Philly

but it's more fun if you complicate them. Nice patterns. I'm still stuck on craft foam and keep the colors to white, yellow, chartreuse and fluorescent yellow. Never thought of using the holographic tinsel for the body. I use micro pearl or ice chenille for the body on mine. The three most effective use a single piece of foam. One has legs. Two have a marabou tail. The third is a mop piece with a dumbbell foam head. As far as legs go, I use spinner bait skirt layers. The front legs are shorter than the rear. The length is usually just past the hook eye. The rear legs are no longer than the marabou tail which is usually the length of the hook shank. I just got my second vaccine shot. I'm ready to go fishing. If the weather stays warm, the panfish will start hitting top water in a couple of weeks.

You must have one hell of a Dollar Store down there, Mike. At some point, I brought 100 packs from Jann's Netcraft and Barlow's. Did you know Eagle Claw makes those hooks in size 3/0? They're cheaper that way than buying them at Walmart. I was at Michaels and Hobby Lobby last week and there is a chenille both carry that is at least a half-inch in diameter, if not larger. It would make one hell of a bass fly, and give me a chance to use up those 3/0 Eagle Claw hooks I brought. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Welcome to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. One suggestion, get involved in a fly swap. Kimba has run a couple of for beginners and I'm sure he'll run more in the future. The first one I was involved in was called the Y2K caddis swap, not on this board. I'd been tying a year or so, and had just learned a pattern caddis pattern called a CDC and Elk. I figured tying a dozen or so would be good practice. The more embarrassing ones go into your fly box and you send the better ones out. Turns out 100 people signed up for the swap. I tied somewhere between 150 and 200 flies. I can tie that fly in my sleep these days. And I still have flies from that swap that have never seen the water. It's sorta like trying to get on stage at Carnegie Hall. You get there by practice Not sure I agree with Silver Creek about getting the marabou even for the tail.. Silver Creek is the Dean of the College. I knew him in a different time and place, and a different name. He shared his knowledge then and he knows what he's talking about. Let's see if I can describe this. If you look at a marabou feather, following the stem from the butt end to the tip. You'll notice that as you get to the tip, the barbules get smaller. What I do is go down the stem from the tip, and break the stem and the shorter barbules off. Then you can pull the longer barbules forward, and the space left where the stem was removed gives the tail more movement. Hope that makes sense. The tail on my buggers is usually the length of the shank. When it's wet it looks tapered. Normally, I use one marabou feather for the tail and one hackle feather for the body. Hooks. Buggers are usually tied on 2xl(extra long) to 4xl hook. If you don't have a fly shop near you. You did mention Bass Pro or if there's a Walmart or bait shop around. Pick up some Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hooks. They're a wide gap, 3xl hook. They make an excellent bugger hook. Size 4 to 8 would be a good choice and they're cheap, but very sharp. A good hook to practice on. If you think that small sunfish gave you a fight, wait till you hook into one that's 9 or 10 inches long..

My buggers aren't the prettiest, but they work, if and when I fish them. I refuse to buy packs of "Woolly Bugger" hackle. I've been tying long enough that I have enough necks and saddles that have seen better days and all that's left on them are feather for streamers and woolly buggers. These are a couple of buggers that I tied up I'm going to try something different this year when I tie up a couple. I plan on using a softer hackle and twisting it with the chenille before wrapping it. See how it works and looks.

Here's a couple of prop flies I've tied up They do work.

Something like this?

I've been trying to finish up my warm water boxes. First up, some modern Calcasieu Pig Boats. I still need four more to fill up the box. The box is one of the ones I've been making out of clear photo storage boxes and 6 mm craft foam. A couple of crayfish patterns tied in the Calcasieu style They came out heavier than I like my flies, so I decided to see what one would look like without the spinner bait skirt and small dumbbell eye for weight. I like it better. At least it won't knock me out if it hits me in the back of the head.

That looks like a koi, Denduke. Occasionally, they end up in the local creek after high water. They're even more spooky than the common carp in the stream. Here's a picture of one that was caught in a pond where my church was holding it's annual picnic. One of the kids caught it on some corn. A couple of us who fly fish were helping them bait their hooks and showing them how to cast. It was the biggest fish caught by the group. All I managed to catch, when I had a chance to toss flies to the fish, were a few small sunfish and a small bass.

I wonder if it's a brush of some sort wrapped on to the hook shank then trimmed to shape. It does look like it's articulated though it's not clear. With a brush, you could tie it as an extended body. It's a neat looking fly. In olive or black it would make a decent leech pattern. Another possibility, tied on a long shank saltwater hook, might even pass for a baby flounder. Is it tied on a jig hook. If I toss another shot of vodka in my glass who knows what I'll see in it.

