bowmike

Thanks, It is a relatively small group from what the president has said. Just a smaller club. I will be giving the winter fly fishing demonstration, then doing the fly tying presentation at a seperate table. I am going to put together a feedback survey and pick a few at random for the prizes of my flies. Which i just wrapped up a few on lunch break I think that some members may leave who are not interested inthe tying demo, so I may give the prizes away right after the presentation. I am not sure of the skill level of the members who will be watching the demo, and understand it may be hard for them to see. i will be looking for a round table to do this. I imagine that the entire presentation and tying demo will be less than an hour. I am very new to tying in front of people but do not stress too easy. I do tie a lot of lies, and sell quite a bit, but have never done anything like this. I am going to go in with the mindset of just talking with friends and just relaying the tips, and tactics that work for me. I do the majority of my fishing in the winter because spring gobbler takes up my spring, summer is family time, and fall i am in a tree waiting for deer. I want to give a good impression of my knowledge but not make the audience think that I am some sort of pro, or trying to sell them products. I simply want to draw an interest in winter fly fishing, and show them how to tie a pattern or two that I find effective. I am contemplating having a Q/A session, and allow members to give their own winter tips. Some club meetings can get a bit intense and I think this could be a good way to let members get to know each other better, and not feel like it is just the board reading minutes and talking issues. Not to make the pressure on me more but Octobers speaker is George Daniel. The guy is one of my fly fishing idols, and someone I respect very much for his accomplishments and what he does for our sport. I know I would never be on the same level as him, but do not want to let the members down with nothing less than professional presentation.

You can also use a dubbing brush, needle or something like that to pick out the fur on the body and thorax. I often will tie patterns that have no fur picked out, and also make some that if very picked out. This can also trigger a strike. Fish the flies in tandem and see if they are wanting the buggly looking fly or slim fly. Also pick up a box of squirrel dubbing. They have this in died and natural colors. I substitute this a lot on my flies. The squirrel hair has more guard hairs and gives a more "buggy look" you can creat the same pattern and have it in many different colors. Since you are a new tier, I agree with what many have said above, and you should learn the proper tapers and such first for you foundation, but by all means branch out, substitute material, and create your own patterns. Catching a fish on a fly you tied yourself is awesome, but catchin one on a pattern you made up yourself is even more rewarding. Good luck, pm me if you would like.

I actually like to use vinyl ribbing on my hares ear. I match the ribbing color to the bead. I also like my hares ear to be a bit fatter than most. I tye them with green rib and green bead, red rib with red bead. I use a gold bead and brown rib. I don't like using wire because the thin diameter looks goofy with how thick i make by thorax. I do make some more slender hares ear but find the thicker version work better for me. I also put some mono eyes on some. I found that branching out from a standard pattern can be a lot of fun and a great way to test new patterns. I often stray away from the standard rules of tying such as tail lenghts, thorax/body thicknesses, and standard materials to find the pattern that works best. Don't focus too much attention on books. Learn the standards as a foundation, but stray off the beaten path and create your own. Often when fishing fly projects and such the trout get used to seeing the standard patterns,tied the specific way, (from the book) and you can have trouble fooling them. Giving them something they have never seen can change a bad day to a good day in a hurry. Again this is what works for me, and these flies are not representations of the classic hares ear.

A while back I was asked if I would do a trout fishing presentation at a trout club. I was hesitant because I had never did anything like this before. I decided to go for it and volunteered my time. I decided I would do my presentation on Winter Fly Fishing, and created a very nice power point, with all original material, and photos. I will be giving away 2 water proof boxes, on lanyards with 16-20 flies, that I use in the winter.These boxes were given to me from Allen Fly Fishing, along with some other goodies. I will also be giving away one of their boxes without flies as well. I am confident on my material and am not affraid of public speaking, but the tying demo has me a bit nervous. I never really tied in front of a group of people before. I have tied in front of a few friends, and helped many people before. Any advice on how to go about this process. I don't want to let my nerves get a hold of me if lets say the thread breaks or something like that. I will be tying a rubber leg stonefly that I have a lot of success with in the winter. Not too tricky but does have some tougher materials to work with. I think I want to demonstrate it once, and then ask If anyone would like to try themselves and coach them through it, and let them keep their fly. Contemplated bringing another vice for this as well. Also what would you wear to this. I was thinking that a shirt and tie may be a bit over kill. Thinking khakis, and a polo, or nicer button up shirt. I really look forward to trying to get people to give winter fishing a chance. I hope that this will peak the club members interests, and maybe make them want to push their fishing comfort zone. Any advice on this would be appreciated, and DO's or DON'T's, anything that you have seen in a presentation that you did not like.

black and gold

HOPPERS!

Didn't take any. I was rushing to get his flies finished up. They were basically a chernoybl ant but with more hopper colors. i had added deer hair to a few, and tried some antelope as well.

A few months back I had a post reguarding hopper legs. my supervisor was going on a trip to Montana and asked me to tie him up a bunch for the trip. I was nervouse about taking on this task but decided I could use some brownie points. I learned a few new skills and learned to work with foam. I was a bit worried about these flies because they took a long time to make and get right. He paid me well for them, but I was still nervous about the first time working with foam. I got a report today that "your grass hoppers were a big hit out there, The guide even asked to have a few for his father to try during the trip." It made me happy that my flies were used over a guide who works out there. Point of this is don't be affraid to branch out and learn new patterns. I have developed a few new styles of hopper because of learning to work with foam. I still hate using it compared to my standard materials for nymphs and streamers, but take pride in the fact that I dug deeper into learning them, took the advice that the members on this site gave me, and created a bunch of good patterns for my boss. Lets just hope he returns the favor when I try and call off for archery season when the conditions are just right

