July 27, 2006--If you've been trying to get hold of LDF, we apologize, but we've been unavailable. A storm came through about 7pm July 19, and knocked out power to most of two counties. Our power went out at 7:05pm and didn't come back on until the evening of July 26. I'm sorry but during that time we had no telephones, no access to the internet, and no way to work. We are trying hard right now to get caught up on our work. This was the longest power outage this area has ever experienced. Once again, I'm sorry about the delays in responding.
May 18, 2006--Well, it's happened again. The Olive Helgramite is responsible for another state record. This time it's a 3lb. 2oz. crappie, caught by long time customer John Brasher. This sets the MS state fly rod record for the crappie. We'll have a link for this record shortly.
I hope you guys in the Northeast are hanging on. That was quite a flood. I haven't heard from anybody up there lately. I can understand why not.
Finally, bear have hit Livingston, NJ. I saw the film on the news.
January 2, 2006--I've got a saltwater story for you guys. My first! I met a lady a few days ago (she'll remain nameless for now) who, some years ago, took her first and last turn at the rod. Somewhere out in the Pacific she took a fishing trip with an elderly couple who proceeded to hit the rum and coke shortly after the boat left harbor. After getting far enough offshore, they baited her up (no flies). It wasn't long before she actually had a hit. One hour and a half later, she was nearing exhaustion, she was baking in the sun (she's a redhead, folks), and ready to call it quits. She had a monster fish on the end, but her thought was the next time this fish dives, I'll let let the tackle I'm holding go with it. She got told, "That's $800 in tackle you've got in your hands, don't do it!" Now, she was stuck. She continued to play the fish for a considerable length of time. She finally brought in. The pictures were taken--which she says she destroyed. The fish was weighed and taken home by the Mexican crew. It was a 300 lb. marlin. Her first and last experience fishing for anything.
December 5, 2005--The catalog and newsletter should be in your hands shortly after New Year's. The catalog this year will be severely scaled down. No color and just one new fly pattern. We're finding that nearly every one of our customers can access the internet, so we're relying on the website for our color photos. Remember, if you need a good luck at one of our products, just email us and we can send you photos if you want.
August 11, 2005--Check out this page! The state of Mississippi has started a fly tackle record section. One of our good customers Don Ball has a couple of records listed. One of his records is for a redear sunfish caught on the Olive Helgramite. This is a great opportunity for those of you who fish in MS. Plenty of empty slots left, plus some of those records are light. Check the largemouth record. You can bet that somebody using the fly rod will beat that 3.9 lb. record soon. You'll just have to get out there and give it a shot.
I noticed that they have slots for gar. Now, nothing is meaner than a big alligator gar. I've caught a lot of them by accident over the years. If any of you get ambitious and would like to try to catch a big one on the fly rod, I can tell you that it can be done. Just a few months ago, I saw a photograph of someone from LA, posing with a big gar, probably 30 pounds. He actually caught the thing in the Mississippi River Delta on a big (size 4) streamer while fishing for bass. So folks it can be done. Just use tackle that you would use to catch any carnivorous fish. Big flies and good sturdy leaders. I can tell you personally that catching these big fish on the fly rod is fun, almost like catching pike.
May 11, 2005--Have you checked the weather in the Rockies and northern Plains? Rain and snow and cold weather! yea, I know, that's usually bad news. Now this has got to be good news. It doesn't eliminate the long term drought troubles, but it does ease the fire threat. Back during the winter, I thought that we would be seeing small fires breaking out by May. It won't happen now. I'm sure this summer we'll have some low water troubles, but if you're thinking about traveling to the Rockies, pick your spots and plan on a trip.
We're also working on finding some medium to dark olive bug yarn for Mr. Jally from southwest MO. It's a heck of a lot tougher than I expected. Anybody with any ideas?
March 23, 2005--We got a great letter from David Weller the other day. He reminisced about many great rivers in Montana including the Smith. He remembers the Smith in the good ole days and so do I. He also used to live in Douglas County, Missouri. Here's the really interesting part of the letter. Those of you who live in our part of the country (and other parts of the US) are aware of the white web worms that spin the big webs in the trees. Mr. Weller told me that when those webs are hanging over the trees, trout would hit the white wooly worms and white wooly buggers. Makes sense. Why didn't I think of that?!
It won't warm up here. This is the longest I've ever seen winter hang on around here. It's not that it's consistently in the 40s. It's that we haven't had a string of days in the 70s. Oh well.
I'm getting a page together showing a spot where I go in the winter time. I've got a few photos and a little description. The photos were taken in late February of 2005. You'll see some signs that we had a fairly warm winter here with a lack of snow.
January 28, 2005--If you're interested in the issue of foreign tied flies, take a look at this from The Missoulian.
November 3, 2004--Well, now that the election is over maybe you all can get out to take advantage of some nice late fall days. Around here, we usually have a lot of 60 degree weather in November. Not every day is like that, of course, but many days are like that.
Here's something from Bobby Curtis. He's been catching largemouth with Egghead Flashabuggers. Why didn't I think about that?! I intend to give this idea a try this week and next.
Check out the Specials. We've put quite a number of Poly Parachutes up for sale. Only .75 cents each. Get 'em while they last. These are some of our most popular patterns and now they're only .75.
March 11, 2004--So far this year, I haven't heard many fishing stories from you folks. I did get one great one from Rod Flaherty in western Missouri. He went down to the Missouri side of the White River a few weeks ago and caught 100 trout with one of our Peacock/Olive Wooly Buggers. He raved about the fly, but he also used a little different technique. He used a full sinking line and kept the fly right on the bottom. You guys who think you need a different tactic might give that one a try. Don't hesitate to drop us a line or give us a call about your fishing trips. We'd like to post stories about them.
January 15, 2004--Folks I am getting more aggressive in promoting LDF's flies. I'm seeing more and more junk flies being sold for .60 each. I know where this stuff is coming from. I get flyers all the time from companies in Africa, Central America, and Asia asking me to buy their flies for .35 each. I won't do it. These are not good products. Buy these flies for the kids. If you want quality, durability and top craftsmanship, buy from LDF. We've been here more than 20 years and we fish--not as much as we'd like--but we fish.
1)December 2, 2003-Check this out! Margaret Siverts, one of our good longtime customers, sent us a news article she found in the San Francisco Chronicle. We have the zebra mussel problem in our part of the country, but this looks worse. New Zealand Mussels......
Any of you find good conservation oriented news articles like this one, please get in touch. We'll be glad to post them! And give you credit.