New Fishing Report

My buddy Pat and I hit the water yesterday and while we didn't pick up the large fish that we wanted to target, we did pick up an interesting mixed bag of fish.  Check out the updated "Fishing Reports" page on the right side of the home screen under the "Pages" heading.

Featured Link 7- The Story of Anton...Literary Masterpiece or Nonsense?

(Please play the video prior to reading the post.  It will help you get the full affect of the fine literature you are about to have impressed upon you.) 

 Hello there, and welcome to another edition of Master Angler Theatre.  Today we are introduced to Anton, the mythical bull.  It is a story of struggle, peril, unexpected supernatural gifts, a mythical bovine and…alright it’s kind of a strange story.  However, the people that I have shared this story with often have split opinions with some of them saying it was just weird and others saying they wish they could be Anton.  Feel free to post what you think.  Be sure to scroll down the page until you see the bull that has fly reels for eyes.  He looks like this:



I don’t know much about the guys that run the site.  It looks like they post from time to time on their blog and the posts are interesting.  There’s also a goofy video about a carp fishing tournament that was held a couple months ago.  Here’s the link:  http://isthmusflyfishing.com/about/

Lucky Hats

My first lucky fishing hat!

I believe in luck.  There it is.  I’m now on the record for saying that I believe in luck.  Half of you probably just quit reading this post, which means I can call you jerks and you won’t ever be the wiser.  Jerks!  The other half of you probably gave your computer screen a stink eye and muttered under your voice, “Well doy.”  I get it and I can’t be mad at you because you’re still reading.  Thank you and you are NOT jerks.

I need to clarify my stance on luck however.  I don’t believe that a black cat crossing your path guarantees a bad day.  I’ve walked under ladders and lived to tell the tale.  I broke a mirror once and avoided certain death although I did date a girl for way too long during that time.  Alright, so maybe a little bad luck exists.  While I don’t adhere strictly to my belief in bad luck, I do believe in good luck.  I don’t necessarily think that hanging a horseshoe above your door keeps vacuum salesmen away, but I think it can improve your outlook on things when you look at it.  After all, believing in good luck is simply an attitude adjustment.  Thinking you are lucky is a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.  I think that if we surround ourselves with positive things, then it can affect our outlook on certain situations.   That’s why I have a lucky fishing hat.

The reigning champion.

No, I don’t believe that my hat guarantees I will catch a wall hanger every time I hit the water.  I’ve been skunked before in my lucky hat, but that doesn’t mean it has run out of luck.  It just means that the forces of evil on that particular day were more powerful than the magic that the hat possesses.  But seriously, there is a feeling that I get when I put on my lucky hat.  It makes me feel good and evokes a feeling of hope.  You should have that feeling every time you hit the water, but my hat is like having a fishing buddy.  It says to me, “Hey bud, let’s go catch some fish today.”  I do a lot of fishing alone, so maybe my hat is some sort of metaphorical companion.  I am lucky enough to have a few pictures of me holding some beautiful fish and most of the pictures have one of three hats on my head.  I am fortunate enough to have had three lucky fishing hats in my life and they all hold a special place in my heart.  I know it sounds strange that a hat can mean so much, but there are people that name their cars (the General Lee, Kit, Bumblebee, Christine, etc.) so it’s not all that strange.  I even know people that name their tablets for Pete’s sake.

While I love my lucky hats, it is important to note that you don’t pick the hat but the hat picks you.  You’ll know that you have found a lucky hat when you look back at some fishing pictures and see that you are wearing the same hat in many of the pictures.  You might even realize it when you are unloading your truck at the end of a fishing trip and toss your cap in the passenger’s seat.  For me at least, there is not a big epiphany when I have found a lucky hat.  It just kind of works its way in there. 

While you cannot pick your lucky hat, you can do some things to tip the scales in your favor.  First of all, I like to avoid mesh back hats in general.  I usually have short hair and don’t need my lucky hat accounting for early stages of skin cancer.  I also avoid hats that are trendy.  This is just a good rule in general I have found.  Think about how you would look today if your lucky hat said Von Dutch on it or had some goofy looking Ed Hardy inspired snake wearing a top hat.

NOT a lucky fishing hat!  Also, I DO NOT OWN THIS HAT!

