Hairstacker

Has anyone tied any sow bugs or scuds for this swap? Just wondering.

 

- Dan

I tied some olive scuds.

-- Mike

I'm in!

-- Mike

Backing and leader? Where's your fly line?

perchjerker, I'm glad you weighed in, as I didn't realize there were two different suture kits. All I know is I have a medical worker who is giving me scissors (and hemostats) from one of these kits and they are very sharp scissors with fine points -- sounds like it must be the suture kit you mentioned (versus the suture removal kit).

-- Mike

Ladyfisher, welcome aboard!

Your tool list looks good. Those scissors you mentioned are very handy -- save every pair you come across, as they're great for trimming deer hair bass bugs. When you pick out your whip finisher, make sure it's a Matarelli-style. If you only get one hair stacker, go for a big one.

To answer your question, the Brassie is used to pack (i.e., compress) deer hair that has been spun/stacked on a hook -- very useful if you decide to tie deer hair bass bugs.

While you're getting your tools, pick up some 3X-long streamer hooks, which are the standard for tying Woolly Buggers. Something like a Tiemco TMC5263 model hook that is 3X-long, 2X heavy. Size 6 is a good, general size for tying woolly buggers for all-around freshwater bass fishing.

A decent book can also help you immensely if you don't have anyone to sit down with you and explain the basics. I heartedly recommend Skip Morris' "Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple." Usually any place that carries the tools you need will also carry this book.

Good luck and have fun!

-- Mike

Nice ties! I most often fish leech patterns when wet-wading small creeks for smallies and spots. In those venues, I found that color did make a difference and I had my best luck on black, olive, and rust-colored leeches (not necessarily in that order). Less so on tan and even less so on the red/white combination. But, your mileage may vary on the waters you fish, good luck!

-- Mike

Add another confused member here. I thought it was a reasonable, non-offensive question that was eliciting some rational, thoughtful responses. Didn't see a problem from where I sit.

-- Mike

What is "the material to be applied"?

-- Mike

No, I've never used one of those, sorry. For me, I prefer two things in a stacker: decent size and some type of opening or clear window that allows me to see the hair tips. This is the one I use -- the tube doesn't extend all the way to the base so I can see the tips being stacked, and I can also see if the hair is oriented well in the tube. Because I can see what's going on, I can stack as few as 6 moose hairs for a small Western Adams, for example, or a decent stack of hair for a big Dahlberg.

Anyway, any sufficiently large stacker will work just fine for deer hair work. Keep in mind, though, that when tying deer hair bass bugs, a stacker is often necessary but not as often as you might imagine. Generally speaking, if you exercise just a little care when you cut hair off the hide and handle it, it will not be necessary to stack it -- you're going to end up trimming/shaving the uneven tips off anyway, so why waste the time? The hair stacker is useful, though, when you want to even up the tips that won't be trimmed (like at the tail-end of a diver) or on those occasions every so often when you've inadvertently shifted the hair in your finger-tips too much. They're also useful, of course, for evening up bucktail hairs used for popper tails, for example. If you don't own a hair stacker and only plan to buy one, make sure it's a big one.

Lastly, just to be clear, you're looking for a neck/cape, not a saddle, if you're looking for feathers like those I pictured above.

Yes, a Whiting American rooster neck is the same as what is commonly referred to as a "bass/saltwater neck" and is equivalent to the feathers I pictured above. Keep in mind, though, that "Whiting American" necks are sold as either rooster or hen capes -- for feathers like those I pictured above, you want the Whiting American rooster cape, not the hen cape.

There's no right or wrong answer and will depend on what you're tying and your personal preferences. For deer hair divers, for example, I personally prefer rooster neck hackle that is long, webby, and with wide, rounded tips; in other words, not rooster hackle for tying trout dries. Here's a couple of examples where I used either hackle sold as "strung rooster neck hackle" or rooster feathers off of a "bass/saltwater neck/cape":

"Strung rooster neck" hackle is much less expensive if you want to get a bunch of different colors at once, but you'll get a much larger quantity and range of feather sizes if you get a full "bass/saltwater" neck. Another advantage of a full neck is that it's easier to pair up feathers with respect to curvature and size.

-- Mike

The general consensus for many years has been, no, you cannot for the reason Morfrost stated. Some of the folks who gave the warning often added the comment "Trust me on this . . . ." or something similar. That was always good enough for me.

-- Mike

Here's an article I wrote and pasted on another board that might be of some help, since its subject was how to go about trimming deer hair bugs:

http://www.warmfly.com/smf/index.php?topic=3959.0

In short, razor blades are best used on densely packed hair, like the underside of a diver or popper, the head of a diver, etc.; scissors are generally superior when and where the hair is less densely packed. And yes, the scissor blades will dull over time.

