Kirk Dietrich

Dave, I remember those pictures I think from that pond, cause the flies in the fish's mouth had some big organe plastic beads or something for eyes if I'm not mistaken. What bay is that where you launced? Panama City right?

Any sane person would not have launched but you...were rewarded for your insanity!

Size 10 to 6 I've caught them on. Mostly fish size 6. Not sure what they feed on but we have damsels and dragon nymphs, grass shrimp and crawfish in the canals I fish; plenty of minnows but I figure with all those other things are what they are grubbing for. Occasionally, they even eat floating vegetation . I figure big dragon and small crawfish the #6 works for. Kirk

I expected nothing less than something strange sounding, the scary part is I think I understand what you wrote!

Gotcha PJ, I did a few poppers with tubes and put the soft tubing on the front end but I like the rolled back melt technique; save on soft tubing too. We'll let Dave talk about lipstick on those big lipped flies. Thanks, Kirk

Dave, good looking streamers. How do you get the front of the tube to melt like that without closing up? They look great although some lipstick on them may dress them up even nicer, look like big lips...

Steve, that is a good fly and what i like is that you can always blind cast it to a good looking bass spot as they eat it well. Ditz, that leech is just a marabou tail, rabbit hair with ultra fine angel hair flash in a dubbing loop for the body and barbell eyes although I also tie it with a bead head. The dubbing came from a friend in Canada Stu Thompson, he calls it DDH dubbing, the ddh being an acronym for the flash material he uses but any ultra fine flash can be used. Same stuff in the DDH Squirm in the first picture except that is brown although he mixes in a little red and yellow hairs with the rust colored rabbit. It's a great body material, no hackle needed. I have been tying that Squirrely since the late 1980's and it has caught just about every species of warmwater fish we have down here from Bass to Catfish and Carp as well as every kind of bream including the Rio Grande Cichlid. Kirk

Yeah Steve, I like black, brown and olive and typically tie on size #6 Scud hook. Have been catching them for about seven years now, just one or two a trip, just wondering if there was more I could do. I think the spooking is from me dragging and dropping the fly to close to their face. Thanks for the invite to the swap but I'm swamped with fly orders and still trying to write a book, then the fishing kind of gets in the way of all of that... Maybe next time. These are the flies that I have caught the most carp on. This fly but on the above mentioned hook. It works good on bass and carp tied like that so I decided to try it on a #4 jig hook for redfish, works fine for them too.

Steve, I know you asked this to Outdoorsman but that water clarity gets me too. Where I fish in urban drainage canals, the clarity is twelve inches or better however, the bottom is so soft that when the carp are tailing looking for vittles, the mud they stir up clouds the visibility to zero, half the fish's body is not even visible in the mud only parts extending out of the mud cloud. I'll cast past the fish and drag the fly under the surface until it is near the fish's head and then let it drop and they still don't see it. The only ones I've been able to catch are ones I just watch tailing and they tip up and move along and just before they tip down in clean/clear water make the same presentation. Even with those most of the time they ignore the fly or sometimes spook. Yesterday, I had three takes, hooked and landed one of those but had over two dozen refusal/spooks. Thoughts? Kirk

Hey Michael, I use DAP Weldwood contact cement. It is used to glue formica to wood to make countertops, I find it in hardware section of big box stores by the glue. Also I have used CA glue. Others use 3M Adhesive spray. Peter Max was a colorful poster maker. Kirk

Ditz, wasn't sure psychedelic was the right word to use but when I googled the word, there were many photos of the colors of that foam. Utyer, even if they don't catch fish, they're cool enough to have to make more. Spider if you find any, let me know. Haven't been able to myself and they make cool looking beetle/spider bodies; I made a few from the scraps I cut off to square up my block. I think the gills will like them. Kirk

Feathers5, I never tested them yet so I don't know if they attract or will scare the fish. Ron, that's a good commercial, haven't seen that one is years. Piker, I think I'm calling these the White Rabbit poppers after the Jefferson Airship song. thanks, Kirk

Right on! Shoebop. Agn54, thanks. This little craft store by my house about a year ago. I went in there today to get some 3mm foam and some more of these sheets after I saw how cool they came out and you'ld know it, they don't sell it anymore.

Picked up some 2mm psychedelic foam sheets a year ago. Finally got around to gluing them together to make some bugs with. I like them, hope the fish do. Kirk Size #8 & #6

Tide, you will burn a hole through your finger, at least it feels like it, if you use the laser UV light. Even with the regular flashlight, that shit gets hot! I think the stuff they use on nails is a slower curing resin that must not generate that much heat. Oh, it was just the clear coat. If I "tried" a color when it wasn't Halloween or Mardi Gras, I may not be able to live that one down. Piker, you're right on all accounts but I'm not sure brave is the right word in my case; something on the lines of mentally challenged may be more appropriate. Kirk

Couldn't agree more. Good stuff. Get the light that takes the two 123A 3volt lithium. Last year, I did a durability test with clear coatings on little bream bugs. The Crystal Clear (Silver Creek resin) also sold to a few fly shops that put their own label on it, was the fastest curing. http://onthevise.com/blog/10-clear-coat-durability-test-poppers Kirk

I gotta come clean, it was actually on my fingernail. (Don't ask why, cause I don't know, just something I got the hankering to try...) I was testing to see if the fly stuff was like the nail stuff and it comes off like all of you suggested but the nail gets pretty scratched up, I was just thinking there may be something that I could have used that like a nail polish remover but that didn't work. It's gone now but I'm thinking maybe a beauty supply store may have something for that as they do carry UV products and lights and a friend said her nail person removes the old UV resin with some kind of liquid before putting the new stuff on. Kirk

Maybe the second group I'll bite are easy and quick but the first and last? C'mon! I think I counted nine or ten materials in that first one and maybe ten or twelve materials in the last chartreuse group. Beautiful as ever! Great ties! Kirk

Has anyone cured UV resin on their desk by accident? If so, how did you remove it other than scraping it off, which I'm sure would work but don't want to scratch the surface beneath the accident. Kirk

There could be to much bucktail on the top of the hook as well, which would be unbalanced as Silver said. Kirk

Ah, sounds good! You will make more than just your expenses although it may be at the rate of $10 per hour. If you continue to make quality bugs like I see, you may be a good candidate for traveling to clubs to give demonstrations and that is where the benefits will make up for the minimum income. The people you meet is the value. Kirk

Good looking stuff Dave, are you doing duplicates or are these just test patterns?

SC, those look great! I'm impressed with your turner, came out pretty good. Those flypalas look good too. The Copics are really a blast to paint with. I did recently discover that their lighter colors will fade after some time; the chart turns light blue and the yellow fades. I asked the company about that and they said that being a dye and not having any UV inhibitors, that they are not surprised. What I have done to hopefully counteract that is to use a single coat of chart or yellow in hopes of having some color after the dye fades. Of course this is only a problem for OCD popper makers like you and myself that have more untied popper heads in storage than in our flyboxes. If you paint, tie and fish then it's a mute point. Kirk

Peter, I think that stuff is liquid salt! I always thought it was some kind of oil until I had a similar thing happen in my tackle box then figured how the rinds were preserved.

ditz, maybe the old timers are still using that. Kudu, glad you like them. Please let me know if they work for you. Kirk