Philly

I didn't know about it until Steve Farrar gave a tying class for my SW club about 7 years ago. I'm lousy with scissors that's why gave up tying with deer hair.

I don't use either. I use Mirror Image most of the time. I blend flash into my material, but the process may help you get your material to taper without having to trim it with scissors. What you do is pull is pull pieces of material out of the bag and lay it on a flat service. Lay out 6 or 7 pieces. Then repeat the process laying the next layer on top of the first. Do that until all the material in the bag is laid out. Roll the material together. Then repeat the layering process. It normally take me 5 or 6 repetitions to get a good blend of flash and material. Since you're only trying to taper the material. Maybe 3 or 4 repetitions would do the trick. I use small plastic ties to hold the bunch of material together once I'm done. I just put it back into the original bag. Probably takes 5 to 10 minutes. Beats the hell out of trying to trim it to shape with scissors. Here's a couple of flies tied with the finished material. For the larger one the I used Ultra Hair or Super Hair, not sure which. The smaller one is tied with Mirror Image.

I pop in on the Facebook page every so often, Silver. Just to keep up and see who's still around. Even post occasionally. I still go in an read your FAQ's. Just as educational now as they were when I first read them back in the 90's. I recommend them to newbies. I never did get involved in the OBA thread though I'm pretty sure I tied a couple of them up. That's when I could tie flies that small. Like many other single men on the list, I was heartbroken when she posted about her upcoming "marriage" The FF@ list played a major role in making me the fly tyer and fly fisherman I am today.

I initially met Tony on the old FF@ list. He lived in South Jersey, not that far from me, before he left for the White River so I got to meet him and would run into him at the local fly fishing/tying shows. His White River Demon along with the Chili Pepper which he introduced me to are two of the few Woolly Buggers I fish, and my modified version of his Froggie is one of my top producing warm water flies. Just before he headed south, he sent me a package of fur and hair pieces. Still have a few of them left. I don't tie as many trout flies these days.

Very cool. Excellent outside the box thinking. The fresh water version of an Umbrella Rig. Not illegal in PA as far as I know even if you used it in the FFO stretches for trout. In fact you could probably fish it in lakes and rivers with the teasers tied on hooks. I wouldn't recommend that. It can get interesting, at least it does with the umbrella rig in salt water, when you hook more than one fish. The only fly I know that comes close to that is Bob Popovics "Schoolie Fly" where you can tie up to three small bait fish patterns, like your teasers, on a single worm hook.

It's hard to tell just looking at hook bend. My guess is a standard stainless salt water hook. Tiemco, Mustad, Gamakatsu, Daiichi, and other brands make them. Size, most likely size 4, could be a size 6 or even a size 2. Cone size, I don't use them, but I would say a small or medium. You best bet would be to wait till you get the flies you ordered, then take one a part. That way you can compare the hook to what's available online or in your local fly shop. Same with the cone head.

I had to look at pictures of my fly boxes. All my poppers have legs, so do most of my sliders. The only slider that doesn't is my version of Tony's Froggie. It's thinner than the original, tied with strips of craft foam and has a shank length marabou tail rather than two split feathers. It's been an effective fly without the legs. When I initially started tying foam top waters I followed the pattern of the store brought poppers and used long legs, but like skeet3t got tired of small sunfish just grabbing the legs. I did two things. One quit tying them on "panfish" size hooks. All my panfish flies are tied on size 6 1x or 2x long hooks, and I shortened the length the legs. The rear legs are no longer than the tail of the fly and the length of the front legs are even with the hook eye. Come to think of it my floating mop flies don't have legs, tied on size 6 Gamakatsu B10S hooks, and they've been very effective I wonder if the Froggie would be more effective with legs. It wouldn't be hard to "repair' them by adding legs. Might make them more effective. I'm retired I've got plenty of time

You mean one like this, It took a size 10 Soft Hackle PT Nymph.

I fly fish most of the time that includes warm water, cold water and salt water. I still use my spinning gear in certain conditions or locations. One when I go to a lodge in NE Ontario where one of the target fish are walleyes. They're usually in 20 to 25 feet of water and it's just a PITA to dredge flies in water that deep. In almost 30 years of going to the lodge I've caught 4 small walleyes, all about 14 inches with my fly rod, and they were hanging around beaver lodges. I'll also use either a jig tipped with a nightcrawler or a lure to see if there any smallies in the coves that we pull into. If they're around I switch over to the fly rod. Saltwater, if I'm after stripers or blues I use the fly rod. I've tried dredging the bottom in 15 feet of water for flounder, but all I've caught are small sea robins and black sea bass. In PA you can fish more than one rod at a time. I'll put a minnow under a bobber and let it sit while I fly fish. If the bobber goes under I'll reel in whatever is on the other end. If it's really windy, I'll give fly fishing a try, but will switch to spinning tackle if the fly fishing becomes work rather than fun.