Stick to what you know and what has staying power.  A hat of your favorite baseball team is a great place to start.  If you can get some extra mileage out of your hat by wearing on the water and at the ball game, well then that just might increase the lid’s juju.  Just make sure you account for the smell factor.  The ladies don’t like stinky hats.  You might also try a hat from a fly shop or tackle store.  Now I’m not talking about something from Bass Pro or Cabela’s.  If you get too corporate, then the luck might depend on how the stock is doing for said company.  Gas station hats are wildcards.  While I have seen some hideous hats hanging in gas stations, I have also purchased a few that still have staying power.  My hunter orange hat that has a large 01 on the front is still one of my favorite hunting hats because I loves me some Dukes of Hazard and it affords me one of my two pieces of orange required by the state of Missouri during rifle season for deer.  Finally, don’t be afraid to give a bunch of different hats an extended try out.  I have had plenty of hats that I thought had potential but petered out at the end and are now yard work hats.

The gold standard!  This was my second lucky fishing hat.

The bottom line is, I can’t tell you how to acquire a lucky hat because there is not a set of rules that nature has laid forth for this sort of thing.  All you can do is take a hat that fits you well, hit the water as much as possible with it, and see what happens.  I wish you all the luck in the world that you find one if you don’t have one.  And if you have one already, then you hold on to that sucker for as long as you can because they are few and far between.

New Fishing Report

There is a new fishing report that has been posted under the "Pages" heading.  While it was not a prolific trip in the least, I got a chance to use some new techniques and fish some new spots.

Featured Link Friday 6- Fly Fishing The Ozarks

Brian Wise, the fishing guide that operates Fly Fishing the Ozarks is an incredible fisherman. Just check out his gallery or some of his YouTube videos if you want to check his stats. While he is wildly impressive and talented when it comes to hooking fish, what I appreciate even more are his fly tying skills. He is truly an innovator and creates some amazing patterns. You can check out the videos on his site or his YouTube channel located at https://www.youtube.com/user/flyfishingtheozarks Also, they are not your typical videos. They are  fast paced, thump techno music, and have some funny mannerisms that will make you think, "What did I just see?" Anyway, check it out if you can and I don't think you will be disappointed.

Trying New Flies

Sometimes I get in a fly fishing rut and that’s not healthy.  There are times that I only fish with an olive and white wooly bugger because it looks a lot like a minnow.  Sometimes I fish a John Deere under a float because it ALWAYS catches bluegill.  I’ve gotten into a particularly bad rut at the trout parks in Missouri.  There have been a few trips over the last year that I only use my “skeleton” mini jig (that’s what my son likes to call it).  Even worse, if I don’t catch anything on my limited selection of flies, I blame the fish and just tell my fishing buddies that they weren’t biting when I share my story of woe with them.  But sometimes I choose to venture out of my comfort zone and throw a fly that I have never used before.  If I don’t catch squat with the new fly, then I simply vow to strip all of my copies of that fly down to the hook with a razor blade when I get home.  That’s not healthy either.  However, most of the time, I don’t regret the decision and often I find a new fly to add to my arsenal.  That is exactly what happened when I decided to tie on a big rabbit strip streamer last spring.

It all started when I was looking up some articulated streamer patterns on YouTube one day.  I ran across a fly that looked simple enough and whipped up a couple.  It was called an “Action Jackson” and if you want to check out the video, feel free to do so.

 

But then I got to tinkering.  I got to playing around with making the fly a single hook fly.  I played around with the collar and used some red hackle as well as webby black hackle.  I also made the body out of a white rabbit strip and pulled a olive and black rabbit strip over the top with a hook’s length of strip hanging off the back.  I changed the hook size to a large number two stinger hook.  I also got rid of the sili legs because I thought they looked out of place and forced.  Before I knew it, well I guess I had a variant on my hands.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to be a genius.  All fly tiers tinker with patterns and while I thought the product of my tinkering looked cool, it was unproven.  I thought it had potential though…but then again potential just means it hadn’t done jack or squat yet.  That changed one cold spring day.

