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Samantha Fish – Black Cat Bone
OK, I know it’s not fly tying, but a love of good music, and I like almost all kinds, is part of what makes me who I am; fly tier, drummer, singer, audiophile, etc., etc., etc. I went with a good...
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Classic Fly Tier Turns to Salt
That would be me, not turning to salt, but tying some saltwater flies, specifically a palolo worm pattern for tarpon in the Florida Keys. Going back twenty years, and off and on since then, I have tied...
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Two Quickies
I want to post these two tidbits on landing fish, or not landing them. Here are two examples of what not to do. On May 12th I was at the Wayne Harpster property on Spruce Creek for the annual...
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Spring Creek – First Trip 2014
Yesterday afternoon a friend, his son, and me went to Pennsylvania’s Spring Creek with hopes of catching some sulfur mayfly activity. We did. This article is a brief report on that trip. The day was...
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Spring Creek – Again
I paid a short visit to Spring Creek last evening. After all I was in the area for something else, and figured while nearby, why not? Turns out my friend Bill Shuck, a regular www.flymphforum.com tier,...
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“Dale, We’ve Got to Get Out!”
It has been a while since I have last written here. I’ve done some fishing, but as usual, not enough. Lots of factors are contributing to that: weather – lots of rain, high water, heat and humidity,...
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Barramundi
I have been very busy tying – still – playing in the band, enjoying summer despite very little fishing. And I am still backed up on my fly orders. Just about when I seem to close in on getting caught...
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Carrie Stevens and Rangeley Style Streamers
Don Bastian:I have received several requests for information on the hackle / throat method on Carrie Stevens Rangeley Style streamer patterns that I have been using for over two years. While I have...
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Classic Wet Fly Display – 483 Flies
Last Saturday I returned to Clyde’s Tower Oaks Lodge Restaurant in Rockville, Maryland, with my girlfriend, Mary Fortin. I wanted to show her the ten-frame set of classic wet flies that the owners...
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Black Prince
The Black Prince wet fly is an old pattern. It is shown on the Lake Flies in Favorite Flies and Their Histories, 1892, by Mary Orvis Marbury. It is also in Trout, 1938, by Ray Bergman. It was a popular...
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Gem – A New and Unknown Carrie Stevens Pattern
Two different people sent me this photo over the weekend of an unknown (as far as I know), carded Carrie Stevens bucktail pattern. Obviously, it is her card, her handwriting, and her fly. And very...
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The Black Prince Rides Again
A few posts back, I wrote about a customer who had bought four dozen Black Prince wet flies from me. Well, her success with that old classic pattern continues, and has spilled over to another angler...
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24th Annual International Fly Tying Symposium
By way of announcement, the International Fly Tying Symposium will take place next weekend, November 22 and 23 at Somerset, New Jersey. I will be present, tying and demonstrating. The event is at the...
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Rangeley Lake Flies
Earlier this fall, I tied an order for a customer going to Upper Dam in the Rangeley Region of Maine to fish for brook trout and land-locked salmon. He told me to select the patterns, so I thought it...
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Vintage Stuff
A friend of mine, and one of my blog followers, and occasional commenters, Alec Stansell, of Massachusetts, posted this picture on his facebook page. I liked it and decided to share it with my readers....
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Speaking of Ghosts…
Due to an inquiry from a customer a couple years ago, with his desire to have me create a frame of all the streamer patterns named “Ghost” – specifically “Something Ghost” as opposed to “Ghost...
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Carrie Stevens – Silver Doctor
Not too long ago a friend sent me this picture of a streamer. At first we were not sure what it was, though we were both pretty sure it was a Carrie Stevens tied fly. My friend sent the image to Don...
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Guess Who Came to the Show?
This is pretty cool. On Saturday November 22nd, at the 24th Annual International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, New Jersey, a man came to my table. He was intently eyeing my flies, moving back and...
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Streamer Hackles – A Primer on What to Look For
A few weeks ago I was tying 16 Carrie Stevens streamer patterns, actually about ten different patterns, for a few orders. While doing that I thought, as I had previously, that I get lots of questions...
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Chris Helm – Gone Fishing In Heaven
It is with great sadness that I announce that Chris Helm passed away last night, after a several year battle with cancer. I learned of this sad news on facebook, from Steve Wascher, fellow fly tier and...
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