If I think about summer, will the snow and ice melt? (buck bug edition)

As we found out on Thursday & Friday, there's a ton of snow and ice to melt before we can go fishing ... Here's a few bugs I tied over the winter while thinking about black flies, mosquitos, warmer weather and bright fish!

And of course, a tune by some porkchop wearing 70's dudes to keep with the summer theme:

Another buck bug video...

Bill was over yesterday with his new toy -- a fancy schmancy Canon camera, what a rig! We decided to do another fly tying video to figure out how his camera works and also to practice our filming, production and editing skills. We've got a long ways to go but yestedays effort turned out quite ok. Vimeo only allows me one HD upload per week so I'll have to wait a few days before HD is available so this SD version really shows off the capability of Bill's new rig. He setup with maximum zoom on his telephoto lens and operated the focus in manual mode. The lighting wasn't quite ideal but things look pretty good just the same:

Another 'Wulff Den' style buckbug... April 5/2014 from Salmo Salar on Vimeo.

A few flies that didn't make it to auction boxes...

.. who knows, maybe i'll get to swing a few of them! :)

Billy and I'll be switching gears this afternoon with a spring fly session - he wants to hook some fish on his own flies and I know just the type he needs to tie -- bunny strips! Stay tuned!

A bit of fly tyers humor ..

I was in a giddy mood last night at the bench while tying a few spring flies and this creature emerged ....

The ultimate fly to deal with 'short takes'! Lol! 

But on a serious note, I tie my bugs with a hackle that starts at the head and wraps back to the tail for 2 reasons... The first and most important is durability ... Putting it on this way allows for 2 full wraps of thread over the feather versus 1 or sometimes NONE with the tail to head method.. Simply put, the way I use makes a more durable fly and that can't be debated. The second reason is  because I prefer the look which is obviously subjective.. Each tyer will prefer one look over the other, I doubt either way makes a difference to the fish, just remember MY way makes a more durable fly =D 

A couple examples:

A 'Wulff Den' style buck bug...

I'm just sitting here, waiting for vimeo to finish processing my first attempt at a fly tying video.. It's shaky, the camera is in and out of focus periodically but all in all, it's watchable and you'll get to see the deerhair madness that consumes me... Oh and this thing is just about to roll over on 20k hits - that's kinda cool. Lots of porn search engines have found this place but a few real people as well so thanks, real people! Anyhow, here's the fly from the video, i'll link it as soon as vimeo's done doing whatever it's doing.

 

EDIT:: VIMEO IS DONE!

A "Wulff Den" style buck bug.. from Salmo Salar on Vimeo.

  

 

 

 

 

 

The 'Melissa' bug :)

I had a bunch of really great hooks show up in the mail this week, got a sweet deal on a bunch of nice strong salmon hooks and i'll definitely be buying more in other sizes at my next opportunity.

It's no secret that I love to tie and fish bugs, probably a little too much by times and when I get a new batch of hooks I always have to spin a bit of deerhair just to see what they'll be like to tie on. This all brings me to this bug, the 'Melissa' or 'Honey Bee':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa

I tied this for my daughter, Melissa, and she liked it! She prefers the brown one most and I have to agree. I'll be doing some dry fly/bomber style bees soon as some lad from Nfld. told me they're effective -- I guess we'll see!

Bugs for the 12th Annual ASF Autumn Run Dinner - Oct 29th Saint John, N.B.

I finished getting a box of flies ready for the 12th Annual Autumn Run Dinner, today. As usual it's a box of bugs with a hairwing thrown in for good measure. The hairwing is a "Black 'n Purple" which is a pattern by Jens Slettvoll. I really like it and plan to fish it in the 2014 season. It reminds me of the Bob Baker pattern Purple Shadow which I've had great luck on in the past.

If you happen to attend the dinner, please bid these up during the silent auction!

A trip around the horseshoe...

Dad, Brad, Freddie & I set out last week for a canoe trip around the horseshoe. This was my first real outing for bright fish this year and we were going to do it in style - by canoe. The water level was just about perfect (0.96 metres), clear and dropping so spirits were high even though the alarm clock went off at 4:45 AM - otherwise known as the crack of crow piss..

Sunset at the Den the night before...

We met Freddie up river and we were ahead of schedule - a great way to start a canoe run!

So we headed up river to our starting point - about a 10 minute drive. Pretty crazy to think that a 10 minute drive will take most of the day to canoe!

So off we go down the river to our first stop which is just a short paddle down.

There wasn't much happening here so we headed on down to our next few stops... Freddie hooked his first fish of I think at least 4 that day shortly after he stepped up on that rock in front of him ---- he sure had a great day!

So on down the river we paddled, I have to add - we were ALL having a great day on the water - the weather was perfect, the water was a great level and we were all doing what we love - chasing salar!

One of our next stops was one of my favorite places, Freddie even let me raise a fish here!

In this pool, Freddie hooked one, raised a few and even landed a grilse!

Dad managed to get in on the action by catching and releasing a beautiful trout. I am very proud of him for releasing it - there was a time when He or I wouldn't have hesitated to bonk it for the pan but this fella swam free to grow a bit bigger and hopefully add some more small trout to the river. Good stuff!

So it was finally time to head down stream to what would be a date with a beautiful bright fish...

We all fished down through with Freddie fishing last -- being the good fellow that he is he allowed the unlucky (Brad, Dad and I) have first crack at the pool... which didn't matter! I stepped out for a break and to head back to the top of the pool to chat with Freddie - I also had a few flies for him:

He tied on that orange one with green tail and made about 8 casts before coming tight on what he described as his 'biggest early bright fish ever!'

FISH ON!

Chasing a fish down river!

The epic battle!

The money shot!

LEGENDARY!!

It was a hell of a canoe trip and I can't wait to do it again! When can we go, Freddie?

Here's a few pics from some work we managed to get done on the camp during the rain on Saturday:

With any luck, i'll be heading back up this weekend - I can't wait!



Finishing up a few flies for the ASF dinner, etc.

I just finished up a few flies for the ASF dinner - more bugs, big surprise =P

Hopefully they fetch a decent price at auction!