Salmo22

After a hiatus of several years, I'm in the process of setting up a new fly tying station/desk in my home. While I retained much of my old tying gear, for some reason (i.e. grandkids), I can't find my old lamp. Previously, I had used a Giraffe lamp that I believe is still available - http://www.giraffelamps.com/fly.htm As I recall, it was a very good lamp. However, it did seem to generate a bunch of heat. Accordingly, I'm wondering if it could be retrofitted with a LED bulb that would be cooler than the old incandescent and have a much longer service life? I'm hoping some on this forum may have already retrofitted the Giraffe lamp, or another brand, and can offer their suggestions, experiences, and recommendations? Thanks in advance for your assistance; Jeff

Thank you sir for sharing this link. I apologize for not finding it on my own. The information is just what the doctor ordered.

I've been away from fly tying for several years while attending to my wife as she faced some serious health challenges. As vagaries of life go, I'm in a position to get my materials and equipment out of the attic and start tying again. As I was going through my "stuff", I find the need to restock my thread supply - not sure where all those spools went. I am a disciple of Wayne Luallen and practice (as best I can) his thread control techniques. Accordingly, I need thread that I can spin to flatten, split, and control how I place the thread on the hook. To make an already too long story short, I need help identifying what threads are available that will give me the type of control I've described. With all the offerings currently available to fly tiers, I don't want to make a large investment and find I've purchased thread I can't control/spin as I would like. Unfortunately, my old source for thread is no longer available to me. Any help this group could provide would be sincerely appreciated. Jeff

I've been playing with a photo that I shot in El Centro as BA Opposing Solo #6 passed low and fast over our position. It was a rainy, overcast morning and presented me with post processing challenges that really tested my meager skills with CS5's sliders. I've been goofing with various treatments since then, including a monochrome shot with god beams - clearly a desperate act. I've never been totally satisfied with the final image; until now. This afternoon I was massaging the pixels and finally achieved the look I've been after (It's taken me nearly two months). The Pass

Had the recent privilege of photographing a flight operations at NAF El Centro. This included the daily Blue Angels practice. Here are a few of my favorites.

Firetiger: Thanks for the info. BTW, here in the wild west, we simply bend the barb down with flat nose pliers - it works great.

I hate to admit it; however, I have never really focused on the opportunities for stillwater chironomid fishing in my home state - Arizona. I have a few "token" patterns in one of my boxes, but they rarely see the water. I'm not sure why I have not taken stillwater chironomids more seriously in the past? Maybe the patterns are not as sexy as others or maybe I'm in too big a rush to fish the damsel hatch. What ever the case, I'm going to focus this spring on becoming a better stillwater chironomid fly fisher. Accordingly, I'm going to be tying-up a bunch of different chironomid patterns to fill a large stillwater fly box I've purchased specifically for this purpose. In doing some research, and the Daiichi 1260 looks like a good foundation for some stillwater chironomid patterns. It is a 2XL, round bend, straight-eye, curved shank, bronzed hook. What is your favorite hook for tying stillwater chironomids and why? Thanks.

I like to tie with scissors in-hand. For most of my trout fly tying needs, I use the Dr. Slick 4" Tungsten Carbide. The finger loops are large, the blades are very sharp and it has a fine points for getting into tight areas on small flies. Fact is I like the entire line of Dr. Slick Tungsten Carbide scissors. For working with deer and elk hair, I have become addicted to the Soligen Hair scissors. As Chris Helm says, these are the "Rolls Royce" of hair scissors. For wire and tinsel I use finger nail clippers. BTW, I believe Chris Helm has the best seleciton of scissors available to fly tiers anywhere on the planet. What do you use and why?

I have a LAW vise for rotary tying and a Dyna King Supreme Saltwater vise fitted with custom small jaws for tying trout flys. While I love my LAW, most of my tying is on the Dyna King. There is nothing like resting your left hand (for right-handed tiers) on the long shaft on the Dyna King Supreme Saltwater edition. I could tie on that sucker all day. Both are made with the highest quality materials and to exacting tolerances.

