Tubin' Out The Old Year

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]For a whole lotta years, I have had a tradition. That is to fish from my tube at least once in every month of the year, no matter how cold, as long as there is open water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just about missed it this year. I cancelled a planned tubing trip early in December, for the Bonneville whitefish run at Bear Lake, because of nasty storms and below zero temps. I'm hardcore but not yet ready for the straight jacket. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The next two weeks saw more of the same, with bitter cold, down to zero even in the lower parts of the state. All of my "go-to" tubing ponds grew ice caps. My ice auger is not big enough to cut a big enough hole for my tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I tried to make the best of things by going ice fishing. Hooked up with a buddy to fish at the mouth of the Jordan River, on Utah Lake. Got down there before daybreak and started dragging our ice fishing sleds back in along a narrow snowy trail in the dark. Bad move. I slipped, bounced and rolled down a low hill. Messed up my left leg. Hurt like &%$$ while we fished and just about killed me on the hike out. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Two weeks later, I was running out of December and my leg was feeling much better. Also, Yuba Lake, which had ice capped during the cold weather, was now open water again. So was Deer Creek, but the forecast temps for Friday were better at Yuba.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe was nursing a bad cold, and should have stayed home. But, she wanted to witness the debacle. She stayed in the car and caught up on some reading. I launched my tube into 37 degree water, and the air temp was about 29. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Three layers under my neoprenes were put to the test. I survived two hours just fine, but the heat back in the car never felt better. Know what I mean?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The fishing? What fishing? I was just out there for the exercise, to check out my leg and to wrap up the old year in my tube. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Back in September and October, there were lots of big rainbows hitting aggressively down there. Not on Friday. I suspect that their ripening eggs and milt sacs have them up toward the inlet of the lake, getting ready for the spring spawn. They do not have a successful spawn in the silty Sevier River (they are mostly planted), but they need to obey their biological urges.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]At any rate, I did not see any fish marks on my sonar for almost the first whole hour. I threw spinners and jigs all over, from shallow out to about 40 feet deep. I finally kicked out into the deepest part of the channel, about 65 feet deep, and saw some fish suspended at mid depth. They weren't dining on anything I dropped to them or fished up through them after a long sink.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In one area, I found a few scattered fish right on the bottom. Probably small perch. I dropped down a tandem jig rig, sweetened with nightcrawler. I had two light hits but did not hook anything. Then, nothing for the remaining half hour of my endurance run.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I suppose I was disappointed, but not surprised. Yuba used to be full of big yellow perch and plenty of hefty and healthy walleyes. I could count on bringing home a good meal of them whenever I fished the lake, at any time of year. It was a great ice fishery. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now, however, Yuba is still in the second year of recovery from being completely drained, for dam repairs. Some fish survived in the deeper pools upriver, but our state fisheries department (DWR) planted some perch and a lot of rainbows back in the lake as soon as it held water again. The perch are still protected, so they can reestablish a population, before they are open to possession again. The rainbows are providing a great "put and take" fishery in the meantime.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yeah, I would have liked to at least have caught a small perch, just for old times sake. Still have lots of fond memories of the good old days. But, it was nice to get out on the water again. It was also encouraging to see that the water level was within about 4 feet of spilling already, even before winter runoff. Looks like the lake is back on the path to being healthy again. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'll be watching the patient closely.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

Another great report, TD. And great pics. You continue to validate my own insantity in a very good way. That somebody is crazy enough to go out in conditions like that helps me know that this pursuit isn't just something in my own head. Its really good that you have a wife that understands. Indeed, a wife that wants to go with you.

Too bad you didn't connect with the fish. But its the experience, right? Rrrright! Besides, who wants to clean fish?

I must admit to a little wimpiness over the last couple of weeks. That and work responsibilities have kept my tubes dry and hanging on the wall. (Good for the fly population in my fly boxes as I have managed to feather a lot of hooks.) Lots of open water but we had three plus weeks of freezing fog and freezing rain - the kind that leaves icicles on your ears. Now we're into warm monsoons - storms with 1-3 inches per day in them. Nearly as much water in the sky as in the lake. It will make for a wonderful 2006 if it keeps dumping snow in the mountains.

