cheech
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Posts posted by cheech
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What I would do is order ONE neck/saddle from Collins, take it to your local fly shop and compare it to the Whiting hackle there. If you like Collins' quality, you can always go back and buy more. If you come to the conclusion that you simply must have the Whiting, it will be right there.
We did exactly that in the link listed above. Collins capes were very very good and came in second place behind Whiting bronze. The saddle that came with the collins cape was not suitable for tying dry flies, and it wasn't even the same color as the cape.
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Regardless of how good, bad, complex, simple, long, short your videos are, there will always be criticism when you post it on the interwebs. Some of the criticism is warranted, some is from people who are jealous. Best just to move onward and upward and keep tying.
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Cold; I have applicator tips but dont use them. I took a picture last Thursday for a thread below. This is just a corner of that picture that shows "Wonder Wax", Liquid Fusion, brushable LCA and brushable (Wapsi I think) CA and other chemicals. The three arrows are pointing to 6 month old Zap-A-Gap pink (thin) and a year+ old Zap-A-Gap Green and just the tip of a six month old Zap-A-Gap green. None of these are covered. Tha larger bottle may need a poke with a bodkin but all three are liquid. I haven't found a reason to cap them except they do a hell of a job on the formica top on my workbench if spilled. No high end furniture for me. Mabe the adhesive in the long shiny applicator hardened.
I leave the caps off of my zap... works great.
My favorite CA glue is Wapsi Z-ment. A collaboration between Wapsi and Zap.
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Articulated shank? They come in differen't lengths from fishskull & partridge! You'll get better movement!
This too. 100%
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I just use a drill.
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If you ned such a long shank, how about a tube fly? You make the tube as long as you want
This. 100%
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The resin is probably as good as most of the others out there. But there's no way that little key-chain light has enough power to activate resin with any consistency.
That little light is actually pretty amazing. I used it in the UV Resin Shootout. The resin, however, was by far the most expensive (per oz.) of them all.
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And the distinction between attractors and imitators is, again, made by anglers instead of fish. There are anglers who successfully fish Royal Wulffs to selective trout during heavy hatches, there's anglers who forego dogma entirely and throw beetles or ants during blanket hatches and they catch fish consistently, too.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I understand Juracek's position that the best patterns solve problems. What I and others are saying is there's multiple ways to solve those problems, sometimes those problems don't need to be solved in the first place, and sometimes solving those problems is more important to the angler than it is to the fish. If the goal of fly design is creating patterns which catch fish, then whether John Juracek peers into a fly bin and sees patently derivative small nymphs is entirely irrelevant- he's not a fish.
Also, if the end goal were purely just to catch fish, why wouldn't we throw night crawlers, live crickets, etc. Hell, why not even throw gill nets at them?? Fly fishing is NOT about solving a "problem," rather, it is purely for our entertainment. If tying a metamorphosis of attractors called the Grumpy Frumpy and catching fish on it is fun, then I win. If I submit the Grumpy Frumpy to a fly company, they tie it, they sell it, and the end user catches fish with it? Fun is had. Could that angler have caught that same fish with a plain jane hare's ear? Yep. Would he be able to tell his buddies that he was fishing the "grumpy frumpy" at the bar that evening? Nope.
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I understand his premise, I just think he's wrong.The first Trudes were tied as a practical joke in the early 20th century and they've been catching fish ever since- they spurred the development of everything from the Picket Pin to the Sofa Pillow to modern stonefly and terrestrial designs. It's still a commercially tied and extremely effective pattern a century later, but using Juracek's rubric it's a failure in fly design because it wasn't created to solve a fishing problem. IMO that doesn't mean the Trude's a bad fly, it means there's some flaw in his metric.
When we realize there are perfectly effective, long-lasting patterns never designed to solve a fishing problem, it becomes immediately clear Juracek's underlying premise is false. I'd be more confident fishing a fly designed by Pablo Picasso than a rod designed by Pablo Picasso because you actually can incorporate physics and math into designing a new rod model while there's a hundred thousand variables governing why a fish eats a fly- of which we only understand a fraction. It's the difference between engineering and biology.
