Yuku free message boards

Here are just a few websites that sell it....
Discount flies. com
The contented angler.com
Little Lehigh fly shop

Here is my blog on the 12xx tippet


This website will concentrate on ultralight fly fishing using soft fly rods, small fly reels , ultralight tippet and very small flies.





My Gear.....Sage txl 00wt fly rod accompanied with an abel creek ultralight large arbor 3.7 oz fly reel. My goal during the past year has been to catch a 12" trout on 12x tippet on the three streams I fish on a regular basis. My tippets are generally 4' long attached to a 7-1/2 to 9' leader. This is a very difficult feat to accomplish unless one's concentration is on a very high level. The following tells about my passion in trying to master this difficult game with that wonderful trout.



My name is Ron Wells. I am an ultralight fly fisherman. My game is seven to eight foot fly rods using 8-12x tippet and mostly dry flies ranging from sizes #22-#28. My favorite fly rod is a sage txl 00wt fly rod. I have been ultralighting since 1988 when this growing sport was almost unheard of. My first ultralight fly rod was a sage LL 279 graphite 2. I used this wonderful fly rod for years and finally broke the butt section at which time the rod had become obsolete. My favorite reel is the Abel creek L/A 3.7 oz.

Over the years I have accumulated a few ultralight fly rods namely the Sage LL 279 graphite 3, honey lami 7' 3wt, orvis superfine 1 oz. 6-1/2 ft 2wt, and lastly a sage txl 00wt. My experiences using the ultralight fly rods brings many memories especially this year (2008). I was determined to catch a 12" trout on 12x tippet. Oh my, what a challenge and what fun.

It all really started last fall while fishing a medium size stream in Maryland. When one starts using 12x and small flies, a pair of eyeglasses with magnifiers comes in mighty handy especially for 60 year olds like myself. Just handling minute tippet and flies is very difficult, particularly when the wind is blowing just a tad. However, just like anything elese repetition soon makes one better.

While fishing a small stream called the Casselman river late in the fall of 2007, I tied on a #24 paraseeme dry fly on a 4ft piece of 12x tippet. The trout were actually very interested and rising fairly often to this midge pattern but were consistently missing the fly. Finally I hooked up while fishing sorta downstream with what felt like a 25" salmon on the txl 00wt. (smaller fish really feel like big, big fish on this rod). It fought hard and took straight downstream and then veering off to the right. I thought to myself....never, never will I get this hog to bay. Fortunately he headed upstream toward me and then straight downstream again. My soft rod and smooth drag fly reel were working nicely and finally was able to land this 13" brown trout. Keep in mind this feat is not an easy task. 12x tippet is 1.06 lb test. Soft ultralight fly rods and smaller click and pawl reels with low start up inertia is the ticket .


Over the winter I relived this fishing experience on the Casselman river. I was anxious to start doing the ultralight thing again as soon as the weather warmed up and the water levels were low. This time my challenge would be the savage river. I tied several midge dry flies in the #24-#26 range and purchase a few rolls of 12x tippet and waited patnently for that first trip to the Savage.

The Savage River is a very technical stream. The native brookies and brown troout are very selective and many of the so called expert anglers have been skunked while trying to fool these wary fish. One must be at the top of his game when trying to catch these so called fish with PHD's, especially the bigger brown trout.

On my third trip to the Savage this year and on a misty, kind of rainy June day, the bigger trout seemed to be coming to the top on a regular basis. After two missed attempts using the 12x tippet and a #24 griffith's gnat my quarry finally took the fly on a rather short upstream cast. My biggest fear was that he would break off or simply spit the fly out. Fortunately while fighting this monster I was able to wade upstream and shorten the pursuing fight. He felt heavy on my 00wt rod which was bent over double. Normally these bigger brown's go straight upstream but to my surprise this one just sorta stayed in the same area although angry and fighting for his life. I got close enough to net him and succeeded in landing him. Oh so nice, a 15" brown, with a hook jaw.

My third journey in catching a trout using the 12x12 method takes me to the Youghiogheny river in Maryland. This would prove to be the most difficult. This tailwater which is much bigger than the two aformentioned rivers also has some weary large brown's and rainbow's lurking in its shadows. What makes it more difficult is that a hooked fish has many more options and places to turn during the battle. Also, it always seems that the fish are rising and feeding on top just a tad further than one can cast, especially using 00wt fly line on a short fly rod.

One can catch a lot of fish on the Yough if the conditions are right. However, smaller fish in the 6-10" range is the norm. I had three or four outings in which 30-40 fish were brought to the net. Oh yes, I had a few opportunities with some of the larger fish but they either snapped my tippet, snapped off the fly, or simply spit out the fly. For the most part it was probably operator error . Many times a snapped tippet will occur if one yanks too hard on the hook up. This is a hard concept to master. Subtle, subtle, subtle.....is the key when setting the hook. If one is careful in this regard, catching the larger fish will be much easier. Once a hookup occurs one must let the trout have his way for a short time and let the fly reel just do its thing.


One morning in October I arrived at the Yough around 11 a.m. It was a pretty cool morning, probably temps were in the low 60s. I went to my favorite spot called the Honey Hole and was relieved that no one was fishing there. As I sat down and observed for a while a few fish were rising about 50 feet from the edge of the large pool. After quietly wading into the pool the rises stopped.....I waited for about 10-15 minutes and the rises picked up again. I knew these weren't dinky fish and they appeared to have some size to them.... After three casts the trout rose on each occasion and missed the fly each time. I reeled my line in and inspected the fly and it looked fine. I waited for a minute or two and again laid out a very nice cast almost straight across from me....The size #24 para seeme attached to the 12x had a nice drag free float for about 3 feet and bam, a take. Oh gosh I thought this is the one. The thought of this fish having all of this open water to just run and fight and pratically do what he wants had me worried. I held my ground and put pressure on this guy. The rod was bent and the little abel creek reel was buzzing like it was noone's business. I was aware of the smile on my face as I slowly reeled in this 13" rainbow...I netted him and got a quick measurement, and released him back to be caught again.

T















--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This year has been a very very good year for me and my fishing buddy John Hiser, who incidentally is an accomplished ultralight fly fisherman also. We tried our very best to get out and fish once a week from mid march thru mid october. John recently purchased a Global Dorber ultra-weave 7-1/2' 2wt fly rod which is a very soft and nice fly rod....It's such a beaut that this old boy probably will own one in the near future, although I really don't need any more fly fishing instruments.


Create a free website with Weebly

By the way my buddy uses Cortland sylk 2wt on his Dorber fly rod

Hey Keebranch We only use DT on all our fly lines.