Poopdeck

There called triple decker hoppers I found on you tube. Tied with colors of craft store foam sheets (33 cents for a 8 1/2 by 11 sheet). For 99 cents you can tie a hundred hoppers.

Been doing this my entire fishing life even freshwater. My dad had no money for tackle so tackle was like gold to us. Everything got rinsed and dried before going back in the tackle box. He would have had your ass if there was rust, dirt, or dried pond scum on anything in the tackle box. It's a big reason I'm not a tackle hoarder, I can't think of one good reason to constantly spend money on more and more tackle. Most people don't believe me but I have never had a rusty hook or rusty anything in my tackle. I forgot I also reload my own ammo and recently have taken up the guitar as well. Maybe I should drop a few Hobbies. Naaaaaaaah, no way.

I don't tie to fill boxes. I tie what I need when I need it and nothing more. I have one fly box and that's never filled to capacity since I never needed a hundred flies for any one trip. I also give flies to my buddies. I also tie saltwater flies, I pour my own lead and paint and tie all my bucktails and teasers, I turn saltwater plugs, solder and paint flutter spoons and furl my own leaders. I really don't have the time to tie flies just to fill up boxes.

Stoneflies are in every stream I've ever been to.

I sure wouldn't want to put a cheap hook on the end of my 6X or 7X tippet. I'm not chancing losing a fish of a lifetime to potentially cheap steel. Anyone else see the humor in that? I'm fine with cheap hooks.

Got to agree with everybody. I tie SMB stuff on whatever I have laying around. From 3/0 34007's down to maybe a size 12 dry fly hook. Really depends on what I'm tying.

I hope at least one person appreciates the fact that I stayed out of this one. But then again maybe I'm blocked by everyone and nobody will read this except me.

Hence the reason for this part of my post, "Human populations continue to increase, animal populations (for most species) continue to fall." On the other hand, those States with burgeoning deer populations probably don't have high cost OOS hunting licenses, either. I grew up in rural Pa but have lived in text book suburbia Pa for over 30 years. I gave up hunting when I could walk to hunting grounds because of the total lack of game. Now the animal population in suburbia is exploding. The deer are out of control, fox, turkey, Hawks, Eagles, squirrels, rabbits, skunks, and coyotes are every where and we are now getting more and more black bears wandering about. I remember when I did hunt a six pointer was considered a great buck. Nowadays friends of mine who bow hunt routinely pass up 8 pointers to wait for a bigger one. The more people the safer the animals are. Can't shoot them where they are so other then car accidents they just continue to multiply unchecked every year. A Pa hunting license is dirt cheap, relatively speaking, but you just can't shoot anything in suburbia. Certain land owners have bow hunters come on their property to try and control the deer population but it's as effective as peeing into the wind.

I have not been able to feel my left foot or use my left calf muscle since 1990. My left calf is half the size of my right as the muscle is withering away. This is the result of a back injury that required surgery. I have been doing everything I can do from a standing position ever since. I have long ago built my work benches to heights and raised my tools to positions that are comfortable to stand or sit at with an adjustable shop stool. I tie standing up frequently. With the adjustability of stools and vises all you need is the right height bench and sitting or standing will be equally comfortable from a table or bench with one height. All that adjustable furniture stuff seems gimmicky to me but one thing I know is back injuries are all different and what works for me may not work for the next guy. The way I achieve comfort has been carefully and sometimes painfully crafted through trial and error. You will have to go through the same process until you find out what's most comfortable for you and your back. It's changing from a seated to a standing position that can hurt the most. The added height of a tall adjustable shop stool is very comfortable to get on and off of compared to a chair that essentially you have to get down into or climb out of. Put your current bench on small blocks and add an inch or two every week till it feels right in relation to your vise height and stool height. It's a juggling act but worth the effort to figure it out right for YOUR infliction.

Your original post is so true even for those of us who are self titled tying misers. I pride myself in keeping things to a minimum but I was in the fly shop just last week holding a pack of black/purple sparkly colored chenille type material. I said wow this will be great for river smallmouths but put it down after deciding to spend the 3 dollars on a coffee and fat cake for the ride home. Well when I sat down to tie some bugger variant I opened the one shoe box of this type material that I have and saw the exact same stuff already in there. Not sure when I bought it or how long it was in there but I was happy that I already had it. Meeska, I'm in the same boat. Nobody to pass my "stuff" onto. Not only fishing stuff but gun stuff, boat stuff, camping stuff, army stuff, tool stuff, lots of tool stuff from modern to preindustrial stuff, power tools, hand tools carving tools, homemade tools. I'm not a collector and I use and enjoy everything I have but I doubt anybody else in my family has a clue what some of the things are. My daughters will get it all and can do with it what they please. They can sell it, throw it out, donate it or keep it. It's up to them to decide how to or who to benefit from it. I'm confident they will figure it out and I will not worry one bit about what happens to my stuff when I'm dead.