But my biggest criticism of the article is it simply isn't a failure of modern fly design. The Trude's something like 113 years old, and decades before that dressers were creating patterns to memorialize people as much as to solve angling problems. If modern designs are a failure for this reason, so's the Jock Scott. Orvises' online fly catalog lists 72 mayfly dry patterns, if at least some of those aren't "legitimate" patterns designed to solve angling problems, surely some of the 107 mayfly dries listed in Dette's 1935 catalog are just as suspicious. The Wulff series of flies only really differ from each other in body and hackle color. The original name was changed to incorporate Wulff, one of the most recognized names in fly fishing at the time, in an attempt to brand the flies and sell more product. Modern fly designers are only as guilty as Dan Bailey. We can debate whether it was more or less prevalent now than they were in the past, but the "failures" Juracek's talking about aren't modern, and they don't represent a trend. The things he's trashing are just as much a part of the sport as the things he's advocating.
And just when the nail seems like it can't be struck again, it is hit with violent force square on the head.
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Tinkering is probably the mother of invention. Hoever, changing to a calf tail wing from a quill slip is not a break through....which is why I found it amusing that a piece like this came from a guy most famous for changing the tail of a comparadun to synthetic, and calling it a new pattern.
In fact, in that light, there's no shortage of arrogance suggested when a guy basically says, "When I made a minor tweak and called it a new pattern it was okay and even good to do, but now anyone that does it is a detriment to the sport."
and the nail has been struck on the head.
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Sorry but I don't buy this at all. Complex or not, 6 types of material or just pheasant tail and wire, new idea or old pattern....it doesn't matter. The fish are the ultimate deciders. Flies that don't catch fish, don't sell, don't last and are a non entity.
To me this just sounds like sounds like someone who doesn't feel like moving forward as things inevitably do. The equivalent of "kids today don't know what good music is".
A matter of conflicting style and opinion is all it is.
J
Well said.
My thought is that the absolute best way to catch fish is a nightcrawler or a wad of dough bait... Why do we morph into "fly" fishers? Because it's interesting and fun to us. Same can be said with fly tying. I have had many a conversation with the "I don't fish with foam" guy, and the "I only tie with natural materials" guy, and the "I don't fish with beadheads" guy. I guess the next guy is "I don't fish with flies developed after 1983" guy.
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Are you using a dryfly hook? if so try using a streamer hook. The heavier gauge wire will give it a better keel, flipping it the proper hook down in the water.
This. Use a Daiichi 1710 or a TMC 5263. They are 2x heavy, and are necessary to keep a foam fly from flipping.
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Do you have instructions for the complex twist bluegill?
This pattern http://www.flyfishfood.com/2014/10/complex-twist-bugger.html by the guys at FlyFishFood was the inspiration. This video will show the technique, but here's the materials I used.
Hook: Allen B200 #8
Thread: 140 denier (I used both Danville and UTC, either works)
Weight: .020 wire for weight
Tail: Wooly Bugger marabou white and olive. white goes on the bottom
Body: Complex twist of hot orange Krystal Hackle, White Schlappen feather and Olive Schlappen feather. Twist carefully and brush out.
Head: Olive and White Senyo Laser Dub
Eyes: I used 8mm, but 6mm works better.
Add blue and orange colors with Chartpack or Copic markers. Add the lines at the top with a black Sharpie.
I glue the eyes on with Tear Mender, then secure the head with CCG thin UV resin.
I tied an alternative body color using pearl UV polar chenille, orange schlappen and olive schlappen. I'll post a picture tonight because I think it looks a little more realistic.
Hope that helps!
Very cool. Kind of a mashup of the complex twist bugger, the Low Fat Minnow, and the Belly Scratcher Minnow.
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It's Palmer Chenille. Mirror Wrap is similar, but it tends to be a bit longer with thicker fibers.
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Some tube flies.
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Watched some FlyFishFood videos yesterday, still with bass flies on my mind, and got the brilliant idea to do a Complex Twist Bluegill. Tested it in the pool, and the action is very nice!
Nice work!
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All I can tell you Cheech is he said for stocked trout he would use the Orange Fish Hawk, The Lemon Ashy or the Black Spider he never showed a picture of any of them.
that wasn't much of a "show" then.... For stocked trout a few #8, #10, and #12 woolly WORMS (not Buggers) in light and dark colors is all I'd ever need to fish the rest of my life. Thankfully this hobby isn't about NEED, and thankfully I don't fish only for trout.
I'd agree with this... My stocker kryptonite is called the Blank Saver shown to me by a friend. Basically a black wooly bugger with a chartreuse bead.
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Was it the Lemon Ashy, or the Orange Asher?
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Those standard ebay UV flashlight have UV LEDs rated to a working voltage of 4.2 volts maximum. That is why they must use the single 18650 battery which puts out 3.7 V which is below the 4.2 V maximum. The LED bulbs will burn out if you use 2 CR123A batteries. I know because I've done it when my supplier sent flashlights with the 4.2 V bulbs. He had to send me the higher rated replacement bulbs.
