Another Connection Between Medicine and Fly Fishing

Okay, connections between fly fishing and medicine don't happen that often.  But when they do, man they are exciting (at least for a nerd like me.)  Last time we reported on a connection, it was about the EPA study that found 7 pharmaceutical drugs in fish sampled.  That was sort of stretch.  It wasn't like they said in the study that fishermen should practice catch and release because of these drugs... although they should.


But this time, we actually have a video for you made by Dr. Szlyk from Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, VA.  If you can't tell, I'm excited about this video.  I mean, it's the proverbial hat trick with regards to our blog:  1.Fly Fishing 2.Medicine 3.Virginia. (in case you couldn't tell from our uncreative blog title.)  I don't know who Dr. Szlyk is but I think I can safely assume that he's awesome at fly fishing...and at surgery using the da Vinci surgical robot.  




This video also begs the question, when is Renzetti going to jump on this bandwagon?  I mean, come on. Their MOST expensive fly tying vise is ONLY $939.85.  Seriously.  That pales in comparison to the $1.3 million price tag on a da Vinci robot "fly tying vise".  


Finally, I need to give credit where credit is due.  I didn't find this obsessively searching youtube for videos (despite what you may believe, I do study sometimes).  Rather, I found it courtesy of Moldy Chum.  

Check Out Our Google Map!

So we've embedded our map of our favorite fly fishing hot spots.  Currently, it's still pretty rough and we'll be adding more to it in the coming weeks.  But for now, try it out and get directions to some of the best places to put in at the local Virginia rivers.  

Credit goes solely to Rich who had the technical genius (aka computer nerd skills) to figure out how to put it together.  

In upcoming posts, we'll also add more information about each of these rivers, where exactly they are, how to get to them, what to fish with, etc.  Hopefully, we'll be able to link each place to those blog posts (figure out how Rich). 

Enjoy.

Information About Kreelex Flies

Rich knows that I talk a lot about Kreelex flies.  Personally, I love fishing any of the flies invented by one of our very own Charlottesville locals, Chuck Kraft.  

If you try to find any information about Chuck online, you'll only come up with a few articles about him getting in some legal trouble because of some selfish landowners were trying to use obsolete British crown grants to prevent people from fishing on "their land" without paying fees.  But you'll also come up with several articles attesting to the fish-catching abilities of his flies (such as this one about his C.K. nymph).  Obviously, the man knows how to tie a mean fly.

I have yet to get my hands on a C.K. nymph or a C.K. baitfish.  But I have definitely seen the ability of his Kreelex flies and Claw-dads to catch fish.  In my opinion, the Kreelex and the Claw-dad are great for catching monster trout and bass.  When all else fails, a Kreelex will catch 'em.  Locally, the stores sell out of Kreelexs extremely quickly.  So if you head to the Albemarle Angler or Mossy Creek and they're available, load up on 'em while you can.  Or you can go ahead and hit up his website and purchase them online.  

If however, you are into fly tying like myself, you may want to try and throw together a Kreelex on your own.  The Trow brothers were kind enough to put together a Youtube video with great instructions... (just be sure to use Kreinex flash and not your typical flashabou... the Kreinex seems to have much better strength and looks a lot more lively in the water.)

As for how to fish a Kreelex, you can practically use any kind of streamer retrieve with them.  Personally, I'll fish it downstream and across with either a slow retrieve or a fast jerky retrieve to mimic a minnow trying to evade a predator.  Just from this past weekend, I was having more luck with the 'bows at the Moorman with a slow retrieve until I was able to catch a fish's attention, at which point I started to speed up my retrieve to entice them to bite.  It really is amazing to watch a predatory trout just go nuts over an escaping streamer.