Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing 2010 24HourCampfire Fly Swap- Success Stories & Pics

The Early Bird gets the worm, the Late Bird gets to squirm. -Grandma macrabbit
And I'm starting this thread to test the theory of Positive Thinking.

Just to juice the theory, first pic up wins any fly in my repertoire.

Here I am!

You're a catch, all right. Especially with that egg sack on your head.

But your ploy won't work. Next.

Aw, c'mon!! You folks haven't even received the flies yet! At least be halfway plausible in your attempts to fool me.

It's ok mac...he's just snagged up.

And just to appeal to your softer side, I'll quote from the letter of our youngest participant:

"P.s. if any body catchs a fish on my flys please send me a picture I would like it a lot"

So, team- when your flies arrive, go out there and catch one for the Gipper.

Our ribka must be another of those with a life, seeing as how he hasn't put up his tale yet.

Woooo!
I win I win I win!
Fished today with the Aztec Sculpin, little bows sure liked it on the swing, but gave it no attention on the dead drift. Seemed weird to me.
Anyway here are a couple pics of a couple of them.


I need smaller hands, my hands do these fish no justice at all...

Excellent!

Swing & dead drift. Did you play around with varied sudden strips or zig-zag twitches? The right action can make those Sculpins come deliciously alive!

Those are, if I'm not mistaken, not the largest fish of your life. I forget which size Sculpin I sent you, besides that 5/0 monster. Were you using one the same size as Mom's Pinky-Poo? (If so, those are greedy dang fish!) Or did I make a tiny one for you?

And yes, you do win. What's your pleasure? (If you say squid, crayfish, Manta, frog, damsel nymph, dragon nymph, or salamander, you'll have to wait until I get up to speed on them!)


And how did your own ties perform?

FWIW... I have very long hands... No such thing as XL gloves with fingers within an inch of the length of mine... Riley's hands are significantly longer than mine. I was 6-4 before settlement settled my height significantly...

And here I thought that Manute Bol was no longer with us.

Gives new meaning to "fingerling"...

I caught bigger today, but that was after I donated the sculpin to a tree... So what I would like is a replacement, but if at all possible on a wider gap hook and with more weight. You gave me one of the smaller ones.

Yes, i tried zig zag strips and everything. I think the problem was on the swing it had sunk down more to their level, but when I stripped it, it quickly came to the surface.

Now that's funny!

Had not heard Manute had passed... He did it while we were incommunicado, or on a little boat, or something like that.

I suppose if he gave you the finger he would mean it...

Finally! Love it!


OK, you make the call-
Here are my choices of hook. The top one, the Mustad 9674 (4XL) in size 4 is what I used on most of the Swap Sculpins, including Pinky-Poo. Standard overall length with it is 3 3/8". ***(Oops- I forgot to include in the photo shoot the 37187 Stinger hook, like I used for your Dad's.)***
Choose a hook and fly length. (I have smaller sizes, also, in all but the Partridge.)
Some of them are 1XH, and I'll see what I can do about a thicker lead wire.

In my hand, those would be 8-9" fish.

***Double oops- that 3665A is a size 2.

Mine was the mini version, only a couple of inches long.

But choose the hook from those, one that has the gape you wish, and specify a length. I'll see what I can do with the hook, maybe go smaller if your length requires it.
Go ahead-- customize!

Oh ok. I like the looks of that Partridge CS17.
Thanks
Riley

Alrighty, then.
But I need to get out these Alberta flies first. They're all gilled like one of those I gave skunkedagain; plus two other customizations- these flies are taking me some time!

Sounds like real killers!

We can only hope...

haha you and me both riley the big hands dont show the fishes true size those ones we got today were sure nice and fat

Here ya go.
This one will be easier to find in the trees-
(Am I correct in thinking that the Tiger subspecies of sculpin is native to that area?)



And it's a great fly for late October.

(Check it out under a black light!)

I am sure it would be a killer for silvers!

Here is one on the Wolly Worm

That should put a smile on the young guy's face! Thanks, AKG.

Some goodies went in the mail today. Warn the trees to be ready for some hurt!



And what excuses do the rest of you have? This thread is waay too empty.

Hopefully will post today with wife's help.

We'll all gather around the campfire to listen to your tale.
Who's got the marshmallows?

Owen just checked this thread over my shoulder and was really impressed that a fly tied by him in Wisconsin caught a fish in Alaska...Cool beans...

Very cool beans.

Now let us know how well it works in the other direction.

Got the flies today. Thanks a lot. They look really good. I am headed to Kodiak tomorrow morning early and will definitely swing them for some sea run dollies!

