arkfisher

I have a fishpond coyote travel case and it's great! There are a few things that I keep having to remind myself of though... in a travel case, you can't carry everything, only pieces of everything! Unless you're worried about being made fun of for it, I'd cut a chunk off of a pheasant tail and not worry about carrying the whole thing...you're not going to use it all in a single session anyway.

Well, I have flies from easternfly and atroutbum. I'm putting your flies in the mail tomorrow. I apologize for not sending them out sooner, but have been swapping messages with one of the other swappers and still haven't recieved his flies. I never got a reply from the other. I'll be reporting these swappers to the mods so they can be added to the list. This is much of the reason I haven't participated in a swap in a couple years. If you can't make the deadline, don't get in the swap.

Still waiting on flies from 2 tyers.

15 days left Guys! I have flies from easternfly, have mine done also. Hope yall are havng fun spinning!

Alright guys, we're filled up now so let's get to spinning hair! When you're done and ready to send, pm me for my address. Richard

One more spot open... Still debating on tying a jointed fly.....

I guess it didn't even cross my mind about the short month TB, let's extend it to March 15.

I noticed that someone just started a bass bug (deer hair) swap recently. It's been a couple years since I've hosted a swap, but since I have the time right now I thought i'd see if there was any interest. Here's what I was thinking... An advanced deer hair/bass bug swap. The flies should be fishable, but don't hesitate to get creative. I would like to open this swap to 4 people since the flies are more advanced. This means you only have to tie 4 flies. Let me know what you think. I think a reasonable due date for flies will be March first. It's not that far away, but it's only 4 flies to tie. Respond here with style you'll be tying and I'll add ya to the list. 1: arkfisher - Jointed popper 2: atroutbum2 - Dahlburg diver 3: Troutman123 - green frog 4: Easternfly - Sunfish 5: Student4ever. - TBA

It's been a good while since I've contributed any posts to the forum. I finished school a little over a year ago and got a decent, not great, but ok job and moved in order to work there. I've since bought a house, got married, lost my job and a whole array of other misfortunes have seemed to find their way to us. . . Needless to say, it's been rather depressing with not being able to find a job and having to worry about all of the daily stresses that go along with being unemployed. A couple of days ago I finally got my "office" room cleaned out and all of my tying equipment back in order and where it could be used again. I spent the whole day today tying flies and it was nice to be able to get my mind off of all this stress. I tied several poppers and got back into the hang of spinning deer hair again...it's been way too long. Well, I'm turning in for the night, just thought I'd share how tying really helped me ease the stress of my life for a day. R

Not too bad. Where'd you get your 32's?? I've been looking for some and can't seem to find any.

Not sure where you can order it. . . You can buy whole tanned greyfox on ebay for probably 60$ or so. I have a couple small pieces I could send you, just send me a SASE to: Richard Smart 10228 W. Fairview Rd Mabelvale, AR 72103 and I'll get it out to you. It's body hair that I have. I'm not sure if I have any of the face hair or not, I'll have to check. If you send the envelope, be sure to include what it was for to spark my memory. Richard

All parts of the fox will make good material for tying. The tail will make nice streamers, the body fur will be good tails and also for streamers, the face and paw fur makes good dry fly tails or even wet tails. I will warn you, however about fox. They are known carriers of diseases so make sure to wear gloves when skinning and handling the hide. Also, fox hides have a tendency to "slip" which means the skin will slip off if there is any decomposition at all taking place. This will ruin a hide for taxidermy in a hurry. There are products that you can use to prevent this though. I'm betting you won't be tanning the skin, so I would skin it and flesh it to the best of your ability then stretch it on a board and salt it until it's stiff as a board. The salt will cause the hair folicles to shrink and hold the hair better. After this step, I would rub borax all over the skin which will keep the bugs out of it. Then cut it in strips so you can store it easier. If you have any questions about prepping the skin, feel free to contact me. [email protected] Richard

I use the fishpond coyote. It is great! I have the renzetti traveler vice and it fits well along with all of the tools that I need. I just pack it for whatever trip I am going on. There is no possible way that I could carry everything I have.

Polar Bear is a touchy subject. Check out Taxidermy.net for some discussions on it. Unless it was obtained before 1976? it's illegal to possess in some places. I know you'd be hard pressed to prove legality if you were stopped on the river somewhere.

Thanks for posting this early! I'm going to get around to sending in some entries this year...last year is seemed that the deadline crept up too quickly!

I only steam flies that I am using to display...it serves no purpose to me for fishing. When I do steam, I begin my trimming and get it just about done...then heat up some water and hold the fly over the steam. It causes the hair to expand and a few hairs that weren't fully extended will protrude and you can trim those. As far as coating the fly. I coat all of my deer hair bugs that I fish with. I put "flex seal" on them. It's a trade name, but you should be able to google it or find it in the fly shop. It makes a good seal on the thread which keeps it from coming loose as well as repels the water. I find that it works very well. I said that I used it on all flies...I take that back. I do put a coat on the bottom side of my divers to keep the string from breaking or coming loose. Hope that helps. Richard

Bobcats are legal. If you get a pelt from another state and it is untanned, it must have a CITES tag attached to it. It's part of the fur trade legalities. It will make good dubbing. If it's a full hide with tail and claws included...I might be interested in buying it for taxidermy purposes and give you some bobcat fur that I have laying around. arkfisher

Here is a picture of what I started with. I built it myself and now am trying to sell it. I just didn't have enough room and when I found a new desk at an auction, I upgraded as can be seen in the 3rd and 4th pictures. Hope this helps. arkfisher

Check out a couple places: Ebay...(there are always some on there) www.trapperman.com (post in the "trap shed" and ask for garment tanned coyote) (probably 75$ for a whole one) www.taxidermy.net (there are plenty that aren't tanned on there, but most sellers are taxidermists as well and can tan it for you for an additional price. Looking at 50$ or so for a green (not tanned) one) Hope this helps. I'm going to be mounting one soon but there will be no scraps. It's a lifesize mount. hope this helps. Richard

I've tied on both bait hooks and fly hooks. The biggest difference that I see between the 2 is usually hook setting. Generally, hooks that are made for fly fishing/tying are sharper than regular ol' baithooks. This means you have to set the hook a little harder to get good penetration. If you're fishing for panfish...not that big a deal, but when fishing for white bass or trout...I want my hooks as sharp as I can get them. Especially for those finiky trout where you are using 1-2 lb tippet....not much room for "yanking" to set the hook there. Just my 2 cents

I use my Renzetti traveler...I tie several deer hair flies and have no problem. I've spun hair on hooks from size 16 all the way up to 1/0 with no problem at all.

I have the fishpond coyote and it's amazing! I looked at others, but this one is FAR superior. I would definately recommend it...it's a little pricey, but worth it!

I guess I've just been away too long...I wasn't on here for a few months...it seemed like there used to be a TON of posts...it was hard to keep up with.. i've been frequenting a taxidermy forum(another hobby)...guess I got used to several hundred a day...

Smalliehunter to the rescue!!! Not sure what happened, but I had to format my computer a while back and I guess that happened. I'm still not sure what's happened to everyone though... I used to see a bunch of new posts each day...not quite as many any more. -Richard

Whats the deal with the new post system. Some posts that I look at you can just scroll down and see everyone's reply, and some you have to click on each individual reply. I'd rather just be able to scroll down and read rather than having to click and wait for a new page to load each time. I know that I don't visit here as much anymore because of it. I was just wondering if others thought the same way....I have noticed that fewer posts are being made on here. Just a thought. -Richard