Rob Knisely

With the purpose a given (the material will do what I want for a particular pattern), the quality, to me, is: 1. lack of flaws- this includes unbroken tips (like bucktail, peacock herl, and others where broken off tips on the finished fly make for a lousy-looking fly, even though it would still fish okay). 2. clean- sure you can clean it further yourself, but if it's clean to begin with, that's less work and the more likely it is properly preserved. 3. properly preserved- really a tie with #2. The lack of well-tanned materials made me take up hunting to support my fly-tying habit 4. amount- you should get a fair amount of the material for the money spent. This is hard to measure, but I usually base it on how many "good" flies I can get from it. 5. color- this is a last measure of quality for me since I dye a lot of stuff anyway. But if I need a particular color I'm not able to dye myself, this becomes important.

You can think of dun as gray. Blue dun has a slight bluish tint in it. Sandy dun is gray with a slight tint of tan, light dun is a light grayish color, while light blue dun is a light gray with a hint of light blue, etc. Keep in mind when selecting capes for your own flies the shades of the naturals you will be imitating. As with gray, there are many shades of dun, likewise different shades of blue dun. I usually use something in the range of medium dun for general purpose flies. In matching particular bugs, or for a certain look, I often dye my own just to get the right shade.

That's good news for us, too, Al! We all gratefully benefit from your work and generosity. Please keep us updated and let us know if you need anything.

At a minimum, you should have the materials Fontinalis listed. The more web the better. I can't think of a single bird that doesn't have feathers suitable for soft hackles. These could be on the neck or head, or under the wings, the shoulders. Some of the best, however, come from birds with body feathers that are soft and webby. Woodcock is my personal favorite... beautiful! Chukar, mourning dove, quail, kingfisher, european jay, are some others. If fibers are too long, you can use a dubbing loop. Here is one that features a hen hackle, dyed ginger: And this one features kingfisher in the tail and the hackle:

Royal Trude, variant (mixed brown/grizzly hackle) Red Humpy Royal Wulff

Some methods of tanning leave the hide stiff if not "broken" while it's drying. I don't know why a lot of tying materials come like this... it's pretty annoying sometimes. Anyway, the hide can be softened a little by applying a little neatsfoot oil to the skin side only. Just a little at a time. As the oil soaks in, you'll find you can start to bend the hide a little. Use sand paper to roughen it up, add a little more neatsfoot oil, and bend the hide every which way. Run in over the edge of a board. The hide will turn white-ish and get softer the more you work at it. Do not soak it in water, as this will most likely leach out the tanning chemicals. This is a lot of work! If you just have a small piece, it's probably not worth the effort, to be honest.

Hi skunked, I might be able to guess at that jointed pattern, or come up with something close. You might try e-mailing BrianD at the Quest Outdoors site where the pic came from. On the tying forum there, he says he's tied it for about five years. Can't tell for sure what the body is on the rear, maybe dubbing or micro chenille? I have no idea what the back is on the rear portion either... raffia, or Medallion Sheeting, or something. I have one simple Wiggler pattern I did for a customer a couple years ago... I can look that up for you. I think it's popular in MI, though, so it's probably listed somewhere on the MI fly sites.

Hi Mr. Fin! Welcome! Don Bastian?!! How fortunate... one of my favorite tiers, though I don't anything about him except his exquisite tying skills. I judge my own wet flies by comparing them to his, trying to match the quality... I still don't even come close! I'll gladly soak up any and all information you care to share! For any not familiar with Don's ties, check out the wet fly pages on the Rare and Unusual web site: Rare and Unusual: Wet Flies I look forward to getting to know you. By the way, if you don't mind telling, how did Mr. Bastian become your mentor? And is the Fontinalis Fin your favorite? Oh, any idea how many unique patterns Don has? Any photos of your own ties you could share?

TroutBum has it. Bob ties about one toothpick worth on top... maybe a bit less for the belly. I've seen him tie them this way on a maybe a #1/0 hook. I still can't bring myself to do it! Sparse as I get is about two unless it's really small, but then you're only suposed to have a top bundle, none underneath.

