Monday, November 25, 2013

Dreaming of Warmer Times

  I must admit November - February is my least favorite time of the year, I do not like cold!! Luckily in Texas we have short reprieves from the murder that is cold ( FYI in the book of The Fly River Turtle under 60 is COLD) although this week has not been one, it's cold like ice and stuff cold. I was doing laundry at the house and pulled a pair of shorts out of the dyer and thought man I just wore these last week. but since Friday it's been pants, hoodies, vest, jackets, flannel and work!
  I probably might not post much in the cold times of the year, my brain goes into survive until it gets warmer mode!! I've been doing a little tying and surfing youtube for motivation. I tied up this articulated streamer based on a foxy clouser turned out kind of cool.

Looks cooler in person tied in some old jig skirt and some eyes in the tail looks cool if we get some warm days, I'm gonna fish it thinking in current with the heavy head and long articulated tail it'll fish low and slow in current and just wave come and get it!!

 I also came across a sweet video on youTube of one of my best bros, fishing for one of my favorite fish on my favorite fly rod,

http://youtu.be/Cb4ftXHOu-g

great carp fishing on a 6'6" claw look at that bend, check out Brandon on onebugisfake.com
he's a fly pimp although he's been a little preoccupied I'm super happy for him!!
But at any rate
Stay Fly, Be Blessed, See ya on the water,
Gabe

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Llano Bug

Ok so I've seen a lot of talk and chat about the Llano Bug being I don't have video editing capabilities, I'm photo storyboarding this one ,

This is what you need....
I use a tiemco 200r on most sizes, this is a 4, some 2-3mm foam, deer hair, round rubber legs, and antron chenille or dubbing (use a synthetic it won't soak up water)



wrap a thread base on to your hook to about the barb then crush the barb

cut a strip of foam about the width of the hook gap then cut the tip into a "picket fence"


 massage the foam you will use and tie in to between your fingers
 tie the pointed end on to the hook, start in the middle capture forward then back to your thread wrap
 tie in one end of your chenille (if using dubbing you can tie a dubbing noodle or dub your thread) then wrap forward about 2/3 the way, tie off and trim
 pull over the foam strip and flatten it down and tie in to just behind the hook eye

 grab 2 rubber legs (I leave them together) capture on top then move in place and tie in full length, repeat on other side
 grab a small clump of deer hair and put it in a stacker holding the tips tie it into the thorax trim excess

grab a small piece of chenille or dubbing and "dub the thorax"


 pull the foam over to form a head tie in with 5-6 good wraps then add a couple half hitches
 trim the foam leaving a small flap
 
these are awesome flies and I tie them from a massive size 2 on a TMC 8089 to a size 12 on a 200r
great for carp, smallies, largemouth, and a variety of panfish I even caught a catfish on one, yup on top!!!
 
 
But at any rate
 
Stay Fly, Be Blessed, See you on the water,
Gabe 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Dubbing-Step MASTER

http://www.youtube.com/v/kYp6HaJIbUo?version=3&autohide=1&autoplay=1&attribution_tag=QtXBGsiGr9pKVSHRUeYizg&autohide=1&showinfo=1&feature=share

Another super sweet fly tying vids from one of the awesomest tiers I know (hey he coaches a friend's kid's baseball and fly fishes) so check it out!!! MORE COWBELLL!!!!!!!!!

Stay FLY,
Gabe

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Fly Giveaway from Dragonfly Angler


  Hey y'all one of my favorite fly tiers/ net maker/ leader twister is doing a give away through his facebook page. John is a super stellar guy, does some awesome work, and I really can't say enough about him! His Twisted Damsel is my go to skunk repellant, his Super Dragon is a carp slayer, makes some great small hair bugs, I have one of his net's and it is awesome, and his leaders are some of the best presentation leaders I've used. Expect a full write up on the Dragonfly Angler soon (he's sending some of his latest creations and I don't wanna leave them out)

