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Fly Tying

Bryon Anderson

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About Bryon Anderson

  • Rank
    Advanced Member
  • Birthday 08/10/1970

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  • Favorite Species
    smallmouth bass
  • Security
    22

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  • Location
    Whitehall, MI

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  1. I love my 2017 Subaru Outback, but Nick you're right, the controls took a little getting used to, especially seeing as it's the first foreign car I've ever owned. I thought the self-correcting and lane centering features were neat in theory, but I ended up turning them both off because I didn't like feeling the wheel "fight" me while driving, and the beeping was driving me crazy. Subaru's focus on safety is, I think, a good thing, but sometimes the lengths they've gone to in their attempt to ensure that you drive safely amuse me a little bit. For example, mine has a heated steering wheel (which is fantastic; all my future cars will have this feature if I have my way), but it doesn't heat the entire steering wheel -- only the ten- and two-o'clock and five- and seven-o'clock hand positions. You want warm hands, you have to be in one of the "safe" positions. 😄 Speaking of safety, here is my idea for a feature that I think all cars should have: in addition to all the safety features, I think there should be what I call accountability features as well. For instance - if you do something dangerously stupid--tailgating, cutting other cars off, pulling out in front of oncoming cars that are too close, forcing other drivers to change lanes to make room for you when you refuse to correctly merge onto an expressway, etc.-- you receive a mild electric shock through the pedals, seat, and steering wheel, then a full-autopilot feature takes over, pulls your car safely off the roadway to a complete stop and shuts the engine off. The steering wheel retracts into the dashboard and is replaced by a display screen, that then plays you a recorded video of the dumb thing you just did, complete with a scathing voice-over (ideally done by comedian Wanda Sykes or that scary lady that used to host the British t.v. show "The Weakest Link") explaining in graphic detail the way(s) in which you just endangered other human lives. There follows a mandatory "time-out", the duration of which corresponds to the severity of the driving infraction (tailgating =10 minutes; reckless speed/maneuvering = 20 min., etc.) When this period expires, the display screen will re-activate and administer an interactive driving safety quiz, which you must pass with 100% accuracy before the steering wheel will re-deploy or the engine will re-start. It's a work in progress, but I think it has potential.
  2. I used to make my own furled leaders (even sold a few, before making them became popular some years back, and suddenly everybody and their cousin started selling them on eBay alongside mine 😄). I used Kathy Scott's formula - she had a DVD on how to make them; I'm sure some others on here have seen it. Super-simple to make, and they were the best dry fly leaders I've ever used. The only thing I didn't like about them was that, no matter how well I greased them up with Mucilin before using them, water tended to eventually work its way into the braid, and then they would release a fine spray of mist on the backcast, which could spook fish. I just discovered my old jig for making them while rooting around for something in my shop the other day -- reading this thread has me thinking about breaking it out again and making a few. 🙂
  3. +1 on recommending wholesaleflycompany.com. I have been using their hooks (dry, wet, nymph, and streamer) for years and have never gotten a bad one from them. They have great prices on beads, eyes, and other things, too. Really great company, highly recommend.
  4. A very nice and clever guy named Mike Mouradian here in Michigan makes these. https://youtu.be/bdYiXxg_Qe0?si=IY0j7x6WsVpDcwrk
  5. Congratulations and more power to all who have quit. It is a huge achievement and one to be celebrated. I have loved cigars for years. At my peak last summer, I was smoking 4-6 cigars a week. Then I had a bit of a heart-related wake-up call (incidental discovery of an aortic aneurysm), and that got me stopped all together for about two months. Then we went on vacation in Florida, and I allowed myself a few that week as a treat. Knowing that it was to be a "one-off", I indulged and got a few top shelf super-premiums. They were fantastic and I enjoyed them thoroughly, but they had an unanticipated effect -- they have ruined me for anything less than the best! The ones I smoked before now taste like exhaust pipes by comparison. As a result, I now enforce several rules on my cigar use: 1) only on special occasions, such as when floating a river alone or in fish camp with friends, 2) only the very best ones I can get my hands on -- that means $20-30 each in my area, and a considerable drive to get to where they're sold. I have to really want one, in other words. Turns out, with those barriers in place, I find that I don't want one nearly as much or as often as I once thought I did. It's not perfect, but it's an improvement health-wise, and I find that when I do splurge for one now, I enjoy it ten times more than I did when it was just a habit.
