Got the flu? Tie a fly.

So I have yet to contract this flu plague, but my wife on the other hand has not been so fortunate.  Because I had to do some male nursing, I set up my vise next to the couch where my wife was buried in blankets and sipping Nyquil.  I spent the entire day tying tiny tailwater flies, woollies and other practical junk.  Turned out to be a pretty productive day.

 

I tied about 3 dozen flies or so but I decided to only take crappy pictures of a few of them.  I haven't tied a wooly in forever and it was kind of fun to crank these little guys out.

 

Here is a sample of all the tailwater junk I tied up.  I've had a lot of success on tailwaters here in Arkansas with all of these little flies.  Mostly 16s and 18s.  Hopefully I won't contract the plague so that I can fish tomorrow.  I guess I'll find out soon- at least my fly box is full.

Congo Hair Bass Flies

Got some Congo Hair from the Fly Tyer's Dungeon this Christmas and I've just been going nuts with the stuff.  I got the "Baitfish Box" which includes every color and variety of Congo Hair that has ever been conceived.  I've been doing clousers, EP style baitfish, I made myself a mustache...  not really, I grow a solid creepster 'stache on my own.  

I got the idea for these from several other flies- nothing real original here but I do think that these will fish pretty well for bass and smallmouth.  These are all on "Laser Sharp" cheapo worm hooks (which work really well) and are just Congo Hair, marker, a little flash here and there and 8mm 3d eyes from Montana Fly Co.  

This one is on a 2/0 hook- the others are 3/0s.  I like the 2/0 better but I only had one.

Still working on the EP style baitfish.  This style is kind of tough to get the proportions correct and I always seem to cut too much material.  Don't think the fish will care but I like them to look good.  This one is on an size 2 Allen SW002. I also really need to get a better camera- these pictures turned out worse than usual.  

Winter Issue of SCOF is Here!

http://www.southerncultureonthefly.com/scof_winter2013.html

The Winter edition of Southern Culture on the Fly e-zine is here and it is the bee's knees.  Grab a beverage and fire up your tablet cuz this thing will keep you entertained for a while-  A really long while if you read as slow as I do and tend to get lost in the pretty pictures.

And the Disease Spreads...

So I am sure you have experienced this if your friends know you as a "fly fisherman."  You have buddies tell you all the time that they want you to take them fishing.  You are always game.  You think it would be great to have more fishing buds.  You call them and... they never go.  

 Well my buddy Drew decided not to be "that guy."  We took off for the Little Red at dawn on the coldest, iciest day we could have picked and went immediately to Cow Shoals to see if the browns were there.  Long story short, they weren't.

 Now, keep in mind that Drew has never fly fished before.  He currently owns exactly one Ugly stick and about 3 soft plastic lures.  I gave him a quick (probably inadequate) front-yard casting lesson, packed (what I thought was) the necessary extra gear, and we headed out.  

 

Drew picked up the casting pretty quick, I lent him my Z-Axis 5 weight and he was set up.  We finally get there and its pretty cold, but not bad enough to keep us off the water.  I start putting my stuff on and look around for all the stuff I brought for Drew.  I find the rod, the boots, a pair of gloves and the waders... Unfortunately I have two pairs of spare hodgeman waders.  One pair is a size large and is a little leaky.  The other waders are my wife's pair... and she is miniature.  Guess which one I brought. 

And guess who had no choice.  Yep, Drew donned a pair of Lady Hodgemans intended for a tiny blonde woman and we hit the river.  Luckily for Drew, Cow was a bust.  So he got out of those waders before he lost an appendage to circulation issues and we headed up to the dam.  I figured the fish would be more active in the warmer water coming from the lake.

Well, in the end, fishing was tough.  Really tough.  We were fishing 7x and small midges and couldn't buy a strike.  Those little stockers up at the dam were shut down.  I could see them refuse every little fly I floated past their little fish faces.  Oh well, can't win 'em all.  

Somehow, Drew managed to hook one on a red midge.  I yelled something I am sure was incoherent about keeping his rod up or something and grabbed a net.  Drew handled that little bow like a champ and had his first trout on the fly with no need for a net while I rung up a big ol' goose egg.  In the end, Drew said he wants to get a rod and some waders and I think he may have contracted this wonderful disease of a hobby- even though it was 26 degrees, snowing, and the fish were being lame.  Thats it- Stay Fly and spread the disease.

Joel Dejong Art- Making My Manroom More Manly

My awesome wife got me some Christmas goodies that I just had to share.  I got two incredible prints from a real "fish art" artist.  I have to admit that this was the inspiration for my redear drawing.  

My wife was really impressed with Joel's professionalism and his promptness in returning her emails.  This guy is a class act and a great artist.

This one is my favorite.  This bad boy is staring at me from right over my desk.  I was pumped to open these on Christmas morning and I really didn't expect them.  If you're in the market for some baller fish art, get on over to hexfishing.com and order a print or ten.  I am sure Joel will appreciate it and you won't find a better print or better customer service.  He also sells his originals which I'd love to have hanging on my wall... maybe next Christmas.

Also, you can check out Joel's blog at  http://ayearonthefly.blogspot.com/

Fish Art- Nerding Out

Yep, I've been nerding out and dusting off the art stuff that has been stashed in my closet since highschool.  Luckily, I haven't seen any football players around lately, so maybe I won't get stuffed in a locker this time.  This redear sunfish is my latest attempt at "fish art."

I did this one a while back for my buddy Jon Marc- hence the clever title.

This picture of the drawing is pretty bad because it has glass on top of it and I was too lazy to get it out.  Anyway, this one was the first trout I have done in colored pencil.  I did this one from a picture of a fat bow I landed at the dam on the Little Red River.

This one is a few practice runs with just pencil.  Just trying to get the ol' art blood flowing again.  Thanks for looking- I hope my poor art skills didn't offend anyone.  Stay fly.