Fly Fishing Insider Newsletter featuring Baja, General Practitioner, Scott Fly Rods

Baja East Cape , Mexico - Dorado, tuna, Jacks & Rooster Fish
October & November are months when many of the great game fish in the Sea of Cortez migrate south past East Cape of the Baja Peninsula. Fishing for Dorado, Rooster Fish, Jacks, Sierra Mackerel and striped Marlin can be very good. Best part of this picture is that the crowds are gone & there are some fine resort hotels at Buena Vista that are nearly empty. Here blue water fishing is protected from adverse winds and fishing is nearly on-shore. At Buena Vista the desert joins beach sand and surf. This dry climate doesn't provide good habitat for biting bugs. Weather is calm and temperatures are in the high seventies. After fishing for six hours,

you can relax under a canopy of live flowers in a beautiful garden and snooze or sip next to the pool. Buena Vista offers a very civilized way to fish. We opted for 23' Super Pangas which were captained out of our hotel. Our skippers were very competent guides for fly fishing. These small craft proved to be the perfect platform for two fly fishing anglers. The common approach was to

Mark Bachmann with a Skipjack Tuna.

chum with the local baitfish, live Sardinas. We tipped our captains to arrive early and get an hour jump on the rest of the fleet. This paid off in many Skipjack tuna being landed. These hard fighting foot balls averaged about 7-9 pounds with some to 15 pounds. The action usually tapered off around 9:00 a.m. By then we had landed 3-5 tuna apiece. Sometimes Yellow Fin

Tuna of 25-40 pound were encountered. That would use up another hour or two of the morning. Tuna are unbelievably strong for their size. They are beautiful with many iridescent and pearlescent colors. When it comes to colorful display, nothing beats Dorado which actually light-up in tones of gold and neon blue. Dorado are magnificent fly rod mid-size game fish. They average
4-25 pounds, but reach 45 pounds. They target baitfish and squid that live in the surface layer of tropical Oceans. When hooked they are long runners and high jumpers. More importantly, they like to eat flies. Flights to the southern tip of Baja are safe and comparatively inexpensive.

Rusty Moen and Steve Zandstra with a Deschutes steelhead that ate a Black General Practitioner.

General Practitioner
The G.P. as it is often nicknamed is the most popular prawn pattern fly for steelhead and salmon. It was originally tied in 1953 by British officer Colonel Esmond Drury when the there was a ban placed on the use of real prawns for use in fishing for Atlantic Salmon. The fly was an instant success in the British Isles. It is just as popular in the Pacific Northwest and British

Columbia for steelhead. The original fly was tied in orange shades. On the West Coast, black and purple versions are also very productive. The General Practitioner in all three colors works best in large sizes. 2/0 flies on heavy wire hooks are most popular. G.P.'s can be fished with either floating or sinking lines. A productive approach is to fish your G.P. with a floating line and long leader. Present the fly quartering upstream and stack mend line to allow the fly to sink. It will slowly come under tension as it drifts down stream and rise to the surface as comes under full tension from the pull of the current against the line. This method can bring smashing strikes. G.P.s also fish well with sinking tip lines. They seem to be most effective during periods when the water is cooling and fish are holding is softer flows.

General Practitioner
Hook: The original fly was tied on a double hook. Most popular hook is now a TMC 7999, #4-#2/0
Color: This fly can be tied in Orange, Black or Purple. The pattern below is for the original orange version.
Thread: orange
Tail: Ten hot orange bucktail hairs extending a hook length beyond the hook. It is popular to split the tail into two parcels that form a "V". At the same tying point, secure a golden pheasant neck feather to form the mouth parts of the prawn.
Body: Tie in a hot orange hackle and and gold oval tinsel. Dub your tying thread with orange mohair. Wind the dubbing forward to the half way point and secure. Wind the rib and hackle to this same point and secure (do not cut them off). Tie in a golden pheasant neck feather flat over this portion of the body. Tie in the "eyes of the prawn by cutting a V from a golden pheasant tippet and secure this feather so that it lies flat on the neck feather. Dub your tying thread with more orange mohair and wind forward to head of the fly. Wind the rib and hackle forward and secure (this time trim of the unused portion). Tie in another golden pheasant neck feather so that it reaches to the bend of the hook. (This is an abbreviated version. The original fly had one more body and back feather segment.)

You can buy all three colors of Practitioners as a complete set.

Item	Description	Price	To Top
PRACSET	One dozen Practitioner flies, size 2/0, 4 orange, 4 black, 4 purple, includes shipping	$22.95

Last summer Patty and I were invited to Antone Lakes by Brian O'Keefe and the Scott Rod folks to help them design a new series of high performance fly rods. We worked hard for two days along with an extensive team of other Scott dealers and reps to design

the perfect fresh water casting and fish landing tools. The team was ruthlessly uncompromising! Their parameters were simple: no expense would be spared in the development of these rods. Only the best materials and technologies would be used. What emerged from this hard work is the new SUPRPLY SERIES. We have recently received our first three models. They leave nothing to be desired in performance or cosmetics. They are works of art. The actions are moderately fast. They very easy to cast with at all ranges. Loop control is precise. Line speed is amazing. The continous taper design with internal hand fitted ferrules gives a silky smooth, vibration free flow of energy both while casting and playing fish. The blanks are under-stated gloss black with black and silver trim. The nickel silver and cocobolo reel seats are exquisite jewelry. The lathe turned grips are the best Flor Plus Cork in the world.
Even if you are extremely picky, you will like this series of rods!

SUPRPLY SERIES
Model	Length	Line	Sections	Weight	Price	To Top
S3 854	8'6"	4	2	2.7	$530
S3 905	9'0"	5	2	3.1	$530
S3 906	9'0"	6	2	3.2	$530

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