Monday, May 28, 2012

Juanna Be Hopper Juan

Wanna send a huge shout out to Juan Ramirez for hooking me up with some of his packs for the Juanna Be Hopper Juans.  I bought some of the Hopper Juan packs from him at the Fly Fishing Show, but I wanted to tie some of the little brothers.  Spent the evening tying a few of the Juanna Be's up, and I think they turned out pretty good.  Cannot wait to throw these on Bear Creek this week to see how much the fish like them.  You can check out Juan's incredible blog at hopperjuan.blogspot.com.



Monday, May 7, 2012

South Padre Island Fishing

Had a chance last Saturday to do some fishing around South Padre Island for a few hours.  I really wanted to fish the flats for redfish, but I didn't want to spend 500 dollars to hire a guide, so we went out on a boat and fished for Red Snapper and Grouper.  Not the Rockies, but at least it was fishing.  Highlight was catching a Bonita while trolling out to the Red Snapper zone.  Fish fought real hard.

Bonita
Red Snapper


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Mayfly Nymph Side

After spending almost 10 weeks in South Texas, I am coming back home on May 11th for good.  And I am coming ready to fish!!  I am nearing completion on the other side of the Umpqua fly box, meaning I have tied nearly 500 flies since I've been down here.  I tied mostly classic Colorado nymphs, but messed around with some of the other cool patterns out there.  Also, I have a few newbies that I played around with (not to say I didn't borrow some ideas from other tiers).  I cannot wait to get home and try them in the mountains to see if they work out.  I will be showing some tying steps for the ones that I have created in the next few weeks.  All I can say is I have never been more excited to get home, and attack the rivers, and I know I will be ready to roll as soon as I get home!!

From Bottom Right: Pheasant Tails, Biot Emergers, Turkey Tail Nymphs, Beadhead Flashback Pheasant Tails, Mercury Flashback Pheasant Tails
Dorsey's Mercury Mayflies, Gray and Olive Mercury Sparkle Wing RS2's, Ramirez Glossy Back Baetis, Pennington's Stuffed Olive Nymph
Ramirez Glossy Back Baetis, Pennington's Stuffed Olive Nymph, Craven's Flashback JuJu Baetis, Cutthroats' Nymph TBD #1, Tyvek Baetis
Tungsten Skinny Nelson, Cutthroats Nymph TBD #2, Cutthroats Nymph TBD #3, Gunkels's Shot Glass Baetis, Cutthroats Nymph TBD #4



I still have one full row to fill up, and I'm thinking that variations of Barr Emergers will fill that row.  The bottom row is a collection of throw aways.  I will probably give those to my father, and fill that up with another pattern when it feels right.  In the last 10 weeks, I have either done two things, work or tie flies.  After looking back at what the box has become, I am happy with the results.  My fly tying is continuing to improve, and I look forward to building off what I have started.  It makes me more excited to start the next box, and just keep stacking them up.  You better watch out Colorado, cause I am coming for you!!