I am on good terms with them. I am set up with vip pricing because of my tying business. If you ever have an issue, contact [email protected] this is Justin the owners email. He is a great guy and will do what he can to make you happy. He has donated to a few auctions I had put up to benifit a young girl with cancer. I have tied thousands of flies using their hooks, and only ever had 1 issue. It was my fault for being careless while pinching a barb. I used there 2xl streamer hook on one of my crayfish flies, that brought in a 35# carp. The hook held strong and didnt bend or break. The same could not be said for the guys 8wt Orvis All in all they are a great company that focuses on customer service. I will use them as my supplier until they give it up. I own one of their rods, the XA in 10' 4 wt and love it for nymphing. Justing had went to a trip to their supplies and got a lot of supply issues taken care of. Contact Evan if you have any gear questions, he will put the right rod in your hands. I had purchased one of their compass rods for my Vice president, and was very happy with it. It is their cheapest base modle and still performed well. They now have up fly tying demo videos as well!

use more material when you tie the knot and trim it down. that helped me

I think I am not leaving enough leg on while tying which may be allowing the material to come together easier. I am pre sizing the one end of the leg the cutting off the tag end to match. seeing at how far apart those legs were, i am not in that bad of shape then. I assumed the legs should be further apart that that. Thanks for the help. I will keep playing around with it to ensure i get it right. I do not want to have flies go out that do not look good.

I am also tying in both pieces of foam at one time. Could this add to the issue. I am thinking the thread may be sinking into the foam as well and causing them to want to come together.

Tying a few up for my supervisor. I never tied them before, and they are pretty easy, but i keep thinking I am cutting the legs too short. Does this pattern have abnormally long legs in comparison to its body? Also when tying this pattern the legs keep wanting to come together, any tips on how to "keep em sep-er-ated" forgive my reference to the song, its friday and Im in a good mood.

Thanks guys. Guess I was being crazy by listening to your resposnes. I tie a ton of pheasant tails, and princes and never think twice about them. I guess the issue would arise if I were to take this pattern and try to sell it as my creation, which I am against so I am in the clear. Hope he slams some trout out there. I would give anything to get to go out there and fish. I think the trout in my area may run from a size 6 hopper, but according to him they love them out there. Thanks again for the info needed to crank out 80 flies and take in some much needed cash.

Just wondering you commercial tyers opinion on this type of thing. My supervisor at work is going on a trip to Montana and gave me 6 different hoppers to tie up. They are similar to the chernobyl ant. I told him I would tie him up some of them for sure. I mean we all want to get on the good side of our supervisors right. I began to tie the patterns for him and was thinking to myself that what I was doing was wrong. So i took the pattern he gave me and switched it a bit but still ended up with about the same pattern. He told me that he was given them from the local fly shop out there but since he was spending two weeks there he wanted to be sure he had an ample supply. Should I feel guilty that I am tying these flies for him and copying another tyers pattern. I would never take another tyers pattern and market it as my own, but if a customer has a request and has a sample pattern, should I refuse to tie them. Personally I would not be upset if one of my customers from out of the area, gave one of my patterns to his local guy to mimic. It would save the customer time, and a couple bucks shipping. In the end I feel customers always return to their favorite tyer. I am happy to get my customers into tying and even teach them how to tie my custom stuff. Just don't feel right about tying these for some reason. Maybe I am nuts.

I am desinging a pedestal base thingy as well. I got those small little rubber bumpers at walmart for like 2.00 they work well and stay with your vice. One less thing to carry on a trip and lose. Well thats why I did it that way. Give them a try if you ever lose your mat.

I am more of a nymph fisherman, so that is why went with the swivle to try. I cast my size 14 march brown catskill style dry out and never had an issue. But this fly does have a bit more hackle than most.

I have also heard no complaints on the renzetti traveler.

REGAL! I was lucky and had some one donate one to me, but their stainless steel jaws are great. Only one word needed to descrbe this vice....SMOOTH. I did just purchase a Terra rotary vice just before i lucked into my regal. not a bad vice at all. You can get one for around 30 bucks. Not sure on how long it will last. I'd sell you mine for cheap but a buddy is going to get it.

maybe re borax the mask. Some of mine had an odor to them I jsut blamed the dog to keep peace with my wife. Fabreeze does wonders but I am not sure what hat would do if a fish could taste it or not. Putting a small dish of baking soda in the bag with them could also help.

a barrel swivel can do the same thing and is much easier to work with in my opinion.

I have been out a lot since new years but my tying picked up so much with the season approaching. Not a lot of surface activity but I have been slamming trout on my larger stonefly patterns.

Rockstar, these are pretty easy. the only thing that takes time is putting on the eyes to be honest. The rest are simple wraps. I could not get 30 in an hour but 12-15 is not a bad estimate on time. I also really enjoy tying so it is not that big of deal to me. besides the dumbell eyes and a few quick wraps for the natural skin this is very similar to the rubber legs stone fly. you can also see my caddis larva anchor in the picture. Just weight a hook, add vinyl rib and peacock and you are done. I catch a lot on these simple larva patters. I do follow the K.I.S.S method most of the time, but sometimes you just have to tie something a little more intricate than a walts worm. Sometimes just for the ego boost.

a few anchor flies

Just a few of my new HEAVY anchor patterns for czech nymphing. The ribbing in brown vinyl rib, and the body material is from a squirrel dubbing box. I like the look of the body material. It is not quite as buggy as natural grey squirrle but i like the flash that is present from the mix of synthetic flash material. The body is wrapped from shank to just before eye then wrapped back for the thorax bulk. I added the dumbell eyes for extra weight. I think they will be deadly but i just hope my 4 weight can chuck them out there. I will be testing them this weekend and will let you know how they pan out.