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You can make a perfectly functional furling jig out of a 2x4 and some 8d finish nails, stuff you might easliy have on hand already. Likewise, I use fly tying thread, that I already have on hand. So, while there is some small cost to making a leader, it's no extra cost to me. If you don't like them, you don't like them, and that's OK. Furled leaders are not for everyone, and not for every fishing situation. When I am trout fishing, though, I use them exclusively, and I have never had my thread based leaders spray my glasses. Maybe it's because I wax my leaders (beeswax) so they don't absorb as much water.

If the fibers are long enough, sure, you can make dubbing. Wool has some excelent properties, and has been a staple for fly bodies for centuries. You do need to be able to spin it into a yarn like strand, though. At some point, waste is just waste.

Several of us make our own furled leaders. It takes me about 15 minutes per leader. I usually set up and do 5 or 6 at a time. My jig has several sets of holes that allow me to make different leaders for different purposes, but, really, 2 or 3 leader patterns are all that's needed. I usually make a 6' leader out of 8/0 Uni-Thread, for general purpose trout fishing, a 6' leader out of 6/0 Uni-Thread for bass and warm water species, and a 4.5' leader out of 8/0 Uni-Thread for small streams. Where I find furled leaders don't work well, is when fishing with lots of weight. There's a fair bit of stretch in the furled leader, so, if you are trying to lift a heavily weighted, double nymph rig, you may have problems.

Peafowl, in the wild, may be endangered, I don't know. The birds we use, however, are all farm raised. In fact, most of the peacock feathers I have came from live birds. Like all birds, they moult, and, if taken care of properly, the moulted feathers make fine fly tying materials.

I've been looking at this for several years, but I can't see the price tag for what it is: https://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=display&target=SA016 Keep at it, you're on the right track.

The forum hasn't been super active, recently, but I'm still finding 6 or 8 threads a day, sometimes more. I usually only look at The Fly Tying Bench, Fly Fishing and Beginners Corner. The other areas don't interest me very much.

Amen to that ! Or come in ask a question 10 people answer and you never hear from the Op again. Ya know like come back let us know if it helped, if you still have an issue or maybe even that you found another way ! And share that. Maybe it's the ten different answers they get ... they go away convinced we don't know what the $%!#$ we're talking about.

...at some point, we all seem to become curmudgeons. I think flytier is already there. ...and I'm not too far behind.

My hiking boots are Vasque brand, but, like Piker20, mine are over 20 years old, so the "model" is no longer available.. I still do a fair amount of hiking the the mountains, and they are still serving me well, although the lugs are showing a bit of wear. I like a steel shank, but otherwise, I just went for a comfortable fit, and the Vasques felt really good. Unless you walk on pavement a lot, a good pair of hiking boots should last several years. Of course, if you are through hiking the AT, all bets are off....

I'm another Collins fan. I've been using his capes almost exclusively for 5 or 6 years. Once I got all the basic colors from Collins, I gave away my other capes. I still have one Herbert Miner cape and a few 100 packs of Whiting saddles, but that's it. Now, let's be clear, Whiting is the best. Anyone who tries to tell you differently is ... well we won't go into that. The problem is, Whiting is also the most expensive, and, for most of us, overkill. If you tie commercially, hundreds of flies a week, and go through 2 or 3 capes every year, then Whiting is the way to go. More flies per feather, more feathers per cape, mean the cost per fly is just about the lowest there is. It's just that I don't tie that many flies. My Collins' capes will last me for years, so the lower initial outlay is a strong argument. The quality, especially his barred capes, is very good. Ewing hackles are also very good. I have used them in the past, and if you decide to go that way, I don't think you will be disappointed. I will add that Bill Keough also produces a very nice hackle.

I think folding on the far side is one of the most common problems, when learning to mount quill wings. Resist the urge to pinch tighter, that just makes things worse. It's the torque of the thread that's pulling the top of the quill slip over. You need to learn to pull the thread tight without torquing it too much (some torque is unavoidable). A bit of wax (NOT dubbing wax) sometimes helps. Don Bastian's tutorial, on mounting quill slip wings, is one of the best, but mostly, it's just practice. I find that I usually have to mount the wings twice to get the set I want.

For my soak, I've been using 1 Tbs of Borax and 1 Tbs of non-iodized salt in 16 oz. of warm water. I use warm water so the borax and salt will dissolve better. An overnight soak is probably long enough, but I often let the pelt soak for 2 or 3 days. I then give it a good rinse in clean water, and then stretch it out to dry. I use non-iodized salt because there has been some debate over whether or not iodine affects the pelt/skin. I haven't seen any conclusive evidence either way, so I'm inclined to think it doesn't matter. Still, it's easy and cheap enough to keep a box of non-iodized salt for this purpose, so I do.

