c-denby

DrVette-- AWESOME Halloween displays, it's great to see people still decorating! I had a neighbor that just LOVES any holiday that he can decorate for but Halloween and Christmas was his specialty. Unfortunately last november he fell and died while getting all the electrical installed on his roof. At the age of 91 and still going on the roof to do the electrical work by himself.. Only good thing that arose from his death was that the entire neighborhood now gets together and does the house for his wife every halloween and christmas.. I'm sure I have some pictures around..

Cheers

Chris

I am so glad that I live in Canada.. Aside from the idiots that think its cool to catch a bunch while down south so they can release them up here when they get home.. A local teen killed his own grandmother accidentally when his container full of widows was opened by accident by the grandmother.. she was bit 4 times and just couldn't and went into cardiac arrest before the ambulance arrived..

Kinda odd since its quite rare to see deaths caused by these spiders but I bet most of the deaths are from careless curiousity of people wanting to keep them as pets or want to touch them.. etc...

We had quite an infestation in our summer house down south one year, almost sold the house even after they were "removed" just because no one wanted to sleep there thinking that maybe there were more.. lol

Cheers

Chris

We have had a number of items go missing from our checked luggage over the years.. NOT ONCE have we been re-imbursed for what was stolen. Basically they tell you that they are not responsible for any lost or stolen luggage and that if its valuable to you then leave it home or keep it in your carry-on.. They will just jerk you around until you give up.. I would love to see them actually be charged and fined for allowing their employees to get away with stealing but I HIGHLY doubt we will ever see the day that any of these jerk offs will be punished properly..

Cheers

Chris

SOMEDAY! Ireland is just such a beautiful place. I'm going to England for my fishing trip next summer.. After seeing all these pictures I think i'll plan the summer of 2012 fishing trip for somewhere in Ireland..

Thanks for the pictures and the report. I've always wanted to go to one of the fly fairs in ireland, scotland, or england as they seem to have all the best tyers and some of the greatest all-time patterns..

Cheers

Chris

If you have some basic woodworking tools you can build your own racks.. I built some for all my casting and spinning rods.. Each rack holds 12 rods and I fit 3 racks on the ceiling of my man cave/fishing room.. Plus then I bought a couple Quantum wooden display racks that stand on the floor and hold 8 rods on each side.. This is what I have been using for my fly rods and float rods..

for ceiling or horizontal wall racks you need:

- 1" x 4" x 8' pine or what ever you want

-1" x 2" or 2" x 2" strapping -depends how far off the wall or ceiling you want the rack.

Then you cut the 1" x 4" in half so you have Two 4' pieces. (You can make these as long or short as you want).. Next drill as many equally spaced 2.5" holes as you can in ONE length of 1x4.

Now, on length number TWO, You place number ONE on top and drill 1" or 1.5" holes in the piece number TWO, You want the holes to be in the center of the 2.5" holes when you have the 2 boards overlapped.

I hope I explained that properly. It's kinda hard to explain without diagrams or pictures.

NOW, You take piece number TWO with all the 1.5" holes and cut 1/2" slots on an angle from the edge of the board to the side of the holes.. When these are mounted on the ceiling or wall, you slide the handle of the rod into the large holes, then the tip of the rod can go up through the slot and into the small hole. If you cut your slots on a proper angle you will have a ridge that hold the rod from falling back out of the slot.

I will try to get some pictures of the racks I built for anyone that needs to see what I'm talking about..

Cheers

Chris

TOM-- I'm not saying that you cannot use freshwater reels in the saltwater.. I'm just saying that if you do, you need to maintain them properly.. Thats all!!

I don't own any saltwater specific reels and I'm pretty sure that at one time or another ALL of my reels have seen saltwater or atleast brackish water and have all been fine if I rinse with fresh water and dry them properly.. The only time that you will get corrosion is if you don't clean them properly or if you put them in a pouch with ANY traces of salt in or on the reel..

Cheers

Chris

My experience with maintaining reels after using in saltwater has led me to do the following:

1) Rinse your reels with freshwater every night after being used in salt, try not to let the saltwater sit on your reel or in the line for too long..

2) DONT put them in a pouch or cover until you have thoroughly rinsed and totally dried them with freshwater..

