February 28th, 2010 | 
Author: 
I believe when you are fly fishing the clear cold waters here in the West, it pays big dividends to use fluorocarbon leader material. Its advantages: Virtually invisible underwater, it sinks quickly and it doesn’t reflect light on the water surface, fish can’t see it and your catch rates go up over monofilament. Yes, it can be more expensive, but to improve a day’s fishing and change an average day into a great day, it’s worth it to me. I was first introduced to fluorocarbon in the mid 90’s when the import fishing tackle company where I worked, received samples from one of our contacts in Japan. I tried some of the 3 lb test and 4.5 lb test and really liked the heavier test and how well it fished.
Depending on the brand, you may have to try several different knots when making up a knotted taper leaders using fluorocarbon or when you are tying a fluorocarbon leader tippet to a monofilament leader. A great knot to connect the leader sections together and, perhaps the most popular is the blood knot. It is fairly easy to tie and it doesn’t waste a lot of material.
When you need to join two vastly different sizes of leader material together, for example l5 lb to 6 lb, use the improved blood knot: Double over the smaller size of leader material and then tie the blood knot with 4 wraps of the doubled 6lb on one side and 3 wraps of the 15lb on the other side. A very simple knot when tying different sizes of material together and one that has 100% knot strength with fluorocarbon, is the triple surgeon’s knot, it’s not pretty but it really works. I also like to use the triple surgeon’s knot during low light conditions to retie fine fluorocarbon leader tippets.
Use the Uni knot to tie the fluorocarbon tippet of your fly leader to the fly. It also has 100% knot strength with fluorocarbon. To tie the fly leader to a fly line use a nail knot. To make a loop-to-loop connection to change leaders: Cut the first butt section of the fly leader 8 inches below the nail knot and tie perfection loop knots to the cut ends and loop them back together. When tying all types of fishing knots, use saliva to make them slick, and then draw the knot up tight but slowly to reduce friction.
The Backcounry Flyfishing Association of Orlando was priviledged to host Chuck Farneth, Gold Medal Winner @ The ESPN Outdoor Games in 2001 for some Fly Casting Instruction. Special Thank you to Capt Bryan Chamberlin for his casting expertise and knowledge of Gulf Coast Angling. You can visit Chuck’s website @ www.OutdoorLegacy.com and to hook up with Capt. Bryon please visit www.BarbedSteel.com
Roses seem to grow and produce flowers for only a few years before becoming exhausted and starting to develop flowers down the lower part of the stem.Pruning is therefore needed to prevent the plant becoming a tangled mass of dying and living wood with inferior blooms.
Rambling Roses
Rambling roses have diminished in popularity over the years.They bloom only once a year albeit with a spectacular show of flowers but are not generally disease resistant and do need regular pruning.
Flowers grow on new wood so you will need to prune each year for a good show of flowers all over the plant.However rambling roses are a good choice in some areas, where their natural talents can be exploited.Rambling roses flexible stems will clamber enhusiastically up dead trees that would otherwise be an eyesore, or scramble riotously along the soil to produce unusual ground cover.
Climbing Roses
Climbing roses have much less flexible stems than rambling roses, many are more disease resistant and some are repeat flowering.Since flowers develop on a framework of established wood,pruning climbing roses is a much less demanding than pruning rambling roses.Essential pruning is restricted to removing dead weak or diseased growth.
Deadhead as much as is practical during the summer and prune in the autumn after flowering.If you also shorten the side shoots that have flowered taking them back to three buds.You will encourage a good coverage of flowers next year.
Regenerating Old Climbing Rose
If a climbing rose has been neglected and lateral growth not encouraged by regular training and tying in, there may be many bare stems visible near ground level.You can encourage new basal shoots to develop by cutting down some of the old bare stems almost to ground level.
Hybrid tea and Floribunda Roses
Hybrid tea and floribunda roses are popular garden choices and have broadly similar pruning needs.Hybrid teas have been used for around 100 years their flowers have what is often seen as a classic rose shape.Hybrid teas are available in an amazing range of colours and are often well fragranced.
However there are some drawbacks with some varieties many hybrid tea bushes are quite ridged in shape, producing quite a stiff appearance that does not suit all gardens.Hybrid teas generally bloom less frequently than floribundas and are more susceptible to rain damage and not tolerant to less than perfect conditions.
Floribunda roses have been popular for around the last 50 years.Although the individual blooms may not be as first choice compared to the hybrid teas floribundas are chosen for there ability to flower continuously for long periods of time.Their increased disease resistance their ability to thrive in less than perfect conditions and for their rain tolerance.
Prune hybrid tea and floribunda roses in early spring when growth is just begining but to avoid the possibility of damage by wind rock cut back long shoots in autumn.Cut stems back to approximately half there length and remove damaged weak or diseased stems.Floribundas hard prune some old stems close to the ground to encourage new basal growth, while pruning last years new shoots only moderately.This variable pruning will encourage a good coverage of flowers over the whole plant.
