ladystrange

thanks. PM sent

maybe ur bad luck?!?

why do you only use polar bear hair on display flies?

nice flies Din, i know a few pike who would like them

loos like i forgot some sort of calfs tail or polar bear hair as well?

so what do we have here? peacock herl, yellow floss with oval gold tinsel or gold wire ribbing, white tail deer hair or bleached mule, some sort of light wood duck and red thread?

ok, i have redeemed myself. caught my first walk n wade brown on the bow tonight - thanks Knotlikely

i was married for 10 years. living in vancouver combined income of less than 50,000. we wanted to have kids but knew it was not finacially feesable to drop down to an income of 30,000. i/we chose not to have kids because it would not have been fair to them to pack em up at 6 in the morning (we had 1 old truck) and not get them again until 6 in the evening - if my ex was able to get off of work (construction). i was saying that parents have a responsibility to actually raise their children and not dump them off on someone else - this includes nannies for those who chose to go that route even if it is one on one. now you have indicated your kids are in daycare for a 2-3 hours a day. which is 10-15 hrs a week. please note, my comment did mention daycare for a couple of days a week for sociallization is a GOOD thing, which would be somewhere around 10 - 16 hrs a week. troutslayer, don't take offence, you are NOT the kind of parent i was talking about. it is not always perfect, one spouse can't always just up and quit a job - not i did not say the female, i had said the lower income earner. the other option - which is not always the best for the marriage is working opposite shifts with one day a week designated as family day where everyone spends it together doing something. the option could be having a retired family member look after the kids for a few hours. in most cases, a family member is going to care a whole lot more about what the kids are doing than some 20yr old out of 1st year college getting paid $10/hr. after all they raised us didnt they? again, grandma and grandpa may not by physically or mentally capable. there are so many other options. the saying it takes a village to raise a child is very true. as a society we have become self appointed social outcasts from our extended families. we want to be independant, be on our own, show our friends and family that we can have the great job, go to parties, have the house, but the cottage or the boat,go on the $6500 - $10,000 family vacation once a year (i was a travel agent at one point), have 5 different hobbies, get the kids into dance, swimming, hockey, soccer, piano lessons and so on, we want to prove that we can do all these things without the help from the outside. However, it takes money. everything today is about keeping up with the jones. unless a 7 yr old is surrounded by kids from the HAVE parents - they really don't care if they only get to go to disney land once when they are 10. they dont care because they don't know. children, like dogs, want nothing more than to please their parents except any attention is better than no attention. hence the temper tantrums and other poor behaviour that is not brought on by either to much sugar or missing nap time. so if both parents have to spend 60 hrs a week to make the combined $140,000 a year to get all these things, that the kid could really care less about (except further education ie lessons of whatever), how is that responsible or fair to the child that the parent brought in to the world. the child becomes nothing more than another fashion excessory? a 6 year old who has not spent a week every winter in mexico, but has spent every day exploring the world around them, whether it be through camping or fishing or just going for walks in the park and the family vacation means driving across canada to visit grandma in moncton every summer, doesnt know they are missing mexico. but they have gained far more. although i am all for world travel at a young age if it is financially applicable, it provides the opportunity to learn new languages, cultures, tolerance of different people. keep in mind, i grew up in a part of Vancouver that was OLD money, and lots of it. at a time where most of my classmates lived in million $ plus homes, (one home was over 10) in the mid '80s when interest rates were at 18 - 22% and just the mortgage was $8000 a month. never mind the cars. you could take 4 cars from the student lot and the combined worth was more than all of those in the teachers lot. i did not have to be in daycare, it was a choice my mother made because she wanted some of the extras. but in stead of a solution such as part time or working when my dad wasnt, she chose a full time job monday to friday 9-5. for $27,000/yr in 1979. pretty good money at the time. got lots of trinkets, went on lots of vacations, travelled all over the world, had the designer clothes, had 3200 sq ft home, had 2 cars, piano, swimming, art, sculpture, modelling, ettequette (sp?), violin, dance, theater, cooking lessons etc. but it wasnt necessary. i would have been just fine in a $30,000 1500 sq ft home, wearing Sears brand clothing and learning from my mom. many dual income families work because they want to work, not because they need to have both parents working. it is my personal opinion that if the parents cannot scarifice some of the trinkets that are not necessities for 5 years until the child is in kindergarten, well then, perhaps they should not have kids. the early years in a child's life is very important, they learn bonding, social skills, language and so on. personally, i would rather my children learned those things from me rather than a complete stranger, who doesnt care and could never care as much as i would. at this point in my life, i KNOW i am too selfish to have children. so i'm not going to subject a child to a life where, mommy is too busy with her social calendar to spend time teaching and being a mentor, which is where the parent is supposed to be. certainly, we all need to have food, clothing, education and a home to live in and sometimes the piece of mind that comes from having a new vehicle is important, yes you have a payment but you dont have to worry that it isnt going to get from point a to point b and you have to throw away $500 everytime it breaks down. other than that, everything else is just gravy. parents need to make it work for their kids and for the future of society itself. sorry for the soap box rant