3) Once home from the trip, disassemble the basics of the reel and rinse, dry, and lubricate.. There is no need to go crazy and tear it totally apart, But just make sure you have rinsed all the crevices.. It doesn't hurt to lube a bit after having rinsed and dried your reel so many times.. Salt can dry out your lubricants(depends on the lube itself)!

This is just a basic precaution that I take as I have had corrosion develop over night on even the most expensive reels after not being washed with freshwater the same day as having been used in saltwater..

Unless the reel was designed for saltwater use or advertises that it can be used in saltwater, then I would rinse after use each time..

BTW- hope you had a great time in Mexico, They have some amazing fishing down there.. Glad to see you got down there before they closed that fishery as well due to this ridiculously horrible oil spill!! :wallbash:

Cheers,

Chris

www.luremaking.com has basically all the items you would need to make any fishing lures... They have tons of sizing charts, stencils and step-by-steps that you can print out in actual size.. I have been buying my luremaking supplies from them for a few years and have never had a problem and they always have what I want, or are willing to help find it..

Cheers,

Chris

trebles, doubles, barbed or barbless all depends on the rivers or areas here in Ontario.. Trebles are legal some places and then other places it must be a single barbless within a hook size limitation... I always have to check the regs when it comes to tying flies for local waters, but I like tying flies on trebles and doubles just to get a feel for how it was originally tied even if I can't ever fish the fly..

Cheers

Chris

I plan to go this year. If anyone in the southern Ontario area wants to hitch a ride with me then just let me know.. I would have room for 3 people..

I hope it is planned to happen this year as it's the first time I can get down to a US tying show..

Cheers

Chris

I am tying a custom pattern that a friend made up for brookies.. It is being tied on a #20 Sedge hook.. and the herl will make up about 1/3 of the body! this is why I get frustrated.. I was just grinding the herl in a coffee grinder and touch dubbing it, Which does work BUT does not give you quite the full dense look to the body.. But at the same time it needs to remain very small..

I know this is an isolated incident where I need to use only 1 strand of herl and have to be very careful not to build the body up too quickly.. Most of the tips/techniques that you guys have told me will work great for basically every other fly pattern that I might encounter but for doing one so small I guess I will just have to take my time and remember not to get upset even after i'm tying in attempt number 7.. I do understand that when working with such brittle materials and in such a narrow work space that extreme patience is absolutely necessary and I will make sure I take me time from now on..

If I ever do finish a few of these flies, I'll post some pics so you can all see how small it really is..

Thanks again..

Cheers

Chris

Thanks everyone.. I really appreciate the feedback I have received... I am definitely more confident working with herl now.. BUT am still curious as to what you guys do when you can only use 1 strand of herl when making a body or thorax on a very small wet or dry fly??? I could possibly twist it together with a strand of thread but sometimes i've tried making such a small body that if I twist the herl it causes too much bulk?? am I just trying to make it "too" perfect??

Cheers

Chris

hey everyone,

Over the years I have avoided tying many of the small fly patterns especially when it called for peacock herl.. The only way I would tie a fly using it would be to grind up some herl and touch dub it..

Well today, I attempted a pattern and hoped that I could overcome my fear of tying with herl... Sooo after about 2 hours and many many bad words, I'm still only on the second fly body...

No matter how slow or lightly I wrap, the herl breaks or if I try hackle pliers, the herl slips out of the jaws or breaks at the jaws.. (I've tried 3 different styles of hackle pliers)

I have tried strung peacock herl, herl from an eye feather, and even went to my neighbor who raises peacocks and got some freshly pulled peacock eyes because I thought maybe the stuff I had was old and brittle. Well I'm just not having much luck. I really want to figure this out so that I can tie some of these patterns that I would normally have just ignored or bought from someone..

Any hints or tips for working with peacock herl??

Cheers

Chris

Thanks John, That is one heckuva link... I've been writing down fly recipes for the last 2 hours. Some amazing flies and alot of them are from canadian tyers!!

Cheers

Chris

It's the John Olan, not Oland.

 

Thread: Red

Tag: fine oval silver tinsel

Tail: GP rump fibers

Rib: Medium oval gold tinsel

Body: Flat gold tinsel

Wing: Black bear

Hackle: Black schlappen

Head: Red

 

The recipe is in Paul Marriner's Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, page 52.

Does anyone have a picture of this fly?? Sounds like it would be tied on a double or treble hook??

I've been thinking about taking a long weekend and driving over to Quebec some time this year for some salmon and I have heard that this pattern is just killer, along with Green Machines..

