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My Favorite Fly

Fly Fishing in the winter here in the twin lakes area of north arkansas is great.
There are times however when cold wet weather brings my fishing to a dead stop. In my old age I have become a fair weather fisherman so I turn to tying.
My favorite fly to fish and tie is a soft hackle. The Anna K is a soft hackle that I designed several years ago and produces well year round. 
I tie it in several colors and different materials so I can match just about any hatch and even when there dosen't seem to be a hatch I have caught
some really nice fish. The Anna K is available at several shops in the area.  I tie this fly in yellow, purple, red, orange, black,
red butt peacock and caddis green. Pictured below are a couple of my favorites and over the next few weeks I will be posting more pictures.  


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My First Fly Rod


I got my first fly rod as a gift in the late 1960's  It is a 8 ft. 6 in. 8 wt. Fenwick fiberglass beauty  
with a shakespear purist reel.  I still have that out fit.  The clerk that sold my wife probably
knew that she didn't know backing from BS and saw an opportunity to unload that eight wt. on her. 
Problemm was that there wasn't any water within a few hundred miles that required that much rod.
I fished the small streams in the Seirra foot hills.  I didn't know that an 8 Wt. was massive over
kill for the small streams I fished, all I knew was that I was a very serious fly fisher wanna be
and I had a brand new fly rod, then I tried to cast.  I tried and tried and tried and it wouldn't work.
At the time there were no instructional videos.  There was the occasional magazine article which I read 
over and over but it did little to help me learn to cast.  I still don"t know why that rod didn't end up
in a rummage sale, except that I had such a passion for fly fishing.  Eventually I figured out how to throw
enough line to catch a fish. It was frustrating and took a long time but boy was it worth the effort.
This post is mainly for anyone that has an interest in learning to fly fish.  My advice is to hire an instructor.
One on one instruction that includes equpment selection, assembly, casting, fly selection and actual on the water
instruction and much more will shorten the learning curve tremendously. Anyone can learn to fly fish, it doesn't
require special skills or athletic ability.  Give it a try, I promise you will like it.
Tight lines,
Ron



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Ten things I would hate about not fly fishing

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Ten things I would hate about not fly fishing.

1. The high cost anti-anxiety medication. A couple of hours on a beautiful stream with a fly rod in my hand is about all of the anti-anxiety I need.
2. It's back to sox and underwear for Christmas.
3. I would have to hang out at the sporting goods department at wally world instead of a really cool fly shop.
4. I would have to find a new way to meet fabulous new friends.
5. I wouldn't have been able to introduce others to this awesome sport.
6. I was wading some shallow water one afternoon when I came upon a school of bottem feeders.  They parted politely and allowed me to wade through. I waded on a few yards and heard a huge splash behind me.  I turned around and saw a large brown trout swimming toward me with a ten inch fish in it's mouth.  The big brown came almost to my boots and turned and swam slowly toward the middle of the river.  It was nature doing her efficent work and it was awesome.
7. I wouldnt have been able to spend the better part of my life enjoying the purest of pure fishing pleasure.
8. Not feeling the electric shock of a hard strike.
9. Wading hip deep in the river watching my dry fly land softly on the water a few feet above a rising trout. The fly drifted into the feeding pattern and I saw the splash, raised the rod and felt the pull..  I still smile when I think about that.
10.There are about a million other things that I would hate about not fly fishing. 

So now as the saying goes, I've shown you mine now you show me yours.
Warm days, light winds and tite lines.
Ron



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