Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica
The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
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Roguerat on Jun 24, 2013June 24th, 2013, 5:40 am EDT
Been a while since I've posted anything, too much work and not enough time on the river (and when I had the time the water was too high to wade, it was a pretty wet spring all-in-all!)
Anyway, now I've got almost 2 weeks of freedom and heading north to the Manistee's, both Big and Little. I'm packing a basic tying kit consisting of a small bench, vise, tools and the materials for flies in the hatch-charts of my destination rivers.
Do any fly-fishers out there take their act on the road? Any advice or wisdom on what/what-not to take along (besides beloved spouse and our pooches)?
tight lines, and if I catch anything decent I'll shoot a message on it.
Roguerat
I Peter 5:7 'Cast your cares upon Him...'
Anyway, now I've got almost 2 weeks of freedom and heading north to the Manistee's, both Big and Little. I'm packing a basic tying kit consisting of a small bench, vise, tools and the materials for flies in the hatch-charts of my destination rivers.
Do any fly-fishers out there take their act on the road? Any advice or wisdom on what/what-not to take along (besides beloved spouse and our pooches)?
tight lines, and if I catch anything decent I'll shoot a message on it.
Roguerat
I Peter 5:7 'Cast your cares upon Him...'
Feathers5
Posts: 287
Posts: 287
Feathers5 on Jun 24, 2013June 24th, 2013, 6:17 am EDT
I take the basics, too, but I also read up on the bugs that will be hatching while I'm going to be on a particular stream. I take material to tie those flies. When I arrive I check the local fly shop to make sure I have the correct shade (color of dubbing). For instance, sulphur colors can vary from shades of dirty yellow to orange depending on what creek they appear. There's nothing like bullshitting about the day's events, tying flies and drinking a beer in the evening.
Roguerat on Jun 24, 2013June 24th, 2013, 6:43 am EDT
Hey, that's what I do with my wife around the campfire...
seriously, good advice on colors for dubbing. I've caught some discrepancies (a lot) between 'pattern book' flies and what's actually on the river.
I 'borrowed' the grand-kids'butterfly net, too; great for nabbing an unlucky insect as it flies by.
thanks!
Roguerat
seriously, good advice on colors for dubbing. I've caught some discrepancies (a lot) between 'pattern book' flies and what's actually on the river.
I 'borrowed' the grand-kids'butterfly net, too; great for nabbing an unlucky insect as it flies by.
thanks!
Roguerat
Kschaefer3 on Jun 24, 2013June 24th, 2013, 7:35 am EDT
There's nothing like bullshitting about the day's events, tying flies and drinking a beer in the evening.
No doubt about that! I usually bring a little tying kit. I fish/camp alone very often. Sometimes I'll bust out the headlamp, crack a cold beer and tie a few before bed.
I 'borrowed' the grand-kids'butterfly net, too; great for nabbing an unlucky insect as it flies by.
I need to get something of the sort. It would be so much easier to identify bugs up close.
Sayfu
Posts: 560
Posts: 560
Sayfu on Jun 24, 2013June 24th, 2013, 8:47 am EDT
I quit doing it. I prefer the best setup for me possible, and that is in my fly tying room. Anywhere that I would go I pretty much know the patterns I will need, and have them with me. A packing pain to have all that I need to bring with me on the road regarding fly tying. If I need a pattern? I am happy to buy it in exchange for good info at the fly shop.
Kschaefer3 on Jun 24, 2013June 24th, 2013, 12:32 pm EDT
But the beer and the campfire are mandatory.. My son and I are going into the boreal forest for 2 weeks next week.
That sounds awesome!! Chasing brookies?
Your son doesn't look old enough for beer ;)
Oldredbarn on Jun 27, 2013June 27th, 2013, 3:56 pm EDT
There's nothing like bullshitting about the day's events, tying flies and drinking a beer in the evening.
