Pineywoods Fly Fishers
Pineywoods Fly Fishers
Founded
1988
Chapter of the Southern Council of the
Federation of Fly Fishers
Web Site http://home.sprynet.com/~waltermc
President:
Jimmy Lee Secretary/Treasurer:
Ken Baker
January 2005
Report
From The Secretary
Ken
Baker
The
annual Christmas Party has come and gone. Once
again I think it was a huge success. If you were not able to be there, you missed a lot of fun.
The food was great and of course the fellowship was too.
I think everyone had a good time during the gift exchange and sure enough
the oil filter showed up again. I know that just thrilled everyone.
The committee did a good job.
The
trout are in place and have been caught by a few of the members.
Jay and I went one day and although the wind was blowing pretty bad, I
managed to catch 3 trout about 6 inches long.
Jay missed several as I did. We
saw some pretty good size trout and I think a couple of guys have brought in
fairly good sized ones. There are many places to fish there. I stayed around the
swimming area and Jay walked down the stream. He saw good areas all the way. If
you have not been, and are eligible, try it out. It will be fun even if you
don't catch the big one. By the
way, I caught my fish on the old faithful, Olive Wooleyworm. I don't know what
all Jay used but he did use Bill Lambing's famous fag fly.
The
tying classes at Don McMurry’s house have been good. There were not many of us attended and I did get to go to the
last one. Walter did a good job teaching dry fly tying, we learned the mechanics
even if some of us did not learn all we were taught. We enjoyed the refreshments
though.
The
rent has been paid for the meeting room at the mall, so we will be there another
year. The next meeting will be January 4. Be sure to bring your fly creation for the drawing.
Also a reminder, the more fly's we have , the more drawings we can have.
I try to contribute 3 flies so we can have at least 3 drawings if enough
flies are donated. I like to have
at least 5 flies for each time we draw. We also have some new items for the door
prize drawing, we are trying to have some non tying items also.
The dollars you give when you don't bring a fly, go toward buying these
items.
Once
again I would remind you that your dues are now due. Please bring them to the meeting or mail them to me at P.O.
Box 153651, Lufkin, Texas 75915, or to my address, 208 Darlington, Lufkin, TX
75901.
Plans
are being made for the workshop, April 9th, plan now to attend. One
hint, practice your roll cast as Jay has plans to include that in the casting
contest.
See
you at the meeting and remember " A BAD DAY FISHING BEATS A GOOD DAY
WORKING'
From
Membership and the Editor
Well
another year has slipped by, did you make the last one worth while? Even though
our club has grown a little, we seem to have lost many member’s interest in
fishing. This is causing us to divide membership into several camps, a social
division for those who are only interested in visiting and eating I guess, a
vacant division for those who we never hear from, a beginner’s division for
those who are eager to learn fly fishing and tying and the remainder of us who
are trying to figure out what this is all about and improve things. Which
division are you in? We need to ask why we have club divisions in the first
place. The vacant division is most troubling in that it indicates a failure of
our club members to provide whatever all members need to stay active, come to
meetings and attend outings. One member told me that he has never been invited
to go fishing by another member. That’s not a new complaint but I hear from
some of the old members that new members need to contact them as to when to fish
and not leave it up to them to guess a good time. The old members have tried in
the past to satisfy this problem only to find that the new member never chose a
date and always had excuses when suggestions were made. Frustration results and
nothing gets done. We need a system set up to force new members to fish with the
old group. Be thinking about this for the new year.
The
beginner’s division has ended up being our Nacogdoches members who want to
have frequent tying classes and want to go fishing. When none of the Lufkin
members show up to teach or learn with them in these tying classes, the question
arises, it 30 miles too far to travel to a class or is there a
Lufkin/Nacogdoches split in our club? Being from Lufkin and growing up here, I
learned the rivalry between both city high schools but I never thought that
would last into adulthood. I have always liked Nacogdoches but never had any
friends there until I joined our club. Is 30 miles too far? Do we need two clubs
or do we need a halfway point to meet to have our classes? We never had the
problem before because we never had such a large percentage of the club from
Nacogdoches like we now have.
