Ribs1

I will be selling these flies to a shop and to clients from my guiding operation. I don't think I could get away with tying clouser minnows with split shot.

I just called Canadian Llama. He does have some eyes that will do well for me. He has lead dumbell eyes (I prefer the self centering hourglass type) but his prices are so cheap that I probably can't pass it up. He also had Tungsten hourglass shaped eyes and said the more I buy, the better the price. Looks like around $20 per 100 for the tungsten type which is a little more than I would want to spend, but tungsten is expensive. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks I will call Canadian Llama and see what they have. Tight Lines

Canadian Llama does not sell Hourglass eyes, or dumbell eyes. Only beads, cones etc. Thanks

Well, At least someone else is with me. If I could, I would buy a metric shitload of eyes, 2 lifetime supplies even. My local Orvis shop only sells them by the 10 pack, and I haven't found an online retailer that sells more than a 25 pack. 100 packs would be nice, but I would even buy a few thousand. You are right, a mold would be the best. I have a friend who is a tool and die maker at Ford. Maybe he could make a mold for me. He makes all kinds of other stuff. Boy that would be great. I could buy 20 pounds of lead and just go to work making eyes for a couple of days. Thanks for the moral support

Hackle quills float like a cork. I've been tying some AK Best style flies lately. The quills float when I presoak them before tying. Thanks

And I mean cheap. I have ordered from these guys once before and the stuff is very nice. Just put in another order. 100 feet for $1.50, 1000 feet for 4 bucks. No more buying 10 feet of carded yarn for 3 bucks. https://kingskountry.com/fly_tying.htm Check it out

Anyone know a cheap source of Hourglass in bulk? I'm sick of paying 3-4 bucks for 25 of them Thanks

I am also a believer in A.K. Best's book Production Fly Tying. I am also a big fan of Tom Cutmore's website. Tom has many tips on his site that apply to production tying. http://www.albertabowriver.com/fly_tying_tips_and_tricks.htm To gain speed, I have incorporated many tips from these 2 sources. Also, you can't beat the speed of a norvise. Thanks

That clouser is a bit unconventional but it looks good enough to catch fish. If you are really into clousers, I highly recommend Bob Clouser's video. I have been watching it lately and my clousers have improve a lot Nice flies

I also agree. Chris Helm is the best. No one knows more about deer hair and no one is better at procuring the good stuff. Chris personally selects all of his hides and scrapes and treats them himself. The only thing I would do is make sure to buy the bigger patches that he sells. The small patches are pretty small. He will even sell you half a hide if you want it. Thanks

Hey Roy, Can you give me the Dye recipe for the hackle in the FAOL article? I have not been able to get a good yellow/gold color since Rit stopped making gold Thanks

I use the Anvil Bio-tek free thumb scissors. They never leave my hand. I have also used the Wiss snips that AK best uses but they weren't as comfortable to me. Thanks

I use an Ekich automatic bobbin. I paid over 80 bucks for it and it is the only bobbin I need. However, I would not recommend an automatic bobbin unless you tie rotary.

Up north we call that chumming

I think the best vise to start with is a Regal. I still have my first regal vise and use it often. Thanks

A lot of baitfisherman catch them near the dams on my local river. These guys have been catching a lot of fish on half of a hotdog. I tied up a hot dog fly and caught one last summer. :hyst: I have also caught them by accident while fishing for Carp during the mulberry hatch. I got him on whitlock's mulberry carp bug. The squirrels and birds knock down tons of berries and the fish go nuts. All kinds of fish hang out under the mulberry trees. I always say that if someone else or something else is tossing food in the water, it's not chumming, it's a hatch.

I have 2 vices that serve all of my needs and I can't imagine any problem I could have the this vise could solve, or any other vise. I'll stick with my Regal and my Norvise. Thanks

Nice flies. Can you tell me where to get this video? Thanks

The fish sure have seen these flies recently. Many of the shops in Grayling still carry almost all of the old patterns. The Game Warden and Barber Pole can be found at the Fly Factory. (tied by Jerry). Most of the other shops including Gates carry many of these patterns as well. The Borcher's Special, and Robert's Yellow Drake are a staple everywhere up there. If you talk to Chris Helm, he can set you up with any deer hair you want. Before this year, I got all of my hair from him. This year I got a good hide from one of my buddies who shot it late in the archery season. I took it down to Chris' place and he showed me how to process it. I just cut it up today and sorted it, now I've got enough hair for a few years. Thanks

I like buggers with huge tails.

I usually hackle parachute flies with a feather one size larger than normal. This is common practice with traditional Michigan patterns, but I'm not sure about elsewhere. Thanks

Hi Jock Scott, Here's the recipe for the Madsen's game warden Hook: Mustad 94831 usually size 10 Thread: Danville 3/0 Monocord Tail: None Body: Light Yellow polypropylene floating yarn (Wapsi, Phentex, etc) Ribbing: Maroon embroidery floss (Jerry is very specific about the color. This color code is DMC color number 815 Underwing: Deer hair tied down wing style. Do not clip the butts as this will become the wing post Overwing: 2 hen hackle or rooster tips. I actually prefer rooster, but Jerry ties it with whatever he has. Hackle: Dark brown and grizzly like an adams. I like hackle a size or 2 too big for this fly. Here's a picture of the Game Warden. I tied this one, but it is the same as Jerry's just not quite as nice. I use this fly sometimes when those big yellow stones are around, or as a searching fly. It works good dead drifted or twitched and skated. The yarn you are looking for is called Phentex slipper and craft yarn. I don't know if you heard us talking about it but phentex had changed a little and now it is not as nice. The fibers are more coarse and more slippery than before. It also does not stretch at all. If you could find a skein of the older stuff that would be great. You can tell because the older stuff has very fine fibers and it stretches just a little which makes a very nice and smooth body. The old stuff is exactly the same as Wapsi Polypropylene floating yarn. Thanks Paul Christensen

You must actually use the domain to avoid someone taking it. Just for an example, back in the days when people were buying up domains just to sell them later (domain squatting), many people bought the domains with the names of large companies like www.ford.com. These companies can easily make a case that you are not using the domain and just take it from you. In fact it is rather easy to take a domain that is not in use even if it is registered. I still own www.lunar.net and www.huronflyfishing.net I have had to maintain a simple website on www.lunar.net to avoid it being taken as it's probably worth some money. Thanks

I too struggled with wings on wet flies for quite some time. The best thing I ever did was buying Don Bastians video. Watching this video will take years off the learning curve. Thanks