Category: Crayfish

Calendar of events

6/27/2013

Our Calender of events has just been updated with several items you may be interested in. Due to many requests we have added a fall fly tying class. This 4 week class will start on Wednesday night, October 23rd and run for four consecutive weeks. We are still kicking around ideas for this fall class, thoughts have included "Guide Flies" "Articulated Streamers" "Tying with Foam" or a "Steelhead / Tube Fly" themed class. Whatever Class we do it is sure to be a great time.

Our Winter tying classes will keep the same format as in past years. We will start the beginner class on Tuesday, January 14, 2014. The Advanced class will start on Wednesday the 15th and the Salt Water class will start on Thursday the 16th. All 3 of these classes will run for six consecutive weeks, weather permitting. Our winter tying classes are a great way to get out and have "fishing" fun during the winter months. Based on past years the beginner and advanced classes fill quickly, be sure you to get in early to hold your spot. For more information on our tying classes you can click here. Here are a few pictures from last years classes. Looks like fun to me...

If you look at the July calender you will see an entry on Sunday the 7th. We are going to do an informal gathering at Brandywine Creek State Park on Sunday afternoon. The goal here is for us to get together, talk fishing, fish a little, and have a good day on the river. Terry and I, as well as many members of the Rat Squad will be there with our Light Spey rods. Casting demos and informal casting instruction will be available. Kind of a mini Brandywine Jam if you will. If you have ever had an inkling to try this Spey casting thing, want to see some new gear, or just want to come out and hang out with some like minded people this is a great opportunity to do so. Light refreshments will be available. We are also targeting this date as the launch of our new Spey casting and fishing club. This formal club is something we have been working very hard on. Club meetings, conservation projects and hosted trips are a few of the things that will be a part of our ultimate goal. Time for this event will be 1:00 pm till 5:00 pm We will be posting more information about this event here as well as our Facebook page when it becomes available. This could be a great opportunity to cross a few fish off of your Smallmouth Challenge list as well. We look forward to seeing you there.

Last but not least we will be hosting the first annual Marblehead Flyfisher Spey Clave at the shop. We are still working out many details for this event with our biggest sales rep. We are shooting for the first Saturday in September, but that could change. Our goal with this event is to promote and showcase all things Spey. Similar to our "Open House" events this is another great opportunity to get into this very popular casting and fishing style. Many more details for this event will follow. Keep an eye on this website, our Facebook page and the Twitter feed as more info will be posted as it becomes available.

Fly tying, Smallmouth fishing, and Spey casting, there are plenty of things to keep us busy through the dog days of summer.

Tight lines...

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The maiden voyage of the PAC-13 drift boat.

6/13/2013

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Last week Terry and I dunked the Outcast PAC-13 in the river for her maiden voyage down the Brandywine. Obviously we took along fishing gear, but this was to be more of a "dry run" for the float trips we will be running this summer. We put it in at our uppermost put-in (at this time) the Lenape picnic park and floated to one of our take-outs on a private section of the Brandywine.

First time in the river.

This is a really cool pic. We should frame this one!

The big moment!

We started off drifting down the river with Terry on the oars and me on the bow. One thing became apparent right off the bat. Casting and fishing out of a drift boat is NOTHING like walk and wade fishing! After a few impromptu lessons from the boss and a learning curve that I made much harder than it needed it to be we started to get in sync. Pick up, cast, strip, strip, strip, repeat. There is no time for false casting and the strip is an aggressive, long , fast strip. One thing I had to wrap my brain around is that the boat is always moving down river. Shortly into the trip the first ever fish to be landed on the boat came to hand...

I am honored to have landed the first fish on the boat.

As we continued to float down the river Terry remarked at how easy the boat was to maneuver. I was surprised at the complexity of the oarsman's job. There is much more to rowing a drift boat than just floating down the middle of the river. Positioning for a river left or a river right cast, back rowing, looking for casting obstructions etc. are all part of the job. With two fishermen in the boat this will be quite the intense job. Terry had me in the game the whole afternoon, a true professional!

Rigging the 6 wt.

About an hour into the float we really started to get things down and started to land a few fish including a few nice Smallmouth. Unfortunately, the nicest fish had other plans when it came to picture time and back in the river she went. A solid 15 to 16" Bronze-back was the days best. One thing for sure, once you float in this boat you won't ever want to float in a canoe again. The stability of this boat is amazing. Weather sitting or standing casting is no problem. With the two of us and enough gear to stay on the river for two or three days the boat floated in less than 6" of water! The bow casting platform is very roomy and easy to work from. At no point did I feel like it was too small. If my back started to hurt I would just sit down and cast from the seat, the line of sight was not as good, but it was a nice break from standing.

