rstout

My Grandfather received a fly tying kit for his 50th birthday. His hands were massive from logging his entire life and he said there was no way in hell he could tie something so small. I was interested so he gave the kit to me. The kit wasn't much but I tied some sorry looking mosquitoes and wooley worms and headed to the trout pond. Caught a lot of fish. Leroy Hyatt wrote a weekly article in the local paper featuring information about a fly, materials needed to tie it and a picture of the fly. I couldn't wait to get the Thursday paper. I would cut out the article and try and produce the same fly. I was 14 at the time and have been tying for 36 years. Over those 36 years, I became friends with Leroy and returned the newspaper clippings to him. As I grew older, anytime I went fly fishing with my Grandfather, he always said he was low on flies, so I would give him a bunch. When my grandfather passed he had hundreds and hundreds of flies that I tied. Best gift ever.

When I start tying a new pattern, I always tie 3 to 6 in the largest size acceptable and then move 1 size smaller and do the same thing until I have tied 3 to 6 of each size in the size range for that fly. It makes tying smaller versions much easier.

Do they need to be straight eye? I have a box of Mustad 79580 size 1 that are 2 inches long but are not straight eye.

I print the tags with my computer, cut them out, poke a hole through them, then run 8lb test through the eye of the hook and the hole in the tag and then melt the ends and fuse them together to make a loop. The tag never comes loose unless I cut the line.

I use extremely large Badger or Grizzly hackles wrapped parachute style over 6lb tippet and then folded over hackle stacker style, separated into wings and then fold the wing case over the wings to finish off the head. Good coloring and they float well flush with the surface.

I use stripped grizzly hackle stems for my mosquito bodies. For tails, I use Coq-de-Leon.

Damn! That sucks.

I had a rod built 30 yrs ago by a guy in my hometown while I was in the Air Force stationed in Texas. All of our conversations were via phone. I wanted a plain rod (blank was dark grey) with black thread. I got a grey rod with grey thread and heavy gold trim. I wasn't happy with the colors of the rod but the builder was about 80 when he built it and a real nice guy so I didn't say anything. After a few million casts and more fish than I can count, the rod needed some work. I took it to a friend who builds bamboo rods to have it rewrapped. Black thread only. I go to pick up the rod and the thread is black but the coating over the thread has a sprinkling of fine blue metallic flecks in it. He said it looked like a funeral rod with just black thread so he added subtle color. The rod looks great but I like my stuff understated. That is a sweet looking rod, Steve.

I have ordered from them. I purchased one of their Christmas packs. It was worth every penny. I would not order the fibbits. They are not tapered on the end. The hair and fibers work well and the cost is minimal.

Just my 2 cents worth. Do not remove hooks or beads from original packaging to place into another container. Storage is nice but after you get so many different sizes and styles, it can get a little over whelming to say the least. Keeping track of sizes, styles, manufacturers, etc... Tough to do.

I use a small plate (saucer). I place the beads in the saucer and with a pair of hackle pliers on the hook, I rotate the hook until it aligns with the hole in the bead.

Great fly swung for big browns in the fall out west.

Mark, I have a bunch of Mustad Hooks I am trying to clear out at $4.00 per hundred.

I use Mustad hooks all of the time. I have been tying flies for 34 years and Mustad hooks were about the only hooks you could get on a regular basis when I first started tying. A box of 100 hooks cost $1.29 at my local sporting goods store way back then. As with everything in life, something new comes along. Tiemco, Daiichi, Dai-Riki, Targus, Gamakatsu, etc... These companies make some real "sexy" hooks. Barbless, chemically sharpened, different profiles, etc... The 200R is one of my favorite hooks and it is made by Tiemco. I tie hundreds of flies per month and give most of them away to people who are going to use, abuse and lose them. Does the hook matter? In most cases, no. If the hook meets your needs, does the brand really matter?

Count me in. How about a Rusty Rat.

Just received my Hatches Magazine. What a beautiful piece of publishing.

My experience with salmon on a fly are that salmon are predatory. They have a tendency to attack anything that gets in their face. I have caught them on a purple or black egg sucking leaches. My advice would be to go to the stream and try some standard patterns.

Beautiful Images. One of my favorite places on earth. Headed there on the 12th of October to try for some of the large browns in the Madison.

You definitely want to test fit the head and then glue it. I then put a thread head in front of the head and glue it also. I have tied them with brown and olive marabou also. Great fly. Pretty heavy to throw but it works.

Nice. Should work well.

You quit smoking and are losing a lot of weight. Impressive! Keep it up. You must be feeling like a million dollars. Keep posting your results. I look forward to reading about your progress. I recently started working on losing 35 lbs. Giving up soda was pretty tough. Never smoked or drank but I love food. Down 15 lbs so far.

The address you provided is registered to a Shelley Moore. You can do a reverse address look up on 411.com. You may get her phone number there also. We had a swapmeister do the same thing. He stole over 200 fishing flies. People that do this are scumbags!

I have been using big (3 inch) streamers representing bait fish because of the high water. Sculpin and minnow patterns in olive and white. The cutthroat are killing them. Also caught bull trout. Had a prolific caddis hatch come off on the North Fork of the Clearwater the other day. I caught 22 fish in approximately 30 casts (give or take). It was insane. Size 14 tan caddis. Caddis never fail on the St Joe, North Fork, Lochsa, Selway and Kelly Creek. Later in the summer when the water levels lower nymphing works great also. The St Joe fishes well on grey colored flies later in the summer. St. Joe Special, Grizzly sedge, Mosquito pattern, grey X-caddis.

Scott, What rivers are you fishing in Northern Idaho? I have fished most of them at one time or another. This time of year we have caddis and stones hatching which gives you a great opportunity for dry flies or nymphs. You posted this in February and that is a good month for nymph fishing. Trout rarely take dry flies on the surface in the winter unless you have a midge hatch coming off. Let me know where you are fishing and I will try and steer you in the right direction. Rob

I believe it is our society as a whole. I was fly fishing a stretch of water when a couple walked down over the hill and started bait fishing with worms right below me. The river was designated "no bait". Since they decided to fish about 10 feet below me, I had no choice but to move around them. As I walked past I reminded the guy that the river was designated "no bait". He said he didn't give a sh!t and that I should F off. I smiled, walked up to where they parked their vehicle, took a picture with my phone and then called F&G. Some people have no class! Another instance: I hiked 5 miles into a high mountain lake in Northern Idaho. Hardly anyone hikes here. I get to the lake and somebody had cut down a whole bunch of green pine trees, 10 to 12 feet tall and tried to burn them. They also chopped their initials a foot tall into some of the bigger trees. Why would you go into a pristine high mountain lake and ruin it?