Classic Wet Flies, Part 2: Victoria & Victoria Green

Tied a few more winged wets last night and, predictably, I'm more pleased with the results.  Here's a pair of similar flies, the Victoria and the Victoria Green.  These are the first flies I've tied using jungle cock, and I've got to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how easily they were handled.  A week or two ago, I picked up a cheap "fishing grade" jungle cock neck, and was looking for a good opportunity to try using some of these beautiful feathers.  Though the nails pictured were in pretty good condition to begin with, I still "repaired" them, using a tiny amount of Sally Hansen's on the back of the feather, to hold...

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Classic Wet Flies, Part 1: Arthur Hoyt

At the beginning of the year, I made a fly fishing new year's resolution to learn to tie and fish classic wet flies.  To that end, I've done alot of reading and practicing, even producing a handful of wets that I was proud to claim as my own ties.  Many, many more didn't turn out so well, and went straight to the fly box.  Over the past month or two, I'd gotten away from the slip wings, and expanded my experience tying hairwing streamers.  While I like both, I definitely wanted to get back to the feather wings, so last night, I flipped through my copy of Trout by Ray Bergman, and chose this pattern, the Arthur Hoyt, as...

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Weather Woes

Seems like lately, the weather has been absolutely hating the people of southwestern PA.  This week we had more or less beautiful skies all through the week, only to get rain put into the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, then back to nice weather for Monday and the rest of next week. In any event, I've still tried to get out on the water a few evenings, but the high water from the rain combined with windy conditions have made hatches brief, sporadic events that the fish haven't really been reacting to.  The only place I've been fishing dries to great effect is a local pond, with bluegill, with whom the "Adams hatch" has been well...

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A Windy Day on New Water

Venturing out to a new stream alone, and learning to fish it on the fly is something I always love to do when I can.  Overcoming a few challenges and making a great day out of the experience usually makes for one of the more memorable days of the season. Saturday I traveled a bit farther than I normally do, and fished a stream I'd never been to before.  It was really nice to get a change of scenery and the fish didn't disappoint either.  I wanted to use the 1wt, but when I arrived and opened the door of my car, the wind nearly blew it shut again, so ultralight was out of the question.  Instead, I strung up my 4wt...

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Introducing the 1wt

Hey all, I know it's been a while since the last post, but there really hasn't been a whole lot of fishing-related news for me to post.  With the warming weather, hatching bugs, and new toys, though, I've got lots to write about again! The biggest news is that about a week and a half ago, I became the proud new owner of a new ultralight fly rod. Back in early March (when we were still buried under an unhealthy dose of snow), I started talking to friend and rod builder Skip Hughes of Mile Creek Custom Rods to discuss particulars of having a custom fly rod built.  This, on the heels of barely missing an opportunity at buying a used...

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