perchjerker

Dave... Though I am not one of those who drilled a hole, etc., having made ferrule pullers, which work on the same principle, the hole is 3/8", the same as the diameter of the vise stem. It is the slit that allows for the gripping.

If big and heavy is essential, I have been tying with the wrong base for over 20 years. My C-clamp rotary Regal is clamped to the front edge of a piece of 1" X12" X 15" long white pine, where it has produced numerous deer hair bass bugs to size 2/0 with never the first case of either slipping or tipping. The vise clamps to the side of the board, and the board extends only the width of the bottom portion of the clamp beyond the edge of the table it all rests on, i.e., perhaps an inch.

Cream... For the glittery body, I simply add glitter to my final 'top-coat' epoxy while mixing it. This way I can get a layer over the entire body, which gives the impression of light reflected by scales. Just a bit of additional "flash". This also enable one to 'play' with the various available glitters. Just noticed "Holographic" last week while browsing one of my favorite 'hobby' stores. Need to get some and give it a 'go'

Kirk... The subject is "painting eyes on bugs"; NOT "painting bugs on eyes"! Did you skip the "It's All About Proportion" class in your Beginner's Fly Tying course? Ha!! Cheers! Frank

Kirk... You just have to hold your mouth properly, just like you when you try to correctly pronounce the German name Guenther! Frank

CleBo... I have to second Kirk's comments about your deer hair bug, from it's being a very nice tie to the collar on the bottom. I would add one more comment. It appears that you glued the eyes directly to the trimmed body. I, along with all of the other deer hair tiers with whom I an acquainted, recommend either cutting with scissors tips, or burning with an electric cautery tool, a small recess in the head to glue the eyes into. Thus attached, they seem to be less likely to get knocked off by a fish; or other solid object. Also, the bug does not appear to be trimmed flat on the bottom; which most all highly recommend. When cutting the bottom flat, you automatically remove that portion of the collar that extends below the hook shank. A collar trimming tip I was given decades ago is to push the funnel end of a hair stacker back over the body and well onto the collar and then trim the collar flush with the 'lip' of the funnel. This make a very neatly trimmed collar. Also, diving can be enhanced by generously coating the collar with head cement. You are doing outstanding deer hair work; as well as with other materials. Regards, Frank

I would like to emphasize Tom's comment about NOT actually pressing the 'transfer tool' against the bug body. Do the same when 'picking up' paint with it. Make the transfer by allowing the "surface tension" to do it for you. There is still another interesting, and fun, way to make bug eyes using the 3-D Fabric Paints. All that are required are the paints, colors of choice, and the plastic lid from something like a butter tub. Place a large drop of the iris (background) color paint onto the cleaned lid, and then add a smaller drop of the desired color for the pupil on top of the larger drop. and let dry. Drying time is the downside, as the brands that I have looked at all have a 72 hour drying time. However, once completely dry, they are very readily 'popped off' the plastic lid for application with a good glue. These paints are definitely waterproof as they are machine washable when used on fabrics.

My array of items for painting eyes range all the way from straight pins pushed into the ends of a wooden dowel, through nails with heads of various sizes, to the dowels themselves. The heads of straight pins make great pupils on eyes painted on streamer heads. The diameter of the dowel can be reduced to that desired by the use of a pencil sharpener. I use Testors Model paints, and just barely touch the surface of the paint that is left in the cap after the paint has been vigorously shaken. The amount transferred to the tool is adequate for possibly two eyes before another light touch is required. Also use a very light touch when applying it to the bug. Otherwise, you will not get a nice smooth edge to the eye. HAVE FUN! Cheers!

Peter... I personally suspect the two separate, but closely coinciding, events brought about their demise. The first was the introduction to spinning gear after WW II, and the embargo on anything out of China, which brought about the demise of the so-called "production" (i.e., South Bend, Horrocks-Ibbotson, Montague, etc.) bamboo fly rods. Fly fishing pretty much fell by the wayside for decades as a consequence. This pretty much dried up the market for such interesting "bugs". No market, why make? It is a shame they have gone the way of the 5¢ cigar! Regards, Frank

Nice video. Thanks flytire for posting the link. I would like to add the following note to a comment in the video. He states that "overheating causes white to turn black". I highly suspect that the use of the wrong portion of the flame is the cause; NOT overheating. I base this in the fact that he uses the "soot forming" portion of the flame regularly and routinely. The "anatomy" of a hydrocarbon flame, which is what he is using, is that the bluest part is the hottest, due to 'complete combustion'. The yellow part, and above, is where soot is formed; due to' incomplete combustion' of the hydrocarbon fuel. Making a faster pass through the blue part of the flame should produce the same results, and, in the case of white powder paint, eliminate the blackening that he experiences. This should be common knowledge to anyone who has had a high school chemistry course. Cheers! Frank

Aaaahh, wading downstream and fishing in front of one's self with nymphs; a.k.a, "The San Juan Shuffle". Rumor has it that if you get caught doing it there today, they put you under the jail; not in it!

