bellevue.chartreuse.trout

Hi Montanacur, I agree that the palmered hackle on the original(on the right) is so webby that it looks like Schlappen. I believe for tying efficiency sake, the length of the palmering feather must be pretty long - if only one feather is used to palmer the fly. I really like the webby look the original has and I believe that gives the fly much 'life' in the water. Schlappen that I have seen though has been much larger than the size hook those were tied on. The hook I used on my version was a Tiemco 200r - size 6 I think. I think the original tie msut have been close to this hook in size. So the Schlappen fiber length can't be too large on the original or they would stick out much past the hook point (and they generally do not on those that I purchased). The search goes on for the perfect palmering soft - webby hackle for tying this fly. (I'll look more seriously at 'small' schlappen) Thanks, BGT

Hello, Ok, a lot of firsts here - at least it feels that way to me. I've been reading (....so much reading in the archives - I think my skin is 'whitened' from the staying indoors and all the reading!) a lot of the information contained in a couple of the arrears in this website. A 'wealth of information' does not do any justice to what is here, if hidden in past posts - but great to read through. The 'first' is my responding to a recent post (I think this may be a first to a recent post), and certainly trying to post a picture of a couple of Wooly Buggers that I have. If the picture posts/loads correctly, they are Baker's Hole Buggers. Ok, the one on the right is, the one on the left is my interpretation of it. If the resolution of the picture is good enough ( I wont know until I try this), you should be able to see the quality difference. No doubt it doesn't make a 'hill of beans' difference to the fish, but... to some tiers (sometimes me!) it may. I don't know if Craig Matthews tied the one on the right or if someone from his shop did but that is where I got it. I can't seem to locate the proper hackle for palmering through the ones I try to construct. Someone suggested to me I should call Matthews himself and I have not done so quite yet. Something to consider in the future. I think this pattern looks so good in the water. When I first saw it I thought it was a little brown trout in the water. Oh, and my friend had a big brown trout's lips wrapped around it! BCT p.s. apologies if this picture didn't post or posted too large

A creative way to recycle/reuse and create something useful from what may be an apparent waste - at first glance. BGT

My deceased friend left me all his fly tying 'stuff' about 6 years ago. Amongst it was the box that is pictured here. I have wondered if he had gotten the kit and started tying using it? I had been tying for several years when I received his inventory of tying stuff. Feel like I have a shop in my basement now. Ok, there's still things to buy. BGT

The first fish I caught on a fly, to my recollection, was with a Royal Coachman. Although it was a dry fly, I think it had been stored in my Father's "Common Sense" fly book. I did not know how to cast a fly rod back then and I fished it drifting it downstream on Cross Fork Creek in Northern Pennsylvania. We were attending some cook-out event that the Cross Fork Club was hosting and I walked out some clearing/field and drifted the fly in a downstream fashion. I remember, vividly, seeing the fly drift in swift current around a log and also - seeing fish come out from behind the log to check out the offering. I caught a big 'white fish' or two - but also a nice 10"-12" Rainbow. I remember coming back in to the gathering and my Father or others asking how I did and how proud I was at catching those fish. It would take me about 20 more years before I decided to really give fly fishing another try as my Father did not encourage such things, it would have cost a bit too much I think. It's been a source of enjoyment, frustration, and never ending satisfaction since I got back into it around 1990.