deeky

Swap pics are up in a new topic. Check them out.

Deeky

Here are the results for the recent Telephone Swap. The concept was that each tyer sent a single fly that was then passed on to another tyer to duplicate. It didn't necessarily need to be an exact duplication, but rather a reproduction with your own style or adjusted to use materials the tyer already had. Below are pics of the flies, with the original followed by the reproduction:

Bambudday

Bluegill576

Deeky

FishingBobNelson

FrequentTyer

Lykos33

Margaretann

Professori

Shadowfly

Thanks to all who participated. It has been another good swap.

Deeky

No mullet in the geographical center of the US, but teh January edition of 'Fly Fishing and Fly Tying' had an article that included a lot on mullet. It references teh Flexi-Shrimp and the Exorcist. Not sure what the Exorcist is, but the Flexi-Shrimp looks pretty straight forward - hackle fibers out the back with matching Flexi-Floss for a body on a curved hook.

Deeky

I don't mean to take away from your question, but I am honestly curious, what is the story with the furled leader? why do people use them? advantages? disadvantages? I always read about them but truly know nothing about them. Sounds interesting.

That's kind of funny. I'm actually a residential realtor. Even when I was in full time church work, I realized about half of the work is sales (fundraisers, talking people into coming to an event, selling a new idea to the council or board). I guess once a pitch-man, always a pitch-man. Want to buy a bridge?

Deeky

Slightly aside, but Kahle hooks also make a great hook for crawdads. Tie in dumbells just above the bend and it keeps the hook point well above the bottom, as well as giving the fly a heads up look.

Deeky

I'll throw in on this one with a limited response.

I have to admit I didn't see the Hatches article, so I can't say for sure what would be the best process for finishing the ends as it somewhat depends on the process.

I can answer, however, to the benefits of using them. Russia is spot on, and I'll add that I can make them to my own specifications, and compared to knotting a leader of different diameter and types of material, it provides you a much more smooth taper with no knots to collect aquatic foliage. I don't use the metal ring at the tippet end, but use a Shorb loop on both ends to loop-to-loop connect everything.

As for materials, I use about a 50/50 split between mono and Uni-Thread (particularly 6/0 for the 4 and 5 weights). Mono for surface and shallow flies (it floats), Uni for anything under the surface (it sinks and helps get the fly down that much faster). Other people will also use florocarbon or copolymer to provide a clear leader that sinks with higher break-strength per diameter.

As for jig set up, you can use as many pegs and loops as you like. The more pegs - the more steps to the taper and the more gradual you can make it. I use 2 pegs per leg with another peg for the end. Because the pegs are staggered from eachother, although there are only 2 pegs per leg, it actually gives me 4 steps in the final taper.

And, as stated, once you use them, I really doubt you will go back to the manufactured tapered mono leaders. It's like going from a McDonald's apple pie to Grandma's homemade recipe with real sugar and a true lard crust - it's just not the same.

Deeky

Looking at the pattern, you wouldn't particularly need a saddle hackle, just any dry fly hackle. I think the saddle is used because of the dense hackling that is used on the fly. The length of the saddle hackle would allow you to tie the fly with a single hackle and ending up with a single length of hackle fiber. If you want cheap, you could find a brown India saddle. Just be prepared to use more than one hackle and not end up with the nice, even hackle length that you would see in a fly tied with a saddle hackle.

Deeky

All right, I got the last set of flies today, so the packages will be on their way to you shortly. It's a good set. I'll also be posting comparison photos to see the unique adaptations that have been made in this little game of Telephone.

Deeky

any signs of my flies yet?

Just showed up yesterday.

We are waiting on one more set. Last I heard they were ready to go out. I'll let you know.

Deeky

My wife's grandfather lost the middle three fingers of his right hand in a farming accident years ago. He can't type very well, but he is of the generation that doesn't type much anyway. He has been big in softball and can catch and throw a ball just fine. Your buddy, if he is ready mentally, will adapt and get over it just fine. The best use of the lost finger will be a reminder for gun safety - no round in the chamber until you are in the field and actually hunting.

Deeky

Not sure about Davie, but if you are looking to get into it for kicks (not high end professional production), consider a decent flip cam. You can get them to shoot hi def and better yet, they are small enough you can put it on a mini tripod between you and the vice and actually shoot from the tier's perspective. Watch the sales - I picked up a Kodak zi8 for under $70. Click on one of the videos on this page to see what kind of video it takes. Keep in mind, if you maximize the video on that page it will look grainy. I actually downsize the video when I export from the editor to keep bandwith usage and download time down.

