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3. 2nd annual fly swap, Page 3

I think postage was around $2.00 last year. So that should be fine.
Jeff

i was just reading about the barb vs. barbless debate. fyi all my flies will come with barbs up. i figure its easier to push em down than pull em up.

Funny you mention that, Trtklr. I can't remember if I crimped mine or not. Usually I do, but I may have forgotten this time. Your logic seems good to me, though, so hopefully I did forget.

-Shawn

for myself, i crimp them all before i begin.
for swaps, i don't, since i won't be fishing them.

and then there was the tie-along demonstration i attended: my magnifier got left behind in the rush to get out the door to the meeting. hooks were passed down the table and i took one and carefully aimed my small pliers at the proper place on and squeezed. the locally-very-well-respected demonstrator observed me and commented that it was always a very good idea to do that, but that hook just happened to be barbless to begin with...

I'm guilty. I always debarb , the hooks come out of skin,jacket,hat so much easier.

Flies are on the way.

JaD

I debarb about 50%, i'd debarb them all if I could only remember. There is nothing worse than trying to pull a barbed fly out of your fleece gloves on a Jan. day.
jeff

jeff (Littlej)- extended body cdc caddis
2-Casey (Caseyp)- bloody butchers
3-Louis (Martinlf)-bwo emerger
4-Scott (Trtklr)-shimmer nymph
5-shawn (Shawnny3)-john silver (recieved)
6-artie (Al514)-curly's
7-mike (grannom)-"grannom's" grannom caddis
8-Jarod (Sirhoops23)- ?
9-John (johnw)-streamer?
10-John (JAD)- Drake (recieved)

Bloody Butchers will go postal on Monday.

lesson learned: when a pattern has a difficult final part, make all the flies to that point, and then do all the hard parts at once. it stops being so hard.

thank you Jeff for hosting this swap again. looking forward to all the best of everyone's fly box!

Thanks casey i'm looking forward to seeing them.

Hope to have "Chuck's Sculpins" in the mail Monday or Tuesday. There is a sudden and remarkable shortage of adequately stocked fly shops in the Cumberland Valley. Which neccessitated a drive to State College today.
And yes 20* is still "fishable weather"; especially with a hot bowl of Chili waiting when you get back to the car.
JW

sounds good john.......you picked the wrong day to make the state college trip, I had a balmy 50 deg. registered on the thermometer today.
jeff

Jeff,
While it was cold I saw only one other angler (our own Louis) from the Stackhouse Bldg. down to the new bridge.
Fishing was slow but I managed 4 trout and a massive sucker in just over 4 hours of fishing. And one of those trout was on a dry.
JW

Yes, the two PA Johns of our site have decided to induce hypothermia or frostbite in me this winter if at all possible. I haven't perfected the below 30 degree nymphing method and managed a skunking for the first time in a while, though I did catch some nice icicles on my line and leader. But John W was in great form, and I'm learning some ice nymphing techniques from him. Needless to say, it was cold. My reel took an unexpected dip and when it came out froze up pretty well. I'm estimating the temps were in the upper teens in the shade and lower twenties in the sun. The chili was potent though, and warmed us up nicely. My flies along with some photocopies on loops should get in the mail by the end of the week.

Louis all you had to do was fish with nymphs that had a
large hot spot on them . A little Jack would have given you a warm and fuzzy feeling also.

The other John

size 18-22 black zebra midge w/ a hot orange bead, anchored w/ a vladi worm, and a spawn/glo bug/ any other flavor of the day riding up top, fished on a shortline(i.e. czech) seemed to be about all I need this winter. Oh yeah throw in the occasional streamer.
jeff

OK, you experts, head over to State College the first day below 25 degrees and I'll sit in the van and take notes.

Just kidding, and thanks for the recommendations. :)

That's something that should be on every bodies must see list, Louis doing his wiggle dance,trying to keep warm.

John

you all encouraged me so much i went out yesterday and today. yesterday snowy/sleety/rainy, and today it looked like a postcard. hooray for non-felt-soled boots for walking on snow. the fishing was great, the catching not so much. back to the tying table.

Jeff, John D. I'll have to add that my problem probably wasn't so much with the flies I was using, but more with my leader and the approach I took. The following observations may help someone else. John W tells me he was sight nymphing in the low, clear water, and the fish he caught had to be fed the nymph by putting it right on their noses since they weren't moving to intercept them. I'm not a particularly good sight nympher, and plan to work on this. Also I had interminable leader problems that started with not having the right tippet with me, and were compounded by a few streamside trees I didn't notice due to the layers of fleece, extra hat, etc. Rerigging isn't such a problem to me when the temps are above 32, but when it's this cold everything seems harder--at least to me. I think John W is part polar bear!

please don't think my comment was criticism, frankly, it does my heart good to see i'm not the only one that spring creek fights back at.

Another quick idea about winter fishing. I started using tippet rings on my nymph leaders this fall. So when I go out and it's 25 and below i pre tie a handfull of droppers and wrap them on a piece of foam pipe insulation. That way I only have to tie one clinch knot to the ring, and I eliminate blood knots all together.
jeff