ratfacedmcdougal

I used to tie commercially for the hook and hackle company located in pennsylvania and I order a lot through them though certainly not exclusively.He's been around forever (at least 15 years) Here is their site...www.hookhack.com/ Their prices are awesome, the selection of materials is great and the owner is really good about getting the material you need when you tell him what your trying to accomplish with it.

I use Stockard's, Cabelas, Mcfeathers and others as well. But you often have to shop around...especially when it comes to capes which often sell out during the trout season or you need a specific material one shop carries but another doesn't. The key to online shopping is to get to know the owner of the place, make sure he's knowledgeble and honest because you have to depened on their eyes and knowledge in selecting quality materials or materials suited to what you want to try to accomplish.

Chase Creek apparently added his comment while I was writing mine. He gives great advice. And he's right, when you get right down to it.... all a vice does is hold the hook so you can work on the fly with both hands. The key is some caq handle greater size ranges of hooks, some are easier to open/close/adjust the jaws, not important if your tying a few flies but very important if your tying dozens. And some hold a hook more firmly than others. Use several, then pick one that your comfortable with.

I have had several vices, what i'm using now is the HMH standard and the Regal. The regal is great, squeeze the lever which opens the jaws and insert hook.... no adjustments to make because the regal jaws always remain closed and under tension. The downside (and what happened to me) was I was tying a small #18 fly and didnt seat the hook well in the jaws. The jaws "squeezed" the hook out which pinged across the room which caused the jaws to snap shut and chip a piece off the jaw... still useable but not what it was. I just got the HMH and havent had a chance to use it a lot but like what it's done so far. And yeah, haven't tried one, but i've heard a lot of good things about the Dynaking.

Fish, like lizards, alligators, snakes, and frogs have simple brains lacking in frontal lobal area. As well being cold blooded their brains don't function as quickly as mammals in processing actions.Their brains lean more toward the simpler stem and base which doesn't allow for a lot of planning ability. It's not the strokeing but brain position which causes the trance. When a cold blooded animal has it's brain set at an upward angle, such as an alligator or lizard upside down or in the case of a fish, laying at the angle most banks have it causes the same effect as the wrestleing hold called the sleeper causes on humans. The brain is overloaded with blood createing the trance like sleeping state. Basic motor skills eventually kick in (usually) which prevents death of the animal from asphyxiation of the brain.

Does this load of bull sound pretty good? I tried to make it sound as official as possible :hyst:

Wow, there is someone out there that really exsists that would do something like that? I thought they had imprisoned all of those in the states of Alabama, Georgia and in the more mountainous regions here in Tennessee. That is definitely not a man who thinks a plan through is it? It's probably a good thing for him that breathing is involuntary and not requireing concious thought :hyst: He's lucky he wasn't disembowled.

Hi Jacar,

Glad you joined and i'm sure any here will be glad to help. We have some really great people here and many very knowledgeble ones. Some of them are world class tyers so any questions you have about tying i'm sure can be answered by someone.Welcome aboard and looking forward to hearing more from you.

Carl

That looks a lot better than my first fly Logy!! My first fly was so ugly when I threw it out it came back and hit me in the eye... the &^%%$ fish had thrown it back!

Its common for beginners to have tail feather rotate at first. Try what's called a "loose loop". Holding the feathers on top of the hook shank with your one hand bring your first loop of thread around but dont pull it tight, instead keep it loose and lightly pull it straight down instead of trying to wrap, this will secure the feathers on top. The second wind you can wind as normal.

Everyone gave good advice, as already mentioned the first thing is to figure out what type of flies you want to tie. Over the years i've managed to own a zoo of animals .... everything from colobus monkey fur to taragopan and ocelot plus hundreds of others. Stuff gained over the years to tie some off the wall fly or the other. Pick any material you can think of and at some point some fool has tried to tie a fly with it.

