Storing Long Freathers

I store all of my longer feathers upright in a cheap metal vise from Walmart. 

You can also keep the feathers in the original packaging if you prefer. 

The feathers in the photo below are on the north side of my house and do not receive much daylight that may fade them. Plus, the window blinds are usually closed.

Stripping Peacock Quills

Gravel Gertie

Hook: Streamer

Thread: Black

Tail: Orange yarn

Body: Black and white chenille

Throat: Pink yarn

Wing: White calf tail topped with red fox squirrel

Reference: Forgotten Flies

Fly Tying Proportions

More proportions here

Twisted Flashendipity

Twisted Flashendipity

Hook - Your favorite brand and style

Thread - Black or match the natural

Body - Your favorite color z-lon or equivalent and 1-2 strands of
krystal flash twisted into a rope and wrapped forward

Wing - White z-lon or equivalent

Head - Thread

This is a variation of the "Serendipity"

This is a very simple fly pattern and can be tied in any color you want. Be creative.

Nest Eggs

Curved or straight hook

Fringe Bead in your favorite color

Copper wire ribbing

Your favorite body material

Peacock Ice Dubbing

La Visa

La Visa

Hook - Wet/nymph style

Thread - Orange

Body - Copper wire and thread

Thorax - Peacock herl

Hackle - Hungarian partridge

Reference

http://www.jpdessaigne.com/Lesnoyees/Visa/visa.htm

Gummie Minnow

Here is a different/easier way to fabricate a gummie minnow using 3M clear double sided tape

Frank Sawyer Favorite Flies

My feeble version of the Bowtie Buzzer

Ant (Red)

Slotted Beads

I recently saw a forum post that said you can only use slotted beads when using the latest fad in jig style fly hooks. I personally think its an incorrect statement .

Another statement involved using lead wire in conjunction with the slotted bead to more or less fill in the slot and to obviously add a little more weight. Well that's all well and good but....

And there's the statement about the gaping hole of the round bead at the tie off point of the fly! Well what about the gaping hole left by the SLOTTED bead?

Slotted beads are easier to clear a barb if you're not using barbless hooks. Its also pretty easy to pinch down the barb!

So I experimented on my own to see if a round bead could be used on a jig style hook that tyers say only a slotted bead should be used.

I used the following materials for my crude test:

Hends brand BL120 60 degree bent hook in a size 8 (shank diameter of .024 thousandths of a inch/0.6096mm) 

Note: Most of today's hook manufacturers make a similar style hook.

I used a  counter drilled round bead

I also used a 5/32 inch diameter (0.15625 inches/3.9688mm) slotted round bead

.020 inch/0.508mm diameter Lead Wire

So that's what I used for my little experiment

Here are some photos of the results.

Slotted Bead

Round Bead

Slotted Bead with .020 inch/0.508mm diameter Lead Wire

Round Bead with .020 inch/0.508mm diameter Lead Wire

As the photos indicate a round bead can be used in conjunction with the jig style hooks and can also accept the lead wire to fill in the counter drilled hole on the round bead whereas the slotted bead cannot accept lead wire to fill in the slot unless flattened and inserted into the slot.

While this little experiment was done using one size hook and one size bead (slotted and round),

I would expect the results may be the same for different sizes.

This experiment is not earth shattering nor will it turn the tying world upside down. It was only meant to dispel the statements that round beads do not work with these jig style hooks.

Thanks for looking.

Liquid Gold

Tying Tip #20 - Don't Spill the Head Cement

I found this idea online made from a milk jug or equivalent

Grandpa's Story - The Adams Dry Fly

My feeble attempt

I saw a fly.....

I just read this question on a fly tying forum

I saw a fly recently at Texas Trout fest but don't know the name of it.  It had a cylindrical foam body and deer hair head.  I think its a Redfish fly but not sure. If anyone has any info, tying instructions or can upload a picture, I'd be indebted to you.

With the advent of the cell phone or point and shoot cameras, 

it would solve a lot of this type of questions by just taking a photo of the subject and jotting down the name of it in the notes app.

Biot Wing Cases

Wing cases can be made from just about any kind of feather to synthetic materials.

One natural material that is not always thought about as a wing case material is the BIOT. 

Yes, the biot(s) can be used as a wing case. 

For smaller flies 1 biot is generally enough. On larger flies you can tie in multiple biots to get the wing case effect.

Biots are less likely to split like feather fiber wing cases

You could even add flash over the biot to make a flashback style wing case

Use different color biots 

Use a fluorescent colored biots as a hot spot

Be creative. Experiment.

Thanks for looking

Damsels in Distress

.

Fly Tying Thread

Fly tying thread can be confusing for a beginner and experienced tyers alike. I am not going to try and explain the ins and outs of fly tying thread but I will guide you to the following articles to better explain the differences.

http://www.renegadefishers.com/material/thread.html

http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/thread_control/#sp

http://mvff.tripod.com/Reference/Denier.pdf

http://whitetailflytieing.com/thread/

http://northfloridaflyfishing.com/pdf/DeniertoStandarizeTyingThread.pdf

Tying Tip #19 - Unraveled Materials

Eventually we all get materials that just get unraveled and get stuffed back into a zip lock bag. Here is a couple of ideas to get things back in order.

Clothes Pins

Popsicle sticks

Thanks for looking.

The Fly Fishing Show

Denver, CO
January 3, 4, 5
Denver Mart

Marlborough, MA
January 17, 18, 19
Royal Plaza

Somerset, NJ
January 24, 25, 26
Garden State Convention Center

Winston-Salem, NC
February 7, 8
Benton Convention Center

Lynnwood, WA (Seattle)

February 15, 16
Lynnwood Convention Center

Pleasanton, CA
February 21, 22, 23
Alameda County Fairgrounds

Lancaster, Pennsylvania
March 1, 2
Lancaster County Convention Center

http://www.flyfishingshow.com/Fly_Fishing_Show_Home_Page.html

New Zeland Strike Indicator Tool

New Zealand Strike Indicator Tool from Barry Dombro on Vimeo.