RexW

That's what I'm trying to avoid!!!!

If you have experience with the Fugly Hair Packers, would you mind commenting on the different sizes? The regular size seems like overkill and I'm leaning toward the Jr, but I've never actually seen anyone use either size. So, is anyone willing to comment if there is an advantage of one size over the other?

Here's a quick tie for the Bronco fans:

Flies are done and on the drying wheel. I'll mail them later this week. Nothing fancy, just a standard flashtail Clouser on a 1/0 60 degree jig hook.

Will you please send me the address? Thanks!

OK, that sounds easy enough to do.

Oops, I missed the Australia location. Would someone explain how we need to handle the return postage for shipment back to the US? I'm used to just having the post office put stamps on the return envelope when I mail the flies with a value equal the cost to send the flies, but I'm assuming that US postal stamps will not work for the shipment back from Australia??? So, how do we do an international swap from the US?

I'm in if you still have space.

My daughter has been using one for several years and has been happy with it. I like an Ott light better, but this has been a good light especially for the price.

Which patterns are you interested in? You may get better results by asking for the recipe for a specific pattern or two. There's not much to the fly I tied, just 2mm craft foam, some version of Cactus/Ice/etc.-style chenille in medium, and some rubber legs. The tail is optional, the fish don't seem to care either way, but squirrel tail (harder to work with), arctic fox, marabou, or any version of synthetic hair will all work fine. I usually tie it on a size 10 Mustad 3366 hook, because I give a lot of them away. Just pick your favorite color, it's an easy fly to tie.

Ouch! I'm surprised that they even told you about the damage.

Thanks Bruce, I didn't realize that we could post photos directly to this site. I'm used to having to link to another hosting site to post photos. Good to know.

I have several of these rods that I use for student rods for casting classes and I'll take one of them fishing ever so often. They're a fun rod to fish. I use 6 wt lines on them for classes to help beginning casters load the rods at shorter distances, but l fish these rods with 5 wt lines. They have an easy action that doesn't really need to be up lined in most situations. If you're planning to cast heavy flies short distances or weighted multi-fly nymph rigs or some other similar technique then you may want to consider up lining the rod, but depending on your casting experience you may not need to up line the rod. For a general purpose line, I've been using one of TFO's $40 fly lines with them and I've been very happy with the performance the line.

Breambuster: Adam Sararinen: RexW: (OK, I messed up and failed to take an individual picture before mailing my flies. So, the best I can do is the test fly that posted on page 3. It is similar to the swap flies;) Nice set of flies in the swap. Thanks Everyone!

JosephCSylvia: Add147: djtrout:

Pica: Netabrookie: Joseph Russell:

Riff: Rich Mc: PJ2:

I've been there, making the transition from tying on hooks that end in "/0" to tying on hooks that are hard to see. Someone mentioned it, but learning to use 70 denier thread really makes a big difference. Much, much easier to tie smaller flies using 70 than it is with 210. However, going down from 210 to 70 can be frustrating. I took it in steps and used 140 denier for a while before dropping down to 70. Good luck! .

Personally, I won't participate in a full box swap. Skill levels vary among participates and I like receiving a few flies from the highly skilled participants. It gives me something to study and learn from. I'd rather receive one or two exceptional quality flies in a mixed swap, then to risk not getting any in a full box swap. Just my 2 cents.

Nice flies and photos. Well done.

I'll go with whichever the swapmaster is willing to support since you have coordinate everything. I don't care either way.

Well, here's what you're getting, the flies are ready. Would someone please PM me the address?

I think I'll tie something colorful and fun for this swap. Something along the lines of a variation of Dale's Psychedelic Spider:

If you still have space, I'd like to join in.

I think you did a good job for your third attempt. Your married wings look good and if this is only your third time to try this style of wing then they look amazing. That style of wing is not easy to do. You've picked a really complicated fly to start with. There are a lot of steps required in this pattern. My suggestion for the next attempt would be to take out the yellow hackle and replace it with a wire rib just to simplify the pattern while you are learning. Your goal with a wire rib will be to make 5 evenly spaced wraps along the body (also the tinsel underbody should be smooth). Next focus on the body of the fly and where materials are positioned on the example fly. Such as, the ostridge herl should be located between the tip of the hook and the barb with the tail feather tied in at this point. Note how short the silver tag is on the example fly. Good luck! You're off to a good start and a couple of minor tweets will make a significant difference in how the finished product looks.