JSzymczyk

found this synthetic yarn in a fabric store called "Tiffany"... it's like disco only smaller and softer, with no flash. Color selection was limited, but they had black. This stuff has action in the water that puts any soft-plastic worm to shame... it is ALIVE in the water! With a small bead or cone head, it should mimic the undulation of a swimming leech almost perfectly with a tiny strip retrieve. Unweighted, it swims easy, sinks slow, and looks great. Sheds water well and is easier to cast than a bunny strip, or even a disco.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by JSzymczyk: A Worm called Tiffany

I've caught LMB and Crappies in fairly dirty water here, maybe 1 foot visibility, on chartreuse over white. In fact, EVERYTHING seems to like chartreuse over white. Experiment with various colors though, you might find something that works well in your area that nobody has thought of yet.

my flies are tied with a "doubled" furl- i double a length of the yarn and twist it, then let it furl into a tail. I wanted to create a fuller baitfish type fly for the stained water I fish around here. Furling a single strand of yarn will create a slimmer tail, with the advantage that it won't hold as much water and it will cast easier. The disco yarn is fully synthetic, fiber strands mixed with fine flashabou type mylar strands.

I'm in for a v-class if there can be one- I've been tying deer hair for many years but still get frustrated on occasion!

Last month, McCoy's Outdoors in Mobile Alabama had a few packs of stainless mustad keel hooks on the pegboard. I THINK they were size two also.. maybe not. Very old packaging. I remember looking at them and thinking "these are out of production, maybe I should buy them..." but they were tagged way expensive, something like $8 for a pack of 10 if I remember right. they only had a couple packs. Probably still there, might want to give them a call.

Disco Yarn, made by Bernat, in the yarn/sewing/craft section of wally world (and elsewhere I'm sure). It comes in many colors, and is about $5 for fifty yards (!!) enough to tie a BUNCH of flies.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by JSzymczyk: disco minnow

looks great- I'll get my preorder in ASAP. one comment, "Explicit Fly Porn" ?? yeah we know what it means. My son, and other people's kids, thankfully don't, and will be looking at the magazine .... "Dad, what's Explicit Porn mean?" There might be alternatives to that title. thanks, Joel

I have some slower setting CA which worked well in test wraps, and DUHHH regular head cement sets much slower than even slow CA. I thought wetting the thread before whip finishing was the answer, but wanted to see if I was missing anything. thanks for the help everyone!! Joel

I'm tying some bead head nymphs and buggers much smaller than I usually do, but not nearly as small as a lot of you out there. For bigger bead/cone head flies I drip a drop of zap a gap through or behind the bead head, which saturates the final wraps and whip finish. On these flies that seems impossible and a small drop saturates a third of the entire fly. What's the trick to seal the thread but not ruin the fly? I'm tying #12 and 14s with 1/8 beads. Also I'm able to tie these so very little or no thread is visible behind the bead. I thought about wetting the thread with CA before pulling the whip finish tight. Thanks- Joel

holy crap I hope he untied it from the hook before he ate it!

it's always hit-or-miss when getting materials online or mailorder. I've bought "Extra-Large Prime Northern Whitetail Bucktails" from several places, and the size and quality always varies, even from the same supplier in the same order. Sometimes a lot of the hair is 4, 4-1/2 inches and straight, sometimes it's 3 inches max and kinky. If you can find someone at the company to actually talk to about what you need, that might help. Possibly JStockard, Feathercraft in St. Louis or Whitetail Fly Tieing (Chris Helm) in Ohio. all are on the internet.

:headbang:

wow! nice!

I recommend hitting wally world or walgreens or someplace like that and get a bottle of Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails fingernail polish. Been using it for 20 some years and it works great.

inspired by Day5

to my knowledge, the w. worm came first, then came the w. bugger. The worm originally had a tail of a few red hackle fibers, or a small bunch of short-clipped red wool yarn. Then chenille body and palmered hackle. I tie mine with a short tuft of fl. red glo-bug yarn as the tail. I like them on a 3xl hook, size 6 to 12, in any color and grizzly hackle always goes well. Favorites are black, yellow, green, chartreuse, white, well just about any color. Super simple and super effective in my experience. I've caught fish with them in tiny fast brooks to lakes. There was a beaver pond I used to fish up in N. Maine that had some really nice brookies, and they couldn't resist a black/griz w.worm cast out and just left to sink slowly all the way to the weeds. Had to watch the line tip for a little "tick" and then tighten up!

never hear anyone mention the lowly, simple woolly worm anymore- just bugger bugger bugger. Seems to me I've caught trout everywhere, all kinds of sunfish, rock bass, and other stuff with woolly worms ever since I was a kid, and plus it's a great fly to teach tying with. Has it faded into obscurity since buggers have taken over?

last night I put some white marabou and grizzly hackles in lemon-lime gatorade, dumped in some vinegar, and nuked it for two minutes like said here---- WOW! Now I have to pick up some other kinds of gatorade!

that's great! this year or next year if you see them spawning, remember to start taking out a bunch of little ones as you catch them- bluegills (sunfish in general) can overpopulate any mudpuddle in a season, and get stunted. There are 5 acre ponds and larger around here where there's nothing over about 4 inches, but billions of them. I'd love to get permission to throw a few bass in those ponds and come back in a couple years...

sweet! I hope it works out well for you, and don't get discouraged- there are bound to be bumps in the road.

I had an hour to fish before dark tonight, and couldn't buy a hit on deerhair bugs. I switched to a purple/black LMBugger (just like in the pic) and caught a 16" and a 14" LMB.

those things are so ugly the fish are going to kill them just to put them out of their misery!!@!!

OK, done. instructions included. Some assembly required.