Beer_Trout

29 January 2011 8:00pm Doors@7:00pm  Mr. Smalls Theatre 400 Lincoln Ave, Millvale, PA

What a great show. Perfect entourage of old and new friends alike. Beers were had and green tea filled the air as the show ripped on. Dancing would ensue as the night climbed into serenity.

~Set 1~

01. Set 1 Intro
02. Asphalt
03. Fallen Angel
04. Incandescent Devil
05. Cottonwood Tree
06. Las Vegas
07. Freedom
08. Drink Of Streams
09. Don’t Curse
10. Tequila

~Set 2~

01. Set 2 Intro
02. Emma Lee
03. Devils Pay
04. Shallows
05. Easy To Be Your Lover
06. My Star
07. Waiting For My Man
08. Hello Mary
09. Rapture
10. Red Ribbons
11. Gasaholic
Encore
12. Nothing Changes
13. Sex In The 70′s

Live Recording

I woke up the next day with a curious smile that affirmed my suspicion that I am one lucky man.

beer

beertrout.

The snowy conditions of Western PA has brought me towards thoughts of spring. Warmer days sound nice. The Brachycentrus hatch can come in large numbers in the early spring and is a great opportunity for anglers to catch trout on dry flies. The Brachycentrus, Grannom Caddis, has been on my mind the last few days. These bugs look cool:

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch

I decided that tying up a few patterns would help spark my interest in the hatch. Tying also helps me cure the itch of cabin fever. I managed to knock out a few peacock soft hackle, cased caddis nymphs and a dark elk hair caddis.

The nymphs came first with traditional Green Weenie patterns with and without beadheads. Also, I took a classic Peasant Tail pattern and added all the dark olive and green materials I could.
The wet flies came as a slight challenge because partridge hackle is rather new for me. I whipped out a few dark hungarian partridge and peacock on size 16 pupa hooks and also on size 14 TMC 2457 hooks. All the flies look solid for catching fish.
I wanted to have a few dry fly patterns strictly from Grannom hatches. I have a few rows of Elk Hair Caddis in different sizes, styles and colors. I did size 16 TMC with a peacock body with a mix of dark moose and elk hairs.

I’m not sure where I will be fishing the hatch this year. But think that the Little Juniata, Penn’s, Oil, Neshannock and others will be considered.

Wait a few months and hopefully my bugs will produce a few trout.

beer

“No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in  his clothes; yet I am sure that there is a greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience.” Henry David Thoreau Walden, Economy

I have an old chest pack that was purchased years ago on a steal. It is the William Joseph Access Pack

My pack has cigerette burns and broken straps. But it has done me well on many trips. The pack is highly versatile and has been able to serve me well on many of the famous streams the PA has.

But, lately I have been wanting to up my swag and get a new pack to flaunt on the waters. Really though straps are broken and zippers are worn. It might be time for a new pack. I have had my eye out on a few.

Simms:

Today I grabbed a six pack of beers after worked. 4 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale’s and 2 Magic Hat #9. I have two beers left. I checked out Patagonia’s new fly fishing products and was amazed.

427 cu in.

beer

A natural progression usually unfolds for fly fisherman. They start. Love it. By a nice rod and real. Tie flies. The progression can quickly become an addiction. I was always on the fence about tying flies. I could stop at a shop and buy flies. Then I tied a few and started catching fish on them. I managed to scrap up tools and materials to get me started in the tying world. But I have come to the point of addiction.

The vise plays a large part in the tying process. Many anglers start with a very basic vise that does the job nicely with basic flies. As the progression continues there is usually a need to upgrade the vise. Search any fly fishing forum and you will see countless threads about “getting a new vise”. There are a lot of choices. I had been tying on a loaned Regal Medallion for the past few months. It had amazing clamping power but lacked the true rotary feature. The Regal was also rather ugly in my eyes.

The Regal did the job well and I was really glad to use it for so long.

I decided to order a new vice for Christmas. I received it last night.

It is a Renzetti Traveler 2200.

I had tied on this vise in the C-clamp version many times. The vise had always been my favorite because it was the vise my troutbum buddy tied on for years.

It is now time to start tying dry flies.

beer