I wanted to do a little pre spawn bass fishing at a farm pond that I had a lot of success on a week prior with spinning tackle.  I thought that if the bass would eat a spinner bait, then they would surely be interested in a big old streamer like my white and olive creation.  I fished for about a half hour without a bite and was about ready to commit the fly to the junk pile when I felt a definite thump come vibrating up the fly line.  Low and behold I landed a seven pound channel catfish on my variation which as far as I can remember is the biggest channel cat that I have ever landed from a farm pond.  I also landed a two pound bass for good measure.  Unfortunately, I had places I needed to be on that particular day and had to get moving but not before my new favorite fly in the whole wide world had made an impression on me.  There was only one problem.  This particular fly didn’t have a name, or should I say…it hadn’t earned a name until that day.

I had already gone through the phase where I wanted to name every variant I came up with after my first or last name.  What can I say?  I was young and egotistical at the time.  I don’t know if it is a common thing for other fly fishermen, but I can see where others might go through the same thing.  Thankfully, I grew out of that phase and came out a little more sentimental as a result.  After I had landed my fish and was satisfied with my new product, I stuck it in my hat to dry and show off to the world.  (Alright, I guess I still have a little of that ego left).  It just so happened to be that this particular hat was an Atlanta Braves hat.  From hence forth, my undulating fly became known as “The Brave”.

A wiper that I landed on The Brave.

You might have seen this picture a while back but thought I would point
out the fly the time.  This is a Brave with a little UV Polar Chenille worked
into the collar to trigger some bites on bright days.

Now that name is a little bit of a double entendre.  I have since landed many more bass when fishing the Brave along weed lines and even landed an eight pound wiper just about ten days after the big channel cat.  After it had been eaten by three different species, with some of them being a little on the big side, I thought that the fly had to be pretty brave to go where I was asking it to go.  See what I did there?  Okay, so it’s cheesy, and corny, and now I want cheesy corn, but hey man, it kind of makes sense right?  If not, whatever dude.  Don't judge me.

So what’s my point?  No, this is not a post to stroke my already overinflated ego.  The point is, don’t be afraid to get out there and throw a fly you’ve never thrown before.  There’s a pretty good chance that you will learn SOMETHING in the process.  Maybe a fly doesn’t wiggle enough or looks too skinny in the water.  Maybe you realize you need to tweak it a little in order for it to imitate what you want it to imitate. Or maybe, you your new fly becomes your new favorite fly or catches a whopper.  Heck, maybe it becomes a regular or even the new standard fly.  If I hadn’t tried new flies like a mouse, or a cone head madonna, or a backstabber then I would have missed out on a lot of fish and would have stayed in the rut I was in before I decided to give these flies a shot.

Cone head Madonna

Morrish Mouse

My boat is...really something.

 

Whenever somebody asks me if I have a boat, my response usually starts off with “Well, yeah, but it fits in the back of my truck.”  Don’t get me wrong, I love my boat.  It is representative of me in the sense that it does what I need it to do and it is not more than it needs to be.  You won’t see me shooting rooster tails on Table Rock or thumping some bass (not largemouth, the musical term) while pulling a wake boarder at the Lake of the Ozarks.  It seats one person comfortably or two people uncomfortably.  It is the perfect small boat to fly fish out of and doesn’t take up much space in my garage.  It’s perfect…for me.



In the water, loaded with gear, and ready to go fishing.

I probably need to contact the manufacturer to see if I can get on the Bass Baby payroll because I am pretty sure I have sold a few while talking to some curious strangers at the local boat ramps.  I have been approached by dozens of people and they all ask the same two questions:  1. Where did you get that?  2. Are those wheels on the back?  Respectively, I got it at Rogers Sporting Goods in Liberty, MO, and yes, those are wheels in the back.



Photo ops are a little limited in such a small boat with one person.

In most full size pickups, the boat will fit between the wheel wells and
will need to be strapped in the back with the tailgate down.

I bought this particular make and model for a few different reasons.  The first was that it was only six hundred bucks.  I have no idea what they retail for now, but if anything ever happens to my current boat, I will be buying another.  Another reason is the wheels.  They make getting down boat ramps and into farm ponds easy, especially when I am fishing alone.  It also fits in the back of my full size pickup between the wheel wells.  And while I have to leave the tailgate down when it is loaded, a couple or ratchet straps do a nice job of keeping it secure.  The overall dimensions I believe are a little over eight feet long and a little wider than four and a half feet.  These proportions ensure that the boat is really stable when I am standing in it as well as providing extra room for tackle.  Finally, it is powered by a trolling motor.  I never have to worry about getting gas, changing spark plugs, or any of that other boat maintenance that would get on my nerves.