I guess that's what it is. Feather-Craft describes it as "a soft, mobile, dense rubbery-fiber/blended soft chenille" It's interesting stuff. The single strand floats and has good motion. These are furled. I've tied four. The other two must of had an air bubble in the tail, because when I dropped them in the water they floated head down with the tip of the tail poking out of the surface film. I squeezed the tail and the next time they sink, though the idea of a floating one might be interesting. I just brought the white and used permanent markers to color them. One tied with dumbbell eyes tied in like on Clouser might give you a suspending fly that would stay that way on retrieve if fished on a floating line. A two tone black over olive would make a good leech.

Here's a couple of Ned flies I tied up. I may have posted them before. I'll claim a senior moment if I did. I dropped a couple of them in jar of water with a relatively flat bottom. This what they looked like.

Time to interrupt the flow of really good looking trout flies. Last night at my SW club's zoom tying meeting we tied a couple shad flies following a couple of you tube videos. Shad Dart Recipe: Hook: #6 Mustad 3366A Thread: 6/0 Fire Orange Uni-Thread Eyes: 5/32 Hourglass Eyes Tail: White Kip (Calf) Tail Body: Orange Flash Head: Orange Ultra Chenille I had to improvise since I didn't have any calf tail. Used pearl flash for the tail and tied them on gold Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hook, size 6 Kip Tailed Clouser Recipe: Thread: Pink Danville's 210 Denier Hook: Mustad 3366 Size 6 Eyes: Hour Glass Brass Eyes X-small 5/32 (Copper Color) Tail: White Kip (Calf) tail, Pink Flash Accent (Flashabou) Throat: Pink Flashabou Wing: Pink Kip Tail Again no calf tail, so I used the traditional buck tail and the Eagle Claw hooks. I've been fishing a floating woolly bugger for several years. Sort of based it on the "booby fly" but I used dumbbell eyes made from foam cylinders to float them. I was cleaning up my dark side tackle box and came across some large round nightcrawler floats I used at some point to fish for walleyes. When I'm finished tying them, I'll have a half dozen "booby buggers" for my warm water box. Booby Bugger hook - Mustad 3777BN size 1/0 thread - color to match fly colors tail - marabou with 3 pieces of crystal flash tied on each side body - crystal chenille and two saddle hackles twisted together and wrapped on the hook shank head - large worm round worm floats on either heavy mono or light lure wire eyes - black UV resin

The name sounded familiar. There's Weber Lures. Even though they're in Wisconsin they make off-shore fishing lures, and I have a couple of them from the days my buddy owned a 35 footer and we'd go off-shore fishing out of Atlantic City. Still have them. I think they're a bit heavy for fly fishing.

Byron, I use the the B10S for my bait fish patterns and a lot of my mop flies. The 2461 for streamers and poppers. I've been tying some crayfish patterns and Clousers on the Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hook. Similar configuration as the 2461. When you get up to 3/0 they're a fairly strong hook and they're very sharp.

For years I had a standing invitation from Tony Spezio to come down and tie at the Sow Bug. Never took him up on it. Now it would be a two or three day drive for me. When he first extended the invitation, I could have driven straight through. A missed opportunity.

Someone gave a bunch of no-name hooks they were dull but I decided to tie on them. Problem was every time I tried to crush the barb, they would break at the bend. I still have them. I should just throw them out and clear some space. I use a lot of Eagle Claw Crappie hooks for some of my patterns. They're thin wire, but I like the round bend and wide gape and when you get up to a size 3/0 they're not flexible. I've never had one break on me, but have bent them out of line when tying. I just straighten them back in line. I do create my own problems. I have an aversion to down eyed hooks, and I will attempt to straighten the ones I have with flat pliers even though I know it will weaken the hook. I've had mixed success. Some hooks will break at the eye when I do it, others will straighten. These are not cheap hooks. Just some are more brittle than others. Another bad habit when I try to straighten is heat the hook to make it easier to straighten. Same results, some straighten and I never had one break when I'm fishing a fly tied on them. Others look fine, but when I test them the eye will break off in my finger. Let this be a parable to new tyers of what not to do with down-eyed hooks.

