Using a Rotary Whip Finisher Tool for Fly Tying Fishing

This sometime seems to throw a lot of tiers a problem. Good quick visual aid on it.

The flies and lives of Ulf Hagtröm: Todays tying 110123

The flies and lives of Ulf Hagtröm: Todays tying 110123: "So I went at that little blue baitfish again today. I had an idea that a double tail would make it move better and more important not propel..."

Flyfishmagazine: Things we didn't buy...

Check out this post over at Flyfishmagazine: Things we didn't buy...

Quick trip before the next storm

The kids were okay today all things considered. It passed pretty painlessly. As I waited for 3:30 to roll around. Given my recent luck with the weather it would probably start pouring the snow. Luckily it didn't :)

Made my way to the river. The air temp was in the mid 30's. Warm by recent standards. There was a lot of snow everywhere and some 'daddy rabbit' icicles hanging from the cliffs. Not much ice on the river after two sort of warming days.

Rigged up two flies under a small indicator and followed JT's advice of 'mo lead' got down and drifted the deep pools and plunges. After many casts the indicator stopped and darted side ways. Nice little rainbow. Ate the top fly (un beaded mayfly nymph) :) I really needed that. Fished on and cast a lot for one more fish. LDR and that was okay :)

Fished about an hour and a half. Two fish, no lost flies, no injuries or no screwed up gear. It has been since early December since I had been. Nice afternoon all in all.

60% chance of snow or freezing rain tonight :cry:

Follow Up to While Your Tying This Winter

After the post about tying for charities in the Fly Fishing World I had a couple of requests for contact information and links. Below are some of them.

Casting for Recovery Locally in the Western North Carolina area contact Starr Nolan at

For more information about N.C.T.U. Rivercourse Youth Camp, please email Dick Heald

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. http://www.projecthealingwaters.org/

I am sure your help would be greatly appreciated :)

Southern Culture On The Fly Is Throwing A Tying Party

Southern Culture On The Fly Is

Throwing A Tying Party

12JAN

I figured putting out a new magazine was leaving a little too much free time on my hands (idle hands are the devil’s workshop and all that jazz), so to remedy the situation, we I have decided to try our hands at philanthropy. We are proud to announce our first ever SCOF event, The Tie-One-On-A-Thon, benefiting Project Healing Waters. Have you ever been hit up to pledge for a walk-a-thon? Well, we thought this was a pretty inane way to raise money for something. Walking around in a circle for hours only gets you back to where you started, but tying flies for hours on end gets you a butt load of flies…a much better trade-off in our opinion. So we are inviting some of the region’s best fly tiers down to SCOF headquarters (i.e. Steve’s art studio) on February 27th, for a good old-fashioned winter tying session. The tiers will all collect pledges based on either how many flies they tie or for how many hours they tie. Since we are gonna have about 25-35 tiers at this thing we can’t exactly keep folks out, so instead, we are gonna charge to get in. The price of admission will reflect the tough economic times that fly fisherman face these days and will be a small pittance in exchange for a Sunday spent checking out some of the region’s best tiers and how they do (and yes, I am hip enough to say that).We are also gonna be selling Tie-One-On-A-Thon fly collections from all the tiers after the event with 100% of the proceeds from the event going towards healing veterans with fly fishing. Curtis Wright Outfitters has already signed on as a presenting sponsor for the event, which should give a certain whiff of legitimacy to the whole affair, and we have set up an information page on our website for the event (which can be reached off our homepage). So mark your calendars for February 27, 2011 and check the website and blog for updates on details, as we will be throwing them up as we get them. Oh yeah did I mention the local beer and roasted swine on tap? I always forget to mention that. Should be a good one.

- Dave

Posted from SCOF's blog

While your tying this winter

While your tying this winter something to possibly think about. There are several fly fishing oriented organizations that could use flies. Three that spring to mind are: Casting for Recovery, Rivercourse, and Project Healing Water.

Casting for Recovery take women who have had surgery and are recovering from breast cancer. The motion of fly-fishing helps the physical aspects. The socialization and natural settings helps the mental recovery.

Rivercourse is a youth summer camp put on by Trout Unlimited. The program teaches young people about trout fishing, nature, and conservation. It is a great way to get young people into the sport of fly fishing.

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying education and outings.

I have tied flies for all these worth while groups. It is worth it to share our sport with people who are benefiting so much from their experiences. I know there are probably other fly fishing causes out there that I may not have mentioned. What I would hope and challenge those in the sport that tie is donate some flies. While we refill the boxes this winter set a dozen or two aside to help others enjoy the sport more. With your donated flies folks will enjoy the rush of a trout, bass, or bluegill bending a rod for the first or first time in a log while.

Is it spring yet !

Photo Courtesy: Brad Sprinkle

It has been a cold and very disagreeable weathered winter so far. I personally fished 3 part day trips in December. This is a different scenario than the last few years. There's cold and then there's frozen river cold. Streams have been choked with ice a lot of days. The 'shake nastiness' creep in and you start muttering or just maybe you use the time for some good .

Those that tie flies have the two options for their time. One is to fill in the blank spots in the 'go to' boxes. These are the boxes that we carry out with flies that illicit confidence. Flies we have used in the past with success and we will often return to.

As we tie the 'old stand-bys' a few things to think about. Knowing that we use these a lot tie them in sufficient quantities while the snow and cold rustle around outside. Some of these classic such as Woolly Buggers, Gold Ribbed Hairs Ears, Pheasant Tails, Adams, and Elk Hair Caddis work just about everywhere reasonably well. They aren't hard to tie for the most part. Just remember how they were the fuel for great trips and many wonderful memories with more to come.

Another thing to remember on tying the 'go to' flies is tie them in several sizes. Sometimes a size 16 Hares Ear is the ticket over the same fly in maybe 12. And other times exactly the opposite maybe.

The Second type of tying is the experimental stuff. Patterns a friend gave you or something you saw in a magazine article. These flies may become 'go to' flies or just exercises to see if you can successfully tie them. The internet is a great place to begin looking for some thing to tie different. I personally use YouTube.com as a resource to find new patterns as well as techniques.

Tying new patterns to your bench helps you grow as a tier and helps you see how materials that are new to you maybe added to the fly patterns in the 'go to' box.

What ever you do tying is a wonderful way to stay close to fly fishing when you can't be there.