  6. The main difference between Hackle Flash and eyelash yarn is the component materials - Hackle Flash (as well as Polar Chenille, and other, similar products sold under various names) is composed of mylar fibers, which are going to be a bit stiffer and a lot "flash"-ier in the water than the fibers in eyelash yarn. Otherwise, same stuff. The eyelash yarn has a lot of fly tying applications -- leech imitations spring to mind, as well as collars and wings on streamers. It has a great undulating action in the water, which is always desirable. I can even see it --in smaller sizes--making nice gills on larger nymph patterns. I agree with others who have responded - experiment and enjoy!
  7. I have that very same makeshift lathe in my shop! It works a treat, especially after I acquired this:
  8. Fantastic set of Woolies arrived yesterday! Thanks to all who contributed for some great flies that will absolutely get fished this season, and many thanks to Kim for hosting. 🙂
  9. Ditto for me -- every time I visit Florida, I'm so envious of the year-round opportunities to fish in shirtsleeves, but there's no way I could deal with the extreme heat and humidity of their summers. I also don't think I'd enjoy fishing as much in place where every single body of water, fresh or salt, is inhabited by predators large enough to kill and eat me. And then there's the snakes. Nope.
  10. I agree with you 100% DF. I didn't think you were advocating for fishing at every opportunity regardless of weather -- that was an expectation that I used to impose on myself, but eventually decided made no sense for me. I, too, will sometimes take advantage of warmer-than-average days to get out on the water, but even that I do less than I used to, as every other angler in the state usually seems to have the same idea on those days. 😄 I am envious that you have places where you can cast a fly to trout without wading. Our streams run mostly through forests, and the stream corridors usually prevent fishing from the bank with a fly rod; sometimes even with a spinning rod. Or maybe I just don't have the patience I had as a younger man lol.
  11. Years ago, when my fishing gear budget was very tight, I was turned on to some very nice, inexpensive reels that were manufactured in Korea and sold in the U.S. under the name "Elite". I had two -- the Deerfield, which was a sweet little featherweight click-and-pawl for my 3wt., and the Housatonic, which was slightly larger and had a simple disc drag. I still have both of them, although I only use the Deerfield - I liked it so much that I actually hunted high and low online and found two spare spools for it. Probably my all-time favorite reel is the original Ross Cimarron. At one time I had 3 or 4, all with extra spools. I have only one left now, and it's just as bomb-proof and reliable as the day I unboxed it almost 20 years ago. I also treated myself to a Lamson Litespeed in a sweet burnt orange color a couple of years ago. It falls into the category that I call "jewelry for fly rods"--that is, much prettier and more sophisticated than I need-- but it is a very nice reel that I intend to hang on to.
  12. Winter steelheading is very good here in Michigan. I've done it a few times, and even caught a couple over the years, but I never can get myself motivated to do it anymore. I used to feel bad about that -- like I wasn't a "real" fisherman unless I was out on the water at every available opportunity -- but I've since come to the more rational mindset that it's silly to force discomfort onto myself in order to try and live up to some archaic notion of what "real men" do. I mean, the whole point of the exercise is to enjoy it, right? These days I happily spend my winter free time either in my nice heated wood shop, or in my office tying flies.
  13. I'm glad that this was the case when I was brand-new to the game. I can't imagine being a newbie trying to sort out the whole alternate universe of hooks available now. I mean...🤯 That being said, I do appreciate the great variety of sizes, shapes, etc. available to me now that I know what I'm doing. I have always been terrible about sharpening my hooks, too, so I am happy to have hooks that are scary sharp right out of the box now. What I would tell a someone just getting into tying in 2024 would be that, while there are a lot of different hooks out there, there's also a great deal of repetition and countless variations on a few simple themes (kind of like with fly lines -- remember Cortland 444 peach? All you had to know was DT or WF and the line weight!) Find a pattern you want to tie, find a reasonable approximation of the hook listed in the recipe and use that as a starting point. Good problems to have.
  14. Wow - fun to see this post again after more than a decade! As many here know, I did end up getting the NuCanoe Frontier 12, and could not have been happier with it. I would still heartily recommend it to anyone looking to get into kayak fishing. I'm actually on my second NuCanoe now; I went with the Pursuit this time, and I am very happy with this boat as well. I have been floating rivers every season since 2014 with no issues -- it is worth mentioning, however, that I always make a point of arriving at my take-out well before dark, regardless of how good the fishing is about to get around that time. My abiding nightmare is floating past the take-out in the dark! 😄
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