Twofingerz

for me, it would depend on how heavy it was. if you can't cast it with a spinning rod, it's a fly.

I use the Opticaid magnifiers both at work and while tying. So used to having them on it becomes automatic. Unlike the Optivsor, which is also used by many people at work, I am able to look 'around' the lenses to see peripherally. Using loupes takes time for your eyes to get used to, but with time focus becomes automatic.

i'll take a dozen.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by Twofingerz: EP Perch

thanks. glad you like.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by Twofingerz: EP Blue

looks like you installed fiber optics. how cool is that.

yup this past December was one of our snowiest on record. if you are up this way again let us know. have a little get together.

thats one of those questions that has perplexed me as well. make red line because it is invisible to fish. and yet at the same time red hooks are claimed to imitate blood flowing out of a fish. i dont use red line or red hooks. figure one of them is just using a marketing scam to hook fisherman. and until something really definitive comes out i'll stick with whats working for me now. that includes the use of red in my flies. p.s. somewhere in my stack of mags i am pretty sure there is an article authored by Dr. Hal Schramm on this topic. but its almost bedtime so i will look for it at another time.

i was leaning more towards the oft written fishing reports that mention "i caught 5 but had 4 break off" as opposed to the gut hooked. 4 fish out there with stainless stuck in there jaw was more of what i was driving at. to be honest i am a warmwater fisher and have not fished the local streams for trout, although at the shop they are always encouraging me to get out there and just do it. in the style of fishing i do, i do not use skinny tapered leaders or fine tippets and consequently dont have many break offs. my leaders tend to be oversize, and when i am pike fishing i use Tyger Wire. personally i dont see many freshwater pattern recipes that call for a stainless hook like the ones in the aforementioned article so perhaps it really isnt that big of a deal afterall. maybe it really is a non-issue. thank you both for your input. Two

not a fool. fish them all. i have one from Carlin. i love casting it. it just has such a cool feel. you will love it, especially if you are like me, and all your other rods are Fast action. slowing down to cast the 'boo just adds so much more to the experience. you will enjoy it too. i am sure of it.

In the latest issue of American Angler there are a couple of freshwater patterns detailed that use stainless steel saltwater hooks in their materials list. Maybe its just me but that does not sound like the most prudent thing to do. My thinking is that it is going to take a longer time for a stainless hook to "rust out" if lost in a fish. Am i alone in thinking this is not the correct thing to do? I am sure an appropriate non-stainless hook could be substituted with a little research. Is there some kind of ethics or environmentally conscious way to handle a situation like that? Should stainless be used in freshwater? Thoughts and opinions. Two

i have no pattern help for you but i will say i envy you. you are going on my "dream trip".

coast to coast