I am in Scottsdale this weekend with my family and had a chance to get my Dad out fly casting this morning.  We had a good session with his new SAGE Small Mouth rod on the pond.  I must admit that this rod is a canon and very adept for amateur casters.  He will be taking it to northern Minnesota next week for his annual small mouth trip.  After just an hour of lessons he seems to be getting the hang of the fly game and I’m confident he will catch some fish with poppers and general top water flies.

A few more shots of the desert with the iPhone . . . .

Do I have a death wish?  Maybe . . . Maybe NOT.

Beautiful desert shots in low light.  Remember, that is where the iPhone excels, so shoot early in the morning or late at night to get the best photos in diffused light.

A few thoughts on the perfect model . . . Chloe.

1.  No legal model release needed.

2.  Looks good in low light and doesn’t need a makeup artist or even an art director.

3.  Doesn’t talk back (unless a treat is involved).

4. Doesn’t worry about sleeping on the job.

5. Is comfortable with technology (literally, ah hem, comfortable).

Recently Fly Tyer Magazine became available for electronic delivery.  While I love the feel of classic paper print for reading, especially my beloved Fly Tyer, my recent decision to move all media to the iPad made me bite the bullet and renew my subscription in electronic format.  The delivery mechanism is “o.k.” as provided by http://onlinedigitalpubs.com.  The e-reader is pretty standard and allows you flip through the pages on the computer with ease. However, you must be connected to internet since there is no ability to save the file (like with Zinio) for offline viewing. This creates a problem for iPad viewing during travel or when not connected to a wifi or 3G source.   Not to despair, there is a quick workaround.  Just choose to save the current edition as a .pdf file and you can easily view it on your computer anytime (each edition is about 120mb).  What’s even better is transferring the pdf to your iPad or iPhone or both for convenient viewing anywhere, anytime.  I’ll show you how below, but first let me tell you why it’s so cool.  Having your Fly Tyer available on your iPhone for example means you never have to be bored or frustrated waiting in line at the airport.

Step One. Access your online copy of Fly Tyer via the homepage or in your email inbox link, which is sent quarterly with each new edition.  Here is a screen shot of the online electronic magazine.

Step Two.  Click the top bar on the right to save as a .pdf and download it to your hard drive.  Make sure to rename the file (e.g. FlyTyer.year.season)

Step Three.  Drag the .pdf to iTunes under the “books” tab on the left pane.

Step Four.  Open the .pdf and right click and choose “info” and then change the category from unknown to Fly Tying and iTunes will make a new category.

Step Five.  Sync your iPad (or iPhone or both) and the Fly Tyer pdf will sync to iBooks.

Step Six.  Enjoy your Fly Tyer Magazine anytime, anywhere you like.  I particularly enjoy sitting the iPad on my fly tying desk and following the instructions for a particular pattern while I tie.  No longer do I have to run back-and-forth between my laptop and my tying desk during a detailed tutorial.  It is also a simple joy to read the magazine on the airplane or during lunch and dream of tying some flies instead of working.

Here are a few screen shots from iPad

Shots of the iPad in action on the tying desk.

What do you do when the River is blown out after the recent rainstorms?

Well, you can play with the midge hatch

Or you can photograph Pinecones

Or you can photograph yourself in funny poses

Or better yet . . . just hit the local pond and at least catch something.

I hit Lake Lanier today with Henry Cowen http://www.henrycowenflyfishing.com/Henry_Cowen/welcome.html for some Striper fishing. We started out at 5 am and fished the docks.  There were some hogs hanging out at the docks but no strikes.  Just after day break was when the fun began.  Although the top water bait crashing was minimal, there was a blessed window of opportunity where I was able to make a good cast to a boil of baitfish and hook a nice striper. The rest is just a fish tail.  Later in the morning it was blind casting with one “accidental” spotted bass.  Overall great day!  My wife can leave me alone anytime she wants, hahahaha!

Striper Box

Early morning with the iPhone

Daybreak with the iPhone

Line Management System

The Big Boy!

Representing the IA Board 

Other Shots

Spotted Bass

Traffic Jam Coming Home, AAGGHHH 

Obligatory Food Shot (Steak on the Green Egg) – Yum!

This March edition of iPhoneography features shots from places I’ve visited on my recent travels.  Most of them include high altitude shots, either from an airplane or from a recent brunch on top of the Westin in Atlanta.

