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Thanks! I'm in Cincinnati.

As I've mentioned in my intro and beginner posts, I'm new to fly fishing in the Midwest. So I'm adapting my western trout fishing skills to panfish and bass. So here are some of my first flies for targeting fish in Ohio. A generic "idunnowhat" with squirrel tail and pheasant feather. A foam head popper. A wooly bugger/worm in white and chartreuse. A wooly bug/worm with dubbed black body and a gold wire. A terrible attempt at a hare's ear nymph with some substitutions for materials. It sorts looks ok, but I'm not happy with it. A basic black spider with hackle that was a bit too long and a bit too much head space. A black foam head popper with a peacock body, split tail and a little chartreuse hackle. Let me know what you think. I have a lot of work to do to get better!

I just started fly fishing for panfish and bass in the Midwest. I've been fly fishing out west for trout for probably 20 years. I have a lot of experience tying trout flies and I like the more classic designs and materials. So here's my questions. What classic designs will work for panfish in lakes and slow moving streams? I've tied some foam and cork poppers, but I'd like to tie some caddis and wooly bugger designs that will actually work for what I'm fishing for. Is there any reason to keep tying really small flies? It seems like even small blue gill will chomp on rather large flies, like size 6 hooks and even bigger. Also, most of the places I fish have panfish and bigger bass, so it seems like I need to cover my bases. Finally, it seems like most people here fish with poppers or some right below the surface with a strike indicator. Is there any reason to be tying heavy sinking flies with lead wire to get to deeper water? I feel like I'm starting over again with my fishing. I feel clueless!

Shot with my iPhone. I'm only geared up for black and white film. I toned the image with Lightroom. It looks good on a screen, but blown up a bit, it's very noisy. I like the iPhone, but I hate when I come across something like this and don't have a real camera, lol. Thanks for all the comments. And Chase Creek, you crack me up, you mean you think it will snag all your line and the only life it will support is vultures and water snakes.

Here's a shot a made at a pond I fished at over the weekend. The lily pads were crazy, but in the few places I could cast over them, I was able to pull in three panfish on poppers. This tree was just too cool not to shoot.

I'm a professional photographer and journalist. However, I've still hung on to film. It's more of a hobby, as I pretty much never shoot paid jobs with film. However, I have far more invested in film cameras and my darkroom than I do in my digital equipment. Film is doing ok. Lomography has done a lot to keep it alive, for better or worse. APUG is a great forum for film users. I learned on film when I got serious about photography when I was 16. When I went to college digital wasn't a viable option, by the time I graduated, there wasn't a newspaper in the country that was still using film. I prefer it for a lot reasons, and I'm glad that at 30 years old, it's still around. However, I'm afraid in another 30 years, it will be insanely expensive to keep doing.

Ed Gallop - I agree. I think the check really personalizes the collection and gives it a story, and I definitely wish he has left some polar bear hair with the rest of his supplies, but I bet a few of those flies have it on them. Bruce - that article is great. Thanks so posting it. I would have loved to visit that store when it was still open. FlaFly - Since posting that photo, I took another look at the reel and it's definitely a Meisselbach. I found the brand mark. It's the less desirable version made of stamped metal, but it's from the first or second decade of the 1900s.

FlaFly - there were no rods in the collection, however, there is a rusty old contraption I think it used to make rods. It holds a spool of thread and looks like it's for winding thread on to rods.

Thanks for all the amazing info. I'm really happy people are enjoying this post. Concerning the reels: I have two baitcasting reels. One is a Shakespeare Wondereel and it looks very similar to the one in the picture, but it has white handles instead of green. The green-handled reel is a Pflueger Akron, and I have no idea when it was made. If it's pre-war, that would be something pretty cool, however, I've seen them go on eBay for around $35, so I don't think they're that special. As for the fly reel, the only stamping it has says "Featherweight NO. 260" and based on a quick internet search, I think it's a Meisselbach probably produced around 100 years ago. http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=50624 Someone asked if that was the original line, and the answer to that is no. I actually use that reel occasionally and it has modern line on it. It didn't come to me with line on it. Chase Creek asked if he could use the image as his desktop, and I'm fine if anyone wants to do that. I've attached a full resolution image to this post so it will look good in that application. Thanks again. I'd love to hear more about the flies as well. I think it's great that so many are recognizable patterns.

flytire - thanks for the pattern info. I think you're right on the money with most of them. You're right about the condition. Most have seen better days, that's why I wanted to get them documented. I may try to get a frame or something for them eventually. Anyway, thank for the info. Let me know if you get a chance to check out the rest of them.

