Camping, hiking, backpacking, boating, fishing, snowshoeing, and whatever else we do outside for fun.
I’ve posted about the tools, materials, and even the hooks used in fly tying. Today we’re going to tie it all together (sorry!) and make a fly.
We’re going to make a fly called a Blue Wing Olive. It’s intended to imitate mayflies of the genus Baetis. There’s thousands of species in the genus, but most of them have an olive green body, with grey wings, tail, and legs.
Despite rumors to the contrary, we don’t spend all of our time outdoors backpacking. We also go fishing!
In a previous post I talked about fly tying materials. And in another post I discussed the tools used to tie fishing flies. Today, I’d like to discuss the fish hooks used for fly fishing. Fly tiers use a wide variety of types of hooks. Let’s look into why they do that.
I love the spring, with new leaves and plants peeping up from the ground. As you wander in the woods, you see an amazing array of colors as the flowers start to bloom. Here are a few of my favorite pictures taken over many years in southern Indiana.
Michelle and I like to fly fish. “Flies” in this sense are fishhooks decorated with thread, fur, yarn, and feathers to resemble natural creatures that fish like to eat. That often means bugs of some sort, but it’s possible to tie flies that simulate minnows, worms, leeches, and even frogs and mice.
It turns out you need an awful lot of flies. There’s a huge variety of things that fish might be eating, and it’s important to use a fly that resembles the things the fish are eating at this moment. So you need a huge variety of flies.
When you are out exploring in the woods, you see all kinds of amazing things. Don’t forget to look at the earth itself. It has stories to tell!
Here is a small cave in southern Indiana. These pictures are many years old – now they do not want people to enter these caves as it is damaging habitats and spreading disease among bats.
Just outside the cave, you can see the hillside and down to the shore of Lake Monroe.
If you head on down to the lakeshore, you can see a variety of colors in the rocks along the water. The different types of rocks wear away and you get amazing patterns. Occasionally, you will also find fossils.
Every season has something to offer when you are out in the woods. We haven’t done a ton of winter camping, but we enjoy getting out whenever we can.
When you are out backpacking, waking up in the morning and seeing the sunrise is a beautiful thing. Some mornings are foggy and provide a soft view of new beginnings.
Sometimes you are looking out over a lake.
One of the things I love about backpacking is meeting the local residents. Some people might say it’s a bad neighborhood. After all, the residents are known to frequently kill and eat one another. But I’ve found they’re a hardworking lot, who are just trying to live their lives and feed their children. Let’s meet some of them!
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