luvabug

One of the reasons I waited so long to enter this new world of fly fishing was the "snob factor". I found out that there are ALOT of great people in this sport AND there are alot of snobs. They are pretty easy to distinquish and my feet work pretty well so I can walk away! I love learning from the purists or old school - whatever you want to call them. But I also love to learn from the new ones too. Then I tie using a combination. Remember when everyone looked down their noses at the newfangled mustangs of the late 60s and early 70s? Now they are a CLASSIC! Can't beat a 68 fastback. My husband and I fish out of an aluminum war eagle duck boat (when we can stay in it ). We are often looked down upon by the trout boat owners. I really don't care. One day we will save up enough money to won one of those boats. But boy can we catch fish like theres no tomorrow! Bottom line I quess, learn from everyone. Take what you learn and make it your own. Thats what makes it so much fun!

If you are talking about the hungarian partridge - buy the cape. The hackles in the bags ($3) are dry and brittle - plus you really have to look through the bag to find just a few good ones. Spend the $28 and you get a huge choice of nice hackles that are not brittle (this is due to the oil in the skin). Well worth the money to me.

Its been quite awhile since my last post but it has been an exciting summer - at least for this newcomer. Hubby and I spent several days on the Little Red catching lots of rainbows but ended our last day of fishing before vacation with a boating incident. We hit a large boulder while drifting over the shoals - he ended up flying through the air from the front of the boat to the back. I flew out of the boat and landed on the boulders. After a few scary moments under water, I managed to hang onto the Maui Jims and the Sage!!! It made for ALOT of bruises and some funny stories at the shop! We headed to NC and tried our hand at poppers with the fly rod for bream. First time fishing like this! I don't know if I will ever use a spinning outfit again! I grew up on the east coast saltwater fishing and river fishing for bass and bream - but it was a whole different experience with the fly rod! First weekend back in Arkansas and we headed for the river again - it was tough fishing but at the end of the day, we had landed several nice rainbows - no browns on this trip. Every fish that we caught was on the flies that I had tied myself - that is almost as much a high as catching the fish! In case any of you have forgotten, this is a great sport - both tying and fishing! PS - hey Mike! We'll try to catch up at the shop!

I had a friend bring me two turkey fans yesterday - one is a local gobbler and the other is a rio from texas. He also included a wing. Is it best to keep the whole fan (will need to dry out) or indiviual feathers? Are the wings usable? These feathers are beautiful - but don't want to store ones that aren't usable.

When tying a zebra midge, do you prefer to use 6/0 thread for the body or the hollow tubing? Is there an advantage of one over the other?

I thought I would take the plunge and post for the first, but hopefully not the last, time. My husband and I joined this new venture of fly fishing almost one year ago - we have gotten hooked! TO top it off, I took up fly tying in January! It has been one of the best and one of the most overwhelming ventures! But we love it! We live 30 minutes from the Little Red River in Arkansas. What a great fisherie! While all of this is overwhelming (bugs, rods, hatches, etc), we have been pleasantly surprised at how helpful fellow anglers are to teach us. We had a great afternoon hangin out in the fly shop today with Mike and Jed. They answered question after question! I can't begin to tell you how much this means to someone new to the sport! I look forward to many questions, fish tales (all true of course), and friendships! tracy