NEKvt

Not even trying to conceal the brag post... nice 8-)

they are selling the scent, along with a wrap that will keep it on your lure for you. I will have to have it all of course.... what bass stands a chance with properly protected pheromones on my side

I will add that I have returned my legend (fly rod) three times (all my fault) and got not so much as a question, or a bill from St. Croix. I was a little peeved when one time it took two weeks to get back to me, then I sent a rod back to cortland and it took 3 months to get back to me and cost me 60 bucks. I think if you mentioned this issue to them they would make it right.

Deer hair extended body and a poly wing for most dragon fly patterns. Many people use the mono-ball eyes for effect. A foam extended body is good too.

I will have to try that weed guard. Though it looks like it would work much like the mono weedguards. It is not so much losing flies to milfoil, it pulls out easy, I just never catch anything with a big ol' weed trailer attached to the fly. I have had the same thing happen with the pike, though none quite that size. I throw big streamers and catch the little 16-20" guys. Put on a little white woolhead minnow with no bite tippet and land my biggest one to date. The savage takes on adult dragon fly imitations are probably due to the fact that it could easily fly away so the bass are making a quick decision. Much like the difference between a trout sipping a mayfly or flying out of the water chasing a caddis. I have noticed it to. With your frog imitations you can sometimes see the bass come up and inspect them, they know the frog is not about to go flying away, unless of course you aren't paying attention and start another cast.

I personally got the baitcaster because no weed guard I have tried on a fly comes through milfoil. Two strips and I am stuck. I am sure someone out there has one that works. If I could find one I liked I would never put the fly rod down. The act of fishing is just more fun to me with the fly rod. Also being able to tie something up that you just can't get at the local shop is great. Here is a topwater bug I tie on a worm hook to keep the hook riding topside and weed free (the left one)

Thats the same reason I got a baitcaster. Couldn't make a fly weedless enough to get through the milfoil > I have had some friends (engineers) working on that though and have some cool new weedguards to try out next summer got some pics I wanted to post but my picture site is down

I like the bottom color scheme a lot. Nice work.

Check out Thisisfly ezine for a recent article (1 or 2 issues back) about a video on fly fishing for bass similar to the AEG videos (check those trailers out if you like to fly fish for trout and haven't yet seen them). Should be an interesting one to watch. After living out west and trout fishing I essentially only fly fish for bass here in Vermont, catching a native bass is 10X better than stocked trout any day of the week. We get hatches of big mayflies that bring smallies to the surface right as it gets dark. There are trout in the mix on these ponds also, it never fails that the guy fishing next to you is yelling about a huge trout on and winds up with a normal sized smallie, and is all sad. As long as it pulls I don't see what the problem is?

Building the bob house tomorrow

Lots of people go one line up on the St. Croixs. It probably won't help your casting though, what it will do is slow the rod down from a feel standpoint. If you look at rio and other line manufacturers you will see that they are going up a half line size with their newer stuff for fast action rods. With the heavier line you will feel it straighten out on the backcast better allowing you to apply power forward at the proper time and probably solve your problem if the rest of your cast looks good.

;D Marty is pretty fearless when it comes to experimenting with these big Mags. Look at the teeny little DD22 cowering on the right... Ha ha awesome

Centerpins can basically freespool giving extended drag free drifts on rivers. They allow a guy to step into the top of a hole and drift an egg sack through the entire hole plus the run below it tangling lines with everyone within a hundred yards of them.

You can say what you want about the lengths but until I see something there for reference I wont believe it. You after all are also a fisherman ;D

Very cool. Crayfish for smallies up here are killer, haven't tried a small crawfish crank yet though.

I have not seen that vice, but if are going to go with a fly vice make sure it can hold large hooks. Most of those vices are designed to hold your average trout size hooks (size 16-10 dry fly/nymph), doing a marginal job of holding well in the smallest and largest sizes. Your typical jig hook falls into the largest category. Most good tying vices have a larger jaw option available for the vice so that you can get the best hold possible on the larger hooks. If you are not going to be putting a lot of pressure on the hook then this won't be a problem and that vice should do just fine. I have the peak rotary vice that I do all my tying on from small trout midges, to bass flies with full jig skirts, to big pike streamers all on the main jaw that comes with the hook. They have different jaw sizes but the vice is great and I don't find I need them.

A good friend who I worked under in Wyoming is now doing research on Dworshak, and Lake Pend Oreille. I saw him last week while traveling through Spokane for work. He mentioned great smallie fishing, but nothing about future state record size fish. He would have mentioned that if he thought they were there just to rub it in my face that I moved back east and took a non-fish related job. Both sound like amazing fisheries though, you are lucky to be able to fish them.

All very nice. Like that second one down a lot.

Hate to repeat what has already been reported, but that bluegill pattern is awesome.

emo bass

Judging from your signature line you are getting two christmas gifts. Best keep that in mind when you go out shopping for the wife.

Some info gems and good things to try in this thread. Keep chattering while I soak it up please. I am especially going to have to remember the master the mid depths bit. Just learning and have only a tub to test in all winter :'( No sense trying to master the deep.

Nice paintwork for prototypes. I hope you at least do some bathtub testing before those paint jobs. Hate to think about those baits being duds and winding up in a corner somewhere.

I am in the same boat. Just experimenting at getting things to work the way I want. A table top drill press, and band saw are next, after the airbrush.

I had the question when Catt said to substitute "prey" for "hatch" and I have it again after reading this. How is what you describe doing when going to fish a new pond for bass any different than what a trout fisherman would do when heading out to a new river? Are trout not feeding on prey? (Agreed, an adult shad has not recently hatched, semantics as far as I am concerned) Its october I bring BWO dries, emergers, and nymphs. Thats the seasonal pattern, matching the typical condition. Sometimes you may find a fish rising and maybe you can't get it to eat a dry, so you throw on an emerger, imitate a crippled adult to induce a strike. That doesnt work throw on a beetle, something they remember eating all summer and get bit, thats your reaction bait. Maybe you go a size smaller, drop down a tippet size to finesse them. A wooly bugger or muddler minnow probably immitates the local forage as well as a crankbait does, not all that well, but they present many triggers that get fish to eat, while hopefully not presenting enough negatives to throw them off. Bass in clear water have as much time to inspect a lure as trout do, probably more because your typical trout fisherman is fishing flowing water, whereas your bass guy is tossing into a still pond. I think these are the situations where matching the hatch/prey may become critical though I have also experienced these situations where trout are actively feeding on thousands of hatching small mayflies so tossing something that sticks out is your only hope. I don't have the answer, sometimes you match it, sometimes you dont, but I really don't think a trout feeds that differently than a bass. I have caught trout on mice flies, very large streamers that rival most swimbaits, and attractor dries that look like nothing they have ever seen before. If part if it looks natural, they will probably try it once. If you throw in enough triggers, while limiting the negatives they will probably eat it over and over again. Think wooly bugger, it always works but looks like very little a trout has ever seen.