Ausable Salmon Bomb

The Ausable Salmon Bomb is a sweet looking attractor fly that I found on the Ruff Waters Fly Fishing Blog. 

Watercolor on 9" x 12" Coldpress paper

 

I haven't fished the Ausable, but it will be crossed off my list some day for sure. This fly was not easy to paint...took me a few evenings and many beers and a bottle of red...oh and some whiskey too. I assume tying it is no easy task either. The plan according to Ruff Water's blog is to hit the Lake Champlain tributaries with this beautiful Salmon Fly. I'm sure there is a nice chill to the air up there right now...and those fish are hungry!

Take a look at the Ruff Waters Fly Shop to see a good selection of Adirondack Fly gear as well as a nice Ausable River Watershed guide service.  If you'd like to see this fly directly, check out the Ruff Waters Blog I'm always on the lookout for more interesting, eye catching subjects...if you have ideas "swing them" my way.

The Mighty Snook

A good friend relocated down south and has promised to bring me Snook fishing some day.  So, I've done my research and am looking forward to the opportunity.  Here is my attempt at capturing the Snook on paper.  Another warm water fish that "tricky" to catch.  Not only can they be hard to catch...specifically on the fly because they like to go deep, but these suckers can grow up to 47".  If your calculator is broken, that's almost 4 FEET LONG....damn!

The Fly Rod might not always be the ideal weapon of choice to bring these guys in as the recommended tackle is a 9- to 11-weight rod, with 40- to 50-pound-test tippets. Either way you catch them, the make for a nice meal and I think a great painting subject, racing stripe and all!

Watercolor on Cold Press 9"x 12"

For a more in depth description of the habits of the Snook, take a look here at Florida Sports Man

Thanksgiving Muddler

Happy Thanksgiving Week!  I thought I'd start this week off with a nice Muddler Minnow Fly.  Brown seems to be a very "thanksgiving-ish" color to me.  I have also included the actual fly that was the model for this painting.  The fly was given to me by my wife, as she felt it was a beautiful fly...agreed.  Looking forward to some Thanksgiving family time this week. 

Water color on 9"x12" cold press

Sparkle Streamer

5.5" x 8" water color of Streamer Fly on 140 lb paper.
Thought I'd go a little outside the box and add some movement to this fly, considering thats how the fish like to see it...on the move.  So is this Fly replecating a minow?  Tell me what you think?

Cutty Finale

This Cut Throat was a difficult painting for me.  I featured her as a series back in May with pictures taken throughout the painting process.  I would stare at the painting...walk around it, and stare some more before I would go back in.  You can see the previous post with the 5 different stages here: http://stridart.blogspot.com/2010/05/water-color-in-progress-cut-throat.html .

Water Color On Cold Press 140lb - 15" x 22"

Red Butt High Voltage Midge!

Thought this was a cool pattern.  Water Color on Paper.  5.5"x 8".

Found on BiggerFish...here's the link:

http://bigerrfish.blogspot.com/2010/06/red-butt-high-voltage-midge.html

Yellow Sally 6

4" x 6" This Water Color painting is a Dry Fly called the Yellow Sally 6 inspired by the fly tying of Whiskey Creek.  The "Yellow Sally Fly Pattern, tied on a Tiemco 101BL, size 14. Tied like a yellow elk hair caddis, but with a red foam underbody/egg sac"  http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiskeycreek/3755683574/

Also...as an update, here is a great fly tying video on MidCurrent by Michael Yelton.  Michael ties another version of the Yellow Sally:
http://www.midcurrent.com/video/clips/tying/yellow_sally.aspx

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Price : $100 USD