Freedog

Freedog

(2 comments, 63 posts)

This user hasn't shared any profile information

Home page: http://www.trout-bum.org

Yahoo Messenger: freedog96150

Jabber/GTalk: freedog96150@gmail.com

AIM: freedog96150

Posts by Freedog

Tying a Black Whooly Bugger

1 year ago
by Freedog in

A simple sequence of a black wholly bugger being tied for our Pyramid trip.  What is interesting is that I burned 4 or 5 marabou quills looking for a straight tail edge and all I could find in the whole packet of feathers were these low-grade ones with all the frilly edges.  Bummer.  I also did not realize that I was completely out of saddle hackle in the correct size so the hackle used is grossly oversized,  Don’t think the fish will mind as long as the bugger looks like it is swimming.

As previously mentioned, I am going to hit up the fly shop and invest into a much better quality set of feathers.  You get what you pay for!  Anyone need some poor quality feathers?  Don’t even know if they are worth the cost of shipping.

Pyramid Lake Prep

1 year ago
by Freedog in ,

My friend Dan calls me and says he want to go fishing.  I am always game for a quick trip.  We start discussing the logistics of where to go and when, and he says that he really wants to hit up Pyramid Lake.  Well, that is great for me as Pyramid is basically in my backyard (about a 40 minute drive) but Dan has to bang out about 4 hours of driving each way.  So plans are confirmed and we both go into full prep mode.  Dan’s job is to pack his stuff, put together a basic cooler of goodies and get over here the night before.  My job is to hit the vice and fill some fly boxes.

After contacting a few fly shops and verifying which pattens are working at Pyramid, I get to work.  I figure that I need to oversupply us by at least a dozen flies, if not more.  My goal is to bang out 3 dozen flies just for this trip.  This is of course on top of the 6 or 7 full fly boxes that I already have packed in my to-go bag for trips of all manners.

First order of business is to replenish the bugger barn.  It has gotten a bit thin in the last few season and truth be told, buggers are something that I find difficult to tie.  I would rather tie up 5 dozen Trudes in #12, #14 and #16 or 5 dozen Copper John’s in various sizes and colors than a few dozen buggers in #8 and #10.  Go figure.

The first bugger is going to be a modified version of one of my favorite still water buggers, the Rickert’s Seal Bugger.  After looking at the commercial flies for Pyramid, I figure that I need to shorten the tail and make the hackle quite a bit longer than normal.  Most of the Pyramid buggers are well dressed.  So I set to work and find that I have almost a dozen tied up pretty quick.

Next is to hit up the midges.  Intel from the fly shop indicates that red and black (both basic midge colors) are the de facto standards, just in sizes #12 and #14 versus a more normal #16 or #18.  The guy at the shop mentioned that the snow cone version has been pretty hot, but lacking any white beads and not wanting to make a trip to the fly shop for $2 in beads, I use white UV dubbing instead.  a dozen red and a dozen black later I call that part of the project done.

Last is to tie up a dozen black buggers.  As I rifle through the feather bins it becomes apparent that I am short on quality black feathers.  I tied up one black bugger and took some pictures which I will show in another post.  It was painfully obvious that the quality of the feathers are no where near as nice as what I used for the green buggers.  Maybe I will get some white beads after all.  Since I have to hit up the shop to replenish my tungsten coneheads and black bugger feathers I now have an excuse to make a single trip and restock in bulk.  Hope that the fly shop has the good stuff!

New Season – New Toys!

1 year ago
by Freedog in

Seems like every season requires replacement of some equipment from the various rods, reels and clothing that seems to invade my life during the fishing season.  This year the needed items were a new pair of wading boots, a new reel for my Sage XP 590-4 as well as some new lines for several spools and other items of technical clothing.

After reading reports on rubber soled boots from the likes of Tom Chandler at the Trout Underground, I decided that not only was I going to give the rubber soles a shot but I was going to stud the heck out the boots to gain every advantage I could.  Goodbye felt!  Gonna’ miss ya!  Hello Rubber!  Hoping you and I become fast friends!

I choose the Simms Rivershed boot with the new CleanStream rubber sole.   The decision came down to one of basic economics.  Not the economics of cash – that’s called accounting, but the economics of supply and demand.  It seems that the fly shops around me, save for the Cabela’s store and the Orvis shop, are all big on Simms brand waders and boots so that was the supply side of the equation.  The demand side came when they “demanded” my hard earned dollars at the till.  I have to thank my friend Victor Babbitt at Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters for dialing me in on the boots.

Simms Rivershed Boot with Cleanstream sole

My...what knobby tread you have!

Victor explained how to best pattern the combo of Hardbite studs and Hardbite stars, even going so far as to draw a diagram.  Of course, I leave the written diagram at the shop.  So I just took a look at the bottom of the sole and asked myself “where the heck do these things go?”  Not having the answer and not referring to my trusty web browser, I got the screw shooter and made up my own pattern.  Only after mounting all the studs did I take a peek at the Simms website for the recommended pattern.  Noting some very different ideas on placement, I  have decided that claiming my pattern as either “brilliant” or “brilliantly haphazzard” can wait until after a few excursions.  Worst case scenario is that my pattern causes me to crash and burn and post-hospital stay I can redo the studs to Simms recommendations.  Here is a shot of my pattern (the left) and Simms recommended (the right) for your amusement.