Hank Gevedon ties a fly called a "Cad-E-Z" (sp?) that is to be tied without a vise. Clump of deer hair as a tail, excess lashed to the shank; half hitch; lash another bundle with tips forward, tight wraps, pinch to hold in place; stroke the hair back and take a few tight wraps to form a bullet head and secure; three half hitches to tie off. Cement if you like. This fly is tied from #12-1/0 and can be a caddis, hopper, surface baitfish, whatever... it's a real fish-catcher! This guy makes his own hooks to tie them on, too. Makes bamboo rods, vises (for his other flies), boats (sometimes out of concrete ), and he even made a very nice reel from melted down aluminum cans... it was smooooth! But I ramble... basically, this is the only pattern I tie without a vise, and then just for the nostalgia of it. I simply must have more control! I showed a friend how to tie flies one evening. We didn't have vises or anything so I suggested a vice grip. He loves tying flies, but being the ever frugle farmer still sticks with the vice grip!

Hey atroutbum2, My buddy ties a Rabbit Bugger that is very similar to your Hare's Ear variant, only on a longer shank hook in size 6-8. He uses body fur (as in off of Zonker strips) though, in various colors from chart. to black. Works great on bream. We haven't tested it much on trout. How does yours do? You might also like the Squirrelly Cuss... designed for bluegill though: Here's the instructs if you're interested: Squirrelly Cuss

In addition to your own dying technique, just color the pearl beads with the marker... don't have to be precise. Then place a drop of superglue on top of the bead and "run" it around the bead with a needle to cover it. The marker will mix with the superglue and produce more of tint (darker or lighter depending on how thickly you colored the bead beforehand). With pearl, you can get some very nice effects using different colors of permanent marker. You can also blend colors uniformly over the bead eye with this method. Oh... best to do this right after tying in the eyes and before dubbing, etc.

After halving your half of what you had make sure the fibers are all separated and loose by pulling them apart a little. The small clump of dubbing should just barely hold itself together... if you blow on, it'll go everywhere... that loose. Stretch the clump out a little so it's longer than wide, and apply this along the tying thread. Roll the dubbing onto the thread with a tight rolling pinch. If your kind of dubbing still does not dub well, use even less dubbing, spread out more, and do the pinch-roll with your finger/thumb at a 45 degree angle to the thread, rather than the normal 90 degrees (at an angle instead of perpendicular... hard to explain). I haven't met a dubbing yet that this does work on. Use wax only in specialized applications like dust-dubbing and others.

So the premise is a stonefly nymph (or other) using cotton embroidery thread? Is that what the body material is? (recipe?) So for the challenge part, we should come up with similar fly, style, something using the same materials?

Oh, good grief! Man, this is really turning into a project! I have one on the way, but I've got some work to do with it. This is great! I've got a bunch of ideas on how to do certain aspects... just have to try them out and implement. Good project- might even come up with some new techniques. Hopefully it won't be too much longer! Here's one of my favorite photos. Tells a story. Maybe the details could help someone tying this species. Graham... what are using for your wingpads? They look real good.

Don't worry, Daryn, that's just my arm! The legs are feathers (speckled hen, colored a little with marker) with the barbs trimmed close to the stem, then varnished. You have to trim the barbs to a length that each overlaps half of the next barb when the varnish is applied and the barbs lay "flat" to get the shape. I still didn't get it quite right... maybe next time! Couple more images:

I think it's a #22. I was going to check and see, but now I can't find it!

Forgot to mention... down eye hooks work just find. I use 3x long streamer hooks for Arctic Clousers. The wider hook gap on the 3366/34007 is best when bucktail is used. Shorter gaps are fine with softer materials like Arctic Fox or marabou, and are better for trout where there is less danger of gouging eyes in catch/release situations.

