Faux Hackle Dryfly

Well I am pleased with it appearance wise. I have not fished it yet.

Hook: #16 Dryfly 
Tail: Deer
Body: Yellow dubbing
Faux Hackle: Deer

Fashion vs Fly Tying

What has the world come to? Woman are using all the really good quality dry fly hackle to make their hair 'pretty'. This has from all accounts made the availability dry up (pardon the pun) What to do? This has made dry fly tying seem like the act of attaching $1 to a hook big time. Now I know fly tying costs. That sort of why I started this site and blog. To show ways to recycle and replace materials.

I have been pondering this problem on this rainy evening. I really don't have a Trash Fly that can replace a Catskill pattern. The small streams demand a high floating and buoyant fly. It needs to match a hatch. Mayfly that is.

What material works as well? Where can this be found? Where?

I looked through my recycled stuff and bulk scavenged naturals. What would work and what do I have a bunch of?

Mountain deer hair.
Yes!

People use to make hackle collars out of deer hair.

Friends give me full skins in deer season.

 I'm going to give it a try!

I'll tie a few and post some test results later.

I may be the only one bothered but I'm sure this has hit home with some of the rest of you out there. What do you think on this?

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Dumbbell Eyes Mold 2.0

I know I am a little bit OCD about fly tying tools and such. I know I bought a butt load of really good dumbbell eyes from Blake. But I just couldn't get the idea that nobody sold a mold to make dumbbell eyes out of the back of my mind. I work with a world class machinist and tool maker (Joe Walker) and we on more than one occasion egg each other on with 'bet we could' projects. The students see the what's possible scenarios. We've made parts for old machines, tools for the local Audi dealer's mechanics, and a few fishing related items to mention a few  

Here's where the mold got to.











As you can see a old style bullet mold was a inspiration. It works really well. A few 'short shots'. Great thing about lead is it's almost infinitely recyclable. 

What do you all think?

Dragonfly Dry Prototype

The idea behind this pattern was a need for a good dragonfly pattern to fool largemouth bass. Ideal time is in the mid day sun when dragonfly are airborne over local ponds here in the summer. These bass can be very picky and are looking for that right  Silhouette on the water.

Another consideration was is the fly going to be a massive time consumer to tie and a heart breaker to loose to a tree or monster fish.

The final consideration is will this fly twist the leader to the point at which it becomes a tangled mess. This has come from some previous experimentation. Above is the prototype of  a culmination of suggestions and ideas.

 Craft-store item for the tail extension.

Pre shaped foam spider bodies. This could be substituted for a variety of close cell foam products such as pipe insulation and craft store art supplies.

I used a Kink Shank hook because I feel it works better with foam materials.

The wings were a challenge to keep from twisting the leader every cast. I remember seeing an old balsa popper that was done with mono loop wings and thought hummmm.