President s Letter. This month will be a Fly-Tying Meeting!! See Armand s Notes below. Newsletter October 2015

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Leslie Emily Cox
5 years ago
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As I am writing this there is a forecast of a hurricane heading north. September s meeting was a bit thin as I heard.

Make sure you mark the calendar. We meet the 4 th Tuesday of the month. I have been out the past week looking for hardtails and was able to hook up.

1 Newsletter October 2015 President s Letter Well, you can feel a bit of a chill in the air. Fall is here. After this past week of heavy rain I am not sure if any of the fish (stripers, bluefish, and albies) are sticking around or heading south. As I am writing this there is a forecast of a hurricane heading north. September s meeting was a bit thin as I heard. Being the first one of the season it usually is but, for those who did show, don t despair a lot is planned for the year. The board is already planning speakers and some holiday Christmas plans. Make sure you mark the calendar. We meet the 4 th Tuesday of the month. I have been out the past week looking for hardtails and was able to hook up. I hope that as members everyone was able to have a good summer of fishing. Do not despair! Steelhead is fast approaching. This is a great fishery- try to make it or put it on your bucket list. I plan on tying some flies this month so come see what I am tying. Or go watch Armand. I am sure he is still tying up some bass (freshwater) flies. It s THAT time of year again! Steelhead Time! NEXT MEETING: Tuesday October 27, 2015 Foxboro Community Center 6:30 to 9:00 PM This month will be a Fly-Tying Meeting!! See Armand s Notes below If anyone has a special fly that works and has been productive let the club see how you are tying it share your knowledge. That is what we are here for. After all we are a fly fishing tying club. Make sure you speak to Izzy and give him your ! We want to do a better job of letting everyone know what is going on with the club this year. If you have a friend who fishes or ties flies invite them to the club. We want to grow our membership this year. At the meetings voice your opinions. This is your club. Tight lines! Hope to see you soon. Joel

Armand Says: TYING WITH DEER BODY HAIR This month s meeting we will be tying with deer body hair. I get a lot of requests by people who want to learn how to tie with deer body hair.

You need Kevlar or UTC G.S.P 100 denier thread strong no 6/0 or 3/0 trout thread. Color is not important, I will supply hooks and deer body hair.

Go to Home Depot in the wooden railing get a spindle (I think that s what it is called. I ended sawing a little off the bottom. Then drill a 1/8 hole in the middle about 2 inches is good.

2 Armand Says: TYING WITH DEER BODY HAIR This month s meeting we will be tying with deer body hair. I get a lot of requests by people who want to learn how to tie with deer body hair. Here is your chance to learn. The class will be limited to four people, first come, first served. You must come prepared. Here is what you need TO BRING. No substitution, this is serious. You need Kevlar or UTC G.S.P 100 denier thread strong no 6/0 or 3/0 trout thread. Color is not important, I will supply hooks and deer body hair. If you want to tie top quality bugs use a packing tool. Buy one or make one: At Bears Den, Taunton, MA. I recommend Fugley Packer $ or you can make one (see photograph). Go to Home Depot in the wooden railing get a spindle (I think that s what it is called. I ended sawing a little off the bottom. Then drill a 1/8 hole in the middle about 2 inches is good. Bring your vise, scissors, straight edge razor blade (one side), your serious tying thread, an empty coffee can, a portable vacuum cleaner to pick up waste. At Bears Den I would recommend getting deer body hair strip or wait to see what you need at the tying session. I LL SEE YOU AT THE MEETING. Armand FLY TYING CORNER

