Al Beatty

Hi Steve, SealEx was originally developed by Poul Jorgensen then he sold the formula to Rocky Mountain Dubbing in Lander, WY. They also tan a lot of deer, elk & moose hide for the fly-tying industry. You should find their phone number under "The Tannery - Rocky Mountain Dubbing" if you can't find the dubbing. They can direct you to a dealer of theirs near you OR we think Cabela's carry their products. Take care & ...

Hi luvin, We do the same thing you do and it makes a good looking fly. Take care & ...

Hi Group, Where to get fly-tying materials is one of the "fun" things about being a fly tier. The further you get into the "fly-tying sickness" <G> the more you may be on-the-search for new materials. That said, It's important to support your local fly shop and the sponsors (like J. Stockard) to the sites you visit; without them your source of materials will be reduced. Keeping your eyes open with the idea a new material can come from anywhere brings two suggestions to mind. One of our favorite body materials for free-living caddis pupa come from the green web-type material in the bags that avacadoes are shipped in. Source: Your local grocery store or CostCo. AND one of Gary LaFontaine's favorite materials was the light-weight, whiteish closed cell foam that computers are slipped in before they are placed in their shipping boxes. Source: A computer store or save the foam from a new computer purchase. Take care & ...

Hi Group, As Crotalis indicated, we pluck and size most of the hackle we use. After sizing the feathers we store them in large, multiple-divider plastic boxes, the type that have 4 rows with the slots to form 24 compartments. We don't use the compartment dividers, just the 4 long rows in each box; they are long enough to store the longer saddle feathers. We put each size in it's separate slot using 2 boxes to store the sizes of one color - sizes 6 - 12 in one box and 14 - 20 (or smaller) in the other. A dozen boxes gives us room to store sized hackle for six colors which is about all we keep these days - brown, grizzly, dun, black, ginger (includes barred ginger, light & dark) and white (includes barred white & very light ginger). We often spend the evening watching TV in our easy chairs and sizing hackle. Even if you only size hackle during the commercials you can have a saddle sized by the end of the evening. One last thing: We use strips of non-skid material (like used in RV kitchens cabinets) to keep dishes, etc. from sliding around while traveling down the road. We cut the strips so they are not quite as wide or as long as the slot we are storing the sized feathers in. Those non-skid strips will keep feathers from migrating from one slot to another. Take care & ...

Hi Guys, Over the years we've used a lot of different mono types. Several years ago while staying at an RV park, we found a "RV flap" that had dropped off a motor home. It's one of those things that hang across the back of an RV or truck to keep mud and rocks from being thrown into a towed vehicle or trailer. It has a metal strip alone one side with strands of heavy, black mono about 14" long hanging from it. Anyway, the mono melts into some of the best shaped, melted mono eyes we've every formed. The "flap" is several feet long and the fibers from it have lasted us (and several friends) for years. I don't suggest you go out and buy one but keep your eyes open around RV parks; you never know what you might find! Take care & ...

Hi Henning, Loved the video. Thanks for posting it. Take care & ...

Hi Guys, You've alread gotten some good comments so I'll only add that the Double Renegade is a very popular fly here in south Idaho and throughout Utah. It is one of our go-to patterns for the South Fork of the Snake River just over the boarder from Wyoming. Take care & ...

Hi Mike, Great job of the pattern step-by-step instructions. You should be pleased with the result. Take care & ...

Hi throwinflys, Based on the short amount of time you've been tying, your flies really look good. You should be pleased with them. Take care & ...

Hi throwinflys, A Cate's Turkey is a nymph we learned about from an old Kaufman book. That pattern is a real killer as a midge imitation. Take care & ...

A Goddard Caddis float well and is not too difficult to tie. Take care & ...

Hi Simon Lidster, That's a good looking fly. I'm not familiar with the wing material used but if it is even slightly stiff you can experience trouble hook fish as the wing won't collapse enought to clear the hook point. Good luck with the design and let us know how/if it works for you. Take care & ...