On its side, the vessel doesn't take up much space in the garage.

On a wooden frame that has wheels on the bottom,
the boat can be moved around to its storage location.

Obviously, there are some drawbacks but they are few.  I DO NOT put this boat on any of the big lakes in the state.  I don’t want to run out of juice for the motor and get stranded because paddling this sucker is a labor intensive undertaking.  I also don’t want to get capsized when Roman Craig from The Great Outdoors comes blasting by in “Suck My Wake”.  I’m not going to be breaking any speed records with a forty five pound thrust trolling motor either.  Lastly, if I want to go fishing with three people then someone is left walking the bank…and I own the boat so it ain’t me.





So that’s my boat and I love it.  If you are ever in the market or are considering buying one, feel free to email me.  I don’t have any allegiances or profit from any sales; I just know how many fond memories it has helped create for me and is a quality product that I think you would enjoy if your applications are similar to mine.



A view from the captain's seat.

 

Thank you and a small change to the blog

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I don't thank the readers of this blog enough, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you for taking time out of your day to view this site.  It means a lot to me that there are people that actually read some of the material that I turn out.  I've always had a desire to write and when paired with my passion for fly fishing, I find that I have a lot to write about.  Regardless of how many readers there are, I will continue to update this site with material that you hopefully find useful and or interesting.  Feel free to tell your friends about this site, but more importantly, thank you for stopping by and spending some time on the site.

On another note, there is one change that you can expect to notice about this site.  You will probably start to notice that the blog will not be updated on a daily basis during the week as I have been able to do over the last few weeks.  For those of you that do not know me personally, you should know that I am a public school teacher.  With the start of the school year looming and a new batch of students about to step foot in my classroom, I will need to scale back the posts somewhat for the next few weeks.  It is still my goal to update the blog two to three times during the week and occasionally on the weekends.  I wanted to communicate this to you because I didn't want anyone thinking that I was "phasing out" the site or was losing interest in managing the site.  It is still my goal to provide quality information, videos, posts, and stories that are either focused on fly fishing, fishing in the state of Missouri, or both when possible.  Thank you again for checking in when you can and please continue to visit in the future.  If you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at showmeflyguy@gmail.com.

Featured Link Friday 5- Frankenfly

Alright, Mr. Frankenfly (a.k.a. Paul Beel) is just flat out cool!  From the graphics he uses to the fact that he updates his site with great content regularly, this is just a great all around blog.  He covers a wide range of topics which includes everything from salmon flies to largemouth fishing.  What I am most excited about is the Bucket Mouth League he has started.  You can find the link to this program under "Categories" down the left side of the page.  You get to send in pictures of largemouth that you land on a fly and he features some of the pictures in posts.  I've also ordered a sweet Bucket Mouth League Fly Fishers decal to go on some of my modified cigar/fly boxes.  Anyway, check out the site if you get a chance but make sure you have a little time on your hands.  There is A LOT to look at so grab a snack pack (because I know you love snack packs) and find a quiet place to geek out on some cool fly fishing stuff.  Here's your link: Frankenfly

Displaying flies

There are people in the fly fishing community that love to tie flies more than actually fish them.  An author (I forgot his name, sorry) once said that if all the fish in the world disappeared tomorrow, that some people would keep tying flies.  Maybe there is some part of our DNA left over from the cavemen that makes us want to build and construct things that will improve our quality of life.  I am a firm believer in this because I cannot tell you how many flies are in my collection that I have never fished, nor will I probably ever tie on the end of a line.  I either saw a challenge to tie a fly or had some grandiose idea about how I could catch every fish in a body of water with this new fly, even on a bad day.  Whatever the reason, there are a lot of flies in this world that will never touch a drop of water.