I would suggest a good pattern book to start, it will give you ideas as well as teach tying techniques,then pick about a dozen good flies you know you'll definitely use and want and get the materials for those to start. Most likely, you pick any one dozen and there are dozens of others that can be tied using those same materials. And once you learn some basic techniques don't think you cant venture out on your own and invent your own flies. Most of my fun comes from whipping something up in my imagination then tying it and catching fish with it. Sometimes fish are very selective and you have to match the hatch exactly....then again i've caught them on orange peels and beer tabs :hyst:

Also, your local shop may offer a deal on a "material kit", it never hurts to ask, let them know if they help you now by giving a deal on a starter batch you'll be a long time returning customer. And often you can purchase scrap materials like from taxidermists or furriers, hunters are also a good source for cheap stuff. Ahem.... I bet youll even find yourself looking twice at fresh road kill as a possibility. I have known some un named people to actually back up for a second look followed by a quick look around a fast opening car door and a quick swoop followed by a huge smile.... not that I would ever do such a thing... i'm just saying.....

You will be eyeing the pet cat or dog, your neighbors animals won't be safe nor will relatives hair clippings :hyst:

Stick around long enough..... you'll find yourself in the sewing section of walmart looking over the latest yarns and beads with the other old women, you'll be haunting the silks and rayons, floss and sewing threads in your bid to find new stuff.. .. welcome to the :devil: of fly tying

In a few weeks? I haven't fished Colorado but i've sold flies there. I would say at that time of year most of the hatches are gone but hoppers, beetles, and ants should be good.

nice fish. i thought pike were really boney. is that true? if so, what are the tips for fileting?

 

..k

Needlenose pliers and patience...but it's worth it

Hi ratfacemcdougal

 

The beauty of the mystery swap is seeing the great variety of flies tyed by the swappers. There are flies from #26 midges to 6" saltwater flies , with everything in between. Thats the mystery part of this swap.

Our swap has tyers from all over the usa, from oregon, maine , california and virginia and the rest of the country is represented ,especially the middle part of the country, with fishing for all types of interest. The next tyer in line to get the mystery box happens to be from your state of tennessee.

The first cycle has two tyers to go before the next cycle gets started. Check the previous posts to get an idea what the swap is about, then post again.

 

Have a good one

Pat Carroll

Hi Pat,

Great, the next time there is an opening could you or someone give me a few days notice and an address to send the flies to?

AWESOME CATCH!! And I mean for ANYONE! I think you've got a life long fishing buddy there :headbang: :headbang: I would be grinning from ear to ear too if I were her

Hi everyone,

If there's still an opening I would like to join in on this if it's ok. I do have a suggestion, what if everyone involved mentioned what state they were in or what type of fishing they did? That way everyone would have an idea of what could be used and needed?

As for me, i'm from Tennessee, but the west side of the state.. no trout. But I fish with everything for everything... as long as my rod's bending im content

man i must be real slow at tying flies. takes me between three hours and as long as three days on some flies. you guys tie up a dozen flies in the same time it take me to find the right hook, by the time i tie on the gut loop your fly boxes are full and your half way to the river.

 

Bud

Yeah, and after all of that your flies look like poo.... you bait fisherman :j_k: :hyst:

If you have a pattern book (or access to one) you can pick out the flies you want to tie in there and it will give you the hook types and sizes most commonly used for that fly. This might help you make a choice also. But as Spook said the Mustad site has tons of info on hook types and what they are used for.

They make great cheeks on streamers.

Thanks everyone,

I appreciate the nice comments. I thought it looked nice and with minimum work. It was just some stuff picked up at Walmart and a few simple patterns but other than I really need to get a mat knife for the matt cutting and my tying is a bit rusty because I didn't tie for a long time it came out pretty well. I'll get my tying back in shape then attempt another one.

I didn't charge anything for the frame, they are friends and I did it as a favor.

To be your first adams it's very well tied Dan, i'm immpressed. The other guys covered the tail and wings already but the fly is still very fishable. Keep at it, you definitely have a knack for it. I wish my first adams looked as well

Thanks Zip, not a professional job but they were happy with it.

Ratface

 

Did you ever see the CD Fishing Flies if North America by Farrow Allen and Dick Stewart?

