Hellgrammite

OK will do So I guess posts that contain quotes are all spam? Perhaps it wasnt a clear enough retraction? I'm sorry for saying it was spam. It might not be.

What?!? Really? This man was an author? THANK YOU! I will contact the museum! Wow...

I might be very jumpy, I guess, but that reads exactly like an advert in some magazine. Anyway, ignore me. I'm not known for being particularly clever.

Because their ONLY post is advertising a specific product, with claims placed in quotes? It's an advert. It's spam.

Spam, delete this

Mustad and Dai Riki. Great for the cost.

I'm still around, yes! I'm working, just starting graduate school, and leaves little time for flies! I did a little google search, but found nothing - sort of hoping someone here may be affiliated with that chapter of TU. Wonder if I could call them and find out if he's still around? I'd want it returned to me if it were mine, and stolen or something.

Just curious what other folks would do; I guess this is the right place, it's fly related! A while ago, I purchased a couple of Wheatley boxes from the Auction Site. Both were second hand (IE, not sold as brand new) but seem unused; both are the sort with compartments on one side, and clips on the lid. I rather love this type! One has 6 compartments, one has 16. The 6 compartment one is just right to keep a couple of common sizes and types in it, and put in a pocket for a quick trip or a walk on a small stream. I love this little box. But, the 16 compartment one has an engraved lid; I'm guessing the former owner died, which is sad, because I cant imagine selling it (My camera is dead, grr, I'd post a pic otherwise. It isnt important, you all know what a wheatley box looks like) It says: James T. Grey Jr. In Recognition Of Distinguished Service Ernest Schweibert Chapter Trout Unlimited 3-16-85 The engraving is nicely done, and takes up nearly all of the cover. What to do? I feel weird, having this box with someone else's name on it; this almost certainly had to be a prized gift. Should I just use it anyway? Put it away? What would you all do?

Better looking than my midges! And the fish obviously approve =)

I may be relocating (chances look good) to northern Wisconsin in the next few months due to a change of employment - I hope so, as I deeply hate Ohio anymore - and I was wondering who could tell me a bit about the fishing? I know next to nothing about the game up there. What are the usual methods and approaches for flyfishing the top half of the cheese state? Edit: I do mean for trout, btw,

You cannot imitate me. I am the one and only!

I do shiny side forward as well. I tie my hackle to the top of the hook, shiny side up (which becomes facing forward when I wind it) and then take 3 wraps behind, 2 or 3 in front, tie off, slide my little bit of coffee stirrer straw up my bobbin and thread and onto my fly to hold the hackles back, and whip finish. I had a sequence of pictures describing my method of doing this, and how I prep the hackle I use; I think they've poofed (I removed my photobucket, got so sick of that site) Let me see if i can find them and reupload them.

That thompson vise (I use a model A) along with a couple bobbins (I can live without one, but theyre nice) and a bodkin is all I use for 99.9% of what I do, along with a cheap pair of india-made scissors. A sharp razor blade can work as well as scissors, in its way. I'm not sure what special stuff your particular sort of tying may require, but I like keepin things simple. Minimalism is part of the fun for me!

This still gives me fits, wrapping partridge... which stinks, because I love the partridge and color soft hackles. Thankfully they dont need to look nice to work well. For most wet flies, I use the webbier bits of dry fly hackle and take 2-3 turns of that - I need to buy a few hen necks -.-

I use copper wire for all my ties with wire; brassies, PT nymphs, quill gordons, and hare's ears. No reason to have 2 sorts about.

I tie mine without legs, generally, and I tie in sizes 14 to 20. With or without beads, and with or without peacock herl thorax, this is a great fly. Fun and cheap to tie and SUCH a good likeness of small nymphs of many sorts!

