SilverDoctor

Compact heads are nice because they need less stripping to bring in with the shorter head length. Gives you more fishing time and I find them easier to cast.

I wish

I'm sure I saw some being unpacked. Bought some Veevus for those small patterns.

I was in Iron Bow today picking up material I had on order. They just got a big shipment in. If you're in this neck of the woods pop in. Lots of goodies.

Mmm swinging soft hackles, these work.

Nice build

Post your build, we would love to see it.

Thanks for posting, those pictures pulled at my heartstrings.

Thanks all, finally hit my second childhood.

I will miss Barry, I worked with him on a couple of projects and was fortunate to share some time on the water with him. Condolences to the family and we'll miss you Barry.

Have a great one

He He the plan is working.....

The Mountain Brook Blanks came in, nice rods, will be nice to fish. Started the first build. Marked the spine and glued up the butt section.

Oh dear, rest in peace friend

Any rod that I can cast with deadly accuracy to add another to the hundreds of flies festooning the stream-side trees. 9 foot rods are nice for tangling fly line in my equipment and hat, 6 foot rods for catching streamers in my ear.

Do you have a sidecar?

It may sound silly but one of my most important tools isn't my fly rod, is a pair of folding scissors that I use to clip my existing flies stream side to have a closer profile to the naturals.

Some good suggestions here but look at fly fishing no so much hearing about a magic fly, but study the water, flip rocks and look at what aquatic life is in your stretch of water and look at getting flies that are close to size and color.

Excellent information Dave

there two things I can recommend, one is to hit it with a quick coat of Sally's the other is to leave it in the sun for a few days. The latter has work occasionally the former always.

And in fact you need at least one more of each

ouch!!

This is just a personal observation and I'm not a scientist just a life long naturalist, I believe that another thing (as Toolman mentioned) that the the Trans Alta diversion did with the huge silt deposit was have a terrible effect in not only choking out spawning areas but also affecting insect cycles. Areas that where clear pebble bottom or compact where choked with inches of silt. I really did notice a huge difference in quantity of nymphs and their resulting hatches after that point. There where dramatically fewer Stones, BTO's and a cross section of others in traditional areas where I would normally be able to see them flipping stones and studying bug seigning. The Net Builders disappeared as did many of the larger stones. With lessening of a food source and then the hit of sapro on the Trout it was a perfect storm. As far as Whitefish go I look at them like the canary in the coal mine. They are indicators of a rivers quality as they rely on fairly pristine conditions to survive.

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