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Fly Tying

LivelyOne

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About LivelyOne

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    Beginner

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  • Favorite Species
    Smallmouth bass
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    22
  1. I have never hear of hooks "getting brittle". Anyone else found that hooks actually change their tempering. I believe iron allows cannot change tempering unless heated to a critical temperature. Maybe the hooks are rusted and that has weakened them or the hooks were brittle too to begin with. Maybe there were always brittle and I just catch bigger fish now... Another of life's many unsolved mysteries.
  2. I have some cork beetles that I tied in the 70s, hooks probably came from Feathercraft, brand unknown. I still catch fish on them, but I have found the hooks have gotten brittle and break at the bend every so often.
  3. If you have your leader constructed so its even possible to break or bend a hook, you are risking your whole flyline.. Fly guys who fish salmon and steelhead in rivers here (New York tributaries) commonly put a 'weak link' in the leader close to the hook. So if you have a snag (rock, log or fish), or get a screamer that runs 100+ yards down where you can't follow, you can tighten up and break it off near/at the hook, thus saving your fly line/backing and most of your leader. The weak link can be just tapering down to 8 lb test tippet, but is often made more defined by using a smaller swivel or tippet ring to tie the last bit of tippet to the hook. Then 90% of the time you will break there and not higher up. The only time I've broken or bent hooks with this setup was on three identical beadhead nymphs purchased from a flyshop. They all broke one after another.. and were obviously tied on inferior hooks. I stopped buying flies after that.
  4. Yellow drake - extended deer hair body, moose mane tails, calf tail parachute post, size 8 hook.
  5. The brass end of a high-base 12-gauge shotgun shell makes a nice end cap for a walking stick also.
  6. Probably 15 years ago I asked some older-timers about trolling for landlocks here in the Finger Lakes of NY, they said a fly rod/reel, spooled with mono, with a split shot in front of the fly to get it down 6-8 feet, is a pretty standard set up. This would be from a canoe vs. a powerboat at trolling speed. Around that time I also bought a selection of 'trolling flies' from a guy in Maine. They were all two-hook designs.. second hook attached to first via stiff wire, and both were dressed. The flies were 5-6 inches overall. Some had beads strung on the wire. Caught some bass, perch, rock bass on them over the years, but don't troll much anymore (sore back).. This isn't my photo, but this is what they looked like:
  7. Caught a decent channel cat a couple of years ago while swinging a foxee minnow for smallmouth in my local river. Hit hard, good fight.
  8. "Older" aluminum ski poles were longer.. shorter poles became fashionable more recently (like, the 1980s?). I have a paracord loop on mine with a small carabiner, I clip it to my waders or pants (in summer), and just let it hang when fishing. I filled it with expanding foam so it floats. Just a heads up, if the cord is too long it can tangle around your legs a bit. My staff is 44" long, and I'm 5'8". I always use it when fishing bigger rivers wearing waders, when a fall could mean sliding into a deep hole and real trouble. I often take it along on smaller streams in spring, it can help crossing certain places, or probing unfamiliar places.
  9. Ralphs007 that visor has a light built in? And what's in the box, multiple different lenses? Can you post the brand name or link to where sold?
  10. To spin it right you need to pull it tight.. Heavy thread is a must. I use Kevlar for bigger bugs. For a size 16, use heavier thread than you normally would, maybe 3/0? Plus, watch out you don't catch the thread on the hook point as you wrap..
  11. I already wear glasses, so using readers for more magnification wouldn't work well. My headband set has two lenses that can flip down for high and low power. Very comfortable.
  12. Can you say a little more about the jig hooks. Do you favor 90 degree or less of angle? Do they swim point up without added weight? What are the alleged advantages?
  13. Finished tying spinners and started going through "the materials box" into which anything and everything that I've used or acquired over the last five years has been tossed. I was mostly feathers and fur of one animal or another that I've used or know of.. But I did cpme across a bag of hide with fur on labeled "carabou" that I must have bought at a garage sale, and a small bag of Orvis dubbing labelled "camel". The carabou is a soft natural tan color, the camel is a deep burgundy color. My question for this esteemed body is: What are they good for? Dries, wets, streamers, nymphs? Anyone have a favorite carabou or camel fly?
  14. Well the bass poppers, Clousers, crabs, shrimp, and spoon flies are done, and am moving on to trout flies. Next up is Rusty Spinners. I have been tying them with hackle wings, microfibbet tails, and beaver dubbing. Pretty simple and the local stocked trout eat them just fine.. But they float only so-so after a few fish. Looking around on the Internet you quickly find there are a large number of different recipes for spinners in terms of different wing, dubbing, and tail materials, as well as numerous different ways to tie them. A lot of those more exotic ones appear to be are aimed at "picky" trout, like those 20" Delaware River browns that have a PhD in entymology. For those fish you don't mind if the fly is only good for a couple of drifts and one fish. I want the opposite.. A Rusty Spinner that is simple and easy to tie, will fool uneducated fish, and will float like a medium Dunkin coffee cup, even after several fish have had their lips on it. Does such a fly exist? I would appreciate suggestions. Thanks.
  15. I have been using these Fiskars Short Cut®, thread snip, plastic and stainless steel, orange, 4-1/2 x 1-3/4 inches for some years now. I keep them in my hand most of the time while tying. These work great for anything size 16 and up. I do have some very fine surgical type scissors for smaller flies like size 20 and below. You can buy these in your local craft store or Amazon.
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