Please post the photos. Thanks.

Enjoy your day. Look forward to more great shots.

Wulff: I love this photo. Going wide open to limit the DofF turned a shap-shot into a great photograph IMHO. I visited Fred Miranda's site. What a great resource of info. I read an interesting thread about the merits of the 85mmL f1.2 vs. the 85mm f1.8. For get the cost differential for a moment, there appears you would really need to be careful shooting with the 85mmL opened all the way to f1.2. Anything that is not perfectly perpendicular to the lens would be out of focus. I've definately got some serious hand-wringing to do on the 85mm. Thanks; Jeff

Jay: As I noted in a seperate email; I really like these photos. Especially the subtle contrast of the colored harness with the grey/muted horses and background. Cool stuff. Jeff

Thanks for all the feedback - great information. Let me give you a little more background about where I may be headed with the D5. My father is a retired pro. He specialized in portraits and weddings, with the occasional commercial assignment. For about a 10 years period he owned a Cessna 206 and did lots of aerial work. I worked for him for several years doing weddings and portraits. Back then, we were shooting with medium format Bronicas, Hasselblads, Mamiyas, etc. To help supplement my income, I am seriously considering getting back into the wedding/portrait game. I get a lot of requests from many of my Dad's old clients and could get working quickly. I also have some opportunities to shoot commercial work for developers of retail projects. For fun, I will likely continue my landscape work. It seems that the 5D's full frame and IQ would be most helpful for the type of work I'd primairly be pursuing. Since sports/action photography is not my thing, I don't get too worried about the speed of the 5D. With this additional information, do you still think the 5D would be a good weapon? Also, what single lens do you think would be most productive for my portrait/wedding gigs? Thanks again for your feedback.

What type of "boxes" do you use to store your assortment of hooks. I'm especially interested in what is being used by folks that do demo tying at expos and enclaves. I've got an old Umpqua hook box that is on the large size, does not do a good job of keeping small hooks from migrating/mixing with other sizes, and is not very portable. Thanks; Jeff

BestBuy seems to have a good price on the Canon 5D with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens. First; what are your thoughts about this camera/lens combo? Second; what flash, filters, accessories would you get for this combo? Third; what do you think of using PhotoShop CS3 and Lightroom for managing and editing the digital images? Finally, what is/are the advantages to shooting digital images in the RAW format? Thanks. PS - I'm old to shooting Velvia on 4x5 view cameras; however, I'm very new to shooting digital.

I did not know you could do that with wool. That is really cool Do you prefer a certain type/brand of wool for this technique? Also, do you think you could do the same with other dubbing materials (i.e. oppossum, rabbit, etc)? Thanks.

In the most recent issue of Fish & Fly Magazine (Midseason 2007), there is an article about fishing "flashy" streamers for Steelhead. On page 44 is a photo of a fly box (w/steelhead) that shows several colorful streamers. I am very interested in adapting these patterns to smaller sizes for hunting large rainbows and browns in AZ streams/rivers. I really like the flat/wide sculpin-like profile used on the heads of these streamers. Some even include bead-chain eyes. While I've tied plenty of sculpin patterns using clipped deer hair for the heads, I've never tied sculpins using wool, oppossum, or other types of dubbing as recommended in the article. I could really use some help with finding the correct technique for achieving these flat/wide sculpin-head-styles using various dubbing materials. I think combining this dubbed sculpin-head-style with the flash of the streamer body would be deadly. Thanks in advance.

I've attended many fly tying expos throughout the years. I find them very enjoyable and instructive. Although I am a life member of FFF, I've never attended the annual conclave. I am considering attending this year primarily for the fly tying demonstrations. If you've attended in the past, how would you rate the quality of demonstration tying? I've read the hype on the FFF website; however, I'd like to get the perspective of those that have actually attended. Thanks, and Happy Father's Day.

