Ten Bears

Yeah, if that line was supposed to be a critique it doesn't sound positive... But we might be missing the nuances of the language.

If you are communicating with a Finnish fly fisher tell him/her this: I-KIRJAIN lempiä jotta hulmuta kalastaa kotona jäähtynyt Pohjanpuoleinen Aallokko!

It's Finnish and InterTrans gives this as the translation: Friend is apparently loud suction finger , while is circa turvoksissa

Welcome!

Maybe this will give you some ideas to work with instead of dubbing. Here are some samples of my versions of A.K. Best's quill and biot dry flies: A.K.'s Red Quill Spinner #16: I don't use dubbing on the thorax for anything 16 or smaller. Also, only one quill for spinners of any size and one quill for duns 18 or smaller and two quills for duns 16 or larger. A.K.'sRed Quill Spinner #14: Here I've added the dubbing and multiple tail saddle hackles instead of just two on the smaller versions. A.K.'s Light Cahill Quill Dun #14: Not perfectly wound but close enough to fool a brown trout. A.K.'s Henry's Fork Green Drake Biot #12: THE secret weapon for those awesome hatches on the Snake. Notice the elk hair tail instead of saddle hackle. The collar hackle is olive grizzly (my own variation to AK's original).

Yeah, I'm in Des Moines until tomorrow. It's friggin' COLD!

Without knowing who is who I'd have to judge the top row farthest left to be the most aesthetically appealing but they are all great flies.

Dubbing is a pain in the caboose. I always hated messing with it but I kept doing it until I could get a nice tapered body. Although I have gotten the hang of it, I still hated it enough to seek out a viable replacement for dubbed bodies. Enter A. K. Best's quill body methods. After following Mr. Best's instructions I found that not only do the dry flies look more realistic but they also float like a cork, can be made twice as fast and the trout love them. Goose and turkey biots are great body alternatives too. I still use natural fur dubbing but only when I can't use anything else. A. K. Best's Fly Box: How to Tie the Master Fly-Tyer's Patterns is the book that shows you his methods for almost every dry fly he uses.

I would like two (2) in black, both 2XL. When and where do we pay?

I use a Griffin Montana Mongoose for home and a Griffin Odyssey Spider for traveling. They both hold hooks from 4/0 to 28 and I only need them from 6 to 24. They are strong steady and reliable.

I was looking to create a travel fly tying bag at a reasonable price. I searched for a couple of months and finally found the Flambeau 4003ST soft tackle bag. It cost only $19.99 and is perfect for a fly tying bag. The dimensions are 12" x 8" x 6" (30.48 x 20.32 x 15.24 cm). The one listed on the Wal-Mart site and the Flambeau site are green and the ones I've seen in the store are blue like this: (I drew the dry fly on the flap) The bag comes with 3 4006 Tuff Tainer Boxes. I removed the two in the main compartment and used the one in the front compartment for spools of thread, wire and floss. It will hold approx 46 Danville spools. When you open up the front zippered compartment you'll find a place for a complete set of tools including bobbin, large and small English hackle pliers, bobbin threader, large and small hair stackers, two pair of scissors, hemostats, Thompson whip finisher, dubbing teaser, bodkin, dubbing loop and a magic marker. In the right side pocket I have a Wapsi Sow/Scud dubbing box, Zap-a-Gap glue, seven bags of chenille and one bag of 2mm black foam: In the left side pocket I have Wapsi beaver dubbing box, three bags of hare's mask and squirrel dubbing, dubbing wax and my reading glasses: Inside the top flap over the main compartment I have my Griffin Odyssey Spider vice with hackle gauge, light reflector and allen wrench: Inside the main compartment is the bulk of the tying supplies. To maintain an optimal condition to my expensive capes they go on top. Below them are my other feathers then my fur materials on the bottom. You're wondering where are the hooks, beads, eggs, barbell eyes etc? Right here next to all of the materials. I find this also helps to maintain rigidity of the back side of the bag. These last two pictures are to give you an idea of just how much this bag will hold. It was too much for one photo. This includes 5 full premium capes. Not bad for a $19.99 bag from Wal-Mart?

One of the most amazing things I've ever seen was once while traveling through West Virginia on US 60 during the height of the Autumnal colors in the mountains. An October cold front came blowing through suddenly and the next thing I know we are completely engulfed in a leaf drift with an unbelievable density. It was like a solid wall of gold, red and orange had collapsed on our car. In retrospect my only regret was that I didn't have a camera ready when it happened.

Here are a couple of shots from the Cumberland Gap area of Tennessee from last Autumn. I took these while we were hauling ass down the interstate.

A. K. Best. Arch accurately matches the entymology, is innovative, ties aesthetically pleasing flies and can fill a fly box quicker than most mortals.

Here's a snapshot of my friend, Richard, working out some lead fills on a track we were recording in my home studio. That's my Les Paul he's playing.

Great job, congrats to you all.

There was a dwarf that made a living as a psychic. He was doing pretty good financially because he was so accurate. Sure enough, the mafia got wind of his abilities and decided to use his powers to fill their coffers. The dwarf went along with it at first but soon grew tired of the mob's abusive ways. The boss soon grew tired of the dwarf's lack of enthusiasm and decided to frame him for a bunch of crimes that had not yet been solved by the local police. The next day the police showed up at the dwarf's house and took him into custody but being the keen psychic he was, he was able to escape rather easily just by visualizing the right opportunity. Once he escaped the local newspaper had the following headline: Small Medium at Large!

OK, this first one was taken last Winter while driving through South Dakota. It's called Travellers, in reference to the car in front of me, myself and the people in the aircraft leaving the contrails. Can you tell I like Ansel Adams? This second image I took about 5 or 6 years ago. It's basically just an experiment in perspective that turned out better than I thought. It's called Solitude II. This third image is a self portrait done as an homage to the Frank Miller movie, Sin City. I couldn't help myself, I named it Sid City.

I took a bunch of photos yesterday trying to get the mountains in their Autumnal colors but the lighting just wasn't cooperating. I didn't want to try shooting a long exposure without a tripod. This is the only image that came out half decent and it is still rather dark and flat. This is taken from the roadside about 1/4 mile from the summit. As you can see the snows are pretty steady above 5000 ft.