50 years of fly fishing and tying

[meatGrinder]

I tie a lot of Royal Coachman, Goddard Caddis, Rio Grande King and various hoppers for where we fish in Colorado every year. The high mountain trout in the small creeks that feed the Rio Grande aren't too picky if you present the fly properly. Therefore, I don't tie a real big variety, I keep it pretty simple.
I would like to get into tying some poppers for bluegills and smallmouth bass flies for fishing here at home. I see that one box has some crawdad flies, those are pretty cool. I like those smaller poppers too, what size are those? Are they all cork?

 

[NomDeBoom]

I started laughing at 'how time flies':
My uncle used to fly fish the Wind River, Wyo. for Rainbow & German Brown Trout @ our ranch 60 yrs' ago.
What kind of thread do you pro tiers use?

 

[Master Carper]

I started laughing at 'how time flies':
My uncle used to fly fish the Wind River, Wyo. for Rainbow & German Brown Trout @ our ranch 60 yrs' ago.
What kind of thread do you pro tiers use?

I usually keep no less than 200 spools on hand at any given time.

When I am tying flies for bass, carp and drum, my preferred thread is either a Veevus 150 D or Danville's 140 D.

When tying scuds, mayflies, mergers and such, I usually use an 8/0 thread. Flies down to a 16, I'll use 10/0 and for perch and bluegill, I'll use a 6/0 thread.

 

[Master Carper]

I tie a lot of Royal Coachman, Goddard Caddis, Rio Grande King and various hoppers for where we fish in Colorado every year. The high mountain trout in the small creeks that feed the Rio Grande aren't too picky if you present the fly properly. Therefore, I don't tie a real big variety, I keep it pretty simple.
I would like to get into tying some poppers for bluegills and smallmouth bass flies for fishing here at home. I see that one box has some crawdad flies, those are pretty cool. I like those smaller poppers too, what size are those? Are they all cork?

These are some of favorite carp and small mouth bass flies -

When tying poppers for perch and bluegill, I use cork from a craft store, and with this size, I can get 2 poppers out of each piece of cork.

I also use foam for some of my bluegill poppers. When the foam is coated and painted, it is as hard as what the cork poppers are.

I make my frog poppers for bass using 3/8" wood dowels cut to a length of 1" with the big green eyes epoxied to each end. I also make the body out of 1/8" tight celled foam.

Here are a couple of bass bugs that my youngest daughter tied and or made and painted.

 

[NomDeBoom]

I usually keep no less than 200 spools on hand at any given time.

When I am tying flies for bass, carp and drum, my preferred thread is either a Veevus 150 D or Danville's 140 D.

When tying scuds, mayflies, mergers and such, I usually use an 8/0 thread. Flies down to a 16, I'll use 10/0 and for perch and bluegill, I'll use a 6/0 thread.

I ran across an old (1890s?) display piece- oak, glass front drawers- that looks like it came from an by-gone General Store. It's for 'Belding's Silk Thread'....the whole case is fairly presentable as is but has some internal termite damage on a drawer. The Drawers still contain several doz. spools of thread of that brand...plus some other types (Coats & Clark's/Star/& maybe others). The whole affair is on my 'To Restore' list.
P S- The only Carp fishin' I think I've ever heard of had sump'm to do w/ 'dough ball' or archery. I know of a couple ponds that I've seen 'boiling herds' (Carp gaggles?)...of them going swimming by. Some were pretty big fish, too. Never heard of feeding 'em a line of flies.
But they DO fight!

 

[Master Carper]

I ran across an old (1890s?) display piece- oak, glass front drawers- that looks like it came from an by-gone General Store. It's for 'Belding's Silk Thread'....the whole case is fairly presentable as is but has some internal termite damage on a drawer. The Drawers still contain several doz. spools of thread of that brand...plus some other types (Coats & Clark's/Star/& maybe others). The whole affair is on my 'To Restore' list.
P S- The only Carp fishin' I think I've ever heard of had sump'm to do w/ 'dough ball' or archery. I know of a couple ponds that I've seen 'boiling herds' (Carp gaggles?)...of them going swimming by. Some were pretty big fish, too. Never heard of feeding 'em a line of flies.
But they DO fight!

