ditz2

What kind of flies to bikes eat and are bikes good fighters????? Sorry, couldn't resist.

I know this is an old post but in case there is someone out there with the same needs.......A Joe Brooks Blonde is another simple tie and has caught more than it's share of fish of many species. It can also be tied upside down to make it more weedless. They can also be tied with modern synthetics.

I'm with you Mike.....I would probably never throw it. Even if I had a rod that could. That is a brute

beautiful desk......I assume that either you are a beginning tyer or you are quite limited on what you tie. Not near enough storage

As stated above many of my hair bugs have a naked face. I recently did coat the face of a couple of Taps bugs and I used Shoe Goo straight from the tube. I put a little on the end of my finger and I just spread it on the face of the bug. It set up quite fast and by the time I put the bug down the Goo had already firmed up enough that I did not need to put anything to hold the face in place. It does not produce as flat a face as Cream gets but it looks peachy to me. I have yet to fish one though. After the stuff dries a little it will peel right off of your finger. I do agree that a hair bug fishes different when it gets soaked up with water and is sometimes more effective than a bug that floats high and dry.

Nice tie. Thanks for posting.

Thata boy Rick!! I left that out of my description. Simple stuff and the first fly shown is absolutely the correct color...Yallar....

Those are some nice ties and will catch fish. Look a lot like many of the flies in my box. It is apparent that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

I am no scientist so I don't think climate change is real.........how stupid are these people. We are living with the beginning of this mess already. Of course the new pipeline will make the Koch brothers a lot richer and that is what is most important. They need to buy another picture of Billy the kid for over a million $$$$$

my 6' rods are 2 piece but all the rest are now 4 piece. They cast great and much much much much easier to transport. Years ago I thought one piece rods were the way to go. Try taking one of those on a plane ride.......Did I say the 4 piece are easier to transport?

Squirrel Zonkers also work well especially for smaller flies and not near as heavy as Rabbit.

I caught several needle fish in the ML near NSB a couple of years ago. I was fishing for trout with a craft fur shrimp and they were hooked and not caught on the surface. I did catch them when retrieving the fly upstream in a tidal current. None of them were much longer than a foot. I also caught a few blues and trout in the same place

If faster is better than why don't we all fish with long broom sticks? Where is the popcorn? I do prefer fast rods when fighting the wind like in the salt. But I also sometimes fish slow rods depending on my mood. In my hands a slow rod will not get the distance but I do find them a pleasure to swing.

I use some EC hooks that are offset. I believe the number is 84 and I use them in both a bronze and a shiny plating for salt flies. I generally do straighten them but I doubt that they actually need straightened. I use the shiny plated versions where I would use a 3007 Mustad though the shank is just a little shorter but not much shorter. The problem is I have only found the shiny versions while in FL. They are not available here in middle TN

Great SMB.....Maybe I need to tie up a couple of those.....

I mostly fish smb because that is what is in the local creeks. Small bait fish up to 2 1/2" and small crawdad flies. I also use small poppers of about 3/8" diameter. I use a 6' rod of a 2wt up to 5wt. to throw these flies.

Hey Mike....I absolutely do agree with you for most of my fishing as well. I also have several cheap reels which include my Medalists. I have never paid $30 for a Medalist, new or used. Most have been well less than that. I just like the way the Medalist handles and from experience I know that the Medalist is very reliable, even when abused by their owners. They are just like the old timex watch. The only thing that I always missed on the old Medalist was the fact that there was no exposed spool rim for drag control. The Chinese fixed that problem but they are quite heavy though I have two of them and they work OK on my old glass 8' rods. I do have one reel that I paid big bucks for and it is for my 9wt salt rod. If I ever need a great drag I do have it available.

This is the craft fur shrimp that I caught a lot of specks on while staying in NSB and fishing the ML. Size 6 versions were taken deep in the gills so I went to a size 2 and the problem went away. The bottom fly is the fly of note

Sorry Mike but most of us are not collectors but users. As far as printing a reel, I am sure it is more than possible but few of us have access to a such a printer. Now if I was a rich as you........

MEK, acetone, toluene and several other solvents are all quite flammable and most are quite harmful over long time exposure. Handle very carefully in open areas. The fumes are heavier than air and will layer at floor level and even static spark will ignite them quite spectacularly and you don't want to be around when it happens. 10 ml of acetone evaporated in a test tube and exposed to a burning splint will explode louder than any M80 you have ever heard. BE CAREFUL NEVER....NEVER.....NEVER.....START A FIRE WITH GASOLINE

Go to Hobby Lobby and buy one sheet of 2mm yellow craft foam for about a buck. Cut a strip about the width of the size 10 hook gap you are using. Cut one end to a point and tie into the rear of hook then gently pull it toward the hook eye after bringing the thread to about 2 hook eye widths from the eye and tie the foam down to the hook. Cut the foam of square about 1 or 2 hook eyes forward of the eye just like a gurgler. Then add legs to both sides of the hook and you have great sunfish bug for cheap, simple, and quick.

In the old days there were many, many salt fish and salmon/steelhead caught on the old Medalist. Are they the equal of the old Fin Nor ? Absolutely not but then $15 was a lot more manageable for blue collar workers than $400 for the FinNor. There was probably a few other heavy duty fly reels but they were fairly rare and not easily available as I remember. I still jones for a FinNor. Even the big boys like Lefty used the Medalist.

That rod appears to be a very musky.....ooops,,,,I mean husky rod. That should throw some big flies.

You twist up the single strand of rubber and after you have twisted the single strand you then double over the single strand and slowly release the doubled end and hold tight the two loose ends and it will furl. It works with chenille too or any single strand of material.

I have a close relationship with my old original Medalists. I also own 2 or 3 of the China versions and I see little difference in their performance day to day. The china ones are not near as old as the US models but I will say that I wished I had bought more of them while they were available. I can not attest to the cracking of the frames when dropped as I generally try to take care of my fishing tackle and don't remember ever dropping any of them. I am not familiar with all die cast aluminum alloys but I know for a fact that many of them will with stand considerable bending before cracking or breaking. I worked in automotive machine shops that manufactured aluminum transmission shift forks and I have put them in a vise and beat the crap out of them with a hammer to get them to break. They did a lot of bending before breaking. I have no problem with my China versions and would no hesitate to buy another. If someone has a box full for sale for $5 let me know. I would be interested.