Sandan

Very cool. Off to the bench I goX2Working on it.

Very cool. Off to the bench I goX2

Very cool. Off to the bench I go

Great work as usual folks. Killer pattern. Spotlight Caddis emerger. size 16's were deadly on the CO. river last week and size 18's were just as effective on the South Platte yesterday. 16's on the CO, 18's on the SP and in the pic. And a size 16 tan foam body caddis dry

Charlies Fly box has some really good stuff. Nice Stimi!

One said no, the other said they can order a cape for me, but I have to pre pay it, and if I dont like it, too bad. Lol. No returns or denying the cape. Basically its mine no matter how bad it is... I think you should be seeing now why Fly Fish Food's flash hackle is so popular. All of this hassle, gone. winner!

Yeah, I know that, but I wasnt even sent a tracking code. I have no clue when I will get one. Anyway, ok Ill just keep hoping he calls me back after 7 times of saying he will, and a few emails to him. Same thing happened to me about a year ago. I'll never order from him again. You get what you pay for, or not.

Go to Hot sulphur Springs. Bring hoppers, in size 14, caddis 16's and pmd's 18s. Forget the brookies. You should be in browns and 'bows all day.

Spotlight Caddis emerger. Size 14. Hook: #12-18 Tiemco 2487 Thread: Black Veevus 16/0 Rib: Copper Small Wire Body1: Medium Veevus Pearlescent Tinsel Body2: Olive Micro Velvet Chenille (one in chart, one brown marker over chart) Parachute: Calf Body Hair Antennae: Natural Mallard Flank Wing: White McFlylon (one brown/gold markered) Legs: Partridge Hackle: Natural Dun Whiting Silver Rooster Cape Dubbing: Natural Hare’s Ear or Gray Hareline Dubbing Tough but fun.

I'm probably in the minority on this, and I preface it with I'm not a die hard trout fisherman, but I see hackle as a luxury item. I tie a good deal of trout flies for trips and buddies, and I almost never use hackle on a non-parachute dry. I can't even tell you the last time I used a "standard hackled" dry fly for trout. If it's not a parachute, I use lots of deer hair comparaduns and CDC or snowshoe rabbit duns. CDC, snowshoe, and deer hair: cheap. Hackle: expensive. I think the original poster is in a little bit of a trickier situation trying to tie dries that small. It would be harder to tie hackle-free dries that size, in my opinion. Possible but harder. Most of mine are in the 12-16 range and avoiding hackle is easy. You're correct about using hair and CDC when possible instead of hackle. Comparaduns down to 24 are doable, it's tricky with such short hair but not too bad. Also CDC spinners. Kelly Galloup's found link uses hair, no hackle and antron or ep 3d they float just fine. Collar hackle sometimes is just what you need. I don't know if I agree that hackle is a luxury item, but there's no need to go out and buy a bunch of necks (capes and/or saddles) all at one time. I also agree that those cape tops can be just what the tying doctor ordered. They look to me that they'll go from 18 to 22 or 24. You just have to be delicate when you wind such small feathers. We've tied 26 and 28 midges with the small cape feathers, no probs. To add your point about paying extra for midge grade saddles was right on, they always have a premium tacked on to them. [edit] I'm a die hard trouter [edit]

Like Flytire and Crackaig, I do not use hackle gauges. What I take with me is a white 3X5 card that I use as a background against which to examine the hackle. I just eyeball them and with experience you can be spot on. Just like I can look at and feel a section of tippet and know what "X" size it is. I know that those of use that have fly fished a while can tell the "X" size of a tippet. Well, tippets are one thousandths of an inch difference. If I can tell 1/1000 of an inch difference in a tippet, I sure can tell a size 16 hackle from an 18, from a 20, from a 22, etc. on a feather. It is not that hard to do. Take the hackle and bend in in front of the 3X5 card. If you need to start, at least try to guess the hackle size suing this method before you actually measure it with a gauge. You will soon develop your "eye" so you won't need a gauge anymore. And I will say that you are wrong about parachutes requiring more "precision" that palmered hackle. Differences in the length of hackle on a parachute really do not affect the angle the fly sits on the water as a standard dry fly. So the hackle can be oversized and in fact I tie my parachutes with slightly longer hackle than a palmered dry fly. BUT you do need to decide whether to wind the hackle concave side up or down and you have to be consistent in that so that your flies sit the same way. Concave down will point the hackle tips down and the fly will sit a bit higher. Concave up and the fly sits lower. You also have to decide whether to finish the fly by tying off the hackle and fly off at the head of the fly or finishing the fly by whip finishing the hackle off on the post. I want my parachutes to be IN the film so I wind the hackle concave facing up and whip finishing on the post. This fly is finished off at the eye. This fly is finished off on the post. Great post (no pun intended, well maybe a little). I prefer to whip at the post too. Most times. Whether I whip at the post or the eye i do like to tie the hackle off at the post with a couple of wraps above the tag end and a wrap below the tag end to lock it in.

You don't have to really pull the feather from the skin to gauge it. Personally, I never used a gauge, I started with the approx.1.5x gape method. Now I think determining the hackle size by looking at the shank length is better. Like a TMC 100 has a different gape than a Firehole 419, both in size 20. After a while, you'll grab the skin, bend a feather and just "know" if it's the right size or not. Tie a bunch in the same size you'll get a feel for what's good and what's not. Then go to another size, etc., etc., etc. Just my $.02 [edit] When I do pull a hackle that's the wrong the size I leave it out on the desk i use to tie one. That way I don't forget I've got a certain size hackle I can use without getting another one. Usually that is. [/edit]

Depends on what you're tying, doesn't it? I have one of those CDL capes. I use it mostly for tailing. I know it has to have other uses too. I just haven't gotten there yet. BTW, I'm not arguing.

Ok well I dont mind getting a whiting. Bronze or Silver is fine. I just need to save up for them. I dont have $90 spare money for a silver right now, and let alone $120 for gold. So getting just one cape will take 2-3 months in Bronze price. I can't afford to go to the $120. Even though I know the price per fly goes down drastically, I still can't afford it. Hope that makes sense? Bronze is excellent, silver is amazing. I never gave gold a thought as silver is so good. That being said we're all individuals and act as such. A good thing IMHO

$115 for a silver grade black??? Lol. The going price is $90. I think not. Even at my local fly shops they are $90. Too rich for my blood. I can get a gold grade for $5 more. Haha. I stopped after looking at the first 5 on that flash sale. Too much money. Did you by any chance watch the video re: Flash hackle? a gold whiting cape for $95, where? Hebert Miner gold can be around $90.

Been a while but I haven't been away from the vise. The Real mayfly size 18 and 20s. Also trying my hand at Dave's hopper. I'll get it, hopefully.

That's what I thought

In another thread someone mentioned Kelly Galloup's Found Link. I've had great success fishing Mercer's Missing Link. So I figured I'd go Found also. 22 in the vise. 18,20 and 22 together. Not perfect but I'm working on it.

I usually use flouro fiber or z-lon for spinners. 2 20s and 22 ( I know the quill on the bottom fly is too fat)

Thanks Lucien.

Robbor, Can't help you with the 30. But he's a 26 and a 28. Both C12-BM

Blue wings,or something close anyhow, size 20.

A few things I've tied yesterday and today.

I got a Renzetti stainless. I think 2 1/4"long. Guess you can trim the pipe to as short as you want. Dryer sheets.

fantastic!