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Gearing Up for our Honeymoon!

Backlash

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Good evening!

I figured I'd start another thread and cover a little more fishing related goodies for our upcoming honeymoon.

So here are the plans.

Amy and I are getting married in August unless she gets her head on straight before then. She wanted to have a little more say in the wedding plans than I did, and I agreed to handle a little more of the honeymoon plans. Or something like that! :D

Either way, we'll be heading to the Bahamas for our honeymoon. I will likely start another "Honeymoon" thread in the lounge section but this thread will focus mostly on fishing.

August isn't exactly "Prime time" for fishing in the Bahamas but that was the only time of year that would work with our schedules. Who knows, this may all be for nothing if we get there and are surprised with a hurricane. If that happens, well, I guess there are worse places to be stranded. :D

Moving on.....

I already started a thread on the Billy Pate fly reel re-do, so I won't include too much of that here. Check it out if your bored.

Since there is more than one way to skin a cat (Or catch a fish), I figured I'd pick up a nice spin fishing outfit to take along. Back in the day, you could throw a rod tube on a plane without too much problem and drag your one piece fishing rods with you. Well, times have changed. And since this isn't a fishing only trip (Cough cough), I'm just going to toss these rods in at the last minute "Just in case."

Travel rods. Well, they are mostly crappy P.O.S. rods made for catching 1 lb. trout or "OK" mediocre quality rods that you can fish a spinning real or a conventional reel simply by rotating the bottom section of the rod one way or another. Nahhhh. I wanted something nice. Something that would have the look and feel of a Seeker or a Calstar that I'm used to fishing here on the West Coast......

Enter Phenix. They build a pretty badass quality rod and guess what? They offer multi-piece travel rods too. And whats even better is they will sell blanks to authorized dealers!

Wait what? Why buy a blank and not just pick up a finished rod?? Well, because. That's why. It won't match the quiver of rods I've slowly been building up over the last 20 years. And because I'm me. :D

So here you go.

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I'm having this done by the guys at Johnny's Bait and Tackle in Pasadena. They've done a number of rods for me in the past and Bobbie and Pat agreed to tackle this project too. I ordered the blank a few weeks ago and it came in today.

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So after playing with the blank for a bit (Super impressed by it too!), we picked out all the basics to get started on this build. Classic full-length cork grips, Fuji graphite real seat and Fuji "K" series guides and tip-top.

Once the kit is installed, the guys will get started wrapping this blank so it will match my current rods.

The reel is going to be a Shimano 4000D Baitrunner spooled with 200 yards of Spectra with a short mono top-shot. Compact but it should hold plenty of line for any of the bonefish we may encounter. ;)

Stay tuned! :D
 

Wicky

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Love the new Phenix BD Hybrids. After 10 super seekers, my next quiver would be all be Phenix BD Hybrids..
 

SKIA36

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Very Nice!
A woman who lets you buy new custom fishing gear before you honeymoon and fish on your honeymoon....PRICELESS-KEEPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Backlash

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Thank you for the kind words guys! I haven't been completely truthful with her and detailed the amount of fishing I'd like to do on our trip! Hahahaaa!! Being that she is Asian, she enjoys all types of food ESPECIALLY seafood! So convincing her that bonefish are not really edible and that they are more of a sport fish will be entertaining at the least! :D
 

SKIA36

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Thank you for the kind words guys! I haven't been completely truthful with her and detailed the amount of fishing I'd like to do on our trip! Hahahaaa!! Being that she is Asian, she enjoys all types of food ESPECIALLY seafood! So convincing her that bonefish are not really edible and that they are more of a sport fish will be entertaining at the least! :D

Good luck with that!:champagne:
 

Backlash

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I'm not too shabby to be honest! :D

I've always felt that I could sell shoes to a man with no feet, so we'll see how this plays out! Hahahahaaa!!!
 

Backlash

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Good morning Folks!

I stopped by Johnnys this week and my Phenix rod is on its way to being finished. We got measurements for the reel seat and got the cork grips selected. The guides are bundled up and the thread colors are chosen. It should take about a month or so for them to get things wrapped up so no updates on this rod for a bit.

I sat down at the vise last night and started whipping up some bonefish flies. I'm going to put together a collection of about 75-100 different flies. Most of the flies will be tied specifically for bonefish but I'll also add a few others for snook and redfish too (We will be in Florida visiting family at the end of our honeymoon).

The first set I tied are a version of a "Bonefish Gotcha." These are called "Blind Gotchas" because there are no eyes tied in near the eye of the hook. Instead, I just built up a slightly larger head of the fly to add a tiny amount of weight. I also included some short silly legs to each of the flies. This isn't the norm for the Gotcha but I like the way they add a little more movement to the fly. These are tied on #2 Orvis stainless steel hooks.

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As always, thank you for following along! I'll do my best to update this thread with whatever goodies I add or whatever progress I make.

Stay safe!