...and scarfing down a couple of Sheetz's mayonaise and cheese covered hot dogs...Hey Brucey!? :) I don't know how old Tony slept in that room after that dinner! He's a bigger man than I, Gunga Din! ;)
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Jmd123 on Jun 27, 2013June 27th, 2013, 6:27 pm EDT
"My son and I are going into the boreal forest for 2 weeks next week. YES !!!! NO FRICKIN city light.."
Mack, sounds like you could use a portable telescope! Hope you're taking at least a good pair of binoculars to check out the stars...I am an amateur astronomer who hasn't used his 10" reflecting telescope in too long...the Great Lakes Star Gaze star party comes up in about three months, and in my recent field work on the west side in the Manistee National Forest I recognized a road that leads to the campground where the party happens about halfway to my destination. A star party is when a whole bunch of amateur astronomers gather for anything from a weekend to a whole week (Texas Star Party, which is a blast) and stay up all night with their optics, digital cameras (they caught on in astronomy long before hitting the "civilian" market), computer drives, etc. and look at the Universe...
But I digress...I can box my tying stuff up into about three boxes of moderate size, so if I'm on a long trip with serious flyfishing possibilities and a need to match hatches I can fit the stuff in my trunk. Overhead luggage bin? Well, I'd simply take a subset of my materials as relevant for the needs of the trip. Which, I could probably get into the space of a medium-sized tackle box, great for organizing fly-tying materials for mobility (adjustable folding drawer compartments are perfect for organizing spools of threads/floss/wires/tinsels, boxes of hooks, minor materials like eyes & beads & packs of dubbing, head cement/flexseal/lacquer, etc.; the open cavity of the main body is good for capes and saddles, packs of feathers/hair/bucktails, etc.).
Just my 2 cents worth...
Jonathon
Mack, sounds like you could use a portable telescope! Hope you're taking at least a good pair of binoculars to check out the stars...I am an amateur astronomer who hasn't used his 10" reflecting telescope in too long...the Great Lakes Star Gaze star party comes up in about three months, and in my recent field work on the west side in the Manistee National Forest I recognized a road that leads to the campground where the party happens about halfway to my destination. A star party is when a whole bunch of amateur astronomers gather for anything from a weekend to a whole week (Texas Star Party, which is a blast) and stay up all night with their optics, digital cameras (they caught on in astronomy long before hitting the "civilian" market), computer drives, etc. and look at the Universe...
But I digress...I can box my tying stuff up into about three boxes of moderate size, so if I'm on a long trip with serious flyfishing possibilities and a need to match hatches I can fit the stuff in my trunk. Overhead luggage bin? Well, I'd simply take a subset of my materials as relevant for the needs of the trip. Which, I could probably get into the space of a medium-sized tackle box, great for organizing fly-tying materials for mobility (adjustable folding drawer compartments are perfect for organizing spools of threads/floss/wires/tinsels, boxes of hooks, minor materials like eyes & beads & packs of dubbing, head cement/flexseal/lacquer, etc.; the open cavity of the main body is good for capes and saddles, packs of feathers/hair/bucktails, etc.).
Just my 2 cents worth...
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Gutcutter on Jun 28, 2013June 28th, 2013, 5:11 am EDT
For what it's worth...
I bring my stuff everywhere I go and spend at least one night.
And I'm talkin' - local streams (you can ask Bruce how many times we have struck it rich with the right pattern that one or both of us didn't have when we arrived).
Conditions can change, hatches may be early or late...
When traveling by truck, I have a plastic container that fits everything I need and then some. It is small enough to fit on the back seat floor mat of my 150. Every Econolodge in Central PA has dealt with my feather scraps, and I assume the West Branch Angler expects it.
When I travel by air, I can fit everything I think I may need in a gallon sized ziplock bag that goes in my carry-on. I have tolerated more than a few strange glances while tying bonefish flies on an airplane to the Bahamas, trout flies in the Denver airport lounge waiting for my connection to Helena, Coho streamers in Minneapolis during an Alaska Airlines delay, chugging Landsharks in Miami while tying tarpon bunnies...