I think it depends on what weight rod you're using. I mainly use a 6 wgt for my bass fishing, so I'm planning on using the 1/20 oz Ned jigs to tie my crayfish patterns on. They're not cheap. You get 5 in a pack for about $5. I already have a few, but I'll probably order another pack or two. One of the hot topics on a couple of other fly fishing boards is the "balanced jig", well "balanced leech". It takes a little bit of work to make one, and in the end, they pretty much resemble a ball jig, the standard type of jig head. You can buy them as small as 1/100 oz and they even come in colors and they're cheap. What it comes down to, I think, is the shape of the jig head. It's going to influence the action of the body when the jig is retrieved. I would imagine the shape of the head has a great deal to do with why the Ned jig is so effective. Plus fishing slowly. What options do we have in fly tying, unless we decide to say "screw it, I'm just going to use jigs. We have tungsten or metal beads, dumbbell eyes, cones or metal fish skulls to tie "jigs". Beads will give you basically "ball" jigs. Dumbbell eyes are also "ball" jigs, more stable because they sit on the "eyes". You can change up the way the fly sits, by using different styles of jig hooks. Rich, it looks like yours are tied on 90° jig hook. The "Headstander" appears to be tied on a 60° jig hook and there are also 45° jig hooks. The angle will affect the way the fly looks standing still, and the action when you move it. I haven't tried it on a jig hook, but I think I'll tie up couple is to tie the dumbbell eyes in "Clouser" style, 1/3 of the way down the shank from the angle, rather than against the angle or on the angle of the jig hook. I think it would create a "slider" style jig, which would drop differently, retrieve differently and sit differently on the bottom. Now that I've thought about it, cones and fish skulls would be better suited for straight shanked hooks, particularly if they have flattened sides. Time for lunch, and see what a clouser style crayfish would look on a jig hook.

Some interesting tips. As you said it depends on the lake. The one I mainly fish is shallow. Average depth is about 5 feet. The deepest hole I've found is about 15 feet. They killed off the invasive weeds about 2 years ago. There are a weeds, lily pads and a lot of stumps and fallen timber. The water is tannic, but clear. In late May the larger gills, 7 to 10 inches are in 3 to 4 feet of water, in weedy areas. Perfect for top water. I mainly use sliders, rather than poppers. It's a little too weedy for subsurface. All my panfish flies are tied on size 6 hooks. I do use a 9' 6 wgt, but the lake also has largemouth and chain pickerel, along with perch and crappie. This will give you of what the shore line looks like and the average size of the bluegills I've been catching the last couple of years.

We've been stuck on "two hares ears" for a bit. I posted these up in the fly tying section at some point. The first one is a pattern from my SW club's Friday night Zoom tying session. This year we're tying specific flies rather than tying whatever we feel like. Below is the list of materials the host sent us for the class. I tied mine on a size 6 Gamakatsu hook. Not the B10S but a similar bass hook. I used mop pieces rather than mop chenille. There is a difference. A new fly for my panfish/bass boxes. Plan to tie up a dozen to start and if they work, if they work I'll tie up a few more. Creature Fly: Hook: Mustad 3366 Size 8 Thread: Color of choice, will show on head, 140D Adhesive: Zap-A-Gap Body: mop chenille, color of choice. Legs: Flexi-floss, Life-flex, (silicone or rubber legs will work) Thorax: Synthetic dubbing for a contrasting hot spot Hackle: Pheasant rump feather or long hen feather. This one is a bass fly I've been tying for a few years. I've caught bass and pike on it. It's basically a floating woolly bugger. I always thought of it as a booby fly, but after a discussion on another board. It was determined it was almost a booby fly, since I use foam dumbbell eyes to float it. I found some worm floats from my early days of walleye fishing, and turned them into eyes. I figure the ones I tie up will be booby buggers. Need to work on the eye spots, though. Hook: Mustad 3777BR, Size 30(2/0, maybe) Thread: Clear Polyester Tail: Marabou and crystal flash Body: Wrapped saddle hackle and long crystal chenille Eyes: Black UV resin This is a "new" bass bug. It incorporates several materials I use in my other bass bugs. Sort of a mish-mash. Hook: Gamakatsu B10S, size 2 Thread: Clear Polyester Tail: Zonker strip, color of choice Body: Saddle hackle and estaz/sparkle chenille twisted together and wrapped, color of choice Thorax: Spinner bait skirt Head: StoneFlo soft head Eyes: Living Eyes, 7mm I'll have to wait till spring to see how they work. Figure the bass and chain pickerel will like them.

I store mine in Ziploc bags of various sizes. The bags are stored in drawers. I've never notice oily feathers in newly purchased necks, but with age they do tend to get oily, though usually not the ones I tie with. If they're really oily, I've washed them in a gentle detergent. Laid them on paper towels to absorb most of the moisture and used a blow dryer to finish drying them. It didn't seem to impact the quality of the feathers and the dries tied with them floated.

