MidWest Fly Fishing Expo 2011 - ORGASMIC!!! (number 3)

oooohhhh!  I love surprises, even ones I know are coming!  As promised, I received my saltwater flies.  But, I also received a 5% discount on a trip and MORE than a dozen flies.  Thank you again to Mud Dog Saltwater Flies and Life on the Fly Outfitters!  I have no idea what these flies are called or where they are best used.  Help!!!  If anyone knows, please feel free to comment on them individually.

Mike "Dog" Rice was good enough to provide me with the following descriptions for these flies! Also, Mike advised me to not worry about trying them out in fresh water - they work there too. Thanks so much, WOOF!

Brooks Blonde

The Blonde Series was developed by Joe Brooks back in the 1940's. The Blonde is the "chassis" on which many flies are built. The Clouser, Deceiver, Grocery Fly and many, many more are really just extensions of the Blonde. The Blonde is responsible for numerous record fish both in salt and sweet water. Mike catches striped bass, bluefish, snook, jacks, 'cuda, shad, smallmouth & largemouth bass, pickerel, and yellow perch on the Blonde.



   

   



 

Cichetti's Sand Eel

A simple 2 feather flatwing pattern designed to imitate sand eels. Olive over white for daylight/clear water, black over purple for night time and dark water conditions.



 

    

  

 



Dazzle Bait

This is one of Mike's favorites, designed to imitate sand eels in the various sizes on the east coast. Tied from Deadly Dazzle (from Just Add H20 products), the body is overcoated with Anglers Choice Soft Body to prevent fouling and allows you to pick the fly up quickly and re-cast to moving fish without the fly fouling. He uses them to fish for striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and school sized bluefin tuna.

 







 

Fur Strip Half & Half

Half Deceiver, half Clouser, Weighted fly for fishing deep structure and punching down through surface feeds to the fish below.



Strakele's Popper

Pattern given to Mike by his mentor Capt Bill Strakele. Simple popper for topwater. Body is actually made by coring out lobster pot buoy's.







Whitebait

A utility baitfish pattern with epoxy over EZ Body. It can be used to mimic sand eels, silversides, juvenile herring, and pretty much any small bait.







MidWest Fly Fishing Expo 2011 - ORGASMIC!!! (number 2, and still more coming)

Another surprise raffle winning was waiting in my email the other day!!!  HAA!  You thought for a minute I won another trip! No, I didn't win first prize, which was 10% off any Saltwater trip with Life On The Fly Outfitters - that was Fraser Keith.  Looks like he's going to have some decision making in his future. 

Nor did I win the second place prize of a handmade American Leather Fly Wallet from Fly Wallets.  Just to see what I didn't win, I went to their site and it's functional art! Really beautiful stuff.  That lucky winner was Michael Schmidt.  Wherever you are Michael, better hang on to your wallet!

I was the very lucky and grateful 3rd place winner of.....

        drum roll please....

1 Dozen American Made Saltwater Flies courtesy of Mud Dog Saltwater Flies!!!!

When I receive them, I will take some pics and add them here.  And then, I guess, since I have the flies, I will have to take a saltwater trip.  That is how that works right?  Kind of like when a woman finds a pair of shoes on sale and then she HAS TO buy the outfit to go along with them.

MidWest Fly Fishing Expo 2011 - ORGASMIC!!! (number 1, there's another coming)

Ah...where to begin, I have so much in my head that it is just exploding!   It was the greatest abundance of fly fishing knowledge, experience, and addicts I have ever encountered all in one gathering.  Okay, so I was also a virgin Fly Fishing EXPO attender, which I can now no longer say.  Since I have no means of comparison, the bar has been set pretty high because of this experience. 

What an amazing group of non-egotistical people, intent on sharing their incredible wealth of tricks, tips, advice, guidance, stories, and love of fly fishing. The special guests were Kelly Galloup, Simon Gawesworth, Brian O'Keefe, Ed Engle, and Eric Stroup.  I was able to meet and speak with each one at length and will give more details later. There were so many others as well, sharing their expertise unselfishly for the betterment (is that a word?) of all. Come on - really!  Could you see Rapala giving classes on how to make your own lure so you didn't have to buy their lure anymore?  NO WAY!!!  And yet, there were so many free fly tying classes with all the secrets just given away. Where else can you be a groupie and really be able to ask anything you wanted to know and learn so much more?!?