Agree with Mike. It's a tough industry. If you want to make money it's sleeping and driving. It's not an easy way to earn a living and if your not driving all your doing is paying the bills. There will never be a nationwide fishing license by itself. There may one day be a nationwide license in addition to state licenses but never a stand alone one license for all.

I'm so lazy that I save them in a jar for when I break out my lead pot once a year to pour jigs. Then I just dunk them in hot lead and burn them off. As far as I know it doesn't effect the strength of the hook.

Belly hair is also longer. I spin body and belly hair. Best is relative to the results your looking for. Belly hair flairs straighter cause it's coarser. Body hair flairs at a lesser angle and is softer with finer tips. It all spins it's more what your looking for in the finished fly.

Flats, congrats on the partnership! Nice tie as well. It looks like it's starting to come together for you. Have you tried spinning deer hair? Nothing could be simpler in fly tying if your just spinning muddler type heads. If your shooting for a real looking mouse it's still just as simple it just takes more time, color stacking and some artistic abilities. I have not a lick of artistic abilities so I don't do mice but muddler heads are not difficult and I see nothing in your tying to suggest you can't handle it with ease.

Why frustrate children. The red and white bobber is a rite of passage. Get them hooked on fishing by keeping it simple, which is the way children like it, then introduce them to fly fishing when they are older. Remember it's about their enjoyment. I do love the idea of you making them rods. That would be something to cherish for a lifetime especially if fishing sticks with them.

To get more distance I find it less tiresome to just move the boat or take a few steps forward.

Here's my ghetto. I had to move my daughters apartment into my basement temporarily as she relocates jobs and it squeezed me into a corner and I can't even use the entire corner. She assures me she will be out by Christmas.

Time for a burl wood accessory tray and rod rack. The congresswoman wouldn't happen to have some of them lying around would she

The knots in the end grain look great. A few splits will only add more character.

Well if that's the reason then they are a touchy bunch. That's kind of like being offended when you own a ford and I say fords suck. I'm just a dumb HS graduate so I don't understand identifying that much to any particular type of degree where I would be offended by factual comments about said degree. Knowing the numbers and future prospects how many of you guys out there push your children to get anthropology degrees? Exactly, none of you. Why is that? Yet we will all tell other peoples kids to "do what they love to do." Yes it sounds great and makes you sound intellectual but this is where reality needs to be inserted. Kids need to be told what they need to hear not what they want to hear and not what makes you sound great. We also need to stand up to the educational system who bully's everybody into thinking they know best while fleecing kids of enormous amounts of money on degrees that exist solely to make universities money. Then they do studies about wage gaps and evil corporations. Fact is if you pursue what you love to do most likely you will be working at Arby's. Yes there is a chance you will do well just like someone with no degree but the numbers convincingly show otherwise This is not a slap to anybody with an LSA degree it is a simple fact. I don't make the rules of life I just understand them and live within their boundaries. How you choose to raise your kids is your concern not mine. I choose to deal in fact. I choose to guide my children into areas where financial success is most probable. Coming from no money, watching my parents struggle to the day they died and struggling myself I know money is not everything but it sure is most of it. Again I don't write these rules I'm just a realist who wants his kids to struggle less while enjoying more of what life has to offer. How could anybody Be offended by my opinions because of some alliegence to a piece of paper and a title. I'm offended when fragil title oriented people try to push my kids away from areas where success is more probable because of some sense of enlightenment. These very same people are the ones who resort to name calling in the face of fact. Now it's time to lock the thread.

You stepped outside of some fleshly boundaries is all Poop. The entire thread might be locked if it were not in the Lodge, to me the lodge signifies some room to free roam in our speaking a bit. But getting abrasive is never taken well in any forum, especially when it gets pointed. It's better to speak with thoughts than emotion, it's also better to hesitate a few seconds and think before hitting the Post button. But I am surprised by who it is that actually gets offended sometimes, often not who you think it might be.In the end, I always try to remember it's just a forum and we never convey perfectly what is on our minds and yet it comes out in black and white for all to see. And being the internet, it never leaves. Wait a minute, if I'm not mistaken I was the recipient of any potential step outside of a fleshy boundary. Please show me where I said anything that warranted being showered with glowing terms such as rude, close minded and whatever else was said. How the heck was I the one to step outside some fleshy boundary. In response All I did was point out fact rather then resort to name calling. I want to be perfectly clear, I am not offended in the least bit and I harbor no ill will, anger or take umbrage with anybody over anything they say. If not I Who else could possibly be offended? Could it possibly be the person who actually crossed this alleged fleshy boundary if in fact this boundary was crossed. That would be a hoot but I don't think so. Who could possibly be offended other then me, and I am not. I'm not here to make enemies nor act like a child. In the future I will limit my comments to fly fishing.

Why is everybody opposed to or afraid of differing opinions? What exactly was said that warrants a locked thread Vic. Why would you be sorry you brought anything up Mike? Ahhh never mind I'll just lock myself out of the lodge so everybody can wallow in their agreement.

