
Kirk Dietrich
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Everything posted by Kirk Dietrich
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Still taking up drawer space. Customer orders and clear coat testing front center presently.
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That looks good. I'd make a dark version too. I've had redfish haul ass on several occasions throwing orange/chartreuse sinking flies. Depends on their mood.
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Extra boxes of flies, what do you do with them.
Kirk Dietrich replied to Kirk Dietrich's topic in The Fly Tying Bench
That's a good idea Rich. -
Extra boxes of flies, what do you do with them.
Kirk Dietrich replied to Kirk Dietrich's topic in The Fly Tying Bench
Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I finally got around to going through my fly boxes and popper head box. I hope there is someone that can tie some tails on the heads. Thanks, Kirk -
Hooks certainly effect the action of a fly. I was not giving Fred a real suggestion, I was just saying to use a bigger hook to equate it to being a big fish fly. In actuality, you don't need a big hook to catch big fish, I've caught several four pound bass on #10 hooks and a friend caught a 5lber on a size #14.
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You better tie that on a bigger hook, you're gonna have some big fish eat that! Kirk
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To piggy back and add to what Bob is saying, it also should not be very complicated to tie. I've developed a number of patterns that were liked by the reps but were considered to involved to tie. I'm learning that patterns I want to get contracted should be kept somewhat simple. Kirk
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Hate that about work! We should be allowed to retire first and work the later years!
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Good plan, you can always snip lead off the eyes with your pliers when on the water if you need a lighter fly but its impossible to add if needed once on the water. Let us know how you do for sure.
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Bass, Usually in the beginning, its one change at a time to best observe the results. Its kind of like cooking on a wood smoker, only adjust the air intake or vent pipe and observe the temperature change before changing the other. If the style of the fly allows, I'll adjust the offensive pattern by either trimming, wrapping weight on the hook and superglueing, etc. If I can't make the change on the tied fly, I make another from scratch with the "tweek" integrated. I'll usually make notes at the bench and photograph just in case I get popped off or lost to tree or snag. Once I think I have it, I'll tie up a few to see if I can replicate consistently. Sometimes I'll pre-test in my swimming pool but rarely make changes until I cast it and retrieve with fly line and leader when they almost always act differently than when in the pool on straight mono. You want to photograph and make sure your time stamp is correct. You can't alter the meta-data in your image to the best of my knowledge and should someone steal your pattern and make a million, you may be able to get some rectification. Kirk These are the prototypes for my flyrod swimbait. After almost a year of tweaking, I came up with these and they caught fish, held up to bass but not redfish and the tarpon jumped all over them too but having to take an hour and a half to make, I'm not doing these any longer. I may come back to them in the future and try and streamline and alter the process.
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No secret, just keep doing what you're doing. Testing, tying, testing, adjusting, etc. I've seen to many people post pictures of "new" flies that haven't even been fished before. Either test yourself or give to close trusted friend that can be honest with you. Many flies I've tied at my bench that I thought were going to be great and when I tested myself or gave to my trusted captain, found out they didn't act like designed. I've rarely had a pattern come off my bench working like I wanted the first time. Hell, my Foxy Glider took fifteen years of tying and testing on/off before I finally got the action I wanted. I tried different hooks, materials, sizes, etc until I came upon the right material combination. Other flies may have taken only six months. The spoon fly I tie that is so effective in shallow grassy duck ponds for redfish took almost six months of tying and testing by Capt Mark and Bubby and retying until we got the sink rate and attitude just right. Just be patient and observant and remember that there isn't a lure out there even plastic worms that will catch fish all the time under any conditions. What would the fun of that be?? Doesn't mean we can't keep trying. Good luck, Kirk
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You will not be disappointed with Lightroom. I only have version 2 and it is really great. I highly recommend the books by Scott Kelby on your version of Lightroom. His writing is supplemented with screen captures of the tools when he says what to use. It will boost your learning curve straight up the cliff. Kirk
