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ejcrist

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About ejcrist

  • Rank
    Beginner
  • Birthday 11/13/1964

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  • Favorite Species
    Trout
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  • Location
    Desert Hills, AZ
  1. No you're right, I'm thinking of the wrong thing - I'm thinking of that "Streamer" hair or whatever they call it that they sell at Bass Pro. Craft fur should work very well. In fact I think I'm going to tie one using it - might be even better. It dawned on me when I went to get some out of my stash to tie a very similar baitfish pattern. There's so many kind of furs, hairs, etc. nowadays that I lose track of what's what. This is going to get tough with aging. I think I found the closest thing to it that has just the right amount of flash. Flytire was on the right track. DNA Frosty Fish Fiber looks to me to be the exact same thing. I believe the FFF with Holofusion would do the trick.
  2. I'm with you Gene. Us Gene's have to stick together. To tell you the truth though I thought "fly tyer" was proper english until I read this thread. Guess I started tying flies way, way too early - should've learned to spell first. Gene
  3. I think you're right about the Poly Bear being plenty close enough. I'll order some of that and see how she turns out. I also thought about just using all Holofusion but I'm guessing that would be a little flashier than the pattern calls for. I think using craft fur would would result in the opposite - too little flash. As far as action is concerned I think Holofusion would be the same as the ghost fiber since they're both in the original pattern but craft fur might be a little too stiff.
  4. There's a pattern I'd like to tie called the Bush Pig. It's a nice looking streamer that I believe originated from a fellow (bloke) in Australia. Here's the link: http://www.flyangler.com.au/FLYANGLER60/pdf/BUSHPIG.pdf Anyway, the pattern calls for Tiewell Ghost Fibre and DNA Holofusion for the body. I have plenty of Holofusion but apparently the Ghost Fibre isn't available at any of the popular fly tying supply places I know of online or in stores locally. From the pictures it's hard to tell what we have available here in the U.S. that's close enough - it looks like any number of synthetic fibers I'm familiar with but of course I can't tell it's texture, etc. Does anyone know where to get this material, or has anyone used a substitute successfully? Thanks, Gene
  5. Thanks for the info - you might be right. A 9+ wt full sinking line would be heavy. I fish w/conventional gear too when the situation calls for it, like when the Stripers are 30'+ deep, but I prefer to fly fish whenever I can.
  6. I've been lake fishing for Stripers out of my boat a lot lately and using Rio In Touch Intermediate full sinking line which is about 1.5-2 ips sinking rate. I'd like to get a faster sinking line so I started looking around and noticed there wasn't much of a selection of type 4 sinkers once you got past 8 weight. There's oodles of heavier "sinking head" lines such as Orvis Depth Charge, and Rio makes a couple but not much of full/fast sinking above 8 wt. I did find Scientific Anglers Frequency, but a lot of vendors only carry the fast sinking up to 8 weight. Am I missing something or is there a reason you don't see any 9 wt+ full/fast sinking lines. I can't cast much past 40'-50' anyway so I'm thinking to just go with Orvis Depth Charge which has a 30' sinking head but I wish I could find 9 wt type 4 and above full sinking. Or I might just go with the 8 wt since it's around a 300 grain head which is what my 9 wt casts well anyway. If anyone knows why it type 4 full sinking gets sparse above 8 wt I'd love to know.
  7. I know this is an old thread and there may be a newer posts on the subject, but I was just wondering how everyone manages to keep their hair bunches properly aligned while packing. I just started tying Dahlberg Divers for Bass and Pike and it seems like they look aligned ok before I give 'em the haircut but afterward my colors are all cockeyed. Half of the white belly hair is showing on one side and the other half's belly is green/yellow (the top colors). I tried putting down a thread base prior to flaring like the Hair Diver is done on Charlie's Fly Box (http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/print.cfm?parentID=38) to keep the hair from moving around but then it seems harder to pack using a hair packer. On the last two I tied I tried to pay much closer attention and they're aligned a lot better than the first couple but still not perfect. I think I just need more practice. The more I tie them the better they are turning out but I still have a ways to go. Is there any tips to keep hair bunches from rolling when adding in front of the last bunch? I do move the thread forward and wrap tightly in front of the bunch I just finished. Gene
  8. Wow - that's a beautiful Cutthroat! I've never been fortunate enough to fish anywhere that has them. Yeah I read to tie a lot of terrestrials too so I'm glad to hear that first-hand from someone that fishes there - thanks for the tip. I've been tying what you said you use (ants and beetles) in 14 and 16. I'll tie a couple of 12's now too.
