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Ladystrange sent me some Creamy White Glow in the Dark Mylar Motion material and I had a quick go with at this morning with no general direction of a tying as usual and came up with this quickie that makes me wonder more on the potential as a winging material. I had just wrapped two strands up the shank and was about to cut them off and I thought about doubling them into a loop and then redoubling them again and again until I got this result. With a little bit more body work it could make a good method of making Lace Wings quite easily instead of using a hackle method. This took a couple of minutes but there is definitely something there, if only I can find it! Step 3 shows Sewinangler's addition to the fly. A pale green CDC would have been better but I can't find them, I do know I have them somewhere! Legs are from split flexifloss. Ideas in action folks! You saw it here first! Opinions?

Here is a link to constructing your own furled leaders by fishing writer, Alan Blithall. Furled Leader Construction

A little word on dapping. I used a 17 ft telescopic dapping rod from time to time on the lochs back in Scotland and the fun you have with this set up is excellent. You have your main fly line and instead of a leader you have about 10 - 12 ft of Blow Line - this is a floss like material knotted every couple of feet and from this a tippet / leader of about 4 - 6 ft and a large bushy fly on the end. As said you let the breeze take this out and allow the fly to skip on the surface, takes when they happen are fast and savage and if you are not careful can result in break offs if you fish with too light a tippet material. The weather you need is a slight breeze because if the wind gets up too much it keeps the fly off the surface, a nice ripple helps a lot for this method. Ireland used to be famous for dapping the live mayfly and daddy - kids would collect these from the banks of the loughs during the hatching season and sell them on to dappers for a good profit! Irish anglers would either hook a single mayfly or a couple at a time and dap these on loughs like Conn and Mask. I will dig mine out and post a photo of the rod and the Blow Line to let you see what it looks like.

For Airflo Floating lines read AIRFLOP! These are the most slated lines in the UK which for Airflo is a pity as their sinking lines are excellent in comparison. As for the Ridge lines - compare these with an Abrafile on your rod rings! I have had a variety of floating lines and still have one that is 14 years old - a Masterline Challenge chestnut coloured floater. Currently I am using a Fulling Mill 7 weight WF and this is proving to be a good one for the relatively low price of £25:00. I would rate the Greys Platinum series as a good line to buy if the sink tip that I have is anything to go by. As in all things, it is a matter of personal preference.

LS, try a yellow thoraxed PT nymph for Perch.

For some reason I am thinking 'Kermit'.

"Fear no Fish" !!!

BBB, wanna see a real pig? All 10lbs plus! These have been in this lake for years and the feeding thay have there can put 2lbs on a fish in a year. This was one of the originals that the lake was stocked with, current fish are better quality and heavier as well. Current record stands at 16lbs.

One word to desribe those photographs - Stonking! This is the best effort I can manage with me actually holding a reasonable fish as I am usually on the other end of the camera! Yep! Those are Doc Martins! I keep getting told by my 25 year old daughter that I am too old to wear Docs - what does she know? And for the tackle tarts among you, the rod is a Bloke XL50 9' #6, the jacket is the new one from Bloke, the waistcoat a Grey's GRXI medium length and on the legs are 18 year old Barbour leggings!

You should watch it - excellent humour as well as killing his mom!

CapeBSalar, I am always impressed with tyings of Salmon Flies, I just do not have the following to do them myself - a) Patience Eyesight c) Materials d) Patience e) Did I mention eyesight? f) Patience 3 hours at the vice for one fly would have me in a straight jacket! I knocked up that Lady of the Lake in about 5 minutes as you can see from the tying! Love to see more of your work in the forums. Merry Christmas, AC

Damn! and I only had the Serendipidy Caddis pupa left to do! Well, I will try out that Black Dace on our Rainbows here on Sunday as they are getting reluctant to take in the cold!

Of course you should be in, you think you are going to win them all? It gives the rest of us encouragement to get better!

Sheeit! We don't have home depot over here!

Just received Davepens entry - nice tyings and in keeping with the rules - should be some real surprises from those rather conventional tyers from what I am led to believe.