After a bunch of really nice looking flies, I figure I'd break the streak. My SW club has been having Friday night Zoom tying sessions for the last year. Everyone tied what they wanted. We "sit' around critique them, ask questions, have a drink or two. For this year, everyone gets a pattern or two that we'll be tying, along with a list of materials. I can't set my computer up in my tying room, so I tie mine up, take a picture or two and use it for my Zoom background. We started off simple, two different mop fly patterns. The first was the Double Mop fly. All I can tell you is that one is tied on size 12 hook and the other on a size 6. They're both Partridge hooks. I did forget to add the lead wraps(8) and I'm now trying figure out how to supersize it up to nightcrawler size. Here's the list of materials the host sent us. Double Mop; Hook: Czech Nymph, Buzzer or Scud size 12 Barbless! Thread: 140D Gray / Tan Weight: .020 wire Adhesive: Zap-A-Gap Body: Gray or Tan Mop Chenille. 3 car mit mop fibers per fly The second was called the Creature Fly. Here's the list of materials the host sent us. I tied mine a size 6 hook, possiblly a Partridge Klinkhammer hook. Creature Fly: Hook: Mustad 3366 Size 8 Thread: Color of choice, will show on head, 140D Adhesive: Zap-A-Gap Body: mop chenille, color of choice Legs: Flexi-floss, Life-flex, (silicone or rubber legs will work) Thorax: Synthetic dubbing for a contrasting hot spot Hackle: Pheasant rump feather or long hen feather. This one is a bass fly I've been tying for a few years. I've caught bass and pike on it. It's basically a floating woolly bugger. I always thought of it as a booby fly, but after a discussion on another board. It was determined it was almost a booby fly, since I use foam dumbbell eyes to float it. I found some worm floats from my early days of walleye fishing, and turned them into eyes. I figure the ones I tie up will be booby buggers. Need to work on the eye spots, though. Hook: Mustad 3777BR, Size 30(2/0, maybe) Thread: Clear Polyester Tail: Marabou and crystal flas Body: Wrapped saddle hackle and long crystal chennile Eyes: Black UV resin

Consider me a bad influence. All these are tied on straight eye size 12 hooks. Dry fly hooks. Most of them are Pheasant Tail nymphs. A few, plain old chicken, parrot, goose biots, a couple of Copper Johns, and I don't go anywhere without a few mop nymphs. The soft hackle is starling. Thorax, peacock herl. Thread 8/0 black. All my nymphs are tied on straight eye dry fly hooks. Cuts down on the number of hooks I have to buy.

I have some 1/20 oz, Ned jigs that I plan to tie my most productive crayfish pattern on. Might even tie a couple of mop flies on them They're light enough that I can cast them with my fly rod. I have tied pattern on some heavier jigs that I'll use with my spinning rod. Here's the two I tied on a 1/5 oz Ned jig(rig).

I to have fat fingers and these days some arthritic ones. In my prime I could tie down to size 32, even tied one on a Mustad size 32. Around here, at least, the streams I fish here have mayfly hatches, but midges and caddis dominate. I experimented, initially starting with a TMC 2457, but eventually settled on using the TMC 2488 for both. The main reason for using it for the one caddis pattern I use, the CDC and Elk, is that if you look at a caddis fly it's body only makes up a third of the total length of a caddis. For midges, the 2488 has a 2 X short shank. Theoretically, the shank length on a size 20 2488 should be the same length as a size 24 standard dry fly hook. I've compared them and it's close enough for government work. My standard midge hook is a size 20 2488. Another advantage is they have a wider gape than a standard dry fly hook. Give them a try. Start with a size 18, and that's the largest I've used for midges.

For use, right now I've got 17 boxes, either 6"x 8" or 5" x 7" made from plastic photo boxes I picked up in craft stores, lined with 6 mm craft foam with slits cut in it. I picked up a soft tackle tackle bag at Dick's similar to the one upnorthtier has, though mine came with 3 Plano boxes that went in a large regular tackle box, I store my dark side tackle in. My bag only opens only from the top, but it has storage pockets on the side and one on the front that will hold my fly reels, spare spools, fighting butts, tippet spools and one on top and can put my furled leaders and other odds and ends in. It holds all 17 boxes, might even be able squeeze a couple of more in. The boxes hold between 12 and 30 flies depending on the size of the flies. The boxes are sorted into panfish, bass/saltwater. Surface and subsurface. This one is now storage and carryall for flies I would take on a fishing trip or vacation. I have a smaller Cabela's bag, similar set up that holds 8 or 9 of the boxes. That's mainly my boat bag or stream/shore bag. Trout I've only have 4 boxes these days. One for various dry flies, one for nymphs and soft hackles, one for midges and one for trout size mop flies, floating and nymph. They fit in my vest or a small carry bag. Plus of bureau drawer full of boxes of various sizes containing flies I don't use, flies that are ugly, experiments or badly tied. One special one for flies I've gotten from well-known tyers or really good ones I've gotten in swaps.