Waterstrider

Most of the big fly tying factories are overseas and have substantially different labour laws and wages. Pay someone 2$/day to tie dozens of flies... of course locals can't compete with that. Do you know what that says to me? Buy local stuff made by local people working at locally owned companies, quit sending money overseas.

This is what I do when I dye most of my materials. 1 cup of water 2 tablespoons of vinegar drops of food colouring (follow colour chart on box) Heat up H2O to just about boiling. Add food colouring and materials. Simmer (not boil) until materials absorb colouring. Add more colouring if needed and more vinegar if colour isn't "grabbing" materials adequately. Rinse in water that is warmer that what you fish in to help prevent dye bleeding later due to warm water. Try using straight green food colouring to get that bright Highlander Green colour. Mix up some of the colours of materials you are using to get different shades using the same dye. (Eg. white, gray, light and meduim brown feathers and green dye) For something like black, some olives and browns a fabric dye may be more suitable.

That fly name sounds really familiar Fishigan, I'll have a look for you.

When I paint the eyes on my little Perch imitations I use a q-tip. Pull the fluff off of one end and you have a nice surface to pick up the paint with. The ends are slightly rounded so you don't have the concave surface issue. For the pupils I will usually just draw them on with a permanent marker and then clearcoat the whole thing. Don't mind the old vise in the pic... I now have an HMH Spartan that I love!

After reluctantly going and buying another bottle of head cement you sit down to tie. You decide on the fly you are going to tie and get all of the appropriate materials gathered on your table. The music is on and the coffee is nice and hot. The first fly goes well and you begin to relax a bit. The second fly goes well too, you managed to remember all of the steps (man I hate that!), completed the best head you have ever tied before and cut the thread after the whip finish is done. Okay now picking up the bottle of head cement you glance over at your coffee cup sitting there steaming. The fly gets a nice coating of cement and you put the bottle down to let the fly dry a little. After a small satisfied sigh you reach over and make a grab at your coffee cup. Crap! My elbow just tipped over the bottle of head cement. QUICK!! Grab it!!! Double crap it is now soaking into your UMBROs and the carpet and the recliner you thought you would try out for tying. (One has to be comfortable right?)While grabbing the head cement and cursing you totally forget about the nice cup of coffee. In an effort to clean up the expensive carpet you bend down and accidentaly bump your tying table. The remanider of your coffee drains out of the cup and soaks all of your tying materials on the table after tipping over in the "small tremor" caused by bashing the underside of the table with the back of your head while returning to "the upright position". Now that you are totally PO'd you throw an old towel at the mess and grab a tylenol for the headache and your flyrod to go out for some real relaxation. Remembering that you left all of your flies at home tops off the day perfectly.

Steeldrifter is right, there are a number of great Caddis patterns on this site. I have one more link for you to try if you don't find one you like here. With simple being the operative word, try the All Chuck Caddis

The Foam Travellers Sedge is a great dry fly pattern. Skitters along nicely and produces attractive dimples in thw water when twitched. The thing floats like a cork too, you'll never have to worry about this one sinking after a few fish.

Hey there! Welcome to the fly tying forum. There is a wealth of information here.

What I am doing is using wire instead of thread and making a normal dubbing loop. One advantage to doing it this way is that the wire will maintain the twist in the loop unlike regular thread. Anchor the middle of the length of wire you have chosen to whatever you have (ie. table) using a thumb-tack or nail etc. by looping the wire around the nail. Insert the dubbing materials between the two sections of wire and complete the brush by twisting it the same way you would a regular thread dubbing loop. Pluck out some fibres as you twist everything to provide a bushier dubbing brush if so desired.

Welcome to the site Billy. (I am new too) I agree that people are very helpful here and there's always lots to learn.

Welcome to the board! Hope to see you "out there" soon.

What do you all prefer when it comes to thread dubbing loops vs dubbing brushes? I will use a regular thread dubbing loop if tying small flies, but I prefer to have brushes around when tying larger flies. By making your own brushes you ensure that you have exactly what you want; same goes for thread loops. I use a very fine wire and make the brushes before I sit down to tie.

Welcome to the board! Give Toddy a nice rub behind the ears for me will ya?

I recently learned the trick to glue eggs. Instead of using a glue gun you do this: -cut a small section of glue off end of glue stick -heat the hook slightly with a lighter/candle/whatever -push the glue cylinder down over the hook and center it, the hot hook will melt the glue somewhat. -put heat source under the "fly" and slowly heat the glue while rotating the hook -once glue has rounded into an acceptable egg shape dunk the "fly" in water to cool it quickly. If you do it this way you won't burn your fingers. Scotty Howell ties a nice Babine Special, Glue Gun Variation This Krystal Egg also looks like it would be effective.

When I first started tying I bought a full assortment of Uni-threads. Over the years I have gradually increased the amount of Danville I have. I must agree that Danville's nylon threads do seem to grab materials better. What I end up using depends on the fly I am tying. With dubbed bodies it is usually easier for me to use Uni as compared with the slicker nylon Danville products. When it comes down to it I prefer a flat thread vs. a twisted thread. But that's me