Philly

Looks good to me. I would agree that you need a bit more CDC to help it float. This is my go to midge pattern. Actually two different pictures of it.. I didn't take either picture. I would say the wing on mine looks to be about the same length as yours. The only difference is how its tied in. These are tied on size 20 TMC 2488. This is how I normally tie it and the one I prefer to fish. I'm not sure why the wing was sparser on this one. I might have been short of white CDC when I tied it. Also the wing is tied further back than the original. The fly cover most midge hatches I encounter in the NE and because of the size and color works for the Trico hatch.

I must have missed this one in 2012. I know I was off the forum for a couple of years. Silver Creek knows what he's talking about. As he suggested read his post. I think it comes down to preference. My preference is to use straight eyed hooks for all my patterns, from the smallest nymphs to my salt water patterns. They were harder to find when I first started tying and I committed the sin of heating the hook eye and straightening the down eyed hooks. I will say I never had one fail on me then fighting a fish. Another preference is a round bend if I can find them. Avoid the myths, decide which style you're comfortable tying with. Your choice might change depending on the pattern.

I did a lot of tying during the lock down. So I have way too many flies. Tried a couple of new warm water patterns. Neither of them worked that well for me, so their boxes will be emptied and replace with a couple of new patterns.. Just recently I started hair jigs and marabou jigs, something I've never used before for my dark side fishing. I'm downsizing them to 1/32 oz and 1/20 oz jigs to use with my fly rod. I found my crayfish pattern worked very well for me. I plan to tie some on my 1/4 oz jigs for the dark side. I got better at making in-line spinners and plan to try and make a couple of spinner baits using my "swim bait" fly, aka the Calcasieu Pig Boat for the body. I need to clean up my tying desk and do more inventory of my hooks and materials. Never too old to learn.

We have them around here. Most of the steams and some of the lakes in NJ Pine Barrens have "black" water. A lot of the smaller lakes and ponds we fish in the Poconos are "tannic" tea colored. Good fishing.

These are some that I tied up to use with my 6 wgt in the spring. These are hair jigs. I have no idea what type of hair it is. I found bag of it when I was sorting through my fly tying materials. They're tied on 1/32 oz Mooneye jigs. I also tied some bucktail jigs on 1/20 oz Fish Head jigs which I used a couple of times with my 6 wgt when I was up in Canada in early September. I caught a perch and couple of bass on them. With spinning gear, when fishing from shore, we use 1/8 oz jigs with Mister Twister tails suspended below a bobber. We'd fish the jigs at different depths until we found the crappie and retrieve them slowly, pausing every so often If you're fishing from a boat, then you need to locate structure, wood, or stumps, rock piles and jig for them with small soft plastics or use minnows. It hasn't been exceptionally cold in that area this winter but the fish will be in deeper water, suspended over weed beds or structure. You'll need a slow presentation and also be able to keep your jig at depth the fish are. One suggestion would be to tip the jig with a maggot, mealworm or small minnows. The bass and catfish will also be in deeper water and again you'll need a slow presentation.

Still tying Clousers for my SW club's table at the January Fly Fishing show in. These are heavy duty ones tied to imitate larger sand eels. The hook is a discontinued TMC saltwater streamer hook. The closest contemporary hook I could find to it was the TMC 9395. I made up the dumbbell eyes myself. Ingredients, heavy wire used to make spinner baits, large tungsten cones, thread, super glue and UV resin. The flies weigh 4 grams each. Not sure I'd want to fish them with my 8 wgt. Hook - TMC Saltwater streamer hook(9395?) Size 1/0 or 2/0 Thread - Clear polyester Top wing- Olive Buck Tail Bottom Wing - White Buck Tail Flash - Pearl or Chartreuse Crystal Flash Weight - Homemade dumbbell eyes using tungsten cones

I've added marabou tails to some of my bass flies but they're a bit larger than a stonefly pattern. They're tied on my largest mop pieces that run between 1 1/2 and 2 inches long. Here's what one looks like. All I did was lay the mop piece on a sewing needle held by my vise. Made a couple of thread wraps on the needle, laid the tail of the mop piece on the needle wrapped it to hold in place. Wrapped a piece of marabou on the top and bottom, finished the wrap by using a light coat of super glue on the thread, pulled it off the needle. Marabou might work if you just want to create the illusion of a tail, rather than the more exact imitation biots would give you. Durability. Generally, I've found the bead-head ones fairly durability, but they're just basic mops. The floating ones, I've lost the heads and thoraxes but the mop piece was usually hanging on. One of the things I do is rather than having the mop piece just held down by the thread and thorax is to put a bit of super glue on the bare hook shank to just before the bend, and press the portion of the mop on the shank into it.

Here's some panfish Clousers I tied up last week. They're tied on Daiichi 2461, size 6. Based on the blog that flytire posted the dumbbell eyes are either small or extra-small. I used bucktail for the wings and crystal flash for the flash. The reason I used buck tail is I have chubby arthritic fingers and it's easier for me to handle the coarser hair. As Darrell pointed out, there are other hair options available. I learned to tie the Clouser using bucktail and that's my preferred material. I plan to fish these on a leader set to handle a small slip bobber. I should be able to keep the fly in the strike zone easier.