Time to break the pattern of excellently tied flies. There's a lot of noise up here about the arrival of Brood X, 17 year locust/cicada, coming sometime in May. I tied up 3 different patterns for the last "hatch" back in 2004. There was no "hatch" in the immediate area. One of the patterns caught me several bass, and frustrated a lot of sunfish. I found a couple of the other two patterns, but all I have of the one that caught fish are some fuzzy photos. It's a big fly. These are the largest of the cyclical cicadas. They measure about 1 1/2 inches long. My attempt to resurrect it. Maybe they'll show up this time. Hook: Mustad 3777BR, Size 30(Mustad's designation) Thread: Black 3/0 Body: 2 mm craft foam, Black and Orange Wing: Orange Mirror Image Legs: Spinner Bait Skirt layer Eyes: small orange map pins Still working on some bass flies. Trying to finish off some modern Calcasieu Pig Boats. An even dozen to put in the box. 2 more to go 8 in the box. Two others fit under crayfish patterns. Found it was easier to organize the box if I slipped a small rubber band over the body. Hook: Daiichi 2461, Size 3/0 Thread: color to match pattern Under body: sparkle chenille or other material tied on top of shank, 1 saddle hackle tied on each side of shank. Materials twisted together and wrapped on shank Outer body: Spinnerbait skirt Eyes: Living eyes Head: Thread(bullet shape) coated with UV resin One of the crayfish Pig Boats. They ride point up, but both came out too heavy for my taste. I was traumatized by getting hit on the back of my head by large clouser minnow when I first started fly fishing salt water. Let's bring this to an end. What I did for my crayfish pattern was drop the spinner bait skirt, went to a smaller lead dumbbell eye and a lighter hook, an Eagle Claw 202, Aberdeen Crappie hook in 3/0. The only difference between this body and my standard Calcasieu Pig Boat body is the hackle is tied in stem first.

Nice. Different take on the ant. I've used CDC for ants, but wrapped the CDC feathers to form the body with hackle wrapped in the middle.

After I posted, I noticed my camera was on the table, so I here is what it looks like. Top of the box. Front of the box Bottom of the box Inside the lid

I have one that I found in my cousin's house when we were cleaning it up after he passed. On the front is "G.D.W. NUMBER ONE Crop 1948" On the inside of the lid it has HABANA HAND MADE IN HAVANA-CUBA Especially For Mr. George D. Widener Crop 1948 I used it to hold the change for my bi-weekly poker game. The game's been suspended for a year now. I probably should see if it has any collector's value, as the Widener's are well known around here. His father, also George D. Widener and his brother, Harry were first class passengers on the Titanic and went down with the ship. I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow and post them. It still has the import stamps on it.

I use Gudebrod 20#(5 and 6 wgt reels) and 50#(8 wgt) as backing on my reels. Basically, it's the line we used on our Penn Internationals for in-shore and off-shore trolling. The large spools we brought to spool our reels came with the splicing needle and instructions on how to make the splice loop. 80% of my fly fishing is in fresh water. I've never seen the backing on any of my reels, either in fresh or salt water, but I know that loop isn't going to break if I ever get there.

What you've tied is an extended body nymph, not sure I've seen one before. I've seen articulated nymphs. I tie extended body mayflies and use foam for the body. Interesting idea. Nice job on it. A bead on that short a hook might not leave enough room to tie in the legs and build a thorax. You might consider using a small bead as the thorax, pull the material over it and tie it down in front of the bead.

I've heard a lot about the "Bluebill Bug" or "Triangle Bug" I got a sample from a member of one of my fly fishing clubs when we were tying at the last Fly Tying Symposium in NJ. He's one of the many that believe you need to tie your panfish flies on size 10 or size 12 hooks. I'm not. Decided to tie up a dozen and give them a try. These are tied on a size 6 Partridge Sea Predator. This one is basically a floating Woolly Bugger that's distantly related to the Booby Fly. The head is a 20 mm piece of a 7/16 inch foam cylinder. It's tied on a size 30 Mustad 3777BR, size 30(that's Mustad's designation not mine). The body is two saddle hackles twisted with estaz. The fly is roughly 3 inches long This is my panfish version of Tony's Froggie. Tied on a Partridge Sea Predator size 6. You can't see it in the picture but the shank is wrapped with micro crystal chenille to add some flash to the fly. Body is a 5 mm wide strip of 3 mm craft foam. And a couple of panfish size soft hackles. I think I tied them on a size 6 Partridge Klinkhammer hook. The bodies are Kreinik Glow in the Dark thread, left over from my days of trying to tie Harrison Steeves Lightning Bug. Thread is over wrapped with Larvae Lace like material I picked up in a craft store. The silver bead head instead of being in front of the hackle is between the body and the hackle. An idea I picked up from a member of the Delaware Valley Fly Fishers at Fly Tying Day they held. It's visible on the right hand fly.

