jd1983

No problem, flytire. I'll give it some time and if I get enough people then we'll see if it works.

I'm thinking it might be fun. Where you headed Triple_B?

SWAP IS CLOSED

So, I figure this has the potential to be a really interesting type of swap (or completely horrible), so lets give it a try. I'm calling this one the "Straight from the Fish's Mouth" swap and it is going to be a little different than the typical format. We are going to keep this small since it is so different. The swap will be open to the first 6 people who reply.

The way this will go down is the person in position 1 will choose any dry or wet fly (no streamers on this one) they love, for any freshwater species they love to fish. They won't tell us what the pattern is but will ship a few of their chosen pattern to the person in position 2, who will then go out and try to catch a fish, any fish, with the pattern. They will also tie up 6 of this pattern and send it to me so we can put the swap set together.

Once position 2 is successful, that person will post up a photo of the fly straight from the fishes mouth and then tie their own pattern. Feel free to write up a little story of the trip too. The process will repeat until we get to me. To finish out, I'll send my fly to the person in position 1 and they will catch a fish and post the photo. I'll then ship the set out to everyone and we will have completed the challenge of the swap!

This is open to members from the U.S. or Canada. When you join the swap, you will have to PM your address so that I can get it to the person shipping you their fly. On the flies you ship to me, basic swap rules apply: crush proof boxes, self-addressed envelope, return postage. There is no official due date given the nature of what we are doing but please only sign up if you think you can get out the week or so after receiving the fly.

So, who is willing to give this a try? Like I said, I see it being a little different twist on the traditional swap that could be a lot of fun.

1. michaelray
2. RickZieger
3. branden_fritzemeier_67
4. carpflyguy
SM - JD1983

So, who is interested in keeping our swap going for a little bit by collectively catching 1 brookie on each of the flies tied? That might be easier to do than one person going alone (though I am still going to try). If you catch a brookie with on of the flies, get a photo showing the fly in the fish's mouth and post it up. What do you all say?

vic - if you ever make the trip out to east Tennessee, let me know. I'm about 2 hours north of Great Smoky Mountain National Park and have been working out some brookie spots.

kennebec - I was actually going to try that myself. Planning on hitting one of the better brookie waters to try and get a photo of each fly in a fish's mouth.

Glad to see some of you getting your sets. For those that haven't, here's a little teaser for what is on its way:

rtangley's red tag jfinn's purple haze

green's prince nymph fishingbobnelson's moose bi-visible

netabrookie's pheasant tail nymph variation & dry fly

tyme keeper's brown drake djd3mon's green wire caddis

kennebec12's hare's ear variant branden_fritzemeier_67's 3 dollar dip

flyfishingdom's pink squirrel DavidHE's black ant

vicrider's royal coachman streamer and mickey finn

jd1983's yellow stimulator

Strolis' Headbanger Sculpin

And they're off! Flies shipped out this morning and should start showing up in people's mailboxes this Thursday.

Got everything sorted and all photos taken. I think I'll wait a few days to post photos since I will be able to get everything in the mail tomorrow.

And the last set of flies made it to my mailbox! Great work everyone. I'll get photos done and ship the flies off early this next week. Looking forward to fishing all of these in be coming weeks.

Down to one last set that is on its way. I'm guessing it'll be here tomorrow and the flies will be sent Monday or Tuesday next week.

It's a beautiful day in East Tennessee, not just because it is sunny and 80 degrees, but because vicrider's flies arrived with today's mail!

Would everyone be ok with me posting photos of the flies at the end of the swap?

Vic - if you get them back just ship them normal post. No need to pay for express. Mistakes happen and I should've let you know of my updated address.

Vic, I have some unfortunate news. I was looking over the USPS change-of-address policies and they do not forward packages. If the flies haven't made it back to you yet, they may be in parts unknown.

Tied up 5 of my swap flies this afternoon and then realized I tied them on the wrong hook. Looks like I'll be keeping those and starting over on the proper hook!

4 days until the deadline.

Netabrookie's and DavidHE's flies came in today and look great. Excited for the set we are building here.

Vic - I'll be disappointed if yours don't find their way here. I'm still holding out hope that the mail forwarding will get them here. As for the brookies you caught, if I get a 9" - 12" one where I fish here, that is an absolute monster!

Waiting to see if anything comes in today. Our mail doesn't arrive until late afternoon. Down to 5 days until the due date!

We should still be in our forwarding time, so hopefully they are rerouted and headed to TN. I sent everyone my new address at the start of the swap but forgot that you were a late add. Sorry about that.

Hey Vic, what day did you send those flies? I was hoping they would be in the mailbox today but nothing showed. You didn't accidentally send them to my Joplin address, correct?

I've been focusing in on articulated streamer patterns the past two weeks. Left side is Mike's Meal Ticket and the right side is Madden's Krakken.

whatfly - do you see the same size difference between the two? I like the B10S and they are used in a ton of patterns.

Just curious if anyone knows how the TMC 8089 compares to the B10S. Would they be roughly equivalent to one another. Are there other comparable hooks out there to the 8089?

Got a couple more sets in the mail. Will get the page updated later tonight.

Thanks for the input both of you. There are a ton of good looking streamers out there. It's almost overwhelming looking for a couple good patterns to try.

I have been looking at Mcdonough's slap-n-tickle and it looks like a great streamer. I've been able to find the basic recipe, lazer dub, soft hackle, polar chenille, maribou, rubber legs, tungsten rattles (beads?), painted eyes, and rabbit strip but I have a couple questions.

First, what hooks are used in this? From the photo it looks like maybe an up-turned eye salmon hook up front and a stinger hook in back but what specific hooks do people use?

Also, I am assuming the polar chenille is wrapped for the body on the first hook. Is that correct?

Finally, I am not seeing where the grizzly maribou ends up. Is it part of the collar but behind the red soft hackle?

If anyone knows of a SBS or video to pass along, that would be great. I have been looking but there is not a ton of info available for this one. I guess the next best thing to do is buy one or two and dissect the component once I have them in hand. Thanks for any help.