mvendon

Right back at you chugbug27 on that Silver Monkey. It came out super nice! Regards, Mark

Thank you Moshup ! I have the colors that I used listed right below the pic. The picture that's in the updated 1995 Bates book shows a pretty dark wing. I used an old, very dark olive cape for the inside and a Whiting American cape natural medium dun for the outside feathers. They're pretty curvy and I should have re - aligned the back a little before taking a pic. Regards, Mark

Queen Of Waters Bucktail Hook : Streamer Head: Black Tag: Fine gold tinsel Tail: A small bunch of guard hairs from the tail of a cottontail rabbit Body: Wound smoothly with orange wool, palmered from tail to head with a light brown saddle hackle which is built up at the throat Wing: A bunch of guard hairs from a Kodiak bear over which is small bunch of guard hairs from the back of a cottontail rabbit. The rabbit hair should be one-third as long as the bear hair when the fly is dressed Cheeks: Jungle cock From Bates Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing. This version can be used for trout or bass all season through and was created by Mr. William Reynolds, a prominent fly dresser that used to be in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Red Horse Streamer Hook: Size 6 or 8 6X long streamer Head: Black Tail: The tips of two yellow hackles, on each side of which is an orange hackle, all the same length and very short Body: Wound with white wool, slightly tapered Ribbing: Oval silver tinsel Throat: The same as the tail Wing: Two dark olive green hackles, on each side of which is a gray blue dun hackle; all the same length and extending well beyond the tail Cheeks: Jungle cock A Lew Oatman pattern designed for bass in waters where the Red Horse sucker is common. It's another one that's out of Bates Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing book. It looks better in person than in my crappy picture since you can't see the almost glowing tail and throat that both colors make.

This is dirt cheap and works really well for deer tail hair evening. I put my thumb over the middle and hold it at a slight angle to try to keep the hair tips from slipping out the bottom. It's really not for super big streamer patterns either. If the deer hair is really long, too much will hang out of the top and it just won't work all that great. You can find them here Really nice tying on both the streamers and that dry fly 🙂 Regards, Mark

Thank You !!

Cains River Aleck's Wonder Size 2 Mustad 3906b Tail: 2 barred wood duck with a slip of blue goose shoulder in between Body: medium flat gold tinsel Wing: Two crimson hackles on the inside, two rich yellow over those with two french blue hackles over those Sides: JC eyes tied long Front: Crimson hackle wrapped first followed by french blue

Another link with even more info on the differences between the two. It's from the owner of Cookshill Fly Tying over in the UK. He skins and cures pretty much all the pelts he sells. His stuff is very high quality. https://www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk/articles/view/quality_control_what_determines_quality_in_natural_fly-tying_materials/

They have it broken down at Flyshacks website explaining what's included and what each piece is best for. The picture of it looks just like Norm / flytire described and posted. Regards, Mark

In Frederic Halford's 1886 book Floating Flies and How to Dress Them, it's the shiny side forward. I guess that was a little bit before genetic hackle was available 😉

I always thought they were Fallfish. We just call them chubs up here too. The tail looks more forked since it's hanging vertically. Here are a couple of shots of when they get a little larger.

Take a look at some of Preston Jennings streamer patterns here . They will give you some ideas to at least get started with some of the colors that you may have. Regards, Mark

Overtons works just fine for silk or any other type of thread. I have dark cobblers wax that I use for Greenwells Glory type flies, but for just about everything else, it's Overtons. It's now available just about everywhere and one tube will last more than a lifetime. Regards, Mark

If it has peacock, it's a Troth or American version PT. Some Sawyer tied ones below from the web.

This comes up here every now and then. He uses them as fertilizer. Here's the thread

Unless you happen to own one of these vises and don't use anything to catch the clippings 😀

Second one down, Coyote fur. I thought it might be red fox, but fox doesn't have much grey under fur until you get around the belly. Third one, Moose mane, fourth one, moose body hair. Fifth one down might be US opossum, but am not positive. Regards, Mark

I've owned my first one since around 2001, and the only thing that's gone wrong were me losing the nylon washers for it over time. Not every thread spool will fit on it either, but most do. I have a concrete floor so I'm very careful about getting it too close to the edge of my bench since if it drops, it may break the ceramic tube. Several years ago, there was a thread on one of these forums about the replacement washers. The OP wrote that all you had to do was contact them and they would send you a bunch free of charge, no problem. When I contacted them, they were quick to reply that they were available at most big box hardware stores. They did get back to me pretty fast though.

They are taking orders for The Flytiers Benchside Reference book that's being re-issued through Amato publishers. It's only $80.00 with a free one year subscription to Fly Tying and Fishing magazine included. It's supposed to have better pics than the first publication. The site displays free shipping for orders over $75.00 . They have a September issue date which really isn't all that far away. I've had one since it first came out. It has "just about" every tying technique covered. Here's the link Regards, Mark

Hi James, The primaries are really good for wings on No Hackles and Henryville Specials. They'll work on just about any smaller sized patterns that call for quill wings. Greenwell's Glory dries or wet wings etc.etc. Regards, Mark

It sounds like you are just waiting a little too long to set the hook. The hook length or type of fly shouldn't have anything to do with a deep hook set. Make sure that you don't have much, if any slack line out so you can see or feel the take right away. You should be pleased as punch that your fly is working as well as it is. Regards, Mark

Yet another option for that type of design ... https://www.premiervices.com/pedestal-vices

Sure ! It's from an old collection from someone in California. It's mostly called for in salmon type flies. It came with a bunch of other fur that I was after on eBay. When I read the pattern recipe, it got me curious to see why they would use that material instead of something else. If you use the wrong part, the dubbing wouldn't have looked anything like that either since most of the fur is silvery grey in color. Regards, Mark

Hi RexW, Norm's suggestion about Hare's ear is good since the general color is pretty good for a March Brown. I just finished mowing and made this up in case you or anyone else was wondering what a mixture of silver monkey and seal fur looked like for dubbing. I used the brown part of fur from the monkey and mixed regular brown and tan seal to get this. Taken in natural light. Regards, Mark

It's a big bag. Even though it's for tailing, some of the feather barbs are about the same diameter as you would find on a regular dry fly cape. It doesn't take long to find a feather/s that work just fine. Most of the mixed reviews that I've read are where folks pick through a bag and are looking for feathers suitable for Hewitt skaters. They are far and few between. They are not like a pack of CDL tailing at all either. For the price they can't be beat really, since most of the dry capes you see today just don't have much in the way of good spade hackle on them. It might be information overload, but when I bought mine at the show down in New Jersey, there were so many people in his booth that you couldn't even get close to the basket where he had all of them stored. I ended up asking the guy looking through them to hand me a bag of brown and a bag of grizzly. They are stuffed full, so it isn't like you can open one up and start inspecting a few feathers at a pop.

Unless it's my computer, it appears like someone gave Pete a "lift" right off this forum.😉 Scroll your cursor over "guest Pete" and you get nothing..