Fly fishing in Nebraska

Dad..I love fly fishing.

2012-09-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

I took my daughter out fishing today. She told me "Dad, I love fly fishing. I can feel every little nibble and bite. Oooohhh. Look it jumped out of the water for the fly."

It was an awesome day!

Pure Art

2012-09-01T11:46:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back Owl Jones over at Zazzy Pop had a naming contest for some of the poppers he makes. I threw in a suggestion and was lucky enough to win. That really surprised me, as I never...really never ever win anything. After waiting for what seemed like forever, they arrived on this first football Saturday.

~~Tearing into the package to get to the treasure that lay inside was a hassle. They sell some good envelopes down south, that's for sure.~~ After opening the envelope, the first thing I see is a business card.

Then on to the good stuff..

Look at 'em.. they are too pretty to fish with.. I'm really afraid that I'll lose them to some evil fly eating tree.

Thanks Owl... these are just pure art

Getting older

2012-08-12T21:03:00.002-05:00

Well this year is going to be interesting. My oldest daughter will be a senior and my youngest is going into second grade. I never really stopped to think about it till just now. I'm getting old...:( It seems like yesterday that I was in high school myself.

Up to my knees in it.

2012-08-12T20:46:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I went fishing at a lake nearby that I had not fished since this spring. I was just amazed at just how low the water level had become. It had dropped 3 to 4 feet since this spring.

However with the water so low, it meant more area to fish from. Since I don't have a boat I have to fish from shore. I could walk right along to shore without anything getting in my way. So that's what I did.

Some of the new shoreline is soft, as I soon found out. Walking to a new area that I had not fished before I quickly sank up to my knees in soft mud. I'm quite lucky I could pull myself out of it. I thought about taking some pics but I just wanted to get that stinky mud washed off as soon as possible.

I did catch a few chunky bass nothing huge but thick for their size, and one made off with one of my favorite flies.

Finally

2012-08-11T14:54:00.001-05:00

Since first learning to cast a fly rod a little over a year ago. I can DOUBLE HAUL!!!!

Its not that I need to use it as most to the fishing I do is close to shore anyhow. Its just something I wanted to learn how to do. I've trying and trying for quite a while and finally the clouds parted and reviled the hidden art of double hauling to me.

Also Ava wanted to fish with me today again. I was so nice to have her along. I'm a lucky father to have a little girl that likes to go fishing (plus she gets to go play at the playground when she gets bored). However the wind wasn't really on her side today but we managed a few fish.

Where would you take Build #100?

2012-08-10T23:57:00.002-05:00

My submission to the TFM Where would you take Build #100? contest.

Where would you take Build #100?

Hummmmm.... good question..

Not here.. It's been bone dry for 2 months now..

I might try here..

Great bass and bluegill lake, but its a secret location and a pain to get to. That's why its a great place.

How about here?

Nice crappie pond.

but most of the time I would use it here.

its just down the street from me. And since I taught my seven year old to roll cast I may never get my rod back again.

Product Review - Scientific Anglers Headstart Fly line

2012-05-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

Here it is. I love this line, really. Honestly this is the most expensive line I've bought to date. But it cast like a dream.

I ordered it on Monday night after finding that my old line (which I purchased only 3 months ago) was cracking. I was hoping that it would get here before the Memorial Day weekend, 'cause daddy needs to fish.

Low and behold after come home from work tonight there it was sitting on the table waiting of me. While dinner was cooking I just had to put it on my reel. Right after dinner I headed on down to the pond to test it out.

I decided to try out some poppers that I bought last year and see if I could get a bite. Well I did, I never knew a bluegill could swallow a popper, but I do now. In the process of removing it, I destroyed it. Turns out the popper was made of wood, all this time I though it was foam.

Back to the line... I can cast this line out almost 60 feet with a decent amount of accuracy. Best of all I can feel it load the rod, now perhaps I can learn to double haul. I really think I have a shot with this line. I'll post a follow up on the line after the holiday because I plan on putting this line to task.

The Hammer

2012-05-23T22:45:00.002-05:00

This one is called the Hammer and let me tell you the crappie hammered this thing to nothing. My friend (hope he doesn't mind me calling him that) gave me one of these at the same time he gave me the greasy monkey.

The nice thing about this fly is it rides hook point up so you can fish it on the bottom without too many snags.

Not sure what more I can say about this fly, so on to the video.

http://vimeo.com/18903083

Greasy Monkey

2012-05-23T22:37:00.000-05:00

About three weeks ago I got the chance to fish with a guy from a fishing forum that we belong to. He gave me a few flies that he tied up and one of them he calls the greasy monkey. Now this fly is quite interesting as it is fluorescent yellow. This thing is a 'gill and bass magnet.

I was catching bass like this on it. This one happened to be 17" long and the biggest I've ever caught in this pond.

and the 'gills were like this one.

Anyway I love this fly and just had to tie some up myself. On mine I used chartreuse hackle but the fish don't seem to mind all that much.

Well here's the video if you want to tie some of your own.

http://vimeo.com/41821191

Need Flies?

2011-11-28T18:58:00.001-06:00

If you do do I have a bargain for you. For the next three days StreamFlies has 20% off on there flies and to top it off free shipping.

