Hard Water and Fly Tying

The last two days on the water were ice fishing days. Ice fishing is something I know a bit about but am very badly equipped to actually do. I have never caught a fish through the ice and the last two days continued that proud tradition.

The rest of my time during this cold spell has been spent working at home, practicing driving, and tying flies. At the moment I am filling my upsized streamer box. I bought a large box for my articulated and stinger streamers and moved my single hooked (in my mind small) streamers from a small box to a medium box. That small box is now being filled with big nightime surface bugs (mice, wakers, foamulators). So that has created a lot of gaps with which I am filling with a healthy variety of big gnarly trout getters. That on its own is a lot of tying, especially on the deceiver style flies, but the bulk of my current tying time is being occupied by a large order of woolly buggers for Dette Trout Flies. The first of many shipments should be going out Monday, 96 white #4, 96 white #6, 48 yellow #4, 48 yellow #6. The entire order totals... well, a lot.

Fortunately for my sanity warmth has arrived once again. The next couple weeks should be some pretty great winter fishing. And not the hard water kind.