Hobby Sports

Materials:
Hook: TMC 3761 (or similar nymph hook)
Tail: 3 Filo Plume tips
Body: Chopped filo plume dubbed and tapered to form a body

This is an old fly created by Chris Mathews at Blue Ribbon Flies in Montana.  Its simple to tie and uses normally discarded material.  To my knowledge this fly is unpublished as I have never seen or read about this fly anywhere.  It was not until my friend Mike made me aware of it that I knew it existed.  Thirty or more years ago when he first opened his shop, Chris told Mike about this fly.  From then on, this happens to be Mikes favorite fly to fish on just about any trout water.  He has slayed them at Yellowstone and is his go-to-fly when float tubing at Crawley Lake.

Beadhead version

Kern River Emerger Version (pheasant rump feathers used as legs, thin foam as wingcase)

Jan. 20
RR51
Met up with Lou late around 1pm. After a quick scout of the area, we ate lunch. Thinking it would be best to hunt apart due to one of Lous aggressive dog, we split up. The area looked good. All I managed was one flush near the creek. I hit it with the R13 and it landed in the dense stuff surrounding the creek. I didnt manage to mark it well and since it was a wild flush neither did Kaiser. He searched very hard for it but without any luck. It may have landed in the creek and was flushed away.


Jan. 21
Mikes Honey Hole. South Side
Finally found Mikes honey hole. Its been a few years since Mikes been talking about this area. I finally got some good directions from him on how to get to this area. This place is absolutely gorgeous. I found many shells and signs of birds but could not locate them. Since it is late season I decided rather than scout I needed to get the dog on birds and headed to CBF where I knew for a fact I could find birds.

Fridays venture to MVL with Calhouns 850 grain head and Sage Xi3 10 weight was a bust.  With this strange weather pattern, it actually felt like summer on Friday.  Rain is expected on Tuesday with cold weather to follow.  Perhaps it was this that caused the fish to be tight lipped.  At any rate it sucked.  Casting that heavy rig was not easy but I didnt expect it to be, I need some more practice with it.  Timing is critical.  Bill mentioned that you needed to really be fast on the backcast to generate enough power to throw that line.

Pale Mallard?  Ive never seen one before.

Yesterday Chul asked me if I wanted to go carping after he gets off work.  I gave him a rather unenthusiastic response of maybe and asked him to call me when he gets off work and Id let him know.  Waking up this morning I had a hankering to get a tug so I headed out to the local brown water to see if I could get a carp on a fly.  It was a waste of time and instead of getting hepatitis or some other waterborne disease I should have stayed home.  The moment I stepped out of the car it stunk.  Water is too deep and murky to successfully sight cast.  I made a few pointless blind casts until I noticed a dark blob in the water so I made a few casts to it not knowing exactly which side was the head.  I got a tug and I set foolishly set the hook like a trout and ripped the fly out of its mouth.  Game over and I quit after that and let Chul dont even bother coming.  I did see two large carp launch themselves out of the water but both were too far to cast to, besides I have never found casting to jumping carp to be successful.  The only positive today was I saw a pale mallard, a bird Ive never seen before.

This afternoon I spent my time at Bob Marriotts listening to Conway Bowmans seminar regarding Carp on the fly. It was quite good timing as my interest for carp has peaked. The presentation was filled with good info that I can use on my quest for the elusive golden ghost. Some info I gathered:

Ideal water temperature is 63 degrees but water from 66 to 80 degrees is good. When above 80 degrees, fish the mornings as the fish will usually shut down as temps rise. Use floating lines with 12ft tapered 3x leaders with subtle slow one inch strips. Limit false cast to 2 at most. If you miscast or the fish turns away from the fly, slowly lift the fly out of the water do not rip the fly out as it will cause the fish to spook. Although Conway admitted to not having much sucess in the rivers Ill try to use what he suggested on my local waters.

There are not a lot of pockets but on one side there is a storage compartment known as the probe pocket that is ideal for tent stakes or maybe even a fly rod tube.  The top of the pack has a compartment for frequently used items.  In it there is a sealed pocket and a key clip.  This area is ideal for water filter, fly reel, fly box and other type tools.

When one thinks of cuisine in the Eastern Sierras, most would think meat and potatoes, pizza, burgers or simple American country fare but to my surprise there is a lot more.
Escargot from Still Life Café a French Bistro in Independence CA that my pop and I had years ago after a duck hunt.  This restaurant is owned by a Frenchman from Provence.
Bishop has decent Thai food.  Who would have ever thought?  This green curry is from a in-the-middle-of-nowhere-restaurant, Thai Thai located in the airport.  I had take-out so I could dine with Kaiser in the motel.

I know there are a few fine dining restaurants in Mammoth but since I dont ski and spend my time fly fishing or hunting the valley, Mammoth is just too far for me to go dining.