SALMONATOR

RB, Yup, I'm talking about pretty much all of 'em. The smaller ones are a hundred times easier I'll agree, but even the big ones I've taken on a chunk of a cigarette butt or a piece of shoelace impaled on a hook and twitched in there face (maybe I've been spoiled by fishing farm ponds too much for them, but then I've had the same response lake fishing too). They ain't exactly rocket scientists. Those Foam spiders that Jim posted above are probably the best type of flies I've ever used for them though. Subsurface, a royal coachman bucktail wet is tough to beat. I don't know if it's the peacock or the red in it but That's one of the flies that I've found makes 'em go a little crazier than usual. Al

I love bluegills, but they've got to be the dumbest fish alive. My favorite fly for them is one that fits in their mouths. I don't even bother to tye flies specifically for bluegills anymore. I mostly just use the "duds" that didn't make the cut for my trout boxes. I know that there are a few flies that work a little better than anything else (with emphasis on the word "little"), but generally I find that if you can make it look a little bit alive and it's small enough that they can wrap their lips around it, you're in business. Al

At the same time, SD having just been defeated by the Lorax realizes they never discussed the stakes of the little bet they made. "Okay Lorax," he sais, "you've beaten me fair and square. I cannot cast a fly-rod as well as you. So,.....What do you want of me?" A sharp gleam grows in the eyes of the Lorax, and SD begins to hear the sounds of dueling banjos in the background...... Al

So SD looked him in the eye and said "Now this is gonna' be fun....if you think you can beat me Lorax you'll be cryin when I'm done." Well, the Lorax grinned and watched SD as he gave it all he had, And when he was done the Lorax said "Now this is gonna' be sad." The lorax pulled his waders up and stepped into the creek, and SD watched the Lorax cast and a tear ran down his cheek. Now SD never saw a double haul or a roll cast quite so sweet. When the Lorax was done, he said "Now son, I believe that you've been beat"......... Al

....I can cast a fly-rod better than you"..... SD opened up his case and gave that 8wt. an evil cast .......and the Lorax said "You ain't seen shit. Go ahead BOY, I'll go last"...... Al

I'll hit the hotel durring steelhead season sometimes. I guess I'd usually rather have a room than do the truck thing (been there and done that and I'm just a bit too tall for the back of my cherokee). Once the night time temps rise to above freezing it's tent time though. I usually try to avoid the camp-grounds too. Here's a pic of a place I camped alot of times last summer on the banks of the Manistee river. This was taken from right in front of the tent, and It's only about a mile and a half of two tracks off the main (dirt) road, and it's free with a DNR pass. I speant a week and a half here one time (just me and my dog and a bunch of beer) last summer during the hex hatch and rarely saw another soul (maybe a canoe or two every couple of days). Why the hell would I want to spend the night in a hotel? Al

....giant sea-saerpants trying to destroy Tokyo. They realllllly hate those "pick-up" lines. So, after re-thinking his words he proclaims.......

If I was you, I'd get a bait bucket with hooks and a belt with a strong drag. Al

Thanks for the link Will. LMFAO!! Al

Sorry John, My digital cam is out of comission right now otherwise I would. It looks just like the pic, but it has a hook in it. Al

As promised, Here's a pic of the bug you're trying to immitate. Al

In the demo on the Nor I saw the guy tied 8/0-28's. I'm sure it could have gone bigger, but that's what the dude had on-hand. It''ll do the trick. You may have to see this thing to belive me. The guy I saw the show with (Sawcat) has a Rinzetti, and he was ammazed. Yup, it's that nice. If I'm ever in the market any time soon to replace the cheap-ass vise I still tye on, I know what I'm gonna' buy. In my opinion, if you spend more than $100 on a vice and don't end up with a Nor,.....well, you probably could have spent your money more wisly. Buy a cheapy for now and save your money. I'm tellin ya'......... Al

Pat, Funny you should mention that fly. The Borcher Special is a great dry fly. Infact it's probably my secocond favorite behind the Adams as a generall mayfly pattern, and probably more closly immitates many of the naturals. I don't know why I like the Adams so much. It looks like nothing, but it still catches fish like no other dry.The Borcher's on the other hand workes very well in immitating a good number of flies durring many a hatch (Hendricksons, Mahogoney Dun's, Isonichias, Quill Gordon's, etc. depending on the size). I'll post a good pic of a Hendrickson tomorow (got to scan it). Good luck. Al

Ah, St Patty's. I love it and I ain't even Irish (Germen-Itallian). The parade was last sunday here in the Deroit area. I hope I represented well. I think I had at least one black and tan for each and every one of you fellas. I'm still recovering......You know you had fun when you cant even remember the last half of the ride downtown. Al

