robow7

Yea, I sent off an email to Chris yesterday but have not heard back.

That's belly hair and not a premo deer hair strip of which I'm looking for.

Does anyone know where I can obtain bleached white (like belly hair white) premo deer strips for spinning? You can always find "natural" and a bunch of different colors but nobody seems to carry white, and I don't know why. As always, thanks for your input.

Thanks Mike for your response and maybe I can clarify my question. I think that my friend believes because the eye of the hook is on the top, as with the micro jig, then as you strip the fly in, the hook will remain more in a horizontal position vs. if it is a standard fly hook with a bead head and the eye of the hook is now out front vs. on top, that the fly holds less of horizontal position in the water column. I have no idea if the placement of the eye of the hook will make that much difference as to the movement and positioning of the fly on the retrieve. Maybe a silly question but not one I've ever spent any time thinking about.

Steve, I feel the key to getting a good "hook set" on a gar when using a rope fly is when I feel him hit, it's generally pretty soft and I never set the "hook" hard or immediately but I give him line and let him move off with it for several seconds, then I SLOWLY lift my rod creating tension on the line and hopefully I'll feel his head shake and then you know you have him on. My catch rate is so much greater than using any fly with a hook.

I have a friend who swears by the fact that a horizontal presentation of his fly vs. a more "tilted" position really makes a difference with his catch rate of bluegills. He feels he achieves this more horizontal position and movement of the fly by using small 1/80 and 1/100 oz. jig heads to tie his flies on, much like the ones below. Anyone else have any thoughts or experience with this type of fly and/or does this small jig really sit differently in the water and move that much differently from say a more standard hook with a bead attached? As always, thanks for your input. http://www.fishusa.com/product/Wapsi-Fly-Tying-Jig-Heads?source=googleps&gclid=CNyTiYbM9rsCFcsRMwod9WMAQg

Yea, I always have to laugh at these species specific line designs. Take Rio's Smallmough specific line design. If it's going to be ideal for tossing small to medium size light weight poppers for smallies then it not likely ideal when I start throwing heavy chunks of lead crayfish patterns. Any line is a compromise and let's face it, it's a heavy front loaded taper and that's OK, but then they probably have a half dozen lines very similar under different names and colored boxes. And oh btw, I hear Rio is coming out with a new nightcrawler specific taper design line so you may want to hold off for a while.

Mojo, good luck on the circle hooks, I think you'll have far more hits than hook ups but try it and let us know how they work out. silkhdh, thanks for the heads up on the "gar jack", I should be able to create something similar. I generally use pike jaw expanders but am always looking for something to make the removal process easier.

A couple of long nose and spotted gar. The larger gar are a lot fun to play, but unfortunately the smaller gar tend to not put up much resistance. This one was 4 1/2 ft long, largest I've managed came in at 5 ft and 20 lbs. Those are fun ! You can see the rope fly present before landing and releasing the fish.

Here where I live in Illinois/Indiana most all the natural crayfish are an olive/grey in coloration, not surprising which blends in with the rivers bottom.

Weighted keels might work in some conditions but with a decent current and a fly like a Zoo Cougar or Dahlberg Diver that rocks back and forth, twist is a possibility, especially if the top mallard flank wing fouls with the hook and it spins on you until you can correct the situation. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Does anyone know of a crane swivel that is smaller than a SPRO crane swivel size 10 which is .25" long? I'm tying one of these on the end of my leader where I can continue to retie new pieces of tippet and possibly avoid line twist with some of my flies that like to produce a twist. I found these in a size 14 but of course there is no standard when it comes to terminal tackle. Thanks for your input http://www.histackleboxshop.com/American-Fishing-Wire-Mighty-Mini-Crane-Swivel-p/afw-swivel.htm

Like Peterjay, I make my leaders out of Trilene Big Game and finish off with a tippet of Seaguar spinning fluoro and have never ever had a problem with one cutting the other. Well tied double/triple surgeons or blood knots shouldn't cause a problem.

Can't comment on the Threadmaster One but their standard ThreadMaster regular build has been my first choice for my rod building over the last several years. I have yet to find a poor product from Rod Dancer.

You could but it's unneccessary, just use a weighted fly and a long piece of level flurocarbon line as a leader, like 4 lb test Seaguar fluro line.

silvercreek, thanks for the table of thread values

According to my friend who brought in his 10 foot long jig, treating the thread furled leaders with Loon floatant will last for a long time but I'm counting on them to sink as I had planned on using them for my 6 wt line when fishing smallies with streamers.

Well of course you were correct. We made some stepped down furled leaders today out of Danville and Uni 6/0 fly tying thread and you're not going to break the leader before the tippet goes. I'm really interesting as to how they will cast. The Danville fly tying thread ones are much lighter and supple where the Uni thread ones seems stronger but also a touch stiffer. The ones we made out of mono were definitely more prone to twist and kink.

I've built 4 rods now on MHX blanks and they're great if.......you like a fast rod taper and a very light weight blank. If you like a more moderate action or some heft, look elsewhere. Years ago I built on a couple Tiger Eyes but the taper was too slow for my tastes and they were heavier than some of my other sticks, that might not be true now. Everybody is different and there is no best rod since we all appreciate different things in the way a rod handles and casts.

Tomorrow we’re making furled leaders and I have a question. If I make a furled leader out of 10 lb test flurocarbon, will the leader actually break at a poundage higher than 10 lbs because of the twists, like a rope's strength is increased or will it test less or the same as the line that it was created from? Just curious. Thanks for your input.

Have you caught a lot of panfish, bluegill, redear, crappie on your scuds? Also, is there any chance that the fish see those as mini-crayfish rather than a real scud? only because I'm not sure that scuds are common in most midwestern ponds and smaller lakes? Just curious on your thoughts. Thanks,

My best luck has been with wooly buggers, crayfish and clousers, mostly because that's what I'm tossing when I accidentally hook into one.

I've been tempted to build up a Lamiglas FL904, their 7.5 ft 4 wt. 2 pc. rod in their honey colored blank, but never got around to it. A lot of the glass guys still speak quite highly of that model and their 3 wts in particular. Not sure how today's Lamiglas blanks compare to the old rods.

My first nice fly rod was an old Fenglass 8' 5wt in about 1972, as a young boy I was hell on the panfish with that thing. Only wish I still had it today.

Where were you over a year ago when I started this thread and was searching for the stuff but then again I could still use some more golden yellow.