Had the pleasure of spending two days in Laguna Madre TX with Mark Bange catching Redfish. After a quick trip from Baltimore to Harligen Texas on Sunday we treated ourselves to fine Mexican dinning before heading over to lodging on the water. Both days went about the same. We started out around 6:30 AM to slick calm conditions for a short run to the flats. Casting to tailing fish from the boat and wading at times gave us fairly steady action. We had great action for several hours both morning before moving on. The wind began to pick up around 10 getting progressively stronger making casting and just keeping the fly line on the deck a challenge. On our first day we fought it out with gust up to 30knts. Second day was a bit lighter but not by much. We saw plenty of fish both days with many hooked and landed. On our second day we had 3 hours of hot action to end the day with about 10 fish landed in those final 3 hours. We ended the two days with about 40 Redfish landed and probably 3 times that many sighted and casted to. I caught a few Speckle Trout casting off the deck during our first night. Overall wonderful trip once again. Texas never disappoints. 

Luis

Another very good turnout at the FSFF Beer Tie at Killarney House Pub. Ten thirsty avid fly fishermen showed up to tie, drink, eat and talk.

Next Beer Tie: 8/22/18 at 6:00 PM. We will again be in the porch area at the restaurant located at 584 W Central Ave. Davidsonville, MD 21035.  You can check out their menu at http://killarneyhousepub.com.  Please bring your vise, lamp (there are outlets although they probably won’t be needed till fall), materials and tools. 

Five FSFFers, Mike Mattia, Don Vance, Bob Ruck, John Veil and yours truly launched into Weems Creek this morning in search of white perch.  The perch did not disappoint, giving us plenty of action on flies and spinners.  Conservatively, I believe about 100 perch have sore lips today due to our combined efforts.  

We intended to launch directly into the Severn from Jonas Green.  However, high winds with corresponding waves in the Severn this morning made Weems a better choice.  

Here are Bob, Don and Mike at the Tucker Street launch:

We headed toward the Weems Creek Bridge and eventually to the back portion of the creek:

Note that John Veil had already launched by the time we arrived.  Aside from the stiff breeze, it was a beautiful day. 

Bob found a good spot by the bridge:

I hooked up soon with this little guy:

The fly is the creation of Joe DeMeo.  It’s almost too lifelike to be considered a fly.  It has fooled crappie and now white perch for me.  Thank you, Joe. 

I also got some interest on a yellow Clouser:

Eventually, I lost that Clouser to something I couldn’t raise to the surface with my 5 wt.  I don’t know what it was. No head shake like a striper and no long run like ray.  It just burrowed down.  Whatever it was, it’s wearing my yellow Clouser tonight.    

Of course a wooly bugger never disappoints.  I got a few to hit this dark one

Meanwhile, Don seemed to have a fish on every time I saw him:

The perch weren’t especially picky today so I gave them a chance to taste a pink crystal bugger.  It worked:

Although the perch weren’t big, they gave us a lot of action.  I did catch one that was 11 inches but it did not hit a fly.  It took one of my hand-tied jig spinners:

It has hair on it.  It’s almost a fly!  

After about 3.5 hours on the water, the crew straggled in.  Here’s Mike telling us about the one that got away:

Next came Bob.  He had a very good day:

Then John and Don arrived.  I think they caught the most.

It was indeed a great day on the water albeit a bit breezier than we would have liked for a fly fishing outing.  Nevertheless we had fun and of course we finished the day at nearby Canton Inn with great service and excellent food.

Thanks for joining today’s outing, guys. Anytime you want to try again, just let me know. 

Mark

Thank you to all the members that participated in this years fly swap. Below are all the flies traded. A special thank you to Mr. Joe Bruce who did not participate in the swap but donated several flies for me to distribute to participants as bonus flies. Thank you, Luis.

Luis.

Joe S.Wayne
Mike MFrank B
Frank K

Rich B

Second fly swap

As winter sets in there is no better time to get back to your vises. With that in mind I am happy to announce our Second fly swap.

The theme for this year will be Bass flies. This swap is open to all members all levels. I encourage our new members and beginner tiers to participate. Swaps are designed to help motivate you. Practice and refine your technique, share thoughts and questions with fellow tiers and in return receive several new patterns for you to copy, fish and discuss.

We will need an even number of swappers and to be added to the list of participants please send me a message. We will go with 6 players but I would prefer 10 max 12. It Ambitious, I know. This year we will be each tying two flies.

The rules and procedures of the game are as follow.

If you would like to participate sound off. Please let me know ASAP. I will get a list going. Closing date for signing up is January 31.

