Kirk Dietrich

Frizzy Fiber, Fuzzy Fiber are two others like Ultra Hair. They have a crinkle, so a little goes a long way. Closest to bucktail but translucent. I'd say the Ultra, Frizzy, Fuzzy, etc. dry is like bucktail when wet as far as stiffness. Kirk

GG, Don't see why not but if you already have popsickle sticks and that works for you then roll. They should sink or flutter hook point up. If they don't wobble to your liking, remove the tailing material, it tends to act like the tail on a kite and stabilizes the fly's movement. The spoons I make sink hook point up but tend to spin and unspin on the retrieve, which is why I usually tie a weedguard on my spoons. Kirk

Looking good Ben! Just add fish...

Look forward to it.

GG34, using the spoon bodies as the form, I would use the 30 minute cure epoxy for a longer lasting and clearer finish. You will need a turner either manual (block of foam with toothpic or similar type legs) or motorized. Here is a link to a video I did a year ago on epoxying where I show several types of "turners" both manual and motorized as well as some other tips on epoxying. There is a part 2 as well where I go into applying the epoxy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-OYv8W72MY Kirk

Tide, we have 100% humidity down here almost year round and I've never had that effect the curing. However, I have had it not cure because of unequal amounts as you mentioned and the stuff being old sounds like a plausible reason as well. GG34 be aware that 5 minute epoxy will yellow over a relatively short time. I've made the mono or wire framed epoxy spoons and used 5 minute with some fine glitter mixed in to form the body and used markers to tint but then topcoated with 30 minute cure commonly known as 2-ton. The yellowing was not very noticeable with the glitter and top coat of 2-ton. You can always use UV cure resin for the body and top coat with 2-ton as well to keep it clear. Kirk Not a great pic of it but the only one I have. This one is tied on a #6.

Hanging in, keeping busy. Glad to see you're back in the saddle.

Sweet Dave, I love how all the natural hair components flow so well together with the synthetic veil on the head, stunning. Oh, pretty good looking fly too and nice SBS. Kirk

Meraz, those look great. Have you tried them in the water? If you want to eliminate the loose ends on the back of the head, you can take that material and tie it in on the back third of the hook with the tubing facing forward and then push it back over itself and tie off at the nose. Kirk

If you have a fly shop in your area, one of their reps should be able to obtain a lot of a thousand hooks for you. Almost identical to the Tiemco 8089 are the Gamakatsu B10S and the Mustad Signature Fly Hook, C52SNP-BN Stinger. Just to have a couple more alternatives to shop around. Kirk

Kimo, I highly recommend Silver Creek's Crystal Clear UV resin. SC, didn't mean to single out your resin but glad you explained it more thoroughly than I was able to. Kirk

Stippled, what about the light, maybe iridescent or incandescent exposure could do that or just time. I've had silver mylar tubing spoonflies develop a tinting over time but it was longer than a few years. Those were in a fly box in a fly bag so they weren't even exposed to artificial light. Who knows, maybe a chemist?

Will do Kimo. Won't be for a while before I fish those little topwaters, its been unseasonably cold down here and the bass usually get my topwater attention early in the year. I've heard that about the clouding but I usually let my CA dry pretty thoroughly before putting anything over it. Kirk

Kimo, not that I noticed right away. So far, none of the resins yellowed. But they have just been sitting in my flybox since October and not exposed to sunlight. The Crystal Clear by Silver Creek also sold under other names will yellow according to Silver Creek if you hold the laser pointer UV light still without wiggling/painting with that light. Epoxy will yellow with exposure to sunlight after a period of time with 5 min yellowing within two weeks, not sure about the 30 minute however. Kirk

Hey Jason, Glad you liked the article. The resins I used for the article were the ones for fly tying that Solarez sent me along with the lightbulb. The surf board stuff, my friend gave me a film canister full to try but I didn't use for the test. You're right though, Solarez does cure like the CCG, which takes a bit longer to become tack free, as I recorded in my testing. I have heard there is a reason for the "tackiness" that is inherent with these and some other UV resins, it allegedly to facilitate adhesion of a second coat. Which, if you look at the pictures in that article, one of the actually true "tack-free" resins, Deer Creek, you can see in the image how the second coating actually chipped off of the first coating. If that makes sense... Kirk

Solarez also sells a light bulb that can be screwed into a light socket. If curing outdoors, cover the inside of a shallow box with foil to set your bug holding stand onto so the sun will reflect and cure all sides without having to turn. Solarez does take the longest to cure out of all the resins I've tried but it is cheap and actually, if you go on Swim Bait Nation, they talk about Solarez for curing their large hand carved swimbaits. A friend of mine buys the quart for about $20 that is sold for surf boards, looks like the same stuff as the "fly tying" Thick formula that they sell; it sure smells the same. Speaking of smell, Solarez does have a potent odor. Here is a link to an article I wrote on my testing of four UV resins, epoxy and Liquid Fusion for durability and a spreadsheet where I recorded times, etc. http://onthevise.com/blog/10-clear-coat-durability-test-poppers Reflector box I made with Solarez bulb screwed into. Box closed for curing.

