Bryon Anderson

I'm thinking a long those lines redband02. If no one here wants them, I will likely donate them to my TU chapter or the TU fly fishing school where I volunteer every summer.

You're right, Norm, and I can't imagine how they must feel. Beyond devastated; probably nearer to hopeless. I don't for a moment think that my situation even comes close to something like that. Thank you for the reminder that my energy is much better spent on gratitude for what I still have and compassion for others who are facing true hardship, rather than on self-pity. (In case this sounds snarky or sarcastic, please know that I don't mean it that way.)

If you are new to tying and looking to add to your stock of materials, head over to the "Classifieds" section of the forum - I have posted pics of some materials I am looking to send to someone who will make use of them. 🙂

UPDATE: I'll keep this brief - suffice it to say we are now on "Round 3" of trying to get our insurance (Liberty Mutual) to pay up. After two months, our original adjuster finally told us we could expect payment in the next 24-48 hours. Before that could happen, however, we got a call informing us that Adjuster #1 had so royally screwed up the claim that we had been assigned to a new adjuster, and would be starting the process from scratch. So ended Round 1. Round 2 went much the same - nearly another month of screwing around, and finally they cut us a check---for about one-third of our actual damages. So begins round 3 - complaint filed with Michigan Insurance Commissioner, contractor (of our choice this time) submitted an estimate detailing what repairs will realistically cost, and a good friend who happens to be a pretty well-known attorney standing by to inform them of our intent to sue for a bad-faith claim if need be. I am still grateful that it wasn't our home that was hit, but boy, is it going to be a loooong winter if I don't have my woodworking shop to escape to.

Got a bunch of stuff I'm not using that I would like to give away to someone new to fly tying who's working on building up their stock of materials. Some hair/fur, some synthetics - see pics below. I'll cover shipping within the US. Please send me a PM if interested. (For those new to the forums, you can send a PM by clicking on my user name, which will take you to my profile. From there, just click "Message".)

2017 Subaru Outback. Best car I've ever owned. I will likely continue to drive them as long as they're made (and the quality remains undiminished). The only reason I'd change would be if I were to get a boat and needed more towing power.

One of the most useful realizations I've ever had has been that "the news" is really no different than a soap opera - no matter when you tune in or how long it's been since you last did so, it's going to be, as my dad used to say, "Same old sh*t, different day". A few big corporations making billions off of constantly stirring the pot, keeping everyone angry, anxious, and afraid. I do keep my phone on me, and it still gets way more of my time and attention than it should, but I'm working on it. I exchange texts with my sons, my sister, and a couple of friends on an almost daily basis, and those communications are always a net positive for me -- humor, support, catharsis, compassion; all the things that matter. I wouldn't willingly give that up. I'm also addicted to the ability to find the answer to nearly any question I might have or information about any random thing I might wonder about during the day. My wife and I have an app that lets us see each other's exact location at any moment, which is a comfort, and also a convenience as it eliminates a lot of texts of the "where are you?" or "are you off the water yet?" nature. It's like most things in life -- the trick is to extract what benefit you can from it, while avoiding (or just learning to ignore) the bad.

Yet another point in favor of de-barbed or barbless hooks! 😄

I think you're right Capt. Bob -- I'm thinking of going back to tying my own bass leaders, which I make 6' long, consisting of 2' each of 30lb/20lb/15lb. If the 15' tippet proves too visible, I can always add on a foot of 12 or 10 lb.

Went back to the same spot tonight and got right back into them. The first two both broke my 2x tippet. The first one was kind enough to shake loose my Booglebug, so I tied it back on and, a few casts later, had the exact same thing happen! This one kept my bug, though. 😕 (It's barbless, so I'm sure he'll be free of it quickly.) Now I'm off to order more Booglebugs 😊

This is the primary reason why I tie almost all my dry flies parachute style (with the hackle wound around an upright "wing post" of either calf tail hair, deer hair, or synthetic yarn so that the hackle fibers radiate out from the wing post and lie parallel to the hook shank). Collar-hackled (or Catskill style, as they're sometimes called) dry flies are things of beauty, but I always had a terrible time getting them to alight on the water correctly. Like you said, they seemed to always want to list to one side, or sometimes even alight completely upside-down. Very frustrating. Parachute dries land correctly for me about 99% of the time. I also believe that they more accurately represent the profile of a mayfly when viewed from below -- at least to my eye, they do. The few dry flies that I do still tie with the Catskill style collar hackle are mainly patterns like the Humpy, "Wulff" patterns with divided hair wings, and a couple of caddis patterns; on these, I trim the hackle tips flush with the hook point. This helps significantly with getting them to land and float correctly, and the fish don't seem to mind.

