Flysmith

Just Google "Bugskin Material" and you'll come up with a number of on-line shops that sell it. Some where out of stock, so you m ight call first before placing the order. My local flyshop does not carry it.

This doesn't have anything to do with deer hair, but with deer hide. We tie a chamois San Juan Worm with strips of deer hide, usually from the belly. The deer hide is animated in the current with a lot of action, durable, and easy to tie. I'd like to find some stark white, and I think I will have to use white leather shoe dye. I've tried bleach, but it quickly rots the leather. Any ideas out there? I hope I didn't just derail this thread as it is a good one.

I've never used super glue. I don't know if it is a fact, but I've been told or read somewhere that super glues are not waterproof. I use Softex for everything except eggs and jigs. On those patterns, I use Sally's Hard as Nails.

I think the tier’s vise is a personal preference for sure depending on your style and what you tie. My vise is a Danvise true rotary that I bought probably twenty years ago for $80 and have no desire to ever replace it. I tie a lot of heavily hackled patterns, and rarely tie anything under size 18. I also don’t do any production tying, where rotary tying adds more time to the tie IMHO. When I first started tying, I didn’t have a clue what the rotary feature was for and never used it. Saw a few videos made using true rotary, and learning the use of that one feature made a tremendous difference in my finished flys. Griff, these folks have some excellent advice here. If you could find a fly shop that would let you demo the vises; that would be even better.

Bad news for Dish Network subscribers. OLN has been dropped from their regular programming. OLN also has not renew their comtract with Fly Fish TV... my favorite

Most sewing - material - quilting shops will either sharpen scissors or provide a sharpening service pickup. I like the razor blade idea and will give that a shot myself. Thanks for the tip

I noticed several of you mention that you split the thread to give dubbing a thinner profile. I like using this method, but my old eyes just can't seem to coordinate with the hand. Do any of you have a secret method to easily split the tying thread?

The crackleback is definitely my goto fly, in a variety of colors with my favorites being gold, ginger, sable, and furnace hackle. I use gold floss body, and two strands of peacock herl along the back. I tie the hackle butt first at the hook bend, and I like to catch a little of the hackle securing on the hook to give a wisp of a tail. Already mentioned, the hackle has a dull and bright side. Actually I tie the dull or "cupped" side facing me, and wind the hackle clockwise towards the hook eye. This causes the hackle to bend slightly forward towards the hook and gives the fly extra movement on the surface. I never use floatant on the fly, as I use it both like a dry and a soft hackle pattern. At the end of the drift, I pop the fly under the surface and strip back. A few false cast shakes out the water, and start over as a dry. Another simular pattern is the "Big Ugly". Same pattern except the body is all peacock herl [no floss] and I overhackle the body [not palmered].