Snow Day!

Well…not really. Unfortunately my company gives me the ability to telecommute from home. While it’s nice not going into the office all the time, it doesn’t allow me the luxury of a true snow day. So while I watched the world outside my window turn white, I was forced to struggle through an overloaded network to get done what work I could. But that didn’t stop me from attempting a little fun.

First up, I spent some of my down time in between task working applying some face carving techniques I learned from a new video I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VinOD6g7xEc. Most of what Sharon does is similar to my own workflow when it comes to carving wood spirits or other faces. In part two however, I do like how she makes some pyramid cuts on the sides of the nose and connects them to the smile lines. I thought I would try. So I took out my totem stick, or at least the beginnings of it.

When it comes to carving faces, I make some I love, and some I hate. The two I have started on my stick are ok. I don’t love them, but neither are finished, so I think there is some room for improvement. Below is the new face I started after watching Sharon’s video:

This was somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes worth of work. In hindsight, the face is a little small in comparison its placement on the stick. But the totem is intended to be an organic, freehand practice stick so whatever. Unfortunately I didn’t get any further than roughing out the nose, mouth and eye sockets before the real world called and it was back to work on the computer.

Hours later, in the afternoon when work had slowed slightly, I began to fidget again. I looked down at my fly tying bag and it looked back longingly. One fly can’t hurt right? I thought I would try a new variation that has been rattling around my head for a while: an articulated deceiver. Articulated flies have intrigued me lately. I see many designed for big pike and musky but I don’t see many in the striper world. Its certainly not needed at all, but a bit of extravagance doesn’t hurt once in a while and it would be a fun tie.

I went all black, with a big of blue bodi braid on the hook shank and the blue/green crystal flash. With the long hackles and big buck tail it measures about six inches in length, complete with eyes, a UV resin head and some peacock hurl to finish it off. If I were doing it again, I think I would extend the joint ever so slightly, maybe 1/4-1/2in but I’m happy with how it turned out. I can’t wait to fish it. It’s a big fly for spring so I suspect it will have to wait until the migration is in full swing before I can toss it with any hope of success. The black should work well at night, and I think I’ll tie a few others up in a variety of colors. Again, I was sucked back into my actual job and had to cease any further tying.

While it would have been nice to have a true day off, I will never argue with being able to work in sweat pants and slippers. In the office I might take a 10 minute break and walk around or chat with a colleague but at home, that’s a fly or two. In today’s case it was a fly, and a bit of whittling. As the day came to a close, the snow began to slow and eventually came to a stop. The wind continued to blow and the temperature dropped further. A pot of chili was made and stomachs filled. It wasn’t long before my wife dozed off after having filled her belly and I was left to my own devices. I hadn’t been outside all day and I really wanted to check out the snow. I figured at a minimum, I should shovel off my porch and stairs so I could at least leave the next morning. One thing led to another and found myself packing a pipe, grabbing my snowshoes and heading out into the night.