cgolf

What I still can't believe is that is illegal to posses feathers found in the wild. Last year I saw an eagle feather floating in the lake, I of course left it there knowing the law. I would think that in this day and age they would be able to stop people from poaching these birds for these feathers, while allowing little kids and big kids to be excited about the eagle feather they found while hiking or boating. Maybe I am naive, but I try to believe the best about people instead of the worst. And lets be honest how many people actually know this law, they don't teach it in school, so how would anyone know?

Thanks I especially like the idea with running the thread through it once it is fanned out I will need to give it a try. Also the pattern that I had for the haystack just looked like a grey version of the compradun pattern (body was super smooth beaver dub). I will look it up online, the messy body version sounds fishier then what I tied. Thanks cgolf

I just tied a bunch of haystacks, and wondered if I should fan out the wing before placing them in the flybox or out on the water right before I use the fly. Never tied this style of fly before, but they turned out real nice. Thanks cgolf

The DanVise has been pretty solid for me, but I really don't like how the rotary is set up. I have it set up full loose right now, which can make it difficult to apply thread tension at times (jaws want to rotate). For some reason when I tighten it up, the rotation becomes jerky. The vise as it is works great for buggers etc, but is tough to tie smaller flies with due to the free rotation. What I am looking for is a vise that will rotate smoothly and stick at the point you stop. This may be difficult for the danvise due to all of the mass on the jaw assembly. The other issue is at times it does feel weak when applying lots of thread pressure when tying some bass flies which is why I switched to a cheap metal vise for these kinds of flies. For rotary tying like buggers and bivisibles the danvise is tough to beat, I just am looking for another option when tying nymphs, midges, and parachutes. Maybe a bargain basement vise with midge jaws would be good too, not sure. Thanks cgolf

All, I am looking to get a new vise for christmas. I currently have a danvise and am happy with it, but am looking to upgrade a bit. I am looking for a vise that has the ability to rotate 360 degrees for fly viewing, but not really to be used as a tying aid (danvise would be used for buggers etc). As for what I tie, anything from size 24 midges to size 4/0 musky flies and also some deer hair bugs. For the deer hair bugs I have been using a cheap non rotary vise which I could continue to do in the future, so that would not be a requirement for the new vise. Thanks cgolf

Got a bunch of this stuff for easter, because the colors looked good for smallie flies. Seeing the instructions for the Lake Erie Goby that was posted, I was surpised that they said to spin it. Is this stuff spun on like deer hair, used with a dubbing loop, or the standard dubbing rope. Just curious, I am going to give this stuff a shot soon. cgolf

I only care about price if they are all the same, from what you note and the research I did online seems to indicate that the materials are not the same. I was really hoping though that someone has already done the experimenting and could share that info. I currently have all of the materials that I listed, most were bought because they were listed on a pattern sheet and I didn't realize at the time that I could substitute other materials. I am learning quickly now that substitutions can be made on patterns, and what materials work as substitutes. Thanks cgolf

Did a web search to try and find a comparison between these materials and could not find one, or at least one that was useful. I guess I would like to know what the difference between these materials is (shed water, soak up water, glimmery colors, flat colors, etc). I have seen all of them listed for use in at least one spinner pattern for the wings. If they are interchangeable, I would obviously go with the cheapest, but if they have different properties, the I would use the appropriate material when needed. Thanks cgolf

Looking to buy some winging material (Z-lon, Antron, Crystal Trigger point (Puglisi)). What color or colors would be a good starting point. I am relatively new to trout fishing (for sure dry fly fishing) and bug watching. To me the little critters all appear to have white or of white wings which I know from a bug class way to long ago in college not to be true. Also, advice or opinions on the materials I listed or others I am missing that would be better or cheaper. Thanks cgolf

It actually cast pretty well for me. If anything it was hard to move it through the air due to the bulk of the fly. For me the weight was not an issue, but to be fair I am used to throwing big heavy bass flies so this thing was a cinch. I was using a 6 weight when I fished it. Due to the bulk I would probably not go lighter then that. I did tie mine rather large though (size 2 mustad 3366 hook). cgolf

New to this site, but a vet of riversmallies. This l is an awesome fly, got to fish it once this season and picked up a bonus small brown trout while targeting smallies right at the end of the season. Once the smallie season reopens I am looking forward to using this fly, and may even give it a go for early season trout too. I could easily see this becoming my go to fly for smallies this year. Thanks cgolf