flyfisher

I fish from a kayak so no keeping any fish but when fishing mountain streams for trout I always release the fish in the pool downstream if possible.

Not sure but I know one weekend on the susky we couldn't buy a bite unless it was a chrome crank. Tried every other color but no dice....

Yup good color year round for me too....second only to moccasin blue

Basically it is a fly that is tied not to sink or float per se. It uses chenille for the body which absorbs water and that in combination with the rubber legs it creates a slow sinking action. A few extra false casts dries it enough to make it float for a little while. All the bass hit it as it was slowly sinking too...no action imparted by me other than stripping it into the corect location where i wanted it to begin it's descent. http://www.breambugs.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=66

Ozium works pretty well.

I use spinnerbait boxes that either have the removable inserts or I cut them out. They are the perfect size for most plastics it also makes it easy to customize them for a given day and not bring everything with you.

Decided to take an executive lunch break at a pond near where I work. The past year or so it hasn't been a very productive pond and I think I caught 1 LM there last year. There is a good population of sunnies so I took the 4wt with about a 4lb leader to see what I could get into. Given the recent cold snap I wasn't expecting much but it turns out I was wrong. I ended up catching three bass in the 12-15" range on a slow sinking spider in about 45 minutes.

5' longer than the cast i just made. Distance to me is only important when throwing cranks or swimbatis. Mst people overestimate the lenght of their casts like they do the weight of their fish. My fly lines are in the 90'-110' range and i rarely if ever have the need to cast into the backing. My normal fly line casts aren't generally any different in length than my conventional casts. Accuracy trumps distance.

I will be doing a charity bike ride this coming September to raise money for multiple sclerosis. The short of the story is I had a friend who was diagnosed with the disease about 6 or so years ago so in an effort to help raise some money for the cause I am doing this ride. This will be my third time completing the event after taking a 3 year hiatus after my son was born. The ride goes from Richmond VA to Williamsburg on Saturday and then Williamsburg to Richmond on Sunday. The total mileage is right around 150 combined for the two days. When you register for the ride, they set up a donations page on your behalf so I am asking that if anyone has a few bucks they can sapre to help support a good cause that would be outstanding and much appreciated. My goal this year is to get to 5k. The link below will take you to my page. It is still pretty generic but i plan on updating it with some pictures once i get more into my riding and training for the event. http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/VARBikeEvents?px=4544103&pg=personal&fr_id=22247 Feel free to forward to anyone else you think might be willing to help support the cause. And if anyone doesn't want to give money but still wants to help out, they are always looking for volunteers for the event itself so you can help out that way too. If you have any questions about the ride or me or anything else, feel free to post up on this thread or PM me....and yes, I did run this by Glenn prior to posting Thanks guys & gals.... Jason

The question is it because of other factors or because they are conditioned that those are the peak times of angler use and they "learned" not to eat artificials. As far as the big bass go, my non-scientific take is that big bass get the prime locations in a lake. What bass view as prime locations and what anglers view as prime locations are complelty different. The majority of hte information you glean from pros are not about the largest bass in a lake but rather the largest bass that can be caught and fill up al ivewell. In reading information on truly giant bass hunters, their mindset is completely different as are their approaches to catching true monsters. They may go days without even a bite but when they do, it is worht the wait, That luxury is one that isn't afforded to the majority of anglers out there without a serious time commitment and also why the seasonal act of the spawn is when many big bass are caught. The bass instinct of spawning over rides everything else and makes them more vulnerable and has them leave their normal haunts. I would love to be able to target larger bass all the time but since my fishing time is somewhat limited right now i am happy catching decent fish and a few big ones in there if possible.

me too...

And also you are making the assumption that begin caught results in a negative response.....i read a study where they tested bass and their reactions to being caught. Some it didn't bother at all and were caught upwards of 20 times in a year while others were caught 5-6 and this was all on the same lure and the same conditions.

Yeah it is a daunting task but if you want something you gotta just go for it and figure it out as you go sometimes.

I would like to see those studies...

no because they are alive for two reasons, to eat and to reproduce.

I don't but that i because i don't like cork handles except on my fly rods and i haven't sealed those....i figure the added grime acts as a sealant by itself and can easily be cleaned with a little fine sandpaper if i feel so inclined to do so.

yeah and fly tying saves money too..... I think it is more that it is an up front cost that doesn't feel as bad as it goes on. I don't pour plastics but i do tie flies and if i followed the advice given here and stuck with what i like and only tied those types of flies i would be golden but that doesn't always work and you end up getting stuff here and there. I imagine now after tying for over 10 years i can say that it is cheaper but with sites like sierra trading post having sales on flies that are ridiculously cheap i can't compete with that....it isn't as fun though to click add to cart

Makes me wonder what would happen if it wasn't registered and used on public water somewhere and no original bill of sale.....

I have seen that pond by the courthouse many times as i drove on my way to the pamunkey or ap hill ponds. It does get really low in the summer time but i may have to go check it out.

That was great!!!

It's really up to you and if you have the discipline to do both and also how mentally taxing your job is. I worked full time all through undergrad and am now going full time for my masters while working full time as well. So the answer is yes, it can be done and many do. My thought is suffering a lot for about 18 months is way better than a little less suffering for 30. It is one of those deals where when you are doing it, it kind of sucks but when you finish a class or a semester you think, yeah that wasn't that bad

I bet you could....it just may be the education you want isn't a school based education

Generally if you don't go to a liberal arts school you don't have as many core classes to take so that might be beneifcial to look for as well. Not sure how long ago you attended but you still might have some credits that transfer over too....

You do know if you go back for your bachelor's yo uare stil lgoing to have to take those core classes again....right? I also like to read pretty much whatever i can get my hand's on as well. As a kid whenever i asked my Dad or Mom a question they said wel lgo look it up i n the encyclopedia, so off i went to the world book and encyclopedia brittanica sets we had. Good luck and trust me, any posts on here that aren't in the resume section i give a ton of slack

So let me get his straight....you want to stay being an electrician and go back to get your Doctorate in philosophy with no intent other than to educate yourself and prepare for the what-if scenario? If so, that is pretty cool if you ask me. Some would argue that it is a waste of time and money but educating your self for the sake of education is the best reason in my mind to do it. Also i hope you like to read because tha amount of reading I had to do in undergrad minor in philosophy was pretty massive all things considered.