Guide's Choice Fly Swap With A Twist

[jburge 0]

So I get home from work today, late as usual it seems lately and wow there is a surprise in the mail box. I find a package. Cool I am waiting for a tee shirt from NADDI. It must be here. I open it and it is a lovely package of hair's ear parachutes. I'm not running a swap. I have just joined the first swap in weeks.

 

Thanks JBurge.

 

 

Thank goodness he is so organized so I could find the right swap quickly.

 

 

Breambuster, are you coming to Rock Hill by any chance Saturday? If not send me your address. I will get them out Monday.

 

To quote Robin Williams in Alladin, "Boy, do I feel sheepish. Baaaaa."

 

I obviously wasn't thinking (or reading) when I printed out address labels and shipped flies off. Mea culpa, and I apologize to all for causing the hold-up. In all the swaps I've done, I've never mailed 'em off to the wrong "meister." Troutguy, thanks a TON for figuring out what happened and getting them to BB. BB, thanks for your patience! You both deserve a round of applause!

[troutguy 0]

Breambuster call me. I am going to Great Falls need to change meet

[troutguy 0]

Well I got to meet Breambuster. True to South Carolina culture we met a a fireworks superstore. Nice chewing the fat with you. You epitomize southern gentleman.

[breambuster 0]

I don't know if Troutguy knows it or not, but he has paid me one of the 2 highest compliments, in my estimation, that I could ever receive. He called me a "Southern Gentleman," which is a title I doubt that I deserve. But it was a joy and a pleasure to meet him, and to swap stories for a while. He is truly a stand-up guy, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting him in person.

 

In the process, I received Jburge's set of awesome flies. Outstanding work, as always. And I also received Hazathor's flies in the mail yesterday, which makes the set complete. I won't say which set came into my hands first, so neither of them can say that they were theirs was the last to arrive.

 

Today is my busiest work-day of the week and I have a meeting tomorrow morning, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get them back in the mail but I'll get it done as soon as possible. And I'll let you all know when they've been mailed. This is truly an awesome set of flies that I'm sure you are all going to enjoy having.

 

So now, it's time for you all to get ready for the Ultimate Challenge fly swap. I'll be posting that next week, so be sure to watch for it.

 

Take care

 

BB

[breambuster 0]

Well, guys, I must say that it was an adventure, but I got the flies back in the mail for you all today. I think it must have been the Postal Clerk's first day because she was clueless. At this Post Office, they enter the Zip Code for each of you guys and check the postage to make sure that there is enough. Somehow, this lady could never remember that 2 $1 stamps and the same stamp that many of you used, a stamp with a butterfly on it, was enough to pay the postage. She had to add it up in her mind each time, and she was slow at adding. THEN, we came to the Customs Declaration for Decisions & things REALLY got slow. It took her 10 or 15 minutes to do that one package because she had to keep on asking the other Postal Clerk about each step along the way. THEN, she had to ask if the I had to pay for the 4 Post Office envelopes that were among the set. And she asked me if you guys had paid for them. But worst of all, there was one package with 4 forever stamps on it and it needed more postage. WHY she didn't just print out one of those Post Office metered strips that says that I paid X amount in postage I do not know! She used postage stamps and had the hardest time figuring out how many $.10 stamps and $.05 stamps and $.02 stamps and $.01 stamps she needed to put on the envelope. Finally she determined that she had put $.02 too much on the package, and so she said she would pay for that. She kept saying that the Post Office needed to provide her with a calculator. Fun times at the old Post Office today.

 

Guys, let me know when you receive your flies and I hope you enjoy studying them, learning from them, and fishing with them. They are all flies that some fishing guide somewhere has come up with to be his go-to fly when it looks like he and his client are about the be skunked, so they are good, reliable patterns.

 

And start thinking about the next swap. Here's the basic idea. What is your greatest nightmare when it comes to fly tying? If your best friend called you and said, "I'm going to the best fishing spot in the world and I need a particular pattern of flies," and what he asked for is the fly that you feel LEAST capable of tying. What thing about that particular pattern would make you break out in a cold sweat? Is it a hair wing? Is it a wet fly with wings? Is it a dry fly with wings? Is it a Parachute, or a Comparadun, or whatever? Is it a very small fly? Or a fly with a married wing like the Parmachene Belle. I haven't posted this swap yet, but here is how it's going to work. You let me know that you want to join the swap and when you do, you let me know what is your greatest challenge in fly tying. Then I will assign you a fly that incorporates that challenge. You won't know what the pattern is until I assign it to you. Then you work at it until you can send in a dozen presentable flies. I hope many of you will take the challenge and join us. It's all in fun and the goal of everything we do here is to develop our abilities & learn new patterns. I will let you know when I get it posted so that you can sign up.

