Michigan fly gal

Nice job, love the hopper they look like the real thing. Thanks for sharing.

I am wanting to try tying my own leaders, where would you advise starting? I fish a lot of deer hair bugs and larger wets(sz 6-2). I typically fish with a 7 wt bass taper and sometimes an 8 wt floating line.

For general purpose trout fishing, I'd start with a 9' leader tapered to 4X tippet. You might go a little heavier for Smallmouth.

 

I tied my own leaders for the first 10 years I fly fished. Then I got lazy and started using factory tapered leaders. I found that they worked just as well for me. Now I'm trying out some furled leaders. All of those leaders I tied did make me good at tying blood knots.

 

You can download leadercalc here http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/leadercalc/download.php It's an excel spreadsheet with a bunch of formulas for knoted tapered leaders.

I found out that I really enjoy making deer hair bugs, can anyone suggest a good source of information on spinning and stacking deer hair? Thanks

Nice work, love the Flys. I have made a few but am having trouble in keeping my stripes straight and getting spots of color where I want them, any suggestions are appreciated.

Hi Jim,

I have only been tying for about 2 years and had no idea that there were so many variations in hackle color. This is the best description of hackle colors I have ever seen. Thanks for sharing

Have learned a lot watching Davie McPhail on YouTube

Nice flies. I tied a variation using green holographic tinsel for salmon last fall and had a few hookups

Thanks for the welcome. Have been browsing around the site and am in awe of all the information that is available.

I usually finish my heads with head cement and add a couple of coats of Sally Hansens when it dries if I want my head color to be the thread color. If I want a nice deep red or black colored head I will use the red or black Sally Hansens and finish with a clear coat on top.

I use a Dyna-King Barracuda rotary vise

I was introduced to fly fishing 2 years ago and absolutely love it. I also discovered that I really enjoy tying as well. Am glad to have found a place to learn, share, and meet fellow anglers. Thanks for stopping by and tight lines to all.