3 To Fly Fish on the Snake River Successfully, Strength Train First A guide on the Snake River shares his workout for keeping back, arms and wrists strong By JEN MURPHY Sept. 21, :41 a.m. ET The saying gone fishing conjures up thoughts of a lazy day casting on the river. But for Will Hobbs, director of outdoor pursuits at the Snake River Sporting Club in Jackson, Wyo., fishing is a serious workout. In the peak of summer, Mr. Hobbs often puts in 10-hour days, six to seven days a week. He typically takes out two clients a day in a 16-foot-long-by-4-foot-wide float boat to fish different features along the Snake River. Mr. Hobbs sits in the middle and rows against the current to slow the boat so clients can cast the fly in the best spot for catching rainbow trout and fine spotted cutthroat trout. He says it isn t unusual for him to row four to eight hours in a day. In my early 30s, I felt invincible, said Mr. Hobbs, now 42. But when I reached 35, those long days fishing started to wear on my body. The extensive amount of casting he does each season, combined with his long hours on the oars, led to shoulder tendinitis. Will Hobbs on the Snake River in Jackson, Wyo. PHOTO: GREG VON DOERSTEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Fly fishing is actually more physically taxing than most believe it to be, Mr. Hobbs said. It takes shoulder, arm, back and core strength to stand, cast and hold a rod up with a weighted fly for an extended period and reel in a 12- to 20-inch fish. Mr. Hobbs said his father, Bill Hobbs, now in his early 70s, is still athletic and does calisthenics every day. Watching him drove the point home that I needed to do something if I wanted to continue to be active, he said. He searched the Internet for exercises to strengthen his core, shoulders, back, wrists and forearms. A regular routine of strength exercises keeps him pain free, he said. Sitting and standing in the boat all day can really take a toll on your back and the rowing is a lot of stress on the shoulders and rotator cuffs, he says. In the off-season, after Thanksgiving, Mr. Hobbs says he skis but doesn t use his forearms every day the way he does during fishing season. So it s important to keep conditioned so I m not rusty when the season starts back up, he says.

4 The Workout Mr. Hobbs has a weight area set up in his garage and a repertoire of exercises that takes about 20 minutes to perform. He took an 18-inch broomstick and attached a string to the middle with a 2- pound weight at the other end. The string is long enough so that when he holds the bar horizontally in front of him, with a hand at each end, the weight is on the floor. He rotates the bar with his hands, winding the string around the bar and lifting the weight off the floor, then reverses to slowly unwind the string and return the weight to the floor. The exercise helps strengthen his wrist and forearms; he does three or four reps a day. He performs reverse dumbbell flies on a weight bench to work his shoulders and upper back. To strengthen his rotator cuffs, he performs a lying external rotation with 10-pound dumbbells. He lies on the bench sideways with his elbow against his side and forearm parallel to his body, then lifts the dumbbell by rotating the shoulder, then brings it back down. He does 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups. I m a firm believer in the full sit-up rather than crunches, he says. Mr. Hobbs is a biggame hunter and says in hunting season he gets a core workout from drawing a heavy weighted bow. In the summer, he and his wife and 5-year-old son hike and bike, and in winter he keeps fit with cross-country and downhill skiing. Will Hobbs uses a 10-pound dumbbell to perform rotation exercises that strengthen the rotator cuff. PHOTO: GREG VON DOERSTEN FOR THE WAL FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL The Diet Breakfast is a grab-and-go breakfast burrito. I m a big fan. It keeps me full until lunch, says Mr. Hobbs. Lunch is often a roast beef wrap. Dinner is usually wild game such as elk or duck, which he hunts in fall and winter. He says fresh seafood is an indulgence, and he loves a cold beer at the end of the day. Gear Our garage is overloaded with gear, says Mr. Hobbs. He owns more than a dozen fly-fishing rods. I have one for every situation saltwater, freshwater. He wears Smith ChromaPop polarized sunglasses, which cost $209. Polarized glasses are an invaluable tool for seeing what is going on in the water, he says. And a good pair of water sandals like Tevas is essential. He wears waders at the tail end of the season when the water temperature is in the 40s, he says. Mr. Hobbs likes Vasque hiking boats. He has a Giant mountain bike and loads of archery gear.

