What have you been tying lately?

[MN BassFisher]

What wt rod do you throw those on Ted??

[ted4887]

Most of these will get thrown on a 10/11wt. However, this one I can probably get away with on a 9wt, possibly even an 8 if I wanted to. It's only about 7-8" long, and most of the water I'll be fishing these on don't require long casts. That, and these really do shed water pretty well. In terms of movement, and castability, there are very few materials out there that compare to bucktail. Now, getting your hands on good buck tail is next to impossible. Just a few weeks ago, I went up to The Fly Angler and sorted through around 30 packages of bucktail, just to find two good decent ones, and one that I'll use about a 1/4 of before it gets demoted to cr@ppy clouser duty.

[OnAFly]

There are some materials you must buy in person. Lookin good ted.

You gonna be checking out the selection at the GWE this weekend? I'll be taking stock of what I have and putting together a list. Should be a good chance to see materials from several different places at once.

[ted4887]

Thanks.

Yeah, as far as tying goes, the only thing I'll be looking hard for is a good bucktail. Other than that, I don't need many tying materials. And with these flies, the good bucktail goes fast. I was dissapointed to see that Musky Country/Primo Tail is done selling their stuff for the season. I'll hopefully be up there fishing with Brad again in the fall, right around the time that he gets his bucktail. I'm probably going to try to get a few of those from him when I'm there.

[Slabasaurus]

You gonna be checking out the selection at the GWE this weekend? I'll be taking stock of what I have and putting together a list. Should be a good chance to see materials from several different places at once.

Yeah... I am going to try to make a list so I don't go toooo crazy.

Wonder if anyone is gonna have some LA or silver pheasant stuff... can't find that anywhere.

[ted4887]

Have you checked Feather Emporium for some of those odd ball feathers, Slab?

[Slabasaurus]

I get most of my oddball stuff from AO Feathers. Very happy with that quality.

Looks like I will be givin the feather emporium a shot though.

[ted4887]

[MNFishhunter]

Ted, your toothy critter flies look awesome!

[Slabasaurus]

Diggin it Ted. that's a nice flytie.

But, dude... it's nice out. You should really fish more

[ted4887]

Thanks guys.

Yeah Slab, I've been fishing a little bit lately. Got out for a few hours the other day and had a staring contest with a beaver. He was still a little salty over the DNR removing his dam not too long ago. Looked like he was prepping a new build though. Hopefully someone turns him into dubbing before he gets the chance though.

I'm getting bored of the trout fishing though. I'm jonesin for the Mississippi to open up for me.

[OnAFly]

Fish the mouths of the trout streams. Might be some roughfish hangin around. Might be early though.

I'll be back at my spot tonight after work. No beer though, plenty of that last night. We'll see if I can scrounge up a fish or two. Hoping the drum might be up there.

BTW - I believe there's a spring beaver trapping season...just sayin

[Slabasaurus]

I'm getting bored of the trout fishing though. I'm jonesin for the Mississippi to open up for me.

Beavers... heh. I actually think I agree with the Duck Dynasty crew on beavers.

I went to the 'sip last night for a brew and to practice the casting a bit more. Jonesin indeed

[ted4887]

Went down to the hardware store tonight in an effort to get organized. It's a start...

[Ic3wind]

Dont like it, too organized

[redneckdan]

Hi all y'all!

I'm new here and fairly new to Minnesota. I started tying and fly fishing from a very young age, I used to fish northern Michigan a lot with my dad. Stayed with it all the way through high school then kind if stagnated in college. Just didn't have the time between work and school.

I moved to the Iron Range in June for work. I hauled all my fly gear here with me and finally dusted off my 5wt last weekend...the fly fishing itch is back and worse then ever.

I dug through my moth eaten, +10 year old supplies and cobbled together one of my favorites.

Proportions are off but not to bad considering how long it's been. The hook is a modified #10 94840. The body is a little heavy. Other wise it is proportioned about right for a size 14.

My dad calls these an extended body adams, it is his favorite fly. The hook is intentionally supose to be smaller than convention dictates and the hackle bigger. The hackle greatly decelerates the fly after the leader turns over. The fly lands with barely a ripple. I used to tie these down to size 18. Not sure I can still do that, I don't remember my fingers being this clumsy back in the day.

[Slabasaurus]

Welcome! Nice tie for bein away for a bit

I haven't done much of the 'extended body' flies, usually end up getting frustrated and tying up some standard adams instead

[OnAFly]

I was talking to Slabs at the GWE about my attempt at tying those extended body flies. That one sure looks better than the ones I tied up. Nice looking fly for sure. I like the short shank, wide gap. Must be a good hooking percentage fly.

[redneckdan]

It does hook pretty well and the bent hook seems to get more strikes. I think the hook hides a little better underneath the hackle. Also acts kind of like a keel to help the fly land flat.

[Wabamskee]

Awesome SBS OAF...i've been wanting that one for awhiel

[Wabamskee]

Nice Ted

[Wabamskee]

Awesome to see new peeps redneck, and not a bad lookin fly. Got a SBS on how to rig up that tail?

[redneckdan]

I spun up some hex flies this evening.

The spring maintenance outage starts this weekend at the plant. 25 days of straight doubles. I am salaried but do get comp time. I am hopping to save enough up to take 3 weeks off and go fish the whole hex hatch in Michigan.

I will do a walk though tomorrow of how to do the extended tail.

[OnAFly]

Sweet deal. 3 weeks of fishing, not a bad idea

Me, this will be the summer of rough fish I think. I got bored tonight and despite having a box full of carp flies, I managed to pop out another 11 variations in a couple hours.

Is it summer yet?

[ted4887]

If your boxes are full OAF, feel free to send them my way. My roughfish boxes need a little work! The last time I tied was that last orange/white musky fly I cranked out. I've been way to busy over the last week or so to do anything productive on the fly tying bench.

Welcome to the board Redneck. Nice ties so far!

[redneckdan]

This is how I do the extended body flies. I developed this technique through trial and error. Nothing is ever new... So somebody else has probably done it this way before I figured it out.

Start with a fairly heavy needle in your vise.

Tie in with just a few wraps. This will need to slip off later, so don't get too crazy.

Select your body material. I am using deer hair. As you tie in think 'buck tail streamer' rather than bass bug. You can tie your tail material in too if you intend for it to run along the back of the body.

Wrap the thread over the body material until you are about a half inch from the end. Add your tail material if didnt do it earlier. Wrap a couple times then throw on a half hitch. Wrap back to where you started, wrap a couple times like you did at the tail, half hitch a couple times then cut your thread.

Slide the completed body off the needle.

Before tying the body onto your hook. Wrap the shank a couple times to give the body something to grip. Other wise it will tend to spin on the shank.

Tie the body in. Again think buck tail rather than bass bug.

Finish your fly as you normally would.

[ted4887]

Nice step by step, Redneck.

[OnAFly]

Redneck-that's looks a whole lot easier than what I was trying to do, basically without the needle.

Ted-haha, I think I'll have to get yet another box for them...or start using them. Lousy weather.

[redneckdan]

I used to be able to do it both ways and get good results. Years of working as a mechanic while putting myself through college seems to have taken a lot of my dexterity. I can only do it with the needle now.

[Wabamskee]

OAF, isn't that always the case?

diggin it...i'll be doing this trick this weekend