harrisnmo

Steve! I really enjoyed meeting you and watching you tie down in Jersey... Your patterns rock! I can't get your large pony-tail streamers and 'poxie covered quill patterns out of my head... waaaay to cool, and best of all, extremely fishable! That grizzly olive over white one was especially awesome! :headbang: Thanks for taking the time to respond and putting me in the right direction for pony-tail... and I look forward to seeing you again at any shared upcomming shows. Take care, and have a happy Thanksgiving. Sincerely, Nate H.

Thanks for the replies guys. I believe you're right about the Icelandic "Pony" being simply a small horse lost in translation. And I kinda worried they'd be revered more closely as pets, than as a working animal... guess it's gonna be hard to convince someone over there to take the shears to thier pride and joy. Sure would like some though... the stuff 12 or so inches long, maybe longer, and makes unbelievable grocery streamers. Can't seem to find anything quite like it except for bucktail, but ya can never find it anywhere close to that length. Played with yak, and a few other potential substitutes, but nothing seems to come close. Thanks again for the help, Nate Harris :yahoo:

Anyone know of, hear about, ever come across, or perhaps simply suspect a commercial source for Icelandic Ponytail? I watched a fella tie with the stuff this past weekend and was blown away by it! Like bucktail on steroids and Rogaine! Gotta get me some and get to tying, but 3 strait hours of Google'n has gotten me nowhere fast... Can find plenty of sheep's wool and horse hair patches available for sale, but nothin for Icelandic Pony Tails. If I can't find a commercial source for the stuff, I fear I might be forced to resort to blindly emailing suspected owners of such animals and petitioning them with money to chop off thier beloved pony's tail and mail to a complete stranger! ... dunno how well that's gonna go over Thanks gang, Nate

Jo, I was an Ozarkian up until two months ago... Lived in Rolla, and loved it. Now a transplanted hillbilly livin' in New Hamshah as the folks here call it!.... and they think I'm the one who talks "funny!" :hyst: Nate

Rolla, MO... checkin in! Nate

Hi guys, I'm a pretty earnest Mustad fan, but have been getting pretty frustrated lately with one particuliar hook... the 3906b... seems I can never get a machined metal bead onto one without deforming the bend! I love the 3906b's for my regular soft hackles and nymphs, but I'm fast comming to believe they are worthless for beadheads... Seems the bend in this particuliar hook is too extreme for a properly sized countersunk metal bead to fit over. Is this your guys observation as well? Should I be looking at a different model hook for beadhead nymphs in the future? If so, what do you recomend? 9671's or 9672's? Do alot of tying on the 9672's, but it seems a little long for princes, p-tails, hares ears, and such.... Gotta get a hook order in soon and start crankin these babies out, so your help would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks gang, Nate

Shoe, That sculpin lookin pattern in your avatar looks pretty dern cool,... anychance of getting a closer look at it? Has it been posted elsewhere on the site in larger detail? Salivating... Nate H. oops... im'a dummy,... its right down there in the coldwater forum. Rockin pattern dude!

fish, My new found favorite pattern is a size 10 black over orange chernobyl ant with brown legs... I started tying and fishing them this past summer and have taken fish with them on every trip I've made, to every body of water I've visited. Mine are tied from walmart craft foam too... and they're really easy to whip up. I've tried a number of other color patterns too, but nothing seems to fish as good as the black over orange. G'luck, Nate H.

Black over Orange size 10 Chernobyl... The fish 'round here seem to go berserk over 'em, regardless of season. Tied a mess of them this past summer for hopper fishin and here it is January and they still keep hittin it. Have yet to fish a stream with it and not catch fish... 'Course, I may have just jinxed meself... Nate H.

