tight lines

I hate weather.com and what else?

2010-04-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

I gotta stop looking at the 10 day forecast for Islamorada. Every day I look, it changes from sunny to rainy to snowy (not really!) or whatever. Maybe when I get there I'll look up with my mouth open and if it fills with water and not beer then it will be raining. On a saner note, I did get my bonefish line today. So I took it and my reel and went to Bass Pro where I asked for 200 yds of 20# backing (since they backordered the one I mail ordered) and the guy proceeded to put only 100 yards and tell me that that was plenty. It looks OK but the reel is not as full as I would like it, so when my backing comes in, I'll change it to the 200 yds Lamson and the good Lord say that it will hold. I hope the bonefish don't mind and eat my fly anyway.

Went fishing Friday with my new(used) Sage rod. It looks like new and casts real sweet. Caught a sunburn and a bunch of small bass. One of my fishing buddies nailed a 5 pound bass so I know I''ll be going back to that lake.

Started packing for my trip. Don't know how I am going to fill the body bag (actually a 42"long gear bag) I got but I can always stuff a sleeping bag in it so it will take up space and won't add a ton of weight. This thing is so big I already have three rods, 3 reels, a bunch of fly boxes, waist pack and a bunch of leaders and crap and it has not made a dent. I don't have enough clothes to fill it so the sleeping bag may do the trick. Talked to son-in-law last night and he is getting real exited also. We are going to have a blast.

Keep your lines tight,
LSU flyfisher.

Waiting for the tide - no wait that's next week!!

2010-04-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Time is short before I get on a silver bird and head south to where the water is salty and the sun is hot. Tied some more flies, have lost count of how many I have now, but at least one of them must be worthy of a grey ghost taking a liking to it, or so I hope. If not, I'm sure that Captain Bob Jones will take care of us Thursday so we will not get skunked. I have now printed aboyut a pound of articles about wade fishing in the keys - good reading material for the plane ride. Camping gear is growing, now I have a tent, 2 sleeping bags, a disposable BBQ grill and an ice chest. So I am good to sleep, keep my beer cold and grill whatever I catch in the sea or at the supermarket. Just haveto stop at the KMart on Key Largo and getmy fishing license, beer, water and whatever dry goods I will need for two days. Decided to stay in Miami one more night with the family and also one more day to buy and eat pastelitos for breakfast. We'll do that again when I pick Michael up on Wednesday. Got enough rods and hopefully lines (those sh*ts at Basss Pro backordered my backing.) If nothing else, I pass the BassPro in Islamorada so I am sure they have what I will need. Plus hopefully they will share some wisdom when I stop by to buy some local flies and pick their brains. My long lot LSU friend Pat who owns a lodge in Roatan, Mango Creek Lodge is tryin to make me jelous (it is working, I am saving my money) by telling me about her guests hitting Grand Slams. To any who read this blog, have a Happy Easter Season and remember He is risen today.

Keep your lines tight and your eyes on the price.

2 weeks to Long Key, I love it when a plan comes together.

2010-03-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

April 10 is getting within my sights. Nailed an 8 wt on E-bay (finally), got 250 yds of 20# backing and a bonefish line coming my way. Have my flats booties and a gear bag that will hold my rods and all my salt water gear. Next weekend I’ll start packing and see what last minute stuff I need to run to Bass Pro to get. Whatever I forget, I’ll pick up at the one in Islamorada. Still need to find some more camping furniture but between my mother’s house and my sister’s I’ll be able to beg and borrow what I need. Got a guide lined up for Thursday to make sure I don’t leave the keys without hooking up something to remember. Can’t wait to get up at the crack of dawn, walk into the water and greet the sun and bonefish as the tide comes in. Too bad Rob can’t make it (still hope he does since I owe it to him to get me hooked into this adventure.) I still feel I don’t have enough flies, even though I have tied enough to outfit a small fly shop somewhere. Maybe I’ll tie some clousers with bead eyes for a slow sink approach. Maybe I’ll do some merkin crabs just in case the good Lord wants to send a Permit my way. Right now, the anticipation is just killing me. Just have to make it through to weeks of work and then I’m out of here. Michael (son-in-law) comes in Wednesday so I have to go back to the mainland to pick him up. So if it is going to rain, let it happen Wednesday morning.

