Yesterday, someone (she reads my blog) was making fun of me for not being a girly girl that takes her own fish off the hook. Coincidence that I asked if my readers take their own fish off the hook?

Maybe.

Probably not.

Dear chick that takes her own fish off the hook,

Before you get your fish off your hook … I\’ll break your pole.

Love,

The hair puller.

It\’s a full moon tonight be safe all!

I love my readers.

Flying off on my broom for the night!

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

Tags: broom, fish, fishing, general outdoors, girly-girl, hook, readers-take

This giveaway is sponsored by Glacier Glove.

Yesterday I reviewed the hunting glove by Glacier Glove but I actually used it for fishing instead of hunting and it worked very well. So well I was hating to love it.  And I did love it.  Seeing that it\’s fishing season, I\’m giving away one of Glacier Glove\’s newest styles – the Fighting/Stripping Glove – which is reported to be better in hotter weather and has a 50+ UPF sun protection rating.

The Fighting/Stripping Glove

To enter the giveaway:

Please leave a comment telling me if you take your own fish off the hook or if you have your husband/partner/friend/fishing guide or stranger on a dock do it for you. (Sounds like that could be a Lifetime movie – Stranger On The Dock.)

And I know it isn\’t just our ladies out there that have yuck and ouch issues taking a fish off the hook. I\’ve seen plenty of grown men using pliers.

I swear I don\’t make fun of them.

Alright…

Maybe a little.

Glacier Glove is also on Twitter and Facebook if you\’d like to follow them.  They\’ve become one of my favorite companies to work with.  Great people!

The contest is for U.S. residents only and will run from today, May 26, 2010 – Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Winner will be selected randomly and announced on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

Thank you Glacier Glove and good luck all!

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

Tags: gear/apparel, glacier-glove, hook, hotter-weather, stripping-glove, sun-protection

We\’ve been vacationing at Barkley Lake, Kentucky for about 5 years.   One of the reasons we continue to go back is the fishing.  We\’ve always managed to bring home our share of bluegill, crappie, yellow strippers and catfish.  Between my husband and I, on average, we catch about 100 fish a day. We\’ve never had a problem catching fish.  But this year the guys, Mark and Troy, decided to hire a guide to possibly find a few new spots and learn a few new tips.

So we hired Billy Joe Boitnott that was highly recommended by the locals.

And I had no idea what to expect but I was put on the boat with Billy Joe and it was fishing heaven.

Let\’s take a look back at my fishing history:

• My 1st year of fishing:  My husband took care of everything but I needed to learn if I wanted to be fishing chick angler of the year.
• My 2nd year of fishing:  I touched worms and baited my own hook.  Because one day I\’ll be fishing chick angler of the year that doesn\’t need a man baiting her hook.
• My 3rd year of fishing:  I could rig up my own pole in case of brush hangups.  Or tree hangups.  Or my own hair hangups.  No need for a man on this boat.  I\’m fishing chick angler of the year.
• My 4th year:  I just can\’t take a fish off the hook but I\’ll take pictures with it.  Posing as fishing chick angler of the year.
• My 5th year:  Oh Billy Joe where have you been for the past 4 years?

I sat in a chair on the front of the boat like princess fishing chick angler of the year and never had to move.  He baited my hook, fixed my line, baited my hook, took my fish off, fixed my line, fixed my line and fixed my line.

And he called me cute pet names …  Sassy Susie, Sassy Jo, Sassy Jane and Sassy Frassy.

And I\’m not sure why?  ‘Cause I\’m not Sassy.  I was very proper, polite and well-mannered.  I was the perfect lady and I made sure not to use one bad word.  I had a talk with myself before we went not to use bad words.  No bad words Jody.   It wouldn\’t be ladylike.

But then I heard Billy Joe say, “you monkey” a few times.  And just when I lost that monster 10 lb crappie I loudly blurted out …

“Y O U      M O T H E R     M O N K E Y.”

Have a good day all …  I wonder if Billy Joe would paint my toenails next time?

