hairwing

Nice job Jam. Sporty hook your usin'. Teeny was always huggin' some 30 pounder in magazine pics in the early days which of course he caught on his nymph. He sold me and I tied up some up back in the day, but alas never hooked any fish around here with that fly. Those big west coast steel were amazing! His patent.....http://www.google.com/patents/US3821862?printsec=abstract&dq=teeny+nymph&ei=V90OUvSmLcKVygGrr4Aw#v=onepage&q=teeny%20nymph&f=false

When it happens to me it is usually at the head of a fly at the hackle collar of a dry fly that I have hand whip finished and allowed the loop to twist when tightening the knot. I lock in my hackle after winding with only two wraps of thread and follow with minimal turns for the head. Fast action is necessary to save the fly. I use one of my non dominant fingers to quickly press the thread against the hook and grab my hackle pliers to catch the loose end. I'll do like everyone else then and fix the bobbin, secure the loose thread and THEN, find my whip finish tool and finish the job. Whew! I hate it when that happens.

Before you give up hope you may want to try one of these.... The newer lines have chemicals that ooze through micro-pores and the pad helps open the pores. You also want to get something similar to,or these 3M microfiber cleaning cloths for a quick rub down stream-side. The cloths will also blot and clean a slimy dry fly and a quick rub of your rod surface will polish it up nice ans slick.

Brian, I don't even own a phone, and am no expert but I understand you have to turn the phone sideways to get a vertical pic. Try giving it another shot and post it. Nice fly btw !

There's a saying here...."Tis a privilege to live in Colorado". I agree ! Hope you had a nice stay.

Elms have cost me about $10 grand in the last 15 years. Dadtz alot -o-moo- la. Steve..that's a hunk o trunk you've got to deal with. Do you have a wood burner? I'd be over with my chain saws and trailer but you live too damn far away. How come those trees can find those sheds like it was a purpose in their lives ? Too bad about the fish. I know it's not so much the money as it is the attachment to the animals you have nurtured and cared for. Bumma.

I use a digital pocket scale. Reads both grains and grams and does tare weight. Cost me about $10 bucks. The other part of the fly line equation is the taper. You can measure the line diameter and see which end is which and plot it's design. I've also found that you can get a good idea of the fly weight simply by measuring the body of the line, i.e. .045 equals a 6 weight floating line. You can get a mike with a digital read out from Harbor Freight for about $20 bucks. The mike is also handy for leader building. What you see on a spool label isn't always the case. A few years back I ran into a lot of Orvis spools witch had incorrect specs.I brought my mike to the store and found a batch that was bad. They thanked me for that and promptly notified their main office. I always bring the micrometer now when I shop for tippet material. The mike and the scale also have practical uses around the house and the garage...not so with the Umpqua Scale (about $35 bucks). Mike-Rite gadgets for tippet measurements @ about $20 bucks are also limited...in that you can't measure a fly line.

http://www.flytyingclips.com/....Herman has a good....great one ! If I could only get my mouse to catch up with your scrolling "Feathered Fly" selector. I mouse one way and the scroll goes the other way. LIke ping- pong and I almost never catch up. LOL.

There's no tool or shortcut to making neat heads. Your entire fly should be constructed while keeping in mind where the head's gonna start and how big you want it. In the meantime, use something fine like 8/0 UNI-thread and keep the number of wraps to the minimum required. And practice, practice, practice. Pick out a pattern that's giving you trouble and keep tying it over and over until you get it right. Repetition and looking for ways to correct mistakes are essential if you want to raise your skill level. I'll say it again: there are no shortcuts. I totally agree with Peter...."Your entire fly should be constructed while keeping in mind where the head's gonna start and how big you want it." There are two things I consider about the head of a fly, to me it's a mark of craftsmanship; and on the practical side ....it's really hard to thread a tippet through the eye of a fly clogged with material and very frustrating if it's been closed with head cement. Learning how to trim materials at the head is another thing to be learned. Going in to the cut with your scissor blades perpendicular to the shank and wacking bulky materials will leave you with a hump. The hump is hard to deal with. I always try to cut materials on a taper. Peter's right ...there's no short cuts and it's a learning / experience process.

Try reading.... "How To Fish From Top to Bottom" ...Sid Gordon "Fly Fishing Strategy".....Swisher and Richards "Nymphs" and "Matching the Hatch"...Schwiebert I think you will find all the ideas given by GB and GLF in this selection. None of these titles are expensive used online.