Another reason that some flies never get fished is because they look great to the fishermen and while they may hold a great deal of potential to the creator, the fish might not agree.  I have seen some ugly flies catch a lot of fish in my day.  I’ve even had some flies that caught a decent amount of fish but ended up catching even more fish as they fell apart and started to look ratty.  The fact that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder can be seen in other facets of mankind as well.  At some point within Ford Motor Company, a group of people actually designed, engineered, and o.k.'d the mass production of the Mustang II.  See my point.  This monstrosity might have looked good to some executives but you don’t see many being sold at Mecum or Barrett Jackson auctions.

While fly fishing is in very large part tied to science, fly tying is very much related to art.  It takes an acute eye and trained hand to take a bare hook and make it look close enough to a fish’s prey that even the fish cannot tell the difference.  That’s art!  Even Michelangelo would have to be impressed by such a feat.  So what do we do with works of art?  Well, in my humble opinion, we should put them on display for others to see.

Here are a couple of things that I have done with my flies that have either been given to me or flies that I have deemed worthy of display.  The first thing I did was to put my flies in a shadow box above some of my fishing equipment.  I included the name of the tier, the name of the fly, and the year that it was tied.  This actually serves a couple of different purposes.  The first is that it makes me laugh at how horrible of a tier I used to be.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t plan on being published in any books or getting asked to present at any expos anytime soon, but I am a heck of a lot better than I used to be.  The second purpose is to display flies that friends have given to me.  Some are really pretty while others are some of the first flies that I helped someone tie.  Regardless, they help add to the mosaic of a developing artist and fly tier.

Yep, those are spinning rods.  There will be a post in the future that details the royal treatment the wind sticks get.

My wife also asked me recently to put some flies in some shadow boxes.  These boxes were to be placed in our basement bathroom.  Now I’m not sure if they were coincidentally planned to appear here so they could be close to water or because they are …well let’s just call them crappy.  Anyway, she gave me a couple of shadow boxes and said, “Have at it tiger.”  I found that drilling really small holes and using incredibly thin wire to attach them to the backboard seemed to work best.  Yes, fishing line would have worked better and been symbolic but I thought about that after the fact and was too lazy to go back and redo half of the project.  Anyway, I made a top water box as well as a streamer box.  Now before anyone asks, no, these are not my best fish producers.  They looked pretty and some of them have never produced a strike let along touched water.  Please refer to the sherbet colored popper for an example of a fly that doesn’t catch jack or squat.

So any who, what do you think?  Should flies be put on display or strictly be kept in fly boxes?  Feel free to leave a comment and share what you think.

Mousin'

I think it was about a year ago that I fished my first mouse fly in a farm pond.  I was shocked to actually get 3-4 bites and was dumbfounded when I actually landed a bass while using a fly that imitated a freaking mouse!  It was one of those rare occurrences when a plan that you hatched actually worked and Mother Nature gave you a little glimpse inside a window that you had never been able to look in before.  I thought it was a cool novelty at the time and told all my buddies about it but knew I could get more bites by using other flies.  I learned a few more mouse patterns and now have a fly box dedicated to our furry little friends.  However, when I had 8 BIG blowups on a mouse fly a couple of weeks ago, that reinvigorated my interest in mousing.  Couple that with the the fact that this year I have learned that catching fewer fish is fine if those fish you do catch are big and memorable.  After running across these videos, I am really itching to get back to a farm pond or down to Taneycomo.  The first video is a clip from Hook Shots about fishing for trout out east in the Delaware River.  This might get your blood pumping and get you interested in doing some mousing if you have never done so.


This is the follow-up video that goes into some details about one of the mouse flies that was used in the episode.  I tied some of these up last night and I'm really pumped to get it on the water and hopefully in the mouth of something large.  Whether you are a veteran mouser or a rookie, this video offers a pattern that you have probably never seen before.

Fly fishing for...catfish?

The largest catfish I have caught on a fly.  This whiskered devil tipped the scales at seven pounds, three ounces.