Flytire is right - knowing how to use what you have is your best bet. Avoid zoom, have plenty of steady light. I picked up the lavalier mic at Radio Shack and it helped my sound quality immensely. I've only done 6 videos, but even I find it amusing how far they have progressed in that time. Shoot, edit, review, learn, do it again.

Deeky

What browser are you using? With automatic updates, things may take a bit to work out compatability. I know when I went to the latest version of Explorer, the notifications button at the top right corner don't work quite right. I've found my way around that, but the search issue might be a little more difficult to work around. If nothing else, revert to an older version of the browser or try a different one. Not the greatest, but it may work.

Deeky

All right, we are a little behind, but I've heard from everyone and the last two sets should be on their way. I'll get pics going on the ones I have and the returns will be on their way when I get the last sets.

Deeky

Congrats on the smoking, that is a great accomplishment.

But I have to say, I think you could have picked a better subject for the thread. I saw '9 months' and 'baby' in the same sentence..........

Keep it up.

Deeky

I do agree it is good conversation and an option that we should all be aware of. I just didn't want people getting confused about the two different styles of hooks.

Circle hooks can also be a good option for fishing with young kids. If they don't set the hook right away, you can avoid the gut hooked fish. And most young kids (like my 5-year old) don't have a great hook-set. Just let them start reeling and it is well suited to set the circle hook.

Deeky

I use them. But note that I am primarily a warmwater fisherman and the fish aren't typically as picky as trout. I love them because I can change flies quickly without having to add tippet every few flies. They also allow the fly to move freely like an open-loop knot. The only downfall is the weight that they add to dry flies - hinders floatability. There are a few different brands out there. I happen to prefer the Northland Tackle ones in smaller sizes. I will also use a larger snap (no swivel) on my 7- and 9- weight rods. Never seen a bass or pike that was that shy about a snap.

Deeky

Very nice work. I've read about horse hair in the past and like the results, but haven't given it much thought as I was never really sure where to come up with some hair. Obviously rather than having an inside source, you are the inside source. Where would I find it locally? I'm guessing the vet doesn't do much of the hair cutting. Does the stable do that? Is it really that common to trim enough off of a horse's mane to have a useable length?

As hard as I understand it has gotten to be able to put a horse down, I hope it would be easier to come up with some hair.

Deeky

OK, now that makes more sense when explained that way. Really, we are both right. Flyrite is polypropyline fibers, of which dubbing is just shorter fibers of a length of yarn that have been blended up a little (in this case, fibers of two colored yarns blended together). What you are talking about is taking the fibers, re-orienting them, tying them in bunched into a strand, and wrapping them the same as a length of yarn.

My process was simply the same result from the other direction. I suggested pulling fibers from a yarn such as antron or poly, mixing two colors, and wrapping them up the shank together. It just cut out the middle steps of turning the original yarn fibers into a dubbing ball and then having to re-orient them.

Deeky

So show us a video of how it's done if you are able get it done with dubbing. I would be really curious to see it and learn.

As I stated, the only reason it is not mottled is because I don't happen to have brown antron yarn on hand.

Deeky

Just for clarification, are we straying into a different style of hook than in the original post? The original post photo seems to basically be a scud hook with a good bend to it. But based on conversation, I think a lot of us are thinking the true circle hooks in which the point is turned a full 90 degrees to the line of the shank.

Does that extra turn right at the point make all the difference? Or is it the general round shape of the shank that will do the trick?

Deeky

flies are done. Need an addy.

I tried sending it, but apparently your inbox is full. I got an error message that you weren't receiving any new messages. Check it out and let me know.

Deeky

How are they using the mylar? Can you describe the process or instructions? Are they using the mylar as the primary structural material or just as the shiny coat on the surface?

Deeky

Here's a little experiment that I was working on. First, playing with a mixed dubbing in a furled extended body. The other new one for me is red eyes on a damsel pattern. All of my others have had black eyes, but I saw this somewhere and we'll see what the fish think of it this spring. Thorax is just a braid wrapped around.

Deeky

Fair warning, this was tied at midnight as I was winding down from a very long day. Take it for what it's worth. I tied this up with olive antron yarn for the body and gray for the post. I considered using orange for the post for a hi-vis, but find it hard to mess with this classic color pattern. Take a look at the body material and you be the judge.

Deeky

Here's one from a while back - woven foam bee. I also interwove some peacock herl to give a little texture to the abdomen.

Enjoy.

Deeky