  9. Copy that - thanks for the info. I plan to use whatever looks like it'll do the trick at the time. I want to try some of these small midges to see how they do up there. Up to this point everything I've caught at Lee's Ferry has been on 16-18. Lee's Ferry is a totally different environment of course but I'm guessing there's plenty of small midges up in Yellowstone too. Have you fished the Lamar, Soda Butte, and the Yellowstone Rivers? That's where we're planning to go. I haven't narrowed down the exact spots yet.
  10. You'll never experience using thread by reading about it Buy a spool of 70 denier and then determine if it will tie down to 26. I bet it will! Secret = thread control. 67 wraps of thread is not necessary to tie off the head flytire - You were right. I just tied a #22 Zebra Midge with UTC Ultra 70 Denier and it came out looking a lot better than the ones I tied using 8/0 Uni. Since the 70 Ultra lays a lot flatter, which is why I always used it for tying #16 zebra's, it doesn't bulk up much at all when I kept my wraps to a minimum. I really didn't think it would work all that well because I was assuming it was roughly equivalent to 6/0 Uni when looking at the charts that show what denier is approximately equal to in the aught measurements. I know they're not really comparable since they have different qualities, and most manufacturers sizes are subjective so I was using that as a starting point. Anyway, I'm really happy how well it worked. Tying anything smaller than 18 is all new to me so I'm venturing into new territory here but I wanted to make sure I have a good variety because me and my wife are heading up to Yellowstone at the end of August and I've read you should have a good supply of 20-26 midges when fishing a lot of the rivers and streams up there. Up till now sizes 16-18 worked best for me on stillwaters here in AZ so that's mostly what I tied. The other week I didn't catch anything at Lee's Ferry on attractor nymphs and #16 Zebra Midges but when I switched to my smallest (#18) Zebra's I started catching quite a few of them, but another guy was doing better than me and he was using #22 midges. Between that trip and reading a book I have on fly fishing Yellowstone that recommends 18-26 I figured I better learn how to tie the smaller versions. Thanks for the suggestion - that was one of those eye-openers for me.
  11. You'll never experience using thread by reading about it Buy a spool of 70 denier and then determine if it will tie down to 26. I bet it will! Secret = thread control. 67 wraps of thread is not necessary to tie off the head I've been using 70 Denier for probably about half of the flies I've tied down to #18 and it worked well but have only used 8/0 for anything smaller. You might be right - I'll have to conduct a scientific experiment and give her a go just to see. One thing I like about the UTC Ultra in 70 is how it lays nice and flat with a counter-clockwise spin - great for smoothing out midge bodies before wrapping wire on the zebra midges. It just might work. I actually ordered the Veevus 16/0 and the Semperfli GSP 18/0 in the colors I use most often. I've read on Front Range Anglers (http://frontrangeanglers.com/choosing-the-right-fly-tying-thread/) that the GSP is stronger but doesn't handle as well for general use. I figure the only way I'll find out is to try it. Even if I don't use the GSP regularly for midges I'll use it for something else.
  12. You da man! That's exactly what I was looking for. J Stockard and most of the mail order places look like they have it for a reasonable price. That works for me. The Semperfli Nano Silk looks like it has about twice the breaking strength but it also costs about twice as much. The important thing for me was finding decent small diameter thread in the colors I use for midges because I've been tying #22's with 8/0, and it works but it builds up pretty fast. I think I'll still get a spool of the Uni Trico in case I need a color I don't have. I mostly use olive, black, white/cream, brown, gray, and red but with my luck I'll find a pattern I like that requires periwinkle or something. "Modern Midges" talks about the sizes of threads to use and has some good guidelines about using 18/0 / 30 Denier but then later on it says 70 Denier works for some of the smaller patterns which is contradictory. Maybe I'm reading it wrong but I'd think 70 Denier would build up too fast if tying 24's and 26's. I'll have to re-read that part. Anyway thanks for all the responses gents. Much appreciated.
  13. I'm interested in using these two threads to tie very small midges (22-26). I saw these threads only come in white, and according to the book "Modern Midges" it says you can use a permanent marker to color the thread before coating to seal in the color. I know this sounds like a dumb question but do you color it after you've tied your midge or do you color the thread before tying onto the hook? It just seems like it would be difficult to use a marker on something that small. I know Semperfli Nano Silk comes in different colors so I might go with that, but it'd be nice to only have to have a single spool and color it whatever color you wanted.
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