Who needs the title fishing chick angler of the year being all fishing independent when you can be princess fishing chick angler of the year thanks to Billy Joe.

~~~~~~~~~~

If you\’d like to hire a guide on Barkley or Kentucky Lake, I would highly recommend Billy Joe Boitnott.  For more information and if you\’d like his number you can email me at:  jody @ thehunterswife . net.

Thank you all and thank you Billy Joe!

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

Tags: boat, chick-angler, general outdoors, hook, humor, line, needs-the-title, sassy, the hunters wife

This is what happens when you set the hook properly.
Photo: Vilma Sisler

“Don\’t trout set, mon.”

Over the years countless bonefish anglers have heard this phrase from their Bahamian guides. OK, we know not to trout set, but what are we supposed to do?

Let\’s start with a little bit of background. As trout anglers we\’ve been trained to raise the rod when a fish eats. Raising a fly rod turns it into a shock absorber – it gives a smooth, steady pull on the fly that protects a light trout tippet and does just fine pinning your barbless #18 hook into a trout\’s lip.

Bonefish have hard mouths, and when they eat your fly, you need a quick, sharp pull to bury the hook. If you raise your rod tip when a critter like a bonefish eats, the end result will be that the fly gets smoothly pulled out of the fish\’s mouth, not jabbed in there like you want it.

If you\’ve never had the shock absorbtion of a fly rod demonstrated to you, get a buddy and try this fun little exercise.

1. String up a fly rod with a line and a leader but with no fly.
2. Grab onto the end of the leader (with a light leader you can wrap it around your hand if you like).
3. Have your buddy grab the fly rod and walk back about 20 feet.
4. Have your buddy do a ‘trout set\’ – just raise the rod tip. Pretty smooth pull, huh?
5. Now have your buddy point the rod straight at you, slowly pull in the excess line, and after the line is tight, give it another quick strip. OK, point made?

If you don\’t have a buddy (nearby, at least) to try this with, just trust us – the classic trout set results in a very smooth gradual pull – excellent for protecting 7x tippets but terrible for burying 1/0 saltwater hooks into the mouth of a bonefish. Stripping the fly with the rod pointed straight results in a much sharper, stronger jab.

Here\’s how to present and then set the hook when a bonefish eats.

1. Make your cast.
2. Keep your rod tip in the water, pointed straight at the fish. Strip out the excess slack.
3. When the fish sees the fly, give it a few quick trips.
4. Once he follows, keep moving the fly, pausing only to let him keep up with it.
5. Keep your rod pointed straight at the fish.
6. When you see the fish tip down to eat, or you feel resistance when stripping the fly line, keep your rod pointed straight at the fish.
7. Now give the line one more firm, long strip. It\’ll generally stop dead, or the fish will take off. In either case, the hook is now set and you can raise the rod tip and have some fun fighting that bonefish.

It\’s really hard at first to not raise your rod. For us the idea that finally got it through our thick skulls was “keeping stripping until the line is tight“. If you keep stripping until the line is tight and you don\’t raise your rod tip, chances are you\’ve buried the hook into that fish\’s mouth and you\’re good to go.

For some practice on setting the hook properly, drop us a line about Andros. They open on in October.

See the original article at GotHunts.com

Tags: bahamian, bonefishing, excess, fish, fishing, general outdoors, hook, line, outdoors international, raise-the-rod, until-the-line, water

Late fall/early winter is a great time to start tying up some patterns to restock the fly boxes depleted by another year on the water, lets not abandon the fishing quite yet.  I have had several great days on the river this past month.  It does get a bit hit and miss as the weather and the water temps cool but when you hit it right the fishing can be outstanding.  I have still been running into some great baetis hatches around here and so with that in mind I thought I would share my favorite pattern when fish are sipping the Blue Winged Olive Duns off the rivers surface.  This pattern is basically a Sparkle Dun with a biot body, and I use a CDC feather for the trailing shuck instead of Z-lon. I like the Sparkle dun because it is so versatile.  I think fish feeding on emergers, duns, and spinners could all find a reason to take a well placed Sparkle Dun.  This version is quite simple to tie, it floats well, and is fairly easy to see even in the small sizes that will often be required.

Lets get started with the materials:
• Hook: #18 or smaller Tiemco 100 or equivalent dry fly hook
• Thread: Olive 8/0
• Wing: Olive Deer Hair
• Tail/Shuck: One Natural Brown CDC feather
• Body: Gray Olive Turkey Biot
• Thorax: Medium Olive Fine Dry Fly Dubbing

1) In the winter months the bugs that do hatch tend to be small.  For our rivers in Southeast Idaho I usually tie this pattern in sizes from #18-#24.  You can definitely go larger or smaller if needed.

