worst ff thing to lose

Bill Grey wrote:

In the past, I've been asked by novice fly-tiers "what flies should I tie?"

I usually tell them to ignore the majority of patterns shown in the
magazines as each week/month there is always the latest killer fly.
Tying every fly on sight will mean the novice will end up with a box of
too many useless unwanted flies. I normally advise asking around the
locals which flies are "good" on our local waters and then tie a few of
those. Most likely I'd suggest no more than about 6 patterns and then
tie them in a few different sizes.

To lose a box of these flies would be a sad thing anyway but to lose a
box full of unwanted/unused flies costing quite a bit of cash would be
just a total waste of resources.

Of course the box might have sentimental value anyway.

I fish in a lot of different places, Bill -- freestone rivers, spring
creeks, tailwaters, lakes. Instead of trying to guess what flies I might
need, I carry a pretty wide selection in my vest. The weight and bulk
are negligible, and you never know what what finicky trout might desire.
I use maybe 10% of the patterns 90% of the time, but sometimes the best
catching comes with a little-used fly.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

Charlie S wrote:
rw wrote:
I'll say a favorite fly box full of your favorite flies for your
favorite water. Store-bought flies, self-tied flies, friend's flies --
productive flies that you have confidence in, even if you don't know the
names or remember the lineage of most of them.

Anything else can be replaced with a lot of money and a little trouble.

Did exactly that last month on the upper Brazos, just below Whitney
Dam. Got caught in a strainer on my 'yak, and lost not only my fly
box, but my eyeglasses as well. :-( MUCH more upset about the
glasses, as I had paid $325 to have new lenses put in my favorite old
frames just 6 months prior. I have since fixed the problem of losing
the flies: I keep all my gear in an Orvis Safe Passage Sling Pack.
Keeps everything handy, but safe and out of the way until I want it.

I took a swim in the Pere Marquette a short while back. The canoe
got snagged on a submerged log and got sideways to the current at
which point the dog (that's right, I'm gonna blame it on the dog ;-)
decided to bail tipping one gunwale under water and sending me
flying out of the boat.

I floated downstream for what seemed like forever before my feet
finally hit bottom in water shallow enough to stand. Everything in
the canoe was secured and I managed to keep hat, glasses, lanyard
and, of course, the paddle with me during the swim. The only thing
I lost was a bunch of flies in one of my favorite fly boxes, a
Myran eight compartment. Thing is it was in my shirt pocket and if
I had just had the pocket flap buttoned I wouldn't have lost it.

--
Ken Fortenberry

On 28-Sep-2009, rw wrote:

but when I thought about the fly boxes my
stomach turned. They were literally irreplaceable.

I found my stuff. No new gear upgrade this year (except for sal****er).

You are lucky!
I turned over a canoe once while fishing and lost my prescription glasses
$400 to $450 & a camera
I saved my fly rod

I would hate to lose fly boxes but they are in the pockets of my vest

Fred

On 2009-09-28 12:23:38 -0400, "Fred" said:


On 28-Sep-2009, rw wrote:

but when I thought about the fly boxes my
stomach turned. They were literally irreplaceable.

I found my stuff. No new gear upgrade this year (except for sal****er).

You are lucky!
I turned over a canoe once while fishing and lost my prescription glasses
$400 to $450 & a camera
I saved my fly rod

I would hate to lose fly boxes but they are in the pockets of my vest

Fred

OK, here's one, happened to me when I was about 12 yo. We were in a
cottage on Back Lake (Connecticut Lakes Region) when a guy tipped over
his boat losing all his spinning gear include his tackle box, and a
very expensive (so he says) knife.

Bruce Bacon, local boy, my age, came up with the idea of a diving bell.
His mom had a large galvanized wash tub, you know the kind with
handles on each side, about 2 feet deep and with a diameter of about 2
1/2 feet. We brought the wash tub to the site of the tip over and
secured two paint-bucket-filled-with-congrete anchors to the handles.
We place the tub in the water up-side-down, but the buckets of cement
weren't heavy enough to sink it. So, back to shore for two more paint
buckets. That did the trick.

We had about 4 feet of rope connected to each bucket so that the tub
"floated" about 4 feet from the bottom of Back Lake.

Bruce was first. With fins and a fact mask, he dove down (about 12
feet) and started the search for the guy's equipment. When he needed a
breath of air, he went under the tub and up. As he took his breath of
air, the water level rose (of course), and he swam around another
minute or so looking for more stuff. He came to the surface with two
plastic boxes of spinning lures.

My turn. I dove down, searched around for a minute or so and found the
knive. I then swam under the bucket and up into the air pocket, took a
breath (water rising) and continued my search for more stuff. After we
each had made two dives, we had to "restock" the air in the tub.

