March Brown design drafts

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DUBBN

Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by DUBBN » Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:46 am

If gary and dave say it happens, I'm sure it does. :-)

On a side note: heres a pic of my Mother Inlaw. Sorry for the Chartreuse String Bikini she's wearing. Even though you cant see it, trust me, its there.
Image

:lol: Sorry, I could not resist!
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hankaye
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Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by hankaye » Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:51 am

Dubbin, Howdy;

Went a little bit overboard with the velcro dubbin' brush thingy ...??? :roll:

couldn't resist ...

How'd the fishin trip to the gorge go ???

hank
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
DUBBN

Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by DUBBN » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:57 pm

hankaye wrote:Dubbin, Howdy;

Went a little bit overboard with the velcro dubbin' brush thingy ...??? :roll:

couldn't resist ...

How'd the fishin trip to the gorge go ???

hank
Wade fished a couple hours, and did ok. Decided to come home due to the wind and chase "bubbles" instead. ;)

Yes, bubbles can be the name of a wife, girlfriend, dog, or activity in the bathtub. :oops:
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gingerdun
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Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by gingerdun » Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:07 pm

I did find some photographic proof of why rabbit fur is so good for capturing bubbles.
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hankaye
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Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by hankaye » Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:24 pm

DUBBIN, Howdy;
DUBBN wrote:
hankaye wrote:Dubbin, Howdy;

Went a little bit overboard with the velcro dubbin' brush thingy ...??? :roll:

couldn't resist ...

How'd the fishin trip to the gorge go ???

hank
Wade fished a couple hours, and did ok. Decided to come home due to the wind and chase "bubbles" instead. ;)

Yes, bubbles can be the name of a wife, girlfriend, dog, or activity in the bathtub. :oops:

.... or any combination to also be all inclusive...... OH joy , what fun :lol: :lol: :lol:

hank
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
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gingerdun
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Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by gingerdun » Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:39 pm

DUBBN wrote:Oh, I believe in shiny tinsel. I just want to believe in the bubbles. I have been interested in it since LaFontaine touted the bubble as a trigger, but was not able to produce alot of photographic evidence. He claimed to have spent 100's of hours filming under water, but I guess that stage of the Caddis' life cycle eluded him.
Dubbn,
Some of the Ralph Cutter footage from Bugs of the Underworld is on YouTube, includes photographic evidence of gas bubbles causing the nymph to float to the surface for molting. Here's a link to one passage from the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UjlT7fqJ1s
DUBBN

Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by DUBBN » Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:48 pm

gingerdun wrote:
DUBBN wrote:Oh, I believe in shiny tinsel. I just want to believe in the bubbles. I have been interested in it since LaFontaine touted the bubble as a trigger, but was not able to produce alot of photographic evidence. He claimed to have spent 100's of hours filming under water, but I guess that stage of the Caddis' life cycle eluded him.
Dubbn,
Some of the Ralph Cutter footage from Bugs of the Underworld is on YouTube, includes photographic evidence of gas bubbles causing the nymph to float to the surface for molting. Here's a link to one passage from the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UjlT7fqJ1s

Must be my monitor. While he says they are filling with gas, I still cant make out any bubbles..I will try viewing on a better monitor. If you are seeing the bubbles, please let me know.
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gingerdun
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Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by gingerdun » Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:48 pm

Dubbn, I know, the compression of the video makes it hard to see the details. That is why I want to order the hi-res DVD. So, your reading is a good as mine. And I haven't viewed the whole thing yet. What I thought I was seeing in this segment, and what the narration indicated, was that the inside of the nymph's skin was ballooning out because of the gas. It looks inflated and shiny in the video, like it is indeed filled with gas. At some point a split in the skin would cause the air to begin to escape, I guess. Does this only happen after the nymph is above water? Or do air bubbles sometimes appear underwater? Does it even matter?

So much of fly fishing literature is based entirely upon credible eye-witness accounts, the absence of photographic evidence is something that we have gotten used to. We have to trust that these guys are not making the stuff up. To me, the cool thing about this video, that I did not know before, is that some mayfly nymphs inflate themselves with gas to help reach the surface quickly. So a gas bubble is playing a role here. Interesting.
DUBBN

Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by DUBBN » Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:22 pm

gingerdun wrote:So much of fly fishing literature is based entirely upon credible eye-witness accounts, the absence of photographic evidence is something that we have gotten used to. We have to trust that these guys are not making the stuff up. To me, the cool thing about this video, that I did not know before, is that some mayfly nymphs inflate themselves with gas to help reach the surface quickly. So a gas bubble is playing a role here. Interesting.

This all started (for me) with LaFontaine. I do not believe he ever saw bubbles in the way he described. If he had, and had he really noticed that this phenomenon was a trigger of GREAT importance, he would have photographed it. He built a fly out of rug yarn to duplicate this wonderful trigger he had discovered. The fly in proportion to its body had a giant shroud surrounding that body. I would think that a bubble of that proportion would be easily seen and photographed . No, I can not accept Lafontaines word on this matter, and because of that, I really cant accept Dave Hughes word on it either, as he quoted Lafontaines book on the matter to promote his own idea. Since and including 1981 there has been plenty of technology to capture the "bubble" in pictures and video. If you want to say that expanding gas on the inside of the exoskeloton is the bubble, then I can accept your perspective. I dont agree, but I will accept your answer.

Does any of this really make a difference in catching fish? No, I am pretty sure it does not. Just like a book I am reading "The Masters On The Nymph", it's interesting, but has no impact on how I fish or how I tye a fly. In reality, most of the patterns I see tyed in this book are quite crude by todays standards, and this book is only 30 years old.

Thank you for researching the "bubble" for me. It was fun.
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Re: March Brown design drafts

Post by gingerdun » Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:03 pm

Dubbn,
Yes, it was fun, and, for me, instructive. Thank you for your good-humored skepticism. At this point, you have brought me around closer to your view.

What you say about the flies in MASTERS ON THE NYMPH being crude by today's standards is true. I have thought about the increase in the rate of change in the art of tying. Obviously the improvements in color printing in the how-to books helped readers see and understand what was happening on the vise. And then when videos started circulating, especially on YouTube, that may have accelerated things more. I don't know, since I wasn't paying attention until the past two years. Being able to scan my flies, the spun bodies, and feathers, post them here on the forum, and then get suggestions from some of the best fly-tyers in the world, is incredible. Flyfishers are getting so accustomed to excellent photography, the absence of photographic evidence of these insect bubbles is getting to be more conspicuous, undermining the claims made about them—you are right about that. Nonetheless, the impact that the bubble theory has had on fly tying seems to be huge, evidently because it has gotten results.

GD
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