In addition to picking all these wonderful fly guy's brains, I actually WON something BIG! YES, BIG Is Better! And YES, you should have been there, because it could have been you...maybe next year!  I won a full day guided trip, with accomodations at the AuSable Valley Inn on the Au Sable River from Bob Linsenman's Au Sable Angler.  I was told I'll be doing some dry fly and streamer fishing!  WoooHOOOO! 

When it comes to streamer fishing, it will be a first for me!  Good thing that I have watched Kelly Galloup's DVD on Articulated Streamers repeatedly, sat through his hysterically funny and over the top informative session on streamer fishing, took a class on tying the Sex Dungeon and Barely Legal, and purchased the book Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout, co-authored by Kelly Galloup and Bob Linsenman. Incidentally, you're probably thinking - oh that's why she won.  No, I can assure you, they had no idea that I purchased this book or any of the other stuff.  I do hope to get Bob to autograph my book when I am there for the trip.  I feel that the stars have aligned and the Big Fly Fishing God in the sky wants me to learn how to streamer fish!!! If I don't get an opportunity to practice before my trip, I know I couldn't be on better waters or with more accomplished company to learn how it's done. Be sure to stay tuned for pictures and stories on that trip - probably mid April - May or September timeframe.

And to top that off, I will also be fishing for Arctic Grayling in Michigan!!  YES, not Alaska - MICHIGAN!!! I know it sounds crazy, but if you know a little Michigan history, Arctic Grayling were native to the Au Sable River. The grayling — known for its slate blue color and sail-like dorsal fin, absolutely gorgeous colors with pink (had to throw that in because everyone should know it's my favorite color!) — vanished from Lower Michigan around 1915 and from the Upper Peninsula in the 1930s. Their habitat was destroyed due to the logging era and overfishing.   Adult Grayling seek shallow areas of rivers with fine, sand substrate and moderate currents for spawning. Logging destabilized the river's flow patterns, tore up stream banks, and caused tremendous sedimentation spoiling their spawning environment.

Brookhaven Lake is a private lake that has over 20 springs feeding into it. It is cold enough to sustain 20" and above trophy Brook Trout and soon the addition of hatchery raised Arctic Grayling. They just have to be large enough so the Brookies don't eat them all. They grow much slower than the Brookes, so timing is everything. Other than the phenomenal fish in this lake, can you imagine no one else on it but YOU! It's true! Only 1 fishing party is allowed on this entire cold clear Lake at a time.  It has up to 14 feet of visibility.  Time to practice my site fishing. I will have 5 hours of fishing bliss all to myself and a guide...hmmm.  If you are interested or know someone who would be interested in fishing here, I can hook you up!  Since it is private, no fishing license is even necessary. 

After my casting lessons with Brian O'Keefe and Simon Gawesworth, Kelly Galloup's advise on cripples and spinners and streamers, Ed Engle's insights into nymphing, and Eric Stroup's tips on common sense fly fishing, hopefully I will be able to get out and actually fish somewhere!  Please let the fishing god stop this insanely awful weather in Ohio!

Virgin Blogger

I just hung up the phone with my best friend from childhood, Karen.  She is the reason I am embarking on this new wonderful adventure!  She, and all the rest of my friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and strangers alike, have all been subjected to my fish stories.  My blackberry has a picture of me with my silver Lake Erie steelhead and on my laptop a fat goregeous rainbow.  So what better way to share my obsession with the world than to write about it here! 

Today is a grey, cold, ugly day ending a disappointing weekend.  I had great hopes to be able to fish all day Saturday and Sunday, but the weather didn't cooperate. It had rained like monsoon season for days so the water was much too fast and high at the Mad River in Ohio. So instead of being out in the water attempting to land a beautiful trout, I watched the World Fishing Network (WFN) last night, just "wishing" it was me traveling to all of those awesome locations with killer guides fly fishing to my little heart's content.