FliesbyNight

@rscconrad, thanks for the tip. I'll try it when I need to re-stock.

@Silver Creek, That is what I was trying to state in my response but I guess it wasn't clear. With the plug-in I have a higher intensity light. Also, the output should be more consistent because there are no batteries to weaken. I do appreciate your explanation. I did not realize there are curing agents (rather than a property of the resin itself) and that oxygen was a bad thing for the cure.

Thank you for the explanation. This similar to most welding processes where a flux or shield gas is used to eliminate O2 from the weld area which causes imperfections. That being said: I am using the exact same bottles of Loon Outdoors as before. My results with the flashlight I have would yield tacky cures. Since I started using the plug-in, I get a complete cure. The only difference is the light. Granted, one experiment is not a statistical universe, but these results are fairly convincing.

Nice. I'll have to pick up one then. Does it fix the tack problem? I like the power of the plug in version I have, since it cures the resin completely hard. I sometime set up shop at fishing flea markets to try and support my addiction by selling flies. They are usually held in school gyms so power outlets are limited but if the HD version you mention works as well, I will grab one and throw in the travel kit.

I haven't seen much discussion about it so I thought I would post a tip. I found a UV light for curing resin from a 3D printer and it plugs in to the wall so it cures quickly with NO tack. No need to put a finish coat over the resin. Amazon carries it for $18. Compared to $50+ for the flashlight style it's a pretty easy decision. Here's the link to the one I bought: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08253Q266?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

The best glue I've found for this is contact cement. Spread it thin on each piece, let it sit for 15 seconds or so and put the pieces together. CAVEAT: the pieces will bond almost instantly so line them up well before pressing together. Use a wide flat surface (my wife hates it when I use her cutting boards) and press against a hard surface to seal the deal. You can even buy sheet foam in different thicknesses for different patterns.

That's mostly because there is no one answer to your question. Every answer or suggestion above is correct. You can generalize (bright day, light fly, dark day, dark fly) and that will often get you in the right direction but I find presentation is more important than color or pattern. Of course, there are no absolutes in this hobby. That is what makes it so attractive to many of us, so you have to figure it out every day. BTW, I do not fish for trout (the freshwater kind anyway) so I am not trying to match the hatch unless it is in very specific circumstances. When the fish are keyed in on a specific bait, nothing else will do but you still have to present it properly or they will ignore your offering. There simply is no silver bullet.

Robow7, In my experience, your suspicion is correct, ostrich herl is very sexy in the water but it does not hold up to fish, toothy or not. Stripers will tear it up as easily as bluefish. I use it in only one pattern anymore, Tabory's Snake Fly, as it is the material he used in the original. I do not use it every time because it does break after a few fish. Now, I use flatwing-style hackle tied vertically instead of flat. I am saltwater only, so I cannot speak to freshwater applications. It continues to work when drifted or sitting still. It's worth using but there are better materials if you want durable flies. Speaking for myself, I see flies as consumables so I am not overly concerned with durability. If a fly lasts 4-6 fish, I am happy.

Hello All, I have lurked this board for as long as I have been a member of this forum. I don't tie salmon flies myself but I greatly admire the skill and dedication these beauties require. I also enjoy reading the descriptions with the sometimes odd (to me) materials and the substitutes for items no longer available or legal. I enjoy tying and take some pride in my flies. I get mostly respectable results but I tie to fish, first and foremost, and my flies reflect that. They imitate the local baitfish or attractors that work and that makes me all the more impressed with these efforts. This is tying for the love of tying. Thanks for all the beautiful fly posts and keeping these skills alive. You are truly artists.

For both people I have taught to tie, we started with the Clouser Minnow for a few reasons: It catches fish anywhere, fresh, salt, doesn't matter. The main ingredient is bucktail, IMO the most versatile and useful material ever. My choice for the desert island scenario. Bathtub testing the fly helps a beginner to understand proportion, material placement and fly design based on where the eyes are tied in. They tie quick and are easy to learn. I saw earlier someone mentioned finding out where people fish and selecting a fly for that. The Clouser does that although I also sometimes tie a Wooly Bugger up to 2/0 for saltwater. They catch fish everywhere as well. Just my $.02 since I didn't see the Clouser mentioned.