Also spent some time in the hospital with my number one fishing partner - my grandson. The better part of a week and a period of touch and go when we weren't sure if we would lose him yielded an unexpected diagnosis of type 1 Diabetes. None of us even guessed that diagnosis as it doesn't (hadn't) run in our family. He's better now as they continue to even out his blood sugar. Makes you appreciate those you love.

Floating the tube in every month of the year is a noble goal - especially in a land that ices up as much as Utah. May you always be successful in that endeavor. I'm glad we have your reports and I'm very glad your leg is doing better.

A recent shot of a tube patiently waiting for a rider:

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Happy New Year to you and Tubebabe. May God richly bless you and yours. Thanks for keeping hope alive.

zonker
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Sorry to hear about your grandson, my friend, but it is comforting to know that they were able to diagnose and treat his problem. It is a blessing for us all to have modern technology that can turn formerly unknowable and untreatable conditions into manageable situations. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Our personal prayers and best wishes for his speedy recovery and a long and productive life...especially the part about fishing with GrandDad. Those are times and memories you will both cherish...during the remaining years you are both allowed. May they be many.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have also been spending a lot of time at my lure making and fly tying bench. Whuppin' up all those new goodies helps make those unproductive (non-fishing) hours go by more quickly, and also helps build the anticipation for getting out on the water and introducing them to the fishies. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I sometimes feel sorry for anglers who never take (make) the time to learn how to create their own stuff. Not only are they resigned to fishing with what manufacturers tell them they want, but they really miss out on a lot of fun and creativity. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I cannot imagine a life of fishing, in which all I have is what I have bought at the store. If you look at any of the fly and lure boxes I take out...on any trip...you will not see anything "store-bought", except for some bare hooks, swivels, split rings and maybe some floats. All of the goodies that require pouring, painting, wrapping and rigging come from my own mind and my own fingers. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is no way to explain the personal satisfaction that comes from casting with one of your own rods, using one of your own flies or lures and then hooking more and bigger fish than anyone else on the water. Heck, even hooking a single fish on your own stuff is an individual triumph and each time it generates an inner glow that is impossible to explain to someone who has not experienced it themselves. Or, as I like to put it "How can you describe the taste of salt, to someone who has never tasted salt (without using the word SALTY)?"[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]MAN! We surely do wax poetic when the weather is nasty and we are stuck at the tackle bench or the computer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL.[/#0000ff]
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[AdictedBassTard]

Great report TD! Thanx a stack. Sorry to hear about the gam getting dinged up, but hey - I can tell by your pics and what you do that you're one tough customer, so i know next year it'll be good as new and all fish had better watch out!
Hope Tubebabe is feeling better too.

@Zonker
You're also a tough one. i just pray that when I get to your and TD's years I have the same strength and insane desire for life and adventure as the two of you have.
As for your grandson, he is in my prayers. There is nothing like excercise and a healthy eating for diabetics. A healthy and positive mental and spiritual constitution are also a must for any serious illness. With a grandad like you at his side, he's already on the right track!

May god bless you all in the new year and may it be the best you've all had yet. And in this winter interim may the fish starve and dream of the return of lures, jigs and flies .... hehehe[]
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[smallmouth89]

CAREY SPECIAL
Amen to all that's been said. Great pictures T.D. I tump my Fat Cat when I carry it on my back. I suspect that's what you're doing in that one shot.
God Bless you all in the New Year and for many more to come. Can't wait for spring. I'm sure glad that I'm a tyer of jigs and flies as well as a maker of poppers and such. Like T.D. I don't have any room for all my old store bought stuff. It just languishes away in my basement in deference to all the wild and wonderful creations I make at the bench.

