McGnat

Some of you folks are too young to appreciate it, or just have no soul for the experience of life.

Yep, chickaboo will work. I tried it a couple years ago. You can treat it with the Bergman formula or Rustoleum Neverwet for fabrics. It is the single step formula that comes in a blue spray bottle. I treat the chickaboo after the fly is tied. All those fine fuzzy barbules give a lot of surface area like CDC. You do have to fluff it after treating it.

As Warren Buffet says: "You never know what something is worth until you try to sell it."

Little River Outfitters. Free shipping. Their fly tying materials are not online, so you have to call. I've always been satisfied with Hook and Hackle also.

I've seen rabbit skins in natural and white at Hobby Lobby. Lòok in the leather working area. No idea on the price.

Looks like a solution in search of a problem.

Hook and Hackle still shows Indian rooster capes, but no grizzly or dun.

For the strike indicator, you can use a knit picker for the tool from the sewing department. Two mm tubing called Pony Bead can be found in the beading aisle. Both can be found at Hobby Lobby. Two dollars for 5 yds of tubing.

Try using cheap finger nail clippers for cutting wire and lead.

I've seen the movie more than a dozen times and read the book as much. That ending still sends chills down my spine.

Try Hi Vis if it is still made, antron or zelon.

It is out of print, but you can find used copies. Richard Talleurs "Mastering the Art of Fly Tying lead me out of the dark in the days before the internet. Each section teaches you to tie a fly, but more importantly teaches you a technique. Learn those, and you can usually figure out how a fly is tied by looking at it.

Try Drive IN Aluminum Rivets. You can get them with round heads which should be more forgiving to a line if it is stepped on. Aluminum sticks well to rocks.

Around here, middle Tennessee, we have an annual hatch which is small. These are olive with a gray underside. Then we have the periodic hatches. They are black and red. They hatch by the zillion over a few weeks. The trout love them. They bring up some very big brown trout.

Have you tried microwaving them? Run small quanities through for 15 seconds, then check they are not hot which would indicate moisture. If cool. Hit them again for 15 seconds or so. No need to remove them from their bag.