I do Clousers and my deer hair bass bugs in a step-wise fashion, and I only need one vise!. The time wasted revolving the 'lazy susan', and then locking it in place before tying is, as I see it, a waste of good tying time! Sorry!! Flytire said it all for me! Cheers!

Stippled... Thanks for the names and the suggestion; however, you missed my point. I had hoped to infer by "categorize", the question as to whether these were "flies" or "lures", in keeping with the thread topic. I have the names for most of them; fortunately! Happy New Year! Frank

Scout the Georgia forest roads and look for "sail 'possums" tha have already been flattened for you by the pulpwood trucks, and sun-dried to boot

Phish... Have you tried moving the small spool side-to-side, rather than the long 'bulk' spool? I find that this works best for me. Oh, how well I know how aggravating it is if you let the thread run off the new spool!! And yes, the process is tiring. I have been mulling over making a 'base' board to put my large spool holder and my drill on, with a small board in between with a stripping guide mounted on it to pass the thread through and to be able to move side-to-side to serve as a 'winding guide'. A small screw eye would work, but I doubt that they are as smooth on the inside as a stripping guide would be; and such smoothness would be mandatory when working with the metallic threads. Your thoughts on this approach? TIA! Frank

HELP! I need help in categorizing the "bugs" in the attached photos that I have in my very modest collection of 20th century flyrod "bugs". The third from the right in the top row is labeled: "South Bend Super Duper". The big one across the bottom has a balsa or cork body. All in the second row have plastic bodies and were made by Heddon. TIA! Frank

Phish... Have you tried re-spooling the the tinsel thread without running it through your fingers as a 'level wind' to guide it onto the new spool? Also, did you reel it from top-to-top, or bottom-to-bottom? I am curious as I have some metallic thread I would like to re-spool to standard spools, but have hesitated for the very reason you mention. Thanks! Frank

sandflyx.. I have to agree. I fail to see the advantage of three vises on a 'lazy susan'. He can only tie on one at a time. My question is, can he rotate to a second vise any faster than he can change hooks in a single vise? The 'rig' seems more like a waste of good space. The video would perhaps been more meaningful if he had actually demonstrated how he uses it. I personally see nothing in what he shows to "write home about". CC: RE: all of the Regal vises. I agree about being a major stockholder; or he married the owner's daughter! Just my personal opinion!

A simple solution to the long bobbins is to re-spool the thread onto empty 'standard' spools; it only takes a few minutes to do several. As I frequently re-spool from these long spools to 'standard' spools, I made the shown support to hold the long spool. I simply put the empty thread spool on a 1/4" bolt that is an inch or so longer than the length of the spool, put on a washer and a wing nut, and tighten and tighten the spool onto the bolt. I insert the end of the bolt into my variable speed hand drill, which has been set for a slow speed, and 'wind away'. You van vary the drill speed to suit you. If you do this it is CRITICAL to make sure that the thread is going onto the empty spool in the same direction it is coming off the original spool; i.e., if it is coming off the top of the original spool it MUST go on the new spool over it's top. (This precisely what one does when putting a new line on the spool of a reel.) If you do NOT do this, the thread will be twisted on the new spool. It is worth noting that many of long spools have 200 yards of thread on them, and 'standard' spools have only 100 yards on them. Thus, it may take two standard spools to re-spool one long spool. (You just got 'two -for-one'!)

In the FWIW column, Danville is a nylon thread, and the 6/0, has a Denier of 70, a diameter of 0.09mm, and a tensile strength of 312 grams. The Uni 8/0 is a polyester thread, with a Denier of 72, a diameter of 0.09mm, and a tensile strength of 425 grams. Thus, the only significant difference between the two, other than the material, is in the tensile strength; Uni being stronger. IMHO, for the size flies you would be tying with these threads, the difference in tensile strength is meaningless. I have used the Danville threads almost exclusively throughout my 40 plus years of tying, and have never had reason to change. Go with whichever one 'floats your boat'.

