DFoster

Mark as a fan and student of classic flies I bought the book "The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies" by Ian Whitelaw. If you're not already familiar with it there's loads of information about how and why a lot of the well know standard patterns came to be. The book covers a lot of detail regarding how the classic innovators thought process worked. Anglers like yourself carefully watching when and what their local fish are feeding on and their efforts to replicate the food source and it's behavior.

That's some nice work Bob!

Hi Mark and with MUCH respect for those of you who practice the art of realistic tying- I have never forgotten what the guy who sold me my first fly rod said to me- "I know a guy who ties flies that look exactly like bugs. They're almost indistinguishable except for the hook. Yet when he fishes with us we always out fish him using traditionally tied flies". I tend to think flies with plucked dubbing or soft hackles/feather fibers catch fish because they do a really good job of imitating a dead bug that has been banged up in a stream or waterlogged. Here's how I see the "Original" question- There are certain flies known the world over, with distinguishing features, if your creation ends up resembling one you should probably use the word "variant" out of respect for tradition. If your winding peacock herl for an abdomen divided with red floss you kind of have to call it a Royal Coachman "variant". Otherwise why not consider a fly you create based on looking at a natural, matching up materials and visualizing the tying technique an original? Someone somewhere may have (or not) come up with a similar concept but that doesn't diminish your insight. Who knows maybe in a few years "Mark's Tiger Rockfish" will be huge with the salt water guys.

Nice work Mark!

In our local rivers the brook trout are about the size of a dollar bill up to 8" on average. Check out the colors on this guy!

Yes, middle of summer, July. 60 to 80 degrees. You definitely should do it. I can help point you in the right direction if you decide to come up. Wow nice fish mark- Here in Mass we have landlocked Atlantic salmon, they grow to about 3lbs although my first one was considerably smaller than the average. (yes put him back after the photo) .

My daughter's golden retriever's under coat worked great for true fly larva underneath uni clear tubing. I decided to try to get a sample from the cat cat- years of building trust gone in an instant.

Absolutely, back when I was using head cement I knocked over the bottle and instantly ruined the finish on my desk top.

Great price for a roll top! I have a weakness for the classics-

"At least one for the fish and another one for the tree" -Oliver Edwards

When I was new to fly fishing I bought a handful of flies and managed to catch what was my personal best rainbow up to that point on one of them. Then two cast later I lost that fly. Now as a Tier I would love to be able to tie a bunch of them but I can only tell you it was mostly green and wingless. To me it makes sense to have a record of my flies and how they are tied so that I can accurately replicate the ones that catch fish. A big part of the fun for me is trying new patterns on both the vise and the fish. Because I do most of my tying through the winter It may be months until I'm actually fishing with some of them. I download a recipe for each new pattern that I want to tie and store them on a flash drive. I have my folders sorted by the style of fly, winged wets, drys, nymphs, soft hackles and so on. Some prefer to sort their flies by the season they're for use or by the intended species of fish. I'm slowly building my own database.

Thanks Chris, this forum is a required sanity break from my day job. I know CT very well having lived in Bristol, not to far from ESPN. My job at the time required me to cover the entire state. Regrettably in those days I wasn't fly fisherman so I never got on the Farmington or the mountain streams off Route 7. Beautiful area!

Thanks for posting all. It was a slow day at the office yesterday due to the Veteran's Day observance -Thank you to all of you who served. I got thinking about those of us who love to chase trout on flowing water but, like myself don't live next to a cold water fishery. Here in central Mass most trout streams are heavily pressured and the fish can be tough to entice. Because sometimes life gets in the way of fishing, I will go months between visits to a trout river. I began fishing the stream behind the house as a way to keep my skills up, what I call my practice river. Now I've come to love the time I spend on that little stream. As a river fanatic it's great to see the photos of your local spots, please post photos if you have them- This is another warm water stream a few minutes drive that I fish on occasion.

3 hours! The only time I ever see anyone else fishing on this river (with bait) is within a few weeks of the state stocking in April. After that it's just me. The vast majority of our local anglers are spinning tackle, still water bass guys. I have it on good authority from several of them that a fly rod is in fact impossible to cast- who knew?

Not quite my back yard, but close. We're built on family farm land with access to the stream through my father in law's cattle pastures. Roughly 500 yards from our home. I'm thankful to have it so close-

Thank you Mark, fortunate is an understatement. I hope they as they grow and learn they will develop a passion for our sport.

Greetings from New England, below are a couple of photos of my "practice stream". It's a small, shallow (knee deep) stream that I am fortunate to have a behind my house. Lightly stocked in April, by June the water is too warm to support Trout. Still it does offer a year round population of river dace, perch and blue gill. Over the years I have used this stream to keep in practice between fishing actual trout waters. Often I"ll fish it simply because I don't have enough day light remaining after finishing with the responsibilities of life to justify a half hour car ride out to one of our local trout rivers. I'm a grandfather and all of my grandchildren have expressed an interest in tying and fly fishing. My oldest granddaughter is getting tall enough to fit into my wife's waders and I plan teach her to fly fish on my practice stream. There is enough current to learn the fundamentals of river fishing and the brush is tight enough to make you aware of your back cast. Generally the pan fish are not very picky and are a lot of fun on a 3wt especially if she tied the fly herself. Just curious if anyone else has a similar practice spot?

Same here Tom- I'm a few states north of you but we to catch most of the weather systems riding up the east coast. It's been just miserable enough to make me question driving any distance to trout fish in the cold wind driven rain.

I don't know if you would call it a "favorite" but any chance I get to use squirrel -

Nice work sir!

If they didn't have it on film, no one would believe it- Thanks for posting!

Thanks Tom, I've been tying and fishing for a decade and I learn something new each time I practice the craft. At times fly fishing can be a most humbling endeavor, the tough days make me appreciate the great ones even more. What a great craft and sport this is!

This is a hearing aid cleaning tool I got from Beltone. The brush bristles are very stiff, I use it too pluck dubbing and brush out the fluff from stacked hair. One end has a really useful small magnet and the other end has a small wire loop. I think you can get one at any Beltone store-

Hi Michael thank you for the very useful information. It sounds like my guess based on photos was more or less correct and that HMH has made some improvements to the TRV over the past year. I would love to have a LAW- but as a hobby fly tier and weekend fly fisherman explaining to my wife why I need $3-4 grand for a vice instead of a new dining room set might be a tough sell. The TRV at $500 is much more attainable and it sounds like it is in line with their other products. Thank you again and have a great weekend!

Agreed tjm, I struggle with winged wets more than any other style of fly. I've had some luck fishing them across/upstream, in current, just below the surface with no indicator. I do miss a lot of takes that way but on occasion a fish will really slam one. I really enjoy tying them so I have to fish them!