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Fly Tying

j8000

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About j8000

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  1. Not sure what kind of ant it was. It was red/black in color and about the length of a standard No. 2 pencil width.
  2. One of the common talks about a Royal Coachman is that it doesn't resemble any bug known, but somehow has great results. I was fishing my favorite stream a few days ago with a Fan Wing Royal Coachman-dry-. I had good success the first hour of fishing. Then the fly was not getting any strikes. So after a half hour of no strikes, I sat down to change flies and take a break. I set the coachman on my fishing hat that was on the ground. I looked back down a few minutes later to see a red ant, medium size, pulling on my size 10 Royal Coachman! I have never seen such a site and amazed I watched him for several minutes. While he couldn't lift the fly over his back, he could drag the fly several inches until the hook caught on the hat. I didn't have a video recorder with me unfortunately, because that would have been recorded for sure. So, if a Royal Coachman can fool an ant, it should surely work for fish. I do have to disclose that having been inside a few fishes mouths probably aided in some scent as well. Jeff
  3. 16 to 6, but prefer the range of 14 to 8. Jeff
  4. I love using wax during the whole tying process. I use wax all the time, I'd be lost without it. My biggest preference for using wax, is it really helps keeping the thread from unraveling while tying.
  5. I used to troll when my children were too small to cast, so I'd cast for them and row a canoe or raft and just have them hang on until they caught a fish with a type of spoon lure. I would also toss in a wet fly or nymph fly and throw that in the water too while I paddled. What I found best for trolling with a fly is to go slow. Slower the better. I didn't have the best luck trolling, but that was fine since I was also preoccupied with my child trying to catch a fish as well. Jeff
  6. Once I started using tying wax three years ago, I use it every time. My method for the least mess on your fingers is place a small amount on the lid of head cement bottle, this is under the lamp which softens the wax. then I place a length of thread from the bobbin and place it between the bottle lid and thumb. I get very little wax on my thumb and has worked well for some time.
  7. Mike, I have very rarely, and I mean once ever found any fly tying stuff at yard sales. One time at a monthly estate sales shop I found in the sewing area, a box of various feathers. Mostly were pillow feathers, but did find a small bag that had a half skin of 30 year old or so light brown hackle feathers. Quality wasn't good at all, but for fifty cents I bought it anyways along with a couple other feathers I don't use much. Where I have had good luck in the last few years is with good quality used fly rods and between good and junky fly reels that still have line in them. Even if the junky reels have good line, I feel good. But these deals don't come along very often and is a real score when I see them. But personally I'd rather buy a quality used item for a decent price then pay the same amount for newer junk. Jeff
  8. garage sales are my favorite places to get line. I'll buy a reel for 5 to 10 bucks, or better yet a glass rod with a reel for same price. And wouldn't you know, more often than not, the line is still in great shape! The best line I've been using for last few seasons came from one of three reels I bought for 15 bucks. Worst case scenario, I will still have a decent reel. I weigh 30' of line to get an idea of what rod would work best for it and then sometimes I have really quality line for a great price. Jeff
  9. Nice Royal Wulff pattern! Tied several of those myself. A small one like that is more challenging. Jeff
  10. Garage sales! I've found several Glass rods in really good shape for 10 bucks. one very nice one for $20. Several reels with about half still has good line. One time I bought a bag of hackle feathers for a quarter (an older American brand, but still worked well for what I needed).
  11. I hear you on long shipping times. Wether the vendor ships it's own product or has someone else ship them, if the shipping time is long it's a deciding factor for me at times. Personally I avoid places that use Fed Ex. Where I live, it's almost always two to five days past the shipping time places give me, where UPS and the Post Ofiice are almost always a day to four days eariler then the time given. Like Utyer said, it could be a third party problem. Or it could be a particular shipping outfit doesn't like your address.
  12. Sounds like a great trip Mark. I've done the dropper to a popper last year for the first time. And depending on the circumstances I've had moderate to good success, especially in spring. Actually for me spring has been the only time I've tried this combo since where I fish for bass, they don't take the popper to well in the summer.
  13. Oh boy! Quail (for me) is the easiest bird to skin. I can usually pull off the whole skin in one pull. Then while it's inside out I douse it with Borax and keep it in a bag for a couple weeks. For my uses, this process keeps the skin in tact enough for feather storage and super easy to do. When dry I turn the skin feather side out and store in freezer for a bit and keep an eye on bugs. Jeff
  14. I have a tip damaged line that I use quite often and un-naturally produces a sinking tip which is great the majority of the time. But for the record, this line has been damaged for at least two probably three years and the same tip only sinks. In other words, the water invasion has not entered the rest of the line. Only the section that is damaged. Jeff
  15. I have five lines all different colors. I have them memorized what is what, but I also have the exact specs written down in a general book I keep around. 3 of my lines are used and had to weigh them to figure out the line weights, so then I figure while I had the scale out, I'd weigh the new lines to see how accurately they came out compared to the manufactures rating. Jeff
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