A few things coming off the vice

On Friday my dad convinced me (that was real tough for him) we should run to the hills and wet a line.  It was a nice day out, little breeze and mostly sunny.  With the days only getter shorter (only 6 days left until the days start getting longer) there were more shadows on the water than sun.  We got a late start on the day so we didn't start fishing until 11:00ish.  We both found some fish and had some hookups and missed strikes, but neither of us successfully brought a fish to hand.  We decided to head down river to a stretch of water neither of us has fished in some time.  Upon our arrival we found a river mostly choked out with gravel only leaving small pockets and seams of deeper water.  These small pockets were the only places where any vegetation was able to survive.  When you did find deeper water compared to the shallow gravel choked stream bed, you found fish.  There were not many and they were very spooky.  The day went quick and the sun dropped below the ridge shortly after 3.00 making things that much more difficult.  Only one fish was landed all day between the two of us and I'm glad to say it was not me.  Yes, I got skunked.  It doesn't happen often, but it does happen to all of us.

By the time we made it back home I already switched mindsets from fishing to tying.  Since I have no great fish stories or pictures to share, here are some recent ties coming off of the vice.

 

 A couple dozen midges tied with Saturday morning coffee.

Here is a Crawdad pattern I'm working on.  These are still in the testing phase.  Tie some up and let me know.

This is the Drop Nose Dace originated by Gary LaFontaine.  It hooked 50% of the largest fish I got into last year and is now a permanent staple in my box.

 

Here is a random shot of some flies recently off the vice.  Some drys, midges, caddis, RS2's, Todd Special,  Bugger variant, Golden Stones, Hairs Ears, etc, etc.

It's winter.  Short days, tough fishing and plenty of time at the vice.