 

Take care

 

BB

[wmw4 0]

Pretty cool swap idea. If my buddy asked for a dozen deer hair bass bugs I would just have to tell him he's out of luck. Haven't tied a ton of trout flies and mostly do soft hackles when I do so nothing really stands out to me. If the warmwater topwater swap falls through I'll probably join up and let you pick with any dry fly being fair game.

[Idaho RC 0]

You know I am in on the next swap.

[troutguy 0]

Well, guys, I must say that it was an adventure, but I got the flies back in the mail for you all today. I think it must have been the Postal Clerk's first day because she was clueless. At this Post Office, they enter the Zip Code for each of you guys and check the postage to make sure that there is enough. Somehow, this lady could never remember that 2 $1 stamps and the same stamp that many of you used, a stamp with a butterfly on it, was enough to pay the postage. She had to add it up in her mind each time, and she was slow at adding. THEN, we came to the Customs Declaration for Decisions & things REALLY got slow. It took her 10 or 15 minutes to do that one package because she had to keep on asking the other Postal Clerk about each step along the way. THEN, she had to ask if the I had to pay for the 4 Post Office envelopes that were among the set. And she asked me if you guys had paid for them. But worst of all, there was one package with 4 forever stamps on it and it needed more postage. WHY she didn't just print out one of those Post Office metered strips that says that I paid X amount in postage I do not know! She used postage stamps and had the hardest time figuring out how many $.10 stamps and $.05 stamps and $.02 stamps and $.01 stamps she needed to put on the envelope. Finally she determined that she had put $.02 too much on the package, and so she said she would pay for that. She kept saying that the Post Office needed to provide her with a calculator. Fun times at the old Post Office today.

 

Guys, let me know when you receive your flies and I hope you enjoy studying them, learning from them, and fishing with them. They are all flies that some fishing guide somewhere has come up with to be his go-to fly when it looks like he and his client are about the be skunked, so they are good, reliable patterns.

 

And start thinking about the next swap. Here's the basic idea. What is your greatest nightmare when it comes to fly tying? If your best friend called you and said, "I'm going to the best fishing spot in the world and I need a particular pattern of flies," and what he asked for is the fly that you feel LEAST capable of tying. What thing about that particular pattern would make you break out in a cold sweat? Is it a hair wing? Is it a wet fly with wings? Is it a dry fly with wings? Is it a Parachute, or a Comparadun, or whatever? Is it a very small fly? Or a fly with a married wing like the Parmachene Belle. I haven't posted this swap yet, but here is how it's going to work. You let me know that you want to join the swap and when you do, you let me know what is your greatest challenge in fly tying. Then I will assign you a fly that incorporates that challenge. You won't know what the pattern is until I assign it to you. Then you work at it until you can send in a dozen presentable flies. I hope many of you will take the challenge and join us. It's all in fun and the goal of everything we do here is to develop our abilities & learn new patterns. I will let you know when I get it posted so that you can sign up.

 

Take care

 

BB

FishingBobNelson can you weigh in on your opinion of the South Carolina Postal Offices?

[vicente 0]

Bob's a cal resident.

[vicrider 0]

We are lucky in our PO that the resident PM is very good and fast with all of that. She always gives me a few overseas tickets to get filled out before I bring them in and lately I've been weighing and stamping my own so all I have to do is drop them off for her.

[Flat Rock native 0]

vicrider, Wish I would have shirked my circus ringleader duties in the BU swap over to you, definitively finding out that not all PostMaster's are created equal, but we push on.....

[GP flyfisherman 0]

Mine came in mail today. Nice set of flies and everyone,thanks. BB thanks for hosting a great swap again. Can't wait to try them.

[wmw4 0]

Got mine today as well. Very nice set

[Hazathor 0]

Mine arrived yesterday as well. Great work folks! I'm looking to get a few wet this weekend.

[vicrider 0]

Just picked mine up today. Beautiful. Combined with the recent swap of Dubs (complete mayfly) these two sets cover everything needed to enjoy trouting anywhere. Maybe add one of the old terrestrial swaps in there and head out well covered.