Philly

Nice, she reminds me of my great niece, who will be turning 4 this year. I left my 7' 6" 5 wgt up in Vermont for her dad to use in case he decided to go bushwhacking for brookies. Maybe by the time I get up there later in the year she'll be ready to catch some real fish with a fly rod.

I've made a few out of an old sinking line I had replaced. Cut the line into different lengths and added braided loops to either end. I haven't used them in a while, since I started using furled leaders on my floating line. I have them around somewhere but it's probably quicker just to change the spools on my reels than it is to remove the furled leader and replace it with the sink tip. I may dig them out an give them a shot when we go up to the Poconos in May.

I've used the McMurray ant pattern a few times. My favorite sunken ant pattern is Harry Steeves TransparANT which I think Silver has on the other side of his box. These are some of my beetle patterns. Just trying to create a profile of a beetle floating in the surface film. They're made from 2 mm craft foam with peacock herl wrapped on the hook shank for the underbody and "sili legs" for the legs. The orange dot is for visibility. Beetles can range from the size of a Lady Bug up to the June Bug. Generally, I don't use a lot of hopper patterns, most of the streams I fish are in wooded areas and you don't see hoppers on the streams. I would use a generic pattern like a large Stimulator with yellow, green or tan body. Most streams I fish have annual cicadas, another pattern you might want to look at they can be an 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. When they hit the water, they definitely attract fish.

I'm not sure about that. A few years ago I was overturning some rocks in the Ottauquechee River in central Vermont and found a giant yellow stonefly nymph, made me think about the size of the nymphs I was fishing.

Commander in Chief Pacific. When I was working, my customers were in WESTPAC. BOHICA is one you don't hear to often.

That applies to any rod and reel you use in salt water. I've done a lot of salt water fishing over the years and the only reels that were specifically designed for salt water were the Penn Internationals we used for trolling and shark fishing. They were pretty much sealed, but the rods had roller guides and they had to be washed down and cleaned to prevent the rollers from corroding and freezing up. The spinning reels and fly reels I used were the same ones that I used in fresh water and just washing them down prevented any corrosion. Once in awhile I did get sand under the spool of the spinning reels or in the fly reel. I just took them apart, cleaned the sand out, lubed them and put them back together. The same applies to waders and wading boots. They got a wash down, and the boots soaked in a tub full of fresh water for a day or two before I dried them. I still think I have some beach sand in my wading boots. Tough to get that out.

Guilty as charged, not so much when taking a picture of a fish I've caught, but when changing flies when I'm wading. I'm sure my dentist would love me to hold the rod between my teeth. A lot of time I fish by myself and often I commit a double sin. Not only of lying the rod and reel on the ground but the fish along side it to take the picture. Some pictures of my earlier sins. Though I would imagine folks might be more upset about a trout picture than a bass or a sunfish. The fish were quickly returned to the water and swam away. The rod and reel also survived. I guess this is the proper way to take a picture. My niece's father-in-law caught this one. I'm very jealous.

Time to step away from trout and move over to warm water. These are tied on 1/16 oz jigs. Main target will be crappie, bass and rock bass. Hook: assorted 1/16 oz jigs, size 6 hooks Thread: clear polyester Wings: bucktail, assorted colors Flash: Crystal flash I still have to finish up the 1/32 and 1/20 oz batch. I'll post them when I get them tied and take some pictures.

I hope you were wearing a mask when you were doing that. Very nice poppers. That method falls into the same reason I don't do deer hair poppers anymore, messy and I'm OCD when it comes to shaping. I've used the craft store foam "marshmallows" but mainly for "Bob's Bangers" There always seemed to be a inconsistency on the density of the foam on the ones I picked up at the craft stores. I have hand shaped some from 1" foam cylinders, but it was easier just to buy the pre-shaped ones. I used to be able to find them from panfish size up to salt water popper size, but with the advent of the "double barrel" popper they're hard to find in fly shops and catalogs. The only place I can find them these days is in the fly-tying section of Barlow's or Jann's Netcraft. I still have a few unused bodies but most of my poppers these days are made out of craft foam sheets. Ever try to make a Hula Popper?