-- Mike

Float tube? Make sure you click on "Trailer" (at the top) after you open the following link:

http://www.tapamthemovie.com/trailer.html

-- Mike

I went to purchase my daughter a copy of Skip Morris The art of tying the bass fly and the cheapest copy I can find on amazon is $870.00 and the cheapest copy on ebay is $1200.00 can anybody tell me why the book is so expensive and is there anywhere I can purhcase a copy for under a $100.00? :bugeyes:

I can't fathom why it's so expensive, but from a practical standpoint, I personally wouldn't pay any more than original retail, which if I recall, was either $19.99 or $24.99. I perused it quite a few times when it was still available at the local Barnes and when I consider all the information currently available from other sources, it just doesn't make any sense to pay more. But that's just me.

Another book to consider is "Bass Bug Fishing" by William Tapply, son of H. G. Tapply who came up with the famous Tap's Bug deer hair popper. This book provides an excellent introduction to tying and fishing deer hair bass bugs.

A couple of out-of-print books to watch out for are "Black Bass & the Fly Rod" by Charles Waterman and "Tying Bugs and Flies for Bass" by A. D. Livingston. One of the nice things about these books, including Tapply's book, by the way, is they also introduce you to some of the pretty cool classic bass patterns from the early part of the 20th century.

If you're into smallmouths, I would also look carefully at "Smallmouth Fly Fishing" by Tom Holschag and "Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass" by Harry Murray. The latter book, in particular, got me into tying strymphs, which I've had very good success with.

If you're into bluegills, Terry & Roxanne Wilson's "Bluegill Fly Fishing & Flies" provides a pretty good primer on the subject.

Wow, that's interesting. Sounds like you need to get a compartment box of some sort for your threads and have your wife help you label each compartment with the color of thread stored in it. Just a thought.

-- Mike

The vast majority of my flies are in the 3/0 - 20 range, and for those, I haven't felt any need to use anything other than the standard jaws. Must admit, though, those HMH midge jaws look pretty sweet for tying smaller than size 20.

-- Mike

Another very popular, very easy to use choice is white Polypropylene (otherwise known as Poly Pro) Yarn. A skein of it is less than $2 at many online fly tying suppliers and will give you a lifetime's supply.

-- Mike

I prefer body hair for the color.

That is often the case for me too. For example, take the color red. In belly hair, the red tends to be a very bright red, as compared to body hair, where the red is much less bright and often has a slightly darker shade to it. I've tied my red and white Tap's Bugs using both sources, and I've got the distinct impression the ones tied with body hair are slightly more effective due to the color shade difference. Just a vague impression though, not based on any particular study. . . .

-- Mike

Welcome to the forum. As for the finishing of the fly, get a Materelli whip finisher. Then look up how to use it on youtube. But when you are about to do your whip finish put a little head cement on the tying thread so its "built in" to the whip finish. Thats what I do and it works great for me. Although, something else might work different for you....tying is a lot about preferences.

As you suggest, to each his own, but it should not at all be necessary to apply head cement to the tying thread to build it into a properly executed whip finish. If you think about how the knot is constructed, it is already building in security by the way it is tied. A dab of head cement at the end to secure the tag is all that should be necessary. I can't even remember the last time a whip-finished head covered in head cement came apart.

-- Mike

it is one of the nicest draw collet type rotary vises I have ever had the chance to play with.

Trez, one of the nicest? As a fellow owner of the same vise model, I believe it is hands-down the nicest draw collet type rotary vise I've yet encountered.

You know the wheel that adjusts for hook sizes? You'll find that putting some plumbers tape on the threads underneath it will help keep your setting if it rotates too freely.

In any event, congratulations! I love mine and have no doubt you will have great times with yours as well!

-- Mike

I normally use a plano box but not the big ones I use the little 3500 boxes or a couple of odd ball smaller one I have because they wont crush my flies and they fit into my belly boat storage compartments.

 

Steve

 

+1 on the boxes

+2 on the boxes

Hairstacker the fly stand looks great. If you don't mind me asking is that an ezee grip hackle plier holding the fly in the wood block? Thanks for any help.

It's an electrical test clip sold at Radio Shack in packages of two for about $4. They're perfect for an easy-to-make display stand -- all you need to do is take a piece of wood and drill holes through it:

If you want to get fancy, you can glue rubber feet on the bottom of each corner for a non-slip, non-scratching stand. Anyway, I keep on hand a couple dozen of these clips so when I tie up, say, a dozen swap flies, I just stick 'em in the stand after completing each one -- that way, I can see them all at once to make sure I'm tying up a decent, consistent batch of flies.

-- Mike

I don't know . . . I fish both my deer hair poppers and divers as topwater flies and haven't felt the need to apply anything to make them more durable. Bill Tapply (whose father invented the "Tap's Bug" deer hair popper) argued in his book, "Bass Bug Fishing," that one of the key advantages of a deer hair bass bug over a hard-bodied one is its softer, more natural feel which he speculated prompted bass to hold on to it longer; thus, I would think the addition of epoxy or something similar could provide a hard surface feel that could concede this advantage. I would also think anything applied to the surface could conceivably also add weight that could change the presentation.

In any event, I have found my deer hair bugs are good for quite a few sessions so I haven't bothered to do anything but tie them. For example, here's the condition of a diver after several fishing trips where it was mauled by many bass. The weedguard is pretty tweaked but it's still fishable:

-- Mike