Here in Memphis the weather continues to be like the stock market, unpredictable. Yesterday we had sun and high 60’s, today we have rainy, cloudy and low 50’s. At least we are seeing enough of the sun to know that spring is coming. My cherry tree and the Japanese magnolia across the street are in full bloom, what a great and inspiring sight.

Next week I get with my fly fishing buddies to plan some smallmouth hunting and a kayak outing to a local lake for some largemouth I love spring.

Keep your lines tight.....

Chasing an 8 wt rod and other spring rites before Long Key adventure.

2010-03-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

Need one more 8wt for the trip so I do what all other sane (or insane?) fly fishers do - try to chase one on E-bay, which is what everyone else is also doing in preparation for salt water spring rites. It is frustrating as hell thinking I have the rod to see it get away by someone using some kind of snipe program. Whoever invented those should get as punishment and endless number of people cutting in from of him (or her) in the line to the pearly gates so everytime he/she she thinks is getting in, someone else gets it. So to vent my frustration, and also since it is raining in Memphis and can't do yard work, I decided to tie some more bonefish flies I picked up from the latest FFSW magazine. Then switched to tying some leech looking flies in preparation for spring smallies that know it is time to get frisky. I'll post my files on my facebook page once I figure how to do the macro thing with my camera. Did manage also to switch reservations and got a full 6 day campsite so we would not have to move on Friday and loose time on the salt. Rob, if you are out there, let me know if you still plan to make it to Long Key in April. Just hope for good weather (no rain) and hungry bones on the flats. Oh yeah, now I have a tent and 2 sleeping bags in Miami, things are looking up. Still need the hot plate for Cuban cofee but I figure Wal Mart will help with that one.

Done, Delta robbed, but headed to Bonefish Nirvanna

2010-01-16T15:22:00.000-08:00

Whoever invented the 25,000 mile award rumor must be in purgatory (or hell if he is not catholic) from perpetrating such a bunch of convoluted doublespeak. Yes, there are 25,000 mile award tickets out there if you are willing to travel on the 8th day of the week at midnight sitting next to goats or chickens and come back 8.325 days later on a different flight whose numbers do not start with any prime number.

Well, now that I have gotten the smell of being shafted by the airline out, I can now rejoice in the fact that I have now booked my tent site and transportation to what I hope will be bonefish nirvana at Long Key State Park. Even greater is the fact that son-in-law Michael will join me to share this zen experience (he is the SOB that got me started in this addiction so I would let him marry my daughter.) Now all I have to do is tie a couple of hundred crazy charlies, gotchas, sweet ernies, carb patterns, shrimp patterns, other salt water fish patterns, ad nauseam, between now and April 9 when I head home to little Havana for a couple of days of cuban food gluttony a before heading south to the keys. And, since the flight is free, I can now go and buy me a 4 piece 8wt rod to add to my growing stash of drivers, wedges -no... wait.... wrong sport... I mean rods of many sizes and pieces. Luckily, I do have a decent reel so I can't find an excuse to buy another one. Only small details are left, such as getting a tent, what to sleep on, what to eat, etc. Luck has it, there is a Bass Pro on the way in Islamorada or some place around there, so I can always buy the stuff and stash it at my sister's house or ship it back to Memphis.