he did say rose and crown not the speak easy right?? interesting topic - hook and hackle - not the nake women... i think i may have to look into joining...

well i'm going to throw my 2 cents in for what it is worth - with the us exchange, not much i'd say. my 3 walmart specials have done me fine for the last 6years, i'm also bad with maintainence so to say they are still in good shape - which they are, is fairly impressive for walmart. 2 have tensioners but no drag, i havent caught a fish large enough to warrant the drag yet but i figure i can palm it if required - used to salmon fish with the OLD knuckle dusters. ouch basically from my understanding is that in early days of fly fishing, there really weren't any reels, people used line catcher bags and stripped in the line by hand. so no particular need for a reel and we hope we can avoid the speghetti incident . that being said, if just trout fishing for your average 18 - 24ish inch fish, the reel is just a place to hold your line, a storage compartment of sorts. reel in the line or strip in the line - have done both and landed the fish both ways. not sure i understand the reason to spend $200 on a reel only. i spend it on fly tying materials in stead. lol however, if you are saltwater fishing for marlin using a fly, you may want a fairly skukum reel with some serious drag ability and then worth the cash.

here is my Blue Eyed Blonde on the Rocks - nymph (of course) drink - 1/2 irish cream & 1/2 blue curacao over ice because i don't like shooters

do we have different alcohol than you? or am i just stuck in my ways? i'm glad i could tickle your fancy. i thought bar flies was a cute name

9' cortland 5/6 combo with 6wt line at the moment.

great links for the knots. instead of the plastic connectors you could try the perfection loop. i know lots of guys who use this to connect lines. basically they have a shooting line, no tapper fly line with a perfection loop so they can connect their multi-tips with different lines - ie: siink tip, floating line, slime line, depending on application, rather than changing spools. just another thought that came to mind when i was looking at the knot links.

if your tippet is breaking that easily, i have to ask, how old is it? it has been awhile since i have used a knotless tappered leader, and when i did, i was somewhat new so i'm not sure how accurate i am in saying that i think it was just me beening a little too harsh with leader that caused the break-off. since i have started tying my own leader/tippet, i haven't had a line break that i didn't mean to - ie - tree too high to get my fly out of. except for the one time, early this year when i was incredibly lazy and hadn't changed last years line off. serves me right, lost a 20" because i was too lazy to tie 3 knots. it could also be quality of the material you purchased. but again, that was when i started out, bought a combo from wallyworld and the only useful thing on it was the reel but anyway, the lince broke if i hooked it in the grass practicing. not something that should happen. figured out, cheap and old - saw too much uv, degraded the mono and snap - bob's ur uncle. as for the improved clinch - again, i haven't lost any flies that were not due to my own miss-tie using that knot. i do suggest going through the last hole because the tension causes it not to slip. that is why i said to bunch the line up at the top, then push it down to the eye - with lots of spit. it makes it easier to get the correct tension, no slippage. i could do the trilene and i have seen it done, but no losses as is. i might give it a tie. but i havent had one come undone because of thin diameter tippet. on my 5wt rod i use 4X and sometimes 5X for small streams and dry flies. i even used a 6X once without incident. i don't have experience with connectors personally, but a few reviews say they suck, others say they work. perhaps it is personal preference. but some of the fly guys at the shops do not recommend the plastic connectors but i never bothered to ask why. try a post topic on plastic connectors and see what info you get back. i'm not sure how much you want to use the swivel set up with dry flies. 1st weight, kind of defeats the purpose of the dry fly when it gets dragged down, 2nd is presentation. picky fish dont like splash and no matter how hard you try to lay down a dry fly gently, you are going to get a splash with the swivel, so back to the knots. but for a nymphing rig or streamers, when using a floating line would probably work fine. you get a little added weight, the splash will irritate the fish into striking - we hope, and you dont have to screw around with shot. if you are going to do that and depending on the wt of your rod, use smaller sized swivels as not to add too much weight for the grain of your rod/line when casting. too much weight and you will lose control of your cast and then you might as well be chucking hardware. happy fishing

