BRFF The Tippet

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Blue River Fly Fishers Newsletter

BRFF The Tippet - page 2

CURRENTS March - April 2004

And The Winner Is....

When all was said and done Chris Adams of Denison, Texas came away the big fly fishing winner at the 2004 President's Day Trout Derby at Blue River. Chris won the first time ever awarded Susan Latham Shrader Memorial Award by weighing in the two day total heaviest stringer.

Chris and fellow fly fisher Bruce Dixon had quite a competition going with Bruce being in the lead on Saturday and winning the outright Saturday competition. However, Chris took the road less traveled on Sunday and landed six nice Rainbows to go ahead and stay ahead in the overall competition.
-Congratulations to Chris!

Snippet for the Tippet

by Barry Shrader and Chris Adams

Getting rid of the curlies ( or "Don't throw the fly line out with the bath water.")

We have all had them at one time or the other and with the cold frigid temperatures they seem to become worse; of course I am talking about the "curlies" or line curl. Personally I seem to have more than my share and have hand stretched, river stretched, and worked the curlies out my hand numerous times only to have them haunt me once again shortly thereafter. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Chris Adams when he was camped on the Blue and the weather was brisk to say the least. I asked Chris what he was going to do to get rid of his curlies and he replied "Heat me some water and give the ole fly line a bath." On the way home that day I thought "Why not"? It works folk! Just run you a bathtub full of hot water, add a little detergent and let the line soak for an half hour. Then take a clean towel and dry off, apply dressing and you are good to go. My curlies have yet to reappear.

On The Fly

by Barry Shrader

The Back Asswards Fly

When a size 20 hook is the smallest you have in your aresenal and you are needing a size 24 or 26 then just simply do things back asswards. The back assward fly is nothing more than tying a fly in reverse. The majority of our dry imitations are tied with the hackle toward the eye of the hook. With the back asswards fly simply tie the hackle in at the curve of the bend of the hook and keep the turns tight. You will end up with a bare shank for the most part, with the exception of the thread turns but this is the way the fly is suppose to look. It may not look right to you but the fish will certainly buy it. By tying the fly this way you will get a higher ride on the water and present a much smaller looking imitation.

This is not a new idea in fly tying - actually it has been done for years but perhaps a new twist on a great idea that somehow got swept under the bear skin rug. Good Luck!

Saving Waters

The Natural Fish Killer

Many of us frequent the wonderful waters of Lake Texoma and it should be noted there is something going on at this premier fishery that seems to most complexing. It's a fish kill - not courtesy of humankind but Mother Nature herself.

The Golden Alga is a natural occurence and unfortunately it is deadly to the fish population. The Golden Alga attacks the open cells of fish causing severe bleeding from the gill area with the end result being death. Fishery biologists are complexed because there is no way of combating this decision that nature has made. The Texas side of Texoma has seem to suffer the most and Possom Kingdom has also become a victim. Sometimes things happen that we simply don't understand but perhaps it is simply the nature of things.

*The fight to save our Blue River continues - stay tuned for more updates.