Here is a short video of Terry bringing the boat through a narrow section of the river. Believe me, he makes this look easy. This was a tough slot to navigate.

If you have been thinking about floating the Brandywine, or looking to cross a few fish off of your "Challenge" list let me say there is no more comfortable way to do it than in our PAC-13 drift boat. If you have been floating in a canoe you really should try the PAC-13, the stability in this boat is unbelievable. Give us a call at the shop (302)654-6515 or contact us through email here if you are interested in more details about out summer float trips down the Brandywine. July is already starting to fill, but August is wide open. We look forward to hearing from you.

Tight lines...

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The Final Smallie Class

4/2/2013

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Wednesday marked the final Smallmouth tying class. I am really bummed out to see this come to an end. A great group of guys and fun, fishable patterns have made this class one of my favorites. Terry and I would really like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone that made this class possible. For the last night I was instructing and guess what...we tied a big articulated streamer. I think I see a pattern here, no pun intended. The Strolis Ice Pick was on tap for the evening and I believe everybody enjoyed the pattern. Before we get too far into this pattern lets look at some homework from last weeks class.

Here are two samples of what I would call exceptional flies. Paul R. took what he learned in two of our classes and combined them to come up with the "Blonde" Brandywine Crawler. At the right times this pattern will be DEADLY on Smallmouth! The "Gary's Albie Fly" looks good as well. To see how well an "Albie" fly works on a wild Trout stream click here to read last weeks report. Below are samples of more exceptional homework from the class.

"One Boot" Ed did some fine work in these two pictures

"One Boot" Ed's second block of flies

Paul V with an impressive batch of homework.

Looks like somebody has Steelhead on the brain!

After checking out the home work we started on this weeks pattern, the Ice Pick. I recently instructed the advance class on another Strolis pattern, The Headbanger Sculpin. On that pattern we did a rear hook and a Fish Skull shank to make the articulated joint. Many of the guys from the advance class are in this class also so I decided to show how to do a wire connection. Many of you know I don't fish with tandem hook flies, so at the end of class I took the sample fly and nipped the hook off at the bend. This is absolutely a personal choice, If you want to fish with two hooks go ahead, just be sure to check local regulations and please pinch the barbs down.

Here is the recipe as we tied it in class.

The Ice Pick
Rear hook ; Mustad 3366 #2
Tail ; white marabou and a little pearl Krystal flash
Body ; EP Sparkle Brush Pearl
Wing ; Black Rabbit Zonker
Connection ; 30# Dacron, 26# Surflon, Beadalon, Fire Line or Power Pro braided fishing line
Front hook ; Mustad 3366 1/0
Head ; Fish Skull medium head in silver bait fish color

The great thing about this fly is that color options are only limited to your imagination For bigger flies we use the EP Sparkle brush. For Small versions of this fly or if you cant find the right color of brush you can use the dubbing loop.

Here it looks like I have tied in the Marabou and Krystal Flash for the tail and The Rabbit has been tied on top. I am preparing the dubbing brush to palmer up the hook shank.

Here "One Boot" Ed is working the brush up the hook shank.

Paul R. Working the same step.

This Next photo shows the rear section of the fly complete. Dennis made a good observation that if you wanted a smaller version of this fly you could put the Fish Skull on now and be finished. That is a great suggestion. It would not have the jointed action, but, the rabbit and dubbing brush should provide ample movement.

The next step was the wire connection. You have options here. We used 30# Dacron in class. This is the same stuff we use as backing for your fly reels. Many things exist out there that are suitable for this step. Experiment until you find one that works for you. I used two pearl beads here, this is used to prevent the tail section from fouling around the front hook. Once glued this connection is EXTREMELY strong. My own tests have proven usually the back hook will bend or break before the connection will pullout.

The best part about tying articulated streamers is that the second half usually is similar or even identical to the first half. After you make the connection to the front hook just repeat the steps you did on the first hook. On this piticular pattern be sure to leave enough room for the head and you are finished.

This was a great fly to end the class with. Again we would like to thank all of the people that participated in this class. we truly hope you had as much fun in the class as we did. At some point this summer we all need to get together and fish some of these flies. until then.

Tight lines...