I have seen a lot of the old display cases like that from the late 1800's to early 1900's.

If you fly fish, at the very least, tie on a brown or black wooly booger and put it about a fit in front of a carps mouth, give it a light twitch, was catch for the take, then hold on! Great fun for sure.

 

[C_Hallbert]

Thoughts on Fly Fishing: c.g. hallbert (05/04/2024)

My Marine Corps buddy (Bill Hall) for over 50 years (now a retired architect who would probably deny my assertion) has been afflicted with the same peculiar affectation as those of you whom are also proponents of this forlorn obsession. He sequesters his collected flies and paraphernalia with the same reverence as if it was pornography, and ties all sorts of ‘what he calls’ flies and secures them with bizarre, esoteric knots; then he violently thrashes lakes and streams all over North America from the PRC (People’s Republic of Canada) to the waters in the Gulf of Mexico. I ascribe his all of success to the desperate attempts of fish to make him stop beating the water’s surface. He ties flies of every size from crossing one’s palm to the invisible (I can’t make myself believe there’s actually hooks in them). He claims that the ‘no see um’ gnat sized flies actually catch trout, but I’m intelligent enough to know that hatchling minnows become snagged on these microscopic contraptions and subsequently fish of l incrementally increasing sizes get impaled on the barbed fins of the smaller fish that they are eating until he finally feels resistance on the line; then, he reels, or drags, them in. To believe a microscopic hook without a barb is capable of catching a fish of any significant size is delusional. Despite all of the contumeparapherrnalialious arrogance, obnoxious aires of superiority, extravagance and pomp and circumstance surrounding his peculiar vocation, there is one thing that I find to be the most annoying: he releases everything that he catches. By my standards, as well as the standards of every honest fisherman who has ever walked on this planet, serious fisherman eat what they catch. The indisputable exception to this doctrine applies only to Bass Fisherman who also release their catch; but this practice (of course) is related to the unknown fact that Bass are an ethereal, mystical species and higher life form that should be praised and worshiped, but never harmed. If it was up to me, I would ban Fly Fishing, all together! Honestly, I believe that Gill Netting is a more honest occupation.

 

[NomDeBoom]

Thoughts on Fly Fishing: c.g. hallbert (05/04/2024)

My Marine Corps buddy (Bill Hall) for over 50 years (now a retired architect who would probably deny my assertion) has been afflicted with the same peculiar affectation as those of you whom are also proponents of this forlorn obsession. He sequesters his collected flies and paraphernalia with the same reverence as if it was pornography, and ties all sorts of ‘what he calls’ flies and secures them with bizarre, esoteric knots; then he violently thrashes lakes and streams all over North America from the PRC (People’s Republic of Canada) to the waters in the Gulf of Mexico. I ascribe his all of success to the desperate attempts of fish to make him stop beating the water’s surface. He ties flies of every size from crossing one’s palm to the invisible (I can’t make myself believe there’s actually hooks in them). He claims that the ‘no see um’ gnat sized flies actually catch trout, but I’m intelligent enough to know that hatchling minnows become snagged on these microscopic contraptions and subsequently fish of l incrementally increasing sizes get impaled on the barbed fins of the smaller fish that they are eating until he finally feels resistance on the line; then, he reels, or drags, them in. To believe a microscopic hook without a barb is capable of catching a fish of any significant size is delusional. Despite all of the contumeparapherrnalialious arrogance, obnoxious aires of superiority, extravagance and pomp and circumstance surrounding his peculiar vocation, there is one thing that I find to be the most annoying: he releases everything that he catches. By my standards, as well as the standards of every honest fisherman who has ever walked on this planet, serious fisherman eat what they catch. The indisputable exception to this doctrine applies only to Bass Fisherman who also release their catch; but this practice (of course) is related to the unknown fact that Bass are an ethereal, mystical species and higher life form that should be praised and worshiped, but never harmed. If it was up to me, I would ban Fly Fishing, all together! Honestly, I believe that Gill Netting is a more honest occupation.