February is almost gone and I'm still working on my top waters for bass and panfish. I've heard a lot about the "Bluebill Bug" or "Triangle Bug" I got a sample from a member of one of my fly fishing clubs when we were tying at the last Fly Tying Symposium in NJ. He's one of the many that believe you need to tie your panfish flies on size 10 or size 12 hooks. I'm not. Hook: Partridge Sea Predator size 6 Body: 2 mm craft foam Legs: Spinner Bait skirt layers Tail: Grizzly Fibre(that's what it says on the package) Eyes: 5 mm Living Eyes I call this one a Floating Woolly Bugger. It's distantly related to the Booby Fly Hook: Mustad 3777BR, size 30(that's Mustad's designation not mine) Body: two saddle hackles and estaz twisted together Tail: Marabou Head: 20 mm piece of a 7/16th inch foam cylinder Eyes: 8.5 mm Living Eyes I posted a larger version of this fly, Tony's Froggie, last week. This is the panfish version Hook: Partridge Sea Predator size 6 Underbody: Micro Crystal Chenille wrapped on shank Body: 5 mm wide strip of 3 mm craft foam Tail: Marabou Eyes: 5 mm Living Eyes And a couple of panfish size soft hackles Hook : Partridge Klinkhammer hook(I think) size 6 Body: Kreinik Glow in the Dark thread, wrapped with a clear craft store material similar to larvae lace Weight: silver bead head in front of body Hackle: Starling on steroids', actually black hen hackle of unknown orgins. Head: black thread coated with UV resin

Is that Bob Wills in your Avatar? Good choice in music. One thing I do when I working with peacock herl, whether I'm doing a thorax or body is make a loop of black thread and insert the peacock herl and twist them together. It adds strength especially if you're dealing with a fish with teeth. From personal experience, never lip a trout. I generally follow the rule that WW cited when tying trout size soft hackles. When I'm tying larger ones, size 8 or 6 for panfish the hackle usually goes past the bend of the hook..

I'm not sure if this is any help but when I was working, I used to go to various fly fishing during my lunch hour. I didn't have a computer at home. I worked for DLA and they cracked down, for security reasons, on what web, other than official government web sites they would let us sign on to. The fly fishing sites, for some reason, were on the list of of sites that were banned. It took me a year or so to buy my own computer at home. I'd had written down the various sites URLs, user names and passwords. I stumbled back on this site, and typed in my user name and password and I was able to get on. The only thing I had to change was my e-mail address in my profile.

That's the basic idea of fly tying, Baron. You're trying to create the illusion of life. I like soft hackles, I'm better tying trout size ones. I tend to get a little heavy on the hackle for the warm water ones. I look at them and say myself. "It looks like it could use another wrap, or maybe two." This some of the last warm water ones I tied up. They were for a Casting for Recovery retreat, where my salt water club provides the "lake guides" for the ladies participating. That's why they're pink and purple and a bit heavy on the hackle. Tied on a size 6 hook. It's a Partridge hook of some sort. I'm going to recycle them for the patterns I plan to tie.

Nice. Tony passed away last year. He'd appreciate your "take" on his pattern. He always urged me to experiment with his patterns. Haven't tied them with legs, as they've were always effective the way they were. I've got a life time supply of spinner bait skirts and skirt layers. I might tie up some up with legs and do a comparison. Let the fish vote on which one they like. I've tied them down to size 20 and have caught trout on them. I've got those small foam cylinders that are used for wing posts. I'll do up a dozen and add them to my trout box. Maybe size 18, not sure I can see a size 20 these days.

Oh well. To outliving the year class and another set of condos. That was a good place to fish. Caught my first muskie there, a small one, live lining a sunfish. The same day I saw a guy tossing a large Rapala minnow, have a huge muskie grab it. I got a good look at it, at least the part from the back fin to the tail, and estimated it to be between 20 and 24 inches long. The guy kept asking me "Did you see that?" after the fish broke his line.

It should work. I can remember years ago, before the condos were built there, fishing at the old factory in New Hope, which gave us access to the wing dam, seeing the elvers swimming up river, and literally up the front of the wing dam. They were about 6 inches long, dark on top, light on the bottom. That should work real well. About the same time we started noticing these silver fish with black stripes down their sides. Small schools of them, about 12 inches long, working their way up river. That was close to 40 years ago, I wonder if any of that particular year class are still around.

I have seen a white mayfly that small, size 18, more likely a size 20, but it was up on Pine Creek in late May. It drove a bunch of Canadian and at least one European fly tyer, not to mention the American ones crazy. Any ideas, Silver? It had bunch of FF@ folks talking to themselves and reaching for another glass of scotch. Haven't had a chance to fish the White Miller hatch on the Susky.

unfortunately I have fat and arthritic fingers. I use mini-test clips as hackle pliers as hackle pliers. A couple of suggestions is use the longest fiber possible on the feather. Use the shorter fibers for the tails. Tie in the tails separately. Tie in your wire. Based on the picture you posted, see if you can find some thinner wire. If you have a an old pair of IPod or similar ear plugs around, they are a good source of thin wire. Pick 3 or 4 fibers, depending on how thick a body you want. Lay the tips along the shank and wrap them back to the tail. Once you decide on what to use to wrap them, wrap them forward to where the thorax will be. A fairly simple soft hackle PT nymph.