Still messing around with buck tail. Tied up some more Clousers, these for my own use. Figure they should catch me some panfish, maybe even a bass or two. Hook: Daihichi 2461, size 6 Thread: Clear Polyester Weight: dumbbell eyes, various sizes and colors Wing: bucktail, various colors Flash: chartreuse or pearl crystal flash Not exactly fly tying, though I do plan on tying some bucktails on 1/32 oz and 1/20 oz jigs to use with my 6 wgt. Four of us fish together, I'm the only one that fly fishes. Since the let me fish from their boats I plan on tying some bucktail jigs for them over the winter. These are the first two.

Thanks, Capt Bob. I'll pass on your advice to him.

I haven't flown in a few years, but I always used a similar box, one for 7 days with larger compartments. A list of the medicines, doctor who prescribed them and reason I take them. Mine always went in my luggage. I know my luggage was searched a couple of times. Never had any issues. Most of my flying was done using a maroon passport, rather than the blue one. Not sure if it had any effect on how my luggage was handled. If you've had any joint replacements be prepared to be searched when the alarms go off at the TSA check point. I had a medical card saying I had joint replacements, didn't do a bit of good. Got searched anyway.

Capt Bob, since we're talking about big flies. I was talking with my niece over the weekend and she told me her father-in-law was planning a fly fishing trip for marlin. I've no idea where. Anyway, I told her and her husband, I'd try and tie a couple of marlin flies for him. I've got the materials I need. What size hook would you recommend. I've got salt water fly hooks between 4/0 and 6/0 would they be suitable. I've also have some 10/0 hooks left over from shark fishing years ago, though I doubt I could get them in my vise and they might be a bit heavy for even a 12 wgt. I plan to use the method you described, tying basically a tube fly. Any color suggestions?

I had good luck with the shiny blue and shining yellow pieces. In fact the bluegills destroyed them. Here's a couple of pictures of them.

I think we need to start a Mop Fly Anonymous group. My name is Philly and I tie and use Mop flies. Let's stick to colors. Trout- These are tied with mop pieces from car wash mittens, size 12-14 hooks. Chartreuse, Olive, Red, Pink and Black. Bead Head or foam dumbbell eyes(floating) Panfish- Yellow has been the top producer, followed by Chartreuse, White, Olive and Blue. Mainly size 6 hooks. Bead Head or foam dumbbell eyes(floating) Bass- Pretty much the same as panfish. Yellow or White are the top producers, Chartreuse, Olive and Orange. Hook size 6 to 1/0. Bead Head or foam dumbbell eyes(floating) Check the thread mentioned by chugbug27 for pictures.

I agree. I know it didn't take to long. I brought flies the first year I started. Didn't have much luck with them. I think what got me really going is one day I was fishing a local creek and the trout were rising to something. I tried all the purchased midge patterns with no luck. Toward the end of the day, when I retrieved my fly there was a bit of debris on it. I looked and there a couple of midges caught on it. I took the hook off and dropped it in the small container I carried in case I caught a couple of bugs. When I go home I looked at them and realized I had the materials and the hooks to tie an imitation. I'd just been introduced to CDC, mid-90's, and tied a midge pattern, using CDC for the body and the wing. Next time I went out, I caught 6 trout with it. It's been one of my top producing flies for 25 years. I've caught fish on it throughout the NE and in Ontario. It's been down hill ever since. One thing I would add is catching a fish on fly you've tied and on a rod you've built adds a bit more to the feeling. Have I saved money. I tie on a relatively cheap vise. I've got enough materials and I still keep buying them. I buy hooks thread and to be honest I've no idea what I spent. I find fly tying relaxing, almost like meditation. It certainly helped me keep my sanity during the lockdown. It allows me to be creative, even off-the-wall creative. Over the years I've simplified my trout flies, no split wings. I don't do woven flies, I went through a deer hair stage, found it to messy and that I was OCD when it came to trimming them. I'm wandering now. So yeah, it's worth it.

I used Mustad initially, 30 years ago when I started. The problem I had with them was that they weren't stick in the fingernail sharp. I'm sure they've gotten better since then. I'm not loyal to any articular brand. I've used Gamakatsu, Daiichi, Varivas, Eagle Claw, Partridge, Tiemco, VMC and more recently Ahrex. The only Mustad hook I use is the 3777BR, and the only Daiichi, I use is the 2461. For trout flies, mainly Partridge and Tiemco. The Eagle Claw Aberdeen hook I use for poppers, wooly buggers, some crayfish patterns and streamers. I don't buy large batches of hooks I pick them in fly shops, Walmart for a couple, online though I use Barlow's or Jann's Netcraft for a lot of bass bug hooks.