Did you know that you can catch catfish on a fly rod?  Of course you did because you are an attractive person with an above average IQ that understands the complexities of fly fishing in Missouri.  But what if you posed the same question to someone that was of a lower intelligence with a lesser understanding of fly fishing in the mighty Mo?  Well I bet they would first be shocked.  Then they might go through denial of such a horrific fact and anger because fly fishing is supposed to be for tout and that’s that darn it!  Then they might try to bargain with you to get you to say fly fishing for cats couldn’t or shouldn’t be done.  Such horrific things just shouldn’t happen to harmless fly fishermen for Pete’s sake!  After a short period of depression where they realize that fly fishing extends beyond their known boundaries, that person might even come to accepting the fact that catfish CAN and SHOULD be caught on a fly rod.  Good luck to any western trout fishermen that are reading this and were raised to think you must only fish dries during annual hatches.  This post might not be for you, so it is understandable if you excuse yourself and go tie some size 18 parachute blue wing olives.  

Don’t get me wrong, I have never targeted catfish on a fishing trip and thought, “Oh yeah baby, this is the trip that I land an eight pound channel cat!”  (I don’t know anyone who does that, but if YOU actually do this, email me because we need to talk about how awesome you are).  Instead, all of the catfish I have caught on a fly have been landed while fishing for other species such as bass and bluegill.  However, it becomes pretty obvious in a quick way when you have hooked a catfish.  Bass shake their heads and make a run or two.  Bluegill love doing donuts and swim in circles like they are at Bristol.  Hybrids pull and pull and pull.  Green sunfish do, well, whatever green sunfish do.  Rainbows can be acrobatic and make spectacular leaps.  Catfish are different.  Sometimes it feels like they are trying to burrow their way to the land of China.  They use their weight to their advantage during the fight and will make some great runs when they are first hooked or start to get close to the bank.  While they will not jump, they will make some pretty incredible swirls at the surface of the water.  They will also stick their forked tails out of the water during a fight and slap the water violently while trying to gain leverage but it can also be interpreted as an obscene gesture.  Jerks!  A curse upon their families!

Okay, maybe that is going too far but catching catfish is a blast.  It is unexpected and it is a fight!  You can catch catfish on bass streamers or small mini jigs when you are targeting bluegill.  I even know a guy that sometimes catches catfish on hopper patterns.  I once fished with a guy that hooked a five pound channel cat in a thunderstorm on an olive wooly bugger.  (The same guy killed a ten point buck on his first deer hunt too so take that for what it is worth).  I also fished with a gentlemen that had caught 20 straight bluegill on a jig under an indicator and then landed a four pound, eight ounce channel cat using the same setup.  While you can catch them on a variety of flies, you are chasing a ghost if you think you can target these fish in most of the muddy water we have here in northwest Missouri.  Instead, just keep targeting other fish and hit the water when you can.  Eventually you will hook into something that has a dogged personality and puts a heck of a bend in your fly rod.  You will think you have a bass or bluegill at first and then you will have your rod doubled over in an instant with two feet of your fly rod below the surface of the water.  Just enjoy the ride (literally if you are in a small boat) and remember every detail of the epic fight.  You will want to be able to describe every second to a snooty dry fly fisherman from Colorado one day that was raised to fly fish for trout.  He might need to understand the five stages of grief so be a buddy and help get him through the process.  Who knows, maybe you can convert him to a muddy water guy!

Deer Antler Fly Tying Tool Holder

I was in Rainbow Fly Shop in Independence, Missouri, not too long ago and saw a project that I immediately knew I was going to have to undertake.  The shop owner, Matt, had a unique way to keep track of and organize fly tying tools.  A patron of the store had found a deer antler shed, drilled some holes into the main beam, and used the antler as something that was both decorative and functional in which to store his fly tying tools.  Granted, there are not many steps to complete, but it is extremely important that each step be completed accurately and carefully.

Step 1- Find a deer antler

While I obviously love to fly fish, there are times of the year here in the northwestern part of Missouri where fishing (especially fly fishing) either is not possible or so slow that it would test the will of a man.  I’m talking mainly about January, February, and a little bit of March of course.  Well it just so happens that one of my second favorite pastimes just happens to coincide with this time of the year.  This is the time of year that male white tailed deer shed their old antlers because mating season is over which allows them to grow a more impressive rack the following year.  If you can locate a piece of land that holds a dense population of deer, then you have a chance to find one or more shed alters.  However, while this enterprise sounds easy enough, it can be a real challenge.  Looking for a shed antler is less like looking for a needle in a haystack and more like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.  Shed antlers tend to be light to dark brown in color and it is an unfortunate coincidence that twigs, branches, and dead grass also has a similar hue.  But don’t let this deter you from shed hunting because while it very challenging, it is equally rewarding when you find a shed.  I guess it’s similar to fly tying in that way.  Sure, you could buy a fly at a fly shop and catch a fish with it, but it sure feels better when you find it yourself.  With that being said, if you get skunked, you can probably buy some overpriced antlers at an antique store.

