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Fly Tying

Blackwater Virgil

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About Blackwater Virgil

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  • Favorite Species
    bass bream crappie striper shad catfish
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  1. THANK YOU, flytire! Will try to order some ASAP and see if they'll do what I want them to. The old fly I had was essentially a seaducer pattern with the single bead head, and it looked good in the water, and moved well, but IIRC, I only had 3 or 4 and they got gone fast. I think I got them from the old Wm. Mills, Co., makers of high end bamboo fly rods and purveyors of all sorts of things flyfishing. The apparently went out of business long ago, and I haven't been able to find the single beads or flies tied with them since. It's probably no biggie, but I just liked the idea of a single bead so moss and weeds could or would more easily fall away from the fly. Again, thanks a bunch!
  2. Thanks for the effort, guys. Just thought I'd ask. Don't have a pic. The last one I had got broke off and lost many years ago now. Just thought a single round bead would give me the action I'm looking for, but would shed weeds better than big bead chain eyes. C'est la' vie, I guess.
  3. It's been a long time now, but I once got some flies that were basically a Seaducer pattern with round brass heads that had hole for and aft, but were also split so they could be placed over a hook and then closed with pliers or whatever. Does anyone make these any more? They made a neat looking head, and I was just curious. So many suppliers! So little tim!!!
  4. Can't certify anything, but one theory I've heard about why dogs (the bird dogs I've had seem to be the absolute WORST!) roll in stinky roadkill and the like is that it covers up their own scent, and this lets them get closer to prey without being detected as what they are. Seems logical, but in the end ... well, who knows? All I know for SURE is that if you want a dog who'll be at least somewhat less likely to roll in roadkill THOROUGHLY And come back to "share it" with you, and get it all over your clothes (why do they INSIST on rubbing it all over you?), do NOT get a good bird dog!
  5. Really clear water CAN be a problem sometimes. If you can find some fertilizer with very low numbers (like 2-2-2 I think it is?) and dump a bag or two into the water, you may get some algae growth and that will give insects something to feed on, and THEN the insects will be ABLE to grow there. Just a thought. The algae gives the fish (and YOU) some cover, provides a MUCH more productive fishery, and usually makes fishing easier. Even a couple of bags, fed out slowly so as to not "burn" the fish with it, might just transform that little fishery, and make it MUCH more productive. With all the stuff already falling into the water, or growing there, it can only add to the fun, and fertilizer isn't expensive, either.
  6. Wow! That georgeweil.com site is something! THANKS!
  7. When I use them on the Muddlers, I just try to tie them in about center. The extra weight gives them more action in a river setting where there's a good current. Also gets them a little deeper a little quicker. I always cast as far upstream as I think it'll take to get the bug down to where the fish are or at least can see it, and then strip it a couple of times, or occasionally use the rod tip, depending on my intuition at the time.
  8. Thanks, guys. After 50+ years of tying pretty simple stuff, that has served my needs very well, I finally can't resist the alure of the most beautiful flies in the world. I'm amazed at some of them. It's pretty much the same as when I saw a real Rembrandt for the first time. I just stand there in awe and amazement. Appreciate the advice. Classes are very rare here in south Georgia, so that's probably not a very viable option, but I can ask at Bass Pro and try to get there for a session or three. With salmon being so distant from us here, we just don't see many of them here, and their expense is part of the reason for this, of course. But what tier could NOT be impressed by their simple, awesome beauty? I can't. I know anything I tie will probably impress her, but the person I REALLY want to impress is ME, and that's a lot harder. With neuropathy in my hands now, that's going to be a tall order, but what's life without a challenge, right? I'm retired, so at least I'm not on a schedule. I suspect I'll have to improvise on at least some of the materials, but the salmon won't care that much as long as they stay under glass on the wall. I've always been a sucker for big challenges, but I wonder if this time I might have set the bar just a bit too high? Your comments help, though, and maybe with the refs cited and some youtube videos, I can come up with something at least passable. Those pheasant crests ARE right spendy, but I don't know anything that would substitute for them. At least I'll have a bunch of tailing and wing material! Thanks to you all. This is a challenge I knew I couldn't meet alone, and you've been very helpful. Thanks!