Each tier will tie two different patterns. Large or Smallmouth flies are acceptable. Both surface or subsurface flies are acceptable. Any fly you choose is acceptable however I will recommend one surface one subsurface for variety if possible. The amount needed will be announced once we have closed participants. In turn you will receive a variety of 12 – 24 or so distinct flies tied by fellow club members.

The swap is done via mail. Your dozen or less flies will need be shipped to me to arrive before cutoff date of March 3rd. A self-addressed stamped envelope will need to be included with your flies for me to return your package. A crush proof container would help keep you flies in good shape. A condiment container, altoid or pill box work well for this. If you choose to not send a self address stamped envelope please include 2 dollars to cover stamp, and envelope. We can complete swaps at meeting and fly tying if you choose to skip the shipping. I will have the flies returned to you by March 10 as long as everyone meets the deadline.

Each fly should have a toe tag for identification. Since you will be getting 12-24 mixed flies it is an easy way to ID who tied a particular fly and what the fly is called. A small slip of paper with the info in-palled on the hooks works great. That way, if you wish to ask questions about the fly you can speak to tier without having to send out a mass message asking who tied the fly and your question. I will usually place a piece of tape on the small slip of paper to reinforce it so it doesn’t come off in transit.

Dates to remember

Sign up by Jan 31

Flies completed and shipped before March 3rd

Flies returned around March 10.

Had a great trip to Laguna Madre, TX last weekend. It was a very short 3  day trip. I traveled on Wednesday meeting my fishing partner in Houston for our connection to South Padre Island airport.  A one hour flight from Houston and one hour drive from the Harligen airport put us on the shores of Laguna Madre.

A huge, beautiful expanse of water. Just a few miles from the Mexico border.  It contains miles and miles of 2-4 foot deep flats of crystal clear saltwater. Our first day the guide ask if we were OK with a long run and exploring a new area and once we agreed he ran the boat at 35 miles per hour North for well over an hour. Nothing but flats as far as the eye could see and not another flats skiff spotted the entire run.

The first day, as is always the case with me. The weather followed me around and posed its challenges but it was much milder than my last few trips. Mostly overcast skies and scattered showers made the fishing difficult at times. A light breeze kept conditions comfortable for the Texas heat. My partner Collin, having been a trout angler in Denver his entire life spent most  of the time on bow getting his casting and spotting dialed in. He quickly got his legs under him and under the guides instruction he casted, teased and hooked a fish without ever seeing the fish before the strike.  We boated our first Redfish by 9 AM. The fishing was slower then the guide had hoped for but by the end of the day we had both boated several Redfish and large Speckle Trout.

The second day got of to a real bang, only 20 minutes away from the launch we pulled into a bay full of tailing Redfish as far as the eye could see. Thankful and impressed by the capabilities of the guides Hell’s Bay flats skiff we ran in at top speed in less than a foot of water and polled within casting distance in two-three inches of water. We found lots of happy and hungry to cast too.  We were plagued by some heavy rain shower off and on that kept us putting and taking off our rain jackets. The showers would move quickly rain for 15-20 minutes and move out leaving a blinding Texas sun.  We spend 6 of our 8 hour of fishing in a bay the size of round bay. I caught about ten reds the second day. With my partner boating half that. Back at the dock at 4 and to the airport for a 630 departure.

Just a few short days after arriving from Belize I was greeted in Port Austin Michigan with 42 degrees, overcast rainy skies and my trusted old friend of 20 knot winds. Catch and release season for Smallmouth open just one week ago and in hopes of getting in some fishing before the gear anglers get going for the catch and keep season we made the long trek up to the tip of thumb. The strong cold front that made Trap Pond interesting for you guys put the fish down and my foul mood up instantly. I refused to suffer in silence as I talked my fishing partners ear off about how people have to be mad to live in Michigan when its 40 degrees almost well into Summer. I complained about the warm hat I left behind the lovely waterproof gloves that are safe and sound in my basement and the fact I was on a flats boat in 90 degrees not 7 days ago having way more fun. Not surprisingly he had very little sympathy for me, having been born and raised in Germany I was surprised he wasn’t wet wading in shorts.  I am pretty sure I have a self induced eye injury from the massive amount of eye rolling I did every time one of the 40 Michigan fly club members that had been fishing all week in the area said the phrase  “You should have been here yesterday, I caught 18, or 22 (one even said over 30)”

We began fishing Friday evening and fished most of the day Saturday. Although people came and went we stuck it out and manage a decent amount of fish for the conditions.We landed around 10 Smallmouth during the two days of fishing. I am extremely happy with the outcome since we must have seen 100 people wade out give it a try and head home skunked. I only saw two other fish landed during our weekend. Of course it is not always about the catch but the adventure of the trip itself……that’s what people say when you don’t catch fish.