The UV flashlights that Solarez, Clear Cure Goo, and I sell are rated to over 9 volts so they can use dual CR123A batteries at 3V each = 6V, or the rechargeable version of CR123A rated at 3.6 V each X 2 = 7.2 volts. So although the housing is the same, the bulbs are not. Those lights are less powerful and put out less UV light than the ones I sell. I even have a UV flashlight I tested that has a long housing to take 4 rechargeable CR123A with a bulb rated to over 16 V. I have to special order my UV flashlight with the more powerful LED.
All I know is that I have been using this light for the last year with no issues whatsoever - even with silver creek resin. There is absolutely no need to spend more than this for a UV light.
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Here's a picture of Cheech using his UV "light to end all lights."
Protective equipment sold separately.
Exactly. Safety First.
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check out uv lights on ebay and save even more
http://www.ebay.com/...t Lamp&_sacat=0
Yes... This light is the light to end all lights. You can even get it with a rechargeable battery.
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cheech, since you're here, after reading your piece I had a thought: for the discoloration test, is it possible that some of this was due to reaction with the paper?
Obviously, even if this were the case, it's no less likely that they'd do the same thing with common fly tying materials, but most paper is treated with all sorts of chemicals, and is fibrous, whereas tying stuff, while certainly given its own chemical bath, is usually less so (though you can then start down the rabbit hole of the materials themselves, especially synthetics, being made of possibly reactive chemicals as well).
Long story short, I couldn't help but wonder if all of the samples might have looked better on a less reactive substrate (if the paper did indeed contribute to the discoloration).
I actually did take this into consideration because someone said that same thing. I did the same test with all the resins on a gallon sized ziploc bag and the results were identical (I think I mentioned that), but upon retrieving the plastic many of the globs of resin fell off and I couldn't begin to try to place them back in their spots... Imagine having a bunch of globs of glue on the floor of your car. I didn't have the time or motivation to do it again.
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You guys/gals do realize that some of the people that do these "uv resin" shootouts/tests have affiliations with one or more of companies involved....right? I'm sure that would NEVER sway the final results.......
Frank's warning is fair for sponsored, promotional content that are really ads in disguise. But Cheech's post is not a one-sided promotional ad.
Cheech leads off by saying all of resins are very good and later advises buying any powerful light. He was not pushing his Loon brands.
Cheech did a ton of work and spent his money doing this test and writing it up. He did all of us a big favor to publish the test results, along with the test procedure, not just his conclusions or opinions. He will probably never recover his time and money from his margins on sales of Loon through his site. I hope he benefits from traffic to his site due to this excellent report.
If anyone thinks there's a discrepancy, they can bring it up here or in blog comments.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. The ambassador deals are kind of funny when you get into the industry, and there are many reasons we partner with the companies that we have chosen. Since Curtis and I started Flyfishfood we have been offered many "pro" deals, but we have only accepted the deals that we feel most confident with. With resins, We could have gone many different directions, but the products at Loon fit best for what we were doing. The guys at Loon were grateful that we did a review and were very open to the results because even if there were knocks on their products. All in all, we just wanted to do an apples to apples comparison of all the resins out there because of discussions like this. It seems like everyone gets a VERY strong opinion about how a certain brand is the best without really comparing them to all the other brands, so we did that for them. Most of the opinions are usually just based on them trying to justify a purchase (which is 100% OK due to that behavior being human nature), and the common tactic of saying "my brand is best" just because it's the brand that they happen to have.
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I'm not sure why the tackiness bothers anybody. A quick wipe with an alcohol pad takes care of that. Most times I don't bother since the tackiness really doesn't stick to anything.
Is it possible that everybody is using different lights made for different products or cheaper lights from China. In other words are you using a loon light to cure CCG resin or what ever other combos you can come up with. It's my understanding that different resins have different light wavelength requirements for curing. Meaning the light for loon may not be optimum for CCG or solarez or whatever. I really don't find tackiness to be a problem and wonder if there are different levels of tackiness because of different light wavelengths being used to cure the resin.
The light mumbo jumbo is all marketing BS. Even the Tuffleye "blue light" argument is not relevant. All lights I had cured ALL resins. Some just did it better than others. In fact, the Ultrafire 501-b for $15 on amazon was as good as any light on the market for any resin... If a resin cures tacky, it's the resin, not the light.
Future of Fly Tying
in The Fly Tying Bench
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Yep... Agreed.
Another thing... Inflation.