Current Angler

This is exactly what I was looking for! So far the best I've found are Fulling Mill, so I'm a little surprised he put them so low on the list. Has anyone tried Driftstone beads?

I've noticed a distinct difference between the sizes and densities of slotted tungsten beads from different companies labeled with the same size. For example, a 7/64" or 2.8 mm bead from one company might be noticeably smaller than that of another company. I've heard of people comparing the densities/sizes of beads from different companies using a gram scale. Has anyone done this? Or alternatively, does anyone have a favorite brand of slotted tungsten beads?

That did it. Tightening the knot until it was almost snug, then pulling it down to the ring with my fingers, not by pulling on the main line, was the solution. I tried it with fluoro, and you're right; unfortunately, I don't have any fluoro in the right size for the leader I was building.

Anyone that uses tippet rings find a way to avoid kinks in the line after tying the knot to the ring? I've been told this only happens with inexpensive tippet rings (which I found to be true), but have also experienced it with Rio and Hanak rings now as well. My guess is it's not the ring, but the way my knot is tightening. I'm using a duncan loop/uni knot, tying the knot and tightening it before snugging it down tight. I moisten the knot before pulling it as well. I'm sure the kinks straighten when fishing a fly, but it makes me a heck of a lot less confident.

Dark Knight Jig Hook: wide gap jig hook sz. 14 Bead: 2.8 mm silver slotted tungsten Thread: black 12/0 Tail: grizzly hackle fibers Body: black Krystal Flash Rib: small silver Ultra Wire Hot spot: purple Ice Dub

I wrote a review on my Regal Medallion Series last year. While I've only had mine for a couple years, I've heard of tyers using them for decades without any signs of aging.

Ended up figuring it out - forgot to adjust the exposure 🤦‍♂️ After I did the image came out pretty decent, although I'm sure there are still a bunch of settings I could mess around with. Admittedly the white background probably wasn't the best idea either.

After shooting with a jerry-rigged lighting setup for quite some time now, I was elated to receive a lightbox for Christmas. The box has 112 light beads, each with a brightness of 24-26 lm and an overall temperature of 5,500 K. My camera is a Canon EOS 80D with a macro lens. The settings I was using are shown in this picture: Aperture priority mode F-stop 6.3 Auto ISO Daylight White Balance As you can see in the picture, I set up the lightbox with nearly the highest light level, put a parachute adams with a classic light gray body in the box, and began shooting away. In the viewfinder, the pictures looked clear and bright. When I actually took the pictures, however, the fly and the background were much darker than in real life, or even in the view finder. Does anyone know why this might have happened, and how I can fix it? I tried adjusting the F-stop, ISO, white balance, setting the camera to automatic mode, shining a light on the fly from the front, turning out all the lights except the lightbox, adjusting the light level in the box, adding and removing the light diffuser, and raising the fly up by hooking it in a foam cup. Happy holidays to all!

I almost always base my choice on water clarity and daylight. If the water is clear, I use a natural color, most often olive or a natural variation of brown. If the water is stained, I switch to something with a little more pop, like chartreuse or white. A hotspot can work well no matter the water conditions, so sometimes I'll add a small red or orange collar. As far as daylight goes, the old saying usually holds true: dark day, dark fly, bright day, light fly. Sometimes season can have an impact as well. For example, brook trout are making their way to spawn now, and orange can be a real trigger. Do some experimenting and I'm sure you'll find your own color preferences.

Not entirely sure about either, but a quick google Lens search is usually helpful if nobody else can ID them. Google now lets you search a picture from your camera role, and it is typically pretty accurate.

If you do use a synthetic, consider tapering it very slightly towards the tips. Since you can’t stack calf tail, it often ends up being slightly tapered, which I think lends itself to the fly’s appeal. Great fly, just tied a whole bunch the other day.

I have a Quarrow one. It's decent, but I've seen better quality. I've used it for three years now, and the only issue I have is that the batteries have a tendency to pop out of their compartment. I solved this by duct taping the cover shut. Other than that, it's accurate, and has both metric and American units. Unfortunately, it just comes with a hook to weigh the fish with, so you'll want to get some fish grips to protect their gills. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/quarrow-digital-fishing-scale

Haha, just a good picture. Probably the smallest striper I’ve caught, but the difference between my smallest and my largest still isn’t much 😉

Collins hackle! They aren't as well known as some of the other brands, but they produce some of the highest quality hackle for their prices. Plus, when you buy a cape, you get the matching saddle for free. I have a coachman brown pair, and have been nothing but pleased. For $35, you really can't beat it, although you won't get nearly as many smaller feather (<16) as you would with say a Whiting bronze grade.

