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Okay, here is my latest installment to the never ending search for the "new and improved" tranducer mount that can easily move from a side finder to a vertical mode and a rod-rack that keeps my toys high and dry. Mounts were made using a combination of pvc and hose clamps.
Here is the tranny in vertical mode:
![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=359;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=359;)
Side finder (it easily stays out of the way of fins):
![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=360;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=360;)
Rod rack empty:
![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=361;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=361;)
Loaded:
![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=362;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=362;)
This side mount rod rack is far enough back as to not get in the way of the oars and the rubber guides hold on tight. I had some extra utility hangers left over from my honeydos in the garage.
See you all on the water!
ES
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[cool] Hey there ES,
I like the look of your rig. How much different is it to paddle around than a normal tube? What are the advantages and dis  vatages??
Happy Fishing
TubeN2
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The pontoon paddles around a bit easier in calm conditions. I would rather have a Fat Cat or traditional tube in moderate to heavy winds. Sitting as high as you do in the pontoon, it tends to turn into a sail boat. Oars are a nice addition when legs get tired. I throw flies every so often so the height is a nice advantage.
I got my toon on a killer deal from a friend so I can't complain too much. It is really nice to mount things on as well. If I was buying a new outfit, I would lean toward the kickboats (e.g., Fat Cat). They have a ton of the advantages of the pontoons and traditional tubes combined.
Catch of few of the California fishies for me!
ES
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[cool]Looks like somebody has been spending more time in the garage than on the water. Lookin' good. Both form and function. Ain't it amazin't what fiendish designs we can hatch up for fishing?
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Now I just need to go "field test" my new toys. Maybe Licoln beach????? I love the strange looks as I'm driving down the road in my little 2 door Merc Topaz with the pontoon boat strapped on top!
Perhaps I'll hit the stream inlet north of Lindon and see if the whities are over there . . .
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
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[cool]I hope you have done your homework on aerodynamics and that you keep the speed within the coefficients of lift, drag and thrust that would take you airborne if an 18 wheeler blew by too fast. We could start a new TV program on "The Flying Fisherman". Oh wait, that has already been done. But, the other guy used a plane. What a wimp!.
I would be interested in knowing what is happening around some of the inflows around the north part of the lake. I used to smite the whites in that little trickle you mentioned. Sometimes in the fall they would stack up just below the culvert, at the railroad tracks, and would jump out of the water to grab a dangling jig. What a fish story. Right?
I really did have some "meadow stream" fly fishing in that creek, all the way from the tracks to the outlet into the lake. There are sometimes some deeper bends and holes that hold a couple of whites, and they will pounce on a little silver "fry fly".
I don't know if you will have enough water under you to effectively use the sonar feature. In fact, if you do not keep it raised, you are likely to drag it on the bottom.
But...LOOKING GOOD.
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I forgot about the tractor trailers[blush]. Maybe I'll get there on the old highway to Spanish and then over to the "beach."
About the tranny, your probably correct about draggin bottom out there at the lake. I can't believe how shallow it is lately and it has been dropping more in the last month. It was 2 1/2' a couple of weeks ago in Lindon where they have dredged!
So this fry fly, isn't it a variation on the Mickey Finn with a tail added?
ES
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[cool]FRY FLIES. Those are my generic terms for a range of small streamer patterns designed to imitate prevalent baitfish. I was searching for my supply...unsuccessfully...only to remember that in my generosity I sent most of them off to a fly flinger friend in Colorado...who has suddenly decided he wants to catch some warm water fish on a fly rod. Sound familiar?
I can tie up a few examples and post them, if you will give me a day or so. You will find them very simple. Three or four main varieations: silver body, gold body, white body and the new rainbow body. I tie them all on size 4 through 8 3X long shank hooks. The total length of the fly is only about 1 1/2 to 2". I use wisps of either red, orange, grizzly or white for the tail. The wings are usually hackle feathers...grizzly, white, badger or mixed white and dark. I do use a soft webby hackle in front, tied back. Heads are black on most, hot red on the whites, or sometimes black with a white eye.
Right now, on Jordanelle, I can guarantee you a fish per cast on a gold or silver fry fly, with grizzly hackle...grey for the silver and green for the gold. You will catch everything from perch to smallies to trout. I sometimes fish a tandem fly rig, with one of each of two different kinds of fry flies, on a sink tip line, in five to ten feet of water. Used to regularly catch big browns on them in Deer Creek...and large rainbows near the surface just at sundown.