@WWKimba Well, that is my plan but She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed might have other ideas, especially once my spring materials order gets here. She has offered once or thrice.

This technique also works well with bucktail if you are tying for a certain color or effect. I also learned it from Steve but in a video. BTW, Philly, that's some nice looking Surf Candy.

They can put all my gear in the longboat with me, push it out into the bay and shoot the flaming arrow.

Fly is my preferred method, simply because I find it relaxing and enjoyable. There was a time I was fly rod only because I was learning to fly fish. The conditions here are sometimes not conducive to the fly rod and especially so in the surf. I started coming up with excuses why I should not pull out the fly rod today and wasn't learning anything so I put up the spinning and casting gear for a while until I could cast in anything less than a gale. Now I know when the weather or other conditions are beyond my ability so I'll grab something else and just fish.

Chug, FWIW, I categorize my flies in the storage boxes by what they imitate, you know, shrimps, crabs, mullet, peanut bunker, etc.. Attractor patterns that don't technically imitate any specific species or bait go into a box or boxes for prospecting. Cat Barf Flies (CBF's) also have their own box. Sometimes the ugliest experiment works or I can just amuse myself by trying to figure out what the hell I was thinking. I find this method makes it easier to pack for an excursion because I can narrow my choices to what bait is predominant (or at least I hope) based on where I plan to go. I can also see what I am lacking and need to stock on before the weather breaks and indoor activities evaporate. Don't see why method won't work with your favorites.

Poopdeck, I read your post and it hit a cord with me. When I was a kid, I played baseball and my father was my primary coach. It was my game and I was pretty good. The only thing I lacked was the drive to go further than fun. I played softball at first base against young kids far longer than I should have because I could hear him in my mind every time the pitcher wound up or I stepped into the box. I heard him asking me the same questions as when I was 8. "What is the situation?" "What are you going to do if the ball comes to you?" "Where is the best place to hit the ball?" What the hell where you thinking?" Sometimes it was frustrating but I cherish those memories. I only quit playing recently because the bats used now are very hot. The third time I caught a line drive headed for my face THEN realized the ball was hit, I decided to hang up my cleats. I fished a lot with my Dad but he didn't take up fly fishing until just before he passed. He never tied and could barely cast but I would love the opportunity to have something like you do. Those flies were made to fish. Fish 'em and think of your Dad.

Niveker, I am also a huge fan of SHHAN for head cement and all through out the fly in many cases. To ensure proper saturation, I tend to get the operation started, add a little SHHAN and then finish the operation and usually add a little more. For example, when making a head, I will whip two or three wraps, add a little SHHAN, finish the head (which squeezes the stuff through the wraps) and then add a top coat while it is all still wet. This ensures complete saturation even with the faster drying stuff. I have flies destroyed by toothy denizens of the brine frequently but they never unravel anymore. As long as Sally keeps making it, it will always have a place on my bench.

I'll second that. I don't use anything from fly tying stores (online or brick-and-mortar) that I can find anywhere else. I get the profit margin must be higher due to the specialized nature and demand but charging so many times more for the same material is just outrageous. Simply re-packaging the same stuff you can buy anywhere does not merit the price jump. Price beads on Amazon versus any fly tying shop and do the math. My lead wire still comes from a spool of non-rosin core solder I bought years ago. Less than $10.00 for 30 yds. Likely I will expire before the spool does. As Utyer says, you can strip and salvage wire from old cables and wiring. It works just as well as re-packaged stuff. Let's face it, you can't be too cheap and stay in this hobby. The cost of rods, reels and fly line alone prevent that but then there's stupid money.

Nice idea to repurpose something that most would just throw away. Please post some pics of what you tie with that.

Started with the venerable Thompson Model A. Bought a used Renzetti Traveler and put a lot of flies through it. Moved up to the Dyna-King Barracuda a few years ago and honestly can't see myself ever using another vise. As Salarman said, vises are basically just hook holders. The Dyna-King does that very well indeed and never a moment's trouble, although I must admit that DamaSeal is pretty sexy...