I've never had much luck fishing the Trike emergence. Seems like the fish wait for the spinners and when they fall the whole river is nothing but rings. Mating happens when the sun hits the water (9-10 am). Spinner falls can last for different lengths of time depending on wind and weather conditions. You need the correct size fly. You also need a good presentation. As far as the cast goes, try to get a rising fly line and leader so that the leader will fall with some slack. It's also easier to spot these small flies from 30-50 ft. if the fly hovers slightly before dropping to the water. If you can work a curve in the cast all the better. Be careful you don't pull the slack out of the presentation by mending the line on the water. It's best to do all your fancy stuff in the air and leave it alone and let it drift. Check out Pile and Puddle casts on the web. My tackle goes like this: 9ft-6 wt. graphite rod, floating line, and about a 12-14 foot leader tapered to 6x or 7x. Helps if the tippet is about 30" long for it to puddle well. Here's a bowl full of the flies I use. These are #24. mustad 94840 white poly wing black fly rite dubbing dark dun hackle tail

Tying since last October !!! You've done well Pilgrim. Excellent fly.

My downfall.... I remember holding the sewing (fly tying) thread with mom's clothes pins in between tying steps. It was a "tongue sticking out" experience tying the Royal Coachman form Nolls... LOL. My first dry fly caught trout was on a hackle fly in "the bible", seen in the very vise it was tied on. I still have all this stuff....petty me.

Hey Jam....that must have been a trip. Tyin' on a down eye hook. Did you have to flip the hook upside down in the jaws to re-learn from the up-eyes LOL? Nice job.

Mrs. Ditz can drive me to fish. One episode we had was her compulsion with her car. On a daily basis for several days she complained about her cars battery:" there's something wrong with it and I'm afraid to break down". I ignored Mrs. Ditz and hoped it would blow over and she would get tired of buggin' me.....naw, one morning she calls a fellow employee and takes off to work and leaves me with her car and a stressful note: Would you please check my car "the battery is about to go". Took a really deep breath and went out to the car for troubleshooting figuring it was going to ruin my day... month. I turned the ignition key and the instrument panel lit up. SURE ENOUGH A WARNING LIGHT GLARED AT ME! Something like this........ Ditz ran out of washer fluid in the reservoir.

Wow ! That's one healthy wing, it ought to float. Nice job.

Personally I like to leave the Hare's Mask intact and clip parts from it. Like others, I will use the spikey guard hairs and underfur from the face for the tail and also use it in a loop, spinning a thorax. I use the soft underfur from the jowls and pull the guard hairs for the body dubbing. The coarse fur from the ears I will use for thorax material on small flies and simply spin it on the tying thread. There must be hundreds of ways to tie the Hare's Ear. I think if you vary the form and size of the pattern it will do a great job imitating dragon fly nymphs, scuds, mayfly nymphs,crawdads, stoneflies and caddis. Here is one I tied from an olive dyed English Hare's mask in size #8. I would think this is a pretty good imitation of a dragon fly nymph.

If you get me figured out please don't pass the info to my wife. It was be my ruination. I was wondering how long it would take you to find that one. What I find especially disturbing is the news that you have a twin named Datz. Jeez, man - one's scary enough, but two? If I find out there's a third one named Dotz, I'm moving to Canada. Start packin'...she has her name tagged across the front of her shirt.

Mike Are you asking the guy to hurt himself ? Oh no..........

Your kidding ! Eye length heads are the mark aren't they. You want to go smaller than that? 6/0 is a great thread.... the ole time tiers are giggling at you. Don't change.... your doin' just fine. Great by my standards!

Forget the wing, look at that head! I was always turned on by the "Feather Wing" salmon flies of Schwiebert in Flick's "Master Fly Tying". They were hand painted renditions of low water salmon flies that I thought were really beautiful and of course the heads were perfect. Schwiebert recommended Veniards Cellire varnish to polish off the flies.http://waterswest.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=589 I always see the head of a fly as a mark of a well tied fly. Wish I could tie 'em and swing 'em but that ain't gonna happen, but they are great flies to just look at. Ha............I must be part Salmon gaping at them!

Very sexy wing........

Ah...a professional fly fishing forum right jab. Sorry I'll have to slip this one. I fished this morning...caught a few fish and came home and thought of something funny and decided to post it. Sorry it offended your sense of humor. Maybe you need a trip. Offended, hell - I thought it was hilarious. You're the one who said he was bored. Peace Piscator Pete...."neutral corners if you will"! Never said I was bored. I am not. I'm retired and gainfully occupied with the remainder of my days figuring out ditz an datz. If I brought you to chuckle with my post , that's a peedazzlement. Have a good safe 4th of July.

Ah...a professional fly fishing forum right jab. Sorry I'll have to slip this one. I fished this morning...caught a few fish and came home and thought of something funny and decided to post it. Sorry it offended your sense of humor. Maybe you need a trip.

Bored with your fly tying? ...You can always play with your bead-chains. Really bored and you can practice your casting. http://vimeo.com/68015713 http://vimeo.com/20736865 http://vimeo.com/36248999