Vol. 13 No. 28

BREAK UP!

Two small words to warm the heart of any Canadian! I believe the same is true for many of our Southern Cousins too.

You see, break-up for us “Northerners” is a yearly event which marks the passing of winter. The Thaw, Ice Out, Break-up … all of them regional sayings for when the local river or lake frees itself from the icy shroud which had covered it for the past 3, 4, 5 even 6 months!

FISHING THE CADDIS HATCH

I'm going to pass out some pointers on how to fish a caddis hatch during each stage of the hatch and what pattern types the angler/tier will need.

Stages of Imitation for the Fly Tier

There are three basic stages of the caddis life cycle that the tier must prepare for if he/she is going to have the proper patterns to imitate the caddis life cycle properly. They are: nymphs, pupas, and adults.

GETTING STARTED

With spring lurking just around the corner a young man or young woman’s thoughts turn to thoughts of taking up fly-fishing. Well, maybe it’s the second thing that they are thinking about as winter turns to spring, but perhaps they are thinking about fly-fishing somewhere in the order of thoughts that come to mind this time of the year. If this describes you or someone you know perhaps I can offer a bit of sage advice about how to get started.

NOW ABOUT YOUR CASTING

Every once in a while something on our Bulletin Board will really stir up all sorts of thoughts, especially when someone else suggests a person might do better by taking casting lessons. Oh my. That can be a very tender issue.

A JACK DANIELS FISHING STORY

I went fishing this morning down here in Oklahoma, but after a short time I ran out of worms.

Then I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in his mouth. Frogs are good bass bait.

NO REGRETS

The two anglers sat side by side on the banks of the river. The late summer sun was a hazy golden ball playing peek-a-boo with some fluffy cumulus clouds. The combination of sun and shadow bathed the surrounding hills with a patchwork pattern of light and dark

FISHING DURING THE SPAWN

I was reading Bob Boese’s “Springtime Bream Fishing”, when I came to this part of the article….

You need to know about spawning time because you want to catch the spawning fish. Don’t worry about affecting the sunfish population, at an average of 18,000 fry hatching from each bed, it is almost impossible to over fish them.

POLAR HEX

Hex patterns are very popular here in Michigan because of our infamous ‘Michigan Caddis Hatch’ (hexagenia limbata). There are about two dozen or so patterns that stand out about the rest in popularity. I bring you one of those patterns today.

In recent weeks FAOL has begun to make some major changes in our format. These are changes that have been needed for some time and hopefully they will allow us to be more user friendly both for our readers and our sponsors.

Starting in this issue you will see a new addition to the bulletin board; a separate section for classified advertising. This will allow the person that wants to advertise on FAOL, but doesn’t have the resources to become a sponsor or only needs to advertise a seasonal activity like a guide service, the ability to have a presence on FAOL for a minimal outlay of resources.

Coming in the next month FAOL will adopt a new menu that will allow our readers to quickly access all the various articles and forum pages from a new menu tool bar. We will also be offering our sponsors a new method of displaying their products.

The important thing is that these changes are being made to provide you, our readers, with a medium that meets your needs most efficiently. FAOL is first and foremost an online resource for fly fishers. We exist because our only agenda is to prove a place where fly fishers from beginners to the most experienced anglers can come together and share information. We don’t employ a staff of professional writers to provide us with articles, but we rely on our readers to provide us with the articles that you read each week. We make every effort to provide all our readers with a safe and congenial place to exchange ideas and information. Our sponsors are companies and individuals that we have researched to make certain that they offer our readers quality products and service. We hope that you will utilize their services when you are in need of the products that they provide. Tell them you saw their product or service on FAOL.

I hope that as we continue to update our web site that you will continue to find FAOL a valuable part of your fly fishing experience.