DonAndersen

guito, The shaft is supported in the motor - it has a 0.300" square opening. I milled the shaft end square and about 1" long. I made the square piece a "slack" fit so that it will not bind. The other end that passes through the wood and is supported in a 3/8" piece of UNHW [high moly plastic material. It's slippery and works well as a slow speed bushing. The shaft is held into position by a washers and cotter pins. The outside end of the shaft uses 3 washers made of plastic milk bottle. Need more pictures, I'll take them and post. Bloom, I watch a guy just hammer fish on these things last summer. Like you, I'm experimenting. One thing that I found is that it takes about 3>4 coats of Sally Hansen's to equal one coat of epoxy. I used 30 minute to extend the working time. Even the Sally Hansens coating benefited from rotation as the coats were smooth. regards all, Don

Guys, Built a couple of these. They use a barbecue rotisserie motor, a 1/2" shaft and a piece of expanded poly to hold the flies. The fly is ribbed with 3 fine wires and covered with epoxy. The cheeks are red floss. catch ya' Don

Guys, To make the dubbing or herl last longer, I use a twister I built utilizing a Matterelli hackle plier that broke. I placed a Sunrise Hackle plier into the chrome loop and pinched just enough to hold it there. The Sunrise hackle plier has crappy jaws. To repair, I slid a piece of small heat shrink tubing onto each jaw and shrank using a heat gun. The shrink tubing is available from Radio Shack. The bodkin is make from pieces of cane rod that didn't make the grade. A decent length of needle + 30 minute epoxy finished it off. catch ya' Don

Guys, The plan was to make a fly that floated and lasted. Both were accomplished. Hence the name 100 fish fly. [ C is roman numeral for 100, F is for fish and second F is for fly] If you really want dubbing to hold, use a loop of thread + the herl [ or dubbing] + a stand of light wire. Twist together. Pheasant Tail nymphs really work well using this technique. Similarly, I've added loops of Flashabou into the thread loop as well. Tough flies are GOOD! catch ya' Don

For those that can't see the "lady", I added captions. Don

Oh Goody! Just what we need - more combat fishing on the Bow. Don

All, Was setting up a different screensaver and chose this one. Didn't notice for a while the "lady in the lake" in the lower left corner - somewhat spooky. Don

Conor,. What do ya' need? Other than corks, got guides, ferrules etc and so on. Don

Rickr, You got buttons - I thought they were all knobs. Don

fisher26, Na, taint no pickle - just Xmas spirit rearing it's ugly head. I'm still evolving as well. 'Bout made it full circle. Still waiting for my group hug. Don

Ya' But!!! Nearly all the talk on this web site and other FF sites is about gear, how-to & where to. What we say is important and is NOT reflected in the postings generally. I don't know about you guys, but I fish to catch fish. Often said by anglers " I had a great day" which in angler speak means - I haven't caught anything If the object of the fishing is really to get away from it all, how 'bout choosing some out of the way place and quit mucking up the water for the rest of us. I fish 'cause I like the challenge - the game if you will. Certainly the experience is heightened by friends or location, but the object of the game is to catch fish. Now if I could just get a big hug from you all, maybe I'd really get into the Xmas spirit. catch ya' Don

Guys/Gals, Looking for some Syd Glasso flies and I found this: http://www.sportingspirit.com/index.html?t...p;startatsb=131 Guess I'll keep looking. Don

Rick, The denier on Phentex is much finer than some Macrame yarns. Some flower pot holders [where macrame was supposed to be used was really phentex] And the crap you buy @ Walmart is made in China. Not the original stuff @ all. The macrame store's bonnie braid is what I use. Don't get me wrong. I have a number of colors of Phentex that I use for various things - mostly dubbing. catch ya' Don

Smitty, My experience somewhat mirrors yours. I've fished it from the N. Ram upstream with little luck and from where it leaves the FTR downstream for a couple of klicks. No much luck there either. But, above the FRT, caught a sack of fish as well as along the road. Whoops - there goes the theory of easy access makes lousy fishing. catch ya' Don

Hydropsyche, http://www.macramesuperstore.com/macrame/M...-yd.aspx?page=1 You need Bonnie Braid. Don

Hydropsyche, What do ya mean. Somebody digs them out. I always thought that the bodies were a put there to act like a chum line. Fish flesh flies downstream of them for lots of big browns. And Calgary was close to #1 about 25 years ago. Just another city now. catch ya' Don

sirocco, The thread you chose must be of the flat filament type. I use Danville's 6/0. You should stroke the thread against your finger and thumb nail to get the twists out while leaving your bobbin spin. This is done prior to splitting the thread. Note: most threads are left hand twist meaning right hand tiers put more and more twists into the thread each turn you take. Leaving your bobbin spin will remove most of them. [ Go lefties] You also need a very sharp needle to separate the threads into even bundles. The methods works well for small denier hydrocarbon dubbing materials like Fly Rite etc. Heavier denier materials [like seal fur] are much tougher to capture. catch ya' Don

Din, I'd suspect that it will sink like a stone [not a golden - like a rock]. It appears like you used deer hair for detached tail. When wrapped tightly, the air capsules within the deerhair collapse and the fly won't float well if at all. The hackle is too small to lend support to the body of the fly. The wing to too long and will cause the fly to lay on it's side. Further, detached bodies, while looking good rarely fish well as the body is just stiff enough to force the fly out of the mouth of the fish. If you wish to make detached bodies, use some type of yarn material. Take a strand, tie it in @ the bend of the hook, rotate it a number of times and tie it again @ the bend of the hook. The yarn is soft and the hooking misses tend to disappear, the yarn will soak up floatant, the yarn is less weight than deer hair. A lot of problems disappear when using yarn for detached tails. Mind you, you won't get the tailing fibers w/o a lot of effort. The only mayfly imitation that may require a detached body are brown drakes and Hexs. Either of which are late night hatches and rarely require the guile of daylight ties. catch ya' Don

Maxwell, Didn't vote 'cause all the flies were well tied and looked good. I'd fish 'em all. Don

Guys, Got any use for some crow feathers. I'm eating the rest of the bird. Don

Guys, Watched the Czech nymph thing with interest. Am I mistaken here but few of the flies offered are truly Czech nymphs. They must be very heavily weighted. None of the offerings appear to be. The Czech nymph is both a nymph and a fly presentation. Czech nymphing cannot be done with W/O heavily weighted flies. Maybe you should have renamed the contest - lightly weighted Caddis nymphs. regards, Don

Conor, Want some cane to try? Got a couple of hundred spline left over from rod building. Give a shout. For a plane, like CD says, get it from Lee Valley tools. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...amp;cat=1,41182 The Stanley planes are going down hill fast. Plane steel is not great but will work. For sharping & tuning a plane see http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00003.asp + look for Scary Sharp Build the rest of the stuff - see Todd's site above. Don

Hydropsyche, There is a pictorial + description of how to build a PMQ @ http://www.rodbuildingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15417 I've never built one and only cast a couple. I really haven't any opinion. Seems like a neat idea. regards, Don

nickt, For a lot of info on building anything to do with bamboo rods, go to: http://www.bamboorodmaking.com/html/tips.html This is a compilation from a host of builders on everything to do with making rods & equipment Don