Fly-fishing and Photography

[Papercut]

Lovely salmon flies! I tie my own trout and saltwater flies, but my skills tend toward the utilitarian (big fan of simple North Country wet flies, both for their ease of tying and for their effectiveness on moving water). Salmon flies, especially tied traditionally with silk gut eyes, are so impressive. Nicely done, Wenge! We just need a color shot of them! 😀

 

[Tim Murphy]

I must have missed this before?

I must have missed this before?

Dear Board,

I started fly fishing when my late Uncle Andy gave me a flyrod and reel that he won in a sales contest when I was about 10 years old. Sunfish and the occasional really dumb bass were my only victims.

When I started at Penn State in 1978 I found a small fly shop tucked away in the Lemont PA Post Office. I started to visit and the owners, who graduated from PSU just a couple of years prior to my arrival, kind of took to me.

I bought some flies and leaders and things and took all the tips to heart. I said I wanted to learn how to tie flies and Steve Sywensky sold me a fly tying kit and went so far as to hand draw detailed instructions for several productive flies on 3X5 index cards. I was in hog heaven, and furthered my fly fishing education by taking the Penn State Flying class taught by Joe Humphreys.

In subsequent years I managed to fly fish in a number of States in the NE, South, Midwest, and Western US. Along the way I met many other fly shop owners and by and large they were just like the guys who got me started. I learned a lot, and brought my two brothers into game along the way.

I made many friends that have become lifelong friends too. It's been a great run!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA 🙂

[/url]5-5-13 by Tim Murphy, on Flickr

 

[jordan.dickinson]

 

[Wenge]

Tim Murphy your story sounds like mine; when I was 12, I found a fly shop in Pacheco, Calif near my home and the owner Andy Puyans took me in every day after school and taught me tying/rod building over 2 years. What you describe is my experiences too, everyone in this sport all over is always nice and helpful.

Dave & Kevin, I don't tie those salmon flies anymore so no recent work, while also am on board nowadays with what Kevin mentioned; I only tie/use simple/easy-to-tie/yet effective flies now, and less than a dozen patterns all day (typically 1-3 most days). Learned that strategy mostly living in Colorado before and seems to work most other water too.

And as to the Q2-M, i like it a lot. It replaces (for me) any future med format b&w film; great raw files, no tripod needed, no more dripping film strips or dusty scans, and all the other benefits inside, and as a bonus the menus are 'smart' (Sony?) The newer green focus peaking is brilliant for my eyesight (far-sighted). The 28mm Summilux is synergistic paired with the b&w camera sensor (but to be fair, it is on the orig. Q also). Even the 50mm crop is so well resolved, it upsizes back to A2 size with exc. b&w prints, while orig. Q is not so easy to do that.

And with an out-the-window test, Q2-M resolves very similar to A7r4 with Voigt 50/2 Lanthar, in that I'm seeing distant details resolved similarly by both, which surprised me the 28 can do that. and surprised the Lanthar can cut through the color filter on the Sony and come close with b&w converted files..like having 2 winners here. I do like the 'look' of the Q2M over any Sony converted files though but only having it a short time and not a pro or expert so just limited opinions, hope it helps.

 

[Wenge]

Jordan those are excellent color shots, thanks for sharing.

 

[Freakscene]

Fish and time

Fish and time

On the bright side, you had the perfect excuse / reason not to have caught anything! I've had my fair of fishless thrashing days on water that I know is chock full of trout. Still beats most any other activity, but leaves one's ego desperately exposed to doubt!

Oh sure. Trout are introduced in Australia, and although they are invasive they are regarded as a valuable species - before COVID the tourism value of the Tasmanian trout fishery was large. But some places are remote, or for some reason were overlooked, and trout were never introduced there. Which is a good thing if you are a small-bodied native Australian freshwater fish, or an insect.

I work with fish, and am constantly humbled by many aspects of their biology and capacity. But I also love fishing, and trout grilled on an open fire made of snow gum twigs served with rice, herbs and a nice salad (watercress is also invasive in many places near waterways in Australia) is one of the things I really love.

Marty, that is hilarious!🙂 Some of us, apparently, simply enjoy fishing... regardless of whether we catch anything. LOL. Just being in this beautiful locations and casting has its own rewards.🙂

Because of the constant exposure to fish that my job brings, more and more often I just take a camera and sit in a nice place by the water, and let hard working commercial fishers catch my fish for me. But when I retire I plan to take it up again and to build a campervan, and spend summers in the Snowy Mountains or Tasmania fishing.

Marty

 

[dave lackey]

Oh sure. Trout are introduced in Australia, and although they are invasive they are regarded as a valuable species - before COVID the tourism value of the Tasmanian trout fishery was large. But some places are remote, or for some reason were overlooked, and trout were never introduced there. Which is a good thing if you are a small-bodied native Australian freshwater fish, or an insect.

I work with fish, and am constantly humbled by many aspects of their biology and capacity. But I also love fishing, and trout grilled on an open fire made of snow gum twigs served with rice, herbs and a nice salad (watercress is also invasive in many places near waterways in Australia) is one of the things I really love.



Because of the constant exposure to fish that my job brings, more and more often I just take a camera and sit in a nice place by the water, and let hard working commercial fishers catch my fish for me. But when I retire I plan to take it up again and to build a campervan, and spend summers in the Snowy Mountains or Tasmania fishing.

Marty

That is a nice relaxing dream plan. Simple, perfect.🙂

Truly nice for me to just think about it!

 

[Larry Cloetta]

 

[kangaroo2012]

Do you know Camerabooks?
Thay sell books about cameras Doh
with a side line in fly fishing.

 

[stoutstuff]

Brook Camo / Tenkara

 

[dave lackey]

Ah, nice photos, and quite inspiring!🙂

Orvis recently repaired my rod tip in short order during the Pandemic and I am remiss in actually using it.🙁

Not for any other reason than I simply have had no time or energy. That situation must be corrected!

 

[Freakscene]

Brook Camo / Tenkara

Is it a tiger trout? Or a brook? Amazing colours and pattern!

Marty