A nice four point shed I found last March.

A deer antler that a cousin of mine found and gave to me last year.

Step 2- Plan to drill

There are two things you will want to keep in mind during this step: how big do the holes need to be and where are you going to drill.  I used a drill bit that was 7/32” so that might be a good place to start.  I drilled into a piece of wood first to make sure all of my tools would fit into a hole that size and they did perfectly.  When planning where to drill, I would suggest you confine yourself to the main beam.  You want to drill into places that are dense and the densest part of the antler is carried in the main beam with the points usually tapering down to a narrow point.  You will also need to decide how close to drill your holes.  This depends on how large the antler is or in other words, how much space you have to work with.  It also depends on how many tools you want your antler to hold.  Finally, mark your points that you want to drill with a pencil.

Pencil marks show where I planned to drill.

Step 3- Find a buddy that has a drill press

I would strongly suggest against using a cordless drill to make your holes.  If you drill at anything less than a ninety degree angle, then your tools will fit lopsided and you run the risk of accidentally drilling through less dense bone.

A buddy with a drill press.

The drilling process.

Step 4- Countersinks and color (optional)

To dress things up a little bit, you might want to consider a couple of ideas.  The first is whether you want to countersink the holes that you drill.  This will ensure that your tools fit nicely in their spots and don’t slide out into your workspace.  This depends on how much work you want to do, how nice you want your project to look, and how dense the bone is on the antler.  If there is a question of how strong or how thick the bone is, I would suggest you try to avoid a countersink.  The final option you have is if you want to add some color to your antler.  If you have a shed that is a year old or more, then there is a pretty good chance that it will have lost all of its color and be bleached white.  If you want to darken it up and try to restore some of the original color, you can apply a coat of stain to the antler and then wipe it off with a rag.  When it comes to stain though, try to adhere to the idea that you can always make the stain darker with more coats, but you cannot make it lighter once the stain has been absorbed by the bone.  A final idea would be to just spray paint the darn thing.  I’ve never done this but have always been curious what a deer antler would look like if it were black, red, silver, or camo.  If you ever attempt one of these colors, I would love to see it…for better or worse.

The finished product.

From another angle.

Featured Link Friday IV- The Midwest Drift

I have been religiously reading the blog at http://www.themidwest-drift.com/ for about a year now.  A friend of mine told me about it one day and since then I have rarely gone more a day or two without checking to see what the guys that run the site have been up to.  There are three guys that contribute to the site (Luke, Landon, and Zach) and I could not have more respect for these guys.  It was my pleasure to actually meet them last spring at a fly tying contest and it was like meeting the authors of your favorite books.  It was all I could do to not ask them for their autographs to be completely honest.  They are extremely passionate about fly fishing and cover a wide range of fishing techniques.  You can read about catching wipers and white bass at local lakes, big bass in ponds, and trout around Missouri.  While they have a knack for catching fish and detailing their fishing experiences, their site includes some amazing photography as well.  As if these guys couldn’t get any cooler, they are also dedicated to supporting local businesses in Kansas and Missouri.   Please check out their site and I really think you will like what you see.

A tackle box for life and a fly rod measuring stick

I am the proud father of two boys and I often wonder about what the future has in store for them.  I mainly think about what kinds of challenges and obstacles their lives will present to them.  To state the obvious, it is the job of a mother and father to prepare their children for as many of these hurdles as possible, but in all honesty there is no way to prepare them for every single situation.  It is probably a better approach to try and teach general principles and ideals that can apply to multiple situations.  I guess what I mean is that we shouldn’t teach a child to avoid hitting his brother but instead teach him the golden rule.