On the topic of eyes or no eyes, I think the score is tied in the 4th quarter. Personally, I put eyes on almost every fly I tie but I'm imitating baitfish, shrimp and other crustaceans, not insects. Some folks say the eye gives the fish a visual clue to which end is which on the bait, as skeet pointed out. My understanding is that is the idea behind the eye-spot on the tail of a redfish and other species. It confuses the predators. I can easily see that eye shapes help the toothy fish make the decision to strike, like adding a data point to the stimulus threshold we try to overcome. It also makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. If redfish with tail spots confuse predators and live longer to reproduce more then pretty soon, almost all redfish have them because the genes they inherit produce them. Of course, tail spots might just be sexier and that is why fish with spots reproduce more. For example, redheads represent about 1% or 2% of the world's population. If women suddenly found only redheads acceptable, the world would be ginger in the blink of an eye. No survival advantage but still an evolutionary shift. I haven't noted any real difference in takes between flies with and flies without. This means nothing because the sample size is so small with most of my flies having eyes. I like eyes so I put them on.

Interesting conversation. I have to throw my opinion in with Silvercreek. In fact, negative conditioning is what led my to fly fishing. As a kid, I fished a small pond regularly. My favorite weapon was a motor oil worm fished near the surface in the classic lift and settle pattern. This was devastating on the local largemouth bass population. It didn't take many evolutions of catch and release before the local residents would rise on the worm, look it over and then sink back into the murk. Change the color and BAM! Fish on. Then the same pattern of rise and fall and no work would work. I could see the fish refusing to take what not long before had been irresistible. I bought a Pflueger #5 fiberglass noodle and Medalist set up and started fly fishing to give those local bass something different to look at. Clearly, such a small sample size does not a statistical universe make but when combined with all the other experiments and evidence, it seems very convincing. Not knowing what a fish can or cannot see is a solipsist argument. Mental masturbation at best. We do know that certain stimuli will cause fish to strike. They certainly appear to learn with experience. Reasoning is not required on the piscine part. If you overcome the stimulus threshold, you will get a strike, otherwise a spoon would never work.. If you can't figure out the stimulus threshold, you go home with clean hands. Full disclosure: I fish exclusively saltwater now. Too many fish available for them to learn much about lures and patterns, I think. Not like the limited population of a small pond. I have found that presentation is more important than pattern. Size is more important than color. Sometimes not of that matters. Sometimes, only the most exact imitation and presentation will do and sometimes I catch fish despite myself.

Baron, Mostly I hunt stripers on the bay flats and in the surf (Island Beach State Park and LBI). That's what the flat-wings are for. They are excellent in the inlet and tidal creeks. J. Kenny Abrahmes, I believe, came up with the idea for them, or at least that is the first reference I ever found. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I was going to post a link to the Amazon listing for his book, "A Perfect Fish: Illusions in Fly Tying", but it is north of $150. I bought mine for $30 at a fly show in 2010. I also love catching bluefish. They make a mess of things but are a lot of fun. They don't eat worth a damn either, unless you smoke them. I'd love to see weakfish come back in numbers. A size 1 clouser in chartreuse with 3/16 dumbbell eyes is the ticket. Fluke I catch by accident and never landed a keeper. BTW, the Barnegat Bay and local waters are very good fly fishing areas. Not as good as they used to be with all the yahoos putting pressure on the fish, but still good if you know where to go. Tice's is still there...

Baron, I don't normally use a lot of feathers since they do not hold up long with toothy saltwater critters but do tie some traditional patterns that call for them. Lefty's Deceiver for example. However, going back to one of your earlier posts, I do use what is considered dry fly hackle in some streamer patterns. Namely, Flat-wings. These flies can be devastating when you need to be subtle. Flat-wings look so alive I have had terns try to pick them up. The patterns generally call for long, flexible hackle feathers tied flat on top of the hook, as opposed to vertical sandwiching the hook. If you give this style a try, don't waste your money on high-quality hackle. The lower grade capes are better for flat-wings and a lot cheaper. Save the high-quality for the trout bums. They'll appreciate it. I've never tried it but I'll bet pickerel would love them. Largemouth and smallies too. You can trust this Mets fan.

Thanks McFly. Very cool. Never got into brushes but this is making me rethink that.