No bim not you. In fact I don't take anything said personally. I was referencing one person and one person only who called me rude, narrow minded, and dumping on him and his profession. All from a statement on the irrefutable and well documented truth about arts and science degrees and absolutely nothing to do with any individual or their profession. Regardless, I respect all opinions irregardless if they make any sense or not. I'm sure no ill will was meant on anybodies part and chalk it up to the worse form of one dimensional communication possible, Internet forums. My comment, while admittedly not phrased the best way, only meant to highlight the fact that if you get this type of degree you should not be surprised when you make slightly more then Arby's pay. If you are one of the lucky ones, good for you but this does not change the fact that a majority of college degrees are not worth the paper a Double R bar burger is wrapped in. If wanting or saying things to help guide my kids and other kids to financially security is evil then I guess I'm an ogre. Truth of the matter is financially struggling through life is no picnic. I know this first hand and I want my kids to learn this from me and not on their own. I can also respect If one wishes a life of financial struggle on their kids as long as they get to do what they love. Just don't ask me to pay for their education and health insurance when they can't afford it.

What they both said. Fshng that is a very nice looking fly.

Poopdeck, this is the second time I've seen this comment from you about liberal arts degrees being "worthless". As someone who's made a good living and contributed significantly to the betterment of my community over the last twenty years by virtue of one of those "worthless" degrees (Bachelor's in Secondary Education), I take exception to that. Do you really believe that any non-technical field of study is without any worth at all? If so, that is one seriously narrow-minded view of the world you have thiere. I guess you'd be okay with your kids' schoolteachers being paid $7.50 an hour, then?I'll tell you one thing those of us with those "worthless" liberal arts degrees have learned that perhaps they didn't teach in your program: It's damned rude to take a dump on what others choose to do with their professional lives just because it differs from what you chose for yourself. Why do teachers feel everything is a personal attack? Why do teachers think everybody is taking a dump on them? Why do teachers feel they are the only ones making significant contributions to the community? Me and my wife raised our kids, We did homework with our kids, we provided them with the structure to learn, study and do well in school. Their teachers, while having great influence, actually had far less to do with this yet the teachers are first to take the credit for a smart kid who does well. Contrary to what teachers say loudly and often, teachers succeed and fail largely because of the families of the kids they teach. It's not the other way around. Why do teachers take the credit of loving concerned families and why do they think their contribution is more significant. I appreciate everything some teachers did for my kids but let's keep it real and credit me and my wife with doing the lion share in their education success. Why do teachers always want to infuse salary into every discussion on education? I sure didn't mention it. Since you brought it up, Personally I think teachers are appropriately paid. Now let me address the issue test got your ire up. I say the following with no ill will towards you or teachers. First off read any source you like about the value of liberal art college degrees. They are at the very bottom of every list. Care to guess what degrees are at the top of every list. Look at any list about unemployment by degrees. I guess it would shock you to learn that unemployed liberal art degrees are at 18%. Under employed liberal arts degreed is 38%. So that's 56% that's unemployed or not using their degree. Care to guess what degrees are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Read any source on wages by degree. Those 44% of liberal art college students that do find work are the lowest paid of all degrees out there. Care to guess who the highest paid are? Kids are being sold a 40 grand per year education and are being ripped off by our institutions of higher learning. Who could possibly believe that coming out of college with a degree and enormous debt and low end wages is a deal. While I am very happy things worked out for you, for everybody in your shoes I can show you a thousand kids with education degrees that could not get teaching jobs. Education degrees are pushed harder then any other degree out there. So many kids go for this degree that it's sad that so many were sold a bogus dream by our educators. I fought these battles with my two kids. They would come home from school and all i would hear from them is crap like " I want to go to school for something that I love to do" or "I'll never work a day in my life if I get a job doing what I love to do." The brain washing was incredible and it was a tough battle to win out over people who had A GREAT INFLUENCE OVER MY KIDS, yes that would be their teachers and guidance counsels. I always told them you go to school for something that pays a livable wage and you do what you love to do on weekends. Thankfully I won and now that they are one and two years into their careers they are thanking me too. They both love their jobs. They both live on their own. They both make incredible salaries. They both paid off their minimal student loans in their first year. They both had starting salaries that took me 20 years to earn. They both travel extensively and they both do what they love to do extensively. In fact one has been in rio the last two weeks and is going to Argentina for a week when the Olympics end. Meanwhile I see some of their friends still living with their parents working at the local conveince stores where they worked before college. They can't even afford to pay off their student loans let alone afford a car payment or rent. Care to guess what kind of degrees the friends that went to school to do "what they love" have? I know there is no way on gods green earth you will view anything I said as anything but a personal attack on you and your profession. I assure you it is not. What I say is fact. When parents learn they are actually doing kids a disservice when it comes to college degrees the better off kids will be. I will not parse my words when it comes to the betterment of our kids. I also will not sit by while someone spins my words as a personal attack. Kids need the straight skinny and not some pie in the sky vision of Camelot. Sorry if I offended you.