Freshwater Clousers... use Mustad 3366 like Bob does. Saltwater... use Mustad 34007 Circle hooks... use the Signature as TroutbBum says... well worth the investment and works on all sizes of fish!

You might a useful tip or two here: Deer Hair Popper Sounds like you're tying a bundle in on top, then another right below on the bottom, as you would for a two-tonw effect. The trick to this is to take a couple loose turns of thread around the bundle, then pinch it against the hook to hold it in place (on top of the hook) Keep hold of the hair and take a couple tight turns directly over the first two. Very tight on the last two thread wraps. Check the position of the bundle to make sure it surrounds the top half, and only the top half of the shank. Repeat for the underside of the shank, making the thread wraps directly over those used for the top bundle. In other words, don't let the hair spin too much, and make the tie in area for both bundles a thread-width wide (or as close as possible). After the bottom bundle is tied-in, keep great tension on the thread (if the hair starts to spin now, the tie-in wraps weren't tight enough) and use a pen casing or hair packer to push the forward-facing hairs back. When the hairs are back, hold them in place with one hand, and take three tight turns of thread just in front arond the shank. Use fingernails or other tool to push these thread wraps back into the hair to further compress. When you get to the next layer, hold the bundle in your left hand, and push the tied-in hairs back and down with the same hand as you position the bundle over the hook shank. Repeat the tie-in steps above. Hope that helps a bit! Keep at it... when you get it you'll happy as can be!

I was pretty confident in my contest entries until I saw the other entries! So many great flies, tied extremely well! Congrats and good job to all! I had a great time looking over all the flies (most with comments like "Oh, that's cool!" or "Man, what a great idea!") This is whole different contest... you have to add elements of public appeal, as well as tying the flies well. One thing I didn't take into consideration was the photo... looking back I see I sent in some very unphotogenic flies! (Sorry 'bout that, Will!) Anyway, I hope you're all ready... now that I know who tied what, I've got a gazillion questions! I just have to go through all the flies again and write them down. Thanks for all the hard work, Will; and thanks to everyone for all the cool flies!

You can also "poach" the trout... gut and take the head off, clean well. Place trout in aluminum foil with butter, seasonings and about 1/4 cup water. Seal up (fold over) the foil to make a pocket. When done, the skin slides right off. You eat one side, pull the skeleton off (usually stays in one piece), eat the other side. For seasonings, I like lemon pepper; or salt, pepper, dill weed, crushed red pepper. For the above, about 15-20 minutes on 375 (bake). For an advanced, fancy meal, do the above, remove all the bones from the meat, and sear in a skillet with olive oil, adding chopped parsley. Serve with rice and beer.

Oops. Sorry... that was supposed to be an attached image. Must not have done it right. Anyway, you can see it here: Mini Deceiver

That's a good-looking fly... should work for trout and many other fish! Maybe I'm wierd, but I put eyes on flies if it looks good to me, with almost total disregard to the fish! I've seen flies with eyes that just look terrible IMO. Then I've seen flies that look like they ought to have eyes. I guess it's an artist's perspective. I like to tie flies that look good to me and catch fish. If it looks like eyes would make the fly look funny, I leave them off. The style of eye makes a difference, too. Shep, for your fly, I think those eyes work very well and add to the overall look of the pattern. As to whether they will make it more attractive to the fish, that's for the fish to decide, and who can figure that?! Here's a Deceiver I tied on size 10 wet fly hook. Note the eyes... mere pinhead dots of paint!

This is the best one I've got: Creek Chub This is about 6 to 8 inches long. I typically use this and a red/black version (called the River Demon) for river muskies, using a 10 wt. rod. Let me know if you'd like some detailed how-to. For a leader, 20-25 lb. mono or flouro, about 6-8 feet worth, Surflon Micro Supreme wire between that and the fly. There is also the Flash-Jerk... basically a bunch of Flashabou with a Tubing head and eyes. Sounds simple, but in the water, it takes on the action of a wounded minnow, head going down, jerking back up on the strip, and the sudden flash so typical of injured fish.