The Fishbum Chronicles

custom of course, 9ft 7wt and 4pieces of love! Built for the smallies, but carp or catfish would be nice. I did a few things different on this rod than I would for a customer, I didn’t do a winding check, just thread and epoxy, no hook keeper and for a 7wt I didn’t do a fighting butt. I think it came out pretty nice.

Got into some nice crappie yesterday with my buddy Jeremy and his son. Nothing of real size. but we did catch about a dozen all on Clousers. I even had a few bumps on a prototype Ice Dubbing minnow I have been working on. I thought it would work and it proved me right. Now if I can get the bait profile right without messing up the way it swims. Anyways I will have some pictures of my new minnow prototype up tonight, but here are some pictures from yesterday.

are great flies. But I hate working with deer hair, so I rarely tie them. but I tied a few for an upcoming pickerel trip. They are very effective and they catch tons of smallies. Although I add my own thing to them. Instead of doing a flashabou wing, I buy hackle flash, and wrap that around the chenille instead. works great, and I like it better because I also don’t like working with flashabou. These act alot like Dahlberg Divers, but they also will sink if tied correctly and they will push tons of water and get any fish going. Needless to say I feel this pattern is on the same level as the Stealth Bomber.

Went to the Chagrin today without much hope of catching anything, and I was correct. Now many of you will say, “why even bother going if you know you won’t catch a thing?” The main reason behind todays outing was to introduce a new person to fly fishing. So we had fun, lots of laughs, some swearing and lots of looks as if; “how in the hell do I do this?!” He had fun and so did I, I did snap some pictures of some flowers. I was kinda of miffed at the weather though. Yesterday, 70* sunny, today 60* rainy. Gotta love Northeast Ohio’s version of spring. Tomorrow should be a little bit better for fishing. I wish I could just get into a consistent smallmouth pattern already… Although I guess it is still too early to get the consistently. A few more weeks and we will be there… I hope.

Here is the Stealth Bomber. For the body, I used black Ice Dub, and Waspi Oil Slick Foam. Great stuff. I also used white deer hair for the tail. I normally throw rubber leg’s and krystal flash in the tail. But I figure with this foam, and the flash in the Ice Dub, leg’s and krystal flash wasn’t needed. I really like how the fish blow up on this pattern. They absolutely tear it up, and normally I will go through a few a day just because the fish smash it so hard it will fall apart no matter how much head cement I use. I say for any place you are fishing for bass this pattern is a necessity  to have.

Well it’s been a long time since I last posted. I haven’t been doing a whole lot other than trying to find a new job, which I might add isn’t going too well.. This economy can’t get much worse I don’t think. But I’ve been wrong many times before.

I think I fixed my problem. I want to thank the guys at ultralightflyfishing.yuku.com they truly were a help and made my pattern a bit better, as I dropped the beadhead. But I will return to the beadhead son enough and make it grand. Here’s the new picture.

I am just learning how to tie these guys. I think mine look a bit off. Any help? Suggestons will be taken seriously. I think my hackle is a bit off, no?

because I will be at the Cleveland Cavaliers game, watchin’ LeBron and the crew “throw the hamma down!”. I hope every has a happy hump day!

So I couldn’t sleep tonight, so I tied up some scuds. Almost any fishery you go to will have scuds, wether or not they are a viable food substance for the fish will determine wether you should tie some or not. The only time I really get to fish them here in NorthEast Ohio is during the steelhead run. Other than that I use them on the tail-waters in Tennessee, Arizona, and Georgia. I will also use them on the spring creeks in the Drift-less Region, as there, they are considered one of the biggest food substances available. It is said that scuds are naturally earth tones, gray’s, tan’s, olive’s and black. It is when that they are near death or dead that they then turn into the bright vibrant colors; pink’s, orange’s and yellow’s. I would say of all the bug’s trout feed on, the scud is by far my favorite. I cannot describe why, maybe it’s their shape, or their color’s but to be honest I don’t know. Maybe it’s because when I start to run low on this pattern I can have two or three dozen, in several colors and sizes tied up in and hour and a half. .. Bah I don’t know, they are just a damn cool bug.