1st.YearTyer

Why did you bother typing this?How does this help me?Perchjerker your a moron!!

When tying in a top wing(wood duck/partridge/teal) for say a Salmon Fly how do you keep it from seperating?

I would like to know what the alternatives to using 2 Part Epoxy are?I only tie up a few flies at a time that I would use the epoxy for and mixing up that quick-dry stuff is a real pain and waste.There must be other products fly-tyers use for flies like Poxy-back Nymphs or Salt-Water types?

As I am new to tying but old of site I am looking to buy a Magnifyer Lamp.If you have any suggestions say the size of glass/optic x/and bulb type.Price you paid would be helpful to know as well. Right now I have a "macgyver'd" little L.E.D battery light and a handheld magnifyer that I can clamp on but it gets in the way once in a while.

NEVER say NEVER when it comes to fly tying!!! N E V E R ! ! !

I don't know about using dog fur,but again UTYER your the man with the answer.I ALSO blend what few colors I have along with some clear UV sparkle stuff.I found a great deal on a large assortment of colors but it is all synthetic.Using natural fur appeals to me a lot more but I was just wondering what the real fly-tyers were doing for their nymphs.I'm gonna go out today and pick up a bag of RED and BLACK hareline and that should cover me for any color I wanna come up with.

Do you use synthetic dubbing for nymphs or just natural fur?

.....and I am done responding to you perchjerker,the name says it all!

Thx UTYER for the advice but the Comparadun is a fly I wouldn't fish,so I definitely wouldn't bother spending time tying it.I have about 200 drys in my box so it's not that I need to tie any.It was just something I was trying and encountered a problem with.I'm leaning towards anatomicals in tying drys. It's the nymphs that really attracted me to tying trout flies.In my neck o'the woods the available patterns are VERY limited in the local stores.After reading quite a few books I was amazed at what some guys have come up with.So I have a lot of recipes and a lot of ideas to sustain me for a long life of tying. And forget the foam,I will never use foam when I flyfish. Kirk here's a couple pictures of my 2nd and 3rd nymphs. I see I need a better pair of scissors though!!

Thank-you UTYER,thats an answer I can work with.Completely explained.So then my chinese cock capes I'll only use for wet flies and legs and tails.I have packs of Whiting 100's but was hoping not to use them yet until I got better at proportions.Their not easy to find what with all the girls accenting the hair now-a-days.Don't see much point in spending $80 for one color of a good cape to tie drys with.For that kinda money I could buy all the drys in a store I'd ever need.Little disappointed at the guy in the local fly shop who told be I could tie drys with the chinese cape though.Guess I'll go in and have a hockey talk with him about that.lol

I'm using chinese cock cape,but if its because it's cheap please explain why?

Yes the stem part I'm wrapping thread around is free from hackle but it still turns and the hackle lays flat.I've tried the angle wrap/the pinch wrap/the soft loop/the index finger pressure of the back side to tie in the feather and still all the same outcome.It's really starting to get me frustrated.Someone must know something other than what I can read in books.Please help!

Perchjerker-first you said "only borax" then in your last paragraph you say your "wings on the roof with salt".Why confuse the guy? I have 18 Hawks/Falcons/Owls and songbeards taxidermied in the living room.Never had a problem with the officials with the birds on the way to the office.

How do you make sure the hackle stem bends properly when winding on for a dry fly?Mine keep turning and laying flat with the barbs all over the place.

Canadians are much better off when it comes to endangered/rare/protected species.If you find a dead one you want ya take it with you to the nearest Fish & Game office,get a permit and it's yours. I like how people contradict themselves when spewing advice,must be talking just for the sake of talking.Thats a jerkpercher for ya!

I am also a new member but have many years experience hunting.So welcome fellow newbie.It's pretty easy actually,lay out the item on a flat board ,scrap off all or as much as YOUR able to of any fat/meat/sinew from the inside of hide/skin.Then get some COARSE SALT and absolutely cover the entire exposed insides with it.Not just a light sprinkling but a mound of it.If your not sure you have enough then heap on more.Salt is cheap getting another hide/skin is not.Keep it in your garage/storage area for at least three days.Give it a look-see after that.If its looking like beef jerky go another day or two.It's done when it's hard/stiff.Keep it in a Tupperware container type along with a papertowel.Some people use the moth balls/flea collars but I never have in all my years of leather work but maybe me being in Northern Canada helps. Good-luck with it and let me know how it goes for ya. Later TonyB.

Okay here is my FIRST stonefly tie.I like it a lot.Maybe there is somewhere else I am suppose to post this but I'm gonna show it on this thread.I welcome everyones critiques/critisisms/overwelming accolades!I even mixed my own dubbing combination (I only have 4 colors so far)with a coffee grinder.That thing is awesome.Highly recommend them.

Okay I just sprayed a couple feathers with the krylon and later tonight I'm gonna give a tie a try and see how it goes.Thank-you to all who shared their knowledge. Do you think the fish will smell the Krylon? lol

Just got back from fishing a local stillwater and was very pleased to see I had responses to my question.You all answered my question to my satisfaction.So I guess it comes down to what type of tyer I want to become.I consider myself a Tradionalist when it comes to Flyfishing,as in I don't use a fly that doesn't imitate something that will hatch into a winged insect(no foam).I really like the looks of the "anatomical" patterns so I'm going to head in that direction with my O.C.D ! By the way it took me some 10 minutes to figure out how to respond on this forum just now,I can't imagine trying to find info. I want searching through all the posts on this site.I dislike computers very much. Now I have another question about Turkey feathers----Do any of you guys spray them with clear spray paint to hold them together for wing casings?What do you use?When I tie mine in they go all ugly and seperate.

Let me start off by saying how excited I am to be a part of this site.It has been since February that my addiction to this wonderful drug called FLYTYING started.I have been sporadically collecting tools and materials and books since then.Finding Feathers and Hair in the wild is for me the best that has happened so far.Makes me feel real caveman-ny,a little more attached to the true world.Building what I need with my hands is where I've evolved to in this life.I guess thats what I find so attractive about flytying.Alright thats who I am,a newbie to this all with some questions the books I have read don't answer.So here's the question- Can Duck feathers (Teal,Wood,Mallard) be substituted for Partridge in say Soft Hackle flies or when a recipe calls for a Beard/Legs/Top Wing/etc.?Is there a difference in the barb stiffness or something? I've only tyed 5 dozen chironimids so far (and some pike/walleye big flies). I want to wait till hunting season opens to get a full Partridge skin along with my Deer/Elk/Moose/Antelope/Rabbit/Squirrel etc. rather than buying a little bag of randomness. I've included photos of my addiction.The first is a couple weeks after I decided to try this activity (camp room outta town set-up) and the second is my room at home yesterday.And oh is it gonna grow!!I look forward to hearing back from everyone and maybe one day I'll be answering questions that other new guys ask. Sincerely TonyB.