Charles DeGroot

As far as the practical issue of skinning, I plan to try next winter on a pheasant a trick I've used successfully on little starlings. Here it is: Cut a small hole in the skin somewhere on the body and insert the head of an air compressor. Seal as best you can with your fingers. Tap air into the bird and watch its skin balloon away from the body. I swear, this works--although I suppose it would be a splendidly perverse practical joke to play on strangers if it didn't. Dry crotches, Charles DeGroot

Sorry. By stinger hook I mean the Mustad-style stinger hook for tying bass bugs. Charles

He there: I'm wondering if any of you are aware of a source for stinger hooks smaller than size 10? Do such hooks even exist? I would like to make some mini-Divers. Thanks, Charles

When I first pursued the idea of fishing for carp on the fly, I went to the internet and discovered that several folks had already turned this activity into an art, even terming carp "the inland bonefish." Damsel fly nymphs are my favorite flies for snaring carp, and the most productive for me is a quick tie: on a size 10 or 8 hook, a marabou tail, a small chenille body with a pair of yellow or white small rubber legs jutting upward from the middle (trimmed short and splayed), saddle hackle collar, and a pair of silver bead-chain eyes mounted in front of the collar. I tie this fly in various colors: brown, black, olive. It's not the most realistic representation of a damsel fly, but that's what they take it for in spite of its gaudiness. Strip it at various speeds like a woolly bugger. It's also a fine fly for trout or bass--or any other swimming thing that eats damsels. Any piece of still water where you see even one adult damsel flying around, this fly will catch you something. I hooked and miraculously landed a seventeen-pound blue cat with this fly in black--miraculously because I was using a 5-wt. Unlike catfish, carp are an amazingly vigorous and exciting fighting fish. I'm surprised more folk don't seek them out. A buddy of mine made me promise to kill every carp I catch out of his creek, where he wants only catfish and brim to swim. I break my promise every time I fish there. The carp are the funnest prize in his water. Charles P.S. Simple chamois leeches (not the fancy Whitlock kind) are also good for carp--and great for catfish, which can be tough to rouse.

This is a late reply so you might not get it but . . . I turned my cousin onto tying a year ago, and he quit about eight months ago. Last month he bequeathed me all the supplies he purchased in that short time, among which was a 30-compartment dispenser of Davy Wotton SLF. The entire thing is smaller than a Rubic's Cube, and I believe it cost him a bloody fortune. Preferences hinge on personal habits, but I don't like the chore of getting this stuff onto my thread. Perhaps if I blended it in a coffee grinder with some rabbit dub I'd have an easier time with it, but the short of it is this dispenser will likely remain full till the day I die. Find another option. Take care, Charles

Here's a tip for larger flies, but you might have already divined it. Take two sheets of foam, bond them together with a generous layer of rubber cement, and press them under a very heavy pile of books between sheets of aluminum foil to dry. Or do this with three sheets. Do it with same-colored sheets (black, for chernobyl ants; other hues for modified gurglers) or different-colored (for club sandwiches). Go to a quilting store and buy a fabric cutter, one of the green cutting surfaces they sell, and one of the straight-edge tools they offer. It will cost you about $30, but you will be able to cut foam forms with a neatness beyond your wildest dreams. The only thing you won't be able to do is create rounded forms. Club sandwiches are the finest grasshopper imitations I've yet encountered. Apparently other folks tie them with three seperate, loose strips of foam. I'd never consider tying them that way. Glue them together first, and if you do everything right, the final product looks, not like a curious foam creation, but like a grasshopper--an incredibly durable grasshopper with a flawless silhouette and attractive color. Take care, Charles

Hello, everyone: I'm new to the board, and I've just begun tying bass bugs. I have a few questions I hope can be answered by the members of this board. 1. For accommodating rubber legs by needle, how does one get holes through the hard foam popper bodies (Perfect Poppers) without doing damage around the entry and exit? Hard foam is truly HARD. The needle itself seems to weak and also seems to me like the hole would be too small for the rubber leg to follow it. 2. I've shaped and sanded some popper bodies out of balsa (since I'd like to have some options on shape). My trouble is that when I prime them, bubbles come up--even, strangely, on a second coat after I've sanded the bubbles of the first one down? In a word, what's the best procedure for prepping balsa bodies so that the end result looks as good as with the hard foam bodies? As much information as possible will be deeply appreciated. Thanks, Charles