Starting
in 2005, we need more interaction from all club members. If you want to fish
with someone just call or email them. We need members to volunteer to host a
night of fly tying at their homes. We need ideas for club activities and
outings. If you can’t be active then tell us so we can try to work with you on
better dates for planned activities, I know that work schedules interferes with
several members so we should be able to correct that. Please think about it and
do your part to make our club more of a fishing club.
Trout
Reports
By
Bruce Sublett
Just
want to let you know I made it up to Camp Tonk today and did really well.
I fished from about 10:00 until about 2:00 and caught fish the whole time, on
white midge pupa (14s), PT midge pupa (20s) and BH Hare's Ear soft hackle (16s).
Lots of 12" fish, and a couple that were probably 15".
By
the McLendon’s
Linda
and I spent a little less than three hours on a cold windy cloudy Tuesday
afternoon right after a cold front. I managed two fish and never got another
hit. One nice looking splash occurred after one cast when I looked down at my
hands for some reason. The fish probably sucked my fly in and spit it right out.
I tried the Smidge and Partridge & Red soft hackle flies without any luck
after catching mine on the trusty olive woolly bugger.
By
Howard Hinton
Sunday December 19,
2004..... What a great day. Not a cloud in the sky, temp in the mid 50s,
wind was light, and I had a secret fishing hole all to myself. Well it's
not really a secret but it might as well be. No one seems to ever fish
there. Come on people lets go fishing.
I am still a novice
when it comes to trout fishing, but I have caught trout in 5 states. Most
have been put and take fish. (The state puts them in and the fishermen take them
out.) I am catching more and bigger fish at this secret spot than I have
any other place. I am catching fish that are over 14 inches long and to me
they seem to have a lot more fight than your everyday put and take fish.
Water temp today
was 56 degrees and clear. It will get clearer now that the rains have
taken a break. You can actually sight cast to specific fish and watch them
chase your fly. But just because they chase does not mean they take.
I had a ball today hiding behind a tree and luring fish into the shallows with
my fly.
If you have never
caught a trout now is your chance to catch a good one. I have had some of
the bigger fish on but have not landed one yet. If you are an experienced
trout fisherman come on and let the rest of us know how this secret spot
compares to other places.
I urge every one to
come and fish. If you are one of the more experienced fishermen, ask a new
member to go with you. If you are like me new and inexperienced don't wait
for an invitation just go fishing!
LET THE FISHING
BEGIN!
Form
and Function of Fly Hooks
By Bill Heugel
This is a summary of an article by E. B. Nemanic, which appeared in the December 1990 issue of Flyfishing Magazine. I found it interesting and thought perhaps the rest of you may be interested.
One of the first requirements of the hook is to make it easy to penetrate the fish. Sharp points are a must as we all know. A sharp point takes less effort to penetrate than a dull point. For Example:. A hook with twice the area at the point (one which is not sharp) will require four times the force to penetrate, There is only one major drawback to a sharp hook-I always seem to cut the thread once during a tying session. Wide tapers require more force to penetrate than slim tapers, but if the taper is to, long the hook will bend easily when it strikes an underwater object.
The barb is the widest point of the hook, and creates the most resistance to penetration. Also, the barbed hook will not penetrate easily past the barb, so a barbless hook will penetrate deeper and easier. As we know, the barbless hook also is easier to remove from the fish as well as from ourselves. While there are many special-purpose hook bends available, the main ones we use are Model Perfect, Sproat, and Limerick.
The Model Perfect hook will bend the most when a given force is applied at the point of the hook. The Sproat will bend less because the shape of the bend is flatter than the Model Perfect. The Limerick will bend the least when the same force is applied because it is even more flat. The disadvantage of these other bends is that they are longer and as a result will weigh more for the same hook size and wire size.