Truth!

Impressive work all around! You are a man of many talents for sure.

Wow! Those are some whopper Smallies! Nice - looks like a great day

Every once in a great while I'll find a Largemouth in the Grand or Muskegon - but yeah, they are mostly in lakes over here too. I would love to find a lake with Smallmouth in it that I can fish in my kayak. Only ones I've found that have Smallies are big ones like Pere Marquette Lake or Muskegon Lake, and those have lots of "big-boy boat" traffic. Props and big wakes make me nervous...

Went out yesterday to a nearby lake that I'd been meaning to hit all summer. My expectations were low - I thought I might find a few Bluegills at best, so I just rigged my 5 wt. and took some small poppers. Ended up having a better evening of Largemouth fishing than I previously knew it was possible to have with a fly rod in Michigan. My camera setup on the kayak never lets me do the fish justice size-wise, so you'll have to take a fisherman's word 😉 that these range from 13-18+". All on a #6 yellow Booglebug. Just an absolute blast.

Beautiful little jewels 😊

It is getting to be swappin' time again for me, but...I think I'm going to sit this one out, too. I don't really fish nymphs, so I'd just end up with a box full of flies that won't get used. I am looking forward to getting into the swaps this fall and winter though.

Beautiful spot! John Gierach once said that the measure of a good fisherman was not how big a fish they could catch, but how small a fish they could catch without being disappointed--and without losing faith that there could be bigger ones in there. Something to that effect...I tend to agree.

Right after I posted yesterday, our agent sent us a text saying that he was, in so many words, "on it". We'll see, I guess. DFoster, your experience sounds like it was truly awful; I'm sorry you had to go through all that. Poopdeck, I hear what you're saying, too -- it might be time for us to take our business to a company that will actually do what we pay them to do going forward.

Thanks - to say insurance is dragging its feet is an understatement. After we finally got a reputable contractor out here to do an estimate (the first outfit sent someone out to take photos, measurements, etc., then proceeded to refuse to send us the estimate or to even return our calls or texts), the insurance company (Liberty Mutual) took a good week to let us know they thought that estimate was too high, and they wanted one of "their" contractors to do the estimate. We're still in the process of trying to make that happen. Very frustrating to say the least.

Very true - we got off quite easy compared to many here in our area. Our neighbor burns wood to heat his home and I have offered him any tree that's partially or completely fallen. Hoping to hear from insurance by tomorrow and get repairs scheduled by the end of this week.

Beautiful knives and sheaths, Mark! I don't hunt myself, but have friends who would love one of those. Will keep that in mind come gifting season... 🙂

A few weeks ago, my wife and I got a literal rude awakening. Around 5:30 a.m., she (who sleeps with earplugs in) and I (who sleeps like the dead) were jolted awake by what sounded like a jet airplane buzzing our house, but in actuality was 75+ mph "straight line" winds generated by a powerful storm system over Lake Michigan. As we peered out the sliding screen door between our bedroom and a small deck outside, between flashes of lightning we could see nearly every tree in our woods being whipped violently around, and we could hear the ominous creaking and cracking of limbs being ripped off. About the time it registered that maybe we should take cover somewhere, a large mature White Oak came crashing down on our little deck, about a foot in front of our noses. It tore some gutter down, but, incredibly, didn't contact our actual roof. Once the sun came up a bit, we could see the full aftermath of the winds. At least 10-12 mature trees in our woods were either completely felled, or had been literally twisted apart, their trunks in splinters and shreds. It was just an awesome sight to see. 5 or 6 trees had fallen across our 1/4-mile-long driveway, which meant we couldn't leave the property. And (naturally) the power was out for miles around. After we were able to get a tree crew out to clear our driveway and remove the tree from our deck, I was able to walk down to my pole barn, which serves as my wood shop. It had sustained much worse damage than the house - a lot of siding ripped off, along with the boards that the rafters rest on (I don't know their actual name). We're still waiting to hear what our insurance is going to cover. We were very lucky, in the big picture; many of our neighbors had their roofs and vehicles crushed by falling trees. We're very grateful to have gotten off as lightly as we did, comparatively speaking. I am, however, keenly feeling the inability to get into my shop and work. I'm hoping to have it repaired and power restored to it by September. Mother Nature giveth, and she also taketh away.

There are so many places I would consider "must fish" if they didn't require passports and overseas travel. The only one I would endure that for is New Zealand. I want to do the Canadian lodge/daily fly-out giant brook trout thing before I get too much older. (If giant Pike and/or smallmouth were on offer as well, so much the better.) That leaves the realm of the more realistic trips, all of which include weeks of bouncing around the American West, hiking to small mountain streams every day and camping in my car at night.