2) Tie in a clump of deer hair about 2/3 down the shank of the hook.  I make about 3 good turns while holding the back of the hair so it stays on top of the hook while the tips flare out.  Then clip the backs as close as you can at a 45 degree angle.

3) Next I pull up about 1/3 of the hair and make a wrap in front of it, then proceed to pull up another third, again making a wrap in front of that, then finally pull the remaining hairs straight up and wrap in front so that all the hair is standing up on the fly.  Then be sure to build up a good thread dam in front of the wing as if you don\’t, when the fly gets wet the wing will lean forward on you.  Then wrap the thread back to behind the wing and tie down the loose ends on that side.

4) Now tie in the CDC feather on top of the hook shank.  I don\’t worry about how long the tail sticks out as I cut it later.

5) Continue securing the CDC feather wraping back to where the shank meets the bend.

6) Now I trim the tail to about 3/4 hook shank length.

7) Next tie in a Goose or Turkey Biot Quill with the notch facing left.  Advance the thread to just behind the wing.

Wrap the biot using nice even wraps toward where you stopped the thread, then tie it off and clip the excess.

9) Next I simply dub a nice football shaped thorax using 2-3 wraps behind the wing and 3-4 in the front of it.

10) Finally make a nice even thread head and tie off the fly.  Dab some head cement on there and you are ready to fish.

Play with the color scheme to match other mayfly hatches in your area as well.  I like this pattern tied in appropriate colors for the summertime PMD hatches too.  Most of all have fun and catch some fish!

This article by: BaseCampLegends.com

See the original article at TeamHuntress.com

Tags: article, blue, general outdoors, hair, hook, linkedin, month, pattern, river, sparkle, tips, weather, wing, winter

Another month is upon us and while late fall/early winter is a great time to start tying up some patterns to restock the fly boxes depleted by another year on the water, lets not abandon the fishing quite yet.  I have had several great days on the river this past month.  It does get a bit hit and miss as the weather and the water temps cool but when you hit it right the fishing can be outstanding.  I have still been running into some great baetis hatches around here and so with that in mind I thought I would share my favorite pattern when fish are sipping the Blue Winged Olive Duns off the rivers surface.  This pattern is basically a Sparkle Dun with a biot body, and I use a CDC feather for the trailing shuck instead of Z-lon. I like the Sparkle dun because it is so versatile.  I think fish feeding on emergers, duns, and spinners could all find a reason to take a well placed Sparkle Dun.  This version is quite simple to tie, it floats well, and is fairly easy to see even in the small sizes that will often be required.   Lets get started with the materials:

Hook: #18 or smaller Tiemco 100 or equivalent dry fly hook

Thread:  Olive 8/0

Wing:  Olive Deer Hair

Tail/Shuck:  One Natural Brown CDC feather

Body:  Gray Olive Turkey Biot

Thorax:  Medium Olive Fine Dry Fly Dubbing 

 

1)  In the winter months the bugs that do hatch tend to be small.  For our rivers in Southeast Idaho I usually tie this pattern in sizes from #18-#24.  You can definitely go larger or smaller if needed.  

 

2)  Tie in a clump of deer hair about 2/3 down the shank of the hook.  I make about 3 good turns while holding the back of the hair so it stays on top of the hook while the tips flare out.  Then clip the backs as close as you can at a 45 degree angle.

 

3)  Next I pull up about 1/3 of the hair and make a wrap in front of it, then proceed to pull up another third, again making a wrap in front of that, then finally pull the remaining hairs straight up and wrap in front so that all the hair is standing up on the fly.  Then be sure to build up a good thread dam in front of the wing as if you don’t, when the fly gets wet the wing will lean forward on you.  Then wrap the thread back to behind the wing and tie down the loose ends on that side. 

4)  Now tie in the CDC feather on top of the hook shank.  I don’t worry about how long the tail sticks out as I cut it later.

5)  Continue securing the CDC feather wraping back to where the shank meets the bend.

6)  Now I trim the tail to about 3/4 hook shank length.

7)  Next tie in a Goose or Turkey Biot Quill with the notch facing left.  Advance the thread to just behind the wing.

8)  Wrap the biot using nice even wraps toward where you stopped the thread, then tie it off and clip the excess.

9)  Next I simply dub a nice football shaped thorax using 2-3 wraps behind the wing and 3-4 in the front of it.

10)  Finally make a nice even thread head and tie off the fly.  Dab some head cement on there and you are ready to fish.

Play with the color scheme to match other mayfly hatches in your area as well.  I like this pattern tied in appropriate colors for the summertime PMD hatches too.  Most of all have fun and catch some fish!

This article by: BaseCampLegends.com

Tags: blue, color, fishing, hook, month, rivers, tips, water, weather