The gap is the space between the hook and the shank and is measured perpendicular to the shank. Gap sizes are fairly standard between manufacturers. A size 12 hook has a gap of about 5 millimeters. A size six has about a 10 millimeter gap, and a size 24 has about a 2.5 mm gap. The larger the gap, the better the hooking qualities of the hook. The Limerick hook will have the same gap or hooking capabilities as the other hooks, but will be stronger and will bend less when setting the hook (A consideration when fishing for larger fish).
The shank for a standard hook is about twice the length of the gap. The hook shank lengths are designated by a number followed by an X (for example, 2X, 4X, both long and short). A 2X long designation indicates that the hook has a shank length that is the same length as a hook 2 sizes larger. A 2X size 8 hook has a shank length that is the same as a size 6 hook. The gap and the wire size of the hook remains the same.
Eye configurations are down-eye, up-eye and ring-eye. The eye configuration influences the transmission of the force applied by the tippet (hook setting force), flotation characteristics, and movement in the water. For the same style of hook and the same size of hook, the down-eye transmits the maximum percentage of the force applied through the tippet eye connection. For the up-eye, only 75% of the force applied at the tippet is experienced at the point for penetration. The ring-eye is 85 %, and the down-eye is 90 %. The eye configuration also influences the effective gap or hooking capability of the fly. The up-eye has the most effective gap, the ring-eye has somewhat less, and the down-eye, the least effective.
The bite angle is the angle between the hook point and the surface to be penetrated, and influences the ease of penetration. The best bite angle for the hook is perpendicular to the surface to be penetrated. For the same hook size an up-eye hook has the best bite angle, the down-eye has the poorest bite angle, and the ring-eye is in-between.
The eye configuration and the force exerted by the tippet affects the floating characteristics of the hook. The up-eye tends to tip the dry fly forward as a result of the tippet connection to the eye. The ring-eye has less forward tipping, and the down-eye has the least. This explains why dry flies are tied on down-eye hooks.
Wire size influences the strength of the hook, and its weight. The larger the wire size, the stronger the hook, but the more it weighs. The force necessary to break a size 12 hook is reported to be between 5.5 lb. and 6.5 lb. This is less than the strength of the correct tippet for that size hook. Based on my own experiences and those Walter reported in the last newsletter, the hook strength is not the problem.
So how does all of this affect the fly design?
The hook sizes used to imitate most aquatic insects are in the 12 to 18 range. In this range, the length of the standard hook shank is about the length of the insect, the fine wire is easily floated, and the gap matches the strength of the correct tippet, and the down-eye balances the fly and allows maximum effective tippet strength.
For smaller flies, where hooking can be a problem, the hooking capability is increased by the use of a ring-eyed hook which provides a larger effective gap and only slightly reduces the transmission of the tippet force. The forward rotation discussed earlier is less of a problem because the small fly is easily floated.
For flies larger than size 12, the weight of the bend comes into play. This can be compensated for by going to longer shank lengths and smaller hooks. This results in a smaller wire size and less weight. The other approach would be to dress the fly to float the hook bend more effectively.
For wets and nymphs, a heavier weight hook may be more desirable. The ring-eye is a good compromise for tippet and bite angle. However, for very large fish such as the salmon, up-eyes and Limerick bends are preferred, providing both good bite angle for penetration and maximum strength.
Streamer flies need to be made on high-strength hooks. Therefore, Limerick bend hooks are common in 2X, 4X, and even 6X lengths. The configuration of the eye also has an effect on the streamer movement. The ring-eye imparts darting action; the down-eye and up-eye impart an up/down jigging action.
Rabbit Fly Tying Class
By Bill Heugel
On Saturday, Jan 8th, 1pm to 4pm, we will offer a fly tying class using rabbit fur. I will explain hide quality, dying skins and teach fly patterns using them. I have some new designs so we should have fun with this. Hope to see you all there.
Tying Classes
