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Monday, May 9, 2011

Grilling Season

I know this isn't about bass fishing, but you can use these rubs on grilled bass! It's summer and summer means grilling and smoking. Everything from bass to corn - beef to beets. Here are three of my favorite rubs. Easy to make, easy to use.


Carolina BBQ Rub
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup paprika

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well; use as a dry rub on
beef, chicken, lamb or pork.
Carolina

Cajun Blackening Spices
5 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix together and store in an air−tight container.
Cajun

Kansas City Rib Rub
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
3/4 tablespoon garlic powder
3/4 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

Don't use this rub with a hot pan. you don't want the brown sugar to burn.

These rubs will keep up to 6 months in airtight containers.

Happy Grilling
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Monday, May 2, 2011

Largemouth Bass

The Largemouth Bass

Make no mistake the Largemouth Bass is a predator, and as a predator it brings to the game a complex genetic skill set. Honed over generations of environmental conditioning the Bass is neither shy or timid. A solitary hunter or part of a loose school. The Largemouth Bass is always a hunter, always a predator. Disturb his domain and your fly will disappear almost as soon as it arrives. Sometimes never to be seen again.

When Bass fishing with a fly rod it is essential to remember that the Bass is not unlike us humans. It is always seeking food, shelter and comfort. Learning what these mean to a Largemouth Bass will take us a long way to catching this elusive hunter.

Food

When does a mouse top the dinner menu? When it is attached to the end of a fly line. As food goes the largemouth Bass is not that particular. They will attack and eat a variety of foods: insects, popcorn, minnows, amphibians, reptiles, worms, mammals etc. They generally prefer larger foods, but can be taken on smaller offerings as well. Even a size 14 dry fly.

Shelter and Habitat

The Largemouth Bass usually invades the shallows from their winter depths as spring arrives. The exact timing is determined by your location. When the weather warms up and ice-out begins you can expect the Bass to awaken from their winter solace.

Once the water warms up to 60 degrees a Largemouth Bass’s thoughts turn to spawning. After spawning, the female leaves the nest and thus begins the male’s job of guarding the nest until the eggs hatch and they turn into a school of tiny black fish. It is during this time that the male will savagely defend the nest. The male Bass will not eat until the little ones leave the nest.

During this time they do not eat, but the will defend and attack. It is now that a mouse pattern plopped down next to the nest will attract his attention and his lateral sense line will go into overdrive. A small mammal is no match for this ferocious predator. With lighting speed he will cover the distance to your mouse pattern. In an instant its gone and your fly line leader tightens to the breaking point.

As a predator once the nest is empty certain habits and cycles of the bass are predictable. As a hunter they do things with enough regularity for us to capitalize on them.

Not unlike us they: “hunt”, they “feed” and they “defend”. Knowing how they do these things will give us an edge on the fight.

The largemouth Bass makes it home in and around structure. Structure is any area that a Bass can take up a position of feeding and ambush superiority. Usually with a backdoor exit to deeper water to escape into. The best structure goes to the largest fish. Such as fallen trees, sunken logs, weed beds, lily pads, piers etc… These are our hunting grounds for the Largemouth Bass.

Early morning Bass fishing is a favorite time. Cooler water and more oxygen. It is now that Bass can be found cruising the shorelines for food. This is when I use a size 2 mouse. Mice often fall into the water from the shore so a mouse isn’t a big surprise for a Bass. Casting our mouse next to the shoreline or into the weeds/Lilly pads or a sunken/floating log will often elicit a hit.

Cast the mouse and let it sit for a moment. Bass will often take a few seconds and look at your treat. But sometime the mouse barely hit’s the water. A bass will take about a 1/10 of a second to determine if the meal is to his liking before he spits it out so you must be ready for a strike.

The afternoon brings out my streamers and wooly buggers in sizes 2 - 6. I fish these a little deeper and outside a weed bed edge with a slight hesitation retrieve. As if it is a wounded fish. A Dalhburg diver is a good fly for this. The Dalhburg will dive as it is retrieved and come back up to the surface as you let up on the retrieve. This action mimics the action of a wounded bait fish. It’s an action few bass can ignore. A little fly float will help this action as well.

The evening brings out the top water flies again. A black or natural mouse size 2, dragon flies size 4, general red and black poppers size 4 even a saltwater white pencil plug with a red tail size 2 can work. Also it is a good time for dry flies. Nothing can beat a 3 lb Bass hitting a size 12 Blue winged olive. Patterns don’t mater to the Bass. We are not matching the hatch. Just annoying a hungry fish. Toss it into edge a weed bed and let it sit. Twitch it and stop. Mimic a struggling wet insect. See what happens.

Check out what other Bass fishers are using in your area.

Fly Rods For Bass Fishing

This is an area of much confusion and misunderstanding. A good fly rod for Largemouth Bass fishing is a 8 ½ foot 6 weight medium to fast action rod. A good medium action rod will get your fly out to 20+ feet depending on your casting style and skill. Set it up with a 7 foot 2x - 4x leader with a matching 12 - 16 inch length of tippet.

Final thoughts

Knowing the habits of this fish will give you the edge in the contest. Deep/shallow, hot /cold, what kind of structure, passage to deep water, food, oxygen, water clarity, shoreline features. Knowing how Bass relate to these and many more environmental stimulants will make the hunter “par excellence” into the hunted. Good fishing.
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Friday, April 29, 2011

Fishing and Friends

Here's to the end of a long writing recess.

I popped over to a new friends house the other night for dessert and a little home made vino. The wine was a smokey blend of red with a nice nutty finish. All in all a good dry red. The kind that makes you wish you were on a veranda overlooking the ice blue seas of the Bahamas. Dreaming of tomorrows catch.