Catskill dry not working, cause it sits to high? Trim the hackles on the bottom so it sits lower. Still not working? Hack those hackles down to shreds, and fish it in the surface film. Still not working? Are they eating midges, or spinners of another species you dont see? Are they eating nymphs? Might they be coaxed to taking them anyway? Maybe if i do not have the "right" dry, I can drift a wet fly just under the surface. If a dry wont connect, changing to a completely different approach can be just as good (and often better) than switching the fly. Maybe a unweighted nymph in the film, and let it drift. Maybe lift and let it fall, like one running up and down. Often, this'll work just as well (or better) than changing dries a bunch of times. Sometimes it wont. I tie flies that I enjoy tying and that I think are pretty. If one dry fly is 1/10 as effective as another under the same conditions, I have to suspect a LOT of culprits (like, usually myself and my presentation, and are they really eating what I think they are) before I narrow it down to only the pattern style itself. Does it happen? Yeah, I'm sure, once in a while, it does. Is it frequent enough for ME to carry 2 or 3 different styles of a given fly? Mmmmm.... I dont know? Wings help me see my fly, too, which with my poor eyes, is a big help. Clear as mud, see!?

I work at Kent State University. Just gonna toss out there that plagiarism is grounds for expulsion. Don't do it. Sorry about your loss. I hope she lived full, and well. That being said, my favorite dries are plain old Catskill ties; Quill Gordons, Cahills, The Catskill, Red Quill. Just great stuff, and they fish well. Yeah, yeah. A Comparadun or Parachute sits lower in the water. I can always trim away the lower hackle fibers... and as I said elsewhere, I just like them. They're fun to tie, pretty, and they'll catch fish, If I do my part.

It depends. On a mayfly imitation? Well, on a comparadun, the deer hair is sort of playing the part of the wing and legs, so, in my opinion, it has wings. That being said, as long as it has somewhat of a light pattern that resembles a mayfly on the water (Parachutes, standard flies, and comparaduns all do, in differing degrees) a separate wing is likely not needed. On a caddis or stonefly? Yes. They're just too big a component of how the insect looks. Usually, that wing is made of hair, of some sort, but it's still a wing. I tie, use, and even sell a fair amount of Catskill-style flies (Whole can of worms to be opened with that name) I use wings, just because I like how they look, and if I didnt, they wouldnt be Catskill flies. I like tying and fishing them. Theyre pretty. I like parachutes too, and I'd use more comparawhatsits if I didnt have this slight (read: soulcrushingly horrible) allergy to animal hair. Also, it is pretty well established that some people, like Gordon, originally did not divide wings on their dry flies. I seriously doubt it matters for mayflies. I just like wood duck wings. They look nice. For other insects? Well, is it a big part of the insect's shape as seen from below? If yes, I'd say they matter. If not, probably not. Maybe. Who knows?

I almost never weight a fly itself, i use split shots. I like letting the fly wiggle and bounce a bit more.

Newer Thompson vises are, sadly, a shadow of their former selves. I was able to purchase a set of Midge jaws from Adventure Corp, who seem to be the people who "make" thompson now, and they were sad, soft, and ill tempered; I just went back to my regular jaw after they began to malform literally from the first fly (the work, they just got marked up immediately) Older Thompsons = bulletproof. Newer = disappontment (still better than most cheapie kit vises, though)

Can we just pin this response? Its a goodie.

I use the same Thompson Model A that I've had for like 7 years, which had already seen 30 or so years of use by the time it came to me. Yeah. Best 12$ ever.

Ill have to get his caddis book also! Especially as LaFontaine's is kind of expensive, I havent bought a copy for that reason.

What a wonderful little book! 268 pages with index and bibliography, in a wonderful small pocket or purse size book (4x6) that has great color pictures of all stages of the included insects, a ton of actual text (small print! Be warned!) and color pictures of flies to match them, AND patterns for those flies. It even has tips on tackle, leaders, and so on, and it isnt burdened with jargon and science, like hatch books tend to be,but is written for the rest of us. Printed on high quality, glossy paper. Really impressed. Each bug is shown in nymph-dun-spinner form, or larva-pupa-adult for caddis. 2 or 3 flies for each phase are shown, and patterns included, and the bugs covered are general enough ( I have seen virtually all insects outlined in this book here in NE Ohio) that this would be a handy reference for anyone in the NE US. I have several other hatch books for the Eastern US, and this is my instant favorite. I got my copy for 7 dollars from Ebay. Really, really love this little book!