lol, that is too funny. you so do not want to know how i picked my players. tee-hee. only about 27 more weeks to go.

ooo, i'm fur and feather fluff. yep that fits. lol exchange is about 2.03 last time i checked, end of sept average for the month. i'd like one too but alas, i dont need one, i bought a tool just for scruffing up dubbing a troutfitters Kerry - $7. doesnt have the bodkin/dubbing needle but it is like a very fine round file - i can think of a better comparison, but not in mixed company, think spurred, male and feline but smaller

i started out with 2 books, fly tying basics and some walmart series on how to fly fish and how to tie flies. appart from that, i am self taught. i look at the picture and go from there. trial and error on what to use and how to do it. although the tying glass bead flies was very handy

i fit in that and i'm glad i did. a lot of the problems today - in general - are the parents. if you dont have time to train a dog properly - dont have kids. the tv is not a babysitter, even if it is easier. i'm not a fan of daycare, having children is a responsibility to the life that that person chose of their own freewill to bring in to the world, dont drop it off at a daycare 8-10 hrs a day 5 days a week, to be looked after by someone being paid $10/hr to watch 30 other kids. - yes i was a daycare kid. dont tell me it is a necessity to have daycare, when 1/2 or more of the monthly income from 1 parent pays for daycare. if you can afford the daycare, cable, 2 cell phones, 2 car payments, land line, internet, then you can afford to live without some of the luxuries and have the lower salery parent stay at home for the first 5 years and do daycare once or twice a week for socializing skills, while you work part time. unfortunately there are too many degenerates out there who scoop up ur kid when you arent looking, sometimes even when the kid knows better than to take candy from a stranger. i'm not saying put the fear of god in to kid but they need to be trained everyday, what's safe, what's not, what's appropriate, good manners, and to those parents who have changed a diapper on a table in tim hortons - give your head a shake. i have to eat off of that at somepoint. - yes i did actually witness this. kids standing on a table in the restaurant, and i mean on the table, not the seat, is not good behaviour, but if it goes at home, why should xyz family restaurant be any different? apparently it is ok for 5 yr olds to run around, and around and around the restaurant until they almost take out the waitress and have a pot of boiling coffee dumped on its head. not even so much as a glance from the parents, at least not until i caught the little brat on the 5th time passed my table, just after the waitress incident. then the father was up like a shot, grabbed the kid - who started screaming, dragged him outside and smacked the heck out of the kids butt. which would have been fine, if the kid knew what he was doing was wrong in the first place - lack of training. i cant fault the kid, how is he supposed to know? restaurant, playground, whatever. anything that causes a child to sit still for too long is not a good thing, whether it is tv, video games and so on, i am a big fan of get outside and do something, learn, create and so on. it isnt the government, it is the parents. if little jonny's feelings are hurt because he didnt make the baseball team, well perhaps he should practice more for next year. or he fails a grade, well try again and actually do the work this time, maybe he wouldnt fail. the amount of time and effort we put into our children shows in the results at the end of the day. if you are going to make the decission to have kids, live up to your responsibilities and spend time with them, teach, encourage. ok, sorry for the rant. and for the record - no i dont have kids - why, because i wasnt prepared to make the sacrifice. too much time, responsibility and i dont want F*(^^ up some poor innocent child. i'd rather be fishing.

