Swellcat, I think the Pea-Ca-Bou Nymph is very similar in construction to the Carrie Special, but the pheasant hackle has been replaced with marabou fibers. I have fished both patterns successfully for smallmouth bass and would say they both are excellent leech imitations. I happily reach of either...

The older I get, the more boring my tying becomes. Where once I tied trippy, Timothy Leary flies, I now fall into a more Bob Wyatt-y camp: size, shape, and posture, mean more to me than color. I'm not negating colors impact as a component, we know trout see in color, I'm just going on what seems to ...

What those other guys said. This is a staple in my boxes. Purple being my personal kryptonite, I use a different color; but man, you make this pattern look sooo good.

Could just as easily been named Maxwell's Silver Hammer.

Breadcrusts I've seen in the past had a body made from a split grouse tail feather with the feather barbs trimmed short. Gave a real spikey look to the body, very caddis like. I tried that. What a pain in my tookus. You have to split the stem, soak it for like, 20 years to soften up the white pithy...

...an Adams soft hackle. Gorgeous.

Mr. Norm... what is your mission on the forum.... I realize you can tie beautiful flies, but what do you do with all of them? 1. mission? - to show other tyers different fly patterns that they may never have seen before and just might want to tie 2. what do i do with all of them - some i fish (when...

Cookshill is being difficult; does anybody have another source for high quality Starling that they could share with me? Thanks. What do you mean about Cookshill being "difficult"? I just checked Steve's website and there's no notation that starling skins or wings are in short supply. Did ...

Everything stated so far, and a couple more. Any of Oliver Kite's books. 'Summer on the Test' -John Waller hills. Not a how-to, but a wonderful record of British chalk stream fishing at the turn of the 20th. 'Trout Hunting' -Bob Wyatt Ed Engel has some good ideas floating around. Rick Hafele, too. '...

Beautiful, Norm. I've got a bunch of raffia just gathering dust; I may have to revisit it now...