Kirk Dietrich

Mike, cool looking eyes on those Squirrelies. What are they? Also, looks like you're leaving the white tips on? I may have to try that.

AGN, that's cool about you considering my Squirrely as a top bluegill fly, thanks. As for sitting in the film or floating high, I misunderstood the question. As for effectiveness, I believe bugs sitting in the surface film are very effective and hook more gills than high riding ones, of course that can depend on the size and aggressiveness of the fish on that particular day. Are we going to get a picture of the finished flies? Kirk

AGN, a lot of people just say "rubber legs" for legs whether silicone or not just like I say "Xerox" for a copy. I use silicone exclusively and the fish don't seem to mind. You are correct about the hooks. If your nephew is young, you may want to make sure the bug will be visible by using the lighter wire hook. Depending on the pattern there could be enough foam that a heavier nymph hook will not matter. I use both nymph and dry fly but I'm doubling the foam back so there is pretty good floatation. Kirk

Those look like they would be good for pike and muskie.

Terje, beautiful picture regardless of what kind of bug it is. Here is a Lady Bug/Bird eating aphids on my milkweed, which aphids absolutely love. Not the sharpest picture but I was glad to catch him/her in action of eating an aphid. Kirk

Today, almost all patterns are deviations of past patterns. Now, some tiers may not be aware of some of the older patterns and come up with a pattern on their own and swear they created it but more often than not, if you look back, you will find a like minded tier that has tied that or similar pattern in the past. Kirk

You're killing me Craig! Oh well, can't wait till you glue some of those together and slice them up to see what they look like. I've got to stick with my psychedelic sheets for now. Yeah, Shoebob, I've noticed that on ebay alot with shipping. The place that sold the sheets I bought actually wanted $110 US dollars for shipping, yes you read that right, one hundred and ten dollars! No way I was going to pay that so, I had a friend in the UK buy the sheets after finding out his actual shipping costs to me were $40 US dollars; they had some kind of weird jump in their postal charges recently. Kirk

NH, nice name! Craig, that does look good! Wish I would have seen this before I ordered from the UK some of the one I have. Shoebop, even with $10 shipping, that's less than a dollar a sheet. I just paid $40 for shipping from the UK for 20 sheets; just had to have it... Kirk

I wonder if he improved his tying skills by now.

Now we're tracking! Thanks.

Oh Wow! Thanks Norm. So I would write, "You can use marabou or barbs from your favorite feather such as goose shoulder or wing." Thanks, Kirk

Thanks fellas. Strips sounds like it will work as in "You can use marabou or strips of goose shoulder feather for the tail.". Beautiful work by the way fontinalis. Kirk

The strips of feathers in a married wing fly are called what? I thought they were called feather slips but I've seen them in recipes called strips of feather. Thing is I'm trying to use to describe using as a tail for other than a salmon fly. So, would I say approximately 10 strips of goose feather, turkey feather, etc.? Thanks, Kirk

Thanks for the input everyone.

Those look really good! I may have to try tying one.

Piker, really nice clean tie. If you're getting low on materials, just give me a shout, I can send you some of my extra... :-)

Nice! Fish and food!

I've got to get one of those. I use a vest PFD with the mesh top but it is still hot as hell in the summer and bulky as shoplifter heisting a rump roast from the grocery.

Good point FlaFly.

I have AGN but it looks more like a tent than a handkerchief. Piker, in a larger boat, maybe you have to be tipsy but smaller boats especially paddle craft you can capsize by doing something stupid even when straight.

Yeah Piker, that's a good one; jump out of plane over lake, hope parachute opens to set you down softly in water to see if your deflated PFD suspenders inflate and float you. I've got to many fish to catch to dick around with that notion. :-)

Has anyone ever tried their PFD suspenders in a swimming pool to see if they work or actually had to use them out on the water or do you just do like parachuters and hope it opens when you jump? I would really like to get this type PFD for paddling but am just a little uncertain, lets just say, I won't be jumping out of any planes... Kirk

ditz2 is right. That little grey squirrel tail hair fly is hard for them to resist and the little #10 hook sticks them every time just like Steve P said. Now, I'm not talking about four feet or larger garffish but the smaller ones say under 30 inches I have not had a problem with. The larger ones may require a larger fly to entice their interest but that Squirrelly or any small fly usually gets a hit unless they are spawning chasing each other around. Kirk

Look good. I use it on thread wraps now in place of nail polish. Good tip about using a rotary vise to even it out before zapping it. Kirk

Can't advise you on what flies to tie but if when you say breaking down, you mean cutting and matching the feathers and pairing them up to bag them, then that is a good idea. That's what I did, stores real good like that. If you have the whole bird, there is some really great mottled marabou down around their thighs that is good for tails on small streamers and nymphs. Kirk