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Smallie class #3

3/25/2013

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Well, you can not have a Smallmouth tying class without some kind of Crayfish pattern. This week we tied TP's Brandywine Crawler. The issue with many Crayfish patterns is that there are just too many steps and the patterns take too long to tie. On the flip side there are many "speed" crayfish patterns out there but, many of these seem to be lacking the important features. The pattern we tied last week is a great blend of detail, functionality, and tying time. The class seemed to agree as I believe the completed flies were the best we have seen across the board.

First lets take a look at some Ska-opper, homework from the prior week. I was happy to see several great Ska-opper's come in last week.

Here are the flies "One Boot" Ed tied last week

Some nice homework from Paul R

Dale F has a couple of nice patterns here

Paul R decided to use yellow deer and a diamond shape head.

Although not technically part of the class I wanted to share this mouse tied by "One Boot" Ed. The hair work on this fly is exceptional and anyone who has spent any time spinning Deer hair can appreciate the work that goes into a fly like this. Great job Ed, this was too good not to share!

The Speed Pattern for last week was the Rubber Legs. A true speed tie that can be used in many situations. Chris R came with a beautiful box of flies. He says he has been using this for a Stonefly pattern for years.

Here is Chris's box. The verigated chenille looks awesome!

Some nice homework from Dennis Z. I am curious how that pink one in the middle is going to do.

As mentioned you just can not have a Smallmouth class without a Crayfish pattern. Many people don't realize when those big ole' Browns decide to strap on the feed bag right at dusk a Crayfish pattern can be deadly. This pattern can be fished as a nymph, swung on a tight line or stripped like a streamer. It is a very versatile pattern and does not take to long to tie.

Here in the first step the marabou has been threaded through the Pro Tube junction tube and tied on each side of the shank. We have also added the dumbbell eyes on the top of the hook shank.

Here the Furry Foam has been cut to length, pushed over the hook shank and folded in between the "claws" to split them and make them lay out to the sides.

This is Davede's fly. The chenille has been tied in as well as the pumpkin neck hackle that we use for the legs. We are coming down the home stretch.

Here is a great example of what the palmered legs should look like. This is Paul R's fly. While looking at his fly from the other end of the table he said "man, it really looks good from here" I must say I agree.

After palmering the legs the last step is to fold the Furry Foam over the top to form the top of the fly.

Once you get the progression of this fly down it is really a 10 minute tie. Not bad for a semi-detailed Crayfish pattern. There are many others out there that take much longer to tie and don't have the versatility of this one. I think the boss hit one out of the park with this one!

Speaking of progression the second pattern of the night was "Gary's Albie Fly". Simple in design and materials (Ostrich Hurl and Cross Cut Rabbit) This fly is right at home on the Smallmouth river as well as on Martha's Vineyard searching for Albies.

Marblehead note; I fished this fly on a wild Trout river all day Sunday. the results were great. Stay tuned for the next fishing report to read about it.

Simple yet effective. Does it get any better?

Well, another week and two more great patterns. One more week left and we have a good one on tap for the final class. See you all on Wednesday.

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Week five of fly tying classes

2/17/2013

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The Tuesday night class moved from under the water's surface to on top of it this week as we tied the Elk Hair Caddis by Pennsylvania's own Al Troth. For many in the class this was their first attempt at a dry fly and the results were outstanding. We can really see the progression and improvement by the tiers in this class. Before we get to the Caddis fly lets take a look at some homework from last week.

Cory missed a a couple of classes and came in for a few private lessons to get caught up. By the look of his block he is doing a great job of making up for lost time. For more information about private lessons click here.

I failed to get a picture of some flies Jim R tied. He did not have the pearl mylar at home so he decided to use silver tinsel for the wing case. I must say these were some of the coolest flies we have seen in a while. Good job with a material substitution Jim.

A few shots of the class intro.

Here Robbie is getting ready to wrap the hackle over his dubbed body. Good to see he is giving that new Regal vise he got for Christmas a good workout.

Here Terry is putting the stacked wing on top, the last step to finishing the fly.

A pattern that is just too versatile not to have plenty of these in your box. You can drift it like a normal dry, you can skate it, or you can even drown it with split shot and fish it under the surface. Tied in black it is a great match for our early black Stoneflies that we usually start to see in March. Just a great all around pattern, we are happy you guys now have the skill to tie it.

It was hatch night in the Wednesday night class. We have had a few requests to "tie through a hatch" so we decided to tie a 3 stage Sulphur life cycle consisting of an nymph, emerger, and a sparkle dun. The flies were received great by the class and this is something we will do more of in the future. I was really excited to see the homework from last week. Here you go.

