A Boost To My Arsenal

Its only natural that once you get hooked on a new hobby you look for ways to expand it.  By grabbing more gear, learning/reading and getting out and having fun.  As I mentioned, I got bit by the "fly" and it's totally taken over.  A couple of posts ago I added pictures of my new fly boxes and the rod I've been using. Well the number of rods has grown to two and the number of flies has shot well up over my starting amount (thanks to a fellow board member on FishingNetwork).

First the rod.  Lets be honest fly fishing can be VERY expensive.  With that said, there are some tried and true high-value gems that can be acquired and cherished, one such rod is the Eagle Claw Featherlight.  I first heard about this rod through the blogs I read, mainly UrbanFlyVentures and FiberglassManifesto.  The later, the Fiberglass Manifesto recently posted a nice review of the featherlight series that is worth a read.


The Featherlight series of rods are fiberglass, which is a style that has fallen out of the mainstream popularity when compared to graphite.  However that does not in anyway mean these rods lack in functionality, and the bugdet priced Featherlight is a prime example.  For the price (roughty $25.00- $30.00) I believe it is the best high-value rod on market.

I outfit my particular Featherlight, the 7' model with an Okuma Siera 4/5 Fly Reel with WF4F line.  While the 7' rod is stamped with a 5/6 wt. however it easily casts the lighter 4 wt. line for the shorter casts I need for the locations I fish.

After I recevied the rod and setup the line I took it down to the local lake and had a pretty nice afternoon.


The little Bluegill in the lake may not put a full bend on the rod, but you know they are there!  I had a bass on momentarily, but I didn't set that hook fast enough and he got away!

Bluegill are a great fish when practicing casting I have found.  Even though I may cast a bit sloppy, the Bluegill remain eager to please.  Lot of heart for such a little fish.

Here is the largest catch of the day, still dimiutive, but fun nonetheless :)

As for the ever breeding and multiplying fly collection, the MVP of the day was this wooly tied up by a new friend, CityDad over at the FishingNetwork forum.

Contact him if interested in any flies.  His nymphs in particular are high detail and quality. 

-Josh

Fly fishing classroom Cerritos Regional

I had a few hours to kill tonight, so I stopped by Cerritos Regional to get some casting time in.

Now, I need to be clear here. I was fishing for the Bluegill with my nine foot line spooled with 8 weight line, its MAJOR overkill.

So without further adieu! On with the pictures! 

All these fish were taken using an Adams pattern 14 hook in green and gold.  Every cast seemed to have attention.  Half way through the hour I switched down to a 16 size hook which paid off big time.  The fish easily took them and often set themselves just pulling away.



This boy in particular was a little upset after todays lesson.

I love the coloring of this one.














Sadly towards the end of my time I got a real tug from something on the top water, I thought it was a larger bluegill but turned out to be a small mouth bass.  I got it close to the bank and it spit the hook.

Practice CPR: Catch, Picture and Release!