The standard wire form bobbin that I reviewed in the last post has one disadvantage: size. Not that the bobbin is excessively large, but its bulk makes it just a bit awkward to handle in some situations, especially for the very tiny stuff. One of the standard wire forms hanging from a size 28 is a bit on the overkill side. Years ago I began tying with the “midge” or “mini” size bobbins while dressing the minutiae of fly fishing. To my great delight I found them so easy to handle that I started using them for all my tying.

The only problem with then is the need to wind thread onto the standard sewing machine style bobbins that they use. However, the sewing machine bobbins will easily hold 100 yards or more of thread, and they are super fast and easy to fill on a sewing machine, or even with a power hand drill. To me, filling the spools is a small price to pay for the maneuverability and light weight that these bobbins provide.

Like their standard-sized  cousins, these midge-sized wire-form bobbins come with straight legs; I bend them around the stem of my vise to reshape them into a tool of great delight in the hand.My old friend Frank Maerelli designed and used many fine tying instruments. His was the first Midge bobbin I used. They are currently made by Wapsi. You can see them at www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=category_view&target=509.

In all regards like the standard wire form bobbins except the Midge takes the small spools used as sewing machine bobbins.

The Midge wire form bobbins fit easily and most comfortably in one's hand.

There are any number of fly tying bobbins available today. All have something to offer to the tyer, and so this is the first in a series of posts on bobbin designs and their characteristics.

The first one that I want to look at is the standard wire leg model. There are any number of variations from a variety of manufacturers. Some have ceramic tips, some sport the usual stainless tube only. Either way, the defining characteristic of these bobbins is the springy wire legs terminating in metal or plastic feet that are rounded and tapered to fit into the holes at either end of a spool of thread. The tension on the thread is adjusted by bending the legs inward or outward, putting more or less pressure on the ends of the thread spool. The tube is variable in length, depending upon manufacturer. There are a variety of other additions to the standard wire leg bobbins to make them easier to hold, nicer to look at, etc., but they do not change the basic wire leg, tube configuration.

This bobbin style is relatively inexpensive and works just fine. Those with a ceramic insert in the tube are more expensive and perhaps give better wear than those with a plain stainless tube. But, those with a ceramic insert have a smaller internal diameter than the standard stainless tubes. This can make bobbin threading just a bit more difficult because the smaller diameter tends to gather wax from the thread and get plugged easier. However, a bobbin threader can punch the wax out and allow the thread to be readily pulled back up the tube.

All wire leg bobbins come in the “flat” form. That is the legs are in the same plane as the tube. I bend the legs against the post of my fly tying vise (both at the same time) so that they tip away from the plane of the tube about the same distance as the radius of the thread spool (see figure 1 below). This does two things. (1) The thread comes straight off the top of the spool and up through the tube, helping to minimize wax buildup on the base of the tube. (2) Bending the legs out of plane suddenly gives the bobbin a distinct top and bottom, left and right. Now, regardless of the way you lay the bobbin on the tying bench, when you pick it up, you always get in right in your hand. (3) The bent leg shape is easier to hold in your hand (see Figure 2 below), and one can extend thread by thumbing the spool counterclockwise (away from your hand) and retrieve thread by thumbing the spool clockwise (toward your hand). The bent leg, wire frame bobbin is fast and efficient to tie with, and changing threads is an easy task.

Griffin Enterprises has a good selection of wire frame bobbins and other tying tools and accessories. www.griffinenterprisesinc.com/vises.html

Because of advances in bobbins in the last 15 years or so, there are others that I also use, and we’ll be examining them in the next several blog postings

Figure 1. A wire frame bobbin with bent legs. Note the thread coming off the top of the spool and running straight up the tube.

Figure 2. The bent legs give the bobbin top and bottom, left and right, and make it easy to hold in the hand.

The Great Waters Expo in Minneapolis is coming up in two weeks. I will be there to give presentations and casting and fly tying demos. If you are in the area, please come on by. I will have copies of Fishing the Film available, and I will be happy to inscribe them for you.

Carrie Helgeson-Smith, Tom’s daughter, sent along some discount coupons for me to share with you. Please feel free to print them off and use them at the Expo.

The winter has released its grip on the Lake States, and steelhead time is upon us. As I get ready for the first steelhead trip of the year, I am tying some of Walt Mueller’s new Embryo Egg designs. This concept can be applied in two ways: (1) as a single egg on a hook, (2) as a pegged egg.

For a single egg on a hook, Walt punches a hole through one of his life-like Otter’s Eggs, and then forces a glass bead into the center of the egg. The size of the knitting needle that is used to punch the hole, and the size of the glass bead depends upon the size of the egg. For the 8mm egg, Walt makes the hole with a size 2.5 sock knitting needle and then inserts a size 8 glass bead. Walt then threads the hook through the egg, hook eye first, and finishes the egg with a bit of milking fiber. For all the bead and needle sizes see the handy Exel chart that Walt has created. It’s downloadable from his site www.softmilkingegg.com.

For the pegged egg, Walt threads a bead onto the tippet, going through the hole in the bead two times to help hold the bead several inches above the hook. I tie a single overhand knot through the hole in the egg, with the tippet. It doesn’t break because it never comes tight on itself, and it holds the bead a bit more securely. The hook is then tied on. Walt punches the appropriate needle through the egg, slips it over the hook and up onto the bead. The bead acts like the peg that holds the egg in place. It’s not only ingenious, but it looks like a million bucks. Look out steelhead.

See all of Walt’s great eggs and tying instructions at the site listed above, or click on Otter’s Eggs in the Links column to the right.

A palm full of Otter's Embryo Eggs just waiting hooks and steelehead.

