Here's a few of the things that have been taking up my free time. Tying an assorted array of the things we all have in our boxes and that we all need all the time. So a little restocking in preparation for the upcoming season... I've really been watching Mike at anglerschoiceflies.com. He really has some sweet streamers that I am going to start replicating. The Red rocket is a streamer that I must have in my box. Take a look at his site and look at some of his creations, they are to say the least "magnificent".

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Jeff

Hello Winter!

Hello Winter! Well March 30th and this is one of the trees at my work with a nice icicle on it. No complaints, winter here has been a lamb and lets hope the lion stays asleep. On an 8 day stretch for work and hoping the weather and the bite is better next Friday. In the meantime im gonna do my best to get some tying done at night and some interviews ready to post for you all. As I mentioned I will be interviewing Steve Priestap from Holy Water fly shop in Mio, MI and now have talked to Bob Linsenman Author and owner of ausableangler.com and he has also agreed to an interview. I am very excited to sit down with Mr. Linsenman and Mr. Priestap and I hope you all will check it out.

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Jeff

Do Trout live in Michigan anymore?

Okay, Im not sure what the story is with the Trout, but they must have recieved word that I was coming and left! That's the second trip with not so much as a nudge. I've emptied my box on them and tried flipping rocks and screening the surface to see what they may be feeding on. The problem is they are everywhere feeding off the top and "BIG" ones too and I can't find the formula. That's fishing I guess, but im not happy about it!! LOL.

Retro fishing video.

This is a small video I made while fishing with a cool app I purchased for my IPhone. You can take or convert videos to 60's, 70's and even 1920's and a few other ones that make things look like your watching the "Wonder Years"..lol. Pretty cool function if you like to dabble in photos or videos like I do.

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Jeff

What are you reading?

What are your favorite reads? Here's a few of mine.

The sign that hangs in my garage, where only my wife parks!! LOL

My tying room and office with a little flair from thefiberglassmanifesto.com

  Had a good morning on the water but it never yielded any fish. The morning was cold and clear and again had fish feeding just under the surface and for the life of me I can't get them to bite! I screened the water to see what they were hiting on and turned about every rock in the river to see what may have been emerging but nothing...El skunko.... Too bad I wasn't sucker fishing because there were no shortage of them in there.  I will be featuring an interview with Steve Priestap of "Trophy Water Fly Shop" in Mio. I contacted him and he graciously agreed to the sit down. That will be near the end of April when he is more readily available in the shop. I want to shed some light on the fantastic fishing and the tremendous local shops we have here in the Northern Lower Penninsula of this beautiful state that I am so proud to have been born and raised in.

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Jeff

I have started a website and I mean I just started it...it's very new and very nude but it will get there I swear... you can find it at highonthefly.net be sure to check it out and keep me posted on the things you wanna see or read about. I am willing to follow stories and post info on stuff that we all can enjoy and hopefully learn from so send me on assignment and on the hunt for the post or story that excites you... I'll be waiting.....

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Jeff

Well I just got off the phone with my buddy Al, talking flies and fishing and getting way to excited for the next time we hit the water together. Al is another person that I've met fishing and now I consider him a good friend and a hell of a fishing buddy!! We are heading to West Virginia at the end of May and it's planning and tying up until "D Day".  So I made it to the water on Friday and hooked up on two Steelhead and a bevy of mid range browns. I was throwing streamers mainly and big streamers to boot! I hooked up both steel on Galloups "Sex Dungeon" and a few more tugs off the "Circus Peanut". They were rolling and rising all over and I did see a couple Blue winged Olives but the box I was carrying did not have  alot to match...and so it was back to the streamers and to a tired right arm! I did pick up a rod last season that I liked so much I bought a matching one this winter..Okuma's SLV 9ft 5wt 4pc, LOVE IT! Matched it with the Okuma SLV 4/5 reel and I am more than pleased. So now we are getting ready for the MI trout opener and can't wait to get back in the water that has been closed for the season. There are some very nice places to fish all within an hour of my home and I cant wait to hit them all....

Check this rod out,,,Reasonably priced and a very smooth combo!

