Archive for the ‘Fly Casting’ Category

Neil Houlding Demonstrating Two Handed Casting

I finally managed to make arrangements to meet with Neil Houlding for some guidance on two handed spey casting.  It’s not something I’ve ever tried much of, and Neil is a very efficient two-handed caster, having considerable knowledge and skill.  He’s also a very good instructor, patiently pointing out errors and how to try to correct them.  Muscles seem to have their own “memory” when it comes to some activities that you’ve done over and over, and bad habits can be hard to break.

In that regard, it was interesting to me that for some movements, I felt more comfortable left handed than right once my left hand and arm figured out what I was  trying to tell them what to do.  For some things, my right hand and arm was better.   I should note that normally, I’m a right handed caster.

I very much enjoyed the afternoon and evening, even though shortly after we arrived, it poured rain on us for about half an hour.  Later, it cleared up and the sun came out.  We were on the Grand River downstream of Cambridge,  and it was quite a nice bit of water through there that holds smallmouth bass. We didn’t use flies, rather a piece of yarn was tied to the end of the leader.  It was fun to feel the small bass that were in the river nipping at the yarn at times.

After almost five  hours, I was feeling a bit tired and was heading back to “old habits” land, so we thought it best to give it a rest for the day. I’ll have to go back out on the water tomorrow to practice and try to get what I learned solidly in my head.

First, a big shout out to Ray Colesso (my apologies, I’ve probably spelled the surname incorrectly) and Brian Primeau at The First Cast/Hook, Line & Sinker.  And to Purolator too.   To make a long story short, I had an idea for a birthday present.  Over the past week, I’ve been calling in on and calling on the phone different places that I would be near to see if they had a fly box that was metal and could be engraved with a “special” enscription. Just about everywhere only had fly boxes made of plastic which can be laser engraved, but I don’t know anyone that can do that nearby.

So today, Brian called me to tell me he had what I wanted, and he had an engraver as well.  So off I drove to Guelph, was very happy with the work that Brian did, and then picked out a nice net.  Another problem was shipping the net and box, and Brian came to my rescue there as well, unpacking a new shipment in a box that the net fit in perfectly.

Now, this gift “just had to get there” tomorrow.  A call to Purolator discovered that they had a drop off depot that was open until 8PM in Mississauga.  Got back to Orangeville, where I was able to wrap the gift, add a couple more items to the box, and then crossed my fingers there’d be no major traffic delays between here and Mississauga.  And I made it in time! Which means a very special person should receive her birthday gift on her birthday.

David is also away for two and a half weeks, which means of course I won’t have him around to go fishing with.  So I think that I shall try out some of the streams and rivers that I’ve neglected for awhile.  It’s been handy to have the ponds nearby while fishing with David as there is so much wide open space if David gets impatient with the fishing.  He can go sit at a picnic table and read, or kick a soccer ball around while I fish. There are no worries about him having a hard time wading some water or crawling through overgrown bush.

I’m also going to take this opportunity to try to get together with Neil Houlding for some two-handed casting instruction.  Neil is a great spey/two handed caster and a very good instructor.  It’s something I’ve not done, and I’ve got this switch rod from Meiser Fly Rods that I need to learn how to put to its full potential.

Fly tying is something I’ve not done enough of in the past couple of years, so I’ve got that on my agenda as well.  I’ve been tying up some flies that call for Seals fur.  I was speaking with Arron Varga earlier and mentioned to him that the Seals fur I have is tough to dub with.  He gave me a great tip:  Put the Seals fur in a coffee grinder and push the button.  I did that, and hey.. it works! Makes the material a bit softer and much easier to dub.

So that’s it for Tuesday.

That’s the “wee man” David this evening, proudly walking down the long dock with his brand new Snowbee Classic Junior fly rod in hand.  You may have read that August 6th was David’s 7th birthday and one of his birthday presents include the Snowbee rod along with a reel and matching line.

This evening, he was looking very much to trying out his new rod and doing some fly casting so off he and I drove to Humber Springs.  David is normally a very patient fellow, but after we arrived he could hardly wait for me to get the rod set up.  And he was even more impatient while I got my own gear all ready.

I was a little bit nervous about the Snowbee Junior after reading some mixed reviews of it.  Not only did David want to try casting this rod, I wanted to see what it was like.  When we got to the end of the dock, I pulled about 30 feet of line off the reel, and gave the rod a whirl.  You know… that’s a sweet rod!  And at only 90 grams, it’s a very comfortable rod to cast.  I do regret I didn’t get David better line than what I did – even if he ends up not enjoying fly fishing (which I doubt will happen),  I could have always used another 6 wt. line myself.   So the line is one thing I will be wanting to upgrade soon.  In spite of the cheap “Superfly” line which has a memory problem – it coils up on the water (perhaps next time out, we’ll try giving it some more stretching), the Snowbee rod performed beyond what I was expecting.

I would have preferred a smaller diameter grip for David’s hands, but he’ll grow into it. If it seems to be a problem for him, I can always turn the cork grip down a bit so his hand fits around it better.

After assuring myself that this rod is a decent performer, David and I started his “lessons.”  He seemed to be able to handle 15 feet of line with a 6 foot leader, and within about 15 minutes, was easily peeling it off the water going into a back cast, and then laying the line out in front of him.

When I was comfortable that he was going to be able to practice his back and forward stroke, and it seemed that he could keep the end of the leader away from his face, I put on a small fly, just in case he might also hook into a fish. At this point, I don’t want to tie on anything too bulky or large that would make it too difficult for him to pull out of the water, so I put on a #12 fly with some white marabou that didn’t have a lot of displacement to it.

Then it was my turn to see if I could get a fish.  But most of my evening was focusing on David and making sure he was having fun.  There were some tangles that needed untangling, and at one point, he did get the fly stuck in his sweater  on a cast attempt, but we managed to laugh at it all, and I made sure I was at his beck and call.  I’d rather invest some time in him now, and hope he will always enjoy fly fishing and become an avid angler who will want to go with me, than have him turned off forever by one bad experience where it’s “not fun.”

So needless to say, I didn’t focus much on catching fish myself this evening.  I did have some casts with the fly I’ve mentioned previously that was doing so well (Aaron and I have agreed to call it a “Viva Zonker”) but no hits this evening.  As the evening went on, the temperature plummeted from 20C to about 12C, and David’s wee hands were getting cold. He decided that he’d had enough fishing for now “but Dad, can we come back tomorrow maybe?” At that point, I thought I’d give it another 15 minutes to see if I could get a fish on the end of the line and switched to the Orange Krystal wooly bugger.  I had one good hard hit, and that was that.

Darkness – and mosquitoes – finally came upon us and we got all our gear together and walked up to the car.  There, we met with Aaron Varga and Ernie Kalwa who had been out in the boat on the other lake.  Aaron had blanked, but Ernie apparently netted three rainbow trout on black leech patterns.  And David was quite proud to show off his new rod!

Here’s to tomorrow and more fishing trips with the “wee man.” And I’m looking forward to when he hooks his first fish with that Snowbee Classic Junior!

Look at that grin! Does he look happy or what?!?