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heronwheels

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About heronwheels

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    Beginner

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  • Favorite Species
    Brown Trout
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  1. I'm a lefty and definitely give you credit for learning to tie opposite hand to help your grandson. When I first started, I was doing a great deal of YouTube learning. Trying to figure out how to whip finish left-handed while watching right-handed videos was a struggle for a while but I figured it out. After having to teach a couple classes, I had to figure it out right-handed so I could help people while I was teaching.
  2. Getting a few small poppers ready for spring bluegill! Stacey
  3. I have spring Crappie fishing on the brain, tied up some modified buggers last night in preparation. Stacey
  4. First balsa bluegill popper. I used Sally Hansen as top coat on this and I'm much happier with the finish than the last one.
  5. I really like those Mike West, awesome paint job! What do you use for top coat? I seem to smear my paint job (unless I strictly use the acrylics) with anything I use for top coat. I tried Loon Soft Head on my lunch break to coat a double barrel soft foam popper that I used black Sharpie on and it smeared it a little even though it's water based. Do you dip instead of brush?
  6. Wow, thanks for all the great info! This is the process I used on these first balsa poppers. After getting the desired shape, I filled the hook slot with white wood filler and sanded with 150 grit after dry. I then took the same wood filler and smeared a thin layer over the entire body, thinking it would fill the voids in the balsa and sanded very lightly again. I followed that with two coats of Delta Ceramcoat All-Purpose Sealer, three layers of acrylic, eyes, then two layers of Loon Hard Head pearlescent. I think next time I'll use my standard Sally Hansen topcoat or epoxy. It looks like I need to stop and pick up some 600 grit sandpaper! I tied the larger of the heads last night after work, I don't typically tie in feather tails on poppers, so that was a little dicey (and lead to a bit of swearing). I'm curious to see how it floats in the water. Hey tidewaterfly - thanks for the advice over on Facebook! Final tie on the first poppers Stacey
  7. Hi all, I've been spending a fair amount of time over the past year, learning how to prep, pain and tie poppers (bass and panfish). Until now, I've primarily used the Wapsi Perfect Popper hard foam heads. The other day, I decided I was a glutton for punishment and picked up a couple of different sizes of square balsa wood dowels (are they really dowels if they're square?) from the craft store. I carved/shaped my first balsa head the other night on a size 2 Mustad 33903 popper hook and another last night, same hook model but in a size 8 for panfish. I'm pretty happy with the shapes I ended up with but I'm looking for input/suggestions/critiques to set me in the right direction as I move forward in the learning process. The topcoat, Loon Hard Head Pearlescent, ended up a touch more sparkly than I hoped for and I'm a little bummed at how rough it turned out! Final shape on the larger of the two heads. Base coat and eye Final head with sparkle-tastic topcoat Panfish head - unfinished Stacey
  8. Up until recently, I always tied on a pedestal. I do a fair amount of tying nights and occasionally tie at events and the pedestal is just way more portable in terms of worrying about what the table will be like. However, I recently had shoulder surgery and the C-Clamp has allowed me to get back to tying without the pain I was having tying up at shoulder level with the pedestal. I'll likely stick with the clamp mount even after I'm completely recovered, it's just more comfortable for me having the vise lower. Stacey
  9. I've ordered from them multiple times and have always received my stuff within a couple of days. I was really surprised to see the bad reviews about their slow service.
  10. An aunt of mine sent me a message the other day asking if I could use any feathers. She raises some fancy bird varieties and one of her Tragopans was spooked and broke its neck. My uncle plucked it and cut off the wings and gave me them at Thanksgiving. Man, are they stunning! I've gone through the fly tying database and it looks like the main use for these feathers is Atlantic Salmon flies. Probably blasphemous but I don't yet have patience to tie those beautiful flies. Any suggestions for other uses of these feathers? The other thing is, the wing are a little ripe, and since the feathers were in with them, they are stinky also. I separated the wings from the loose feathers and have them sitting in Borax. Any suggestions for destinking the loose feathers?
  11. Just picked up the Copic airbrush system about a month ago, just when I'm getting the hang of using it, I seem to be experiencing an issue. All the parts are connected as instructed, but the airgrip portion seems to constantly leak air if I screw it down tightly onto the air adapter. If I loosen it slightly it's fine but then it's wobbly as I hold it. Anyone else experience this problem? This just started yesterday with no changes to any part of the system. Stacey
  12. Steve - I'm on the north end of Grand Rapids. We were just up fishing the Ausable last weekend for a day (above Alcona Pond).
  13. Hey Bryon - gotta ask, are you a member of Grand River Fly Tyers? I just volunteered to help at a kid's event in September and i thought a name similar to yours was brought up as being another of the volunteers. I hear ya on the rivers being a mess, I've been seeking out local ponds and lakes. Even though no rain in a few days, the Grand was still high and muddy this AM.
  14. Thanks mikechell! I'm still trying to get the hang of the airbrush system but it's getting better. That and winding hackle through rubber legs makes me want to swear (well, hackle in general). The fish probably don't care but still :-) The red trout is a Yellowstone Cutthroat from the Yellowstone River inside the park. I hooked three and landed two of these beasty sized cutts from the same pool, I was pretty excited (this one was especially colorful)! We've been getting some chunky bluegills this spring, I'd rather catch a 10-11 inch fatty bluegill than a 12 inch trout any day - they are scrappers for sure!
  15. LOL, I guess I should rephrase the "weird fish" thing. I guess I mean the undesirables. I'm obsessed with getting a bowfin and gar on the fly rod...stuff like that. FlaFly, I think my northern blood would make me burst into flames down in the Carolinas, anything over 80F, I melt Some recent flies Some Fish
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