Al Beatty

Hi Mark, Those tying stations/benches look great. Also the one that yakfisher's father built is awesome! Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi CharlieD, Welcome to the site. Yes, you are right; there are some very knowledgeable people here. I sure enjoy it! Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi cornmuse, I'm convinced that eyes make a difference on flies tied to immitate bait fish and other subsurface critters. My late friend Gary LaFontaine was as well and incorporated eyes in many of his streamer patterns, EX: the Drop Nose Minnow. On dry flies I'm not as sure. I'm mostly of the belief they don't make any difference. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

In general I prefer tying with a C-clamp because it provide a solid connection to the tying table. My travel/demonstration kit has both. Most places I demonstrate have tables with an edge the does not fit a C-clamp very well. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Tightlines, I agree with the freeze/thaw - freeze/thaw process with a space of a couple weeks between the two part process. In years past I stored everything in air tight containers with moth balls. Over time I developed an allergy to them and have switched to Red Man chewing tobacco. About 20 years ago I accepted "hunted pheasant skins" from a friend and ended up loosing most of my life-time fly tying supply. Today, NO hunted materials enter my home/tying area, etc. Everything comes from suppliers and goes through the freeze/thaw process before entering my tying area. Also, I do not allow any animal hide (deer, elk, moose) to come into the tying area that is not tanned. Maybe this is over kill but I've not had an infestation in my supplies in the last 20+ years and I probably have more materials go through my tying area in a year than most tiers do in a lifetime. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Invicta, First be sure the road kill is not protected; most song birds are off limits for an example. If the bird is freshly killed you can skin it and cure the skin with salt or borax (Boraxo soap works fairly wellP) or pull the desired feathers and place them in a zip-lock bag. On second thought, you might be safer to just leave the bird alone. The possible negative outcome from harvesting a dead bird may outweight the possitive, especially if the bird is not legal. I remember finding a dead heron one time and debated whether to harvest the feathers or not. I elected not to and later checked with a game officer; I learned it is illegal to have the feathers in your pocession no matter how they were harvested. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Sean Juan, When we were filming one of the LaFontaine videos I glued my thumb and forefinger together (while on camera). It took me the better part of two hours to get them unstuck and get back in front of the camera. That little screw-up cost us another day shooting to get the footage we needed. I am certainly a lot more careful with super glue than I used to be. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Will, Yes, the picture in the hyper-link is the dry version of the Renegade I use. It was developed in the 1930s by Taylor Williams (Sun Valley, Idaho) as a wet fly but has evolved into the dry fly we see in fly shops today. I tie and fish it in a range of sizes from 3/0 to #24, both wet and dry. Sometimes I add dumb bell or bead chain eyes or a bead head. Listed below is an expanded recipe explaining the different versions: Renegade (wet or dry) Hook: wet, streamer, dry, salt, size 3/0 to 22 Thread: Black, hot orange, chartreuse Tag: flat silver tinsel (original), hot orange or chartreuse (hot spot version) Back hackle: brown, wet or dry, sparse or heavily hackled depending on version Body: peacock herl, add chenille on the front half the body for the "Super version" Center hackle: grizzly on the Super Renegade only Front hackle: white, wet or dry, sparse or heavily hackled depending on version Head: Thread, black, hot orange, or chartreuse Bead head or dumb bell eyes: on the wet, steelhead, or saltwater verisions Take care & Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi group, I've used the Renegade all over the world in all water types. It is my favorite fly. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi again TroutBum, You really got a good bunch of answers to your question. Good Job! Your final price is pretty close to mine. I will offer you one thought about supplying the beer. Don't! Your liability is incredible, especially if you are charging for the service with the beer included. It's a really nice social gesture but could be terribly expensive if your "customer/student" got in an accident on the way home from a lesson. Nuff said! A question along the same line and it is also a bridge I had to cross several years ago. When do you start charging a club for programs/tying demos? I usually do a program/demo per year for each of the 3 clubs I belong to in the greater Boise area. How far do you drive before you start expecting some type of compensation? 10 miles? 25 miles? 50 miles? 100 miles? More? What are you thoughts? The group? I'm really interested in what you all think. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi TrueNorth, I'm fairly new here myself and have found the folks here to be a great bunch and more than willing to share information. Good luck with your move to Georgia. I'm sure in short order you will get info from people familiar with the area. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Troutbum, This certainly can be a touchy subject. Lefty Kreh once advised me to, "Never give away what you can sell." My problem has always been defining what to sell and what to give away and I'm in the business! For me the most difficult time in my fly-fishing carear was that point when I had to slow down the demands on my time by charging for that time. I'm not here to advise on whether to charge for instruction or not, that's something you have to decide for yourself. However, I think that $10.00 per hour is not enough to charge. I base my charges on how much I can make working. As a self employed person the money stops as soon as I stop producing. When I do donate time to a local club/organization I keep track of the time I donate and credit it against my taxes just like I would if I write a check to TU or FFF to support conservation, etc. I don't know if my rambling answer has helped or not. Anyway good luck with whatever way you make your decision. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Group, I use a Fuji 7000 (6.3 MP) for all my magazine work and it serves me just fine. I paid about $800 for it last year and saw the same camera at CostCo this week for $499.00 so it is becoming very affordible. You certainly don't need that much camera for sharing fly pic's on the Internet but it is helpful when sending photo's to editors. I still have a heck of a time with it; I can't tell you the number of times I've started to check it for film only to discover it has none. I guess I spent too many years shooting slide film - it's hard to break old habits. My setup: foam core background with two 250 watt "B" bulbs aimed at it and two 250 watt "B" bulbs pointed at the subject/fly. I adjust distance to subject/background using a light meter to get the desired effect. I set the camera on Macro (the little flower) with manual focus & manual exposure. I shoot full RAW exposures, import them into the computer, and change them to files the size/format a particular editor wants (they all want something different). I use Photo Shop 7 but quite frankly it's a lot more program than I really need. Sorry, for the long answer. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi, Smallie had a good suggestion in the Murray McMurry hatchery. I know Whiting Farms used there birds/eggs from time to time for some experiements. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi group, I get most of my chenille from the Danville Co. They make it for many of the distributors mentioned in this post. Also, one of the posters here mentioned Lyon Brand cheneille which is quite good. But let me give you another "heads up!" The Lyon Brand Homespun Yarn makes the best dry-fly dubbing I've ever used. A 4 foot section (with the cords removed) cut into 1/2 to 1/4 inch pieces and run through a blender makes the equivalent quantity of most packages from a fly shop. The end product is similar to muskrat belly fur with all the guard hairs removed. The color range is pretty incredible just using the different yarns colors and mixing colors makes match many insects really easy. Several friends and I use this dubbing exclusively then comunicate colors to each other using percentages of Lyon colors in relation to the Borger Color System. Take care & ...

