robow7

The woodchuck silhouette definitely wins hands down.   I've never thought of Troth's ehc as having the finest caddis silhouette but it catches fish.  Maybe another topic that might be discussed elsewhere.  Back to wings adding floatability, so you don't feel Lee Wulff's flies with that huge top wing keep it from sinking in fast water as he designed ?  

Silver, if the wing does not contribute to buoyancy then why do we use hollow elk hair on a typical elk hair caddis ?  Why not just use deer body hair ?  Just curious because many flies seem to take the wing material into consideration when looking for "high floaters" in fast currents.  I'm not saying you're incorrect but I need to do some experimentation on your thesis. 

Does the wing (not the grizzly hackle) add to the buoyancy of the fly of is it more for show ?

In terms of the Clousers, I noticed Capt. Bob tied both wings on top, as I often do and as I was shown by Lefty many many years ago.  Also as to the sparseness of the fly, Bob himself said that if he tied the Clouser minnows as sparse as he personally likes to fish them, that he wouldn't be able to sell any of them.  He felt the sparseness added to the transparency of the fly which mimicked many somewhat translucent baitfish.  

All very well done gents !

How about one of each

We used to make those out of cork bottle stoppers that we could purchase at the local hardware store.  Pretty easy to whittle and file to the shape you wanted.  Rubber bands became rubber legs and feathers tied or glued in on top.  I had somewhat forgotten those of my youth and should tie some up.  Thanks for sharing !

A couple of grassies last year on a cicada imitation

I just donated approximately 150 flies to a Healing Waters group and hope they can get put to use .  Every 2-3 years I end up with more materials than I can use in a lifetime and the extra gets donated to a local boy scout troop for their use in their fly tying merit badge program. 

very buggy lookin'

3 hours ago, SilverCreek said:

Can you return it?

yea, and now they supposedly have Whiting grizzly hen cape back in stock so exchanging for that.  It's hard to go wrong with Whiting but thought that I would try it.

I'm impressed.  

Well I finally got my hands on a Hareline hen cape and it was not going to work out for my needs.  Not nearly the number of useable feathers as in my previous Whiting hen capes and the feathers, though nice and soft/webby were too wide and short for my particular needs.  I'm sure it would work for others.

On 1/7/2021 at 1:10 PM, Rocco said:

robow7, Are you referring to the Ambush lines or the TT lines? 

https://www.scientificanglers.com/product/frequency-magnum/

Btw, you can find it for less than list price if you hunt around a little.

My experience was the Wulff triangular tapers

I've enjoyed SA Frequency Magnum lines as of late for all my floating bass bugs and streamers.  Good value for the $.  I like the Lee Wulff lines for delicate presentations of smaller flies but felt they left a lot to be desired when casting large weighted and air resistant flies.  YMMV

6 hours ago, SBPatt said:

Schmuddler

 

Where does a fly like this ride in the water column?  Also, is the body of the fly only Estaz or is there anything else mixed with it as it looks really full?

Beautiful work and would likely be a smallie killer on my streams.

Has anyone purchased or made use of a hen cape by Hareline.  I'm in need of a new grizzly hen cape since my Whiting is just about shot and I had not seen these before.  About $10 less than Whiting.  I normally only use these for palmering and as a soft hackle substitute, and not as a dry fly hackle.  Anyway, just curious as to the quality.  Thanks 

Does anyone strip half the grizzly hackle off of one side before palmering so as to create a fly that is more sparse ?  I saw Dave Whitlock do that once a long time ago and found that it works well.  

1 hour ago, flytire said:

i didnt know that from your earlier posts

I understand.  My friend even knows Voelker's daughter and she's unwilling to give up anything.  It was just a quest as he has recreated several flies that Volker and the older gang used.  This particular one had him stumped and that's why I told him that I would throw it out to this very knowledgeable board.

niveker, very very nice work !

Excellent suggestion flytire but we've gone that route.  My friend owns every book he authored and nothing has shown up to add any light on that particular fly. 

mvendon and flytire,

Both very nice flies.  Excellent work !  I'm assuming that most of the materials used back then would have been harvested locally or were at least widely available.  We don't realize how good we have it today with the plethora of materials available at the ease of a few clicks. Ha  

Thanks flytier, yes, that article is where that photo came from.  My friend many years ago ran with a group of older fishermen of the Escanaba area of Michigan and many of those older fellows had fished and were friends with John Voelker, hence the interest in the fly.

Hey guys, a friend of mine found a photo of this fly, supposedly used in the Upper peninsula of Michigan in the 50's.  He thinks it was called a Slim Jim and wondered what was the wing and hackle used.  Was it duck ?  As always, thank you for your input.

I've always liked Sally H's because it soaks into the thread wraps and seals the materials together beneath your finishing knot vs. some glues that will harden on the outside and won't really soak in.

When I bought my first Regal, it was a C-clamp model.  Found I liked tying more on a fixed base.  And so I began cutting it down little by little until I found what was for me  the perfect height.  Btw, I love Peak's large white base for my Regal, really stable. 

Quote

 

I own well over a dozen rods in 3,4,5,6, and 7 weight.  By far most are in the 4,5 and,6 weights