 

It has a lot of standards. I like it, but I tie in a room away from the computer. I got to tell you, I like my books better, but the CD is really good. I probably have 20 different pattern books.

 

About four years ago I was fishing the North Mills River near Asheville, NC with a friend. It was November or December and six inches of snow had fallen and it was cold, but we both had taken off from work, and you know a bad day fishing......... We had gone out for lunch to warm up and had just come back to the stream and were putting our gear together when another car pulled up. The guy got out and said hi. He asked about my rod, I fish with a 1960's Orvis bamboo. He had a nice almost yellow colored bamboo rod. Down here, you do not see many people fishing bamboo. He asked how we were doing and we said it had been spotty this morning because of the cold, low water and they had not stocked since the spring. he offered to show us some fish. He said his name was Farrow when he introduced himself. I have fished for forty eight years and on this stretch of river for ten. This guy was better then any guide I have ever seen. I kept looking at him and finally I asked , "Are you farrow Allen and he said yes." He was unbelievable. He spotted so many fish and turned us on to so many inconspicuous hideouts, my friend thought we were being set up for some TV show. Truth is, he knew that river, and just a nice guy. He was so unpretentious.

 

By the way, are you from the Catskills before TN with that name?

I wish I were, I have long admired the Catskills and it's traditions. I'm actually from Florida. I've only been trout fishing a few times... each time when I visited the Smokies. I'm now in the far west part of TN. and it's actually further to the Smokies than when I lived in Florida :dunno:

And I'M STILL in a place where I can't fish for trout because all trout are on the East side of the state!! :wallbash:

Carl,I still have the little book you sent me to get started by Eric Leiser.

I bought a book a while back that is a wealth of info.The Orvis Fly-tying Guide by Tom Rosenbauer.It has everything in it.Cold water,warm,salt,salmon ect...Has a lot of advanced techniques in it old and new.376 pages long.

Hope this helps,Steven

 

Thanks Steven, please keep that little book. I have an extra one that Eric sent me. Maybe one day a new tyer will come along that could use it and you could in turn give it to him to get him started

 

I think thats an awesome idea.We'll make it like a tradition! :headbang:

Haha,, well, I think people way before us began that tradition long ago but ok . There were people who set me up the same way and all i've done is what they did for me a long time ago.

Hi guys,

This is a trout fly frame I tied for a co-worker. They have a section of their living room dedicated to antique fishing memorabilia and asked me to tie a trout fly frame with an antique looking picture in it so this is what I came up with.

The picture is a print of what looks like an old woodcut sign for a trout lodge. I got it and the frame at Wally World. I chose a frame with a wide matting and I just cut (as evenly as I could) a space for the flies in the matting under the picture. I then glued white foam board around the edges of the space I cut to build up a shadow box type space for the flies. I mounted a piece of foam board at the bottom of the space then cut holes for the very small pieces of dowel rod which is what I glued the flies to in order to mount them.

The flies are from left to right..

Fan Wing Quill Gordon, Adams, Royal Coachman Wulff (All dry) Silver Prince, Leadwing Coachman, Partridge and Orange (all wet)

Carl,I still have the little book you sent me to get started by Eric Leiser.

I bought a book a while back that is a wealth of info.The Orvis Fly-tying Guide by Tom Rosenbauer.It has everything in it.Cold water,warm,salt,salmon ect...Has a lot of advanced techniques in it old and new.376 pages long.

Hope this helps,Steven

Thanks Steven, please keep that little book. I have an extra one that Eric sent me. Maybe one day a new tyer will come along that could use it and you could in turn give it to him to get him started

Thanks for the info guys, i'll look these titles up and see if I can get something together to replace my old worn out books. I think some enterpriseing author should develop a set of encyclopdia like books. First book showing techniques, with volumes 2 through 5 covering patterns of warm water, salt water, trout, and salmon. And... maybe a 6th for unusal flies or maybe variations.

I've got the pattern for this fly as I remember coming across it. To the best of my rememberance it doesn't use lama fur but is a feather wing streamer pattern. I'll look it up and send it.