  9. Good info. Thanks, guys. I want the 3/16" dia. stuff because it turns over larger hooks better so the hook rides up - a good trait in the snaggy waters I often fish. Just barely enough wt. to turn over my #1 Eagle Claw 455's I like on my shad flies, too, and there, getting the hook to ride up is a significant factor in whether they're hooked well, or in the soft outer portions of their mouths, and thus tear out and let the fish go free. It's too much work to get there and hook one, only to lose it, and needless when the hook rides upward. This is a trait of all metallic eyes that helps significantly in other applications as well, in avoiding snags. Next time I'm over in Metter, where the most closely local Ace Hardware store it located, I'll ask them about getting a spool, and how much it'd be, and try to post back here. It always helps before pulling the trigger to know just what the tariff is, I know. I use most any size bead chain I can get, and in colors, too, but that 3/16" size is my go-to size. Bigger flies take more wt. to sink properly, and it'll be interesting to see how they do in the salt this summer. I may well need to go to brass or lead eyes since the fish seem to usually bite best when the tide is moving in the tidal rivers and creeks. The moving water and higher density of salt water makes getting a fly down to the fish harder there sometimes, and they can't bite it if you don't get it down to them. And BTW, one of my favorite sub-surface flies for big bass is the marabou muddler, and adding bead chain eyes to them gives the head more up and down movement, which sometimes proves a bit more tempting than flies without the BC, plus it'll get down deeper in a current, too, which often helps. Nothing beats fishing where the fish are, right?
  10. I've been tying in one fashion or another for 50+ years, but always pretty simple flies that served the purposes I was after pretty well. Therefore, I've never stretched my talents very far. My son and daughter in law recently bought a house on the river locally, and she asked me if I could tie up some flies for a shadow box for the new home. After giving it some thoujght, I decided to TRY to tie up some salmon flies, since I think they're some of the most beautiful fly patterns, and that this would make them nicer for a shadow box type display. I've tried a few, and they weren't terrible, but surely need some improvement. Have a book by Poul Jorgensen that I got long ago, and it has a plate with some classic patterns and tying directions. That'll help. My initial efforts were good enough to look fairly good in a shadow box, but no brass ring compared to the "real" thing. Jorgensen's book provided a great tip. To ge the topping to kick up, he just dented the shaft at the right location, and just tied it in. It's the little things like that that can be frustrating. If anyone can give me some fine pointers that'd likely help me come up with some good ones, I'd really appreciate it. Those of you who tie these type flies sure do inspire me, and make me want to at least TRY to emulate what you do. I marvel at some of the stuff I've seen here. Thanks to anyone who can help me with this.
  11. For crappie, I like little streamers with a good dose of silver and/or flash material mixed with marabou. Add in some bead chain or other weighted eyes, and you've generally got a winner. I like white with a little red - often just red thread to tie in the head and/or bead chain or other eyes. They tend to like slower retrieves often, though when they're feeling frisky they'll take some faster moving stuff. You've just got to figure it out each day you go out. For bream, I really like floating bugs and poppers and sliders. Sliders often work better than poppers in sheltered waters, but when they're not really hitting, the poppers can sometimes stimulate a hit when the sliders and rubber bugs aren't tempting enough. I think they often, if not usually, hit slow sinking "bug" and nymph immitations best. When it comes to shellcrackers, they mainly eat crustaceans and nymphs, and flies that imitate those do best on them, at least in my experience. Again, it varies from day to day what they want to be stimulated enough to strike, and it's a matter of figuring it out and trying stuff until you find the right combination that particular day on those particular fish. It's a whole lot of fun, though, and THAT is why we're fishing anyway, isn't it?
  12. Yes, they do, but it's really hard to find just the right size I want here. Just thought I'd make an offer if anyone might be seeing a similar situation. If I can find some more, I'll buy a BIG quantity. I don't ever want to be without them. I like the way they have just enough weight to give the flies I tie a little more action in the up and down plane, which fish often seem to bring at lest a bit better response from the fish. Little things always make a diffference, or at least often enough to keep me using them a good bit. I only got one response from my offer, so I guess buying a whole spool isn't in the picture, but it was worth a try, at least. Thanks for considering it anyway.
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