You guessed it, yet another Bloodworm Buzzer. Well it is that time of year where they show up on the menu as our finned friends start heading to the bottom of the waters to avoid us yet again and try and keep warm as they eat! This is on a size 12 Grip 14723BL - one thing about these hooks, they are bloody sharp! Thread is 70 Denier UTC Rusty Brown, Abdomen from UTC Flashback Red Tinsel - I used the medium size as this gave the required ribbing look without having to incorporate one, Thorax is Scarlet seal's fur from Gerry's Highland collection - one of the best selections I have bought in a while - no promo intended! The tinsel is wound to the eye and back again to the start of the thorax before the application of the seal's fur and then is looped over the fur to give the intimation of a wing case or flash back before whip finishing.

This letter from his Daughter to flytyingforum on 12th December In the early hours of Sunday morning my dad had a serious accident and he is now in intensive Care at Kettering General Hospital. He hasn't regained consciousness as yet and we really need him to wake up. If anyone on this list has any messages that we can read to him or even jokes that we can tell him, it could really help. I will keep you updated Jordana This was updated last night (17th December) with the announcement of Derek's death without regaining conciousness from the accident. Derek was an extremely gifted tier specialising in Salmon flies and had a talent envied by many for the exactness and detail in his flies. You can see some of his work in the UK Fly Dressers forum, Derek Burwood - Salmon Flies. Our condolences and sympathies go out to his family and friends at this time. A sad loss to all who knew him and his tyings.

Folks, Dermot, the owner of the Rathcon fishery I use is heading your way next week and staying in Calgary for Christmas and New Year with his wife's parents. Yup, he married a Calgary girl this year! Anyway or anyhoo, he is looking to pick up some tackle when he is there and possibly go ice fishing if he can get away from the festivities. Can you folks recommend some good tackle shops so he can go blow his wad in them and anywhere he can go to try ice fishing? I will forward any details as long as they are in by the end of the week as he is leaving on Saturday with his missus. Thanks in advance.

Three votes in this, clyde, Kritofr and CapeBSalar but my favourite from the start was clyde's mouse! Just had that Christmas look right away!

Try these on for size! In the city of York, it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow. Let's see them just try that one, a severe Glasgow Kiss coming up for ye, Jimmy! In the UK, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle. The upshot of this one is that you can get done for indecent exposure and end up on the Sexual Offenders Register! In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants – even, if she so requests, in a policeman’s helmet. What? It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down. Used to do that one all the time! In Ohio, it is against state law to get a fish drunk. Pickled Herring anyone? You and who's army?

Maybe this will help you decide - the review is last years but I am assured by Mr Weilenmann that a new review is under way. Vice Shoot Out

Hydropsyche, it is a Griffith Gnat without the peacock herl. The hook is a VMC size 20 UK size - about 5mm long, the hackle is from a Whiting Grizzly Bugger pack. I have found that they chuck in a section of saddle or neck with some extremely nice hackles to make up the bulk, I bought a few of these in different colours and most of them have high quality dry hackles included along with the monsters! The top fly with the olive deer hair has a body made with Pearsal's original mid olive silk, I have a few spools of different Pearsal's that I inherited from an old fisherman that are no longer available these days. I added a couple of strands of Tan coloured Wapsi Enhancer Hank to perk it up a bit.

Messing around and seeing what happens to things. Just for a change I did not bother to remove the stubs of the deer hair but just trim them into a collar to create some surface disturbance. Should have pulled out those two long hairs! Hook, Thread, Hackle - as simple as it gets. 1 minute buzzer from 2 types of flashabou, Lime Green and Pearl, still to varnish!

This article on threads will explain the beat and worst of them. It boils down to a personal choice for thread and at the moment UTC wins by a country mile for splitting easily. I have tried Danville's, Benecchi, UNI, Spiderweb and many others but UTC wins out as it is so easy to split. Don't waste money on the likes of the Pettijean thread as it is actually UNI from all accounts. Link to Thread

At 6 bucks a pack I think I will stick with a drop or two of varnish on my existing beads!