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RECIPE

Hook: Eagle Claw 410 1/0 Bronze (purchased in bulk from DO-IT Molds http://www.do-itmolds.com/)

Thread: Mono 0.006

Eyes: Lead Eyes, medium or large

Flash: Krystal Flash, color to match brush/body color

Tail: Flat Rubber, about 20 strands

Body: Enrico Puglisi EP Crustaceous Brush (best colors for bass are Toby Toad Black/Yellow, OCRB-OL Olive, TOBR Toad Black/Red, 3T 3-Tone)

Weight: Lead Wire, 0.030

Fly Length: 3.5 inches

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Instructions

Select your EP brush to suite your fishing needs.  Proven color combinations are listed above, but the sky is the limit.

Examples

Then choose the rubber for the tails to match the brush color scheme.  I get my rubber from the local bass shop; they have tons of rubber which is used to tie spinner bait and jigs.

Choose the Krystal Flash to match the colors in the rubber and brush body of the fly.

Remember to use an Eagle Claw jig hook, size 1/0.  The shape is important to the movement of the fly.  These can be purchased for either freshwater or saltwater.

Start the mono thread and wrap a good base at the front of the fly.

Tie in the lead eyes using cross wraps and secure tightly.  Leave at least one eye length of space in front of the eye before the bend.  This will avoid crowding at the end of the brush wrapping sequence and leave room to tie off the mono thread at the end.  Glue the eye down with superglue before proceeding.

TIe in the Krystal Flash at the tail, about the length of the hook shaft.

Tie in the rubber tails.  There are a few tricks here: first, use about strands total of rubber; each will be folded over so the amount of rubber at the back will be double when you are finished.

This is how you tie in the rubber so that it creates an even wrap around the hook shank.  Take half of each color of rubber (if you are combining colors) and separate them into two bundles, about 10 strands each.  Then take the first bundle and tie it in the middle along the side of the hook. Then fold the other half over the hook shank on the other side. Next LOOSELY wrap the rubber back toward the bend and nudge the rubber with your fingers into a gentle and even spiral.  Bring the thread back up to half way mark of the hook shank and repeat.  Remember to wrap the rubber loosely each time.  Once you have completed the loose wraps and the rubber tails are nice and even in the back, then tightly bind the rubber with multiple hard wraps.  The tails are now evenly dispersed and tightly bound. Examples shown below.

Once you have tightly bound the rubber tails, fill the gap between the rubber and the lead eyes with 0.03 lead wire. Bind the wire tightly with the mono thread.

Tie in the EP brush at the rear of the fly precisely at the junction of the rubber tails and the mono thread.  Be sure and cut a small amount of fibers away to provide a clean tie-in wire.

Now you are ready to palmar the EP brush forward.  Remember to wrap each spiral tightly and use your fingers to move the posterior fibers backward.  This constant sweeping of the fibers backward allows you make tight wraps and also frees the fibers for later trimming.

You will use the entire EP brush to complete the fly.  Palmar forward until the brush is firmly nudged against the lead eyes.  Then cross over the top of the eyes and continue in front about three more turns.  You should be just about out of brush material by now.

Continue palmering the brush forward down the bend and then tie off.  Clip the excess material and wire and whip finish.

NOW THE FUN BEGINS!!!

You need to trim the fly to shape.  Use long shanked scissors if possible and remember the sharper they are, the easier it is trim.  Make a bullet tube jig shape with your scissors using short snips from the back to the front.  Keep the longer fibers in the back, you want them to overlap the rubber tails.  This will provide a nice even taper to the fly when wet.

Now go fish!  These tube jig flies are very lively in the water and the smallmouth and shoal bass hammer them with reckless abandon.

Additional fly art

Recently Cameron Mortenson over at The Fiberglass Manifesto upgraded his photography equipment and stepped up his game in a big way.  After seeing a few of his initial images from the Tie-One-On-Athon event I just had to post a few examples here to show how easy it is produce wonderful images without all the expense of high end flash and gear.  Now these images are by no means done with a point and shoot camera.  In fact, he is using a DSLR Nikon body, I believe the D70, but with his new 50 f 1.8 prime lens.  That is the key really, the fast glass allows you step up your game and stretch your artistic wings, while the natural light from the window provides the lighting depth necessary to open the shadows and give diffused light.  Notice the depth of field from subject (i.e. flies on the vise) to the background (i.e. the fly tier).  It’s that out of focus selection that adds drama to the image and adds the element of art to the photograph.  This series is an excellent example of how to step up your own fly art with only a modest investment in the DSLR world.

Way to go Cameron!