Thx for the input. It went better today than it ever has, and several others have made the same comment to me.I agree. Tom, just using the razor blades in your hand gives you a lot more control of the contour of the blade. You can trim flat, up to full half circle by just adding more pressure. Obviously you have to be careful not to cut yourself
The carpeted floor under my tying station is a psychedelic galaxy under UV light.
The H&L Variant was my dad's favorite fly. I'm going to tie some of these up in his memory. Plus the emerger is a bad ass looking fly.
H & L Emerger
Brett Clark Originator
Hook - Mustad C068
Thread - Black
Tail - White poly/antron yarn
Abdomen - Stripped peacock quill
Wing - White poly/antron yarn
Thorax - Peacock herl
Apply crazy glue to the hook shank prior to wrapping the stripped peacock quill forward or overcoat with your favorite uv resin for durability. Also apply crazy glue to the hook shank prior to wrapping the peacock herl thorax forward.
Emerger version of the famous H & L Variant
Tying Emergers - Schollmeyer and Leeson
An awesome variant of a Cooper's bug!
Raccoon
Paul Lasha Originator
Midge Emerger
Hook - Mustad 94840 or equivalent
Thread - Black
Shuck - Teal flank fibers or grizzly hackle tip
Butt - White ostrich herl
Shellback - Elk or deer hair
Body - Your favorite dubbing
Tie in a variety of colors by altering the tying thread and dubbing colors.
Tying Emergers - Schollmeyer & Leeson
Regal vises are the real deal. Mine is over 30 years old. I've just added some new jaws and shanks to my original bronze base. The stainless jaws are incredible for small flies, and the shank jaws just won't let go.
Here's a little size 10 pine jig with the "micro" pine squirrel strip. I just lashed the tail down and then wound the strip up the shank. I'll skip the synthetic collar next time. If I flipped the tail over so the skin rode down, I think the fur would look a lot like your sculpin tail.
Just when I had stopped thinking about tracking down some peccary…
Peccary & Hare
Soft Hackle Fly Pattern
Hook - Mustad 3399, 3906 or equivalent
Thread - Black
Body - Peccary hair
Thorax - Hare's ear dubbing
Hackle - Hungarian Partridge
Apply crazy glue to the hook shank prior to wrapping the peccary hair forward or coat the body with uv resin for durability
I have no idea what peccary is…but I like it.
True. I hold the fly in a gloved hand (Kevlar). Old guys shake . . .Obviously you have to be careful not to cut yourself
I use the ones from Fish Skull. With the heavy heads, the hooks tend to get dull on the rocks. My solution is to tie them on micro tubes so that the hook can be easily changed. I tie them in olive and tan. Both of these were fished Tuesday on the Yakima River with some success. I donated a box of these and other trout Spey flies to the Deschutes River Alliance Annual Auction which will be the last weekend in February.
Javelina hair. There’s synthetic imitation you can get and I’ve seen where people color corded white thread to imitate it. But the real thing is super cool. Relatively rare material to find, but you can track it down.
