TCO Ice Breaker Event 

The past three weeks have been a very busy time for Irish Flies. Between attending seminars, banquet dinners, prepping for the shad class and actually getting in a little fishing the past few weeks have been extremely fun as well as overwhelming. Before we talk about the "Ice Breaker" event at TCO I would like to discuss the "DHALO" section of the White Clay Creek. If you are not familiar with the proposed rule changes please check out my post from last week. You can read it here. I will keep my personal opinions to myself, no reason to go into a rant here. I can say if you fish in the state of Pennsylvania, and these proposed changes go through, this will affect your fishing at some point. Please use the link in the post or the link in the PDF to leave your comments with the Fish and Boat commission. Now, last Wednesday, a popular Pennsylvania based internet forum exploded with posts saying the rule changes have been dropped or dismissed. Things like "I just got an email from so and so and they said it has been dismissed" or "I just talked to such and such form PAFBC and they said all proposed changes have been dismissed". Based on all of the chatter it would seem that the rules have been dismissed, after all, it is on the internet so it must be true... All kidding aside I have been trying to confirm this myself with PAFBC as well as our local deputy warden. Unfortunately, I have not gotten any responses as of yet. If anybody has any information on this please feel free to contact me. The White Clay is too rich in history to allow these rule changes to go through and I don't think anybody wants bait fishing in the DHALO section year round! I would suggest we all continue to make our voices heard. If you don't make your opinion known than don't complain if these rule changes go through!  OK I will get down off my soap box now.   

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Ice breaker event at TCO Reading 

My buddy Ed and I headed to the TCO shop in Reading a few weeks ago for their second annual "Ice Breaker" event. This years featured speaker was Blane Chocklett. Blane is a full time guide out of Roanoke Virginia. He guides for Trout, Bass and Stripers, but his bread and butter is putting his clients on what has to be the baddest of all of the fresh water fish, the Musky. We watched a great presentation where Blane talked about his guiding operation, fly design and Musky fishing. As good as the presentation was, the tying demo was better. Jake and the boys at TCO put out a spread of pulled pork and smoked wings. After the slideshow we took a short break to stuff our faces then it was time to tie. We watched as Blane tied his signature "T-Bone" fly, and articulated beast with 3 segments and a really cool design to keep the bucktail flared while in the water. Then he tied the "Game Changer" which is quickly becoming one of my favorite flies. 

It was cool to listen to Blane talk as he was tying. One thing I found interesting were some of the words or terms he used. Terms like "engage" or "RE-engage" the fly. "Trigger" was a very popular word in regards to building in design features to entice the fish to eat the fly. There was a long explanation about the design and shape of the fly's head and how that causes the rest of the fly to move in the water. I can say without a doubt there has been a ton of thought into these flies and their inherent design. A ton of trial and error too. I am really looking forward to using what I have learned  and tweaking a few of my personal designs. Constantly learning, that is one of the great things about this sport. 

Talk about some cool flies! Several of those "Game Changers" will find their way into my Smallmouth box this Summer. 

To benefit the the stocking effort on the Tully, A TFO Esox rod was donated to be raffled off. Always wanting to support a good cause I donated an Andrew Jackson and wouldn't you know, my name was pulled out of the bucket! I opted for the 400 / 500 grain model. I am confident this rod will handle any of our local Musky action, it will also make a great jetty stick handling with ease the big Bunker and Eel flies we throw in April and October to the migrating Stripers on the jetties at Indian River Inlet. 

Looks like another reel and line combo is in my future.

I wanted to thank Blane for coming north to do this seminar and thank Jake and TCO for hosting. You can check out Blane's Facebook page here. Also for another great blog, check out "All things Fly" here. Jake does an awesome job with it and there is a ton of great information. Till next time...

                                                                                                                                Tight lines