Hooked, I tie on the 'cuda Jr. Trekker and pretty much love it... Its the first "expensive" vice I've purchased and at a cost of about $160 from Hook&Hackle, it was a perfect upgrade from the old beat up Regal knockoff I'd been previously using. There is delrin tension knob on the vice but there are no beveled detents to allow stoping the turn at a precise degree... it simply holds where you leave it. I like the vice alot, and am very pleased with its performance. The push-collate assembly is smooth, and the jaws hold most sized hooks very tightly... there seems to be some problems though once you get down to 18's or smaller. The only other trouble I've had with vice is when spinning hair or wool on big patterns... The pedestal vice is purty heavy, but the vice wants to keel forward sometimes when exerting extreme downward thread tension... a troublesome trait that a small C-clamp has fixed. Hope this helps bro, and good luck with your decision. Nate H.

Mustad! Mustad! Mustad! ....err, and an occasional Dai Rikki or Daiichi, and a TMC 2457 every now and then. Price is a large part of why I choose Mustads over the other, but I'd have to say that I believe strongly in the quality of Mustads as well, and its my confidence in them that also makes me buy... I've had too many of the harder. more expensive heat tempered hooks break in the vise or against rocks on errant backcasts to make me feel any better about shelling out the extra dough... Most of my mustads are a little softer a little more pliable than the other brands, and I've grown to like that. Just me own humble opinion though... mileage may vary Nate H.

Fat, Thanks for reminding about Denny's Birds... I've been wanting to try one of his skins for along time now, but kept forget about him when it came time to buy. I went to his site this morning, took a look a the JV and Mature Hens and gave him a holler... Super freindly fellow, and really fun to visit with. Got an awesome Grizzly Mature Hen Cape & Saddle combo headed my way now. Can't wait to get her! Thanks again for all the help fellas, Nate H.

Thanks for the advice guys, Looks like I'd probably be happy with either hen saddle or a hen neck,... The soft, shaggy, webby junk at the bottom of some of my #2 Metz Grizzly rooster saddle hackles is exactly the effect I'm trying to recreate, only with a hen... I done culled through my rooster saddles and plucked out all the available webby stuff that was properly sized to accomodate these sculpins but I didn't get much. One Rooster product that looks really interesting however, is Whiting's "Soft Hackle with Chickabou." Any of you guys tried it? Do ya think this might be just what I'm looking for? Or do you think the barbs might be too long for this application? Gosh I hate trying to order fly tying stuff over the internet... so much could be answered if I could only lay my hands on something for a few seconds, take it outa the bag and give 'er a good look-see!!! Thanks again for the help gang, Nate H. P.S. I done sent Santa a letter and 3.2 megapixel or higher digital camera with good macro capabilities was at the top of the list! Would love to start posting some pics to the site, and maybe with a little luck, I'll be able to soon.

Hi guys, Was wondering if you might be able to help me determine what kind of feather to use on my sculpins... I've got several dozen half tied and sitting on the bench patiently waiting on collars. I've narrowed my choice for collar materials down to some sort of grizzly colored hen hackle, but I'm not sure which wil best suit my desire... a hen neck/cape, or a hen saddle? This batch of sculpins are tied upside down (clouser style) on 4xl size 6 and size 8 hooks,... either mustad 9674's or DaiRiki 700's. The tails and bodies of the sculpin are tied with mottled rabbit fur, making it "breathe" and "undulate" quite well in the water. I'd like to keep this pulsating effect in the collar region, but don't know which of the hen feathers will be best suited? Most product descriptions describe both the hen cape and the hen saddle feathers as "soft and webby", but which is MORE softer and webbier than than the other? I'm wanting the softest, webbiest stuff available for these bad boys... I'd considered wrapping the throats with small marabou, but the stems are just too dainty for me to mess with... I've also experiment with some Schlappen and large spaded rooster saddle but the barbules on both are too still alittle too stiff and just not webby enough for my likes... Given the above, what would you guys suggest... hen cape, or hen saddle? I don't forsee a need for a wide variety of different sized feathers becuase I'll likely only tie sculpins in 4-8's and would like to avoid shelling out the extra dough for the smaller feathers I'll never use... Additionally, is there any particular brand you'de recommend over the others as the better bang for my buck? Sorry for the long post fellas, but I really couldn't figure out any shorter way of explaining my confusion... Would much appreciate you help, Nate H.