Simms Rivershed stud patterns

On the left we have Brian's stud pattern of pain and on the right we have the RECOMMENDED pattern.

The reel was a much easier decision.  I had purchased my wife Erin a Lamsom Velocity the previous year and we both loved it.  At her request…ok…demand, I grabbed my own.  The funny thing is that this reel is replacing my second fly reel ever purchased, a Redington RS, that went the distance.  Only last season did it start to do funky things like come apart when you had 3 pound fish on the end of the line, so it was time to retire the reel.  I grabbed a Scientific Anglers Textured Series GPX WF line to go with it and should be in business.  The reel gets its first test on Monday.

Lamson Velocity

Ready for a hard life of sand, water and hard knocks on rocks?

I plan on reporting back on the performance of both products as the season progresses.

Now I am off to tie up some more flies for the upcoming trip.  Seems like I am always at the vice last minute trying to fill the boxes with patterns that are missing that should have been tied during the slack part of the season in the winter.  Oh well.

A windy day on Pyramid Lake

1 year ago
by Freedog in ,

The decision on where to head for a bit of birthday fishing came down to finding a spot on the Truckee that was not pumping, heading south to the Rosaschi or trying out something new like Pyramid Lake.  I have been hearing good things about the fishing this season so Pyramid Lake wins the draw.

I headed to one of the local fly shops to gather some intel.  The takeaway from the shop was a part of my conversation with one of the employees.  I went like this -

shop: “What rod are you planning on taking to Pyramid?”
me: “My 5-wt”
shop: “um…what brand is your rod?”
me: “It’s a Sage XP.  Why?”
shop: “Well, there is a good chance that you will break your 5-wt on the fish at Pyramid.  Sage has a lifetime warranty so you should be fine.  Do you own a heavier rod?”

I did pack my 8-wt based on this conversation and it turns out this was a very good move.

A short drive out this morning from my house, a quick stop at the tribal general store to purchase my daily permit and I was at the Lake and ready to…get blown all over the place.  The winds were very brisk to say the least and were gusting up to the mid-thirties.  That definitely did not stop the crowds from descending upon the Nets.

The South Nets at Pyramid Lake, NV

This is only a small swatch of the Nets.

I snapped a full panorama of shots at the South Nets beach.  What you see here is but one small section.  Notice the “sticks” lined up in the water?  Well those are the anglers.  What you do not see in this shot is the fact that the line up continues for a quite a few more yards and that most of the cars were actually a bit higher up off the beach.  This is the infamous “ladder” fishing of Pyramid Lake.

Despite the crazy winds and the intermittent rain squalls, I witnessed some of the anglers hooking up on fish.  A good sign!  So now it is time for me to hit the water and get serious.

I started driving along the shoreline.  I had a tip from the fly shop employee, the same one that told me I needed to bring a bigger rod, so I headed in the direction he indicated.  I must admit that he did not steer me wrong.  When I arrived at the mentioned beach, it was vacant.  Now if only that wind would go away.

Windy Day at Pyramid Lake

Just a wee bit windy today!

The pre-fish drill, you know, the one that starts with stringing up the rod and ends with tying on the starting fly, a wooly bugger in this case, does nothing to excite me about tossing a big #8 Dennis Estrada bugger that I had in my bugger barn.  It is wind like this that cause big flies to impale their casters.  A short walk to the waters edge and I am stripping line and trying in vain to cast in the wind.  Pretty futile efforts, despite the big rod.

After about 20 or so drifts, I decide that I am not made of whatever those other anglers sitting on ladders in water with 12-14″ white caps are made of and I call it quits.

My takeaway today is that Pyramid is a beautiful high desert lake and the Cutts in the Lake are big and healthy.  I will be heading back in the next few weeks, just on a day when the weather reports shows the winds to be negligible.

Rain Squalls as seen at Pelican Beach

Rain...rain...go away.

New CalTrout site by the Trout Underground

1 year ago
by Freedog in

Cal TroutTom Chandler of the Trout Underground has helped implement a brand-spanking new website for CalTrout. I surfed over the the site and did not even recognize that I had landed on the page affiliated with my bookmark.  GREAT job Tom and Team Underground!

On the Northern Sierra Region page there is a great shot of Mikey Wier holding a massive fish.  Funny thing because I was just thinking about hitting up his website to see if his Soulfish 2 video is up for sale yet.  I seem to have the same addiction to Mikey’s videos as to the winter sports videos that I grew up watching.  Wonder why that is?

You can read Tom’s blog post about the new CalTrout site here or go see the new CalTrout site for yourself.

Freedog's RSS Feed
Go to Top