I also find myself wondering about what my boys’ lives would be like if I passed away unexpectedly and wasn’t there to help them get through their formative years.  They are young enough that they might not remember their old man and while I am sure they would remember some of the values that I have instilled in them, there is still a lot to learn and teach.  It is with this in mind that I decided to do something for each son that might help guide them through life and impart some wisdom upon them or reinforce an ideal that maybe they needed to be reminded of.

If you have kids or even a sibling for that matter, you know that brothers or sisters are very different from one another.  It is with this in mind that I decided to do something different for each son when it comes to passing along wisdom.  I remember learning in college that you treat people the same by treating them differently.  I guess that breaks down to the fact that all people are different and that they need different things depending on their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. 

My first son is a pretty smart kid.  He learns things quickly (when he wants to) and has a penchant for music.  I don’t expect him to grow up to be the athletic type or a person with a wildly adventurous personality.  Some people ask me if it would bother me if he didn’t play sports and I emphatically so “No it wouldn’t!”  I want him to find something that he is passionate about and that he can pour his heart and soul into…kind of like me and fly fishing.  He can focus on one thing with an ability to block out any distraction (including the voice of his parents) and surprises me on a daily basis with how he is starting to understand how the world works.  In an attempt to pass along any wisdom I might have rattling around in my head, when he was a newborn and infant I read him a large number of novels.  I know he didn’t understand what I was reading to him but it didn’t matter.  He saw a book in my hands and heard my voice.  After each book, I would find a blank page near the cover and would write him a message that was designed to be profound.  Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn’t but I always tried to cover some moral or value that was exemplified in the book.  It was my hope that maybe one day he might read my letter and book and be able to apply some important principle to his life.

Now for my youngest son.  He’s young but it is easy to tell he is going to be the wild one.  He is a physically strong little guy that always on the move.  He’s not scared to fall flat on his face and get right back up again.  If I were to guess, he might be the one that excels at sports.  Now that I think about it, the two of them kind of remind me of the Maclean brothers from “A River Runs Through It.”  Only time will tell however.

The youngest son would be the one in the front and the oldest would be the freaked out one in the back.

While I have had longer to put my “fishing stamp” on the oldest boy, I wanted to make sure the younger received a different yet equal influence.  I am reading the youngest novels like I did the first son, but at a lesser rate unfortunately because of time and increased responsibilities.  Instead, I decided to start a little project for him.  Before he was born, I saw a tackle/tool box at a hardware store.  I immediately bought it not even sure what I was going to use it for.  It sat in my garage for a few days while I contemplated my next move and then it came to me.  If this kid is going to be hands-on and of a kinesthetic modality, then he should have something befitting a personality like as such. 

I started to go through old tackle boxes to find my tried and true fishing lures.  I ran across one of the first antler sheds I ever found.  I found things that reminded me of his great grandpas and items from my youth.  While the box is not full, it is slowly rising to the brim.  Accompanying all of the objects is a makeshift “key”.  The origin and importance of each item is described as well as how it might serve him well in life.  For example, I wrote on a piece of paper that the antler shed was found after five years of hunting and after years of failure, my persistence was rewarded.  I guess I look at this project like a fisherman or carpenter looks at a tackle/tool box.  There are different tools in the box that have different applications and are useful in different situations.  Like my first son, I hope that he can draw from these tools and use them in his life when he needs them.

There is one last tradition that I have started with my youngest son as well.  The oldest boy didn’t have a way to display his growth until he was about four.  We started marking his height on a wall in the house not too long ago as well as on a large ruler that is taped to the wall of his bedroom.  I felt bad that it took so long to get around to something like this and I vowed to not let the younger boy have the same experience.  So I started to think about what I could use to measure his growth.  I needed something tall, but not cumbersome.  I needed something that wouldn’t get tossed out or leave permanent scaring on drywall.  I needed something portable, yet elegant.  Well low and behold I had a fly rod sitting around that fit the bill…unless he grows to be over nine feet tall.  It’s nothing fancy, in fact I bought it as a “back-up” rod to take on fishing trips in case a good fly rod broke.  I marked his length at birth on the rod with a silver sharpie and will update it on every birthday until he is full grown or decides he wants to take up fly fishing.  My hope is that he will grow up to use that rod one day (or at least keep it as a memento) and will show him how he has grown both literally and metaphorically.