-mike schmidt
Monday, February 28, 2011
Meal Ticket takes the west by storm...?
-mike schmidt
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Hog Johnson sighting...
-mike schmidt
http://www.anglerschoiceflies.com/
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A couple more flies to Orvis for 2012!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Step by step: Mike's Voodoo Squatch
Thread: UTC140 denier, tan
Hook1: Gamagatsu B10S size 2/0
Hook2: Daiichi 2141 size 1
Tail: Matabou, tan
Body1: Marabou, tan and yellow
Body2: Bucktail, tan and yellow
Flash: Magnum Holographic Flashabou, yellow
Head: Senyo Laser Dub, rusty bronze and dark tan
Eyes: 3D Epoxy, Super Pearl 1/2"
Connection: Beadalon, 19 strand .018"
Alternative color combinations: All black, olive over tan, green over orange, red over white
STEP 1: With your Daiichi 2141 size 1 in the vise get your thread started and wrapped to the back of the hook shank. Once at the rear tie in point, located above the midpoint of the hook spear, tie a single marabou feather hanging approximately one hook length off the back of the hook. Tightly wrap the material forward about two thirds of the hook shank then return your thread to the mid-point of the shank.
STEP 2: Tie in three strands of Holographic Flashabou in the middle of the strands then fold them back over and tie them securely down, resulting in six strands hanging off the back of the hook. Tying the Flashabou in by the middle prevents the material from slipping out. The Holographic flashabou should be trimmed to be approximately the length of the marabou tail.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Jailbreak from the tying desk
Shortly after that debacle I heard a pitter-patter starting in the trees and watched as calm turned in to white out hail. Since it stung quite a bit I took refuge under a large tree riverside and enjoyed the cigar for about fifteen minutes until it slowed down then continued on. I never did hook another fish approaching that size but did manage three fish around 16". One came on a tan Red Rocket and two took the yellow Ice Pick I had trailing. If you have not seen the Ice Pick check it out as it is a fantastic fly from Rich Strolis of Catching Shadows: http://www.catching-shadows.com/catching-shadows/Home.html
Not a bad morning to say the least. Headed off to Montgomery Inn now for a full rack!
-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A few flies from the last two nights
I've been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest knocking out flies lately. Here's a bunch of Red Rockets, Voodoo Squatch, Meal Tickets, Conrad Sculpins, and a few other assorted goodies ready to hit the mail tomorrow. Canada, Kentucky, New York, and Arkansas...so quite literally the four corners of the compass!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
BIG ASS Ohio brown and the MRO tying class
Mike: Hello?
Ron: Hey Mike, it's Ron Lewis. You'll have to talk loud since my phone is in a vacuum bag.
Mike: Oh...OK. Sounds like you are on the river ehh...how's it going?
Ron: Thought you should be the first to know...I just caught my personal best!
Well...here it is! 28 inches of baddest fish in the river; a resident brown, not a lake run. I am confident we have them bigger, but not much and definitely not many of them. This is one hell of a nice fish for anywhere let alone central Ohio. Well done Ron!
28" Mad River brown with a Red Rocket hanging from it's maw...a thing of beauty!
Took me a bit to settle down after hearing about that massive fish and get to business, but it was time to get the Mad River Outfitters Advanced tying class underway. Six guys are signed up this session so it is a very comfortably sized class. We had a great time tonight tying a few streamers and getting the feeling of what the guys want to tie in the coming weeks. Looks like a few articulated streamers, some deerhair work, parachute dries, musky fly, and maybe a tarpon fly are on the docket!
The next few days will be tying a lot of flies as usual, but after seeing Ron and having rising water coming I may have to figure out a way to sneak out for a few hours on the water...
-mike schmidt
http://www.anglerschoiceflies.com/
Monday, February 14, 2011
The boys are back in town...White River fish porn!
Erik with a 26 inch White River brown that devoured a 6 inch glow in the dark Double Deceiver.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
ACF part of MLive article
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/02/ties_that_bind_masters_push_li.html
-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Kelly's in town
-mike schmidt
http://www.anglerschoiceflies.com/
Thursday, February 10, 2011
So, I used to think Feenstra tied flashy flies...
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
New streamer: Mike's Voodoo Squatch
Monday, February 7, 2011
Step by Step: Back Winged Scandi Tube
I have really have enjoyed tying with the Pro FlyTyer tube components and have some pretty wild ideas that I have been exploring possibilities on them. Before I get to in to the crazy though I have been working at making sure I have a solid base in the traditional to work from. To that end I posted up a step by step of a Scandi tube fly over at http://www.steelheadalleyflytying.blogspot.com/, check it out and let me know what you think.
-mike schmidt
http://www.anglerschoiceflies.com/
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Buckeye United Fly Fishers show weekend
It was a nice set up to tie and teach with; had a over the shoulder camera with a small feed in front of me and projecting on a large screen behing me. With the prototype double headed light from Alert Stamping there was certainly no problem with light!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Carp...yes please!
For a while I lived on a lake west of town that had a few square acres of mud flats that lended itself to some supreme carp fishing from a kayak. While there I honed my technique and worked on fly patterns to target these fish that can vary from lazy to super skittish and nearly impossible to approach. Once I moved I found that most of what I learned there translated very well to the slow pools and eddys on rivers around Columbus where the carp tend to hang. Working with some materials that were relatively new to the market back in the spring I tied up some new prototype flies and threw them in the boxes. After a few times out, and a few tweaks, they were performing exactly as designed and were put to good use as a 'craw-ish' imitation fooling fish. Neither fly is what I would call a realistic imitation, but rather is more of an impressionistic fly that simply looks like food.
Mike's Gorgon Craw makes good use of Senyo Shaggy Dub and barred rubber legs as antennae and claws. The grizzly marabou both provides a mottled look and 'movement without movement', in other words even in between strips the fly appears to have a little shimmy. The bead chain eyes are enough weight to get the fly down where it needs to be, but not so heavy as to make a commotion when entering the water.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Treading water
I took off from work today and stopped off at Office Max to pick up a replacement chair for the one that became a casualty of the sidewalk crack outside the HRFF show last weekend. I did not realize how bad that chair had gotten until I got this new one back to the house and put together. Three adjustments, mesh back, lumbar support...this thing does everything except give a mid-tie massage... Definitely tying in style now. As you can see above I had my usual helper for the evening. Amazingly enough, when she sets up shop in my lap and lays her head down to watch she never goes after material. Weird cat...