First Winter Day & Trout Stream Play

With the afternoon high stretching well up into the 60s, the sky dark, the air misty and heavy rain on the way, I decided that I needed to hit a trout stream. Asher didn't argue, so I tossed him in the truck, along with a couple of rods and bit of other junk, and off we went for a couple of hours of afternoon play.

Forty-five minutes later, we were creekside. In Forty-six minutes, Asher had already set the hook on his first trout, which turned out to be a brown. He'd never caught a brown trout before, so that was cool, and as it turned out, all except two of the trout we caught yesterday were browns. (Two were brook trout.) On the way to the creek, I had told Asher that browns are more likely to bite on really dark days, especially if the water is a little high. I also suspect the most recent stocking might have been brown-heavy, but we don't have to dwell on that part!

An added appeal of yesterday's outing for me was that I caught all my trout on an Ugly Bug (a jig I had tied). I actually started with a crawfish pattern that I thought looked pretty nice, but it was a little heavy and fell too decisively for the size of the stream and wasn't drawing interest. I switched a flashy little pattern with a tinsel body and a pink tail and never had occasion to go back into my box again. By day's end, the tinsel was beginning to unwrap a little, so I still have work to do on my craftsmanship, but I was happy to catch fish on one of my creations.

Asher had fun climbing rocks and stomping in the creek, and it was a good thing it was so warm because he fell over at least three times and ended up soggy from his shoulders to his feet, despite the fact that he was wearing waders!

Overall, it was a great outing for celebrating the first official day of winter.

Craft Store Gems

Officially, my wife and I were shopping for my daughter, picking up art supplies from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. The fur and feathers that caught my eye wouldn't go into Sarah's art. To me, they looked like bodies and tails for flies and jigs.

Actually, the packages looked a lot like the ones that hang from hooks in fly shops, with the main differences being that the packages were bigger and the price tags were smaller. I understand that not all marabou or craft hair is created equal. Given my unrefined tying skills, though, the craft store stuff should work just fine, and I'm eager to start tying.

Considering the fact that it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow and spit a mix of rain and snow the next day, I might be trying out the new fur and feathers really soon. And then soon after, I hope to introduce some trout to a few buggy new creations.

Bugs in My Head

I've been designing some really cool hand-tied jigs lately. So far, the good ones remain in my head because I lack the materials and tying skills to create the bugs that I'm envisioning.

I have pulled out my vice and tying tools and materials (which are pretty limited) and have experimented a bit. I've also watched a few fly-tying videos that show some of the skills I'll need to acquire and have ordered a few specific kinds of materials.

So far my hand-tied bugs, which are micro jigs or custom Road Runners, not flies) have all been ugly, but I have gotten fish to at least swipe at them. When I start actually creating lures that look even kind of like what I'm picturing (or maybe if I can fools a fish with an ugly one) I'll start posting pictures. For now, they're just bugs in my head.