Fly fishing being regarded a normal fishing sport in the whole of America, more and more angler (s) all over are showing interest in various fly fishing resources, including tips, techniques and tales from ones who have mastered the art with their lures and fishing baits. Most anglers interested in fly fishing sports intend to know and follow a ’step-by-step” method that will significantly increase their casting distance. Most of them want to learn quickly how to cast more accurately, so that they can drop their fly right in front of the fish’s mouth. That is not all. Even a good fly caster may be looking to go to the next level and learn more of the advanced casting techniques. To assure an angler interested in fly fishing, it must be mentioned here that with the right instructor, you don’t have to worry about stiff breezes or feel intimidated by other fly anglers on the river. There may be an umpteen number of questions that you would like you ask regarding your dealing with the fly cast, typically if you are an angler new to the sport of fly fishing, one who finds making a decent cast difficult at best.
However, it still remains true today that despite the importance of the cast, the average fly-fisher angler gives less thought to it than to purchasing new fishing bait (s) for himself. Probably, many of them think fly-fishers need no casting instruction at all. Confining themselves to the easiest fisheries, and doing almost everything wrong and still catching a dozen trout from a small stream makes them over-confident of their fishing capabilities. But one must remember here that fly fishing in a small local lake is quite different from doing it in a spring creek, just as catching a thousand bluegills with your fishing bait on a blind cast is a hell lot different from successfully sight fishing for bonefish. For this, the answer is: practice for days, months and years. For fly fishing is like another skilful sport that can be mastered with a lot of time, and of course, a hell lot of effort on your part. If an angler fly fishes long enough and truly embraces the challenge of the sport rather than the fantasy of the game, he will eventually find himself amidst a favorable situation for fly fishing.
Fly casting is the most important skill in fly-fishing. It is perhaps the only skill you cannot do without. As a matter-of-fact, a successful fly-fisher angler need not know how to dress flies, tie knots, rig equipment, or even how to find fish, as he can always hire a guide to take care of all that. But a successful fly-fisher must be able to present a fly to a fish. However, it is a startling fact that in spite of its importance, relatively a very few fly-fishers ever attempt to learn how to cast a fly rod in a formal or methodical way. The beginning of learning how to fly cast is even more important than choosing your lures and fishing bait (s). The best way to accomplish this, according to experts is to use an 8.5 or 9-foot rod that is balanced with a 5- or 6-weight floating weight-forward or triangle taper fly line. According to experts in fly fishing, the fly line should be rigged with a 9-foot tapered monofilament leader, to the end of which is tied a small tuft of fluorescent package yarn. While fly casting, anglers may wish to use a bit heavier outfit, such as an 8- or 9-weight rod, to allow them handle a longer line a bit easier.
As for the important fly fishing kits for an angler, it is recommended that you are equipped with the proper trolling flies, trolling fly kits, jigs and fishing bait used to catch Salmon and Trout or other fish in the Great Lakes or Ocean. Custom fishing rods, including custom casting, spincast, and fly rods act as other necessary equipment in fly fishing sports. All these Fly fishing equipment are there for use to make your fly tying and fishing vacations memorable!
The best live bass bait period is an insect that many of you may have never heard of or seen before, yet chances are they are native to the rivers and streams you have been fishing for years. These little critters catch more bass than any other live bait out there, period!
The bait I am talking about are helgramites. Helgramites are a prehistoric looking insect that populates clean swift moving waters. They can be found under rocks and logs within the river itself or in the early summer season can also be found under rocks along a rivers banks.
Helgramites are a long dark brown to black colored insect that has a set of pincers and several legs, they look very intimidating though they are actually harmless. You will feel it if one grabs a hold of you though they can do no harm.
These critters are absolutely deadly on smallmouth bass, there is no other bait that I can think of that is as productive as helgramites are, they are the perfect bait for those tough fishing situations. They work so well at catching bass that they have been banned for use in many areas.
You can fish helgramites in a variety of ways, a few of my favorites are slip rigging them with a floating jig head and also fishing them via a float rig with a few split shots.
Another great aspect of fishing helgramites is that they are a very tough bait. It is not uncommon to catch 10 to 15 bass off of one helgramite! Once you place a hook through them they are almost impossible to loose. After youve caught about 5 bass off of one helgramite it will become quite mangled, but this doesnt seem to matter, in fact a bass will hit a dead, mangled helgramite just as well as a live one.
Your best bet is to go out flipping rocks and find them yourself, they are relatively easy to locate. Find a sandy or muddy bar along the shoreline of the river or stream that you fish and start flipping rocks, if you dont find any on shore you might have to get a little wet. If you would rather buy them, a few bait shops carry them, though they come with a hefty price. The last time I checked they were going for about $10.00 per dozen.
Whether you chose to find them or buy them you absolutely have to get your hands on some. Fish them one time and I am sure you will agree that helgramites are by far the best live bait for smallmouth bass fishing period!
Aside from smallmouth bass you will also find that they are just as deadly on catfish, walleye, trout and many other game fish.
