phg

Properly kept, longer than your average American lifetime, really. You probably just have a pelt that could have been processed a bit better. Steaming *can* work, but I'd imagine it's probably more of a short-term measure. I'd think that ideally you don't get into that situation, but since you're already there, a soak & rinse in...something...might help. As to what that something should be, your guess is as good as mine. Some kind of oil? Liquid fabric softener? WD40? I have no idea. Since you mentioned washing it, I have heard that rinsing the hackle with hair conditioner will help restore suppleness. I've never tried it, but, hey, why not?

Eight years isn't all that old, but, if you have stored the hackle in a dry environment, it may turn brittle. Keough is pretty good hackle. I have a couple of his capes that are at least that old, and they still work fine. I find I prefer Collins' hackles, but mostly for the natural colors and textures. Steaming may help, by restoring some of the moisture. Storage in an air tight container will also help. I keep mine in plastic bins, but then, I live in a high humidity area, so mold is a bigger problem than drying out...(OK, I'm joking, I've never had any of my tying materials mold. ) The size of the hook makes surprisingly little difference. That is because smaller hackles have smaller stems and finer barbs. As a general rule, I wind 2 full wraps behind the wing and 3 in front. That's considered "heavy", though, which works well here in the SE where we have a lot of high gradient streams. A classic Catskill would be 1.5 turns behind and 2 in front, more appropriate for flat water or light currents. When I step down to a size 18 or 20, I'll try to reduce the number of turns, but 12, 14 & 16 I treat the same.

Good quality hackle, properly sized hackle, and, yes, lots of practice. I find that holding even tension while I wind is important as anything else. That's one of the reasons why I like my rotary vise. It makes it much easier to hold the hackle in the proper position as you wind. Then again, there are some hackles that just insist on twisting as you wind....

Any head cement is going to thicken, in time, and become unusable. Those that use highly volatile drying agents, such as Sally Hanson's or Loon, with dry out sooner. For a number of years, now, I have been using Fly-Tite head cement. It uses alcohol as the drying agent, and seems to hold up well, both in use and in the bottle. I've been using the same 2oz bottle for nearly 10 years. I have had to thin it, once, to restore the viscosity, but it still works fine. To prolong the life of your head cement, though, be sure to cover the bottle between uses. Also, consider using a dispenser bottle such as this: https://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=display&target=TZ008

Yeah, back in the '50's, yarn was the material of choice for bodies. You don't dub with it, though, you just use a single ply, wrap the body and tie it off, much the same as you do floss. Modern acrylic yarns work just as well as the old wool yarns did.

I think it's already been said, several different ways, but successful fly fishing requires us to match the hatch, even if we don't know what the hatch is. I rarely go digging around in the stream, turning over rocks, and I have never pumped a fish's stomach, but I do observe what's in the air, and I do change flies until I find something that works. The point is, streams change over time, and what was once an abundant food source may, in 20 years, become scarce. Consequently, the fly that worked 20 years ago may not work today, not because it isn't a good fly, nor because the fish got smart, but because the food it imitates isn't there anymore. Don't try to over think it, just fish with what's working now. p.s. I tie and fish a lot of classic patterns.

Properly made, ceramic reduces wear on the thread, reducing breakage. Most of my bobbins are ceramic, and I prefer the Griffin style with ball feet. In the last 20 years, I've gotten a couple of bobbins that cut thread. Two of them, that weren't ceramic, I use to spool lead wire. The other one I sent back and got a replacement that does work correctly.

I've always gotten my space for free, although I do have to pay my own expenses. I do volunteer to promote IFFF, but, mostly, it gives me a chance to meet people, and something to do at the show. As I've already seen most of the presentations, I can usually see all I want to see, of the show, on my breaks. Also, as a participant, I can go onto the show floor during setup the night before, and go in early each day. This is when the "talent" gets to socialize. We get to shoot the bull with the celebrities, and pick up tips from the other tiers. Depending on the show, and the vendor, there sometimes is also the opportunity for some off-hours shopping.

