Bryon Anderson

The only fly that I've attempted and that I still struggle with on a regular basis is Jack Dennis's Parawulff, which has a hair wing with the bottom half of the wing being a parachute post, and the top half divided into two separate wings. I get maybe one out of every 4 I attempt to come out looking halfway right, especially if the hook is a 16 or smaller. I used to struggle mightily with the Humpy, until I finally gave up on trying to use the same bunch of hair to make both the shell back and the wings. Now I usually just tie the foam-backed version (wings tied separately) and call it a day.

Long underwear has come a long way in recent years. I recently bought a set off of Amazon that is "microfleece" lined; they were very reasonably priced and are supremely comfortable. In early spring and fall, I layer those under breathable nylon fishing pants and stay warm and dry in my breathable waders all day. On the rare occasion that I venture out in actual winter temperatures, I replace the fishing pants with heavy polar fleece pants over the microfleece underwear. Proper socks are important too. I wear a super-thin polypropylene liner sock under wool or synthetic outer socks and can stay in the water a long time without getting cold feet. Wool is the only natural fiber I wear for cold weather; otherwise I stick to breathable synthetics. At all costs stay away from cotton. Just my two cents, hope it helps.

Sorry about that guys - yes, this was a Facebook Marketplace listing. You would need to have a Facebook account to view it.

Rio Mainstream Series Trout - WF8F - Used exactly twice. It's in like-new condition. Color is Optic Green. $25 shipped (anywhere in U.S.)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/vT6397CQP9Df1FYq/?mibextid=kL3p88

Very cool pattern, thanks for sharing your process.

Check out CTS glass rods out of New Zealand. I built an 8'6" 5 wt. on their "Quartz" model glass blank, and it is one of the sweetest rods I've ever fished.

I buy almost all of my hooks now from wholesaleflycompany.com. Quality hooks, reasonably sharp right out of the package, and you can't beat their prices.

Thanks for the hot tip DF - making my way over to LL Bean right now! EDIT - must be for in-store purchases only. I don't see either item on the "Sale" section of the website. Alas.

That's a beautiful cape -- I'd pay $45 for it. Great for soft hackles, of course, but also both upright and "spent" wings on traditional dry flies.

>>The other thing with so many people having eye/object fixation you are too likely to get run into on side of highway. Just ask any highway trooper how many times their cars are hit by people just staring at them.<< That's an excellent point...perhaps instead of the autopilot moving the offending vehicle to the side of the road, it could engage a "hover" function that would raise the car about 15 feet up -- that should get it out of the way of even the big semis -- and just dangle it there for the prescribed "time out" period. Actually, I like that idea better; in addition to being more safe, it makes more of a spectacle of the bad drivers. 😄

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.

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. 🙂

+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.

A very nice and clever guy named Mike Mouradian here in Michigan makes these. https://youtu.be/bdYiXxg_Qe0?si=IY0j7x6WsVpDcwrk