Henry
 

Backlash

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All spooled up and waiting for the rod to be wrapped! ;)


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SKIA36

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You have way too much time on your hands!

Flys look fantastic, hope they work. BoneFish/ Tarpon by Fly are on my Bucket list.

What no Stella? Baitrunners are great reals but Stellas are my supermodels!!

What braid do you use?
 

Backlash

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If you only knew!!! I'm so busy it isn't even funny! Not enough hours in the day my friend.

Thank you for the compliment on the flies. I used to tie a lot but "Life happens" and a lot of hobbies got put on hold. Now that things are settling down a little, it's time to try and sneak in a little time here and there.

No Sir no Stella for me. They are fantastic reels but I just wanted something that would compliment what I already have. Most of my collection is Accurate conventional reels but for my spinning setups, I've been going with the Baitrunners. I like the "D" series theyve recently come out with. Tried and true. I use them for the smaller Calico bass and they are perfect. Once the fish get a little larger, I switch over to conventional gear. I'd LOVE to snag a few Accurate spinning reels or even the Van Staals, but I can't justify that kind of money on equipment for the amount of time I currently fish. Maybe some day! ;)

As always, thank you for following along and keeping me motivated. Stay safe!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Oops forgot! This reel is spooled with 30lb. Power Pro. ;)
 

Backlash

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Good morning folks! :D

I've made a little progress on the bonefish fly collection and came up with these little guys. Just a simple shrimp pattern I whipped up on the fly (No pun intended). These are tied on #6 S.S. Orvis hooks. I'll make a few more of these in different sizes, colors and with different weights for varying water depths.

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As always, thank you for following along!

Stay safe!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Here are some other flies I've added to the bonefish collection. Sortofa mix of a Crazy Charlie and a Clouser Minnow but tied with rabbit fur, silly legs and some crystal flash added to mimic a shrimp. These are tied on #2 S.S. Orvis hooks and 5/32 ounce barbell eyes for weight. These are for use in deeper water over a lighter colored bottom. As stated above, I'll tie some more of these in varying colors and with different weights for shallower or deeper water.

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The intent is to put together a box or two containing about 100 or so various bonefish flies to hopefully cover a number of fishing conditions. I'll add in several different types of flies including some of the classics. Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated so please feel free to comment. As always, thank you for following along!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good evening folks! I just wanted to add a few more pictures of some flies I finished up. Between work and the house remodel, I haven't had a lot of spare time. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. :D

Nothing terribly exciting but here are some more shrimp patterns that I came up with. These aren't weighted very heavily and are designed for light colored bottoms in shallow water. Pretty neat looking fly that should have a little movement even while sitting still. These are tied on #6 hooks.

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The next picture is of a pair of pink "Gotchas." Essentially one of the most consistent Bahamas bonefish flies ever used. I tied these a smidge longer than the original but will add quite a few more of these to the collection. I'll include white, tan and pink in different sizes. The two below are tied on #6 hooks.

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Not much of an update but an update nonetheless! :D

As always, thank you for following along!

Stay safe!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good afternoon folks!

All I can say is this rod turned out BEAUTIFUL!! This picture doesn't do it justice!!

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If any of you guys need some rod work done, this is an example of the work Johnny's Sport Shop turns out. Give Bobby a call and let them take care of you. ;)
 

Constant840

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That is good looking rod.
Wondering how you fish flies on spinning reel and mono?
 

Backlash

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Thank you Constant! It really turned out nice!! Better than we expected! ;)

The spinning rod will be for jigs tipped with shrimp (For the Bahama bonefish), and then when we get back to Florida, I'll use it for snook and redfish too.

I've also got an 8 weight Abel fly rod that I'll be taking on this trip to fling these flies around. ;) The reel for that rod is in the other thread titled "Billy Pate Bonefish Reel."

Thank you for checking in and following along!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good evening Folks!

Amy and I spent the afternoon in Temecula tasting food for our wedding and all I can say is....the food was AMAZING! WOW!!! :D

So we got home and I snuck a few minutes in on the vise. I had some help from a 9-year old boy so these flies are far from perfect. But that's OK, he seemed to enjoy the time helping and learning.

The first batch are a variant of a pink Gotcha. Tied light on #6 hooks with marabou instead of more traditional materials.

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The second picture shows a few Clouser Minnows that we tied. I tied these on black #6 Gamakatsu bonefish hooks with 5/32 ounce dumbbell eyes. The all white Clousers could work in the Bahamas but also for striped bass here on the west coast. The olive Clousers would also work for small calico bass so they may end up in another fly box.

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As always, thank you for checking in and for following along! Have a great night!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good evening Folks!

Getting closer only a few weeks left! :D

I whipped up a few more flies this afternoon before heading in to work. These are kind of a variation on a theme. A little bit of a "Gotcha" pattern with some changes here and there. I tied some in white and tan and I'll toss these in the boxes for the Bahamas.

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Just a little update I wanted to share. I'll add some more pics later this week.

Stay safe!

Henry
 
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