Petelangvin... How about letting the rest of us know what "it", the third word in your first sentence, is. Without a description or a photo, I have no idea what you are talking about. Thanks! Frank

Ditto both of the above!

Rocco... Your points are well made, and I do NOT disparage heavier lines and rods. All I am saying is that bass can be successfully landed in such areas on a 5wt rig. You are absolutely correct about certain Florida and Texas reservoirs being weed choked. Lake Fork, near Dallas, and Lake Conroe, near Houston, are both excellent examples. A major problem made by the majority of guys who fish such stuff with the long rod is that they use what some who fish Lake Fork thusly consider to be a 'self-defeating' leader; one with knots in itI You not only may have a 5-6lb bass on the fly, but you may aso have a 5-gallon bucket full of moss draped over the front end of the fish, and hung up on the knots. The whole mess may weigh 15-20 pounds, or more, including the fish. This is why many who fish such waters here, including myself, use a single strand of 12-15lb mono as both leader and tippet; the knots are eliminated that can collect moss like a haybailer, and the tensile strength of the material is sufficient to enable one to boat the bass. One professional guide on Lake Fork is a profound advocate of using Spider Wire instead of mono because, for it's tensile strength, it is much smaller in diameter than mono. A characteristic which enables it to "cut through the weeds", to use his very words, and thus eliminating the 'bucket of moss'. His photos of the differences in what one brings to boat when using a knotted leader, and compared to what they bring in when using Spider Wire, are astounding! They will definitely make a 'believer' of even the most 'devout' skeptic. Incidentally, these are photos of what his clients catch. And, believe it or not, it WILL turn over a big deer hair bug with finesse! (Thank heavens for polyploid grasscarp; they have almost totally eliminated the Lake Conroe weed problem!) Regards! Frank

I like the comments on the historical "why" of the divided wing. However, an important element is left out, relative to how often one sees a mayfly with divided wings on the water (the inference being that it is still alive). There is a significant difference between how the live bug arrived on the water's surface and how our tied flies arrive. The live bug we see on the water with the wings upright and held as a single wing has just emerged. Wherever they alight as an adult, either stage, the wings are held upright and again appear as one. HOWEVER, the flying adult seldom, if ever, alights on the water. It goes without saying that this is not how our bugs get delivered to the waters surface. Therefore, absent someone doing a definitive study on the castability and landing attributes of both wing types, I see the question of 'divided' vs 'post' as being a moot point. Therefore, tie them as you want; I do. Mike said it all in his last sentence.

Rocco... I fish weed infested waters that are full of all kinds of 'stick ups' (drowned trees) and have never had a major problem keeping bass out of both with a 5wt, and have not seen the need for a heavier rod for such waters. I find that if I use a straight piece of 12-15lb monofiloament about 6-7 feet long for my leader/tippet, I have no problems of the type you mention. Ihave evenused 15lb Spiderwire with great success. As noted bdefore, I base the day's rod and line weight on both prevailing wind and type of fly I plan to use. I have never had any trouble getting flies, designed to be fished subsurface (Clousers, Woolhead Leaches, Crayfish patterns, streamers, etc.) down in 8-10 feet of water with a 5wt Full Sink line either. Though I have one, I have never fished a 9wt Full Sink line for bass. Billy... A direct response to the 7/8 wt rod question is YES! Howefver, you apparently do not fully understand the relationship between the fly, the line, and the rod. The maximum size of the fly is determined by line and rod weight; but, not the minimum size. Therefore, you can throw a #32 dry fly with a 15wt line and rod; but, you can't throw a 5lb. brick with it. In other words, as the line and rod weight increases, the size, mass, and wind resistance of the fy you can throw also increases, but the smallest size remains the same. When one can readily fight, and bring to hand, our coastal redfish with a 5wt, you should be able to handle most anything you have mentioned. HOWEVER; using a 5wt all day in 15-20mph winds can be a real killer! An 8wt would be a much wiser choice under such prevailing wind conditions; even a 9wt would not be too big to help 'cut through the wind'! Likewise, casting an 8wt all day for bream and small bass could also be a" killer". This is the reason why 90% of the members of Texas FlyFishers in Houston, Texas, my 'Home club', recommend a 5 wt and an 8wt. You are to be commended for doing the level of homework you are doing before making a 'final decision'. Cheers!