Nymphs!

Danny, Michael, and I (Tom) couldn't be happier and more impressed with our members and friends! It would be wonderful if we all got to know each other better. Here's a forum to post images and short autobiographies of ourselves as well as any other info you would like to post about yourself. We are looking forward to meeting you all!

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Ken Ramos
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Nymphs!

Post by Ken Ramos »

What did you expect? This is a family forum for petesakes! Well it's a cold day here in WNC and sitting here looking out the window at sometimes grey and sometimes sunny skies, you get lost in your thoughts. Like that time early in morning with the sun is just barely beginning to peak on the horizon. No one is around. A soft blanket of grey mist gently looms over the clear flowing waters of your favorite stream. Just upstream you can see small dimples appearing here and there, kind of like rain drops hitting the water. Gently you pick up your line with the rod tip and bring it to a one o'clock position just past your shoulder. The line gently comes back in a nice graceful loop as it begins to streighten out behind you. You execute your forward cast and place the fly just beyond where you saw the dimples in the water. Taking up the slack as the fly drifts by the dimples, the line suddenly snaps tight, the rod bends and the water explodes with a flash of silver and spray as a beautiful rainbow leaps to the air. A mad rush upstream puts the fly reel into a scream and several more exhibitions are put on by the rainbow. Then its over. Wearily the rainbow sucumbs to its fate and is gently lifted from the water in your net, only to have the fly removed and set free to make another wonderful day on the stream.

Image

Some of you may be already looking forward to family outtings, photographing wildlife and such or maybe even gathering new specimens for photographing under your scope in anticipation of spring.

Yes, I too daydream of such things today as I sit at my bench tying nymphs and waiting for the waters to warm just a little. The fly pictured above is a variation of a Prince Nymph. An Eastern pattern unlike those used out west but both work well on either coast and those places in between. Probably work well on the other side of the pond too. This one is tyed in a size twelve. For those of you who may not be familiar with fly tying, the materials used in this fly are quite simple. Goose biots form the wings and the tail, peacock herl wound around the shank of the hook form the body and it is wrapped about three times with a holographic tensil for glitter. The legs of the nymph are nothing more than a brown feather taken from the neck of a hen and wrapped one and a half turns just forward of the wing and then tied off with silk thread. A head is formed with the thread and then cemented to hold all components together. Although this is not a very good photograph, it will have to suffice because I am a better fly fisherman than a photographer :wink:

If and when we get our "chat room" up and running, don't think microscopy is all that Iwill be chatting about. And oh yes, I will be carrying a wadding staff to fend off those pesky amoebas. :shock: :D

So my friends I suppose I will pop some corn in the microwave, grab a cold Pepsi, yes I said cold Pepsi, and watch for the thousandth time, "A River Runs Through It." 8)
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Kenneth Ramos
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S. Alden
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Post by S. Alden »

Well, I do not know a darn thing about fly fishing, but I sure can relate to the cold pepsi and popcorn and can hold my own in a conversation on that subject matter :D
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Post by Steve West »

As soon as I saw the title and author, I knew I was in for a wild ride in this post... :shock:

Steve

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Post by Kenv »

You're a dreamer alright Ken. Still these are not bad dreams to have! Can't say I've ever been keen on the angle of the fly but I've done a lot of spinning and trolling for rainbow and brown, and Oh yeah, bread!
Cheers Kenv
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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Well flyfishing is quite simple really. Someone told me once, if you have trouble flyfishing then your doing it wrong. Flyfishing dates back over many many years. The Chinese were flyfishing some 800 yrs. BC. Evidence showed they used bits of bone for hooks with feathers and wool for dressing and the flylines were silk.

There is an art to flyfishing, a gracefulness that one has to achive in order to properly present the fly to the rising fish. It is not hard to obtain that gracefulness, you just have to have the desire to learn it. In reality it comes natural to most, especially children. Sadly it is an art that is fading away, as so is fly tying. Now a days, every thing is a sport. Not so with fly fishing. Fly fishing allows you to seek solitude, to be alone with the elements and to be one on one with nature. It is also loaded with chances for photography too. I have seen bears, deer, foxes, beavers, otter or mink and many other wildlife while out fishing. I have also experienced sunrises and sunsets that burn into ones memory. Unfortuately I did not think of bringing a camera along back then. :(
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Kenv
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Post by Kenv »

Ken, flyfishing is certainly not dying away in this country. Just down the road a mile or so is Lake Taupo, a fairly big lake which is full of browns and big rainbows. Several rivers run into the lake and you are only allowed to fish those rivers with fly, fly only! And thats the case for a lot of rivers in New Zealand. By the way Jack Nicklaus is down at Lake Taupo at the moment, officially to oversee one of his Signature Golf Courses but unofficially he goes fishing - he's been coming to Taupo for years. I know what you gonna say "Who's Jack Nicklaus"!
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I have read many articles written on the trout waters of New Zealand. NZ is probably one of the very, very, few countries in which the water is clean enough to drink directly from the stream that you are fishing in or at least that is what some of the articles stated. The photographs of NZ streams are surely inviting and would be a pleasure to fish. Yes, I know who Jack is. Don't hear much about him anymore. Of couse I am not a golfer and do not follow the sport. However is does look like it would be fun but far from relaxing. :D
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