Catching up

So...for the last few weeks I have been so busy that I have been pretty much off the grid and out of touch compared to normal. I assure you I am alive and kicking, just been working to hammer out flies and now finally have a weekend at home to catch up a bit. Here has been what has been going on for ACF lately.

A few weeks ago I drove out to Elkhart Indiana to give another tying workshop to the St Joe River Valley Fly Fishers. They are a great group with a lot of talented tiers so I was really looking forward to it. We hammered through quie a few streamer patterns on the day and had a great time in the process.



I got an email mid-week from buddy Mariano down in Costa Rica. Since heading back down there he has been out quite a bit guiding for trout in the mountains as well as a good number of other species...and occasionally making it in to the office to practice dentistry. This was a shot he sent of himself with a hell off a nice Guapote, also known as a Rainbow Bass. It is basically a giant predatory cichlid that will practically pull your arms off!

Last weekend I drove up to Grand Rapids on Friday to participate in the Celebration of Fly Tying the following day. That evening I decided rather than hang out at the bowling alley it was a better idea to pick up a few beverages and tie in my room.

This was the end result that evening...a perfect meal for a big hungry brown trout.

I realised this morning when I grabbed the camera out of the bag that I never actually took any pictures at the actual event. It was a well attended show and a lot of fun to hang out with all of the Michigan crew. Following the show I headed farther north as my plans for Sunday were to head out and chase fish somewhere with Tommy Lynch of The Fish Whisperer Guide Service. We decided to swing for the fences and hit some lesser fished water with big streamers. We did see a few but in Tommy's words...the unicorns were bedded down tight. Next time...

The sun did come out for a few brief appearances but the rest of the time it was cloudy with steady 30+mph winds, not exactly ideal.

There were some eagles around to keep us company.


We fished it hard until the sun was below the trees. Looking forward to the next time I can get up there and get some more time on the oars..I need the practice for sure!

Over this week I have been hammering out as many orders as I can since this weekend I had to start a big wholesale order for out east. Here are some of the flies:




Got moving on that big order last night. Here is the first half of the back ends, and working on the rest of them until the order is done now.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo in Warren Michigan next weekend. That is my last big show for this season so I can get back to just tying and a lot more fishing!

-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com