[img]http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0003770514192a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=outback+lodge&sort=all&Go.y=0&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=0[/img]

Caught on Lake Shabuskia Ontario Brook Trout on a Mcrabbit sculpin

More caught on fly swap flies

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/goodpike.jpg ( Sculpin)

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/IMGP0045.jpg( Baby daddy leech steelhead)


http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/DSC_2087.jpg

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/goodwalleye.jpg ( sculpin fly pattern walleye)


http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/IMGP0035.jpg ( baby daddy leech)

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/DSC_1256.jpg
( MT rainbow)


Will post more results

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/DSC_1256.jpg

steelhead

a bear who hung around our Camp in Ontario

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/ribka123/IMG_1174.jpg

More caught on fly swap flies

( Sculpin)


( Baby daddy leech steelhead)





( sculpin fly pattern walleye)


( baby daddy leech)


( MT rainbow)




Will post more results

a bear who hung around our Camp in Ontario

rbka, I reposted your pics so all could see.

I'll PM you, try to walk you thru image posting. We have 24 hours from first posting to edit our own posts, so perhaps we can get yours to display the photos, and I will delete mine.


Nice!

Looks like your group had a successful trip!

(But I thought you wrote that you were going in with canoes strapped to the plane. There's a boat in one of those pictures that sure ain't lookin' like any canoe I've ever portaged! )

I hope you start a new thread, tell your tale.

Thanks for the technical assistance with photos

We planned to fly-in with canoes strapped to the float plane like in the past and do a float trip. Had to change plans last minute due to very low water conditions in Ontario this year. Would of ended up dragging canoes a good deal on the river. Not fun! Ended up finsing an oufitter with an outpost camp and Flew in with them. The had 16 ft lund boats with 25 hp yamahas

Used fly gear when possible when the wind died down on the lake and conventional fishing gear the rest of the time. Sometimes would put on a fly swap fly pattern with a split shot and spinning when wind was really bad. Too difficult to use fly rod control boat and cast at the same time in 35 mph winds

Good time. The 3 of us caught around 400 fish (walleyes, pike and brookies) in 6 days of fishing.

Hate to be in the boat when the water in that 4th picture hits bottom. I'd not risk standing up in that craft. Looks like a great time.

That's it, guys & gals. Keep them stories rolling in...

Yessirree, just lovin' all them adventures...

It's tough catching up on all the adventures published here while I was at the Conclave...

Any lies, even?

We're waiting for.........better weather?

Took a picture or several the other day with silver salmon and a large orange mono body and white wing Aztec... Cannot transfer electrons here, but will when I get home.
art

....and how hard could it have been to grab a shot of a grayling with a swap fly in its mouth? Kicking myself over that opportunity missed!!!

Yup, coulda, woulda, shoulda...

But just how hard was it to catch a grayling?

Though that one did tear up my fancy reel...
art

Mid-air collisions between competing fish was a much more likely event than a refusal.....

macrabbit,
Okay, here is a picture as promised... In the gloaming on the incoming tide the fish wanted to come up, but there were lots of things to scare them away.


Just a short distance upstream there was a shallow riffle and the fish that had beaten the gautnlet had to get past the herons. With their backs out of water they gave themselves away and made it easy for the herons to lay a fly in their path.

Things that glowed in the diffuse light of the setting sun caught their attention and triggered wide-mouth takes.

My second silver taken a bit upstream from the crowd... The first was not terribly photogenic with a pair of large Vibrax spinners in purple and silver hanging...






Thanks again for the Aztecs!
art

Oh, notice how the Aztec hook bent from levering around the jaw.

Nifty! (Even if it isn't technically a Swap Fly.)
Those White/Orange Mono ones are supposed to be great for steelhead and salmon.

Amazing how the hook bent. You need to stop horsing the things in; learn how to play a fish!
What'd that baby weigh?

That looks like a Sproat bend. That'd likely mean a 3366, which is not a 1XH like the usual, if less than #2, 7957BX.
That macrabbit guy must be sending you substandard goods. What's his return policy?

Herons, huh? If it's cold enough, are they great blue herons?

I refer to the tactic of waiting at the riffles for the fish to expose themselves as "being the heron". We have lots of sandhill cranes in mainland AK, but great blues are rare. Once you get around Prince William Sound and south they are fairly common.

Actually I think the hook started as more of a round or perfect bend and was "adjusted" by the fish. You sent another of the same design but much smaller and I really wanted to use it. Unfortunately I did not find it until unpacking some stuff yesterday...

The fish was probably somewhere over 14 pounds. Six fish filleted were 42 pounds and this was a larger specimen than the average. They test hooks...

Playing the fish too much means they run back into the gauntlet where several different folks will hook your line and help you horse in your fish.
thanks again!
art

Herons. Is MissTreated a sheron?

A straight eye-- 3366. Sure wish Mustad had made the 7957BX in larger sizes. Its Perfect bend keeps the tail just that much more rearward, away from fouling. Plus 1XL, 1XH- love it.

With lunkers like that biting them, I might oughta put on a coat of Super Glue before I wrap the body. Of course, if you're gonna fatigue the hook in a few fish...

And give that one the black light treatment. It's a wowzer!