A Big Thank You And Something New For The Blog

Just wanted to give all of you who took the time to read my last blog post a bunch of thank you's, and, then followed up with your great comments and insights to my dilemma with what to do with my Blogroll.  Each and every one of them were much appreciated.  That is why you guys and gals are my BlogBuddies.  It is a good sense of community in blogging when a Blogger can reach out and ask for some help and the support comes pouring in!  That particular post is by far the most read post and most commented post since I began my blogging career a number of years ago.  Still get steady reads everyday so that makes me smile and appreciate all who helped even more.

I am also going to try something new on my blog.  I have been tying flies for about (35) years now. I have taught many fly tying classes and have appeared as a guest tyer at past FFF conclaves and Regional Expos.  

Now, I am not trying to offend anyone or toot my own horn.  I am simply attempting to imply that I have had many trials and tribulations at the vise and lots of experience with various tying materials.  That being said, I will assure you that my concept in fly tying is different than a lot of folks.  I don't tie Dry Flies for Trout, but, Foam Spiders and the like for Bluegill and an occasional Largemouth Bass.  I do tie Nymphs and Streamers and Leeches for Warm Water species and also for Trout.  I don't tie "cute" flies, although, my wife disagrees with me.  What I do tie, primarily, are buggy, effective, easy to tie patterns that don't take much time or talent.  They do catch fish!  If I lose one that is no big deal.  I just grab another and get after those fishies!  I don't buy expensive hackle for Dry Flies, and really, not even for the popular Wooly Bugger type flies much anymore.  The price of good hackle just scares me when I look at it now.  I am a senior citizen living on a fixed budget, so maintaining my costs are critical.  Anyway, all of this blabbering to let you know that I have decided to post some of my current work at the vise on my blog.  You will note at the top of the left hand sidebar a picture of a current fly under the title of "FROM MY VISE".

This will be where I will select a certain pattern and have as good a picture as I could get of the pattern when completed.  If you happen to see one that you like leave a comment for me over on my "From My Vise" page.    You can go to the link for the page just under the blog header and see which patterns I have posted there.  If anyone needs further information or is interested in tying instructions let me know and I will see what I can do for you.  I am not a person who shoots video,  but, I can send along a materials list and tying instructions if that would be handy for you.

Thanks for letting me share some fly tying with you all!

Fishing The Ol' Car Hole

Anyone that has ever fished with me, no doubt knows that I love to catch fish.  In particular, trout from a small stream and feisty Bluegill from my various local ponds.  Now that I am focusing my fly fishing and efforts to the local ponds and using the blog to cover my adventures, this post will be about my favorite warm water fish, the Bluegill.

 I have been a Bluegill fly fisher for many a season.  I fell in love with it as a young man on a local pond near where I lived at the time, and still after all these years, I have a deep passion for hitting the local ponds and chasing Bluegill.  I like nothing better than to be tossing a Rubber Spider of some sort or another at a school of feeding Bluegill on the surface.  Oh, yes, I will fish with small nymphs or streamer patterns for them too.   Down is where the bigger Bluegill hang out.  They are the "Bulls" as I call them!  Since we are talking about fishing "Down" for bigger Bluegills, reminds me of a time and a story from a past Bluegill adventure.

Now, I am going to ask you to bear with me for a minute while I share a picture that in a way has some relevance to this post.

This picture is a shot of the early 2000's version of Bonnie and Clyde.  Check out the Dame!
That old car had gone as far as it could go.  So what does this picture of Bonnie and Clyde have to do with catching Bluegill?  Well, imagine if you would, that this Ol' Car was submerged not too far off shore in your favorite pond.  For effect, imagine also that the roof still intact in this picture was missing in your submerged Ol' Car in the pond.  Now with that vision in mind, I will return to my Bluegill story.

It was a particular sunny day with no cloud cover.  I was walking the shoreline looking for Bluegill to be bunched up around the weed beds and cattails.  I had picked up a few smaller Bluegill, but to be honest, it was a slow day so far.  Forgot to mention that this pond was a pretty good sized pond and I had never walked the entire shoreline.  As I did on this day, I came too a small bluff that allowed me some height to look down on the water.  There I saw for the first time the Ol' Car submerged in the water.  The other thing that I was shocked to see were some really nice looking bigger Bluegill sitting or swimming I should say, I kid you naught, in the backseat of the Ol' Car.
I fumbled in anxiety the first cast with a floating line and a Rubber Spider.  Darn it, spooked them and they swam back out the door and I thought my fun was over.  However, as I sit down on the ledge and peered down into the Ol' Car, unbelievably in a few minutes, the school of bigger Bluegill came back and in through the open door of the car they came and right back into the back seat area again.  

After observing them for awhile and being very careful not to spook them this time, I decided to switch to a small dark streamer/leech pattern that would sink down into the back seat where the fish were instead of trying to force them to come up to the surface for a Rubber Spider.  Oh, so carefully, I was able to look down and cast a short distance and let the fly sink this time to the fish's level.  Fish on!  I couldn't believe I had actually pulled this off.  I landed a Bluegill that was probably close to a ten incher!  I released the fish to swim another day and sat and ate my favorite fisherman's sandwich. (Make that a Peanut Butter and Jelly).  As I sat and watched the Bluegill slowly hang in the back seat of the Ol' Car.  Occasionally, they would swim out of the area and before too long.  They would be back!  I did manage one other nice one out of the back seat area before the other Bluegill got wise to my game.

The moral to this story is true to this day.  You can catch Bluegill out of the back seat of the Ol' Car too!

Thanks for reading!