hey paul glad the advice of patience helped. breathe, take a moment, breathe again, untangle, retie, breathe, cast, repeat... ok, knots, leaders, tippet. for a nail knot, use a turkey skewer or something of simillar size to your fly line as the leader will be of smaller diameter. last time i was out, i ended up using a stiff piece of grass. i perfer this to the tube method - being the straw you described. all you have to do is thread the tag end between your lines and in the hole/tunnel you created with the nail. 2nd practice your knots. get a book of knots, a few feet of 20lb test mono, few feet of 12lb test mono and do it over and over again. preferrably while watching the news or something equally boring. as for tying the fly to your tippet - my friend uses a tripple turl knot - i havent figured it out yet but he loves it. the one i use, and i dont know the name, excuse me. but in steps it goes like this, assuming you are right handed, fly in the right, tippet in the left, tippet goes in and up through the eye of the hook, wrap to the left 5 or 6 times, tag end comes back towards your right hand and down through (towards your thumb) the hole you created by twisting the line upon itself, and then back through the second hole you just made - like a figure 8. spit, slobber or otherwise generously lubricate your new twisted figure 8 and pull tag end with your left hand, a loose knot should form about an inch from the eye of your fly. with your right hand, take the knot between your thumb and forefinger, position hook as not to skewer yourself, and slide the knot down towards the eye while pulling gently on the line (not tag end) with your left hand. once that is done, adjust and fiddle until knot is tight, i usually end up using my teeth with the tag end and pulling gently on the fly and line at the same time. very rarely has this knot failed me, and when it has, it was because i didnt tighten it properly. so my bad again, best to get a fisherman's knot book and practice, over and over... 'cause after awhile, your friends or fellow fishing buddy's won't help anymore. if you are having issues with a separate leader and tippet, try a 9ft tappered leader, 6 or 8lb test. but as you change flies, you will lose length and eventually you have to add on tippet. for this i use a blood knot - did i mention getting a knot tying book? some people use surgeons knots but i havent figured those out either and the blood knot works for me. basically used for line that is simillar in dimention, one or 2 sizes down - i dont recommend going from 8lb mono leader with no tapper to 3lb by using a blood knot. so for the knotless tappered leader, just nail knot it on, as you use up the length - blood knot on a few ft of tippet. just hold up the 2 ends and see if they are close, if there is a huge size difference, use a slightly larger tippet size for a foot and then add on your smaller tippet. all the packages of tippet and leader have the dimentions on the back. try to keep your general overall length between 8 - 12 ft, depending on what you are doing. my set up this year is 12lb leader for 5 ft, 8lb for 3ft, 6lb for 3ft. i think i changed the 6lb last week and added on some more length. but that is more or less how to do your own tappered leader. everyone has their own way of doing things, i have friends who use 1ft of 30lb mono and then add on the leader. uhh, yeah. dont eat the fish at least south of the sewage plant anyway... if you are free wednesday night, i'm heading out, bow south of 22x. send me a pm if you are interested. i'll show you the knots if you want. oh, look - fish.

yep, i suck... the only fish i have landed in the bow was earlier this year just before stampede on a golden stone dropper with a SJW on a drift with a friend. it was quite the fiasco, but i did manage to get my first brown - see avatar. other than that, and being the same day, i managed to hook into 3 or 4 more others but couldnt land them, long distance releases - less stress that way... i almost caught one last week with knotlikely, good hit but didnt set, i think i was more suprised than the fish. he did hit hard and jumped out of the water, i was using one of my own creations. kind of a mickey finn pattern with flat silver tinsle, gold oval rib, yellow and purple squirle tail and a bead head. yet on small streams and rivers i kick butt... on a few occations i have been most and largest fish of the day. lakes - so so unless i'm fishing for pike so, yeah, i pretty much suck on the bow.

damn you dave... thanks for the weather up date, i might just get out to the river this weekend

glad i could help out. congrats on the fish. i have still yet to catch one from the banks of the bow. almost did the other night, but not quite. no idea what they may have been rising to. hope you enjoyed the walk down to the river. i haven't been down there in awhile, how was the path way? i only ask because a lot of it was washed away a few years ago in the floods and i havent been down since.

great patterns, love the SBS. these are great. tackle tart, that's cute. got a nickname for those of us who collect material?

antique flies perhaps? i was also thinking the bar fly theme would be rather fun. perhaps not useful as they may never catch anything but fun nonetheless. and who knows, maybe they would work. lol pike streamers, favourite dries even saltwater flies, again not particularly useful but could work on bulls there's my thought