I've attended a few. My salt club usually has a couple in the spring on a Saturday and I've attended a couple of others. Always fun, often come away with a few new ideas or a pattern or two. The salt water club also has a table at either the NJ Fly Tying or Fly Fishing show, sometimes both. I always volunteer to tie at the table. It's not quite a fly tying night but two or three of us are usually tying and we get to see what others are tying plus the interaction with the crowd. I use a Craftsman tool box to carry my stuff. What I usually do for the fly tying day is pick out a couple of patterns and just bring the hooks and materials for them. For several years for the Fly Tying Symposium/Fly Fishing show I brought everything I thought I might need to tie flies, either fresh water or salt and usually had a least one additional bag with materials I couldn't get into the tool box. The last couple of years I switched over to just bringing materials for three or four patterns, much simpler.

That's a big fly. Hope he has a heavy duty fly rod for it. I tie bunker flies but most of mine are under 5 inches. The big bunker show up in South Jersey, usually the mid to end of May. I usually don't hit the salt until the fall, when the peanut bunker start moving out of the back bays and inlets. Here's a smaller bunker pattern, about 5 inches, tied out of Mirror Image. I did make one attempt to make a large bunker fly for the May run many years ago. I tied it as a tube fly using Mirror Image. It ended up about 11 inches long. Here's what it looked like. Here are the front and back pieces. That said I never did fish it. I test cast it with my 8 wgt, which is the heaviest rod I own, and was able to chuck and duck it about 25 feet. Later I turned the back piece into a smaller bunker fly, and scavenged as much of the material from the front for other patterns. One pattern you might want to look at is Bob Popovics' Hollow Fleye. With a long shank hook, 4/0 or 5/0 you should be able to get at least a 10 inch fly. A couple more of his patterns you might want to look at are his Beast Fleye or his Cotton Candy Fleye. All of them can be tied to imitate large bunker. He uses mainly buck tail when he ties them but other materials can be used. Good Luck.

I'm tying a bunch of Clousers for my saltwater club's table at the NJ Fly Fishing show in January. Like many tables we run a raffle, in our case, to support the CFR retreat in our area. With each ticket bought you get to pick a fly. I've a bunch of the long shank Varivas hooks that I wanted to use up, plus some dumbbell eyes of various types. This is the past week's result. Hook - Varivas 2610ST-V, Size 4 to 2/0 Thread - Clear Polyester Weight - dumbbell eyes, various sizes and colors Wing - bucktail, various colors over white

Yep.

The first one I remember attending was in Secaucus in 1997. I think the show moved to Somerset a year or two later. I found some pictures of it on the FF@ website. A group of list members from the states and Europe got together for a lunch and a "birthday party" It was good to meet friends in person. I picked these two because I'm in them. The show was much smaller then, more personable with a lot of vendors and tyers.

I've been messing around with a possible bass pattern for next year. I borrowed pieces from some other patterns I've tied up. So it's a mishmash Mish Mash hook - Ahrex Light Predater S/E Size 2/0 thread - color to match rest of materials tail - 1/4 inch zonker strip body- saddle hackle twisted with estaz(color to match pattern) collar(?) - half of a spinner bait skirt head- Stonflo Soft Head, size 2 eyes- Fish Skull Living Eyes, 7 mm Jig hooks are popular these days. I'm lazy. These are basically hair jigs. For panfish and bass. Hook- Neon Moon Eye Jig, 1/32 oz, hook size 6 Thread- clear polyester Underbody- silver polyester thread wrapped on the shank Body- either goat or calf hair. Someone sent me the hair patches, many years ago. I've forgotten what it actually is. It's a real fine hair, nice movement in the water.

I've always used the hair from a deer's mask for my caddis wings. It will flair a little bit. It also has a variety of colors so I can cover light wings to dark wings with it.

In another time and another board/list when I first started fly fishing and fly tying, I learned a lot about fly fishing and fly tying from Silver Creek. That said, one trick I learned about marabou when using it for a tail, not sure where I picked it, is to pinch and remove the center portion of the feather with the shorter barbules. This an example of what a marabou tail on a woolly bugger should look like. This one's a bit bushier, on a bass size bugger. If your target is bluegills, then you need to think about some top water flies. They're a lot more fun to fish. You can tie various ones from craft foam, marabou, hackle, chenille (regular or sparkle). This is the first pan fish popper I learned to tie. The guy who showed it to me called it a "fun foam popper" All you need is a hook, marabou, some hackle and a circle of craft foam for the head. This one is tied on a size 6 hook. Going against the grain, most of my pan fish flies are tied on size 6 hooks, a few on size 8. Keep on tying.

Had been planning on going. My Saltwater fly fishing club was going to be tying at the IFF booth, I was going to be one of the tyers, but the IFF cancelled because of the Covid situation. It's an hour and a half drive for me. Still too many people not vaccinated and even though I'm vaxed and boosted. I'm don't feel like dealing with the crowd, just to watch folks tie flies. Hopefully things will be a little bit better in January and I can get to the Fly Fishing show.