While I was in the service, we used to use this black enamel stuff called "Emnu" for touching up buttons, grommets, etc on our inspection gear... It was pretty good stuff, came in small nail polish sized bottle with a paint brush cap and was reasonably durable... I can't seem to locate the stuff here though now that I'm station in Fort Living Room... anyone else heard of the product? Know where I can score some? Nate H.

Dornug, I've picked up a couple of fish using a black Circus Peanut crawled along the bottom at night on one of the tailwaters here in S. Missoura, but it hasn't yet "set the world on fire"... I've got about a half dozen in black, olive, purple, and white tied up, but I haven't really given them a fair shake as I keep reaching for my goofy bunny sculpins first... The Circus Peanut is extremely animated in the water and sure looks like a winner, but I've yet to really fish it with dedication. Surprisingly, the fish I caught on the Black Peanut were barely 10" long... Kinda crazy considering I tied em two tandem rigged size 4 Mustad 9672's... dunno what those crazy trout were thinkin... Wish I could be more help... Nate H. P.S. I have the box smallie pictured above,... pricey, but its an awesome box for our rabbit or other hair winged streamers. I don't much care for it when trying to store hackled streamers like buggers, etc, because the barbules tend to get smashed, but I'm just being overly picky... I usually mash all the hackles flat beyond repair anyhows when trying to remove the fly from the lip of a flopping fish anyhow...

John, I'd probably fit well into the column of fly tyer/fisher your describing... After years of accumulating new or experimental flies a half dozen at a time I finally got tired of 'em taking up so much room in my boxes. Two seasons ago I forced myself to begin cutting back on the excess and began concentrating my tying on only those proven patterns I had full confidence in... For me, that list has pretty much been whittled down to around a 15 or so staple flies in various sizes and colors... all of which I feel are true fish catchers. While doing this has resulted in a number of notable benifits, it also comes with a number of drawbacks too... For example, my stock pile of tying materials has become dramtically more simplified and easier to manage. But, now when I get froggy and succumb to weakness and wanna tye something new, I seldom have what I want or need. Same goes for the boxes I now carry on stream,... we all have experienced one of those days when absolutely nothing we're carrying seems to be working and when you slim down your fly selection as narrowly as I have, those days seem to come more often. And, on those days, your chances of figuring out that day's strange, unexplainable "fluke" fly are definately alot harder if not impossible, becuase ya just don't have what them fickle buggers want. Another drawback that I'm struggling to come to terms with, one thats about to break me, is the burnout factor. I'm a pretty industrious tyer and like to crank out alot of flies, but after you stockpile yourself a mess of say a 8 or 9 dozen of one given pattern, ya get pretty derned tired of em... Thus, once you found yourself sitting pretty on quantity across your entire gambit of preffered flies, you find yourself really hurtin... cuase the love of tying keeps driving ya to the vice where you'll either have to tie more of what you've already got plenty sick and tired of, or violate your "15 proven flies only" creed... Think I'm going back to the old way of things, I'll keep my volume up on those flies I fish the most, but they're gonna have to make room again for some of those weird and obnoxious strangers that used to haunt my fly boxes. Later John, and take care Nate H. P.S. This Forum ROCKS guys!

Nothing fly fishing related on PBS here in Rolla,... Nate

I recall seeing that white woolheaded minnow pattern showcased somewheres,... but now i cant find it! Could someone gimme a hand, I'd like to get a closer look at it. Nate

Jeremy is quite the tier ain't he... He's down in Branson MO now, if'n you don't already know... he's got web site up and running too,... www.flysandguides.com Nate