Damn, you did 3 of each? That's 30! That must be a helluva bible class...

Great looking little ties Piker. Looks like you have a little problem tying the same fly twice??

A friend of mine at Orvis said it is hard as hell for him to get Whiting Buggar packs in stock. I asked him if he carried the Streamer Packs and he said it was hard enough getting Whiting to send him the Buggar packs he wasn't even going to ask for another product from Whiting and have to tell customers he is out of stock. Just shows no matter how cool the latest synthetic materials are, there is no substitute for good hackles. I don't know how the overseas situation with poultry is but they used to take some of the pressure off of the US producers until some bird disease epidemic but that may be over with and passed??? Kirk

Piker and that is highly corrosive salt water, I imagine the freshwater in ponds and streams would have even less corrosive effect...

Oh yeah, I like that C70s a lot, very strong hook! The 3407 always was a stronger hook than the 34007. I always used the 34007 to make sure the fly didn't outlast the hook and it worked fine for redfish under 10lbs. Once you start catching them bigger than that unless you go to the really large sizes, those old soft 34007 hooks would open up on you. Realizing I and most guys down here use 20 lb tippet. Oh, not saying a hook wouldn't rust out, and maybe pretty quickly, just never have seen any concrete data on it. Kirk

agn, if you order what used to be the 34007, which was replaced by the Z-steel, not sure of the model number. You will get a shiny finished hook, not sure if it is Duratin or not. I didn't realize the old 3407 was a Duratin finish. There are likely still some of the Z-steel hooks around and likely some of the old soft 34007s as well. I thought steel had to be exposed to water and air alternately in order to rust. At least at any rate of speed? The exposure to air they get in your fly box after they are wet is a main reason they rust so quickly if not washed and rinsed off, at least I think so, I'm not corrosion expert.. If a fish stays underwater, how long will it take for the hook to rust out, I'd be willing to bet a barbless SS hook would fall out long before a barbed steel hook would rust out. Not sure, just my guess, never heard of anyone actually testing that out, all I've ever heard was speculation. Kirk

Terje, they do both look great. I like the way the B&W makes the wings look like thick rigid glass but I also like the vivid yellow-orange of the bee contrasting beautifully with the purple flower. Nice macro either way. Kirk

Funny!

Tony, It was a job believe it or not. Anyway, some of your questions. I use 3/0 on smaller saltwater flies but mostly the Fly Master +, which is equiv to 210 denier. I like the way you can untwist it and have it lay flat so it actually works for all of my tying down to #4. The Mustad company used to make a Stainless Steel hook and then went to what they called Z-Steel in their "Signature Series". From what I heard, a chemical they were using to formulate the Z-Steel was not good on the emissions end or something and the plant was told to cease using it. Now, they have gone to a finish similar to Gamakatsu, which I think as you noted is a Duratin finish. Not sure if they still make the original soft Stainless Steel hook or will resume making it. If you have CCG already, go ahead and use it, however, if you don't, I wouldn't spend the money on it. If you have a light you need to use, I'd use either Deer Creek or Crystal UV, two truly tack free UV resins. Henry Kanemoto (aka SilverCreek, member on this forum) sells the Crystal UV. You can easily get and use Sally Hansens Hard as Nails with Nylon, been used for years and will prevent your thread from unraveling. Craft stores offer sheet foam in different thicknesses that are good for Gurglers and other foam topped saltwater flies. Also, you can get mono thread from the sewing section and load it on an empty spool of thread to use on your bobbin and tie translucent flies. You can also get Liquid Fusion, which is a urethane glue that can be used for a thick protective coating having several applications where you would use UV resin or Epoxy. Doll eyes can be acquired from craft stores as well. Also, Craft Fur for small streamers. That's to name a few that come to mind, you have to just look around. For wire, if you're talking about lead wire, I like the .015 for an all around weighting wire. Kirk