Leroy

Here is another problem. I was talking to one of my suppliers and he said dyed saddle hackle is not getting hard to get. It is going to China for "crafty" things. Ear rings is not the big abuser. Hope this does not last long either.

For the last several years I have been using more parachuts than traditional. I feel they catch more fish, for me at least, and I tie the bodies in many colors. Gray for adams, yellow for yellow sallys, tan / brown / olive for caddis. By doing that combiniation I find I do not have to carry so many fly boxs or flies. No matter what is hatching I will have a color in the parachute style. The way the fly floats can also be adjusted by the way the hackle is tied on. Concave side (dull side) down the fly will float much higher. Convex side (shiney side) down the fly will float much lower in the film. This is from my experience only. Nothing scientific at all, just watching what happens and what the fish are taking.

In my experience I find it makes a great deal of difference in which sice is used. The deeper and colder the water is the larger I go. In very low clear water I go small. That is not a hard fast rule, but a good place to start.

I use polar bear foralmost all of my personal steelhead flies. I use very little of it because when I use up what I have on hand, it is gone. Very hard for the tyers here in the states to get their hands on good polar bear.

I have used car paste wax for years with no problems. I fished last week with a friend who uses 303. The solution used to clean rubber rafts, kick boats etc. Even uses it on the cork. I asked if there had been any problems and the answer was a defiinate NO. The cork on my friends rod looked brand new. My friend used 303 after each trip, which I think is a little excessive, but to each his own. I am going to try a bottle of 303 and see what I think of it on my rods.

Yes a quality bobbin is a must. I use more 8/0 that any other thread. I even use it for my steelhead flies. After you get used to the breaking point it is a great size to tie with. I does not "bulk" up on the body or head, at least this is what I have found.

Thank you magpie. I am always gratefull to hear that program has helped some tiers out. I think the time is coming that we will not see 3/0, 6/0 or 8/0 printed on spools any longer. The denier weight will be posted on the spool rather that the sizes we are used to seeing.

I juat like the wider gape. A smaller scud hook can be used with a better hook up, at least in my opinion, than with a regular dry fly fook. The scud hooks seem to be stronger to hold the larger fish. I am not sure if it makes any difference about straight eye, down eye or up eye for hooks. There could be a big difference, but I do not know what it would be. I only know I seem to have better success with the scud hooks not straighting out as the light wire dry fly hooks do. Maybe it is just my heavy hand.

I am also starting to tie many of my personal dry flies on light wire scud hooks. For a standard dry fly hook I am very partial to Daiichi #1180. The barb is very small and easy to pinch down. Very strong wire and many of the shops I tie for request the Daiichi hook.

I tie for a local shop in Calgary. Not sure how much they charge, but I know my cost for material and hooks have been steadly for the last couple of years. Here in the states, depending on the location of the shop, $1.95 to $2.50 seems to be the going price. also as a comercial tier I am required to pay 10% excise tax for every fly I sell. Fly tiers don't make money, they just make friends.

Before the fly is tied, dress the hook shank with tying thread. At this time close that gap located at the eye of the hook. Then when finishing the head that should take care of your problem. By the way, a head is formed on a fly just for the purpose of closing that gap, not always to please the fish.

I have found that carrying one large C & F box with a good assortment of drys, nymphs, wets and streamers is all I need. I used to carry several boxs, but found I seldom opened many of them. I do have more boxs with flies in my pick up in case I loose several patterns, or find the fish are taking a pattern I do not have. I just got tired of packing all those extra boxs that I did not even look in, let alone use a fly from them.

I buy 1 or 2 complete hides a year for all the tying of deer hair I do. For the average tier Wapsi has what is called a "premo strip" that works very well. The darker hair along the back of a deer is not suitable for spining, but makes wonderfull wings and tails. The shoulder, sides and rump hair all works for spinning. Just match the size of the hair to the size of the fly that is being tied. Not sure if all of that makes sense or not. Chris Helm has a great DVD out that explains it much better that I can here.