5 Fishing Egg Patterns By Jay Peck Egg flies are most likely the most popular fly for fishing the Great lakes tributaries. For many of us, these are first flies we used when we first started fishing the tributaries. This is not without warrant. There are times when egg flies are the most productive fly patterns on the rivers. Even when the fishing gets tough, we can often depend on egg flies to save the day. Why are egg patterns so effective? When it comes to a food sources for trout, eggs seem to have one of the strongest food attractions as anything you can find in the wild. Both trout and salmon will readily respond to eggs that are freely drifting. It does not matter if these fish are actively spawning or not. When it comes to trout, they will key in on eggs faster than any other food source. Even when spawning activity has wound down and eggs are no longer readily available, trout will still respond to a well-presented egg fly, the memory remains. As you can imagine, with all the attention and fisherman using egg patterns, there is a large variety of patterns, ranging from very complex to the very simple and basic. Even though egg patterns are relatively simple patterns to tie, there is wide range of flavors and styles of patterns. Egg patterns are often tied with various colors of yarn and Estaz, glow chenille, and other basic fly tying materials. Fly tiers will often try to imitate the nucleus of the egg and even incorporate minute blood dots. Egg patterns can also be very simple and basic, tied with basic egg yarn. Obviously how flashy you would like a fly or subtle an egg pattern is, will depend on fishing conditions. Since egg patterns are easy to tie and we use in expensive materials, it is always a good idea to carry a large selection and supply of flies. Fishing conditions on the tributaries can and do change very quickly. Water conditions will play more of a role in what type of egg patterns to fish. When the water is running high with some color in it, the more colorful, flashy and slightly larger flies will be more effective. These egg flies are tied with flashing material such as Estevez and glow chenille. Just the opposite is true when fishing in low clear water or fishing pressure is heavy. The more natural looking smaller egg patterns will be far more effective in these conditions. These flies will be tied with egg yarn in natural looking colors. This type of tying material does not have a lot of flash in it. In these conditions you do not want to visually overload the fly. We are trying to imitate a very basic food source. I prefer to keep egg fly patterns simple, because, fished correctly, right along the bottom, we have a tendency to go through quite a few flies.

6 Fly tying tip: When tying and designing new egg flies, I always incorporate a light veil over the pattern with some sort of egg yarn. The reason for this, when a trout takes an object into its mouth and instantly decide this is not what it want and reject that object instantly. The idea of the veil around the egg pattern is to cause the fishes teeth to temporarily hang up in it. Giving us a chance to realize the fish has taken the fly and it s time to set the hook. All of this fly design does not mean much unless the fly is properly presented. Nature has designed eggs to be denser than water. This way the eggs will stay for the most part, where the fish deposit them in the river bottom. We think of eggs drifting through the water column similar to the way aquatic insects, nymph do. This is not the case; an egg drift is more like an egg roll. That is, the egg does more rolling or bouncing along the bottom than drifting just off the bottom. Obviously, the trick here is to imitate this egg drift rolling along the bottom. We need to slow down the speed of the drift; an egg drift is considerably slower. When fishing egg patterns keep in mind the type of water you are fishing in. This will play a big role in your success. Feeding trout will be located where the food is most concentrated. This way they can feed more efficiently. Simple sounding concept, but, the trick is to find these prime feeding spots. These feeding spots can be anywhere. However, during active spawning, any locations where there are cuts in the river bottom and the current is concentrated this will also concentrate stray eggs. Very simply, locate actively spawning fish, down river where the current is being compressed forming a cut in the river bottom. You will find feeding trout. When spawning is over and winter settles, the eggs are not as accessible to the fish. We can still easily predict when we will see a good egg bite. Every time the river has a water flow increase, these waterfalls will dislodge stray eggs and send them adrift, creating a feeding opportunity, an egg bite. This egg bite will last for a few days to a week after water flows stabilize. So keep this in mind when you are trying to decide what to fish. Jay Peck is a fishing guide on the Lake Ontario tributaries. He fishes the Salmon River for salmon and steelhead in September and October then Sandy Creek and the lower Genesee River in for brown trout from November on. He fishes the Salmon River from mid to late spring for steelhead. To contact Jay, him at jay@jaypeckguides.com or check his web site You can also contact him at Coleman s Fly Shop ( or Thank you for spending some time reading the new Crossroads Anglers Newsletter. See you next month!

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