jburge

Woohoo! I love going to the mailbox. Got a great set of flies today. Thanks to all, very nicely done, and a big thanks to Horseshoes for putting this on. Cheers! John

Holy cow! What an amazing set! Just sitting next to the flies you all have turned out makes me look way better :-) I'm with Bob. It's humbling. Thanks a ton, Carl for the organization, coordination, and real artistry. Kudos! John

Wow, Carl! Awesome job. Thank you so much for putting it all together and riding herd on the whole thing. Simply amazing John

Woohoo! Quite an "attractive" set of flies arrived in yesterday's mail. I guess I have a real advantage being just down the road from the Swapmeister :-) Great looking set of flies from all. Very nicely done. Thanks, Bob for hosting! John

Bob, Sorry to hear about the toe. I did the same thing a number of years back. Ouch. No fun. Hope you recover quickly! John

Awesome job, Bob! Thanks for putting it all together. John

Well, a rather eclectic set of flies have been officially left with the USPS. Hopefully, you should be seeing them shortly. As a hint as to what's to come I have to first say they're not all mine. Some are, but there are others that were given to me, some tied by friends, and some that were purchased. Some are small, and some are large. Some are for trout, and some are not. Is that vague enough? Horseshoes, thanks for putting this on. Great idea! John

Ha! It'll be NO problem to toss in more than 12. I'll go for it. John

Count me in. I have way too many bugs sitting around, plus it'll make my wife really happy :-) John

Tom, And here's another tutorial that's much better at explaining than I am :-) http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photosh...t-effects/gold/ Have fun! John

Tom, what version of Photoshop are you using, and are you wanting the text in just a gold color, or are you wanting it to have the "texture" of a gold bar? It's possible to "sample" colors using the eydropper tool, and there are some tricks for turning text into textures. John

Bob, I guess it's gonna have to be a regular thing! Not only do I get to hand off some flies and enjoy a great lunch, I get some extra flies out of it too! Thanks for a good time and the extras John

Bob, great idea. Go for it. John

Carl, Half a dozen Adams are coming your way (keep some for yourself). It's always been a special fly to me because it was the first one I ever tied that caught a fish ;-) Thanks so much for putting this all together. John

I got Kathy Scott's DVD and have been a furling nut ever since: http://flyanglersonline.com/prorevw/kathyscott.php With little investment, I've been able to furl up some really nice leaders. It also gives me the chance to experiment with different mono and thread manufacturers to see how they work. And I gonna echo the advice about being forewarned... furling leaders can become as addictive as tying flies :-) John

Carl, great idea! I'm in. John

It sure did! It's back in the box for another go :-)

Just to let y'all know... I had one fine day yesterday using some of the flies from this swap. Big E, I didn't get a picture (sorry), but caught a nice rainbow on your Wally Wing Caddis. I also caught 'bows on Sully TM's Animal, Racer X's Brown Foam Deer Hair, and Old Hat's X-Caddis. Matter of fact the X-Caddis was the one that lured a nice 13-inch brown up from the bottom of a small foothill stream. I didn't get a chance to try 'em all, but hey I'm just getting started. Thanks guys! John

OK, I now know that everybody has received their flies. Sweet! You guys get out and enjoy 'em all. I'll be working on the "Softex Caddis" step-by-step this weekend, and will try to post some pix real soon. Thanks for participating! John

Well, we've heard from most people... I know Racer X got his flies. SullyTM, jrbean1, and Dezod... have you guys received your flies? Hate to see all that great work go missing in the mail :-) Thanks! John

cencal and Big E, glad to know they arrived safely. Thanks for joining in! John

Bob, yeah funny how fast that trip up the road is :-) Robert M, wow, that is fast to central Texas. Way cool! And Old Hat, glad they arrived safely. Heading up north was quick! All, I'm still planning on posting pix of the process I used to create the "Softex" winged caddis, but it's going to take a few days. I'm wrapped up this weekend, but next week looks like it's opening up. Thanks again. John

Carl, love the fly. What hook is that? Thanks! John

Just a heads up y'all... the flies have left the building! Everything has been sorted, collected, perused, and dropped off. I would expect some of you might see these as early as Saturday, maybe Monday for others. Let me know when they arrive. Thanks to all for participating John

Alrighty ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... we have our flies! Received Dezod's Lime Trudes in yesterday's mail. Wow! You are going to love these flies. They have "fish me" written all over them. Gorgeous. So, that now means my job is to sort and collect and get them back to you. Give me a day to put them together and I'll get them right back in the mail for you. As soon as they're outta here I'll let you know. Then, if you all would post a reply or send a PM to let me know that you received them, that'd be great. Thanks for participating, and here's to looking for goodies coming your way soon John