

 

Although I came to test the Frenchie, the chartreuse Copper John from my last outing was still tied on and I sent him sailing to the sea lane.  The first two casts resulted in two eats, along with two misses, which I seem quite prone to doing these days.  However, they say the third time is a charm and on the third cast the first bow of the afternoon would come in for branding.

 

 

Leaving the Copper John in action, two more bows would come my way.  The wind was so prolific today it interfered with the angler getting a natural drift.  The wind was blowing from downstream to upstream and here I was casting upstream for a downstream drift.  The indicator basically was floundered by the wind.  Usually when drifting I let the drift do the work, but today in order to capture a bow a little twitch had to be employed.

 

 

After three bows had been landed, I relieved the Copper John of duty and tied on a size 15 pink Frenchie.  As I put the Frenchie in the drink I wondered if it would indeed produce or not.  My answer came sooner rather than later.  The Frenchie seems to be the real deal.

 

 

 

The pink Frenchie would go on to capture four trout.  With time growing short I decided to try a size 14 chartreuse Frenchie.  This color didn't seem to be as attractive as the pink, but did manage one bow before my time was up. 

 

I wish I could have stayed all afternoon and more so I wish I would have had some company.  From where I was fishing I could see a good 1/8th of a mile upstream and twice that much downstream, and there wasn't a soul on the river.  The Blue looked quite lonely today.

 

In the white wagon at 3:28, I drove off the river having the pleasure of meeting eight citizens of the trout community at Blue.  

 







Landlocked And Fly Tying

This past week the prairie ocean took the polar plunge.  The north Texas area got slammed and most of Oklahoma didn't fare any better.  Making a fly fishing trip to Blue River was out of the question at least over the next several days.  It didn't take long for those cabin fever doldrums to set in.

However, as any good sea faring chap should do, I used the down time for much needed fly fishing maintenance and part of that included tying up a small amount of two different patterns.  After that initial try I continued to tie until I had a good dozen or so of each.

The two patterns that were on my mind in the warmth of the fly tying room was the Copper John and the Lightning Bug. Now, the Lightning Bug was a fairly easy tie for me, but the Copper John pattern gives me a little trouble.  This is one pattern, for me, that if the proportions are not exactly right then the finished product looks a bit... off.

 

The under body taper on this pattern is particularly important as the length of the copper body and then there is the abdomen, which also has to be well proportioned.  Out of a dozen or so finished Copper John's, I may have had five that I was absolutely delighted with.  The others will have to do as scrubs I think.

 

My first mate Drift was intently at my side over a three or four day period while I leaned into the vise tying more and more flies.  He is a dedicated friend for sure and I guess if he could have tied a few flies for me he would.

 

 

For sure I am not the most organized fly tier.  I tend to cram a lot of different materials on my desk at once because my mind wanders from pattern to pattern.  With everything that is needed to tie different patterns at my disposal I can quickly switch gears and dive into a new pattern with ease.  No, I never become confused having to deal with 38 different materials in front of me. 

 

 

For the most part I concentrated on the two patterns I mentioned.  After finishing the lot of Copper John's, I tackled the Lightning Bugs. Actually, there would be two different variations of Lightning Bugs.

 

One variation calls for pheasant tail to be used as the legging material.  The other calls for that fine product CDC.  Which will fish better remains to be seen, but I leaning toward the one dressed with CDC.  Sunday will prove to be a fine testing day for these creations.

 

 

 





 



 

 



Chapter 58 Day 26 - Trout Season

A Reason For On Line Fly Fishing Stuff Shopping

I made a conscious decision today to make this a non-fishing day.  In hindsight it looks like that was the right decision with the rather nasty weather encountered today - northerly winds up to 40 m.p.h. with rain. 

Yesterday was the infamous day known as Black Friday.  Ah yes, Black Friday... the day that some shoppers get too excited and caught up in the frenzy and decide to pepper spray their fellow humankind, or trample them at the entry, call in a bomb scare, and even worse shoot someone. 

Always having removed myself along with my rather not-so-temperate mood in crowded situations, I've always started my Christmas shopping the day after Black Friday, and therefore a trip to the big city was on the tab today.

Miss Carol is an outdoorsy kind of girl and likes outdoor-fashioned clothing - clothing lines such as Bob Timberlake, Natural Reflections, and The North Face.   In the big city is Bass Pro and they handle every needful thing that Miss Carol requires, so it made sense to start my shopping there.  In addition, I didn't see anything wrong with combining a Christmas shopping trip with a trip to re-supply a badly depleted fly fishing/fly tying arsenal. 

As far as the fly fishing and fly tying stuff, I had two goals in mind - things that these days are considered essential gear in this fly fishing life.  Since this body doesn't do the things it use to and the balance and coordination no longer allow for rock hopping, a wading staff was on the top of my personal shopping list today.  Secondly, I wanted to replenish material to tie flies for the upcoming carp season. 

Now, I knew that wading staffs could be pricey little devils, but, through self-talk and great visualization on the trip up, I could see myself opening the wallet and as the moth's ascended and hovered above the deepest and dark recesses of the money holder I would pluck a good number of Jackson's to purchase said wading staff. 

Bass Pro didn't have any wading staffs.  First disappointment of the day. 

Now, at the fly tying section, there were two main items the carp-by-fly lives of Charlie and myself required.  You would think that a fly shop would handle more than two sizes of curved caddis hooks, but, that wasn't the case today for me. 

Then, I started searching for krystal eggs that can be slipped on a hook. I come up with an idea for a new twist on a carp fly recently, but... no krystal eggs either. 

So, I bought some fly line cleaner, a bucktail, blood quill marabou, and a few other things and then went to the ladies apparel section.

The Natural Reflections line of clothing seem to put Timberlake and North Face to shame today.  Miss Carol will be receiving a good and varied wardrobe of Natural Reflections this Christmas.

On the way back from the big city it came across my mind how poorly I had done in my shopping quest today.  Poorly I say, and that's not mentioning the thirty-five dollars in pony feed I had to buy to keep the schooner ponies at full gallop. 

I would have been better off to stay at my prairie home, save the thirty-five dollars in pony feed, while most likely being able to get everything I needed or wanted and get free shipping by shopping on-line. 

In the competitive market of retailers these days, a good number are offering free shipping.  L.L. Bean is one that comes to mind and I've always loved L.L. Bean products. 

Sometimes... I really have by head up my arse.  From here on... it's on line shopping. 

A Perm And Some Streamer Feathers To Go Please

Yesterday, I found a message in the inbox from friend and fellow caster of fur and feather Charlie Wright.  Charlie was telling me of the new fly shop we have in our little town.  Well... a fly shop of sorts safe to say.  Charlie continued by saying the only problem in visiting this new fly shop was we'd have to get our hair or nails done.

Yes indeed, even in this small community we live in the feather extension craze has arrived. 

Who'd ever thunk it - women running around with chicken feathers in their hair?  And... it's playing heck with the availability and price of fly tying feathers.

Fly shops that use to sell a cape for $29.95 can now get as much as $360.00.  Whiting Farms is harvesting 1500 birds a week just to try and keep up with the demand. 

I guess if Charlie or I begin to run short on streamer feathers we can always go to the local beauty shop.  Maybe Charlie can get some highlights in that long flowing beard of his.  And me... I'll get a perm and a streamer hackle to go.