I have good news! I just saved a bunch of money switching…nah. Better than that.
I am an extremely rookie fly tier. I bought a vise and then tied a dozen Becker Lake Special’s for Al’s bench. Tied nothing since. Some friends got together just to tie. I was shown a couple of weeks ago how to tie a beadhead semi-seal leech. We got together again the other night and I tried to do it on my own. Man I just totally blew it. I forgot about doing the dubbing step…just blew the whole darn thing. I was so put out with myself. I finished it off and put on some head cement and just quit for the night. Silver Creek has a rep for good fish but very hard to get a strike. I tied on that fly I tied…it is the very first fly I ever tied that I ever tried to fish with. It has to be the ugliest semi-seal leech ever born. I threw it out there and a 19" female hammered it! She was pretty tired when I landed her and thus treated quite gently. I was sorta one foot on the water’s edge and other foot up on bank. So, since I usually have trouble getting hook out of net…I just gently laid the net and her behind me up on the flat ground and stepped up there to get her loose. She flopped over one time and laid there…all dirty. I saw the fly already loost about a foot away. My friend said hold it and quickly measured with a tape…19"! Biggest trout I ever caught. I immediately gently picked her up and got her in the water. She gently swam away…she was pretty pooped out. She left caviar on the bank. I was surprised it was orange instead of the red salmon eggs you see in the store. I swear I did not treat her poorly but she still left eggs. Point is…the fly certainly does not have to be tied very perfectly to catch a trout.
I was so concerned about getting her back in the water I didn’t get a good look at her to remember her by. She had rolled in the dirt and was covered with it. Clean…I could have really taken in every second of her beauty forever. However I wanted to get her back in the water. It all happened so fast.
It was a very big day for me. First time I throw in one of MY hand tied flies and get a 19" trout. WOW. What a hoot.
Gem, nice post. I am impressed with your concern about the fish. Good for you.
Most of my flies of the same pattern look different from the one I just finished. I catch fish, so I agree that perfection is of no account unless we have entered a tying contest.
Gem,
Good job! Espically on the C & R. I’ve had the same experience many times with my own ties. Recently I’ve developed the habit of carrying a small digital camera in one of my vest pockets. It takes less than a minute to snap off a few pics. The fish gets released quickly enough. And when you catch that “surprise” fish it’s great to have a picture to print out and glue into your fishing log book next to the story! Ron
Hey tere POJ,
It’s encouraging to hear that ugly, self tied flies DO catch fish. One of these days I too hope to be producing my own of that general description.
There was a member her a while back whose signature was " I tie so that fish would have something to laugh about", MY flies will probably scare em to death.
Congratulations on that 19" whopper, and on your very first self tied fly, WAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOO!!!
If you didn’t know it already, the Simi-Seal Leech is another one of John Rohmer’s awesome creations, and I don’t go anywhere without a bunch of them in my box. They also work on many diferrent species of fish, but shuuuush!!!, we don’t want everyone to know all of our secret flies.
If you need a refresher on how to tie it, believe it or not, John submitted that fly as a “Fly of the Week” over 5 years ago.
You can find the tying instructions and photos to help you out by looking on “Fly of the Week”, Under “previous flies” and scrolling down to the 4th Quarter of 2000, it’s the first fly right at the top of the list.
John showed me this while I visited with him today and took the step-by-step photos for the Arizona Diamond Hair Minnow that has been causing quite a stir on here lately.
These photos will be submitted soon for a “Fly of the Week” consideration.
Thanks for sharing your special fish catch & release with us.
Congrats! You should retire that fly…it’s customary to keep the first fly you tied that caught a fish somewhere that you won’t forget.
The first fly I tied that caught a fish is hanging from a power line over the area I caught that fish. I didn’t retire it soon enough but at least I know where to find it…
Terry,
I have already printed out John’s FOTW and had it by me when I tied the thing. But, everyone was progressing and I thought I knew how to do it and didn’t have time to read and go step by step. I didn’t even have a velcro to dress it out. It’s a pretty goofy looking leech. I might find a way to take a pic and post it just to show a far off it is from what it was supposed to be.
Thanks Thwack. I think I will retire it. Too bad I don’t have a pic. She was a beauty. But…I might try to tie another like it.
Terry,
I tied that fly because I had seen it work. It is the…#27 Blood Leech color with some #1 Black mixed in…rolled into the center. That color scheme caught a 27.5 inch rainbow at the big pool by Chris Carlson, a guide, out of Peoria…Phoenix valley. Also that same fly caught the 8.5 pound hog out of Silver Creek right where you park…and I watched him catch it. That fish picture I took down to Sportsman’s Warehouse (new Mesa store) and they put it under the glass counter in the fishing department. It is a great fly.
