ScienceGuy141

The stems have seemed stiff enough thus far to prevent any fouling. Though the fibers usually don't all stay married and will split

I backed off the tension a bit and things have gone smoothly so far.

Thanks everyone! I'll try loosening the jaws a little more in the meantime before trying out the Partridge hooks. I think I'll want something a little tougher than the standard wire Diachii hooks, at least for smallmouth fishing on the Mississippi River. Never know when ya might hook into a big pike or musky too.

First pic is the last hook that broke. Then my jaws and how I've been placing the hooks.

I have a Dyna King Trekker for a vise. Ive been placing the bend of the hook in the first groove of the jaws and position the hook to get the shank in line with the axis of the rotary function. Then tighten the jaws. The jaws are firm when I tighten it but I'm able to lock the jaws into the locked position with just my thumb. Both hooks I've broken off while tying. The last one was when I was pushing stacked deer hair back away from the eye to whip finish. The hooks break off at the spot where it comes out the top of the jaws. I didnt think I was pushing all that hard but the hook sorta buckled and when pulling down to tighten my knot it snapped off.

Hi Everyone, I've been tying articulated streamers lately. I usually use a #4 Diachii 2460 rear hook and #2 B10S front hook, or #6 2460 for a rear hook and #4 up front. Though, I've now busted off two of the Diachii hooks in my vise. I'm not sure if these two hooks were just duds, or if I was just reefing on them more than I realized. I'm thinking I might want to move up to a beefier hook. Does anyone have any experience with the Firehole 860's or Ahrex TP610's? The Fireholes look to be quite a bit cheaper, but are barbless. Thanks in advance for your insights.

Mini boogieman

I think this looks pretty darn good. It'll definitely catch fish. Getting the wing lower will probably be easiest with a different patch of hair. You can try to adjust your tension at the tie in point like you mentioned but sometimes different techniques can't overcome the tendencies of the material you're working with. Especially in rougher water though a higher wing might be nice to help track the fly through your drift. I just saw a video of Tom Rosenbauer and Tim Flagler tying with yearling elk, and they talked about how little it seemed to flare. It always helps to see the hair before buying and you can select a piece that fits the application. An almost completely aesthetic point is, if you want, you can trim the hair before you tie it in, so when you cinch down, you'll get a nice dome shaped head. You won't have to trim the head at all after. I've heard guys say the dome shaped head gives the fly more stability, but I don't see how that could make any difference given how small the head is.

Like everyone else has said, they won't bother you, but worth being cautious to not somehow manage to step on it. If its too big of a problem they taste pretty good 😁. A royal pain to clean, but they aren't bad eating.

Thanks!

Roughly how long are the feathers on the skilto saddles? I've been looking to buy some feathers for streamers and bass/pike flies. I'm hoping to be able to get webby feathers for palmering wooly buggers/streamers and some smaller feathers for wings/sides/lateral lines on streamers. Is it possible to find a decent amount of both feather types on a single cape? The options seem endless from the different suppliers, deceiver/bugger packs, rooster capes, coq de leon, etc. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

My grandpa caught a groundhog that had gotten into his garden. He had a good laugh after serving it to everyone at the next family gathering. It was actually pretty good, but some of the family was less enthused about eating groundhog.

From an aesthetics standpoint, I like the traditional grizzly and brown. For whatever reason I just think it looks cool. I'm no entomologist, but the cree does look more natural to me.

Haha, I always appreciate the guidance in choosing the right path. Going off of the chart @silvercreek posted, coming out at about 1/3 the listed unit price of a Whiting Bronze isn't too bad! Now I just need to find some time to put the feathers to use.

I had just about talked myself out of picking up the feathers, but happened that I'd have to drop my girlfriend off at the airport and the seller lived only a few minutes from there. I tried to negotiate down and started at $20, but they were firm at $40 and we eventually made the deal at $40. I'm pretty pleased with the quality at least on general inspection. Tips are all there, stems are straight on the sizes 14 and down with some good larger hackles too. It only looked like a few feathers had been used from the grizzly, but the others looked relatively untouched.