Cheers,

Chris

IMO- when it comes to heavy wire bass hooks.. NOTHING beats Gamakatsu and the next sharpest for me would be Owner... I'm not talking trout hooks because I do know of a few brands of hooks that will beat gamy's.. I'm not big on VMC as i've never found them to be very sharp or strong but they are much cheaper..

Cheers,

Chris

I try for 1 hour every night, Sometimes I can sneak in an extra hour at lunch so I would guess at about 7 to 12 hours per week.. I would love to be able to sit down and tie for a few hours every night but I doubt it will ever happen before i'm 70..

Cheers,

Chris

Sounds similar to icelandic sheep hair? fairly long with a bit of a curl or wavyness to it? Great for streamers and tube flies.. just play around with it and see how you like it.. Should work for all kinds of flies.. I LOVE to experiment with different furs by using the excess I cut off after tying or just taking a chunk and cutting it into different lengths and making a dubbing out of it.. if you mix the lengths of hair up it gives you a really buggy look to it.. I save ALL my fur/hair trimmings and such just so I can experiment by making different dubbings..

Cheers

Chris

it took 2 months for me to receive my order and no matter how many times I emailed, He never replied. I just eventually just the package in the mail.. Great products and great Prices but HORRIBLE customer service.. So basically you have to accept that you won't get your stuff for a long time, if you want his great prices... I think he would do REALLY REALLY well if he just made an attempt to better his customer service. He could even just hire someone to reply to emails and help with billing.. and his customer base would double..

Not sure what you could do other than wait and hope he eventually replies..

Cheers,

Chris

I use them all the time.. Basically for anything that I want a stiffer barbed hackle.. Great stuff and can be dyed any color

When I first started tying tube flies, I couldn't afford to buy Eumer or HMH tubes so I did the Qtip thing and still occasionally tie on one and they come in a decent assortment of pastel colors. However, I found that it is alot of work cutting them up and you really only had a certain size to work with. Plus, some junction tubing did not fit the size of the tube. If you are in desperate need of a bunch of tubes and/or don't have alot of money to spend on them, then get a big bag of colored plastic tubed Qtips.

I have found that it is just as cheap to buy from McMaster and get an assortment of tubing sizes and styles. You can get brass or copper in quite small sizes from them. Plus you can get silicone tubing, EVA tubing, delrin, polycarbonate, nylon, etc, etc, etc...... So you will have all kinds of tubes to tie with and at anywhere from .09cents up to $5.00 per foot of material it is still much cheaper than anywhere else. If you think about how much you actually get in a $10 pk of brass tubes from a company like HMH. You would get SIX FEET of brass tubing for less than $10 from McMaster-Carr. I'm not affiliated with them, Just really like the products that I have bought from them for fly tying..

Cheers,

Chris

Hey guys, C'mon now.. Maybe he SHOULD try the alcohol route!! That way he won't have to think about girls again until he's 37 and just released from Rehab!

You will soon realize that girls that age like to play games and as long as you let them, you willl be stuck right in the middle of it. And just like a previous person mentioned, They are always trying to trade up, So more than likely you weren't the only guy she was seeing and the reason she dumped you was to be with some other dude to "test the waters"... Teenage dating sucks.. and you will see it someday!

Cheers,

Chris

OK... Generosity is done for today.. Everyone who PM'd me is getting some and will be sent out as soon as I receive all the mailing addresses.

Anyone who is in Ontario and looking for mohair.. Check out Len's Mill Store as they have discountinued it and may have some big bags full of it in their clearance bins..

Cheers,

Chris

hmmm I'm gunna need to buy mine from Wally Mart from now on.. I've been paying $6.99 for the standard jar of it from my local drug store..

It's great stuff and it's what I use to build my heads on all my flies. Unless I want a coloured head. The only other cement in my tying arsenal is Locktite Super Glue Gel Control, It comes in the handy container that you can squeeze out the smallest drop of gel and apply it perfectly.

Cheers,

Chris

hey everyone, I was at my local knitting shop looking for some mohair and they told me they don't carry it anymore but they had some left in blue that was on clearance.. Well I got 6 big balls of it for $1.00!! Great find BUT WAY WAY WAY too much and its like a dark steelhead blue...

So if anyone can use some of this then PM me cuz I will never use it all so I might as well share it..

Cheers,

Chris