JimE

The jaws are as tight as they can be on the shaft. Looking closely I think the pin that holds the lever is bent so the lever is kind of rolling and not making solid contact with the adjustment knob. There seems to be way to much play in the lever. I also think I messed up the threads on the adjustment knob from this because when I loosen the knob it feels like the threads are grinding a bit.

Maybe someone can help me? I have an HMH Spartan that won't hold a hook. I can't seem to tighten the adjustment knob far enough back to tightly engage the cam lever. The adjustment knob is backed out all the way to where it is barely sitting on the threads, when I engagethe cam lever it sometimes pops the adjustment knob off the threads and seizes. Not really sure what is going on.

When you use CDC wings, do you use only CDC or do you back it with something like antron? Or did you mean you use calf tail and CDC at the same time?

I recently saw a video on Youtube of Matt Grobert's sulphur emerger and I thought it was pretty cool. I didn't have the materials to tie it though...My favorite emergers come from Rene Harrop, so I thought it would be cool to combine the two styles, sort of... My Sulphur Emerger to try soon.

Tying for spring now. This is what I like for a Hendrickson emerger.

I've noticed there is a far better attitude toward women flyfishers in the west than there is here in the North east. My wife can stand at a counter in a shop for several minutes here and won't be helped until I walk over... Here is what I mean: 3 years ago my wife was looking for a new rod. She was looking for a 9' 4wt and had her choices narrowed down to Sage or Scott, possibly the Orvis Helios. Her plan was to cast all these rods at the Somerset NJ fly show. So we go to the show and I leave my wife to shop for a new rod while I talk with friends. After about 2 hours I figure I should go look for her. As I walked down the aisle I can see my wife standing all by herself in the Sage booth wiggling rods. Instead of rushing right over I tucked into TCO booth to spy on her and see what rod she was looking at. I noticed immediately that there wasn't another single customer in the booth and there was a man, rather famous in the flyfishing community, working the booth standing off to the side with his arms folded offering no service. I watched this going on for a solid 5 minutes before I decided to walk over. So I walk over and ask my wife how everything was going. Within 5 seconds the attendant of the booth walks over and says "Can I show you some of our new models" addressing me and paying no attention to the women that was standing there for at least 5 minutes that I know of. I said, "I think she needs the help" nudging my head towards my wife. He looked at her and said " Oh you're looking to buy your husband a new rod"? My wife very politely said "No I don't think so. I don't think we'll be buying any rods today" and she walked away. She ended up with a Scott. I see this type of thing countless times here in the Northeast and I never see it out West.

Some tying materials are more important than others

Oh I guess the blue winged olive is irrelevant?

Simple Hopper.

Playing with Artic Fox for the first time. Artic Fox Crazy Charlies.

I only moisten the goose biots. Turkey biots seem more flexible and don’t seem to need it. I typically use the goose biots for size 16 and smaller bodies and turkey for 16 and large