This was a very good mid-winter story to hear. Thanks, Plain Old Jim, for sharing. I’m far from being a real good tyer, but some of those things I tied as a pre-teenager back in Missouri in the 1950s were of sorry fate. Yet they caught fish. Naturally I assumed it was talent besting the best of nature!!! Keep at it, for even after all these years it’s still a thrill to catch fish on flies I’ve tied. JGW
Terry,
I don’t know what you find so funny about it unless you just think it is a lie. No big thing tho. If you got a good laugh out of it then that is good anyway. I gotta tell you it’s a pretty horrible example of a semi-seal leech. Anywhooooo…I am going to take you up on your offer of a freebie…just to see how you dood it. My wife bought me some popsicle sticks to make some but they look awful big. I will indeed send you an e-mail.
Plain Old Jim, I am thrilled for you and I know how you feel about quality in tying. It is amazing how they still catch fish
T think the scent that came off your hand was transmitted to the fly and it knew how caring you where and it was an appreciated effort.
The image of the fish will inspire you to a higher level of tying, but in the meantime, heck I would tie the leach the same way as the 1st. Ya never no
__________*~ < ))))><}
The Old Geezer
Excus my spelling and gramma, I hooked Mondays and Fridays so I could Hunt or fish.
Laughing at you Jim, NEVER, just hopefully with you. I am not making fun of you and NEVER would. I find the whole lesson very amuzing! (Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle)
Sometimes in udder frustration not knowing how to finish a fly, or even if were doing it right, life just has a way of revealing to us that we should “quit taking things so damn serious and just do it”.
It always seems to work out in the end, and we get rewarded in ways we can’t even imagine. The fish don’t seem to take it so seriously either, sometimes!!!
Let me tell you what, with the quality of big Winter fish swimming in Silver Creek right now, and you’ve personally seen caught and are catching yourself, I’d take that exact fly (that “UGLY” one that already has “Big” fish stink all over it) right back there and catch some more, Pronto!
Matter of fact you probably wouldn’t have to twist my arm too hard to convince me to come up and join you, if’n you don’t mind fishin with a guy that’s a little physically beat up from life. LOL!!!
Nice story Jim. Enjoyed it. Love how you ‘Dood’ it…lol And like aka I am laughing with you. I have an idea you are much more worldly than you would have us believe with your quaint musings. Keep it up. I always enjoy reading your posts.
Well, Terry…looks to me like you are going to have to “deliver” that back scratcher for the semi-seal instead of mail it. You are welcome to fish with me at Silver Creek. I will SHOW you the fish in the creek. YOU show me how to catch them. I am much the rookie. I get lucky when I catch a fish. I don’t know how to present any particular fly or which fly to choose. But…you only have till April 1 and then it becomes legal to bait fish and keep. I do not go there again until after Oct 1.
But I only told you about the fish caught on the semi-seal. Fran caught a 26" on an elk hair caddis last year, Bill caught a 5 pounder…same place the hog was caught. I got his picture on that one. I ran to my car and got the camera. Catch & release so we guessing at the weight on that one. Largest one known is 33" and per Ken McGown…of game and fish…whose name is mentioned in I believe John Rohmer’s book…just told me the other day someone caught a 31" this winter. Oh…bill caught his on a zug bug with a small weight up the line about 18". Couple years ago the President of the fly club’s wife hooked into a 32". Gene was so excited he forgot that it had been dredged out there. And HE ws the impetus for the dredging improvement! He stepped in with his net in chest high waders and almost drowned!
Just don’t bring anything to sell me. <grin>
I have a 28’ toyhauler with 12’ of garage space…ac/shower/fridge/air cond/water heater/furnace/microwave/stereo/all the amenities. You can stay in it and we can take off and have a fly in Silver Creek in 7 minutes. Matter of fact I put a big table all the way across the back for fly tying and rod building.
uh…sorry board…this shoulda went via e-mail. Heck, I not going to erase it and type it all over again. Just my apology to the board.
Thank you people for the positive and supportive comments. I don’t get many of them so they are indeed appreciated. It took me two darn years to catch a fish like that.
With an offer like that, you know there’s absolutely no way I could turn down personally delivering the Velro Teaser, and we’ll surely be able to get there before April Fools Day!
Matter of fact, guys are probably lining up as we speak wanting to go.
I will send you an email and we can work out the details.
POJ, I have been doing this tye your own for awhile now and mine still don’t look like store bought! a buddy I’ve been working with on the fly rod issue thinks I buy them but he can’t find them anywhere he he he. Now I can take a recipe and sit down to tye the thing up and if I try it 5 times I have 5 different flys! my mind wonders too much and I get to saying to myslef “What if I just did” and the story goes on.
A good friend of mine wants me to go to a get together where a bunch of folks get together and tie a certain fly but being the way I am I don’t think I can do it! we’d be tying an Elk Hair caddis and I’d come up with some idea of using Gray Squirrel tail or something like that. I’ve got one I should send you and when you see it you will go YUK this guys a crack head but you know what it works around here when the others don’t so is it a goofy fly? let’s see I’m catching fish and Joe is not huummmm not so goofy! Later,
