Not trying to promote another site or anything, just far to lazy to retype all this. Thought it would be cool for you shwinging bums that like big ugly blue and black shat

http://gigharborflyshop.blogspot.com/

Nice lookin' bug.... thanks for the link.

ill take a dozen...call me

You sir... did an awesome job on that fly! I will take 2 dozen!

Where's the rhea

Nice work dude. Pretty for sure.

Trying to come up with an affordable version to sell in the shop..... so the rhea stays in the bin on the tying desk

Keith if you really want some call me, we still need to plan out a spey pride day this spring... you know, the one we've talked about for three years now.... lol

dude, ive been throwing alot lately...I do want a dozen but have some custom colors in mind. ill call ya

It's not about the fly.... it's about the fisher. I'll gladly pay the going rate for a few of those. Nice tie!

Just spent a few days on the Yakima with a friend. Me on the oars and Duane "casting" away. I kept telling him to fling it over there.... or, fling it the other way. He asked why I never told him to CAST here or there and I had to tell him that what he's doing doesn't even resemble a casting stroke.

Is Stam inching toward enlightenment? Careful Stam, the tug's the drug, and even you could be hooked!

Most of the "elitist" flyfisherman have two things going for 'em...they're bummed that we outfish the hell out of them with gear, and they're doubly bummed when they find out that we can flyfish, too, if we want to...and can be plenty successful that way, too, when we do.

Most good gear guys gear fish because we can cover a lot more water in a lot more conditions, and catch fish...not because we can't fish the "fly water" just as well as most flyflingers, with fly rods, and be just as successful.

Fish on...

Todd

May that never happen.

How did the saying go Todd? "I am not gay, but that doesn't mean I can't fly fish."

Seriously, I still think it is hilarious that we have somehow convinced ourselves that using one type of rod, reel, line, and lure to fool a fish is better or more pure than another type of rod, reel, line, and lure. We are good at dividing ourselves, I realize that, and perhaps this thinking is far too simple.

Even amongst the flyfishing community there are factions. Take those like Lemire that feel about swinging wet flies like many feather swingers feel about gear chuckers and bait soakers.

At the end of the day I would hope that at least most of us can respect what I think many are actually after, enjoying the experience in our own way. Hopefully my way doesn't negatively impact yours, and likewise, but some of that is unavoidable with so many people in close quarters these days. More important than respecting your fellow angler is respecting the resource. Without fish in the river, it really wont matter what sort of rod and reel you like to use.

About half my rods hold a fly reel and the other half a casting reel of some sort. I have got 50 skeins of eggs on borax in the fridge, just finished tying a size 16 hares ear, and I will keep trying to see a fisherman, as a fisherman, as a fisherman.

Cheers

Amen CG...

No doubt! I don't really care how you pursue them (within the law), I'll greet you just the same whether flinging flies or gear as I do both as well (except for low-holers, fly-fishermen should know better on this one).

These are a wonderful quarry that we pursue, and what I'll pay most attention to is respect of that resource.

It's OK if they want to be "elitist flyfisherman"....as long as they move quickly through the run.
It's those "mail box" guys that kill me.......the ones that create their own personal zip code and start receiving mail in the middle of the run

It used to be that the fly fishers I met were "kinda tweedy," As in full of it. do gooder, elitist snob, "I know what's best for you" knuckleheads. Not that I would ever be judgmental!

But now I find that many of the fly guys have spent lots of time behind gear, and the gear heads have more than one fly set up. As somebody said, the delivery system may vary but the water, fish, etc are generally the same.

I have picked up fly fishing because some of my buds fly fish and if I want to be in the play group that's what I do, and gladly. And it's a lot of fun.

And now, I'm getting stuck on learning about these gol durn bugs and where they live and how to tie them. Loads of fun.

Just got back from Eugene (gotta say "Go Ducks" on this one) and read ""Barr Flies" going down and "Bug Water" coming back both via train. Good reads for understanding trout, at least, and the things they eat.

As many here know, I am into helping stay out of the way on what our fishie friends do to survive, and I learned a lot from these books. For example, all these bugs are the transition point between plant matter and fish; they consume plant matter and turn it into the first available source of protein in these systems. I used to think that the health of the fish was the key indicator to a system's health, now I'm starting to think it is the bugs' health.

Sorry Stam, didn't mean to slight you. I only saw you trying to fly cast the one time. Maybe you're ascot qualified, and I just don't know it. Yeah, there are times that a well presented fly will outfish other methods, but I haven't seen that time occur during winter steelhead season, even when I caught fish and conventional gear anglers around me didn't.

The only good reason to fly fish for steelhead, unlike trout where it can be far and away the most productive method, is because you want to. About the same as choosing to fly fish for tropical flats species like bonefish, permit, and tarpon. Fly fishing for many species isn't about gaining membership to the club of ascot wearing elitists, wherever they are. Fishing for a lot of these fish species is about the personal satisfaction of doing something by other than the easiest way, learning a little more, working a little more, like shooting a deer or elk with a long bow instead of a compound or a scoped high power rifle.

And even if peculiar, there's something strangely satisfying in hooking a steelhead with a strange looking contraption like an Intruder when we know that a hunk of colored yarn most likely would have done the job just as well. Fishing, I think, is something that if one must explain it to someone, there ain't no way that person is going to understand it.

Lastly, like Salar says, where the hell are these elitists everyone keeps talking about? I may have seen a couple, but I'm not at all sure.

Sg

Go to BC and throw spoons...you'll see a side of a few otherwise mild-mannered flingers that you didn't know was there, quietly lurking just below the surface...

Fish on...

Todd

I have fished BC, but I didn't throw spoons. Fall steelhead fishing in BC usually has fly fishermen outnumbering conventional gear guys 3:1 or more, kinda' like inland Columbia tribs where spinning and casting rods are noticalble exceptions.

Good spoon water and good fly water are usually the same. More gear conflict with a greatly increased angler population?

OTOH, maybe I'm less likely to see it after spending years winter steelheading when 98 to 99% of the anglers out there were tossing conventional gear and treating us few in number fly fishermen like we were an alien aberration.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if Stam takes a hankering to fly fishing, after he's quoted as saying nothing good can come from fly fishing.

Sg

That they do! Dedicated fishing bums, the perfect life . . . for some.

Looks like they got there at the perfect time. I talked with a friend who spent over a month up there this fall, in two trips actually, but also had to sit out the rain and river's being out. But his last nine days he averaged a steelhead per hour fished. Now that's some consistent fishing! He too is a fishing bum and doesn't have to deal with the burden of steady work, etc.

Sg