Hi flyfisher anonymous, For a moment when I read your "subject line" I though the message was refering to Fly Fish America magazine and couldn't belief they were joining the sight. Seeing your online name I now understand. Welcome to the site. I've only been here a short time but have found it to have some really great people. You'll enjoy it! Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Jason, I often use a modified riffle hitch on heavy-weighted stonefly nymphs to suspend them in the water column with a more natural posture. It is difficult to properly position the heavily weighted fly with the leader attached only to the hook eye; they ride with the tail end down & the eye up rather than more parallel like the natural insect. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Will, I like the wool head baitfish and also your crayfish; I'd like to publish them in Fly Fish America magazine. If you (or any of the other board members) are interested in getting a pattern published please click on my web site and click on "Submit A Fly" then follow the instructions from there. Thanks for sharing the fly with us. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi dabalone, I'm sure glad you turned me on to this great site. I didn't mention your name because I know some people are concerned about posting their name on the net. Probably a good idea to be cautious. Anyway, thanks again for the heads up. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty PS: there sure is a lot to reveiw at this sight. It will take a while to get familiar with all of it. AB

Hi BlueHeron, I use a set of tools I made from finishing nails. Take any finishing nail and cut the tip off. Smooth the cut off end (on the nail) with a file. Use the head of the nail for the white (or other color) of the eye by dipping it in acrylic paint and apply that part of the eye on each side of the fly. Dry the fly in a rotating dryer. Use the smoothed/cut end of the nail to form a black pupil again drying the fly in a rotating dryer. Often I will add a small white highlight to the pupil using an finishing nail that does not have the point cut off. I've made a whole series of tools using different size nails to cover a wide range of fly sizes. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Will, Kendra, & group, I see by the date on your post that Will was injured a couple of weeks ago. Our thoughts & prayers for your both. Please keep us posted on Will's recovery. Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Trout Bum, Gretchen and I use a Danvise for about 75% of our commercial work with several other vises from different manufacturers for some specialty flies. Quite frankly we use the Danvise because we sell it, it holds a hook well, and is rotary - we tie a lot of flies rotary to increase our speed/income. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

I use a half-hitch tool to place one half-hitch then use the same tool to apply two whip-finishes. Of course that approach is on flies where I can access the hook eye. On bead head flies etc. I use a whip-finish tool to apply two whips. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Silver Bullets, Interesting you should ask. After 45+ years of little to no organization of our fly boxes Gretchen and I decided to empty all of our vest/chest packs and get organized. I have 48 fly boxes on a card table in my tying room where we are spending some of our evenings sorting through and getting organized. Organization was SOOO! bad - let me give an example. I mentioned to Gretchen that I coulding find any BH Prince Nymphs. She said she was sure we had some in one of the boxes. After a thorough search, we found several dozen scattered over 10 fly boxes. I have to get the mess straighted up! How did the boxes get so bad? Filling fly orders for other people and not taking time for my own fly boxes. For years we just tied what we needed for the next trip AND we often try out flies we write about in the magazines. They do add up after a while. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com

Hi Jaka, Welcome to the forum. I'm new here as well so we can learn about the group together. Take care & ... tight lines - Al Beatty