I've been tying up some Stimulators, not sure whether they would be consider trout or panfish flies. More likely I'll use them for panfish, since we don't have any giant stonefly hatches around here. Hook - Ahrex Traditional Shrimp hook, size 6(only curved hook I had Thread - black, orange or chartreuse Tail - deer hair(from a deer's mask) Body - Senyo Laser Dubbing Body Hackle -brown Wing -deer hair(from a deer's mask) Hackle-grizzly or brown grizzly

Here's a couple of Stimulators I tied up for SW club's weekly Sunday night tying session. It's been a while since I tied any trout flies. These should make decent panfish flies. Below is the list of materials the host provided. Hook: #6-18 TMC 5212 or 200R or similar 2x-3x long hook. - I used a similar hook, I think an Ahrex Thread: Fluorescent Fire Orange 70-denier UTC, also used chartreuse Tail: Natural Yearling Elk Hair or deer hair.- I used deer hair Rib: Fine Copper Ultra Wire- knew I forgot something Abdomen: Yellow Antron Dubbing- I used Senyo Lazer Dubbing, yellow and chartreuse Body Hackle: Brown Rooster Neck Hackle Wing: Natural Yearling Elk Hair- I used deer hair Thorax Hackle: Grizzly Rooster Neck Hackle Thorax: Fluorescent Fire Orange Antron Dubbing- I used Senyo Lazer Dubbing, orange and yellow

Welcome to the board, Phil. Can't help you with fly fishing East Tennessee, even though I spent almost 5 years at college in West Tennessee. Long before I started fly fishing. No trout in that part of the state. One thing, it's "y'all". Maybe someone on the board knows how to tie the Yallerhammer. It's a local fly some folks I met years later liked to fish in the Appalachian streams. Have fun running the ridges for trout. Watch out for the copperheads.

With a 9mm casing, the max you could probably glue together would be somewhere between 5 and 8 squares. You'll end up with a square 10 to 16 mm thick. It might be more economical to glue 8 1/2" X 11" sheets together and then cut the 1" squares. If you can find them, you might try using sticky back craft foam sheets, saves the mess of dealing with glue. They come in a variety of colors. You'll definitely need to keep the edge of the brass sharp and that also applies to a punch set if you buy one of them. You need to keep the inside and the outside edge sharp in order to get a clean cut.

Components- Well you've already got a lot of advice on doing it on the cheap. For empty shell casings, 9 mm is good start, I've have casings ranging from .32 to 12 ga. I use them mainly for punching circles out of craft foam. You best bet would the a cheap set of plug punches. Like flymanaj, I picked mine up at Harbor Freight. The diameters range 1/8" to 1" with my set. I would start out with buying pre-formed soft foam popper bodies, white and yellow. I don't like the double barrel popper that are now the rage. You should be able to find them on line or in a fly shop. Medium to large would be good sizes for bass. You can color them with permanent markers. Here's a couple I made with pre-formed soft foam popper bodies. Hooks: There are "popper" hooks available. I don't use them. I prefer straight shank, straight eye, wide gape, 2xl or 3xl hooks, The Daiichi 2461 or the Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hooks are some of the ones I use. I'll also use heavy wire straight eye streamer hooks. I wouldn't go smaller than a size 6 for bass. My bass poppers are tied on size 6 to 3/0 hooks. The ones above are tied on 1/0 Daiichi 2461. And Super glue, I wrap the shank with thread and coat it with super glue and slide the body on. Once it sets it's not going anywhere. Other materials, feathers(Schlappen or saddle hackle), marabou, buck tail, some sort of flash material, eyes are optional. I like them on my poppers, but I don't whether it makes a difference or not to the fish. Something to coat them with. I use a flexible UV resin, but Liquid Fusion or similar product will work. Toughens up the popper and keeps the foam from absorbing water. Super Glue. I wrap the hook shank with thread, coat it with super glue and slide the preformed body on. Once it set the body isn't going anywhere. You can also just use craft foam for a popper by punching a circle out of a piece of 2 mm craft foam. This is first popper I learned to tie. The guy who showed it to me called it a "fun foam" popper. It's a good little popper and easy to tie. A marabou tail, hackle of your choice and a foam circle. This one is tied on a size 6 Daiichi 2461. You have to pinch the foam circle when you tie it on, in order to get the cup. This is what it looks like from the front. It can push a lot of water. I tie another one out of a heart shaped piece of foam. It's a variation of a pattern Harrison Steves showed me. But you need a heart shaped punch to make the head. I can get it to act like a Jitterbug with a little bit of manipulation. Here's another popper made from a sheet of craft foam. Can't remember the name of the guy who taught the class. The Crease Fly is a similar pattern that can be tied a craft foam sheet. With a wide mouth it can be a popper, closed it's a floating minnow. There are a lot of options and materials you can use to make poppers.