Now if I could have finished it with some jazz (Bob Evens, Oscar Peterson....) and a Cuesta-Ray Dominican No. 3 Long Panatela I would have thought I died and went to heaven.

But as it turns out the closest I got to a state of bliss was when the conversation turned to fly fishing. I hadn't known that my friend was into fly fishing. I've known him for a year and you would think it would have come up. My conversation skills must be slipping. I thought that most of my talk was about my latest fishing adventure (the one that got away). I try to slip it in at least once a day.

After learning about our mutual love of fly fishing he took me to his basement to show me his collection of fly rods. A 2wt. and a 4wt. Were taken out of there case and handled with the love a father gives to a new born. I was pleased to see that we had matching fly rod cases. The proverbial PVC case that we all have. If you don't have one and need directions for one. I have the directions for building one on this blog. Search for PVC rod case.

After handing me the 2wt. He told me he had made it. I asked him about the blank and it was a 9'
G. Loomis IMX (fast action). One of my favorite rod building blanks. I then noticed it had a full wells grip. I love full wells handles and even on this 2 wt. It didn't seem to out of place. It had the typical 2 foot snake guides wrapped in black thread. 9 of them made a good balance of guides to rod length. They seemed to be proportionately spaced along the blank and sized correctly for the rod.

Now I'm not a big fan of 2wts rods. To small for me I wouldn't know what to do with it. Cast it or use it as a spear. But it occurred to me after looking at his rod that a good case could be made for single foot snake guides on a rod of this size diameter.

I've long thought that double foot guides create a flat spot along the blank profile. Put nine of then along the rod and there are going to be a lot of flat spots that don't bend with the rod flexure of the cast. Add to this extended thread wraps out past each foot end and you create a longer flat spot. My friend confirmed this when he said that his 2wt cast a little like a hinge. Almost imperceptible but there never the less.

I build all of my fly rods (4wt - 8wt) with single foot guides. With todays guide material and construction I don't see a problem. Use size “A” thread and properly mixed wrap epoxy. Along with good rod prep at the guide spacing and what could be the issue.

A fly rod is designed to have a flex profile along it casting axis. If we create large surface areas that don't flex along this profile then we create dampeners at these rod points. This changes the rods casting performance. Greatly compounded with a poorly alined spine. On a well designed rod blank, maybe and this is a big maybe, it wont be that big of a problem. But on an average blank design, and make no mistake most rod blanks sold today are made average and for the average caster. It could be a noticeable issue. Most of todays rods are sold in the average $150. price range. (and check their spine alinement).


I'm not talking about, wrapping power material around the mandrel, resin, fiber alignment, cure time, overlaps, underlaps, M.O.I, fiber density, resin matrix, kicks and cures, hot spots, oven time, or time to catalyze etc.....ad infinitum . I'm talking about what we as rod builders can do to make a better rod.

Tight line till next time. Drop me a line and lets talk about it.

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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Swimming for Life


Written by Sonny Quinn

When I was eighteen I went to the Olympics for my swimming ability. That was over two decades ago, but I never lost my love for the water and have since become a local swimming instructor. Here’s nothing I enjoy more than getting in the pool with my kids and showing them exactly how to perform a stroke or make a turn.

I needed mobile internet connection so I could keep track of their stats online, so I checked out www.wirelessinternet.net to see what kinds of mobile offers they had. Once I found one that worked for me I started taking my laptop to the pool and the kids love it. 

I can login after practice and post their times from the day to their personalized accounts, giving them a graph of their progress over the weeks. 

It seems to really help them set attainable goals and it definitely keeps me more organized. I love my job and being a coach and I’m so glad I’ve found a way to continue to have swimming be a part of my life.

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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Hatch Chart Albany Ny

Here is the first half of my hatch chart for Albany - Ny
Pattern Size April April April April May May May May June June June June July July July July Aug Aug Aug Aug Sept Sept Sept Sept Oct Oct Oct Oct
Blue wing olive 14 – 24



























Quill Gordan 12 – 14



























Hendrickson 12 – 14



























Beaverkill 12 – 14



























Gray Fox 10 – 14



























March Brown 10 – 14



























Light Cahill 10 – 14



























Ginger Quill 10 – 14



























Sulphur Dun 16 – 18



























Pale evening Dun 16 – 18



























Light Cahill 16 – 18



























Green Drake 8 – 12



























Brown Drake 10 – 12



























Mahogany Dun 10 – 12



























Leadwing Coachman 10 – 12



























Dun Variant 10 – 12


























Tan Cadis 10 – 18



























Dark Cadis 10 – 12



























Trout fishing for me will start on the Hoosic river around April 15th this year. Water temp 45 - 55 degrees. As a rule water temp will be just about right around 2pm - 5pm. Its a stream that runs west out of Vermont into the Hudson. It is a river that has had its share of trouble. The tanneries all but destroyed its fish population. It is no longer stocked, but it does hold some wild rainbows and browns. What it lacks in fish is made up in the size of fish that are available.

Wide and slow and some fast, riffed water make for some good holding spots for some large fish. Early season above the village of Eagle Bridge puts out some good mayfly hatches. Tan, cream and white are the colors of the spring here. Wets are the preference. A lot of the stream side is unshaded so dries are an afternoon to evening technique. 9" min and 5 take limit, although in this river catch and release is the best way to go. As it is in most rivers.

One of the best trout fishing techniques I have found is asking owner permission before walking across a land owners property. Some of the best areas are behind some-ones home and common respect goes a long way for all fisher persons. Practicing this keeps the fishing open for all.

As for equipment, early spring brings out my 4wt, 7' leader, 4x/5x tippet and size 12 - 16 flies wet - 14 - 18 dry for the afternoon.

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