Stay Fly, Be Blessed, See you on The River,
Gabe

http://dragonflyangler.blogspot.com/2013/11/facebook-fly-giveaway.html

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

#fortheloveofsunfish

  I was crushed this morning as I opened my facebook and read the link for my favorite bloggers daily dose The Fiberglass Manifesto, the snippet read "The Year of the Bluegill is winding down" ! I can honestly say I was saddened by this,  I gotta say I was pretty stoked when Cam announced that this year should be declared the #yearofthebluegill. To me it meant a coming back to roots in fishing, really bringing back that pure unadulterated joy of just catching a fish! I've always loved catching bluegill / sunfish / panfish (grandson you know why we call them "pan"fish) call them what you will (just not perch I hate that) they are always a blast and can break up an otherwise dull day. When I was still naïve and still chunking bait when things slowed down with the bass, crappie, or catfish, I would tie on a small hook and a float  and could normally find some sunnies that wanted to bite, you could hear the other guys talking about not catching when you had a bucket full of dinner.
  So as many others did this year I geared down and hit every park pond, stream, creek, lake, river , and a few golf courses, with a handful of The Dragonfly Anglers twisted damsels and his leaders, a couple J&M Flies poppers and some Llano Bugs I'd tied in a 10. I was feeling like a kid again my 6'6" claw with 4 wt line had morphed back into an old cane pole and a can of worms almost felt like I should've been barefooted in a pair of cut off overalls, going down to the fishing hole. I stopped thinking about the bigger fish I wanted and just focused on the beauty and different colors and markings on the sunfish I would catch, I was really enjoying just... catching fish, it was great!
  I really want to thank everyone that helped us refocus and tagged pictures and post with #yearofthebluegill so we could all enjoy just catching fish, I really want to thank Cameron of The Fiberglass Manifesto for heading up #yearofthebluegill and all of the tiers and backers that helped us get back to just fishing. I am truly saddened to think that 2013 #yearofthebluegill is coming to a close in a month and a half but I think we should keep it alive with #fortheloveofsunfish or I'm open to others, but through out the year rig down and go catch some sunnies and just catch fish and smile more!
Be Blessed, Fish on, See you on the water!,
Gabe


Monday, November 4, 2013

Warmwater Junkie

This is just kind of a me rant but it's a lot of who I am....

  I get really tired of all the fly fishing imagery in media and in the world. Everybody seams to think about fly fishing as that movie with that Pitt dude, some guy in tweed chasing trout on some mountain stream. It's funny to me because I hear so many people in the "industry" talk about how we are trying to get away from that image, but everywhere you look that's what you see it's that dude with the trout on every magazine in every ad, it's the super high dollar rod, it's the whatever reel, it's still that elitist mentality even in trout "bums" it's the world of Sage One and gear that cost epic proportions that make you that fly guy!
  I've only been into fly fishing for about 5 years, I love it, fly fishing and fly tying has become my life, being on the water has always been! I must admit I've gone goofy about fly fishing I wake up thinking about it I think about it all day and night, be it a fly, a presentation, a cast, or a fish, But I don't think I would have gotten this way if I had followed the media image of fly fishing.
  I got to give mad props to Brandon Robinson check him out at One Bug is Fake got the pleasure of hanging out with him about 3 years ago and we have become great friends (dude we need to fish), He introduced me to the rod that made me a glass geek The Eagle Claw Featherlight, he along with others in our "crew" taught me that fly fishing wasn't just about the "magazine life" of a fly fisher. We aren't gear snobs, the dude with the $1000 rig fishes right next to the dude with the $50 rig, we share flies and stories and if it takes a fly we love to catch it!!
  Now from here out this is where I came into my place in the fly world. I grew up and still reside in Texas so trout is not a forefront fish here anyway because we are warm water. We naturally have bass, sunfish, crappie, gar, and catfish, we are also blessed with a healthy CARP and RIO population in parts LOVE THEM!!! Still following the slight reminisce of the Fly Fisher image in my head I knew I had to chase trout, so I headed to the Guad  south of Canyon Lake in winter (fyi voted one of the top 100 trout fisheries) tied on a hopper dropper rig and caught my first trout on the fly a little 10 inch stocker yea (insert sarcasm) fished several more time catching a few trout besting around 14-15 inches, and I've come to conclusion, it's something to do when it get's cold and you're tired of tying flies but it's not the fuel for my fly! I'm just not that impressed, they don't hit like a big bass hits a hair bug, they aren't near as sexy as a Rio, they wont make your drag scream and show you backing like a carp! I've asked many people why trout to which I got varied answers from the hunt and they're finicky, to the take, the fight and the beauty, yeah my warm waters do all that.
  So for me I will always be a warmwater junkie, I'm always open to somebody to prove me wrong but trout just aren't all that. I love salt it's great to chase reds, poon, snook, and specks on the flats but I love my Texas rivers and all the wonder fish hiding in the pockets ,eddys, brush piles, and rocks along the way!
  And a quick note to the "industry" if you want to change your image try changing your focus, show people that there are more fish than trout and you don't have to have a $1000 rig...... just saying.

Stay Fly, Be Blessed, See you on the water,
Gabe

Sunday, November 3, 2013

some sweet whitewater canoe footage

 
just some whitewater huck candy in a canoe check out there youtube channel it's sweet
 
 
 
 

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Best Craft on the Water

 
Well it's been a long day at work at the real job for The Fly River Turtle, so here is a little tease of the Diablo Amigo!! Look for more to come with a full write up on this awesome new craft from Diablo
 
 
 

Friday, November 1, 2013