I think I passed that guy today. I just updated my car from a 2016 Rogue to a 2019 Rogue Sport. I have a Garmin that I used in the old car. The new car has a Navigation system, but I have to look down to see the map. I just moved the Garmin to the new car. It has a 7 inch screen and sits eye level on the dashboard. I also have the app that goes with it that shows red light cameras and "speed cameras". I use Google maps but more to get an idea of where I'm going. I find the directions it gives can be a bit misleading, if you follow them exactly. They may be quicker but they often seem roundabout. I haven't tried WAZE though I have the app on my Android phone. I have it set up for blue tooth but I think there's an app I can download that will let me link it to the navigation system. I'll have to give it a try, once I figure out all the other bells and whistles the car came with. Plus I have a dozen or so maps in my glove compartment in my glove compartment and will throw a Gazetteer or similar map book in the car if I'm going out of state. I'm an old fart, so I'm still comfortable using paper maps.

I don't use it as a wing on my bass flies. I don't trust the durability. Granted it's tougher than peacock herl, based on how some trout flies looked after a couple of trout, though trout have teeth. Never lip a trout. I do use it as a thorax on some of my pan fish flies, but I twist it with a loop of thread to increase durability

A change of pace for me. My SW club's tying session this week was caddis patterns. One of the patterns was the CDC and Elk(deer hair). It's been a while since I tied one and this one was tied in a hurry. I know I can do better, but here it is. My standard hook for it is a TMC 2488. The one in the picture, I believe is a Partridge hook. Hook: TMC 2488, size 12( I tie them on size 10 to 18) Body: Wrapped CDC feather, your choice of color Wing: Hair from a deer's mask. Thread: Black 8/0 Now back to my normal stuff. A panfish/bass fly. I'm sure there's a fly out there that looks like this. Or I borrowed bits and pieces from various patterns. Hook: TMC 5262, size 6 Thread: 3/0 tying thread/clear polyester Tail: Zonker Strip, Body: 3/0 tying thread built over Zonker strip, color to match or contrast with tail. Thorax/collar over eyes: Ice or sparkle chenille Wing: Marabou color to match or contrast with tail Head: 3/0 thread built up, finished with clear polyester.

I'll disagree. It teaches you how to use thread, tie in a body, a thorax and how to use a bead head. It's a simple fly that catches fish. Oh well, here I am, tying with mop pieces, foam and superglue. Such is life.

Not really, I've been fishing the streams around here for years. I know the ones I fish well. Now later in the year when I go up to Vermont. I'll be doing some scouting. My sister has a place in Waitsfield and it's a new area for me and I haven't really gotten a chance to do much fishing since she brought it a couple of years ago. I've fished a nearby lake, but haven't fished the Mad River. I'll just pull out the Gazetteer and look for new streams, ponds and lakes to check out when I get up there. Other than that. The guys I fish with are always looking for new lakes/ponds to fish. Preferably ones with boat access, though we do hike into a couple.

I was going to say top waters, but then I realized you're fishing for shell crackers. Looks like you're good to go.

Just watched the video, I like the way he thinks. The only thing with the mop fly is most people tend to use the standard mop piece which to me is too large/fat if you're trying to imitate a nymph and tying it on a size 12 or 14 hook. If I were going to teach the mop fly I'd bring several different sizes and colors. The one in the photo is 5/16ths inch long. I have the fat pieces from a 1/2 inch to 2 inches long. With that basic pattern I could cover from trout to bass in the class depending on the interests of the attendees..

I can't disagree with either. I'm not sure what the first fly I tied was. Could've been a woolly bugger. Might have been a Green Weenie. That's always been a popular fly here in PA. Today if I were teaching a beginners class I think I would do a mop fly. This is the mop fly that replace the Green Weenie in my fly box. It's less complicated than the Green Weenie. You don't have to worry about forming the loop for the tail. Plus you can show how to tie in a thorax and use a bead for weight. Kim's right, you need to know what fish the folks in the class plan to target. This works for trout. You could also use it for panfish, but since it's tied on a size 12 hook, a bit small for panfish IMHO. Now I guess I should watch the video.

Nice job. I still think it would be a good idea to have a combined Warm Water/Salt water forum. There should be enough of us who spend our time either fishing warm water or salt water to support a forum where we can discuss issues and ways to approach them. I've been on the board since 2003, with a slight hiatus, and I've always found those forums useful.

These are some more floating Wooly Buggers. I definitely have too much time on my hands between Covid and retirement. I use the pre-shaped soft foam popper bodies for my standard poppers. I have a bunch of tied up and I have unused bodies lying around. I could turn them into sliders, but they don't have that Sneaky Pete shape. Decided to take the "Boobie Buggers" one step further. This is what the look like. Group shots. Side View Front view

Time to end the streak of terrific flies. There was a post on another board from a guy looking for a "particular streamer". A guy he worked with in a machine shop gave him a bunch to him about 35 years ago and he's down to his last two and looking to replace. You can see in the picture that the prop and clevis are one piece and most likely handmade. I don't know of anything like them available commercially these days. I tied two with the standard prop configuration. I think I'll feed them to chain pickerel.