Yuku free message boards

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, and I do plan to stick around as I find this to be a great no-nonsense site.

John, my first rod is an old Shakespeare 7ft 9in., yellow, Art Howald Process hollow fiberglass rod for a 9 wt line, or, as originally labeled, GAAF. It was complimented by a South Bend Oren-o-Matic reel. You were on the south east fringe of some of the best flyrod water in the state when you were in San Antonio. Kerrville puts you in the heart of it. I have looked at the Goldie fly and find it appealing. I tie a gold Rattle Rouser that works quite well. Had a great day with it in south Florida four years ago on peacock bass.

Flytackle, I have played with blue in some of my wet flies with good results and have convinced myself that it should be used more in my flies; but, simply have not done it. Thanks for your input as it is the kick-in-the-seat that I need to use it more. My fellow east Texans and neighboring cajuns did not have chartreuse available to them back when or it would surely have been the third color of a "holy trinity", at least on the east side of the Sabine River.

I am Education Director, and have been for 7 years, for Texas FlyFishers here in Houston (a 200+ member club). We offer a 10 week beginners fly tying course and a ten week intermediate tying course that meets for two hours each week. One of the things that I personally stress in these classes is that there is no such thing as a "Line in the sand" distinction between saltwater, warmwater, and trout or salmon flies. We are dealing with organisms that have a pea-sized brain, who must eat to survive. I have used so-called saltwater flies in fresh water, and vice versa. All of the major groups of freshwater insects that the trout fisherman duplicates, with the possible exception of stoneflies, occur here in Texas and all of our freshwater fish definitely feed on them. I learned to fly fish throwing dry Black Gnat flies to bluegills (only fished dries in my formative years). A mosquito pattern late of an evening can provide a lot of excitement. Taking this one step further, I have been convinced for years that our popping bugs will be deadly on brown trout, and they will also entice rainbows to sample them. (Recently heard that some young guy in either Wyoming or Montana has been busily proving my theory for me.) There is absolutely no question in my mind about how well a saltwater crab pattern will work on largemouths or smallmouths. Therefore, IMHO, to categorize flies beyond what they imitate is an exercize in futility. The only REAL difference is whether they are tied on stainless steel or bronzed hooks, and either hook will work in either environment; so, that difference evaporates. Small poppers are deadly on redfish in the bays and will catch large sunfish and blackbass the same day.

I rest my case!

Tight lines!
Frank