Recent comments

One of the best

Martin,

This book may very well be the finest on the subject. The amount of research Mr.Smith put into this text is prevalent throughout. I find myself reopening this book from time to time... and if you're doing that, you know it's a well written book.

The section about Lister's fly journal is absolutely amazing and when I first read it, gave me chills. I love soft hackle flies and flymphs and I really appreciate the hard work that was done in putting this book together.

It's a shame some people don't realize a good book when they see it.

Pinch!

Denis,

The best way to get the wings to sit is probably to pinch them really hard in place with your fingers over the hook and wing, then laying a loose loop of thread over them, taking the thread back up and pulling it tight using an upwards motion while holding the wing in place. This will have the thread going down on the wing and not twisting it as much. The thread usually has little effect when using that technique and it's even better to use a quite "sticky" thread than a smooth one because it will hold better once the first wraps are laid.

I hope this helps a bit.

Martin

Notice the date

Joly,

Notice the date on this post! I'm not sure the spring idea will work for real... but springs can be bought many places. I bought the ones seen here in a store that supplies parts for boats and cars. A whole selection of different springs for almost no money.

Martin

Purchasing springs

Hi all,

a great idea to use such springs - but does anyone knows a vendor for such springs?

LG

joly

Great post!

This is one of those posts that will be around for several years. Really good one.

Some more wisdom

Some wisdom by Karel Liska,

Karel Liska usually used only three flies, while his friends had a lot of patterns.

"There are three different days during trout season there.
The first one, trout takes every reasonable fly, me and my friends catch a fish.
The second, trout doesn't take every fly, if my friends don´t find the proper one, I´m not in disadvantage.
The third, trout doesn't take any fly, then all of us catch nothing."

Comment to #31-2013 - Edson Light Tiger Bucktail t

Also check out the "Bumble Puppy" an old Catskill fly with very similar materials and construction. Beautiful in the water.

best tippet knot

Try the "Infinity Knot" - best on-stream tippet to tippet knot ever. Takes less than 30 seconds to tie and is far superior to the Surgeons knot, double Uni, or Blood knot.

spey hackles

Bob, 2 notes: 1: Poul Jorgensen took took large Marabou hackles, sprayed them with hair spray, and laid them wet on a piece of thick cardboard, and brushed them out with a stiff toothbrush. Resulted in a great heron like hackles.
2. The Blue Eared Pheasant has tail fthrs, with unbelievably long fibers. Several inches! I have used them on large dee flies, they do not clump at all, almost exactly like heron in the water. I also like to use large Gadwall fthrs, strripped one side, they are almost like Kori Bustard hackles. Cheers, Joel

Best tippet to dry fly knot!

The Double Davy knot is the best dry fly knot NO contest. Very simple, very fast, very strong, very reliable, very small footprint, little wasted tippet.

Saving bambo rods

Any one out there ,to help me reclame my old bamboo rods. Ii would like to reclame for fishing all are very good ,all joints are solide , but do need some work , varnishing would be nescessary, place knew guides and one a new handle , i am looking for a book or a site to help me reclame these rods, i have a beautifull two hand salmon rod like new and one trout that is over 150 yrs old , none carry any names except the salmon , this would be a great winter project thank you for the help

Bobbin

Steamboat, I'm really sorry to hear this and have yet to experience that with any of mine (and I have over a dozen of these Stonfo bobbins I use regularly). The main thread I use is UNI and I vary between all three sizes of bobbins. Losing tension never happens, plus I tend to modify it depending on the style of fly I'm tying and required pressure. In regards to fraying, that has rarely happened to me, and in most cases it has, the issue has related to something else. I would suggest contacting either the shop you purchased them from or Stonfo directly because something doesn't sound right. Let me know how it works out (my email is listed through my website, Trout and Feather). Tim

Knots for Leaders

Good article and advice. I've found however that an UNI knot with each end of material to join them is as good as the blood knot, is easier to tie and works well when there are significant differences in the diameter of the material.

Fishing

standing with the sore foot in cold water will really help you.I really sad about you after reading your story.It will really disappear once the surgery heals.