Jason: Here are a few for consideration: Wasatch Fly Tying Expo @ Salt Lake City, UT May 19, 2007. FFF Conclave & International Fly Fishing Show @ Bozeman, MT July 31 - August 4, 2007. Great Lakes Council (FFF) Fly Tying Expo @ Roscommon, MI December 1, 2007. Midwest Fly Tying Expo @ Mason, MI December 2, 2007. Washington State Council (FFF) Fly Tying Expo @ Seattle, WA April 21, 2007. East Idaho Fly Tying & Fishing Expo @ Idaho Falls, ID April, 20 & 21, 2007. NW Fly Tyers Expo @ Albany, OR March 9 & 10 , 2007. The International Fly Tying Symposium @ Somerset, NJ November 15th, 16th & 17th, 2007. I'm sure there are many more that I've not listed.

This was my 4th year attending this great tying expo. While I've yet to attend a FFF Conclave, I think the IF Expo is hard to beat. The diversity of talented tyers that participate is extrodinary. I learn so much from each tyer that I literally fill a journal with notes. Improved techinques, new materials, artistry, simple, complex - it is all there. The Beatty's were in attendance and participating in the demonstration tying area. Al & Gretchen also taught a workshop on EZY Trout Flies. Here are a few of my personal highlights. 1. Getting an invite to eat breakfast Saturday morning with Bob Jacklin. Just dumb luck that I was standing in the right place at the right time when Mr. Jacklin was looking for someone to join him. I got to spend nearly 45 minutes one-on-one with this great gentleman. Man does he have the stories. I especially enjoyed his telling of the monster brown he caught on the Madison last year. He even tied me a copy of the caddis larva he used to stick that big brute. Cool stuff. 2. Getting to spend the last 30 minutes of Saturday in the demo area with Ed Berg from California. This elder statesman of the vise (cool goatee & pony-tail) is a wizard when it comes to thread control. I really learned allot from Mr. Berg in those closing minutes. He ties the trimest size 22 blue-winged olive parachutes I've ever seen. Mr. Berg's flies have absolutely minimal bulk. 3. Getting to meet several great tiers out of California - James Peterson really had some great new ideas for creating the effect of epoxy-back nymphs like the copper john without the hassle of using epoxy. If you ever get an opportunity to attend this Expo, I highly recommend it. Simply some of the best fly tyers in the nation to share thier talents for 2 full days. It doesn't get any better than that. Al/Gretchen: How do you compare the IF Expo to the fly tying demonstrations and workshops at the Conclave. I am seriously considering going this year (just became a life member) and wondered how it stacked up compared to Idaho Falls. While I understand this may be a loaded question; I would appreciate any comparisions that would help me with my decision on attending the Conclave.

Daiichi

I had heard/read about Philip Rowley and Brian Chan for years. While I was sure they were very good at their craft, I figured it primarily applied to fishing chironomids for Kamloops trout in Canadian stillwaters. Since I fish stillwaters in the western USA, I did not give their patterns and stillwater strategies much consideration. I had a chance to talk with Mr. Rowley last week and watch him tie a few of his stillwater patterns. Boy was I wrong about his expertise only applying to Canadian stillwaters. He is an excellent tier and has some innovative patterns that I am confident will work very well on my favorite stillwaters. I was especially impressed with his use of marabou and mixed dubbing loops to create his Grizzly Dragon, Grizzly Sedge Pupa, and Waste Troll Leech. Rowley and Chan also have a line of tying materials marketed under the name of Stillwater Solutions. Mostly excellent stillwater colors applied to traditional materials. I've attached some photos of these patterns so you can see what I am trying to describe. http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/Sal...izzlyDragon.jpg http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/Sal...lySedgePupa.jpg http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/Sal...eTrollLeech.jpg I recommend you give Rowley and Chan consideration next time you are contemplating patterns for your stillwater boxes. Just my 2-cents.

I am addicted to Daiichi hooks. My local shop has stopped carrying them :wallbash: I prefer to purchase them in packs of 100 versus 25 or 10. Any recommendations for reliable Daiichi hook sources would be appreicated. Thanks.

Great patterns and photos all. Much appreciated. Keep them coming.