Pipes

I'll take a hoodie in medium.

I would like to attend. My schedule is busy, so I can't commit to all of them. I am most interested in the beer drinking part.

Ladystrange, How about I just give you some elk hair. I am putting faith in my dog to come up with the pheasants! I am away for about 3 weeks though, can I give you some when I get back? Pipes

For deer and elk hair, I always use the neck. These are significantly better quality hairs for tying flies. As mentioned, when preparing the hide, use a sharp knife at a 90 degree angle and scrape until you can't scrape no more. I prefer using pickling salt and seems to work fine. Definitely, wash with soap before and after. Never had problems with bugs. Also, don't forget the tail of a whitetail deer, great tying materials. For birds, same process, there usually isn't as much meat and fat on the skin and it is a little more delicate. I have had some good success so far and could give up some elk and deer hair, if anyone is interested. I will probably have 2 full deer necks and half an elk to give away. My success on the pheasants hasn't been good this year.

Rickr, By definition, we did "fly" into this lake to fish, so yes we were fly fishing! And I am pretty sure the regs say you don't have to de-barb if it is a treble I will agree that this guy is pretty shady though. PS. All hooks were de-barbed, we took a quick picture and released the clam to live another day.

Sorry Glen, my buddy still holds the Alberta record. Note: this is not the proper holding technique. One should always support the rockfish from the underside as Glenbow shows.

Agree with Trailhead. Oil maybe at 80 bucks, but the natural gas situation (as seen in the Say it ain't so thread) is hurting Alberta. Fact is, if the big oil companies don't like what the Alta gov't is doing, they will bail. Agreed somethings needed to be adjusted, but poor timing to increase natural gas royalties by 5%.

Don't know of a dedicated pheasant forum, but you can try albertaoutdoorsmen.org Pheasants are making a good comeback in Southern Alberta. Brooks is a popular area. South of Brooks is also looking good. There are also some gamebird places around Calgary that will help out too. Don't blame you for getting the itch.

Awesome read. Hiketofish, interested in doing some sheep hunting? You have a good will and ambition, exactly what a sheep hunter needs. I just can't convince my friends to come along anymore.

Anyone ever use peacock herl for the body? Kungfool, notice any difference between biot legs and rubber legs for fishing? I always use rubber legs, but just out of habit.

On down side, you will now be addicted to spending countless hours in front of the vise. Oh yeah, awesome fly. My first fly is....well....let's not talk about it.

Nice Kungfool. How does the coloured variations work. I will post mine shortly. FYI, should have some decent numbers of pheasant tails this fall, if my dog is working properly. Will post if I have enough to share.

Nick - Boat is both screwed and glued. The epoxy is used for sealing seams and screws. It is also used the glue together sheets of plywood. Dryfly - Your boat should be done soon. I just need to know color and if you want left or right hand drive. Bob - Cost of materials was about $850. That's for douglas fir hull and birch cabinets. Your big ticket items are wood and epoxy.

Nice pictures Clive. I spend alot of time around that area and have seen MANY bruisers. In my opinion, some of the best mulie bucks in Alberta. I have also seen sheds of some massive whitetails in that area, but never seem to find them still on the deer. I caught this guy last week, just across the border down south. Notice my talent versus dryfly?

I didn't have any plans. I just drew up some diagrams and used the slide show from Greg Tatman (gregboats.com) to follow. Tools used: Table saw Skill saw Jig saw cordless screwdriver/drill palm and belt sanders (the most important tools as I hate the sanding) Lots of hand clamps I used the West System epoxy resin which is available at Lee Valley and Glenmore Sailboats.

Thanks for the comments. Not sure of the hours spent, but I started early March and was done around June. If I had to estimate, maybe 80 hours. It was more enjoyable and will be building another.

I started this thread back on the AFF board looking for some initial help. Thought I would show my progress and how the boat turned out. The boat is not the perfect specimen, but performs well. Having trouble locating 9 foot oars in Calgary. More than happy to share my experience if anyone has any questions. Hope you enjoy. Pipes