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broadcj

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About broadcj

  • Rank
    Beginner
  • Birthday 02/01/1985

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  • Location
    Auburn, Alabama
  1. Hey everyone, I was given 5 huge peacock feathers from a pet store owner today (really great herl) and I was just wondering if I needed to clean it and if I do, how do I go about it. I was thinking Lysol would kill any crap but I didn't know if the alcohol would ruin it. If anyone has any advice, please let me know. Thanks, Jake
  2. I have been looking at hackle and realizing that to get a good assortment you have to spend some money (which I donn't have enough of). Would it be cheating or wrong in anyway to buy a barred rock chick and raise it to get grizzly hackle? Just a thought, I'm not going to do it but it seems like it's not a bad idea they are only $0.95 for one chick. Does anyone out their raise their own chickens for this purpose? These are the ideas you get when you are bored on a Saturday night and all you have is the internet. Sorry for the randomness. Jake
  3. Hey Welcome to the forum. Im just starting out too so I know what you mean. I have a kit from cabela's and the first thing I tried to tie was an elk hair caddis because I used them in Montana one year. I soon found out that if I kept trying to tie flies that advanced I would throw my kit in the garbage. So I quit trying the hard stuff and went to the first thing in the book, a red bead-head midge....I was suprised at how much it looked like the picture in the book after my first try. So if I can give any kind of advice being a beginner myself, its start with the simplest flies that need the least materials (bead-head midge, caddis emerger and marabou blood worms). And even try them on bigger hooks just to get accustomed to the pattern. That should get you back into the swing of things. Hope this helps, Jake
  4. Thanks for the tips! I skimmed over the rules yesterday and I usually forget everything so im guessing thats what happened. Well I'll start honing some skills on a fly and hopefully be able to join one of your swaps in the near future! Thanks again, Jake
  5. broadcj

    Cheap Stuff

    This Saturday is the ACE Hardware 20% off sale. You get one big paper bag and whatever you can fit in it, you'll get 20% off!!!! They have copper wire, bead chains and all kinds of stuff that you can find uses for. Hope you can use this to your advantage. John Madden says it's the best deal of the century. Good Luck, Jake
  6. I know this may be stupid but are there any REALLY new people out there that have just started to learn how to tie? I would love to trade my crap for some of the other peoples crap. (Please don't take offense to that). If there is enough intrest I will try to get one together. Thanks, Jake
  7. broadcj

    Bead eyes

    For bead-heads, go to your local mom and pop hardware store and buy some cieling fan chain. It's usually cheaper than from a fly shop and sometimes you can find a few size options, especially if they carry the pull chains for table and desk lamps. Good Luck, Jake
  8. Your local hardware store sells little rubber grommets in the electrical section and there are tons of sizes so if you have trouble with things getting shredded while comign out of your homeade boxes just pop a couple of the grommets in and you'll be set. I guess tape works too. But sometimes it just has to look pretty! Good Luck, Jake
  9. Your local hardware store sells copper wire by the foot in almost every size and if there are nice workers sometimes they will give you the scraps for nothing, they don't mind a free clean-up!! If they don't give it away you can almost steal it for the price you can get it for, ACE Hardware has a 20% off-sale this saturday, go and pack a bag full and get some cheap stuff. Look on the aisle with picture hangers, sometimes there is copper wire their too. This is especially good if your wife will kick you out of the house for using her hair dryer cord. Good Luck, Jake
  10. Thanks everybody for the pointers! After my two tests on friday , I will finally be able to experiment with the herl steaming trick. Thanks Again, Jake
  11. I have just started tying and I have been doing a lot of pheasant tails and griffith gnats but the peacock herl I am using doesn't seem to be getting bulky enough. I tie in two pieces on my PTN's but just one on the gnat. I have been following the instructions that came with my kit but have had very little luck getting the bulk. I am tying most of them on 12 and 14 size hooks, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I even tried to build up the body with some dubbing to get the desired effect but nothing seems to work. So when I run out of the herl and need to get new stuff, is there any particular brand I should use? Thanks A lot, Jake
  12. Hi all, I am new to the art of fly tying and I have a few questions that I am sure will be answered here. My dad bought me the Randall Kauffman tying kit from Cabelas a couple of weeks ago and I think I have done pretty well in this short time but the kit doesn't include everything you need or everything they talk about in the instruction booklet (very frustrating). Im a poor college student who cant afford to buy new stuff all the time so I was wondering if someone could help me out with what kind of things I need to purchase. We are going on a trip in late March for spring break and backpacking in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina for a few days and we want to fly fish there but I would like to tie my own flies for the trip. On the orvis hatch chart it says there are only a few hatches that time of year. Is that chart correct or does the hatch change with the weather? Is there any particular fly I should focus on tying? The chart says Hendricksons, Quill Gordons, Midges, BWO's and little black caddis' are the hatch for that time of year. Is there any other fly that might produce this time of year in NC? Also, with the five flys I just mentioned could anyone give a rough idea of materials I will need to tie these? I know it will probably be a pain but some of the materials in the recipies dont make any sense and when I look for them online or in bass pro shop I can't figure out what they are. One of the wierd materials that I don't know what it is, is what they all call hackle fibers. I'm guessing its the individual "feathers" on the large feathers but I really have no idea. Like I said the kit I got is a headache using because it doesn't have all the necessary tools. Well thanks for reading, I would appreciate any advice you could give. Thanks, Jake
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