Roadkill wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:06 pm Nice flies!

I think the most creative keel fly I have tied is Popovics' Schoolie

RIMG2306 by William Lovelace, on Flickr

What a great idea! That definitely falls into the "why didn't I think of that?" category.

nfrechet wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:52 am *Mustad 79666 or Varivas 2410WB are now extinct.

That's too bad. I tied a lot of Mickey Finns on the 79666 back in the day for pickerel fishing.

I'm glad to know there's a substitute available.

Nice, sparse looking flies.

I don't see Ron's suggestion in this thread (maybe it was a PM) so I'm probably repeating his advice, but the trick with herl heads is to tie the head as the very first thing after starting the thread. Tie off the fly behind the hackle.

I have always read, heard and was taught to fish the traditional ways, and when I read or hear and see someone, let's say, going against the grain, it sets me back a bit. I'm not sure what's not traditional about a sinking line. Leisenring would have been fishing an undressed silk line, which would...

I was wondering what makes this Spanish. Doesn't matter but the question occurred to me. Thanks for saying this one. William, The Dark Spanish Needle (known also as a Needle Brown and Dark Needle) imitates small dark stoneflies (genus Leuctra ) of the North Country. "Needle" of the name r...

Use as small a hackle pliers as possible. And unless you're tying Stewart black spiders, tie in by the tip and leave "tip" between the hook and where the barbs start to flair out to make one complete wrap.

Johnno wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:34 pm Ray I’m not surprised you couldn’t find yr red chenille... look at state of yr desk!

Too organized.

letumgo wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:31 pm Bob - Have you encountered any cicadas yet, or is it still too early?

Still too early. We're thinking end of May.

letumgo wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:40 pm The hackle is especially interesting. I’ve not tried hackle from that region before.

IIRC, Edmonds and Lee claimed there were only about four such feathers on each bird.

Theroe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:55 pm Those are killer Bob

Pun intended

Dang. You beat me to it.