Yesterday I somehow managed to tie up 3 identical "Doc Spratley" flies. However by the 4th one I was starting to experiment already. Today I'm going to try to tie a half dozen identical "Carey Specials". Wish me luck.
God Bless,
Don
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]You're right about the "tump strap", as you can see in the pic. I use the top two D rings on the bottom of the Super Fat Cat, as part of the backpack system, to snap on a wide strap. When properly adjusted for length, it is easy to swing up onto my noggin and leaves my hands free. I take it off when I launch and then reattach it when I need to carry the tube any distance back to my vehicle.[/#0000ff]

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[#0000ff]Normally, I would also have fins in my other hand (opposite the rods), but TubeBabe carried some of my stuff back to the car (leaving me "unbalanced").[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good luck on maintaining uniformity. I have to lay everything out and do a production line thing if I want to follow a recipe. Otherwise, I get all carried away and my final dozen look like 12 different patterns.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]PS...looks like you do some good work. Did you get your Roadrunner jig mold yet? Let me know if you need any immoral support or assistance in working with those things.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

Thanks for your sentiments and concerns, guys. Matthew is doing very much better now. He's home and driving his mother crazy as usual. (She's paying for her raising. Hee Hee Hee.) He's still a bit skinny and weak but he has color again and has put on a few of the 31 pounds he lost. They're working now to get his insulin adjusted.

Hmm. I guess that'll be my next project. Never considered wrapping that strap around my head. Cool. I usually just make two or three trips. Now I'll have to have one. There's no end to this addiction...

Nice Carey, Don. You obviously know what you're doing at the vise. Uniformity is something that comes only through repeating the same thing over and over, which for me usually means tying a couple of dozen flies of the same pattern and proportion in the same day. The first few usually go into the kids/guest boxes as I work to get all my ratios right and get into the groove. I also try to tie all of the same size and vary only the colors before switching to a different size or pattern. Yes, I know the fish usually don't care. Its just a pride thing, I guess. Kind of like wearing clean underwear for the undertaker in case you get killed in an auto accident. At least that's what my great grandma used to say. I wouldn't want to fall out of my tube in the middle of the lake, drown, and have somebody pick up my flies and remark, "Hey, this guy was a lousy fly tier!"

Discussions about uniformity aside, here are a few leech numbers I've been restocking with lately. These are the ubiquitous Mohair Leech #6 in claret, olive, black, and purple. Actually, I think that there is a rust colored one that sneaked in there also, though the camera flash didn't do the colors any justice.

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zonker
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Good lookin' stuff. Got a lot of talent in our group. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Interesting to see that you know and appreciate that claret color too. I make some wooly buggers with a claret body and black tail that are killers...especially during low light conditions. They are also a good pattern for walleyes and other predators, for some reason.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, in case you have never used the "boss" flies, for salmon, you can make a "Boss Bugger" that works well for steelies, salmon and most species of trout. I like a hot orange body with black hackle and black marabou tail. Sometimes big browns really slam it. Good for cutts too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I just posted something on the Utah board, about the unweighted ice flies I use, "drop shot" style. I'll include the pic here just to keep up with everybody else. These are used more for BDD (bait delivery devices) than as free flung flies.[/#0000ff]

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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I carry my tube with the nose down, because the seat folds back to help hold some of the other gear in place. I use bungee cords crisscrossing to hold my rigid apron, fish basket and fish net all secure in the seat area while I am transporting it. The seat back helps in that endeavor.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I use mostly size 6 or 4 hooks for my Roadrunners. In the smaller sizes, you can use size 8, for trout, but I have never had a problem with the 6 and larger. The larger the hook the better the strike to hookup ratio.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You will need to order size 12 Crane swivels and size 0 or 00 split rings. On the smaller size lures, again size 0 blades are about right, but size 1 on the larger end or size 00 for tiny tykes. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Never let anyone criticize creativity. Without visions and dreams it would be a dull life...and a less fruitful one for us fisher types. Keep on tyin' and show us some of the results.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

Those are some beautiful ice flies or, as you put it, BDD's. I have a steelhead jig I tie for winter fishing that I call a PrawnHauler. Its after the same sort of idea - tipping the jig with a small piece of Tiger Prawn meat. Sometimes makes the difference between a catching and a skunking.