Sounds like some sort of caddis to me. Try tying an elk hair caddis with bleached deer or elk hair as the wing and light ginger or watery dun hackle.

I know this isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I have the regular jaws, and if you’re looking to tie bigger bugs, I would definitely go with the big game jaws. Anything over a 4 can be tough for the regulars, but they do work outside of their stated range as far as smaller flies.

I have to admit, when my parents bought me a pair of these for Christmas as a joke, my mind immediately went to tying mops 😂 They were a little confused when I brought the slippers down to my bench and started snipping off the individual mops. Gotta say, they make pretty nice flies, albeit a little larger than I’d normally fish.

I have a DSLR, so I should be all set. Thanks!

Thanks, all! I thought I had followed this thread, but apparently never did, so I was surprised when I didn't get any notifications about replies. I've been looking at doing the same, something I believe is called focus stacking. I should really get some good photo editing software so that I can try taking the pictures from further away. Makes sense. I'll mess around with some of these settings when I have some free time. I've tried using my phone a little bit, with mixed results. Thanks for taking a look at the blog! That pattern was my best producing fly last year for bass, both smallmouth and largemouth. It is entirely possible this is the problem. I set the camera up on a tripod, but it's really hard to get it perfectly head-on, so I usually stabilize it with my hands. I should really just take the time to set it up better, then use my remote clicker like you suggested. I'll have to take a look at that setting, and also try changing the lighting up. No, that isn't the macro I use. I'll try playing around with these settings. I've played around with the aperture, but usually just end up with a much slower shutter speed. This could be a non-issue, though, if I take the time to set it up properly on a tripod. Interesting setup. I've tried a bunch of different lights and angles, but so far, nothing has beat natural light. I've taken a look at some ring lights, but haven't actually purchased one yet.

I've recently started taking a lot more pictures of my flies as I start to tie some that I'm actually proud of, but I'm still having problems getting the entire fly in focus. As you can see from the picture, I get some decent focus on the close foreground (the herl and body), but it starts to get worse the further away you get from the focus point. By the time you get to the tips of the hackle and the end of the parachute post, it is almost completely out of focus. I've tried a number of lighting options, including all natural window light, natural light with an overhead light, no natural light with lights from the top and sides, and no natural light with light just from the top. Obviously it isn't the best lighting situation, but I think it's good enough to get the fly completely lit up. As for backgrounds, I usually stick to heavy paper folders. The two colors I use the most are a dark blue, which turns much lighter in the pictures, and black, which becomes gray. I doubt the background makes much of a difference as far as focus goes, but I figured I'd include it. I'm shooting on a Canon EOS 80D with a macro lense, which I can't find a ton of helpful information online about. I've tried a bunch of settings, but the one I keep reverting to is the automatic mode because it's the most dummy proof, and seems to consistently provide the best pictures of the ones I take. The picture shown here was taken in the close up mode. I've also tried aperture priority (Av), where I've used a number of F-stops but usually get a very slow shutter speed, shutter priority (Tv), where the picture turns very dark when I turn the shutter speed down, and also messed with the Iso speed, which almost always results in a very slow shutter speed and blurry pictures. Anyone have any tips to get the entire fly in focus? Camera setting tips? Lighting tips? Any help would be appreciated, as I am truly very new to the photography game.

I came up with this craft fur leech as a way to make use of the underfur. It's super simple, and yet incredibly effective. the recipe can be found at https://thecurrentangler.com/2021/01/25/tying-the-craft-fur-leech/

Not sure where you find all this time! I would suggest that if you do end up giving some of them away (I can tell you that there are many great organizations and young kids that would be thrilled to get some new flies), take pictures of at least a few of them. It's always fun to look back and see how your tying has improved, among other things.

Thanks for the advice! I caught my first salmon in MA earlier this year out of the Stillwater, and boy did it put up a good fight. I’ll have to try it out this spring for some brookies. Good luck on that LL!

I know I'm a little late to the game here, but I wanted to hear people's New Year's goals for fly fishing. It's always fun to see what other people are hoping to accomplish, especially now when we're limited to our local waters. Personally, I want to catch trout on a fly in a couple local rivers, catch a finicky rainbow or brown in the infamous Swift River, catch an anadromous shad on a fly, catch a pike and carp on a fly, catch a wild, native brook trout in Massachusetts at a spot other than the Swift, and catch a smallmouth over one pound (basically, not a dink) on a fly at Sebago Lake.

Just stumbled upon this thread, and I coincidentally just wrote a review for my Regal Medallion Series on my blog. I personally think its the best mid-price range vise because its incredibly sturdy and user friendly. Not trying to spam, but here is the link: https://thecurrentangler.com/2021/01/04/regal-medallion-series-vise-review/