Bruce said that we should blow out all the air as we rose to the
surface. He didn't say why. It wasn't until years later that I
realized how dangerous this "diving bell" was.

Long story longer: We found most of the guy's stuff, including two
spinning rods/reels, another plastic box of lures and a belt (?). The
guy gave us each $5, a helluva lot of money in 1949.

Dave ( who was NOT a diver in the Navy)

I lost was a bunch of flies in one of my favorite fly boxes, a
Myran eight compartment. Thing is it was in my shirt pocket and if
I had just had the pocket flap buttoned I wouldn't have lost it.

I was out at Penns one year and whilst stepping down a rocky bank, a
rock rolled under my feet. A branch caught the loop on one of my fly
vest zippers and the combo spin and unzip ended up throwing my tippet,
leaders, and lead into the fast current. All replaceable, but Jonas
at the Feathered Hook had a field day with my credit card. Was a bit
of a pain on the day bumming tippet material.
Frank Reid

On Sep 28, 10:31*am, David LaCourse wrote:
Snip
Cool story. Reminded me of lots of times as a boy spent hanging out at
Farrington Lake, Millstone river, and Davison's Mill pond in central
Jersey. Thanx
Dave

On 2009-09-28 14:00:31 -0400, DaveS said:

On Sep 28, 10:31*am, David LaCourse wrote:
Snip
Cool story. Reminded me of lots of times as a boy spent hanging out at
Farrington Lake, Millstone river, and Davison's Mill pond in central
Jersey. Thanx
Dave

There's a post script to the story:

A guy was in a boat nearby fly fishing and he observed the second set
of dives. He was flabbergasted that we could stay under water for more
than 3 minutes. d;o) We didn't tell him of our diving bell. He's
probably still telling the story about two boys who dived and held
their breath for more than 3 minuts.

Dave

In message , Ken Fortenberry
writes
Charlie S wrote:
rw wrote:
I'll say a favorite fly box full of your favorite flies for your
favorite water. Store-bought flies, self-tied flies, friend's flies
-- productive flies that you have confidence in, even if you don't
know the names or remember the lineage of most of them.

Anything else can be replaced with a lot of money and a little trouble.
Did exactly that last month on the upper Brazos, just below Whitney
Dam. Got caught in a strainer on my 'yak, and lost not only my fly
box, but my eyeglasses as well. :-( MUCH more upset about the
glasses, as I had paid $325 to have new lenses put in my favorite old
frames just 6 months prior. I have since fixed the problem of losing
the flies: I keep all my gear in an Orvis Safe Passage Sling Pack.
Keeps everything handy, but safe and out of the way until I want it.

I took a swim in the Pere Marquette a short while back. The canoe
got snagged on a submerged log and got sideways to the current at
which point the dog (that's right, I'm gonna blame it on the dog ;-)
decided to bail tipping one gunwale under water and sending me
flying out of the boat.

I floated downstream for what seemed like forever before my feet
finally hit bottom in water shallow enough to stand. Everything in
the canoe was secured and I managed to keep hat, glasses, lanyard
and, of course, the paddle with me during the swim. The only thing
I lost was a bunch of flies in one of my favorite fly boxes, a
Myran eight compartment. Thing is it was in my shirt pocket and if
I had just had the pocket flap buttoned I wouldn't have lost it.


I trust the dog was OK - I'm not worried about you :-)
--
Bill Grey

In message 200909281331238930-dplacourse@aolcom, David LaCourse
writes

Bruce said that we should blow out all the air as we rose to the
surface. He didn't say why. It wasn't until years later that I
realized how dangerous this "diving bell" was.

Yes indeed a simple mistake for the uninitiated but with possible long
lasting consequences. The trick would have been to surface no faster
than your bubbles assuming you were breathing out.

Air embolisms are nasty things.
--
Bill Grey

In message 2009092814131811272-dplacourse@aolcom, David LaCourse
writes
On 2009-09-28 14:00:31 -0400, DaveS said:

On Sep 28, 10:31*am, David LaCourse wrote:
Snip
Cool story. Reminded me of lots of times as a boy spent hanging out at
Farrington Lake, Millstone river, and Davison's Mill pond in central
Jersey. Thanx
Dave

There's a post script to the story:

A guy was in a boat nearby fly fishing and he observed the second set
of dives. He was flabbergasted that we could stay under water for more
than 3 minutes. d;o) We didn't tell him of our diving bell. He's
probably still telling the story about two boys who dived and held
their breath for more than 3 minuts.

Dave



It was a gutsy thing to do anyway.
--
Bill Grey