I've caught steelies on the Boss before, but have never seen a Boss Bugger. Great idea.

z~
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[zonker]

SM89 wrote:

"Do you wrap the mohair and then rough it up with a velcro brush?"

Answer: Yup. Just the standard way. I do drop it into a cup of hot water when I'm finished teasing out the fibers. Then I slick it down, blot it on a towel, and let it dry. Tames and shapes the radial fibers.

I'd like to find some of that banned yarn. That's "far out!"

z~
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[smallmouth89]

That hot water treatment must be what makes them so photogenic. Gonna have to give that a try. Here are some of my craft store experiments. I've caught stillwater rainbows on all of these patterns.
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[zonker]

Ahh. Now that I've seen it in your flies, I know what you are talking about. I saw some of that stuff sewn into some items at WalMart some time ago. (I'm always on the lookout for new material.) I wondered about it but when I returned it was gone.

Nice looking flies. Looks like they would really come to life in the water.

BTW, the hot water bath works well on yarn and hair type flies. One would want to try it on other materials before dunking (and maybe ruining) a good fly. If you try it on the Mohair flies, heat a regular coffee cup full of water to about the temp most people like to drink their coffee - about two minutes in our oven.

z~
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[smallmouth89]

Just tried the hot water treatment. I like it! Boy that mohair is alive in the water! Thanks for the tip.
God Bless,
Don
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[zonker]

Don,

Once you get the hang of heat treating mohair you can open your own style salon.[] Kidding aside, another method that works for taming yarn and hair is to wet it well, then blow dry it in the direction you want it to lay. I usually hold it with a pair of needle nose pliers and blow it back toward the bend of the hook.

These aren't new tricks, of course, but "new" perhaps if you haven't tried them before.

z~
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[Bluegillman]

MMMMM...total weight? (Not u, the gear and tube!)
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[Bluegillman]

How old is the little fisherman? So sorry to hear about that but he would very well taken care of and be with you this summer's tubin! Bless everyone!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Probably about the same. Well, maybe the gear weighs a bit more. At least it seems like it when I have to pack it very far.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news is that most places I launch have easy driveup access. I have a 4 wheel drive Jimmy, but seldom have to use the extra traction, although high clearance is often needed. Many spots have launch ramps that I can just drive down, unload my gear and then go park.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When I lived in Arizona, one of our favorite spots required a hike of about a quarter mile from where we parked. Both TubeBabe and myself had to carry everything in on our head and in our hands, and then sometimes carry out a large basket of fish afterward. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's a pic of the old "round boat" days, where we had to pack our gear down to the beach, in Mexico. Note that the tube is just balanced on my head.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's a pic of me loaded up with my old Kennebec, rods and reels, with my other gear bungeed down in the seat area.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My current setup starts with a 12# Super Fat Cat, 5 rods and reels, tool rack, 5 rod tubes (heavy PVC), sonar and battery (6#), rigid plastic apron, fish basket, PFD (life vest) and several full lure boxes. I have never put it on a scale, but I estimate I am launching about 40 pounds of gear. That is a lot for an old man to be carrying back and forth from the water. But, I'm tough...if looks count.[/#0000ff]
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[flygoddess]

Hot water huh? Interesting, will have to give it a try or TIE[cool]
I usually tie mohair with a dubbing loop and thin wire (bullet proof)
Here is a moth and below is a size 32 midge.
[url "http://www.flyfishermanforum.com/PhotoPost/showphoto.php?photo=612"][/url]
[url "http://www.flyfishermanforum.com/PhotoPost/showphoto.php?photo=612"][/url]


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[smallmouth89]

Never ceases to amaze me that trout eat such small stuff. Do you fish this small often? Do you use these in streams as well as stillwaters?
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