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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1950's, 60's, 70's ! ! First off, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon, processed meat, canned corned beef from Argentina, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking!!! As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Abrakebabra or Subway. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death! We shared one bottle of real Coke with four friends and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Lucky Bags, Cowan's Toffees, Joe Bazooka Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with. We ate cupcakes, white bread with crusts and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in river beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on SkyTV, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms.......... WE HAD REAL FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter! We were given pellet guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays!! We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet! RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT AND NOT DUE TO BLACKMAIL, THREATS AND GUILT FROM THE PAST.... strange but true! Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather staps and bully's always ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla' This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. PS -The big type is because your eyes are not so good at your age anymore!

You could always try this one if you are not too easily embarrassed - !!!!

One tip on Spiders, keep the head small and neat like this one below - What is the tying on your foam backed fly? That looks as though it will give great fun on riffles!

I'll wait for the Walmart version!

Folks, here is a link to the swap that is just finishing for a fly constructed with a quill body. All of the flies were all cracking and could grace anybodies fly box. Enjoy! UK Fly Dressing Quill Bodied Fly Swap, July 2008

What waste? I'm Scottish, there is no waste!

I can't see any PB images or access my account - anybody got a clue?

Expensive? No Way! They only cost about C$2.00 to make after you have made up the board. All you need are a couple of spools of UNI 6/0 or 3/0 thread, mono if you want super strong and from 100M of mono you get 3 x 2M furled leaders 15lb BS. I am Scottish and anything that involves expense is scrutinised very closely! Sorry, but just making them for fun and not retail. Conor, if you do PM me and I will send you drawings of the modifications that I made to the original design that makes it more flexible in constructing different tapers and lengths.

More on it here

I've read about them, I've seen one, courtesy of AMU and I wanted one. So I decided to make my own using the guide lines by Henk Verhaar that appeared in a Global Fly Fisher article. The only thing I bought were the weights from the local tackle shop what don't do fly fishing! The rest came from the shed. A 1/4 sheet of 12mm MDF 1M x 0.5M, a length of 2 x 3/4 pine and a broom handle, screws, dowel and hooks I had in there as well. Knocking it up according to the instructions was not difficult although this being Friday the 13th I did manage to short out the cable on my £150 jigsaw! Step 1. Cut 2 planks from the MDF Step 2. Join them with pine and countersunk screws so it can be disassembled for storage Step 3. Measure it out and fit the posts Step 4. Follow the instructions and hey presto! My first two 6ft Furled Leaders, one for the river and the other a Hi-Vis for buzzer and nymphing from a floating line! Furled Leader anyone?

Those of you familiar with Mike Conners will remember that he posted a method of creating a nymph style fly called the Glymph, This was a hook coated in UHU and to which loose dubbing was applied to and when dry formed a reasonably durable nymph, this is a step in the same direction. I was stripping a few peacock herls and the pile of debris was growing, it was about to be swept into the palm of the hand for disposal in the waste bag when I remembered his technique and put a hook in the vice to which I wrapped 2 layers of thread and whipped off. I coated this in varnish and stuck it into the the pile of herl waste and this is the result. After drying I tested the durability and a few fibres came off but the majority remained giving a basis to form buzzers and nymphs from. Here is the same technique on an FM 31160 super grub hook

Now that is a fishing report! I envy you guys being able to head out to the wilds when the fancy takes you, we just have to make do with an escape 15 mins from civilisation here!

The drag system is Rulon discs, able to tune from a 1/4lb brown to a truck stopping line breaking solid stop! I have found it excellent on lake fishing especially when something is taking me out to the backing as I normally hand line for sensitivity but this reel has great control and sensitivity on the drag, for that price you are not buying a pig in a poke but a good quality reel for the price. If the 'named makers' can bump this up to over $100 - $200 with a badge on it then the quality is there in the first place. I received one with a bit of epoxy on the back but I was not complaining as I know how good they are in the first place and not being a 'tackle tart' it suits me fine.

Go to Ebay fly fishing and search with 7/8, 5/6 & 3/4, this should turn up a source in Hong Kong that sells unbadged excellent reels. The starting price UK is 99p with £24.18 P&P. I have a Bloke 5/6 KPXX which retails at £160 UK, the same reel unbadged can be had for £25 inc P&P! I have 3 of the Hong Kong ones now and they are excellent in the 5/6 weight. A mate brought the same reel back from fishing in Chile and it cost him $100 US, if only he had known! TLs PS delivery is within 2 weeks of purchase.

Fishing with the Murt and AMU tomorrow evening on the Liffey and I need as much help as possible so there are now a dozen of these in the box as well as a couple of undisclosed patterns that should keep me up with the masters of the river! Nice simple tie, a few ginger hackle fibres, a stripped quill and a ginger hackle, varnish on the quill optional.