Hi swithch10, That's a good looking dozen or so flies. Good job! Take care & ...

Hi Chase Creek, Wow! What a great idea and what a simple solution. That is a good looking shot on the fly as well. Take care & ...

Happy New Year to all of you on FTF from Gretchen and me. May you all enjoy a healthy, happy and properous new year. Oh yes, AND with lots of fly tying and fly fishing to round out the year. Take care & ...

Hi dawgvet, Gretchen and I tested those vises before they went on the market and they are a very good vise and great value for the money! We still have a couple we use from time to time. Take care & ...

Federal Tax Exemptions Manufacturers' unions and industry lobbyists work to reduce the amount of excise taxes levied on industries, goods and services. The United States Congress passes new exemptions and tax refunds each year, while earlier exemptions expire or are extended. Domestically made and imported fishing and archery products are exempt from federal excise taxes, with later legislation exempting certain types of wooden arrows. Read more: What Is a Federal Excise Tax? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5047991_federal-excise-tax.html#ixzz2EsAmTT3j Hi group, Gretchen & I are still paying Federal Excise Tax filed on form 720 (back side of the form, 10%)and after several tax audits I plan to continue paying. The current tax information we are working with we have to pay on the "first sale" in the USA and the lowest value that sale could have been based on. EX: If you sell Royal Wulffs as part of your business (retail & wholesale) then you pay the FET based on what the wholesale price would have been even if your sale is retail to the end user. Tax audits aren't much fun, we'll keep paying the tax when it is due. Take care & ...

Hi BrookTroutAngler, Excellent job! You should be pleased with the result. Take care & ...

Hi Guys, Also use the cross-cut strips to make crayfish claws by taking a short section of cross-cut hide and trim the hair close to the hide for about 1/2 of its length. The tuft of hair left on one end is the claw and the trimmed end (the leg part) is attached to the hook. Take care & ...

Hi Chase Creek, Another tip for sticky notes: Often a piece of Scotch Tape is helpful in temporarily holding a material/fiber out of the way BUT it is often too sticky and can tear the fly up when you remove it. The sticky note papaers are great for this purpose because they are not as prone to tear up a fly when removing them. Take care & ...

Hi Jed, The best deer hair for wings and tails is located on the animal in an eight-inch-wide strip along the back bone extending over the shoulder on one end and over the rump on the other. Often you don't get to select from a full hide so use the color of the hair to make your selection. Good wing hair has a fiber with a fine black tip followed by a short tan section followed with a section of dark gray followed by the base section of light gray hair. The light gray flares really bad while the dark gray doesn't. You want the dark gray for hair wings. Often the hair from the rib area on the animal looks similar but the dark gray section is too short or missing all together; most of it is light gray which flares too much. Good luck with you hair-wing flies and post some pix. Take care & ...

Hi Tony P, We buy all of our tying supplies wholesale or bulk. Often for a fly tier purchasing a product in a retail package is also a waste of dollars because you are paying for packaging you won't use. We often save an addition ? percent for purchasing bulk wholesale so the supplier doesn't have to package the product and we don't have to throw it away. You'll need a tax ID number from the IRS to purchase wholesale. Take care & ...

Hi Ebrandt10, Great looking fly and one we like a lot for cutthroat on our central Idaho mountain streams. Good job! Take care & ...

Hi Gentleman Shepherd, They look like the samples the Glen L. Evans company used to give their sales reps many years ago. Gretchen's aunt used to tie flies for that company. They converted treadle sewing machines to make rotating vises. We still have one of those old treadle vises; Gretchen can tie on it but I sure have trouble with it. Tying with my feet just doesn't work for some reason! Take care & ...

Hi perchjerker, I guess I'm dating myself but I've used wire recoreders quite a bit in my early corporate days. Then reel to reel, 8-track, cassetts, etc. Now I understand there is a thing called an IPOD (I think I have that right!) <G>Take care & ...