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I highly recommend Adobe Lightroom, it came out after Photoshop and is specifically designed for photographers, not sure of the cost but it is cheaper than Photoshop. If you're only doing photos, you really do not need Photoshop. While it is a good editor, to maximize its potential, you really have to utilize a number of tools. For photo processing, it is overkill. Lightroom was developed after Photoshop specifically for photographers and does the processing that Photoshop does except the tools aren't hidden but are right there on the side. It is an exceptional processing tool and allows resizing, renaming, cataloging, tagging, etc. Also, you can copy adjustments from one photo to the next when you have photos that were shot under the same lighting, talk about speed up processing. I really like the renaming feature too as it also puts a sequence number so if you want to replace the DSC_123.jpg name with something like it is designed for commercial art designers and to use it as a photo editor, Chase Big Fish, you can do that to as many images as you want with the same name and it will add a sequence number and your files would be Chase Big Fish-1, Chase Big Fish-2, etc. I use that to catalog a lot of my customer flies giving the photo my customer name. I think if you have a student or teacher in the family, you can get a discount on Adobe products. Kirk
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Years ago, I tied up some of these turkey quill mylar minnows hoping to come across some ladyfish in the Gulf Shores, Alabama surf on our family vacation. Well, a friend of mine called when I was down there and asked if I wanted to go a few miles out of Orange Beach. There were Bonito feeding like you describe and there were boats trolling baits and my friend and I were throwing mini clousers with no one in sight hooking anything, we changed colors, sizes, etc to no avail when I decided had nothing to lose and tied on this nothing little fly and wound up with several Bonita, I missed more strikes than I hooked but I managed to boat a few. Kirk Super glue holds everthing together.
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The new carp fly is a winner, and a legend killer
Kirk Dietrich replied to TheCream's topic in The Fly Tying Bench
That is kick ass! Beautiful carp. Some unsuspecting fisher is going to have a nice surprise when they run across a long floating line and it takes off when they go to pick it up. -
Fishandbow, sorry I didn't see your question but it looks like Tide fielded it just fine, he is correct. I too use the plastic for epoxy and most other clear coat finishes but use artists hair bristle brushes for applying my acrylic paints. Thanks Jeff. The Copics really make these basic dark over light color schemes real easy. Kirk
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Doesn't get much better than that! Congratulations Jeff!
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Surf Candy good too, maybe even some poppers.
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Looks good but you might want to make some that drop fast in case you get a day when they are hugging the bottom in three feet of water and/or you can't see them until they're ten or fifteen feet from the boat. Kirk
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Most all of the garfish I see where I fish are 24 inches or smaller and a small hook handles them without straightening or anything. My hookup ratio with small hooks is actually better than it is with bass and bream. I've been most successful with my Squirrelly tied on a 3906b #10. They almost always eat and when they eat, I almost always hook them. The plus to fishing with a hook is that you can fish for other fish while waiting for the garfish to show themselves. I tried rope flies when I first heard of the idea almost twenty five years ago but never had much luck, most of the fish I threw to spooked away from the hank of rope. I'm much more experienced now so maybe I would have more luck today. Luvinbluegills, do you have any pictures of your rope flies? What kind of rope do you use? Kirk
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Cool! Great find, thanks for sharing.
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A friend of mine gave me an eighteen inch long twister with the sewing machine motor and foot pedal. Even with the variable speed pedal, it twisted to fast and matted the materials against the wire very tightly. Also, when twisting a long brush, one end twists up sooner and tighter than the other end. I wound up cutting that twister down to fourteen inches and disconnected the motor belt and made a handle on both ends so I can twist from each end. If you're going to do some constructing, you should spend time making one with two manual twisters, one on each end, your brushes will come out twisted more evenly and with the manual turners, you have more control and like others said, it doesn't take any longer. I still have to stop and tease out the trapped hairs, usually four times per brush I make but that fourteen inch brush will make quite a few flies. Kirk
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I use small flies on #10 hooks either streamers or small bream poppers. The small hook makes it easier for the fish to get the fly in its chops where it can be hooked and a barbless #10 is pretty easy to unhook. Kirk
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Extra boxes of flies, what do you do with them.
Kirk Dietrich replied to Kirk Dietrich's topic in The Fly Tying Bench
Thanks for the addresses Gdub.