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Jeff

Today after work, I found myself in the backyard with my son showing him the finer points of fly casting. As an instructor I tell him every little thing he's doing good and bad and point out the correct way that he should be doing it....but as I step out of the Dad/Instructor role I see so many of the "proper" ways I'm teaching him isn't the way I do it at all! I've been fishing alot of years and have read and seen and been taught the "correct" way of casting and now I realize that I have taken all of those things and have just went my own way as im sure many/most of us have. I really took a good look at his technique and his way of doing things and just said "you're doing great buddy". I enjoy him asking me to show him a better roll cast... a cleaner lift and a proper mend, but hopefully he will morph into the fisherman that he is inside and his comfortability will then instruct me to just relax and to know that we all find our way...It's not the cast nor the rod or the fly on the end of the 5x,6x or 3x tippet, its the experience on the water and with family and friends...So im gonna take a page out of my sons book and i'm gonna chill........<((><


Jeff

I am really falling in love with streamer fishing. For so long I was a dry guy..Adams, elk hair caddis...and so on. Then I evolved into nymphing and of course fished the standards such as, hares ear, pheasant tails..you know the rest. I find myself after 20 yrs of flyfishing evolving like so many other fisherman I have talked to.. It used to be just to catch a fish on the fly and then it was to catch a ton of fish on the fly no matter how big or small, but now its quality not quanity. Back in the day i would take my ultra light spin rod and a #2 Panther Martin and absolutely slay the trout. It is no exageration when I say that I would go and catch 50-60 small bows in an evening. But now I'm approaching 40 yrs old..(insert joke here). Like most things in my life I have slowed to the pace that my mind tells me I can keep up with..lol, but the one thing that hasnt changed is the passion to chase big trout. So in my fishing evolution I have evolved into a streamer fisherman and the doors have opened to the homes of the biggest trout I have caught in my life. To see a big Brownie just head to my streamer is exciting , but to have it tug and run and do all in its gracefull yet raw and challenging power to take me to the wood is heart stopping and such a thrill it takes me back to the first days off pulling that "giant 6in bow" out of the creek near my childhood home and how amazing I thought I was to catch such a "monster". My reverance for the fish hasnt changed, but the need to catch a ton of them has. Don't get me wrong I still love to catch alot of fish in a single trip, but my "old man mind" is telling me that it's okay to slow down and just make the experience the real reward and to do all i've learned to catch the real trophy. So lets see your streamer favorites, big and gnarly flies that seem to scare a fish into biting...

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Jeff

As if I dont think about fishing enough, I am chomping at the bit for May 31st. Not only being my daughters 14th birthday but also the day I leave for West Virginia on a four day flyfishing trip to Harman North Fork Cottages on the North Fork of the Potomac River. Im super psyched and eager to try out some of the flies i've tied this Winter. Anyone ever been there or fished that river? It is rigorously stocked and they stock fish 2-4 lbs, it's gonna be a blast and going with 6 other guys, it should be interesting to see everyones different styles of fishing and the flies we use and why. Well hopefully the rivers will come back out of floodstages soon and be able to get in and fling some string..

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Jeff

Well I made it out this morning, last day off til I go back to work for 7 days. As you can see the river wasn't aware of my schedule and decided to be super high and very fast!! So what is a guy to do but take some pictures and enjoy the view. So here I sit..... waiting for the river to receed and allow me to enter and enjoy what it has to offer. I did though recieve my new book I spoke of.."Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout" looks to be a good read, but all of Mr Linsenman's stuff is a good read.

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Jeff

Well, off for a few days but remodeling the guest bathroom....so that means stuck here not fishing. I ordered a new book by Author/flyfisherman Bob Linsenman and Kelly Galloup, Amazon says it should be here tomorrow so that will give me a lil something to read until i get out to the water again... I'm attaching a picture of two flies i've tied... The first pic is a small beadhead ice dubbed nymph tied on a #12, The second is a ISO nymph i've tied on a #10...Lets see your ties or your favorite flies.

Hello All!

Well this is my first post but I have to share why i'm posting to begin with. I love Flyfishing, that said it's a bit deeper than that for me. If i'm not doing it i'm thinking about it, if i'm not thinking about it well...call the medics cause I must be dead!! I tye flies and read about new flies to tie and watch programs where people are flyfishing  and wishing I was there doing it too..... you get the point. Anywhooo....I want to create a place where if your like minded, we could just shoot the shit about Trout or anything else you may fish for..flyfishing or not....preferably though..LOL.

Thanks and tight lines...

Jeff