waterloosunset

I've thought of an even more cruel poll than this if anybody's up for it?

Am I right in thinking you're relatively new to flytying? I wouldn't know it from those photos, those flies look very well tied indeed.

I've been using the Uni Caenis 20 Denier and it does produce very little build up. I wish it was I could split it to form dubbing loops!

Chris Helm at WhiteTail Fly Tying still has Gudebrod 10/0 thread in some colors. He bought the remaining supply in bulk spools, and had them re-spooled into 100 yard amounts. He has it listed on page 21 in his on-line catalog for $2.50 per 100 yard spool. If he still has the white, you could color it any color you would want with a marker. Regards, Mark Thanks Mark, I've sent him an e-mail about shipping prices - hopefully it's not something like $20 to ship the thread to Europe

I used the Uni Caenis 20 Denier thread last night and it formed a very neat and smooth whip finish and produced very very little build up. My worry is that when I take it fishing, the slippy nature of this monofilament combined with the fact that it is just one strand, will make the whip finish come undone, as I don't use varnish on my flies. I have this image in my head of the turns of the thread not blending into eachother. I need a smooth, multifilament thread in low diameter that doesn't lie too flat. Gudebrod 10/0 fits that description but heartbreakingly it's not in production anymore.

"Gnats use it for dental floss" love it!

I really don't like single strand (monofilament) threads, that's what stops me using spiderweb or 20 denier uni caenis.

Even a three turn whip finish is too bulky for me, probably because I'm too finicky!

I'm mainly tying 16s and 18s but I like a very small whip finish invisible if possible. I also like to whip finish around parachute posts. I found gudebrod 10/0 great but they're not making it anymore. I find uni 17/0 lies too flat to make a tiny whip finish. Any suggestions?

I want to split my 14/0 Sheer to make it finer for tying small flies neatly. Can I split the whole spool length in one go or do I need to do a little every time I start a fly? Any tips would be much appreciated.

Is that the ruby tip one? Is it easy to thread it? How do you thread it? Personally I use a "Ken Newton Professional Ceramic Bobbin Holder," it's very nice to use with quite a thin tube, but one of its "feet" is loose, though this stays in place while the thread is clamped in so this defect won't have any conseqeances unless the foot falls off!

CDC addiction is the healthiest addiction I've ever heard of. I think I have it too. It's the only addiction which causes suffering if you don't have it.

I seem to have assimilated the notion that shoulder hackled dry flies are out of date and have a place only in museums. I am starting to revise this idea. These flies ride high on the surface, as live duns and spinners do. A better pattern would probably be John Goddard's but this is much more difficult to tie. The reason low riding dry flies usually work so well, I think, is that they represent emerging flies, flies which are unable to break free of their shuck, or crippled flies, none of which can escape. The trout have are much more likely to pursue a fly which they can't escape, they have no sense of sport, theirs is a game of survival (and of getting as fat as they can). However, perhaps during the latter stages of a hatch when most flies have emerged and easy prey in the form of emergers (the most common of the types flies which can't escape) have all finally managed to emerge, the trout must eat duns and spinners or not eat at all, and hence the high riding dry fly comes into its own. High riding dry flies also have the advantage of not getting snagged in surface weeds as often as low riders. Try clipping a slight V-shape on under side of the hackle to get the fly floating upright(or maybe even clip the V on the top side if you wish it to float upside down, though I haven't tried this.)

If, like me, you thought foam beetles etc were too crude to work on Irish wild brown trout, think again! Last week, the river held many rising fish and upwings, hawthorn flies and sedges were all visible. They wouldn't look at Klinkhammer Specials or f- flies. I saw fish rising tight to the bank and it occured to me that they may have been taking terrestrials. I had some hawthorn patterns but they didn't have enough foam to float indefinitely. Fortunately, my beetle pattern (a kicking beetle which I got from an article in Trout & Salmon by Paul Proctor) with it's orange thorax, peacock herl underbody and rubber legs, had a good body of two strips of foam and would float indefinitely. It floated but only a tiny fraction was visible on the surface, so I could not see it at all once cast. Fortunately, not too many fish were rising so if a fish broke the surface anywhere near I thought my fly might be, I made a quick strike. This fly attracted attention from about 15 fish on a day when many more conventional flies were ignored. Moral of the story, don't be afraid to use foam. I'll post photos of the fly soon.

A good point.