dave potts

That looks like quite a nice shop at Reed's. Hope he does well. Dave

With no reel, how do you keep a large fish from making a run and breaking off? Dave

Yes, we lost a great one. He had some excellent books and magazine articles over the years. Dave

Great video. I've seen that older man down there before. Makes you want to hop in the car and head down. Dave

I just saw your post and the title caught my eye. I was wondering what species they were. I was at RMNP a couple of years ago and caught several of those in a little stream in one of the valleys. Don't recall just where it was but it was one of the areas where a bunch of elk come down during the rut. We were there in Sept. In fact, I had to vacate the stream due to the elk coming down. They are pretty fish. I caught a half dozen or so on a small elk hair caddis which seemed fitting as the real elk drove me off. Dave

Ditto on mine too Phil. Thanks. And I agree-they'l catch fish. Dave

Sent you a PM. I think there's one in Bella Vista. Dave

Gotta agree. Presentation is a large part of the game, especially for the ones that have been in there for awhile. Dave

Great fly and great video. Just right on the speed and pauses. Dave

There's a fellow over on rodbuilding.com, which is part of the flytyingforum web site, that makes beautiful bamboo rods. His name is Chris Carlin, I believe and lives in Alaska. He has posted blanks for sale from time to time on that forum at very reasonable prices. You might want to contact him to see if he has any for sale. Also, check out clarksclassicrods web site. That site is almost entirely devoted to bamboo and there are some very knowledgable members that could steer you to some quality blanks. Dave

That was the perfect speed Brian. Slow enough to clearly see the steps and materials you used but fast enough to keep your attention and not get bogged down with all the little details of mounting the hook, attaching the thread, etc. Dave

I have a Hobbs and it's a decent reel but for about the same money I'd go for an Okuma Sierra. The Konic is a great reel but a lot more expensive. Dave

I also have the tool shown on the left in the second picture. I'm sure it's a Herter tool as I have a Herter vise that I bought with it at a public sale about 30 years ago. I always assumed it was some kind of thread holder to be used in conjunction with the vise however it seems a little"over-engineered" for that purpose. I have a 1976 Herter's catalog but could not find that item in it. Dave

Andrew I have a similar question on the Simms boots. Is one size larger than your normal street shoe size okay for enough room with stocking foot waders? Thanks, Dave

Well, let me expand on my comment. Maybe "lousy" was a poor choice of words and I should have said poor. My complaint was that it was so fast you could hardly keep up with it. I agree with your second post Brian, that many of the tying videos on the internet are so slow and overly detailed you lose interest before they are finished. But the solution is not to go to the other extreme and make them so fast that the average tyer can't keep up with all the steps. I've seen your flies in person and was quite impressed with them. I certainly look forward to seeing the videos you have planned for the winter, but I hope they are not shown in warp speed. Dave

Nice fly, but worthless video.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Bass Pro's Heat rods? I just looked at them in a store and kind of liked their feel. They are heavier weight rods and I was looking at the 8 weight for bass bug fishing. They are all 7 foot 10 inch four piece rods and sell fo $99.99. Their web site has five reviews and all are "good". Thanks, Dave

I think flyrods are just like most everything you buy. If you plotted price vs. quality (price on the x axis and quality on the y axis) you would find a linear relationship up to a certain price and then the graph would start to level off. That is, up to a point, you get better quality the more you pay but then the quality only increases by a small amount even as the price goes up and up. The trick, therefore, is to find the spot on the curve where the slope changes and buy there. At that point you are getting more bang for your buck but avoiding paying a lot more money for a small increase in quality. Getting back to flyrods, a lot of that high cost for Sage is their marketing costs. You can also save a bundle on flyrods by buying used rods online. Al, I've looked at those Ross rods at fly shows and agree they are darn nice rods for the money. Dave

I'm planning a short overnight stay at RR next week on the way to my son's place in NW Arkansas. Was wondering what flies would be best to bring or buy there. Also could use some advice on a place to stay overnight. My wife will be with me. Haven't been to RR to fish for several years. Tim, is your shop the one just outside the park? Thanks, Dave

I've used hoglaw's method on numerous flyrod builds. It works fine. Just be sure you line up the reel seat with the guides before the epoxy sets as there is only one way the reel will fit into the reel seat and match up with the guides. Dave

I've found Basspro's Extreme reel to be a good reel for not too much money. It lists for $80 but is often on sale for $60. Casting a baitcaster is as much about practice and technique as it is about price paid. I look for the "sweet spot" on most of the stuff I buy. If you make a graph of price versus quality, you will find a point where you start paying a lot more money for only slight increases in quality. Dave

Bass Pro sells other brand reels. If your 40% off applies to them I'd go with a Lamson Konic.

Well those are some great sounding "sides" but all of you missed the best "side" of all. Cold Beer!! Dave

Nice website Mike. Glad you posted as I didn't know you had one. I just joined. Dave

Bill, Yes, I get their catalog every year and have been in several of their stores around the country. If you are ever in the area of Sydney, Nebraska be sure to stop in that one as it's one of their biggest. The store going in at Rogers doesn't appear to be very large at 100,000 sq. ft. The one in St. Louis is 130,000 sq. ft. and it's not overly large. I'm just glad they are putting one in at Rogers regardless of size-plus it's only about five minutes from my son's house. What Chinese buffet are you referring to in Rogers? Dave