This is funny & I don't agree with all of it.
At all.
But I have caught fish that were smaller than (even 'pretty dang small') sized lures I was using. And, I've caught 2 of some particular breed of fish that I've yet to positively identify. Locally, too.
One was about 5 lbs. & colored like a white pearl. A Beautiful, Magical thing to behold- caught during a sudden & violent thunder storm. I returned it, unharmed to the darkening waves for fear of retribution from the Ichthyology Gods. Also; it was all I caught that day, & who wants to clean just one, magic fish?
The next one (& only) creature of this type, was 'snagged' in the same waterway using the method described above....(the teeny lure concept). I was reeling in one of favorite, lifelike, rubber fish- and a tiny, iridescent pearly version of the former was stuck on the hook. I threw that one back too.
And, oh yeah. Bass are fkn stupid. Largemouths are morons.
I swear; several times I've gone out to farm ponds armed with those same little rubber fish (look like a punkin' seed or bluegill- with a bigger hook on top, & a treble on the tail) & caught what had to ALL the bass in the pond, TWICE! (Usually about a Lb. each or so. Reel one in, dehook the li'l Basstard, toss it back in a high arc, !!!*SPlaSH*!!! All the rest hurry over, 'What'd I miss? What'd I Miss'???.....Just this....cast, repeat until dark, or all the rubber fish are chewed beyond recognition.
If you ever met a 20 foot bass, you'd be in real trouble. STUPID trouble!
Lucky Jaws was only a shark.

 

[Master Carper]

This is funny & I don't agree with all of it.
At all.
But I have caught fish that were smaller than (even 'pretty dang small') sized lures I was using. And, I've caught 2 of some particular breed of fish that I've yet to positively identify. Locally, too.
One was about 5 lbs. & colored like a white pearl. A Beautiful, Magical thing to behold- caught during a sudden & violent thunder storm. I returned it, unharmed to the darkening waves for fear of retribution from the Ichthyology Gods. Also; it was all I caught that day, & who wants to clean just one, magic fish?
The next one (& only) creature of this type, was 'snagged' in the same waterway using the method described above....(the teeny lure concept). I was reeling in one of favorite, lifelike, rubber fish- and a tiny, iridescent pearly version of the former was stuck on the hook. I threw that one back too.
And, oh yeah. Bass are fkn stupid. Largemouths are morons.
I swear; several times I've gone out to farm ponds armed with those same little rubber fish (look like a punkin' seed or bluegill- with a bigger hook on top, & a treble on the tail) & caught what had to ALL the bass in the pond, TWICE! (Usually about a Lb. each or so. Reel one in, dehook the li'l Basstard, toss it back in a high arc, !!!*SPlaSH*!!! All the rest hurry over, 'What'd I miss? What'd I Miss'???.....Just this....cast, repeat until dark, or all the rubber fish are chewed beyond recognition.
If you ever met a 20 foot bass, you'd be in real trouble. STUPID trouble!
Lucky Jaws was only a shark.

I have to agree, bass are STUPID!

My grandpa flat out refused to fish for bass, he said that was one of the most stupid fish that ever swam!

For example, a spinner bait looks like nothing else, but yet a bass will eat one in a heartbeat!

I never knew of his dislike for the largemouth bass, until the day I showed up on his front porch with exactly 100 bass that averaged from 2 1/2 to 3 pounds that I had caught from a big strip in Centralia Oklahoma.

My grandpa was good enough to fillet all 100 of those bass for me, and told me if I even so much as showed him a picture of a largemouth bass, he promised he would never take me carp fishing again!

We carp fished many times after that, but never again did I ever mention the name of that stupid fish!

 

[NomDeBoom]

Yup. Fun 2 Ketch tho.
....Suicidal idiot fish.
Tasty, too!~