Go to http://streamflies.com/index.html#top and get your flies and use discount code Cyber20

This sucks.

2011-11-01T18:53:00.002-05:00

I did get to get out and fish a bit today. No pictures because I forgot my phone at home. I caught nothing but bluegills and they were hungry. They were biting as fast as I could get my fly back in the water. The only bright side is it should warm back up by this weekend.

Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial - YouTube

2011-10-30T13:20:00.000-05:00

Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial - YouTube: ""

'via Blog this'

A couple of friends from work have been talking to me about this video for a while now so I had to watch it. Funny

Great Day

2011-10-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

Well today has been a great day. Got to watch some football with my girlfriend while our daughter was at her Aunts. I will say, I'm not a super football fan but I do enjoy a great game, and the Nebraska-Michigan State game was a good one.

This is normal football saturdays for my little girl. Little is a loving term for my 130 lbs baby.

After the games that we wanted to watch were over I decided to head down to the pond for a little fishing before it got dark. I was only out for about an hour but what an hour it was. I decided to use the flies I got from streamflies (I wrote a review and posted it on this blog if you're interested). I used a #12 Zug bug and caught all of them on it.

I can't believe the rush I feel when I see the boil under my fly, just knowing that something thinks its food.

All in all I caught 2 Rainbows about 11" long and 3 bluegills about 7" long. I normally just catch and release so all these guys are back swimming around right now. I'm just hoping for a few more weeks of soft water..PLEASE!!!!... so I can do this a few more times.

I just might have to take a vacation day before winter gets here.

One Proud Dad

2011-10-25T23:45:00.003-05:00

My daughter is in the first grade this year and she just brought home her first report card and it was all B's. I think the school just gave all the kids B's to be honest. I know she can read well beyond a first grade level. Anyhow I'm very proud of her hard work.

Pretzel Time!

2011-10-25T20:45:00.001-05:00

I was really wanting a soft pretzel a few weekends ago. So I set out to find a recipe that I could make that would be easy and came across this one. It was so easy.

Next time I need to hide them as my girlfriend kept eating them as fast as I could make them.

Anyhow enough whining. Here's the link if you care to have a go at making them yourself.
http://busterbucks.hubpages.com/hub/Worlds-Best-and-easiest-Soft-Pretzels

StreamFlies.com Review

2011-10-25T19:14:00.000-05:00

First off I have no connection to this site other then being a happy customer.

I just made another purchase from StreamFlies.com and wow they look great. I can't wait to get out and use them this weekend.

My homemade fly box

Copperjohns of assorted sizes

Zug bug

Mosquito fly

look great don't they??

Ok here's the run down on streamflies. They are in Oregon. All trout flies are .50c each. Thats right!, only half of a dollar or 2 quarters.

The best part, you get free shipping and no minimum order.

Since I can't tie very well yet I get most of my flies here. So in closing..if you're looking for some great flies at a super price check them out at http://streamflies.com/index.html#top

Thanks for reading now go fish some more.

Gone fishin!

2011-10-24T23:46:00.000-05:00

This is a little late and no pics but anyhow. Yesterday I took my daughter Ava with me because it was a beautiful day with temps in the 70's. So after casting for a while with no success, I finally connect with something. Thinking it was a trout that the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission stock in the pond by my house (thanks btw).

I tell Ava to come over and I let her pull in the fish. I hand her the rod and tell her to pull the line with her other hand, which she starts to do, until she comes to end of her reach. She lets go to move her hand to grab more line, but the line starts going the other way. She does this for a few times (with me chuckling under my breath), then she asks me to help her. So I tell her to put the line under one of her fingers to lock the line when she uses her other hand to pull. She caught on real fast. The look on her face was worth it when she pulled in her first fly rod bluegill.

This just a pic of her fishing when I was help out at a Youth Fishing Class.

And this is the crappie she caught.

Just a few pics

2011-10-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

I thought I would share some of my pics of fish I've been lucky enough to get on the fly.

Cabela's Three Forks/ Prestige Combo review

2011-10-23T19:23:00.002-05:00

I bought this combo a few weeks ago and have been putting it though the paces best I could. Let me say that I know there are better and more expensive combos out there but I have a budget and this fit it well.

I bought the 5wt, 4 piece combo because I hope to be able to make a trip to one of the trout streams that Nebraska has soon. I like the way the rod feels in my hands, it doesn't seem to be to stiff or too soft for me, then again I am just a beginner. I think the rod is great because I can feel it load when I am casting and I couldn't do that with the one I learned to cast on. The reel seems to made well and has a drag system on it but I haven't had to use it yet.

Over all I think this is a good setup for a budget flyfisher.

Well I decided to try bloging about my fly fishing

2011-10-23T18:01:00.001-05:00

First off, I just started fly fishing this June and fell in love with it. There is something so ..... Relaxing, Fun.. I just don't know how to describe it. I live in Nebraska which is not known for its trout (but it does have some). So I mostly fish for warm water fishes (Bluegill, Bass, etc).

I am also learning how to tie my own flies. So far I've only tied a few woolly worms and woolly buggers. I'm waiting for winter to really get into tying since I'm not crazy enough to ice fish. So thats about all I'm going to say about tying for now.