Mine went out in today's mail. I had to stand in line at the Post Office for over 20 minutes. Now I remember what I don't like about swaps!

In smaller sizes, I use a scud hook for the wider gape. Most of mine are #18 or #20.

The Eagle Claw Aberdeen hook has been my principal short streamer hook since the 1960's! I keep size 6, 8 and 10 on my bench at all times. I prefer the gold color. Eagle Claw always has always made a pretty good hook. Sometimes you can find Eagle Claw fly tying hooks in catalogs and some outlets. Most of what Wal-Mart carries, though, isn't much use for fly tyers.

Historically, any feather wing streamer could be turned into a bucktail streamer by just substituting the appropriate color of bucktail in the wing. Some, of course, like the black nosed dace or the Mickey Finn were designed with bucktail wings. Bucktail jigs are another option. The colors aren't too critical. Generally something flashy to get attention. Realistic baitfish imitations generally catch more fishermen than fish.

Where do you get cree thread? Does it cost more? Is it worth it?

That's one of the attractions of a lifetime license, it's always valid. I've researched NC, SC, VA and TN. In all four, once you purchase the lifetime license, it doesn't matter where you live. The caveat is that lifetime licenses for non-residents are prohibitively expensive. So, if you think you may be moving out of state in the near future, look into getting a lifetime license before you move. It may be a good investment. Mike, here in NC, the deer population is growing faster than the human population. Deer love suburban living!

K.I.S.S. I've watched some tiers spend all day tying one fly. Boring! You don't want to take more than about 10 minutes per fly, start to finish. If you are talking, that will stretch into 20 minutes.... Plan on tying flies big enough to see. I generally tie dry flies on size 12 hooks, although I do occasionally tie a size 14. I do have some smaller hooks with me, in case I'm asked to tie something small, but, generally, it's too hard for someone to see what I am doing. Remember, the purpose of a tying demo is to demonstrate techniques, not to show off your ability to tie something no one can see. I also like to have woolybugger materials handy, so I can invite a kid to try tying a fly.

I've heard several stories. My dad, back in the 50's, maintained that one tip was for dry flies, the other for wet flies. Possible, if the tips are different. Others insist that it was to give one tip a chance to rest between outings. You'd fish one tip on day one, and switch to tip 2 on day two, etc. That way the tips would resist taking a set. Having a second tip, if you break the first, is always a good thing, but, really, bamboo rods are no worse to break than graphite. I have several rods that I've made 2 tips for. Even though the tips were built as closely to identical as I could, I find that I usually favor the action of one over the other. Odd that....

Charlie Craven swears by the TyFlz, so I bought one. I rarely use it. It's OK, but not "better" than other designs. Most of the time, I use a pair of extended, flat jaw English style hackle pliers. The long flat jaws allow me to grasp the hackle stem in line, reducing breakage. (Similar to these: http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/hackle-pliers/042042900009.aspx ) Rotary hackle pliers are fine for tying parachutes, but otherwise, they are clunky, cumbersome and impractical.

Here in the south east, back in the 1940's and 1950's, a lot of streams were stocked with browns and rainbows to create local trout fisheries. As a result, there are several legendary streams that have reproducing populations of non-native fish. The South Holston in east Tennessee, and the Smith River in southern Virginia are both know for their brown trout, which resulted from stocking that took place over 50 years ago. These are two of the "success" stories, where stocking did what it was supposed to do. (Both of these are tail waters where the natural ecology of the stream was altered by cold water discharges from a dam.) In various small streams in NC, SC, and I suppose GA, rainbow trout were introduced the same way and at about the same time. Some of these streams proved marginal, but a number of them have sustained a reproducing population of trout. Your stream seems to fall into that camp, a non-native, but self sustaining population of stream born wild trout.

As a kid, fishing smallmouth with bait, part of the discipline was to let the fish take the bait and run with it. The bass would run, maybe 3 or 4 feet, and then stop. After a couple of seconds, it would start to move again, more slowly. That was when I was to set the hook. Obviously, we can't do that with a fly, but it illustrates the snatch and run behavior of a smallmouth bass.

