Some more fluff strapped to a hook!

Well....its been an odd summer. Havent fished much due to my car slowly dying. However, that bit has been sorted out, and will now have a chance to get out once in a while before the rivers freeze up. In turn I haven't been tying any trout flies this year. Focusing on tying salmon flies mostly. Has gotten to the point where I am not using a vise anymore.....just holding the hook in my fingers. Had also stopped using modern thread and switched to gossamer like the old timers. MUCH thicker then modern thread and has its challenges. It is however very rewarding to tie flies with. Started videotaping some flies I have tied so make sure to check out the link to my channel. Hopefully I will get a new computer soon so I can actually use my video camera instead of the junky stock webcam. Anyway I will leave you with some pics of recent flies....

My Youtube Channel

A Butcher and a Popham

Tied all the Mixed wing flies in T.E. Pryce-Tannett

A Mom Salmon Fly (original depiction and my interpretation)

Some more recent in vise flies (Popham, Hempseed)

The tied in hand flies I have done thus far (only in a vise to easily take a picture haha)

Till next time.....

Way past due

Well lets just say I have been busy....like super busy....for months. Lets see what been going on shall we. My brother Jesse got married last summer, which I was a groomsmen in. I was blessed with a hernia, and had to have surgery last November. That was a real experience let me tell you. I did quite a bit of fishing last year...of course not as much as I would like too, but I haven't found someone to pay me to fish yet. Jessica is doing well, she graduated last fall with a bachelors in psychology. I am graduating in May with a bachelors in History, and a minor in Anthropology. Cant wait, haha! Thats the highlight reel I guess.

Recent activity is school more or less. I have gone fishing a few times, once with Dale Darling, and Charles Vestel. I also got a chance to fish a couple times with my good friend Frank Phelps. Nothing like sharing good times with good friends. Fishing is just starting to pick up....but I have to buckle down and finish school.

Took a few months off of tying salmon flies, and it showed. However I got back on the horse and I am still learning all kinds of great stuff. I was also invited to participate in tying salmon flies for a new book by Mike Radencich. I tied 12 flies for the book, 10 classic, 2 artistic. Quite a fun experience, and I am patiently awaiting the final result. Been tying a lot of salmon flies besides the book flies. Unfortunately the trout boxes are empty, but will soon be full upon completion of school. I just finished wrapping my first bamboo fly rod. It is a Garrison 209E which is a 7'9" 5wt, can't wait to fish it. I got a wonderful reel that suits it perfectly, a Hardy Princess. I was a birthday present from Dale....quite the present! Since I liked the Princess so much, I picked up a lightweight for my 4wt rod. Perfect reels believe you me.

 Anyway enough blathering here are some pics.

Salmon Flies (in the rough order I tied them):
Popham 2/0

Carnegie Size 1 or 2ish

A made up Dee fly I gave to a friend.

A Glen Grant variant

Childers 2/0

Moon Over Nepal (artistic fly)

Blue Boy 2/0 (artistic mixed wing)

Balmoral (2/0, first fly on a hook I made, from here on out I doubt you will see me tie a fly on a purchased hook)

Black Dog 2/0

Rogans Fancy 2/0 Tied today!

Wets: I am doing something stupid and trying to tie all the flies in the Bergman book "Trout", the first plate is done just dont have pic handy but here is an old one.

Some MOM flies:
Claret Montreal 1/0

Thistle 1/0

Nicholson on a double hook

Cassard 2/0

My Grandmother passed away, so I tied this fly in honor of her memory. I have a painting of hers which features a Scarlet ibis...which is also the name of the fly.

Classic Streamers

Grey Ghost

Green Beauty

Fishing Pics

Carp from a local river

My first Cat on a fly!

Dr Vestal and I

Kool-Aid, Red Quills

So I have been messing around with dying materials recently and thought I would pass some info along to others. There have been some good red quill hatch's this year, and enjoying attractor patterns I thought I would dye some super reddish quills. I am by no means an expert at this, but anyone can do it. It just takes some practice to dial it in, play around with these directions and have fun. Make sure you use a glass container for this. If you use plastic it will absorb the dye.

Step one:
Strip a LOT of quills in preparation for this. I used a cheap pack of saddle hackle for this. Grab the tip of the feathers and remove all the feather barbs from the rachis. After you have done this, take a pair of hemostats and clamp the base of the rachis. Submerge this material to be dyed in hot water with a bit of dish soap. This will make the dye take easier, and clean the material.

Step two:

Grab a mason jar and fill it with water, about 3/4 the amount to completely submerge the material to be dyed. Next grab some packs of Kool-Aid. You need quite a bit because as the material absorbs the dye, the solution will become weaker. Always use more then you think, for a large mason jar I used 8 packs. As you can see I used a few different packs of kool-aid to get the color I wanted. You want to be careful mixing the colors as they dont really follow the color wheel style of mixing.  The next step is adding an acid to "burn" the dye into the material. Grab a jug of vinegar and add the other 1/4 of the volume needed to submerge the material.

Step three:
Mix the solution, and microwave for 2 mins. You want the mixture to get really hot, so be careful when removing the solution from the microwave. The heat and vinegar are what actually set the dye in the material. Once this is complete, rinse the material to be dyed under warm water to remove any of the soap. Then submerge the material in the solution, and swirl it around for a bit. How long it takes for the material to absorb the dye is dependent on a lot of factors. Temperature, amount of vinegar, amount of kool-aid, and how long you soaked the material before hand. So check frequently to ensure you get the color you want. The quills absorbed the dye in a few seconds, while a previous dye job took an hour to get the color I wanted. Also remember that the color will be darker when wet, and lighter when dry.

Step four:

Once you reach the desired color rinse the material thoroughly with warm water.

Step five:
Thoroughly dry the material before you through the mix away to ensure you have the correct color. As you can see you can get some pretty cool colors from this method. Here is the final result of the quill dye job, and a white India cock neck that I dyed a silver doctorish blue. I used iced blue raspberry for that one.

Hope this helps some of you!