Here are two flies tied by Terry D. I am really excited about this pattern and cant wait to get it on the Smallmouth river this spring. Ed, Paul, Jimmy T, Nelson, Brian and Chris all had GREAT homework samples. I guess they looked so good I forgot to photograph them, Sorry guys.

Biot bodies was the theme of the night as all 3 flies we tied used Turkey biots for the bodies. A Pheasant Tail is spot on representation for the Sulphur nymph. The pattern we tied was very PT like, but we added an Ice Dub thorax.

Here is a shot of Paul R's nymph after he wrapped the biot body

Terry getting ready to dub the thorax.

Here is the finished fly. I really like the look of biot body flies!

For the emerger we followed the same tying progression. Instead of the Pheasant fiber wing case we did a "sighter" using a dubbing ball of Ice Dub on top of the shank. A really cool technique that has a ton of possiabites for many other patterns.

The nymph is in the hackle pliers on the bottom and the emerger is in the vise on top. Two great patterns for Sulphur season.

For our third pattern of the night we followed the same tying progression as the second, we just replaced the sighter with a poly wing. This pattern could represent many different stages of a Mayfly's life; late emerger, dun, or spinner.

This class was a blast. We tied three flies and showed the guys how using similar techniques and similar materials you can tie your way through an insect hatch rather quickly. Hopefully you guys will apply this system to other flies and insects. Who knows, you all might be carrying "hatch boxes" this spring.

It was a three fly night in the salt class this week also. We tied a Schminnow, Gary's Albie fly and a Andros Bonefish fly that was showed to us by our good shop friend Andrew Neithe. All three of these flies have crossover potential and can be fished in our local waters. I have caught many a Smallmouth on the Schminnow, originally designed by Norm Ziegler as a Snook fly. The Andros Bonefish fly could be a Crayfish and I am sure a big 'ole Flounder would have no trouble trying to eat one of them. Gary's Albie fly is an all around great bait fish pattern, quick to tie and effective everywhere. Lets take a look at the class.

Looks like the Ostrich is already on the tail and Jim is getting ready to palmer the cross cut Rabbit up the hook shank.

The finished fly. K.I.S.S. method at its best here. Why is it that the most versatile, effective patterns are usually the fastest and easiest to tie?

The next series of pictures shows the guys going through the progression of the Andros bone fish fly.

The finished fly.

Last but not least was the Schminnow. Again a simple yet extreamly effective pattern that can be tied with only 3 materials. You can make these as simple or as elaborate as you want and the color options are endless.

As a capper to a great week of fly tying Jim shared with us the plaque he won for taking first place honors in the tying contest held by the Salt Water Fly Anglers of Delaware a few weeks ago. Congratulations Jim.

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Rain, rain rain

9/3/2012

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Well as I type this it is raining Cats and Dogs. (and maybe Birds, Cows Horses and every other thing out there). We haven't seen rain like this all summer. A quick check of the USGS site shows the Brandywine running at almost 1200 cfs! High and I am sure it is off color by now. Way to swift to wade in my opinion. The river can drop pretty fast though, and I know of at least one guy that loves to fish the falling water after the storm. He says "I've actually caught my biggest bass in Huge water". Keep an eye on the discharge, I wont wade unless it is below 450 and even then it can be an adventure, and if you decide to give it a go please be careful. I would recommend fishing with a partner.

It looks like the rain will be with us through most of the week. This could be just what the doctor ordered. A good blast of rain to freshen up the river should keep it fishing strong through September. As we move through September and into October the big ole bronze backs will have one thing on their mind, putting as much weight on as they can before the winter. One fish I got last week had a Crayfish it had coughed up in its mouth that was half the size of the fish. I will probably switch from top water and start swinging big streamers. Lefty once said "if you want a big bass give em the groceries" and that will be my plan for the rest of the season.

One boot Ed is at it again and text me some pictures of some nice ones he caught earlier in the week. Nice job dude! so when are we going to fish together in your neck of the woods?

Looks like the bas are strapping on the feed bag

One boot Ed is a Smallmouth catching machine!!!!! Can I get a lesson?

One of our long time customers, Joe Gallagher was in this weekend. Joe was telling me about getting into some good Bluefish action on a recent vacation. He brought in a "before and after" sample of some flies he was using. Can you guess which is the after?

Way to go Joe, glad you got into some action!

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Calendar of events

The maiden voyage of the PAC-13 drift boat.

The Final Smallie Class

Smallie class #3

Week five of fly tying classes

Rain, rain rain

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