Thanks for all the info so far, folks. A couple of responses: oldtrout - the items definitely have some value to me. They aren't getting sold off or anything. There were several open packets of materials and I have used some of them, along with some of the thread. I'm trying to resist using a few of the things until I know more about them, especially the mink. If there's anything really special in there, I'll probably wait until I have a really special pattern or something. flafly - I assumed it was all post-war, but pre-80s. I'm old enough to recognize a lot of the packaging used throughout the 80s on fishing gear, and this doesn't match what I've seen. There were two baitcasting reels in the collection. Neither are very valuable (I can check those due to the model numbers and such). I included that shot because of the cool leather reel case. I'd put those reels into use, but the handle mechanism doesn't disengage for casting, when you cast the handles would spin. I can't imagine they'd be all that easy to use. I like that the owner chose to match the fishing line to the handle color though. I actually forgot to photograph the fly reel that came with the collection, but luckily I already have a shot of it, albeit a more stylized image. Chase Creek - Thanks for the info. I would love to know if some of these stores and companies still exist. "Creative Sports Enterprises," what a weird name for a business. Cortland, Dan Bailey's, and my favorite Tack L Tyers in Evanston. There are a few things with Tiano's tags as well, I'd put money on that being someplace local for the guy.

I recently introduced myself in the "introduce yourself" forum. I thought I'd make my first official post. My father sent me an old fishing kit that someone had given him from an estate sale. My father lives in New Mexico and I spent my summers there when I was a child. It's where I learned to fish. Anyway, in this box of supplies were some reels, pliers, and a ton of fly fishing stuff. Two full tin boxes of flies and a bunch of tying supplies. I'm a photographer, so I really wanted to document the collection. What makes it special to me is that there was small soap tin with different hooks inside there was a sheet a paper with a couple fly designs jotted on it. The paper is a blank check from The First National Bank of Santa Fe in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and names printed on the check are "Thomas B. or June P. Mannon," hence I'm calling this the Mannon Collection. I'm not sure how common these collections are, but it seems like if anyone would appreciate it, the folks on this forum would. The flies are mostly medium sized trout flies. Some are really tiny, and a documented the size of those. There are a few pretty big ones as well. I wouldn't say that Mr. Mannon (or his wife as the case may be) were master fly makers, however, I think many of the flies are pretty advanced. It's also interesting to see how these flies have aged. The other great part is the old materials. Unopened golden pheasant tippets, beaver and mink fur, yarn, feathers and peacock quills, many with prices still attached. $1.20 for a package of peacock. 25 cents for some amazing bright green hackles. And all from a variety of companies. I thought these prices and packaging might help someone here date this collection. I'm assuming these materials are from the 1960s or 70s, but I don't really know. Anyway, there are over 50 flies in the collection and many other odds and ends. I picked a dozen or so photos to show here. If you'd like to see the rest, I created a Flickr album where you can check out the whole collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/42885739@N04/sets/72157646165561200/ The check. I blurred the account numbers... just in case. Two fly designs outlined on the back of the check: Thor (I think) and Atomic Some type of cicada looking thing, I have no clue what that yellow stuff is. It looks like some type of epoxy, and reminds me a little of "Great Stuff" insulation foam that comes in a can. This one has wings, you can see a couple different angles of it in the full set. Some hooks. The box on the far left says they were made in Olso, Norway. Hope you folks enjoy this. I'm not a super experienced fly maker, so I think this stuff is fascinating. I suppose it could all be junk from the 90s, but my instinct is that it's quite a bit older. If you guys have any information about the brands or shops mentioned on the tags or the ages of any of this stuff or the designs of these flies, I would love to learn more about all of it. Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum. If this sort of post is boring or doesn't belong here, let me know that, too. Have a great week.

Thanks, y'all. I'm going to post a series of images this week of a fly collection and materials stash that was passed to me from my dad who bought it at an estate sale. Looking forward to that. None of my recent work is really photoworthy, but I'll post something soon.

I've been lurking for months. Finally joined up. I live in Cincinnati, OH. I learned to fish and tie when I was a youngin' and spent all my summers in New Mexico. I've always fished, but recently started fly fishing here. It's a different game: very few trout waters, bigger hooks, flashier flies. I make my living as a photographer and journalist. I really enjoy tying traditional trout flies, but I'm trying to adapt those skills to panfish and bass flies. Tied my first cork and foam head poppers this past month. Loving the forum and resources!