Education through YouTube: What the hell is Skagit?

I'm planning on trying to get up new cool you tube videos I find each week. Enjoy.

Double Bunny

Hook: Size 6 Gamakatsu B10S
Body: Olive over White Rabbit Zonker (for this size I use superglue to bond the zonkers together)
Eyes: 3/16 3D eyes
Head: Space between eyes filled with Tuffleye Core

Flipboard for the Fly Fisherman (Product Review)

I have been searching for a free app to use on my IPad to stream line all the digital media I enjoy for fly fishing. I have tried several (e.g.Pulse, Blog Shelf and Gwhizz), but without a doubt the one that works best for my tastes is Flipboard. Its available for most tablets (Android or IOS) and it has channels for all the primary media forms I follow. These include, but are not limited to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Blogger, Google Reader and Instagram. There is also a channel for the Orvis News Feed too. It formats the various channels to a magazine style flipping page that can be expanded to both zoom on pictures and expand article items. Additionally, once expanded the original webpage is often displayed below for easy access.

Fly fishing is the major interest I use Flipboard for, but it also includes many other channels focused on news, technology, movies, photography etc. 

Below you will find an intro video produced by Flipboard and in my previous blog post is the bare bones demo they made as well. 

Pros: Flipping through items is very intuitive and the motions needed to flip to a new item or close it are the same on every page. Easy transition from Flipboard to the original web page. Allows commenting on photos and posts from Flipboard to social media like Facebook, Instagram, etc. Facebook pages can be turned into their own channel. 

Cons: Some picture files do not always make it from the blog into the Flipboard format (only one or two blogs I read have this problem). Searching for new channels produces a results page that likely includes the media your seeking, but I found it often placed it in an unexpected part of the results page (make sure and scroll down if you do not find what you seek).

Preview of an upcoming Product Review

Here is a preview of my favorite app for tracking all the fly fishing media I follow (including Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Instagram, etc.)  I working on a full review specific for Fly Fisherman so keep an eye out for it.

Texas Spey Fly

Alright so if you have been following on Instagram or Facebook you will have noticed the sudden appearance of spey flies. Why spey flies in central Texas one might ask?....well mostly because I can't help but pursue my own hair brained ideas. I got a 7 wt switch rod a little while back and now its finally set up for skagit. Since the only way to master those kinds of casts is two get out there and practice I figured I would throw together some flies for it.

The results were some downsized spey flies. I mean if I am going to cast them in a river with fish I might as well set them up to hook into something. Essentially this is just down sizing the fly to fit the stocked rainbows in the Guadalupe.

I'll post how it goes.....

Base: Fish Skull Articulated Shank (35mm)
Hook: Size 6 Octopus circle hook on 30lbs spider wire
Body: Wrapped Sparkle Braid Pink
Collar: Palmered Marabou (Cream below Peacock Blue)

Ice Dub Minnow Fly Tying Video

I know posts on the blog have been a little slow coming out lately, but this will hopefully make up for it. I hope to continue to perfect the videos as I go but here is the first video from Siren Flies. There will be more to come and you can find Siren Flies on YouTube and subscribe there.

Ice dub Minnow

A quick little baitfish pattern. I think I will toss it at some white bass in month or two.  Photos are available of other color variants on Facebook and Instagram (@sirenflies)

Hook: Size 12 Green Caddis 2488
Weight: 5 wraps of 0.020 Lead Wire
Body: 3 clumps of Ice Dub (tied in the middle and folded back)
Clump 1: UV Cinnamon (Furthest from hook eye)
Clump 2: Pearl
Clump 3:UV Olive
Eyes: 3/16 3D eyes
Head: Space between eyes filled with Tuffleye Core