J. R. Caddick

Paul, Did you get the email i sent you last week ? I was away from the shop for just over 5 weeks while running forestry gear so i could recover from the seperation my wife and i went through this spring and my access to the internet was virtually non-existent. Things should be getting back to normal soon as i am training some reinforcements to help around the shop when i am away.

Damian, If you have Paul Marriners book "Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies" have a look in there, if memory serves me correctly there are a few spey flies for Newfoundland mentioned in it.

Ray, That is more than likely the right picture for the Tungsten Dumbells, the darned things aren't cheap either. I almost cringe every time i bring more into the shop and have to price the darned things. As for bulk hooks your pricing will depend on what brand and models of hooks you are looking for. If you send me an email i will give you a quote, sometimes it is a bit cheaper but a lot of companies have stopped the bulk boxes so it is harder to get such a good deal.

Hi Grant, Glad that you like the Head Cement. Once i followed the link to your site i realized who you were and had a bit of a chuckle, i didn't know i would be helping out in an informal poll of Head Cements. Oh yeah, i either apply the Pro-Lak with a fine bodkin or with a plastic lacquer applicator bottle depending on the size of the fly and which is closer. I use the clear Pro-Lak for about 95% of the flies i tie as i prefer to change thread colour instead of risking messing up an otherwise great fly with a slip of the bodkin with coloured Head Cement on it.

I use Pro-Lak and have for most of my tying career. It will dry to a nice gloss finish and comes in Clear, Black, White, Red, Green and Yellow. The only other thing i will put on the heads of my flies is Veniards No. 1 Fine Cellire. The Pro-Lak out sells all other head cements that i carry in the shop by about a 10 - 1 margin.

Damian, that really sucks sorry to hear about it. Weren't you working for Convergys or one of the other call centre companies ? If so then i have known quite a few people who have come and gone through their ever revolving doors of management. You never know what will pop up for work, you might have to head to Sydney or somewhere like that but things could always be worse. Send me an email, if things get much busier in the shop then i will need a bit of help in the tying department if you are interested. Also you if you feel like tying a few flies to sell then maybe get in contact with Mack Strathdee over at his shop, i am not sure if he ever buys any flies but it never hurts to ask.

Now that is the way Bucktails are supposed to look, that anorexic thing on the right must have come from a pretty scrawny deer. The average bucktail that comes through my shop (and most other shops for that matter) is about 5" across at the base and about 11-12" long, every once in awhile you will get a real monster that is closer to 16" long.

Hi Gary, Be safe over there, i have an uncle who left in January for a 6 month tour, luckily he is a Pharmacist so he won't see any frontline combat. I don't remember his rank at the moment but if you ever run into Fritz Krauch then you have met him. Cripes about 20 years ago he was a Captain at the Greenwood Air Force Base so lord knows what title he has now.

PMD stands for Pale Morning Dun, this colour in the Superfine Dubbing is a Pale Yellow with a hint of green, it is one of those colours that is hard to describe.

Kerry, The host of the show is former Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury. I have seen them make everything from toothpicks to bathtubs to jet ski's on there, it is pretty neat the things they show.

I would contact your local Natural Resources office and explain what happened and inquire if you could get a permit to keep the feathers for fly tying. The risks associated with keeping feathers from Raptors are substantial and the fines and other penalties can be quite severe. Remember, Mother Nature will take care of recycling any dead animals all by herself and nothing really goes to waste.

This attempt is a bit better than your previous Rusty Rat but here are a couple of pointers. 1) You shouldn't have any thread showing at the butt of the fly, it should transition from the oval gold tinsel right to the floss body. 2) The tail looks much better, if you had some peacock sword it would look better still. 3) Your body proportions should be almost 50/50 floss and peacock herl with 5 wraps of oval gold tinsel, also i just noticed that you forgot the body veiling 4) Your wing should be a bit more full and if you have a hair stacker then even out the tips before tying in the Grey Fox 5) The hackle is a bit better but if you have any webbier hackle it would really improve the look of the fly, also tie the hackle back so it is pretty well touching the wing of the fly, the hackle should have that swept back look.

Hammer Jammer, You asked for a critique so here goes. 1) your Rusty Rat is severely lacking the "Rusty" colour, the fly should have a orange to burnt orange coloured body and the same coloured body veiling 2) the body should be split a bit closer to 50/50 floss and peacock herl 3) the tail should be peacock sword and not trimmed peacock herl 4) the wing should be Grey Fox fur instead of what looks to be Fox Squirrel Tail 5) the hackle should be Grizzly hen hackle 6) the head should be much smaller in size and be red in colour I would say that if you had the right materials to work with then the fly would have looked quite a bit better, but as it is it was still a pretty good attempt.

tanzini, Canada is a pretty large Country and i am sure there are lots of Paul Millers living here but if you gave a bit more info perhaps somebody might be able to help you out. You could also go to a few search engines and type in his name plus the area where he lives and see if that comes up with anything.

Alex, no response from either of them yet. I know that they are both currently on the road so i imagine their time is at a premium. Hopefully i will hear something from one of them soon.