International Fly Tyins Symposium, Somerset, NJ, Nov. 19-20 Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Expo, Asheville, NC, Dec 2-3 Cherokee Hooks & Hackle, Cherokee, NC, Nov 4-5 The Fly Fishing Show, Somerset, NJ, Jan 27-29 (This is the big one!) The Fly Fishing Show, Atlanta, GA, Feb 3-4 (see the rest of the FF Show schedule here: http://flyfishingshow.com/ ) Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival, near Richmond, VA in April (2017 date isn't posted yet.) I'm sure if I look, I can find a few more. There must be some in the TN, KY, Ohio, IN, MO area .... The Symposium and the Hooks & Hackle shows are fly tying only, but all the others feature fly tying, as well as casting, etc., etc. They are great opportunities to meet the legends of the sport, and to do a bit of shopping. I rarely find any significant bargains, but I can usually find tying stuff, that isn't available locally, for reasonable prices.

I use a guillotine paper cutter. It works great. The old ones, if you can find them, are better, but the modern ones will slice up your foam, one sheet at a time, just fine. I usually sheer off a year's worth of strips in one session. You can get one off Amazon for about $25, which is about the same as a good pair of sheers. Another technique is to take a drywall taping knife, and use it as a cutting guide. Set the edge of the knife on your foam marking off the width of the strip you wish to cut, and then use a the edge of the knife as a cutting guide (drywall taping knives are not sharp) and slice the strip off with a sharp utility knife.

That said ... you need to obtain the whole wing, they usually come in pairs, to get the coverts. Mallard wings are usually pretty easy to find.

I'm a little different from most of you in that I am near sighted. I can still tie down to a #16 or even #18 without magnification. Still, there are times when the eyes are tired, or the light is bad, where a little bit of visual boost is helpful. For this I use a pair of cheap drug store reading glasses in 2.5+. Most of the time, that, and good light, are all I need. For those occasions where extra magnification is needed, I have a 4x inspection lamp on a swing arm that I can bring over my vise. The lens is large enough that I can look through it with both eyes at the same time. As stated, it takes a minute to get used to what you are seeing, but after that, you can work under it quite well. I prefer to not use it, though, because all that magnification tends to mess up my sense of proportion.

I've never found a use for English Sparrow. We don't have Myna in the eastern US, that I know of. Now Starling, that's got lots of uses.... Best advise is to knock off a bird, or two, and check it out. The Myna is big enough that it might make good soft hackles. Look of interesting textures and colors. Who knows, you may find a good use for them.

One time, when I went to Montana, we flew into Bozeman, but then we rented cars and drove down 191 to the West Yellowstone area. Two things, though, first, the Galatin River flows north from Yellowstone to Bozeman, and highway 191 pretty much follows the river. Anyplace along through there where there is access there is fishing. Second, Norris is just a bit further west. Drive over that way, on Highway 84, and hire a guide to fish the lower Madison. It's big water and there are some nice fish in it. An all day float would be money well spent. I'm sure there are places, on the lower Madison, where you can park and wade fish, but you'd have to study some local maps to find them. Frankly, no one is going to give you that kind of information on the WEB, although someone might be nice enough to send you PM. If you don't mind doing a few hours of driving, there are several miles of the Madison, below Quake Lake, where the river follows US-287. Again, anywhere you find access, you can fish. There are a number of posted areas, but there are also a lot of well worn access trails, included the fabled $3 Bridge (you can fish upstream on both sides, but downstream only on the right). This is a "no float" zone, so you won't be bothered by drift boats. Kelly Gallop runs the Slide Inn, and has a nice fly shop just below Quake Lake. There are also good fly shops in Big Sky, and about a dozen shops in West Yellowstone. This is fly fishing country. The only problem is that they have to make their money during 3 months, so you aren't going to find many bargains.