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Fly Tying: Cove's Pheasant Tail With Martyn White

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Fly Tying: A Hot Butt Buzzer With Martyn White

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Fly Tying: An Emu Damsel Nymph With Martyn White

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Nice dawn raid in the float tube. Bass & panfish and on hairbugs, Dinnies and leech imitations

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SHOOTING CIVILLIANS POINT BLANK. SHE WAS TRYING TO GET HOME AND THEY SHOT HER FOR NO REASON. GET THIS FOOTAGE OUT!

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Fly Tying: A Fiery Brown Cruncher With Martyn White

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I forgot something.

In the day & age of pics or it did not happen, I will understand if you do not want to believe this story.  Early this morning I set off to fish one of my local ponds at Arc Park in Palm Bay Fl.  I was able to get a look at the ponds conditions yesterday.  The water levels were up about 2-3 feet & the city had not sprayed weed killer on all the beautiful green grasses which stuck out a foot or more from a large portion of the waters surface.  A month earlier we were experiencing another major drought.  Grasses & weeds that had taken hold in the muddy areas that remained are now being fed plenty of water & extend up to ten feet from shore in some spots.

When I reached the waters edge & reached for my phone to take some pics of the pond I found myself without it.  I jogged back to the car to make sure I had not left it in there.  Nope.  “Oh well” I remarked to myself.  Then I chuckled at the thought that I might catch a nice fish that I would kick myself for not being able to get a pic of.  Well... that is exactly what happened.  In the short span of about an hour and fifteen minutes I caught six Bass & a beautifully colored dink Bluegill.  Two of the Bass were about 9-10”, one was 11”, one 12”,  one 13”, & one was a whopping 18”.  As usual I measured them against my rod with the tail even with the butt of the rod.  When I got home I used a tape measure to find the length of the largest.  The others I know by the length of the grip. 

It wound up being a super fun morning.  There were tons of missed strikes, a few quick releases, & two broken hooks to top off the day.  I was pulling hard on some of those fish.  The second hook I broke was when I was trying to pull a nice bass (probably pushing 2lbs) through the grasses.  The hook snapped & I lost em’  I have attached a pic of the first hook I broke.  I have put that fly through its paces.  I originally tied it without much thought.  It wound up being a major producer.  I don’t know how many fish it caught in the past few weeks but considering the 18” Bass (which probably came in around 3lbs+) contributed to its wear, I will make sure I hold onto it.  Maybe I will start a small cork board of retired flies. 

You are welcome to consider the story hogwash.  I have made this post mostly for posterity & to hopefully be a reminder to always remember to check and make sure I have my phone. 

In case anyone is curious, the lunar fishing calendar says today would be one of the worst days of the month.  If this was a bad day then I cannot wait to see what happens on a good one.  It also happens to be national get out and fish day.  So maybe lady luck decided to smile upon me. 

I plan to head back to the same area soon if the weather permits.  I am going to make sure I take ALL the cameras. 

As for all the grasses and what not.  It is great to see what happens when you have a healthy ecosystem.  There were bugs of all types.  Bass & Bluegill were making all sorts of top water noises in the taller grasses.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught something come out of the water to grab a fly insect.  Stop spraying poisons and do a bit of manual labor so we can all have a great time on the water. 

The 18" Bass is a personal best.

Have a great day.

Tight lines,

TJ

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Fly Tying: The Pea Green Diawl Bach With Martyn White

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Fly Tying: A Flashback Hare's Ear With Martyn White

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A few old fashioned poppers.

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You scroll past these comics to escape stress, but on the other side, creators are drowning in it. Platforms profit from our work, but we see none of it. Patreon is the difference between creating out of love and creating out of desperation.

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I've always liked the look of the slidery looking bug on the cover of Bill Tapply's book. Never really got round to tying one though. So here's my take on it in size 2.

Even though the colours are simple bands I still stacked it rather than spun it. Stacking just let's you put more hair on the hook; I've got 4-6 times as much on this than I would have if I'd spun it. This makes for a denser, tighter bug that is more durable and floats longer.

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Sometimes you just want something that gets in their face.