JSzymczyk

yeah, I guess it's all in the spirit of art. If anyone can make a fly so small they need that, then they are at the top of the artform. Maybe instead of gassing all the black widows around my house, I should be collecting the silk. I could sell it as 'stronger than steel' super eeny-weeny thread. ???

yes, definately go to gel spun! I use 200 denier for bass bugs and most deer hair including smaller stuff too. I've used everything including kevlar and fireline, and gel spun works the best. save all the aggravation and just use gel spun when spinning hair. it's worth it. I got it from JStockard.

Your English is better than most people within a hundred miles of me!!

these posts put what most of us think of as a "bad day" in clear perspective. Prayers for both of you and your families. don't ever try to bury your feelings deep inside you, and don't let them become all-consuming either. It's a hard balance to find, but you'll get through it.

I read an entomology forum called insectnet.com they have a "what bug is this?" forum where you can post your pics, and somebody will know to the species and subspecies what you have. maddog is right, the first three are damsels. I'm not real good with the odonata, lepidoptera are my major focus. Those are some really great photos too!

WTF?

I've been saying for years the most consistently productive trout fly ever is a black body / griz hackle / red tail woolly worm. My Dad said that for decades before I was around. I don't think it imitates anything in particular, but it suggests just about everything buggy in a stream.

I use many types of streamers for bass all the time. If you're going after largemouths don't be afraid to go big with your streamers, like 4 and 5 inches long. If going for smallmouths, sometimes they prefer slightly smaller offerings, but mostly they'll hammer large streamers too. If you're used to fishing for trout, forget about all that and convince yourself you are fishing for bass. don't know why the double post... anyhow, many patterns of streamers and bucktails have been designed or invented specifically for bass, including the famous Clouser deep-minnow.

I use many types of streamers for bass all the time. If you're going after largemouths don't be afraid to go big with your streamers, like 4 and 5 inches long. If going for smallmouths, sometimes they prefer slightly smaller offerings, but mostly they'll hammer large streamers too. If you're used to fishing for trout, forget about all that and convince yourself you are fishing for bass.

then I read your signature.

use nightcrawlers.

I thought for the next one, keep the feet webbed, add a duck bill, and call it a platypus.

Wow! web-footed aqua-mouse! very nice work!

I guess you pretty well covered it... I use a nine-and-a-half foot 7wt for the little bit of bass pond (LMB) I get to do here, and it is also nearly perfect for my very rare trips up north for smallmouths. An 8 would handle the bigger / heavier flies better for LMB and might winch them out of the weeds better. I don't sweat it though. I have a 9 ft 5wt for everything else. Both are so-called "medium fast" action.

those will catch bass for sure. the mouse looks just like one I missed with my pellet gun in the back yard today.

I had to buy that same three-pack when I saw it too... the ones with blue handles. Unfortunately the loops are so tiny I can't get any of my fingers in past the second knuckle. While that might be good for some things, it ain't no good for skizzors. I tried modding one of them by cutting out a section of loop and bending it. That sort of worked. Then I found out they are total crap for cutting deer hair and the points aren't tight. So for five bucks per 3 pack, and about an hour and a half of frustration, I figure I lost money on that deal.

I also have a set of Dr. Slick "hair" scissors I bought this summer. Price was right and they seem very good although somewhat large. Not an issue to me though. I also have a set of Thompson "ice tempered" scissors I use all the time. They're at least 10 years old and still work fine.

well... J.Stockard is a good place to start. Just move your mouse up a little on this page and click the link. They have lots of stuff, good prices, and quick shipping.

must be french....

that's a killer! the style could be adapted for just about anything that might eat a small fish, fresh or salt. I can see that thing trolling behind a dodger on downrigger for great lakes salmonoids...

how in the heck does one pronounce "KEOUGH" ?? People continually give me a hard time about my name.... "cuff" ? "kee-ock" ? "coff" ? "robinson" ?

when I was growing up in NW Pa, and for a long time before that, there was a locally made spinner called a "short striker"- it was a silver or gold french-style blade, a brass body, and basically a woolly worm- but with a #12 or #14 treble hook on a mono loop as a kind of stinger hook. Very very effective on the local trout streams. Of course it was a spinning lure, but the concept is the same. these things can be real fish catchers when other lures/flies don't produce.

man, half a wine bottle, you must need like a 30 weight to cast it? Talk about chuck-and-duck!

those look great. before we as flyfishers all got Real Smart and began to understand we had to count gill fibers on nymphs and buy $700 rods, spinner-flies such as those were extremely common for bass and other fish. Also they were very popular for (OH the HORROR!!!) trout. Somewhere I still have a few that were my Dad's, from about the 1950s but the idea goes back way farther.

just fish where SlateDrake is fishing in his avatar. A couple turns of brown chenille on a hook is a good imitation of a hatchery pellet.