bad knee, bad neck, good fishing

2009-12-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday : trout day - after putting up with pain from a badly arthritic knee and a C-7 neck nerve for over a month, I decided to throw caution to the wind and test my body on the waters of the Spring River. My neighbor Blake and I set out Saturday morning around 7 AM and made it to my friend Art's place on the river by 10 AM. The water was about 6" higher than normal and a little cloudy - and this means faster and more trickier to navigate the rock bottom. I pulled my wading staff out and ventured very slowly into the stream having nightmares about stepping into a hole and screwing up my knee again, but by walking very slowly, I managed to get to the "rock" in the middle of the stream and cast an olive woolly bugger to see if trout were hungry - and they were. I had decided to use a sinking tip line for the first tiem and it was very apparent to me that I needed a lot of practice with sink lines and streamers because I managed to hook and loose more fish that I netted. Also, the 27" trout that had bewen caught and released just a week earlier was nowhere to be found. To add insult and misery, it started to drizzle - didi I say that it was about 34 degrees also? after getting tired of loosing flies and remembering to keep the rod tip up stupid!!, I switched to my floating line (this gave me an excuse to slowly get out of the weather and down a cup of java offred by Arts wife, Ms. Pat - God bless her.) Went down into the stream again armedwith my floating line and my other go to fly - the much maligned Y2K - but what the hell, trout loved it and the fishing picked up since the rod tip up thing was firmly in my brain now. Only regret that while trying to pull my net from the back of my vest, I bumped my brand new MSFF hat into the river. Hope someone down river finds it and puts it to good use. Now to the best part of the trip.
Sunday - smallmouth bass day: Blake wanted to go after smallies on Sunday by our friend Tom's place (or what is left of it after the 2008 flood took everything but the slab away.) Water looked high and there were some serious holes, deep holes around a large shelf. I wimped out and told Blake I would just hang out and watch him - that is, until he made his first cast and nailed a 12" smallie - that was it, the hell with the knee, I suited up in record time and dragged my crappy knee unto the shelf in front of a big hole. Out came the sinking line again, had to get the fly down deep for the fish, and proceeded to catch my fist small mouth bass ever. What a trip! those buggers hit the fly and take off like gangbusters. The day ended with me tagging a 15" fat smallie that I had to coax from under the shelf so I could net him. I had pictures of me tripping and going into 6 ft deep water but luck prevailed and I bagged my fish. I am hooked on this critters now and can't wait till spring top hit the Southfork and go after bigger smallmouth. Weird also is that I pulled a rainbow out of the same hole, which people say can't survive this far down on the river - well Mr. rainbow must not know this or is like me, and gets lost easily.

Hey like Rob http://rob-abadbackcastandotherinanemusings.blogspot.com/ my blogging friend says, I have gone over to the "dark side" of smallmouth fishing but I just say that this just a new variation of my addiction to catching what I can with a fly rod. Keep your lines tight!!!

Bum knee, bummer shoulder, a vise, turkey, football and other ramblings

2009-11-27T12:31:00.000-08:00

After surviving getting my knee drained twice, living with a severely messed up shoulder (from sleeping on one side to avoid pain on my bum knee,) I have found the perfect low impact activity for these Thanksging days, so I set up my vise and proceeded to tie up whatever flies I was low on. So far, olive bead head woolly buggers (you can't never have too many of these if you fish Arkansa), Y2K's (fly of last resort but a sure thing to catch trout on a riffle), and Mideon midges (similar to zebras). Still to tie, crazy charlies, gotchas and kwans (for the April trip.) In between tying, we managed to fry a large 17 pound turkey without setting anything on fire, including ourselves, and got in 3 football games to count, with the big one still to come Saturday (LSU vs Arkansas). We now have enough turkey leftovers to OD on tryptophan for the next 3 weeks. I have also reorganized my midge and wet fly boxes, and help Katie hang Christmas lights. Yes I am ADHD and can't sit still too long. I have managed to do all this due to great time management (you'll know what I mean of you are an LSU or Ole Miss fan) and the fact that Black Friday in Memphis scares the hell out of me so staying home is a good option. Why is it that every time one starts on a new pattern, inevitably someting you do not have is required? Now I have to wait 5 days to get my ice chenille for sweet ernies. Next all I need is two more shots in my knee of some 90 weight stuff called synvisk made from some part of the rooster ( this is some of the stuff that they do with what is left over from making fly hackle) and I am ready for the Little Red December 11. Good thing about river water is that if you wade in past your knees, the 50 degree water numbs them and fishing is great till they thaw out, which is when the pain and Advil make their retrun appearance.

Long Key in April, can Cuban coffee be far away?

2009-11-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

Just reserved a spot on Long Key for what may be my first encounter with a bonefish. Now all I have to do is get a tent, camping gear and tie a bunch of flies that the critters may or may not like. Luck has it that Rob, who is indirectly responsible for this madness by interviewing Fly Fish Chick, will also be there to guide this trout bum in the fine art of chasing/spooking bonefish on the flats. Maybe I can wrangle a kayak (too far to bring mine plus it will not fit on the overhead compartment) so I can get around with some added mobility. There is something about the sea that brings this island boy to his roots and can't wait to hit Miami, Cuban food and then head for Nirvanna on Long Key.

hahhh my first post - the road to blogging

2009-11-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

don't know how I got here but through an addiction to tight lines and bent rods, here is my initial steps inspired by following fly fish chick's adventures into the blogosphere