JSzymczyk

I'm sure this will draw many flames, but I'd suggest Mustad 3366. It has the classic Sproat bend so favored by the tiers of that era, and the price can't be beat for fishing-quality flies of that type. There's an illustration in Henshall's "Book of the Black Bass" of his favorite Sproat hooks, and they look almost identical to 3366s.

Materials Used tail: olive and brown marabou body: white chenille wing: olive and brown marabou head: stacked ram's wool, white on the bottom, alternating olive and brown on top, to give a mottled appearance thread: olive 3/0 monocord hook: M3366 #2, or whatever you want Tying Instructions be sure to leave enough room at the front of the streamer to tie in a rather large wool head, at least three good bunches on both the top and bottom. comb the wool back and leave some long in the rear to blend the color back into the wings and along the body. Adjust colors as needed. this fly sinks well, and has a very nice general sculpin/madtom/goby/tadpole look in the water.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by JSzymczyk: marabou wool sculpin

here is my home-made brass hair packer. Not pretty but it works very good. I intentionally made it so the two "jaws" overlap, giving nearly full contact around the shank and leaving no gap for hair to slip through. The pieces are .014 and .016 brass from an old feeler guage. It's the work of a few minutes with a dremel tool. JStockard sells the GSP. I bought a couple spools of the 200 denier. It works.

I've been messing with deer hair bugs for many years, off and on. I can hold my own making durable, fishing quality bugs that perform well. Just today I made a "brassie" style hair packer from a couple pieces of feeler guage, and spooled up with GSP 200 denier thread for the first time. All I can say is- if you are at all serious about making spun deer hair flies, YOU NEED THESE TWO ITEMS!!! I was surprised at the performance- the same exact hair I was cutting with 3/0 monocord and 6lb fireline just flared and spun nice with the GSP. Using the packer which pushes back the thread wraps along with the hair made my first bugs out of the vise easily 50% denser than before. For a spool of thread, it's expensive but worth every penny. For a piece of bent brass, the tool is a stroke of genius. I won't go back to any other stuff now. :headbang:

I'm thankful that you guys all work so hard to provide this forum for us. While I understand the need to always look for improvement and make things better, I also believe "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"- I'll be happy if the site stays the same, and I'll be happy if the owners decide to make changes. I'm easy.

roger that- I know there are quite a few of us here on active duty, or who have family or friends who are, or in reserves, or retired, or who have served. Thanks go out to all of us and all of you.

You might have to go to Atlanta.... I live a little ways southwest of you, and nobody even knows what a fly shop is around here. A Dick's sports opened in Dothan a few weeks ago, and I was hoping they might have a shelf or two of materials, but as expected, nobody knew what I was talking about when I asked.

the BIG ones may indeed be less numerous than they used to. I know down here the prevailing attitude toward gar of any kind is sadly the same as the idiotic local attitude towards snakes of any kind- the only good one is a dead one. You can drive down below the dam that forms Lake Seminole, and on the Chatahoochee below Lake Eufala and see many many 4 and 5 foot long gar, and some bigger. I don't think they are Alligator Gar, or not very many of them, but I haven't really researched it. The smaller creeks around here all have populations of spotted gar and others, and it's very common to see them, some surprisingly big for the size of the creeks they're living in.

I bought a peak several months ago and have been very pleased. I tie mostly size 12 and larger stuff, so I don't know how it would be for small flies. I know they make a midge jaw for it.

I've been working on this for a little while. It's a blend of good pieces of existing flies, so it's not technically original. I had some Polar Chenille on hand, and Day5 pointed out to me that it's constructed like Disco, but in some ways better. It sheds water fast so it stays light on the cast. It's sort of an all-synthetic woolly bugger, and can be tied and fished in any manner. The action of the fly is outstanding and the flashy-translucent property of the Polar Chenille makes for an incredibly "alive" fly. I have no trouble casting a #2 on my seven wt, and no trouble casting a #6 on my five wt. I'm going to tear up some smallmouths next week with these....

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by JSzymczyk: crazy crystal bugger

green and brown woolly bugger with a little red flash... put a brown bead or very small lead eyes on it. quick and effective.

not really on topic, but keeping my scissors in-hand saves me the aggravation of putting them down and not finding them again... I know, I should put them in the same place every time. Too many years exposure to RF is taking a toll. I have 3 pair of scissors laying around on my tying surface and sometimes I can't find any of them!

those are NICE!

old laptop bag is good. Any old bag will work if you let it. I keep most of my materials in ziplock bags, and they do a great job of keeping things organized.

1- practice 2- practice 3- practice 4- leave yourself enough room on the hook to work with, don't crowd the hook eye toward the finish.

re debarbing: I have squished barbs on thousands of mustad hooks. once in a while I've had a BARB break off, not a point- just the barb, leaving a little ramp instead of a nice flat squished barb. this has not happened to me since I started using wider smooth jawed pliers and steady, gentle pressure to squeeze the barbs down. Use the back of the pliers jaw, not the tips to squeeze the barb down, much better control that way.

Tiffany and Disco worms, and a Day5 inspired Polar-Chenille bugger/grubber/wormy lookin' thing. less than three weeks 'till I get to TRY to fly fish for smallmouths again for the first time in a LONG time!

I think I need to hire her to tie some bead head nymphs for my brother... mine don't look nearly as nice as that!!

I say use head cement if at all possible. I use Hard-as-nails. It's a tiny little step that adds insurance. I don't want to worry that my whip finish is going to slip, or whatever, when I'm fishing. It will depend somewhat on the individual fly too, if it's a streamer with a significant head, then it's more likely the knot will slip than if it's a tiny dry with almost no head. You need to try a few each way and see what your results are! I don't buy the argument "because a commercial tyer does it this way..."

gotta ask -where/how/when/from whom- did you get olive disco?

I have a big roll of 2" wide sticky-back magnet strip. never thought of using it to hold weedguard flies! In the ponds I'm allowed to fish, I've been getting globs of slimy algae-type stuff on the flies, so the weedguards have been less than useful. is that a black disco-worm in the corner? the flies look great

Oh I wasn't knocking Mustad... just the opposite. I continually fail to realize that sarcasm doesn't come across the internet very well. I found it humorous that so many high-end, holier-than-thou types were saying that the only hooks that are worth even looking at are Tiemcos, Daiichis, and the other boutique brands. Mostly these appeared to be the same guys who NEED to buy new $600 waders and $1K rods each year because they seem to have an "image" to maintain. No doubt the bling-bling hooks are good hooks, great even, and I've used some of them. Not many though. I'll just say I've NEVER had a Mustad fly hook cause me to lose a fish- and I've lost a LOT of fish!

Wow, I've been reading several discussion boards tonight and learned something amazing.... it appears, according to fly fishermen everywhere, that Mustad fly hooks are just crap. That's a bummer because for what, almost 30 years, I always thought they were great. :dunno: