robow7

Unfortunately it's not the shape of the container but the length and 30" or more gets more than doubled in price.

Well the new length regulation came into play today for me, I have a 31 inch rod tube containing a very lightweight 7 ft. 3 piece 3 weight fly rod and where shipping was to be no more than $10 to any of the lower 48 states, they now want $26. Ups was no better and FedEx was $19.  Makes selling it at a low flat fee much more difficult. This stinks and reflects the gouging I'm seeing elsewhere. 

thank you

How do you like to obtain your lovely black glossy heads ?  Multiple coats of Sally Hansen's / something similar or UV ?  Very attractive for sure

On 3/20/2022 at 8:39 AM, richmce said:

in illinois it has come down from 4.69  last week to 4.08 yesterday at wal mart.     daughter just west of chicago found 3.98 last night.

Rich, normally we're cheaper here down state than you up north but it seems not at the moment.  

Very cool, well done

Yep, that's the man

Excellent Norm !  One of my closest fishing buddies loves using Hornbergs.  He'll like that one for sure.

Those are very well done flytire. 

Does anyone remember the gentleman who took popper painting to the next level as works of art?  He used to post on this forum but can't remember what username he went by.

Silvercreek should be able to chime in here but I don't think the UV light has much to do with the finish drying tack free.  I think that's determined by the chemistry of the UV resin itself.

Yep, de-bone the tail and pin it out as below.  I also like to use simple Borax as well rubbed into and covering the flesh.  Does a great job of drying out tails

thanks for the tips

Is it possible to take multiple 1" x 1" squares of 2mm sheet foam, glue them together to make a cube and then drive a 9 mm casing through them ?  I've never tried this and wondered if the casing is sharp enough to do multiple layers at once.  If so, you could come up with some really neat striped color scheme poppers.

1 hour ago, Mark Knapp said:

Actually, I don't think pike are scared of anything.

Only of a larger pike

My hats off to the fellow that can even get all 32  1st round games correct, let alone a perfect bracket.  

The reason I brought this question up is I seem to be seeing a lot more ostrich used recently on these larger streamers.  It always seemed pretty fragile to me and wasn't sure if after only a fish or two, I would be left with a larger baitfish pattern without a tail.  Yea, a 40 fish day is not unheard of but realize most by far will be dinks, less than 14".  If those little buggers are tearing up the tail, it's a no go for me.  Craft fur and bucktail hold up nicely on a good day and only 2 or 3 flies might be needed. 

Btw, do you have any specific name brand synthetic fibers  that you feel are long enough and also move at least as well as good Craft Fur in the water in order to produce larger baitfish patterns such as Hollow Fleyes and Bulkheads.  EP fibers and such are just too stiff for many of my uses.  Again, thank your for your ideas. 

Wow, game 1 was no gimme, both should have been seeded

I've never used Ostrich Herl in my bass streamers before but I'm sure it must look sexy as it slithers though the water, but just how fragile is it ?  I mean is it something that can withstand a 20 smallmouth day, a 30 smallmouth day, 40 or more ?  just curious as to your experiences because I would like to tie some various baitfish patterns up but don't want to be forced to change my fly every few fish (though I do change colors and patterns all day long anyway... Ha)  

As always, thank you for your input. 

Well done !

8 hours ago, flytire said:

caddis pupa?

Those are ridiculous, are they yours ?

We've tied the wooly worm, only two materials needed (maybe 3 if you want a short tail), chenille and a hackle.  The hackle is there to reinforce the idea of feathers and fur or natural materials which is how it all began.

May I ask if you dried the inner flesh out with Borax or something similar ?

We do appreciate your fine efforts with this site.  I agree that the categories with the most posts should be further up the list, as of now near the top, Classic and Artistic flies only have 783 total posts while down at the bottom, you have the Beginners section with over 34,000 posts, so yea, rearranging them would be neat.

Thanks again.

I have to agree with Mike in most everything he said.  I tend to fish clear and shallow water and I get to see majority of the takes and it is not uncommon for a bass to approach a baitfish or my fly from directly behind and in a second, inhale it.....why? simply because most baitfish have limited vision behind them but everything to the sides and front.  As to hitting short, yes, sometimes they'll hit short, especially if they're not in an all out feeding mode.  Countless times I've seen them move in from behind and take in only a small rearward portion of the fly and swim with the forward portion of the fly hanging outside the mouth for a second before deciding this isn't real and spit it out.  Articulated flies allow you to tie a much larger fly than you could on any single hook,  as well as increase movement, and can sometimes connect on those fish striking short.

On 2/8/2022 at 3:08 AM, Capt Bob LeMay said:

Here’s another tip about tying with synthetic materials… As a general proposition less is more with most synthetics… 

Matter of fact when you finish a pattern you should be able to lay it on your hand and see right through it.. 

I spoke with Bob Clouser a long time ago and he felt the same way.  He mentioned that in his opinion, too many fellows were using too much bucktail and reducing the transparency of his Clouser Minnow which he felt was a major selling point to the fish.  He stressed "sparse"