SilverCreek

Glad to hear the good news. Prayers sent.

I've caught bats with my fly when fishing at night. I've also hit swallows with my fly rod while fishing the San Juan River. the hatches are so heavy, they lfy over the river eating the flying bugs.

My wife and I visited Italy with a trip through the wine country and then down to Pisa, Rome and then to Pompei. Some photos our trip to from Rome and Italy. Where Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Forum. Romans still leave flowers. Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo. Excavated victim of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius at Pompie in 79 AD.

I would recommend getting both a passport book and a passport card. You keep the card in a secure place like the hotel safe so that if your passport ever gets stolen or lost, you can take your passport card to the local US consulate and get a duplicate passport book,

The Morrish Hopper is one of the most effective hopper patterns I tie. It is difficult but worth it in my opinion. I tie them for hoppers as well as the Salmon Stone fly and the Yellow Sallie Stone fly hatches on the Madison River This version is one I tied for the Salmon Stone fly. Hopper version. Instructions below: https://hopperfishing.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/how-to-tie-the-morrishs-hopper/

What size are you tying?

Buy packs of single edge razor blades, and use them to cut off the materials on patterns you tied up that are really bad, then you can reuse the hook. I used to cut materials off the fly I was tying when I was learning and messed up. https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Razor-Blades-Replacement-Blades-Single/dp/B07NS7BK45/ref=asc_df_B07NS7BK45/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15203635568800112377&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019186&hvtargid=pla-2281435179338&psc=1&mcid=bbfd8271f3a531a3a532bf26114475ab&hvocijid=15203635568800112377-B07NS7BK45-&hvexpln=73&gad_source=1

From what you have written, I think you are having problems with proportions. This means the correct AMOUNT of material placed in the CORRECT place on the fly and in the correct LENGTH and SHAPE. There are are fly proportion charts and articles. Charlie Craven has written one for FFM: https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/tying-flies-beautiful-flies/151957 Here is another: What I did when I started tying flies well before the modern internet was to buy a fly I wanted to tie and use it as model for the both the materials and the fly proportions.

My Norvise Automatic Bobbin. https://youtu.be/uXkRNFwABko?si=oK9O6vXEe_Kkavpd&t=478

I don't think you were insulting Mel at all. If I gave you that impression, please accept my apology. One of Mel's teaching innovations is the "Down/Up method of teaching the double haul. https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/mels-gift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQwEBevrYo4

Mel Krieger is a legendary fly casting instructor. https://kriegerflyfishing.com/mel-krieger He was a mentor to and taught Steve Rajeff, the best fly caster in the world, and taught Steve's brother, Tim who is also a well know fly caster and the owner of Rajeff Sports and Echo fly rod. My fraternity brother, Nelson Ishiyama, president of the Ishiyama Corporation and owner of the Henry's Fork Lodge, was the editor of Mel Krieger's book, "The Essence of Fly Casting". He got me an autographed copy. https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Flycasting-Mel-Krieger/dp/0881505056 Fly Fishers International (formerly the Fly Fishing Federation) has a award named for Mel: "FFI Mel Krieger Fly Casting Instructor Award This award, honoring Mel Krieger a well-known figure in the instruction of fly casting and author of the original Fly Fishers International Certified Casting Instructor Program, is presented in recognition of those who have made significant contributions to the FFI Casting Instructor Certification Program and the FFI Fly Casting Education Program." https://www.flyfishersinternational.org/About-Us/Awards When you look at videos from the past, you need to put them into historical context and the equipment that was available at that time. Early heavy fiberglass rods and heavy reels and fly lines without the modern coatings of today's fly line.

The original Don Green designed Sage LL (Light Line) rods were renown for their castibility. https://www.redsflyshop.com/blog/page/31/post/sage-trout-ll-fly-rod/ https://tellurideangler.com/casting-pond/articles/sage-trout-ll-fly-rods-model-by-model-review/ https://www.hatchmag.com/articles/review-sage-trout-ll-fly-rod/7714870

AI will eventually take over some jobs like computer programming. The recent worldwide failure of computer systems that took down the airline system, hospitals, business, etc was due to a single point failure when Crowdstrike sent out an update for its virus and cyber attack prevention software. Crowdstrike is the leading provider of protections software and you don't even have to be a customer of Crowdstrike because their software is imbedded in other companies software. For example, Microsoft has Crowdstrike imbedded in their programs. So when a defective update was sent millions of computers went down. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/20/crowdstrike-outage-and-global-softwares-single-point-failure-problem.html As "best of breed" software companies become the dominant providers for the majority of corporations, the probability that this will happen again increases.

It's getting attention now because Invidia's Blackwell AI processors have advanced to the point that AI is going to start taking jobs that people are doing. https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-blackwell-platform-arrives-to-power-a-new-era-of-computing For example, my son has a dual degree in mechanical engineering and industrial design from the University of Michigan and he works for a high tech firm that has their software imbedded in other software providers like Microsoft. He told me that computer programmers are leaving their professions to start learning jobs that are not threatened by AI. I am a retired diagnostic radiologists. AI is now being used to preview mammograms to locate suspected abnormalities before the examinations are interpreted by the radiologists. https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/ai-mammogram-reading