Goldstock Flytying event

Went to Goldstock's Annual Fly Tying event today.  There was so much tying talent in the room it was scary.  Here are some of the pictures that I took that came out well.  I missed some of the other tyers but I will have to wait till next hear. 

                                     Bill Wemple's Dingleberry isonychia fly

                                      Jungle Cock Neck

                                      Bob Mead's realistic Praying Mantis

                                      Bob Mead Mayfly

                                      Geoff Schaake's Grey Heron

                                      Geoff Schaake's Lady Caroline

Pat Cohen's Punk Rocker

Mixed Bag

Hit the river again recently with my buddy Matt.  This was his second trip ever for steelhead within a week.  His casting definitely improved as did his general understanding of the complexities of swinging flies for steelhead.  He did manage to hook one but his tippet broke so it goes.  All I can say to him is welcome to the madness of swinging flies for steelhead.  It isn't an easy thing to do with any real consistency.  It has taken me 5 seasons of swinging to finally feel that I have sort of a clue as to what I am doing.

While Matt didn't land any my outing was one of my better ones.  Strange how I had a better day mid February than I did one day early November.  Such is the fickle nature of chasing these fish with a two handed rod.

Connected with one bright hen and two chrome browns that fought like steelhead, not the usual dead weight browns that often inhabit these waters.  One of the browns jumped and given how it fought I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that it was steelhead.

Hittin It

 Introduced my friend Matt to Spey fishing for steelhead recently.  Having an eager learner was a great experience as I realized how much I have learned and now take for granted when I'm out.  As the old saying goes if you want to learn something teach it.  We met up with our friend Adam Kyrder of Raw Water Productions and did some filming for their upcoming video.  Here are a bunch of pics from the outing.

 

Heads or Tails?

Got out to chase some winter steel if you can call the weather that we're having winter.  Managed this nice hen that ripped some line off of the reel.  Felt really to connect with a fish since I haven't been fishing since last year.

Tails or

heads?

Road Side Attractions

Driving down the road the other day I saw this immature Redtail perched in a tree next to the road.  Luckily I had my camera.  Still working on getting flying birds pictures really sharp.  Have some more work to do on that front but I do like the head peeking out from under the wing. 

More Birds

Visited my parents in Florida over the holidays.  I've long known that birding there is great but with a camera the opportunities to get some excellent shots without a super telephoto lens are readily available.  Here  area some of the ones that I like the best.