Generations March 2018

Page 1

March 2018

ISSUE 136

HOOKED ON FLY TyING Love of fishing drives local hobbyist

Jeff Mosner ties a panfish lure that looks like a bumblebee, surrounded by his tools and materials in the kitchen of his home on Peysenske Lake. He usually ties flies in a garage workshop. (Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise)

By Robin Fish

r fish@parkrapidsenterprise.com For one local outdoorsman, tying flies is a late-winter activity that keeps him connected with his first love. “I’m a fly fisherman first,” said Peysenske Lake resident Jeff Mosner, 64. “That’s what drove my need to tie flies.” Mosner discovered the natural link between the two activities at an early age. “My dad gave me a fly rod when I was probably about 12, taught me how to fly fish,” he said. “Then you’d be casting, and you’d sometimes lose flies in trees. It got kind of expensive, and for a 12, 13-yearold kid, you don’t have that much money, and so I got into fly tying.” Though he learned casting from his father, his fly-tying skills are self-taught. “I got some books at the library and accumulated some material and started tying my own,” said Mosner. “I’ve been tying a long time.” In the popular mind, fed on films like “A River Runs Through It,” fly fishing is for trout streams. “I love to fly fish,” said Mosner. “A lot of people think fly fishing is all about trout. It probably started with trout many years ago, and it’s a really old sport, but you can catch anything on a fly. So, even though we don’t have a lot of trout here – there’s some in the Straight River, and I have fished there with mediocre

success – lakes around here are full of panfish and bass and northern pike, and you can catch all those with flies. It’s a lot of fun.” With the possibility of catching different kinds of fish, besides trout, comes the need for different kinds of flies. Based on what each kind of fish likes to eat, Mosner ties flies in a variety of sizes and patterns, using materials such as turkey and chicken feathers (dyed or in their natural colors), squirrel and deer hair, chenille and synthetic fibers, all wound around a fishhook with fine thread to hold down each layer of material. Some flies have tiny, BB-like beads for eyes, dragonfly-striped tails, or tiny bright-colored corks with eyes painted on. “You’re imitating what their foods are,” he explained, pointing to samples of his work. “Panfish love to eat bugs, and so you’ve got little bugs like this. Same thing with trout. With some of those, they’re imitating flies and bugs. Others are actually imitating minnows. With bass, they’ll eat a variety of minnows, and you’ve also got kind of a leech-like imitation, because they like leeches. Bass like frogs, so here you’ve got frog imitations. There are some pike flies that I just started tying, and they’re imitating a big minnow, maybe a perch or something like that.” Tools and techniques Some of Mosner’s frog imitations are made by a special technique of spinning deer a bristly puff of Continued on page 7

Inside this issue... 2 2 3 4 4 5 5

Could you have diabetes?

6

Don't believe the hype against bananas

Connecting with Social Security How to grow your own champion tree Still visit those who no longer recognize you At the crossroads: When to stop driving? Is your cat getting enough water? Get to know these women in the wine industry


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Generations March 2018 by Park Rapids Enterprise - Issuu