Not all kits are worthless

While in principle I agree that kits aren't usually the way to go, I have found one or two that are worth it, especially of you think of them as "Explore Fly Tying" kits. I dropped maybe $60 for a small tool kit (vise, scissors, bobbin, bodkin, threader, hackle pliers) and a very basic Wapsi materials kit. Are they great? No, I have replaced the vice and bought an additional bobbin. however it was enough tools and materials to get and keep me going until I figured out what I wanted to spend my money on. I wouldn't have gotten into fly tying if I had to start with a $160 Renzetti Traveler vise.

John's comment

Hi John,
I wrote a blog about this specific topic. You can find it here. http://www.tacticalflyfisher.com/blog/wingcases-to-invert-or-not-to-inv…

Upside down

Considering the jig will ride hook point upwards towards the sky, and wing cases on naturals are also on the top of the fly, why not paint the wing case on the other side of the bead? this will ride visually upside down in this orientation.

Comment to Fly Tyers

Nice collection of tiers. I have tied since age 9 (trout in upstate NY). Now 83 and still at it especially large flies for the spring Salmon in the Restigouche River Quebec and trout flies for the Oatka in upstate NY..

Comment to Fly Tyers

Thanks for dropping by Pete. 74 years of tying experience, that's impressive. I'm sure you've got some good stories to tell. I hope that I can say I'm still tying flies when I hit my 80's.

Royal Coachman

Vey nice Barry. You had me from the start. I am a commercial tier and too bad your new "system" doesn't work on all patterns.

Best Regards

Steve

Damsel fly nymph video

Good video, except all the chatter in the background. Geez guys, didn't ya know Maria was recording. Rude

Renomed scissors rock !

Hi Martin,

Thanks for taking the time to sum up so many scissors in your article. I've tried so many makes and types of scissors so far and I've never been fully satisfied with them. My two must have criteria for the tying scissors are sharpness of course and thin blades (often I need to cut materials right at the very tying point of the hook or tube). For a couple of years I've been using scissors made by Polish company Renomed and those are the best I've ever come across. If you're still looking for the ultimate fly tying scissors then you should definitely try them.

All the best,
Janusz

Columbia Queets River Jacket

Columbia Queets River Jacket - bought this when I first got into fly fishing for $100 at Cabela's. I had no idea how lucky I was. No insulation, this is a shell, with plenty of room for layering. As Kalby64 mentioned, no useful hand pockets (there are 2, but low on the jacket, with zippers, but the zippers are covered by a flap at least, no fleece lining). But get this - one of the pockets is reversible and the whole jacket packs down into it and zips closed, about the size of a softball! The cuffs are just a neoprene sleeve, no velcro, nothing to snag a fly line on, and gloves slide right over them. Go ahead and stick you arm in the water up to the shoulder, you'll remain dry. The jacket is short (as a wading jacket SHOULD be), and has a neoprene waist that prevents water from getting into the jacket if you (briefly) get too deep. Hood is big, with a bill that covers your cap bill. Net D-ring on the back, 2 D-rings up front, and 2 zingers (think nippers, tippet, hemostats, and TY-RITE fly holder - we fish 24-28's often, so...) HUGE vertical chest pockets with big flaps to keep rain out. I have fished in torrential downpours and blizzards and always stayed BONE DRY AND WARM. After six hours in the rain, the outside of the jacket was wet, and heavy, but I was dry. By the morning the jacket was dry and ready to go again. It's not gortex but Columbia's Omni-Tech fabric with a silver reflective coating on the inside to reflect body heat. Not SUPER breatheable, but on par with all but the best goretex jackets. I've worn it with layers on days that started in the 20's and wound up in the 50's and never needed to take it off. They quit making the jacket after a legal battle over some copyright crap by another vendor (might have been patagonia). This is as close to the perfect wading jacket as you will find, so if you ever find one in good shape, BUY IT! And in case any manufacturers are trolling here, make a jacket like the Columbia Queets and add pit zips and a storage pocket on the back - you'll have yourself a winner.

Comment to Allcock Heritage BG3 Hooks

Hi all, I just posted a bunch of Heritage hooks on ebay including some of these Allcock streamers and many other lots of hooks. Happy bidding.