Go With Minnows

 We had a nice morning greet us when I met Glenn and Patty Langford up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park asthe sun came up.  There was still about an hour of tide going out so we made a quick run over to Lanceford Creek and fished some dock pilings with jigs and live shrimp...and got pecked, pecked, and pecked - just baitstealers. After just a short time we moved back around to Soap Creek and fished an exposed oyster bed and here we had a bit of success - Glenn hooked up and landed a couple of feisty Redfish.

As the tide came to a standstill we ran back around Tyger Island and up in behind the trees and began pitching to the shore. Both anglers were making excellent casts but the "baitstealers" were ever present. Patty did hookup and land her first Flounder and later Glenn outsmarted a hungry Sheepshead and brought it to the net. 

We then ran back outside, up and around to the Jolley River and began fishing the "bank", back into the current. Again, a bunch of nibbles -luckily I had a handful of small mud minnows to supplement the shrimp- but Glenn did hookup and land a small Seatrout to round out a team Amelia Island Grande Slam of Redfish, Flounder, Sheepshead and Seatrout. At one time Glenn did catch a fish big enough to rip his drag. When it came out of the water I thought I saw "big Seatrout" but then it jumped again a time or two and we all knew it was a Ladyfish.

After fishing further up the Jolley with float rigs and minnows we hit our final stop around the corner in the upper Bell. Right off Glenn had a bump, set the hook, and caught and landed a Mangrove Snapper. We picked up a few more baitstealers before calling it a day. Tomorrow, if they got 'em, I'll be going with Minnows and maybe they'll stay on the hook longer! But we had some action, the weather was nice, so as we headed in we counted it as another great day to be out on the water her at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Making of a Fly Rod Case

 With Winter down time I thought I'd try and make Fly Rod Case #2.  A few years ago I put together Fly Rod Case #1 and it came out pretty good, but as usual, there were a couple of areas for improvement. 

The first step was to cut out some leather. I took a sample piece of leather and wrapped it around my fly rod tube to get the proper width of the leather that I would cut, then cut it out: TIME = 4 hours

The next step was to mark out lines around the edges and then to trace the design on the leather that I wanted. I chose a floral design with a couple of Redfish. The rectangles will be where the strap and buckle hardware are attached.

I went ahead and cut out and made a bunch of buckle and D ring holders...

Then I used a swivel knife to cut out the pattern on the leather. By the way, the leather has been "cased" with water to allow the swivel knife to cut the leather like butter. TIME =2.5 hours

TOTAL TIME = 6.5 hours

Then I used a couple of different beveling tools to knock down all the edges and give the pattern some depth..

Multiple stamps were used to complete the design, then everything else was stamped with a background tool..

And finally, the finished tooled piece of leather. Stay tuned for dyeing and finishing of the leather!

TIME = 7.75 hours

TOTAL TIME = 14.25 hours

Punching holes for later stitching

Beginning the back ground dying - I'm using Forest Green

All finished with the back ground dying!

Dying the fish! After I dyed them, let them dry, I "blocked" them with a finish.

After the "block" was dry, I wiped an antique stain over the entire project.

All the staining is done. I'll put a finish over the entire thing, let it dry, then move on to putting the hardware on.

TIME = 4 hours

TOTAL TIME = 18.25 hours

Straps were stained and finished then riveted to the case. I also reinforced them with some stitching.

I glued the leather to the fly rod tube and tried lacing with the holes that I had punched earlier. It didn't work. So I had to take a rotary hole punch and make each hole bigger.

TIME = 4.5 hours

TOTAL TIME = 22.75 hours

The tube is about 32" long. I begin the lacing using a bent needle!. And more lacing! This is 1/8" wide lace.

TIME = 3.75 hours

TOTAL TIME = 26.5 hours

Sewing on the end cap

Made some straps and finished up the top cap and attached them both.

TIME: = 6.5 hours

TOTAL TIME:  33.0  hours

And here's the finished Rod case! Now I need to make the Reel case to finish up the project.

Cutting and punching the reel case pieces, then carving a design

Sewing a lining into the reel case

Lacing the reel case together

The finished Rod and Reel Case!