buggybob

Interesting spin-offs from Dave Goulet's original Dirt Diver Stonefly.

Hold the hide in a clamp like a big bulldog clip or a clipboard. It makes it easier to keep tension on the hide and cutting is much easier.

Capt. Bob has it nailed pretty well if you really want to get into production tying even if it's just for yourself. Preparation of materials and component parts before sitting down to tying is the real key. Even putting beads for beadheads on the hook and placing them on a magnetic strip will speed up your tying. I've been "blessed" with having to tie 100 dozen of a pattern, same size and same color at a time before. If you don't have everything sized out it "costs" money in time. By doing the prep work, I can tie 3 dozen wooly bugger style flies in 50 minutes.

Hareline Dubbing carries them in their catalog. Have your local shop order one for you.

You can also use A.K. Best's approach to consistency. Tie a dozen of the same pattern, same size. Line them up from first to last, and when you are done take a look to see when the consistency kicks in. He says it usually comes after the third or fourth fly. But then again, he doesn't feel like he's got the feel of any pattern nless he's tied 5 or 10 dozen of them.

I use a coffee grinder myself.

Can also use the blender with water added. It mixes the dubbing better than dry.

Last way is a bit of warm water in a pan add a bit of detergent and the dubbing and mix. Rinse well and dry. Benefit of this is if you use a base or added dubbing that you are not sure where it came from (roadkill) you can blend it, clean it, and get rid of bugs at the same time.

Two options. 1) you are winding over previous wraps of hackle pushing it up, 2) too many wraps of hackle. It only takes 3 or 4 wraps of hackle on a prachute.

Try tying the hackle stem up along the post then winding the hackle down the post to the body. That way you don't wrap over previous turns.

I fish adult damsels on my favorite lakes from 10 AM to 7 PM and catch fish all day long. I've even used them on the upper Missouri River below Holter Dam and on the Henry's Fork on those days that they get knocked into the water.

The spent or knocked down damsels have their wings anywhere from folded over to straight out. The pattern I use has the wings at about a 45 degree angle to the body.

Ditto on the eye placement. If you get the chance to see Bob Clouser tie either in person or on video, he considers the hook length to go well into the bend, thus the placement of eyes for him is almost at the half shank point.

Rope dubbing is the technique that Polly Rosbourough used on all of his fuzzy nymphs if anyone has read his book. It makes for a very durable fly.

There's a few feathers on a coot big enough to use as small spey hackles.

The fourth bird from the left is one of the thirteen birds of paradise and the fourth one from the right is a cotinga, probably cotinga cayana from the coloration.

Can the moderators kill this thread, the young man has been found guilty and will suffer his punishment according to the court.

Great taper on the bodies and weaving job !

What size hook are those on ?

I've bought phentex yarn in skeins from Dan Bailey's as poly yarn and it is the same thing that I find in every fly shop as poly yarn I've ever been to which includes most of the western states. Not sure what you've been finding as poly.

Congratulations, you just found poly yarn, available in most fly shops.

Depends on where it comes from what the interior material is.

I use it as a zelon sustitute, even though it isn't zelon and it is coarser. I haven't been able to dye it with regular dyes yet, . . . give me time, but it takes marking pens pretty good.

Been tying a damsel like this for more than 10 years and it's very effective when the fish get picky because you can float it near the surface like the natural.

I don't buy eyes for these, I tie in a piece of mono, about 40 lb test is right, and burn the eye after the fly is finished with a cauterizing tool. The eyes always fit the fly perfectly.

The bodies were a Shane Stalcup product.

You can make your own by heating up a pair of hemostats slightly then grab a piece of Larva Lace and clip them on the Larva Lace for a short time. The serrations of the hemostats set the pattern in the lace. You can super glue the piece of ostirch herl into the end if you want.

You might even think about adding a few of the Christmas Island flies to your arsenal.

In addition there are more than just bonefish out there. Add a few chartreuse over white cloussers.

Go to the hardware store and look for replacement tips for caulking tubes. Bet they look like the egg yarn tubes you saw. If you have a science supply nearby, look for pipette tips.

And Devin is right, the cheapest ones are right next to the big gulp machine for the large eggs, otherwise regular straws work great for small eggs. Use a piece of mono, wire or a dental floss threader to load it.

How much do the ice fishermen pay for the jigs at the store ? You probably can't expect that they would be willing to pay much more than that.

Use tweezers to handle the feather and tie the knots. A lot easier.

Google Edgewater Poppers. You'll be surprised !!

Pott's Flies were made with a variety of hairs, from ox hair to badger guardhairs and some with horse hair and some other hairs we can't get anymore. The bodies like on a Lady Mite were woven badger guardhairs and the hackle was as well. George Grant has probably the most complete listing of Pott's flies in his book. I've tied some of these and they still work very well.

If you're wondering why you haven't had that many responses, this subject has been done more times than I can remember. Type fly tying bench into the search bar and you'll see a lot of ideas.