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No sample needed, I think I got the picture. One question, are you tying in hackle barbs for the tail or a piece of feather? I can visualize the grizzly hackle tied in as an overwing and tied vertically to give a nice profile. Then a few hackles palmered in the front wet fly style.
Do I have the right idea? If not, I'll take a pic at your leisure. You have enough on your plate right now to worry about a silly fly.
ES
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[cool]I use several different things for the tail...depending on mood and what is on my bench at the time. Hackle fibres are always good. I usually use a few fibres of dyed quill for the red or orange...and sometimes yellow. But, again, dyed hackle fibres work well too. For white, silver and rainbow bodies, I may use Krystal flash or a bit of marabou.
I tie the wings just about flat over the back...with a bit of a "V"...which gives them a pulsing action when stripped in. I also sometimes include a bit of a beard or throat of yellow, orange or red...to simulate perch colors, red gills or whatever.
For the gold and silver, I use metallic sparkle braid or that craft cord like I sent you. If I want a thicker body, I underwrap with chenille or even a short length of the craft cord before the final metallic wrap.
The key seems to be simplicity and sparseness. I do much better on the thinner flies than big thick overdressed ones. If you watch perch fry underwater, there is not much about them that is readily visible. They are almost translucent until they reach about 3". Then they begin to assume more yellow coloration, with barring and a dark back.
That brings up another line of flies I think I have mentioned before...my "over and unders"...with "shell backs" or bellies of a different contrasting solid color...metallic blue or red, black, purple, green or orange. Again, many small minnows and the fry of bigger fish are seen as horizontal lines with eyes underwater. Many predatory fish key in on stripes and bloodlines.
One of my best all around warm water flies is a white 2" shad fly, with a metallic blue "over" stripe, and a silver under stripe. Wherever shad or other silvery baitfish are found, the predators love them. I used to fish them on my bubble chucker rod at Willard Bay, wading out from shore and casting long distances with sinkers on the bottom and one of these flies on a 12" dropper about 3 feet up from the sinker. When hopped and bounced along the bottom, I caught lots of crappies, walleyes and even channel cats on these flies. When trolled on a sink tip line...or full sink...they absolutely laid waste to crappies and walleyes...and cats. That was in the days before wipers were a part of the ecosystem, but they will hit them too.
I need to replenish my flies for the oncoming fall fling. I will be making up a new batch and will post some pics.
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Very Nice EmuScud. I hadn't thought of using a traditional transducer as a sidefinder as well. Doest this technique work well?
Go back to school in a couple weeks, you still up for a fishin' trip when I'm down your way?
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As far as using a traditional transducer as a side finder . . . I'm not too sure as I haven't tried it yet. TubeDude says it can work if the bank is steep. I'm just experimenting more than anything. I like to flyfish too, so I want to be able to spot some fishes out to the side/front that I can cast to.
I've been flirting with hitting AF boat harbor or Lincoln Beach sometime over the next two weeks. Zip me a PM and we might be able to work out some details.
Where you going to school?
ES
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I know you've sent me pics before of your over and unders. I just can't remember if you've put overwings on them.
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[cool]I make and fish them both with and without wings. See the attached pic at the bottom. I did have a few "shadlets" left in my one box. In fact, the one on the upper left probably qualifies as a "fry fly"...with the long shank and the grizzly hackle.
On the whites, I have come to prefer either "fluorescent" white...or a new ultraviolet white. I think I sent you a sample. It looks kind of off white until it hits the water and then it almost glows with a bluish hue. I have really found it to be a good fish magnet.
I'll whup up a good batch of everything and then I'll run up so that we can take them out and see if the local fishies still approve.
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Let me know when you're heading up this way!
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Looks like a Hawaiian downrigger now [  ]
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I'll be at BYU next week. I'm finishing up my Masters down there, and I have one year left. I'll be down there Tues-Fri each week for the next 15 weeks. Hopefully we can get in a fishin' trip or two. I'll PM ya when I know how my schedule is going to pan out.
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I'll look for your PM. I teach occassionally for the Y in their family science dept, but work full time at UVSC.
Let me know! I'm sure I'll need a fishing break once this term gets started.
ES
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