Sagittarius62

We filled the cupboards,(it was shopping day anyway) stopped by the liquor store, got out the candles, bought new playing cards, and a new UNO deck, so we are ready.

Thanks for the ideas. I am definitely a fan of fishing edges. Drop offs, weed lines, and ledges are what I look for first. Next I try to find holding spots, mid-stream obstructions, sweepers, overhanging vegetation, and outside bends. Do you find that weight in the fly hurts a deceiver's action?

I have been having fun tying up different deceivers, for next spring. I am thinking they will entice smallies, and maybe a few pike. My question is how do you all fish them most often. floating lines, sinking lines, weighted flies? I haven't tied any with wieght yet, but have wondered about trying a few that way. I really enjoy tying them, and have gone off the deep end a few times adding bunches, and bunches of hackle, and flash of any color I can lay my hands on, and every color of bucktail I own. I haven't even gotten into synthetic hairs yet. :bugeyes:

In Stanley Jordan's hands it is barely a guitar anymore. That guy is off the hook! Talk about making a player want to sell their axe and take up knitting! A friend of mine who is a much better player than I, is completely intimidated by Stanley. :headbang:

EJ can play the flat top too. Saw Eric Johnson back in the late 80s down in Norfolk VA. He and the band went to play Steve's Boogie. When EJ first put his finger slide to the strings, it caught an edge, fell off his finger and smashed on the floor of the stage. Without even looking at each other, they changed songs in the space of one quarter note. If you weren't watching carefully you would never have noticed. I was fresh from reading in some Guitar mag, about how he could tell by ear when a battery was running down on an effects pedal. The tech's brought out his pedal setup. On a full piece of 4X8 plywood! There was almost no open space on the board it had so many pedals attached. The opening band was this Canadian group I had never heard of, The Tragically Hip! That was some show. The Hip had an auditorium full of guitar junkies on their feet, stompin' and dancin'.

No, this is what you want to learn to do. Cliffs of Dover

Kiwi Muddler, Letort Hopper, Deer Hair Caddis. Lately I have been playing around with an Irrestible with a body of deer hair spun in a dubbing loop.

I feel like a.....like a kid on Christmas morning!

Holy smokes! You guys rock! Nice work on the photos BFR! "I'm Not Worthy, I'm Not Worthy!" :rockon:

A rabbit strip dahlberg diver is one of my go to smallmouth flies. 4 ingredients, deer hair head, zonker strip tail, sparkle braid body, wire rib.

I love Hatches. The magazine, the website, Hatches TV, you name it. I am new to tying, and know nothing about the magazine business, so I don't have alot to compare it to. The only things I noticed were a few proofing errors, and one mixed up set of photos and captions in Ridderbos' panfish article. This issue seemed pretty balanced to me. Let's see, Bass, panfish, saltwater, pike, eastern style trout, western trout, dries, classic wets, streamers, flies that harken back to the earliest days, right up to today. Techniques to help beginners tie better flies, and techniques to challenge the veteran. The only damage it did to me was my bank account. I needed more materials to tie all the great flies. I had exactly none of the materials to tie the crayfish muddler, except coneheads. I've got them all now though! Everyone chant with me... NEW ISSUE, NEW ISSUE, NEW ISSUE!! :headbang: :headbang:

Seaway Valley Northern NY. Haven't seen anything but a few flakes yet, but the forecast is calling for possible flurries tonight.

Sorry, I responded to the iPhone guy with a SPAM graphic. I did it before I read this post. I removed my reply.

Larry Dahlberg Jack Gartside Two pretty innovative fly tyers, and also very passionate about our sport.

What are his thoughts on using some of his trophy trout tactics on warmwater fish? Does he do a significant amount of this type of fishing? Has he found any similarities or differences on how to use these techniques for trout vs black bass etc.?

J Stockard sells UNI Yarn that would be a resonable substitute. They don't offer a flourescent green but there are several other bright green colors that would do.

I see that exact thing on one stretch of the Saint Regis in Franklin County. I always asumed they were stonefly nymph husks. I also tend to find them too late as it were, and they are quite dry. I have tried fishing a black stonefly nymph imitation there a few times and never had any luck. One of these days I am going to hit it on the right day, and then we'll get 'em

My absolute most productive clouser for smallies in a couple local rivers is a White/Chart/Black with chart krystal flash. I use red thread when tying in the belly portion. This gives a section of red behind the eyes.

Fluff Butt

One thing you will notice with Bob Clouser's deep minnows is the bucktail is very sparse. I always try to use about half as much as I think I should. Regarding the eveness of the tips, you will notice that is something the inventer is not too concerned with. I don't stack or hand stack mine, but I do try to get as many of the shorts out as possible.

Ward Bean, of Council Bluffs Iowa. Maintains a wonderful website, with excellent instructions, and photography. Also seems to be a humble down to earth guy.

Al Campbell's Crappie Candy. A reasonable small clouser candidate, and a good perch getter. Prince Nymph also works. If they are cruising shallows any small weighted nymph that kicks up the mud when they are in sight will do it.

Bruce that fly lookd really nice. So you taper the width the entire length of the strip? I wish I could put my hands on materials before I buy them. Unfortunately fly shops don't really exist in my corner of the world. One more question. Most examples of rabbit strip flies I see in the better step by step instructions online and in books including Bruce's fine example, the tail stands out straight. Generally mine tend to droop. How is this effect achieved for photographing? Is the leather stiffened somehow? I know some folks tie in a bit of stiff mono to keep longer tails from fouling the hook. Is this used for photo quality flies too?

Thanks for the replies. looking over the strips for better quality sections never even occurred to me. DUH! streamcaddis, your steelhead fly sounds very similar to what I use for smallies. It is sort of a cross between a zonker leech, a slumpbuster, and a conehead combo. If I can get it to the point where it looks good enough to submit, I am going to enter one in the contest.

I love rabbit strips and use them all the time for smallmouth flies. I never worry too much about how they look, other than that they are tied in securely, and tails are in proportion, and not much else quite frankly. If one was tying, say for the FTOTY contest, and wanted to make a zonker strip warm water fly a little more spruced up, what suggestions would you give? I get all my stuff from J Stockard, and they carry Hareline zonkers. They are great, but sometimes I notice that they have a little twist to them that is hard to get out. Also for the tip of a zonker tail would one cut the leather to a taper, or leave it blunt?