Al Beatty

Hi Group, We've been watching this "thread" with interest. We know a number of people who make (or made) their living in "fly fishing" but that really encompasses a bunch of different things. For example, we know of several fly shop owners in West Yellowstone who tie flies through the winter, do some speaking engagements to take a break from the vise, guide and run their fly shop during the "season" and do whatever else they need to "keep-the-lights-on." Are they professionals? Who knows. We used to do the same ourselves but now that we are semi-retired, we just tie a few flies (400 dozen or so) and write a few articles to help with travel expenses while traveling to the next fishing spot. BUT for many years we did a bunch of different things in "fly fishing" to make a living. Were we professionals? I don't know but the IRS sure expected the estimated taxes every quarter and on 15th of April whether we met the college professor's definition or not. Take care & ...

Hi Saltydog, We've learned you don't tie bad looking flies! Good job! Take care & ...

Hi group, A number of years ago, a supplier called us and offered to sell us his complete inventory of unweighted jig hooks, so we bought the bunch (10,000 or so as I remember). The way these jig hooks were manufactured there was room for the weight and a bit of extra shank for the jig skirt to be slipped into place and not much else. In other words, the shank was a bit short. We needed a way to add the jig head while not losing any of the hook-shank length which we needed for the body. We ended up melting a mono ball on the end of a heavy monofilament strand (50lb if I remember right), slipped a large bead on the mono then tied it to the hook so the bead was slightly in front of "angled-up hook eye. The resulting Wooly Buggers, Cone Heads, etc. worked great and were the base for a series of flies we called Bottom Bouncers we sold to a group of Montana guides during the 90s. The concept should work just as well today. Take care & ...

Wow! That fly is beautiful!

Hi Bimini 15, When I was Marketing Director at Whiting Farms, we harvested bird year around. Other producers may follow a different path based on their business model. Someone already mentioned that the best time to buy hackle is when you find the color you want and have the money to make the purchase. That's a very accurate statement. Take care & ....

Hi Mountain Mama, All the posts in this thread are excellent and offer good advice. If you decide you still want to use calf tail hair then you can do a couple of things to it to improve its handling properties. We wash ALL of our calf tails with warm water and Woolite, run a comb through the wet hair then hang the tail to dry (hair fibers pointing down). Once it is dry, we dust a bit of talcum powder (or baby powder) in the tail then shake out as much as we can before tying the fibers on the hook. When treated in this manner, calf tail hair can even be stacked reasonably well as long as the hair isn't too kinky. Good luck. Take care & ...

Hey Mike, Love those Chell's Panfish Attractor flies. Gretchen & I will try some for spring crappie and perch fishing. Take care & ...

Welcome. We look forward to working with you. Take care &...

Hi guys, As Fatman mentioned, dying is pretty easy. One thing, it's not possible to dye to a color lighter than the original. In the instance of the gray squirrel mentioned in this thread, it is beautiful when dyed, especially when bleached first. Bleaching it back to a tannish color, then dying to another make some incredible tail and dubbing. Bleach the material (any material) so you don't burn the tips is important and not hard but a bit fussy. We have a short blurb and bleach formula on our website under Tips & Tricks if you are interested. I think is #2 or #3 on the Tips page (www.btsflyfishing.com). Take care & ...

Hi Saltydog, That fly is beautiful. Good Job! Take care & ...

Looking good! Take care & ...

No matter which catches the fish (fat or skinny) the Red Quills sure caught us. Take care & ...

Great looking flies! Take care & ...

Hi Saltydog, Darn! That's sure a good way to "start the tying season" even if you will only be "off-and-on" until winter. Speaking of winter, it was 22F degree this morning with lots of frost. You are right as winter is around the corner. Take care & ...

That is a beautiful, well-tied fly. Wow! Take care & ...

Hi Hugo, After years tying commercial, we both have back pain problems. To manage the back pain, we do three things. First, we use a very good office/rolling/adjustable height chair for about 30 to 45 minutes then stop tying long enough to put on a "stretchy" back brace and tie for another 30 or so minutes. We find switching back and forth with the back brace on then off really helps. THEN after a few hours of tying, we tie for an hour or so in a "kneel-in" chair for a change in position. By never spending a lot of time in any one position and changing regularly, we manage to keep the back aches to a minimum. Also, a doctor friend recommended a pain pill combo the works for us. We take one extra strength Tylenol and one Alieve as a two-pill combo when the pain gets difficult. The pills and a quick walk around the block can get us back at the vise for another hour or so. Good luck with finding a solution to your "pain problem." Let us know what works for you and only take pain pills if your body doesn't react negatively to them. Take care & ...

Hi docjohn, You've received very good information for the other posters in this thread. So, to recap and add to their suggestions: Scrap off as much fat as possible with a dull knife (we like to use a butter-type table knife), wash in warm soap and water (we like to use Dawn or Downey), rinse in warm water several times and "press" the skin side on a piece of cardboard to dry. Do not use cardboard from a box but instead use the type of cardboard that is on the back of a note tablet. As the skin dries it may stick to the cardboard backing; it's your choice on removing the skin from the cardboard. If you do remove it then the Borax suggestion already made is a good idea. If you have a problem with an animal skin like Hare's Ear, rabbit, mink, muskrat, etc. then the same process may work as well OR just cut the dubbing off of the hide and store in in a zip-lock bag. Then throw away the the rotten skin. Take care & ...

Hi Group, Yes, spools of thread will dry rot over time or be damaged by continued exposure to the sun. If you find the thread breaking too easy and suspect it is "rotten" then before throwing the spool away, strip off a few layers and see if the thread is good under-the-bad. Take care & ...

We think making the wing sparse and cover wrapping over the tie-in butts. Take care & ...

Hi VB1971, I was never totally pleased with the results I got from extensions tube. For not much more money you can get a used, manual focus Nikon 55mm macro lens. It's what I use for magazine articles and product photography. Listed below is one I found on eBay that looks like the one I'm using. I think I paid about $50 for mine if I remember right. Good luck and let us know what you get. Take care & ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-55mm-f3-5-Micro-Non-AI-Manual-Focus-Lens-Macro-close-up-Prime-/152292641124?hash=item2375594964:g:~RAAAOSwZVlXs6v3

If you are looking for tools to cut your own foam "shapes" then I suggest two places to look, Harbor Freight and Tandy Leather. The elongated punches used in leather work can do a really good job if you get the right sizes. Take care & ...

This may or may not help but many years ago Gretchen and I worked for the telephone company. Our careers included the days when telephones actually had ringers instead of electronic "tweeters" or ??? The windings in the coils on those ringers and many other electronic devices have excellent fly tying wire. Take care & ...

Hi Chia, Gudebrod makes a good thread you can use for fly tying but you'll probably have to re-spool it. We've found a round dowel trimmed with a pocket knife to snugly fit in the hole of the bobbin mounted in an electric drill is a good way to re-spool thread. Take care & ...

Great fix but we were "stumped" for a moment by the M&Ms. We wonder if they (M&Ms) were left over from Holloween? Take care & ...

We think mikechell may be onto something! <G> but we have to admit that for many years we stocked only 2 hook styles in a range of sizes. They were a standard dry fly hook similar to a Mustad 94840 and a streamer hook similar to a Mustad 9672. During the 80s customers became more particular what hook style we tied their flies on and we increased the range of hook styles. As commercial tiers, we often have materials left over from orders and the flies in our personal boxes tend to show that because at times they look like a real "hodge podge" mixture of colors and materials. Take care & ...