It's funny, when I first started tying flies I liked to look at all the patterns in books and try to imitate them with what I had on hand. Later on I began to discover that many of the patterns I'd been tying did not resemble the actual bugs in many ways. I think the Hendrickson hatch was when I first discovered this. To this day, I don't know that I've ever seen a "Light Hendrickson". I only know of the Hendrickson (the ones that are typically hatching around the time of the opener here in Michigan). I think those are the ones people refer to as "dark Hendricksons". I've caught many of these fly's and seen many pictures of them and I came to the conclusion that the flies I was fishing (the standard patterns) didn't really look like the bug at all. For instance most of the patterns you will find in books and on-line prefer wood duck flank for wings. Funny, all the naterall Hendrickson duns I've seen have slate-gray wings. The eyes of the naterall Hendricksons are a rust color (and I've almost always found the eyes of a mayfly dun to be the most prominent feature in the head), yet gray seems to be the popular color for tying off the head of the fly. Since then, I've tried to find photos of the naterall flies in the stage of life that I was trying to immitate and copy that with my materials rather than follow some old recipe. Here's one that has worked very well for me when these fly's are hatching: Hook: your dry-fly hook of choice (12-16) Thread: rust Tail: dark dun hackle fibers Body: 1.) 1 rusty brown hackle quill & 1 dark dun hackle quill. 2.) 50%-50% mix of rust and dark gray dubbing. I usually combine rabbit and antron. (choice is yours. They both work but I find the dubbed version to be plenty realistic enough and it floats better if treated). Wings: dark dun hen-hackle tips Hackle: 3-5 wraps of cree followed by 3-5 wraps of dark dun. I'll try to remember to post a pic of the natural tomorrow. You'll see what I mean. Good luck. Al

QUOTE The most important thimg in my opinion is cam-lock jaws. They hold the hook without slipping or flying free. Other than that, vises go from $15 to $500 and the only difference is $485. That's good advice by Troutbum, and if I saw this question 3 days ago I would have told you the same exact thing. This past weekend I visited the midwest fly fishing expo here in the Detroit area and got to see a guy demonstrate the virtues of tying behind the Nor-Vice. WOW. That is a cool machine. It's pricey, to be sure, but if your in the markett for a high priced vice that's the only one I'd consider. Other than that I'd say save yourselfe a ton of doe and get a cheap Griffon. http://members.ij.net/danscustomflys/Nor-ViseConcept.html Al

I wrote 'em all down before I viewed the following posts. Forgive the lack of latin. I never really saw the need to know THAT much about bugs as a fly-fisherman. Here's what I came up with. Not too great. 1.) walking stick 2.) golden stone 3.) scud 4.) helgramite 5.) mayfly nymph (green drake??) 6.) no idea 7.) some type of cased caddis larvae 8.) Midge pupa?? 9.) water boatman 10.) damsal-fly nymph 11.) Mayfly nymph (no idea what kind) 12.) ??? 13.) ??? 14.) maybe a hex nymph? 15.) ??? 16.) Mayfly nymph (no idea what kind) 17.) ??? 18.) what the hell is that???? 19.) BWO nymph 20.) dragonfly nymph Al

Sawcat and I had the privledge of watching my man A.K. Best spin up some bugs this afternoon at the Michigan fly-fishing expo. Quite an eye-opener. I've never really sat and watched and listened to any of these "big name" guys at the tying bench, but I'm a big A.K. fan (as I'm pretty much a dry-fly guy myself and he ties some of the best), so we sat for an hour or so and watched him tye a couple patterns. To say it was educational would be an understatement. Not so much for the patterns themselves (although they were beautifull), but just listening to the guy talk about WHY he does some of the thing the way he does, such as certain ways of wrapping hackle to avoid leader-twist, etc., well, it was very interesting to say the least. What a great guy. I'll be taking some time to sit in on other tying seminars in the future as many of you guy's already do, but if you ever get the chance to see A.K......TAKE IT!! Take the day off, call in sick, whatever you have to do. Was a great show. Al

Oh my....This is too good Al

I always do that with crystal eggs to Pat, but my intentions were always to capture that skein effect like the nukes are supposed to. That's another good reason you mentioned though. I never thought about that. Al

It's a KILLER. Nice fly OSD. Al

Well, it's been near a week and a half since I dropped them off Red. I fear something bad has happened. If my flies are the last ones, and you're waiting on them, I'd say go ahead with the swap and leave me out this time. It bumms me out, but I know bass season starts alot erlier down there than it does up here, and I'd hate to keep any of the other fella's waiting. If they do end up arriving sometime, I'm sure you and your buddy Tim can put them to some good use. Sorry Bud. Al

QUOTE ohhh, just a thought, do you have javascript disabled on your browser??? steve Sorry Steve, I'm a computer dummy. I don't even know what that means. Al

Yeah, I got it fugured out after that first post by MSUICEMAN. Don't know why I haden't tried that. Guess I should have posted a follow-up. Everything works great. Thanks for the help guy's. Al

458,000 baby Great Lakes Cohos. dead fish Al