crowbuster

I'm a seasoned tier and fisher from another board. Not on this one as often as I should be. What is your favorite hopper pattern and size for wild trout? Just would like to see other opinions and compare them to mine. Thanks.

I use both. I use a two-edged razor from CVS and I have a pair of straight and curved scissors specifically for spun or stacked deer hair. The other element is practice. I generally make the initial cuts with my scissors and cut a flat bottom with a razor. However I always make my initial cuts large, so I have some room for error. I can always take a little more deer hair off, but I can\'t put it back on once I cut it. After that initial shaping with the scissors, I cleaned up with the razor and that gets my fly near finished. Then I can go pack and do the final touches with my straight scissors and get my fly looking neat and clean. Another thing you can do, and I do this with my divers and sliders; Carefully, Flex the razor so get a curvature in the blade. Not trying to be condescending at all, Just trying to give ya what pointers I can. Deer hair aint the easiest stuff to work with. here\'s a pic of my last deer hair bug....and I know of a video i can show that goes over trimming extremely well. It\'ll just be a matter of finding it. There's either 2 or 3 videos of this guy trimming. Watching his techinque helped me get started. But then again, you could already be much further along then I was. It may be a waste your time.

Very nice. Informative and clear, and you finished with a top class fly. What is preference for stacking/spinning thread? GSP? Kevlar?

'Preciate the response guys. You all have definitely satisfied my curiousity, and given me new ideas to play around with.

My two most recent flies. The Popper is a size 4 Mustad 3366....The Sculpin/monster/sex dugeon variant is a #1 3366 in the back and a #2 crappie hook in the front. I'll cut off the front hook before using.

I've been tying them exclusively for the past week or so. I fished them one afternoon, got some results, and really liked the action they had on the water. So it's not like i'm in need of help, but i'm kinda curious. For those of you who tie deer hair poppers/fish them, couple quetions for you fellas. I've seen them tied with both a "cupped face" and a "flat face".....Which do you prefer? Is there really any difference in performance? I've seen the face coated with a cement/laquer to stiffen up the face for extra "pop". Does any of you do this? I've been tying flat faced, with the cement for the extra "pop" and I like how they work(had a fish break me off the other day on one). I'm just kinda curious about what you other warmwater fisherman prefer. Thanks, CB

Looks awful familiar. :hyst: The second one is definitely a step up from the previous. The first was good(as I said before), but the second was definitely improvement. If you could get the defined head of your first nymph with the body of the second, it would be outstanding. Just my thoughts. Keep at it, looking good!

I've got them as small as a #12 streamer and as large as a #2. Never seen them any larger than that here in the North Carolina Piedmont.

I've spent the free hours of my week tying up 3-4 woolly buggers a day. Just to replenish my box. I really wore down on it beginning of spring.

I'd would say the fellas answered this question adequately. No, it's not legal to have them. I've been in a similar boat use you. By all means, if you want to use them, do so at your own risk. But it's not legal for you to have them if they came from protected birds. I know this because I use to particpate in Falconry. (look it up if you must). When my falconry license was issued, I could legally posess some protected feathers, but I did not renew it. When my license expired, it became illegal for these feathers to be in my posession, so i had to discard them. Hope this helps, CB

The secondary wing feathers make excellent quill wings. Primary wings have biots small enough for your smallest flies. Crow feathers are not high demand, but they certainly have a place.

Find a crowhunter. I hunt crows when they are in season(thus the name). Most of the feathers are still in fine shape after we bag them. This website may be of use to you: Crowbusters Please note I'm not affiliated with this website. The "same name" deal is coincidental.

I've always felt that fur from dry lands animals (rabbit, squirrel, woodchuck etc.) will abosrb water because the animal has no natural reason for a repellant. I would not suggest using such for dries. However, fur from aquatic mammals(beaver, muskrat etc.) have natural water repellant properties. I use those for dries quite often. I don't know what to tell you about synthetics.

I've caught more trout on a quill gordon than any of other dry fly, so that is one of the top dawgs. I love wulfs, the come in at 2. Then a small(12-14) stimulators are third.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by crowbuster: Mike's Copper John