Jason R.

One thing I always messed up on when I first began tying was using too many wraps. I mean at all points in the fly. It seems logical when you start out to use 7-10 wraps on everything to make sure everything stays put but 2-3 wraps will usually do the trick. This is especially important on the head- too many wraps equals a big messy head that makes the fly look bad and often it will unravel. I also hardly ever use cement on small flies and I stack my turns on the whip finish.

Cant go wrong with a traveler- Ive got the pedestal with the clamp and I doubt I'll ever buy another one- it is basically just as functional as the upper model renzettis, although with less bling. I messed around with a Peak and thought it felt kinda cheap. My first vise was a Danvise and it was definitely good for how much I paid for it.

I just tied up a bunch of those dead heads and they look good- haven't gotten to fish them yet with the crappy weather.

I still don't get it. I also need another rod like I need another hole in my head... unless it was a sweet 2wt...

That was about 20 dollars worth of grizzly hackle. A hairdresser would be ticked if they saw that. I tie those things with a maribou tail, no hackle, and a few short rubber legs- they work pretty well but I bet anything gugglerish works like a charm.

Awesome blog man- I went on a very similar trip with very similar results recently- great times, not a ton of fish in the boat but the chases were fun. Our best fly was a big green and black "boogy-man" as I remember- that norfork float is cool but real short with alot of water. On a side note we tried the same thing on the Little Red and it was very disappointing. The Dam to the first big island was cool but after that down to swinging bridge it is not worth it- Im sure if we had caught more fish I would have a different attitude but oh well.

Mine are in the mail fellas- they are kinda simple but they have been effective for me- mostly at tail-waters when the water is off color by the way.

It seems implausible to me for a fly fisherman to really compete in a bass tourney. A fly fishing only tourney would be a lot of fun though.

Had the day off yesterday and got up there for a few hours- had a great time- caught a bunch of fish and it was a super nice day- hard to beat that.

On your foam flies, use some glue- superglue works well. This makes them more durable and keeps the body from spinning- which is annoying and hard to avoid without either cutting the foam with the thread or using glue. I pretty much only tie foam dries- I mean, what is better than foam for a dry fly? It floats with no floatant, its cheap, it looks good. Foam caddis, foam hoppers, foam stoneflies, midges with foam wing cases etc.

I have a Redington CPX 6wt for sale if anyone is interested...

I always pinch barbs- its just easier. I actually stuck one in my finger this very afternoon- luckily the barb was pinched and it slid right back out the way it went in. I have done the whole push the hook through and cut it off thing- not fun- it was my dropper on a hopper dropper rig and I was floating through a really good run so I nipped it off (and left it in my leg) and proceeded to land a good brown with the hopper on the Gunnison- good times. The next boat that came through got to see me whining like a girl while I messed with that stupid hook and my buddy laughing at me like it was the funniest thing he ever saw... that was a good brown though.

Mine are tied and will be shipped in the next couple days.

Is it odd that I think these look boring? I mean- if yall are having fun with them then rock and roll- it just kinda looks like I could do the same thing with a long stick and some tippet... Am I missing something? Looks a little better than czech nymphing though.

Yep- if you google "psycho midge" you get some crazy red thing- I think im going with a slimmer- more tail-water appropriate design with a little flash to it- they make good droppers. Yall want all one color? I usually do blue and grey- could do green, black, red, brown etc.

Ugh.... fine... I'll tie... something. How bout some psycho midges? I am sure that is a name for some other fly- this one i kinda made up- lots of fishy colors- is size 16 ok? I could do 18 just as easily.

You really do not have to go too small with zoo cougars as they are weightless and single hook- I bet you could toss most any sized cougar on your five weight- maybe not 80 feet, but enough to fish it. The peanut envy would be kinda cool as a small fly i guess- its really just a big articulated woolly bugger. Try woolly sculpins too- its a really effective pattern and has no weight. Only problem with those bugs with deer hair heads is that you need a sinking line to get them down and throwing a sinking line on a five weight is not all that fun.

Good, that's awesome- keep these coming. Even though I think I know how to tie all these it is great to see how someone else does it. Yours look very fishy by the way.

That is rude- especially to 12 year old fashionistas. I used schlappen on all mine and I like it pretty well. Makes them a bit more chunky. I also always use lead Eyes- if I want less weight I go with the steel "presentation eyes" that are lighter. I have not been able to tie anything else since I started tying big streamers like these- Plus, fishing them is a lot of fun. Tying a size 20 midge is torture after tying Galloup-esche streamers. You should do a Michigan style double deceiver- those suckers can be tricky.

Ive got a slightly used Redington CPX that I could let go for way under 295$. Its 9'6 4pc 6 wt.

I was left with a bad taste in my mouth after that summer fly swap. Ill tie my own flies.

When it comes down to it, it seems to be more about the drift than the fly. Ive taken buddies out that are not extremely "avid" and they dont catch a darn thing- even after they grab one of whatever I am using out of my box. The only difference I notice is that they usually do not know how to mend (and usually refuse to learn). But I catch the most fish on midges... probably because I fish the Little Red, Beaver, the White and the Norfork most of the time.

A ranch I worked at had a bunch of old Sage reels, I say old but I am sure they were purchased not that long ago. They were terrible. The drags had all just given out. The other reels were all Ross. They were all working like champs. Of course, these reels were used by guests that didn't know which end to point at the water. They were treated pretty poorly. Point of the story- buy reel from companies that just make reels. Ross reels > Sage Reels. (Also Ross rods < Sage rods).

Anyone else think that fly looked like it was kinda... not in the fish's mouth? I mean, it was close- but I'd call that one foul hooked. Not that I wouldn't be pumped to foul hook that thing (though it does not look like its close to 10 pounds). It sure is a lot easier to snag em off a redd...