fshrmanms

Bass wood is a bit heavier than the balsa but a little easier to sand. Try to sand with the grain especially on the balsa ( if you are getting fuzzy wood sand the other direction). You can get big assortment of emery boards (fingernail files) from the dollar tree they are pretty handy. You can also use a scraping technique using a very sharp blade hold it perpendicular to the wood and scrape down the sides going with the grain this can provide a very smooth finish. I use thinned Gesso to prime my poppers this actually provides a little "tooth" for the paint to cling to and subsequently only requires one coat of paint. Gesso can be sanded very smooth if that's your desire but if you are using a thicker finish like epoxy it doesn't really need to be super smooth, Like the others I am using only acrylic paints like ceramcoat also I like createx paint if I am using the airbrush.

Glad to see others have rejects too. I stick mine in a drawer in my organizer, if one of my fishing buddies doesn't want it I'll strip it. Got some poppers with crappy paint jobs I'm thinking I'll repaint. I've been trying to perfect a letort' style hopper using craft foam I got about ten tries in the drawer all ready. On the up side I learned how to tie knots in pheasant feather barbs for hopper legs using a knit picker tool. That took a whole tail feather before I felt like I got it right, those rejects went in the drawer too. Fat Fingers are a curse to fly tiers!

Looking good! And #8 hook is great. I use a lot of #6's, keeps from having to take a bunch of little guys off the hook.

man that's a tough mountain to climb. I'm celebrating right along with you.

Don't take me too seriously I am still married to my first wife (39 years)LOL. Go by the old motto HAPPY WIFE HAPPY LIFE!

paper wasp and gurgle frog from sheet, craft foam

good advice Crotalas here's some more I don't have much invested sweetie: got that on ebay for a dollar that's from a wild turkey (duck, deer, etc.)that I shot last season I traded some flies to my buddy for all this stuff oh that came from the dollar tree also the reversal of her favorite "oh I've had that old thing for years; don't you remember you were with me when I bought it."

I came up with this color pattern a few months back and caught some nice bream, guess bream will eat anything LOL. I call it the MS-1 popper. Hope they'll be O.K. I am ready for a mailing address to send em out. Thanks

These are for my first swap (Bluegill swap club). Fresh from the vise. I came up with this color a few months back and caught some nice bream, guess bream will eat anything LOL. I call it the MS-1 popper. Hope they'll be O.K.

great buck! looks like some good hair on there too!

I will make a popper (green/blue/yellow)

"Peacock Sword Nymph" these are my second try at tying a nymph pattern. Did I use too much hackle in the collar? Wow! some great stuff posted for December.

I'm in if you will have me. Like Fly Willy this would be my first swap and I might have to bug you a little for advice. I have been tying for a year, mostly popping bugs and foam terrestrials with a few buggers etc this sounds like a good chance to broaden my horizons. I do love catching bream.

If I'm going for a minnow look I'll use something wiggly like marabou/rabbit with some kind of crystal flash or flashabou with a saddle hackle palmered skirt. If going for the bug look I usually just use strung saddle hackle; still use the palmered skirt, add rubber legs and possibly some flash. I've seen where several people are using estaz, I think I might try some for the skirt on some of my smaller poppers. Sounds like a good Idea.

Nice, I like the paint job!

I scrape down the last two inches of the fly line down to the core nylon fold it back on itself to form a loop wrap it with tying thread and superglue it. I tie loops on both ends of the leader with either a perfection loop or surgeons knot and pass the leader through the loop on the fly line and the tippet loop through the lower loop on the leader loop. I can quickly change the tippet or the leader just by slipping it through the loop

I'm in there! I was Navy, my son was Army.

awesome popper Kirk!

those are some very nice poppers

congrats! Been loving retirement for two years and 10 months. Goal is to draw a check for longer than I worked, hope the same for you. Have fun if you get bored and make too many flies you could send some down here.

I really like the looks of your turner. I hope to build something similar. Two questions are: How is the dowel supported on the end that isn't pictured? My rotisserie motor only makes one RPM is that too slow or should I try to find something that turns faster?

hmmm,,, I probably only need to fish another 100 years for this stuff to pay for itself. wow! I'm gonna live to 157!!!

Wow that's awesome! And I was patting myself on the back for starting a log with colored pencil sketches. I just got my tying stuff last December; love popping bugs and yours are an inspiration. I hope to keep improving and know I will if people like you keep sharing their knowledge. Thanks! This is my latest don't know if it'll catch fish yet.

you wouldn't laugh at the ants if you saw how many bream and bass I caught on them this season. lol!

should be able to get them mailed Monday. Made 14 chernobyl ants too. Don't laugh at the colors they've been dynamite all summer!