Trip Back Home

 

This weekend I made my way home to Asheville to visit some family. When I go home I never go without sliding by Hunter Banks (www.hunterbanks.com) to check out the shop, and I always ended up finding something I "need." Also I found out they had recently opened up an Orvis in Biltmore Park so I made my by there also.

In short I got ALOT of new stuff to make use out of in Charleston, including some awesome Chamelon fly line, dubbing,  Prism Dr. Slick Scissors, tiny hooks and some thread.

Now about Orvis, I was disappointed with the selection of fly tying products, it was more of a clothing store. I didn't know what to expect as I had never been in one before. If you need to tie some flies you can get what you need her but will not get the selection that would at Hunter Banks (www.hunterbanks.com) if you are in Asheville or at Lowcountry Flyshop (www.lowcountryflyshop.com) in Charleston. Everyone in the shop was incredibly helpful, and did purchase a fly I had never seen before it was a small baitfish tied on a sz 14 scud hook out of Senyos Laser Dub, will take a picture and post later.

 

After the quick stop and the local shops I headed to visit my Mom at work. One of her co-workers introduced me to flyfishing about 8 or so years ago. He gave me my first fly rod a 3wt Sage, and I was hooked. I stop in and talked to him everytime I go to visit her and he asks me how things are in Charleston. I told him I had recently been given a new 8wt that a friend had made. As we were talking about it he reaches behind a cabinet knocks the dust off of a Sage case and says, "Here, I broke the tip off of it but send it off Sage will warranty it." It was a 2 piece 7wt, Graphite III. He said it had been in the corner for about 4yrs and he didn't plan on using it again. I went right back to Hunter Banks and sent it off immediately hopefully it makes it back soon, I look forward to chasing some Redfish with it this year.

 

Turned out to be a pretty eventful trip back home in Asheville, next time I will carry some of the midges I have been tying and splash them down. I sure miss the mountains and will probably move back home in the future.

Good Friends, Good Ties, and the Fly Fishing Film Tour

The other day a good friend ventured over to the Fly Tying Desk, in hopes of filling his box full of midges for his upcoming trip. We went to the Fly Tying Store, Lowcountry Flyshop (www.lowcountryflyshop.com) picked up some materials, picked up some Blue Moon and started tying.

So as for his fly box, it is full now. Trey departed and the wife and I went to Capt. Fuss's home to enjoy a well prepared meal of Grilled Chicken Tacos.

I made some Pico De Gallo and some bean dip, and everything came together very nicely.

Then Capt. Fuss, Amanda (Fuss's Lady), Jess (my wife) and I, headed to the Fly Fishing Film Tour.

www.flyfilmtour.com


I missed this show my first 2 years in Charleston, but the past two years I haven't. but this year Iwas disppointed, it just wasn't as great as it has been in years past. Not nearly enough fish porn as Hank Patterson had promised in the opening, oh well I will still be attending next year in hopes of seeing more fish caught OTF. Also you can't beat hearing a reel screaming due to a 100lb+ Tarpon on the other end, damn you Keys. Maybe it will include more salty videos next year.

More tying to come soon

S.O.

New Year ... kind of

Wow, I just looked at my "blog" I call it a "blog" due to the fact that I didn't blog much. This year I will keep it update although if you are my friend on Facebook, or know me from a few of the fishing websites I post on I keep them pretty updated.

Latest Report ....

Headed out with Holy City Fishing Charters and my good buddy Capt. John Fuss we decided we were going to wade up a few creeks and see if we could find some pinned in redfish. We found a few but not nearly as man as we were planning. We threw 3 patterns the Craft Fur Shrimp I recently created.

We also chucked 2 Clousers of different color variations. No luck that day but did find some cool new spots.

Hopefully the tailers will arrive soon, will be exploring some new wading spots soon. Posting pictures of any action.

Gurglar Shrimp How To

For those interested in tying the Reverse Gurglar Shrimp here is the how to, I am hoping to try this pattern this weekend

Everything Needed for the pattern

Thread Danville Cream 210

Hook Size 4 Gamakatsu B10S

Tan Marabou

Tie in 2 Hackle Feathers Rooster or Grizzly, your choice

Softex Eyes Made with 50 LB Mono

Cut the Eyes apart tying them in on opposite sides, color them black with a Sharpie

Materials used for the Body, 1 Grizzly Feather, 1 Small Piece Foam, 5 inches Cream Chenille

Tie in Chenille, I wrap once behind eyes and once in front to position the eyes

Once in front

Tie in foam piece in front of eyes, and chenille wrap

Tie in Grizzly Feather

Wrap Chenille down shank and to the eye

After the chenille, wrap the hackle to hook point

Pull the foam over and tie it down, trim to your choice of shape, I like a point or straight

Enjoy, will post videos of use

Tight Lines

Simon O

Tying the Week of January 15

Just a few pictures from this week in tying

"The Leslie", to this fly I owe everything, for it provided me with my first Redfish on the fly

Gurglin' Shrimp

Create that wake that's what this shrimp will do

Quick Divin' Shrimp

EZ Crab - Made Using EP Tarantula Wrap = Incredibly easy way to make a crab body, only thing I don't like is trimming away so much material,  can't wait to see him swim

                                                                                       

Buck Tail/EZ Pink Dub Shrimp - Wanted to try the scud body material (pink elastic under the deer hair on top), plan on tying some more this week, using shorter deer hair.

Quick Divin' Shrimp with Legs

EP Fiber Minnow

The fly line-up from this week

"The Leslie", and some EP Minnows

Gurglin' Shrimp

Swim Fish Swim

EP Fiber Minnow

I found EP Fibers about 1 year ago, I bought it and tried it out. EPIC FAIL. The minnows were FAT and floaty, just didn't work so after some lessons and some how to directions from the guys at Charleston Angler, Mad Mike, Josh, and some guy who I don't remember his name. I figured out that EP Fiber. So I figured I would provide a little bit of learned direction for those just starting out with it. No way could I take all the credit for this post. Thanks to the above guys for direction, maybe a few people can learn from my mistakes.

Hook Gamakatsu SC15 Wide Gap Sz 1 $4.25 for 12

Thread Uni Smoke Monofil (Stacks Quickly, be minimal, 2 wraps should hold) $1.99 I think

EP Fiber Blue 3D Fiber and White (LESS IS MORE) Using to much will make a FAT UGLY floaty minnow. Yes its expensive but I would guess you can tie 30 flies out of one pack at least. A pack of EP Fiber cost $8, average per fly is $0.26 for EP

I tied in a small piece of red yarn for a vein of sorts, maybe blood, which isn't necessary, very cheap item, also could use red EP Fibers, but I already had the yarn accessible. Once I tied in the yarn I started building with EP Fibers, first couple of tie-ins are longer then you start to shorten up.

The fly will be ugly until its finished atleast from my experience, and I am no pro at fly tying by any means. Maybe the pros can make it pretty from the start to finish.

Trim and shape

Add the eye and finish  16 eyes 5/32 size, $2.99 $0.40 for a pair

Total cost, not counting mono "thread" is $1, average cost for an EP Fiber minnow in your tackle shops is $5 to $6, but after you add your time of tying maybe its worth buying, I enjoy tying though, you can probably make an EP minnow in around 10 mins. Your first time trying will take you an hour.

Hope you enjoy
Simon O