Adventures in "trad" fishing.

[Loreva13]

Congrats scdavis50 and SwampRabbit!!!

I think that second is a crappie! White crappie, I believe.

[scdavis50]

Congrats scdavis50 and SwampRabbit!!!

I think that second is a crappie! White crappie, I believe.

Thanks! Nice fish. There's a pretty wide section of Brays Bayou not far from my office had a bunch of herons in it today. When it cools down a little I may run over there after work and through in it a few times and see what I can catch.

[Draco]

Your bass just keep getting a little bigger and bigger.

[Blood Trail]

Well the fish refused to cooperate. If it wasn't for the incredible company, i would say it was a total bust. Just before packing it in... I did hook up with what could be a new species on the fly.... whatcha think? I am thinking rock bass.

[ATTACH]650319[/ATTACH]

Rock bass

[SwampRabbit]

About to shoot some line here in a little bit at the Y.

[SwampRabbit]

Geez, been 2 months since I have posted anything on this thread. Now I have some buck tails in the freezer and added a squirrel tail this past weekend. TPWD pond trout stocking is getting under way and I'm making plans to get after em.

Now, my gut tells me to tie a fish pellet fly if I want to be successful But I am curious if anybody here has had success catching hatchery fish using nymphs, etc on a stocked pond.

[SwampRabbit]

Well, I thawed out a some tails and small hide section and began the drying process. Definately a learning curve here. I salted the them, but that drew in moisture to the hair, so I now have a fan running over them as well. Woke up this morning and they were nice and dry. Added some salt to some softer spots and will continue to dry them out. Will upload a picture when they are done.

TPWD says the pond in my area gets stocked on the 18th... trying to decide how I want to approach it. Might tie a fly that resembles a feed pellet

[SwampRabbit]

First attempt at dying. Tried out on some of the tails I deboned before I figured out the technique (the reason they look short)

[SwampRabbit]

A few clousers from this year's buck tails. Also some other flies using back hair from the same deer.

[little john]

That is too cool brother

[Draco]

I'm reloading my boxes as fast as I can to be ready for the spring big bass time.

[Loreva13]

Nice! I'm looking forward to the spring too. Should be a good time!

[SwampRabbit]

Those are some really nice flies Bob. That reminds me that I bought a small popper kit for my son and I to work on.

[Draco]

Those are foam popper bodies cut out of white foam blocks and colored with the water proof felt tip markers. They are very fast and easy to make and hold up well to fishing. After I came up with foam sandals to make popper bodies, I quit tying hair bugs forever.

[SwampRabbit]

Do you epoxy coat the shell of the popper body?

I need to do a little more reading on how to get the deer hair spun behind the popper. It seems like it would be easier to spin the hair, tie in the tail and then glue body in front of it. However, I've always seen them apply the epoxy coat while on the hook witout the hair. Seems like tying the hair afterwards might be tight... but then again, fly tying isn't always easy.