A travel vise with c-clamp, a few bobbins with different thread colors, tools (scissors, bobbin threader, whip finisher, bodkin, stacker and hackle pliers) and trip specific/species specific materials.
Whiting 100 packs are great for travel, dubbing, various feathers such as a small patch of partridge, various synthetics like z-lon for shucks, biots and CDC for trout adventures.
Hooks are best sorted beforehand and placed into something like a weekly pill organizer.
There is nothing like tying a new pattern that works better than what you already have stocked.
I bring my stuff everywhere I go and spend at least one night.
And I'm talkin' - local streams (you can ask Bruce how many times we have struck it rich with the right pattern that one or both of us didn't have when we arrived).
Conditions can change, hatches may be early or late...
When traveling by truck, I have a plastic container that fits everything I need and then some. It is small enough to fit on the back seat floor mat of my 150. Every Econolodge in Central PA has dealt with my feather scraps, and I assume the West Branch Angler expects it.
When I travel by air, I can fit everything I think I may need in a gallon sized ziplock bag that goes in my carry-on. I have tolerated more than a few strange glances while tying bonefish flies on an airplane to the Bahamas, trout flies in the Denver airport lounge waiting for my connection to Helena, Coho streamers in Minneapolis during an Alaska Airlines delay, chugging Landsharks in Miami while tying tarpon bunnies...
A travel vise with c-clamp, a few bobbins with different thread colors, tools (scissors, bobbin threader, whip finisher, bodkin, stacker and hackle pliers) and trip specific/species specific materials.
Whiting 100 packs are great for travel, dubbing, various feathers such as a small patch of partridge, various synthetics like z-lon for shucks, biots and CDC for trout adventures.
Hooks are best sorted beforehand and placed into something like a weekly pill organizer.
There is nothing like tying a new pattern that works better than what you already have stocked.
All men who fish may in turn be divided into two parts: those who fish for trout and those who don't. Trout fishermen are a race apart: they are a dedicated crew- indolent, improvident, and quietly mad.
-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
Feathers5
Posts: 287
Posts: 287
Feathers5 on Jun 28, 2013June 28th, 2013, 7:11 am EDT
For what it's worth...
I bring my stuff everywhere I go and spend at least one night.
And I'm talkin' - local streams (you can ask Bruce how many times we have struck it rich with the right pattern that one or both of us didn't have when we arrived).
Conditions can change, hatches may be early or late...
When traveling by truck, I have a plastic container that fits everything I need and then some. It is small enough to fit on the back seat floor mat of my 150. Every Econolodge in Central PA has dealt with my feather scraps, and I assume the West Branch Angler expects it.
When I travel by air, I can fit everything I think I may need in a gallon sized ziplock bag that goes in my carry-on. I have tolerated more than a few strange glances while tying bonefish flies on an airplane to the Bahamas, trout flies in the Denver airport lounge waiting for my connection to Helena, Coho streamers in Minneapolis during an Alaska Airlines delay, chugging Landsharks in Miami while tying tarpon bunnies...
A travel vise with c-clamp, a few bobbins with different thread colors, tools (scissors, bobbin threader, whip finisher, bodkin, stacker and hackle pliers) and trip specific/species specific materials.
Whiting 100 packs are great for travel, dubbing, various feathers such as a small patch of partridge, various synthetics like z-lon for shucks, biots and CDC for trout adventures.
Hooks are best sorted beforehand and placed into something like a weekly pill organizer.
There is nothing like tying a new pattern that works better than what you already have stocked.
It sure made the difference during the Olive hatch on Spring Creek this year.
Joeinnm on Jul 15, 2013July 15th, 2013, 7:41 am EDT
I put all my stuff in a backpack. Check out qualiflyproducts.com for some cool stuff for traveling. The desk is great for tying in your car or setting in a folding chair. It folds up nice and thin and it's easy to carry.
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