Mine came over the weekend (I was out of town ... fishing). Thanks for telling us to check the bottom of the envelope. I missed that streamer the first time. Nice looking group of flies.

Borax is a natural insecticide, so it's use is highly recommended. I usually soak my skins in a salt and borax solution for a couple of days to draw out excess moisture and to kill any vermin that might be hiding on the hide. A pine shelving board works fine for the drying surface.

I just got back from fishing the SoHo near Bristol. East TN didn't get much rain a week ago, and all the streams I visited fished well. It did rain most of this weekend, but not enough to mess up the fishing. As has been suggested, always check ahead for the generation schedule, but keep in mind that they can change it with very little notice. The TVA has an app for your smart phone that can come in handy.

The white bass around here aren't all that large, with 12" being a good sized fish. I use size 4 or 6 for most of my white bass flies. The GCO 5262 (2x long) or 5263 (3x long) will work fine. The 300 series hook (6x long) is another option if you want the point of the hook further back on the fly. At $2.96 for a package of 25 hooks, and free shipping, they are a pretty good deal. Will's inventory can be a bit hit or miss. Right now, he has the 5262 in sizes 2 & 4, the 5263 in sizes 2 & 6 and the 300 in sizes 2, 4, 6 and 8.

I'm with Mike, what's your point? I started on an even older Thompson that was as solid as a brick, and still works as well as it ever did. But, today, I use a Renzetti 4000, and I'm not going back. I also agree with utyer, if you are considering a modern "Super A", and can find an older Thompson A (check eBay), the Thompson is better built, and will serve you better, even if it has a bit of discoloration.

You need soft, webby hen neck or hen back for wet fly hackles. Back in the day, you could get these anywhere, in any color for a reasonable price. Today, they are hard to find, and the color selection is limited. Chinese rooster is better, but still too stiff. Chinese saddle was widely used for streamers, but generally too big for wet flies. Also, since the avian flue scare, a few years ago, it has become close to impossible to get whole capes or saddles for China or India. The best source would be to find someone who raises egg laying chickens. Most commercial egg layers are white Leghorn, which can be dyed almost any color. They only keep the layers for a couple of years, and then sell them off. Years ago, it was easy to find a local farmer who kept a few dozen chickens, and would be happy to sell you one. We used Rhode Island Reds for brown, Plymouth Rock for grizzly, etc. Banty roosters gave you the best dry fly hackles (still very poor compared to today's genetics), but standard size chickens were fine for wet flies and streamers. How things have changed in the past 50 years....

Mine went out last evening. It's a long way from central NC to central SC, but there's a good chance they'll get there by the 30th.

A lot of us use Photobucket.com It's a free site, but sometimes does annoy you with adds and offers. Once you've uploaded your photos to photobucket.com, you just add the link to your reply using tags. (Note that I added a space inside the tags, so they won't work.) Also, photobucket likes to add an extraneous url tag around the img tag. I always remove it. As Mike suggested, make sure your pictures have been resized for computer display. 800x600 usually works well.

Michael's also often offers 40% off one item. I have a Daylight, but it's a tossup between it and an OTT. If I had it to do over (it's been nearly 10 years) I would look closely at the new LED lamps, but make sure they emit enough light, and stand tall enough to work under.

I have bought a few Alec Jackson hooks for display flies, but I agree with flytier, they are "designer" hooks, and way over-priced. I wouldn't even consider using them for fishing flies.

On a dry fly, the tail helps support the weight of the fly on the surface film. Even though many real mayflies float with their tails distinctly lifted, as fly tyers, we usually tie them straight back, (and somewhat shorter than the natural) for this reason. Of course, you are free to do whatever you like, or whatever you like the looks of. As Mike suggested, let the fish decide which they like better.

SilverCreek can probably throw a lot more light on the subject (ha ha), but, for the most mart UV is UV. The minor differences in wavelength is mostly marketing, to get you to purchase their light. Anyway, check out the UV lazer that Silver sells.

If you are really interested in tying full dress salmon flies, you need to join our sister forum: http://www.classicflytying.com/index.php?act=idx Some of the best tiers in the world hang out there. I don't do the classic salmon flies, but I'm sure the guys that do will be happy to tell you what books they recommend.