Saddle hackles are hard to find. Not because the chickens aren’t making them, but because the fashion industry has discovered them, for garments and hair adornments. My friend, Henry Kanemoto, sent me this photo–have a look.

A high fashion dress of saddle hackles by Jean Paul Gautier

Pleasanton was a three-day show that was more than very well attended this year. As in all the Fly Fishing Shows, there were classes on casting, fly tying, and other topics such as entomology, writing for the outdoors, nymphing, and so on (depending upon presenters present). Then there were Power Point presentations, casting demonstrations by many of the best in the field, fly tying demos by more of the best in the sport, destination theater shows, adventure presentations, and exhibitors more than aplenty. The roar of the crowd was heavy all three days. If you were unable to attend this year, get it on your calendar for next year.

It was elbow to elbow much of the time at the Show.

My talk on Fishing the Film was standing room only--a most enthusiastic crowd.

Chuck Furimsky, owner and operator of the Show, introducing Fishing the Film. Chuck graciously introduces all the talks and demonstrations.

My friend Lance Marshall Boen was at the Show displaying his world-class leather fish sculptures. This tarpon was truly stunning. Every scale was a small fish. You can see his work at www.streamlineoriginals.com--see link at right.

More examples of Lance's outstanding work.

Another great friend, Fanny Krieger was at the Show. The late Mel Krieger's wife, Fanny still leads some trips and is involved in women's fly fishing groups. www.intlwomenflyfishers.org--see link at right.

Another friend, Dave Scadden, showing our mutual friends Steve Rajeff and Ben Furimsky his great selection of pontoon boats. I love mine. www.northforkoutdoors.com/home.html--see link at right.

Yet another old pal, Mark Petitjean and his daughter Astrid demonstrating his wonderful tying tools and tying systems.www.petitjean.com/shop--see link at right.

Long-time friend, Enrico Puglisi disussing fly designs and materials with a show attendee. www.epflies.com--see link at right.

All work and no play makes for a boring show. Chuck Furimsky, his wife, Janet, and I went out for dinner at Fontina's in Pleasanton, and lo and behold Enrico and others were there , too. There was much clinking of glasses and eating of great food.

I’m headed to Pleasanton, CA, tomorrow to give talks and demos at the Fly Fishing Show held February 25-27 at the Alameda County Fair Grounds. This has always been a great show, but this year it promises to be bigger and even better. If you’re in the area, come on out and say Hi. Watch here for blog posts from the show. For more information, go to www.flyfishingshow.com/Pleasanton.html

This is a story from our forthcoming book four in the “Fly Fishing” series. The title of the book is The Angler as Predator, and the story is from the chapter on fishing at night.

Jason and I had been invited by the Tasmanian Tourist Board to spend a couple of weeks exploring the fishing there, and then to write a critique of the island’s potential as a fly fishing destination. We stayed with Jason Garrett at his London Lakes Lodge, and fished throughout the lakes district. The fishing was stunning, and Jason’s Lodge a most hospitable and relaxing venue.

A week or so into the trip, he asked if we wanted to do some night fishing for browns. Of course we did. I love night fishing because it extends the number of hours I can fish each day, but more I love it because it is so very interesting and exciting.

“We’ll go on the new moon if there’s plenty of cloud,,” Jason G. told us. “The big ones will be moving about fearlessly, and we should have a good chance at them.” So it was decided, so it was that we did.

It was the time of the dragons; that is, dragonflies. We saw the freshly castoff husks of the huge nymphs every morning, stuck on the bark of the gum trees, where the emerging adults had left them the night before. And having fished dragonfly and damselfly hatches for many years, we were more than eager to give it a try. But we had no specific imitations to match these behemoths of the insect world. No matter. We knew their behavior, and we knew exactly what we could substitute to ape the big nymphs.

Dragonfly nymphs have rectal gills, and suck water in and squirt it out to breathe. Squirting it out rapidly turns them into miniature jet boats, and during their shoreward migration, they pulse along just under the surface, creating a very nice “V” wake in the film.

On the appointed night, we crept slowly to the lake and inched along the shoreline, listening carefully. Now, let me make a note here about Tasmanian snakes. There are only three species, but all are deadly poisonous. So part of our creeping was to avoid making noise that could spook a near-shore brown, and part of it was to keep from stepping on a viper that clearly carried a sign that read “Don’t tread on me.” We poked the ground in front of us carefully, and a bit nervously with the long stick that we each carried.

Personally, I was getting a bit tired of messing about with the stick. I’d been slapping grasses, whipping it around in debris piles, and generally being obnoxious with it—like some magic wand that would ward of tiger snakes and the other two of its ilk—and not once had I seen even a flash of one of these critters. I started to think that the stick was for the amusement of our hosts, as they watched the uninitiated northlanders feel about like members of a sightless colony of boobies. “But, better safe that sorry,” I kept telling myself. “So what if I do look like a tourist, I am a tourist.” So I kept my stick, and kept poking it along ahead of me, feeling my way through the tangle of venomous reptiles.

We’d rigged up with floating lines and big, size 6, black Muddlers with large heads. We gave them a good bath in fly floatant so they would ride along in the film and make a good firm wake when stripped at moderate speed. Suddenly, out there in the inky black, a fish broke the surface with a decidedly positive rise. I heard Jason’s rod sweep back and them the line shoot as he came forward and stopped at the end of the stroke. I stood silently, totally transfixed by the quiet. A Tasmanian Devil screeched off in the distance at almost the same time that I heard the line being snatched off the surface as the hook dug in. The fish jumped, and we could tell it was a good one.

Stick forgotten, caution thrown to the wind, I moved off briskly in Jason’s direction. It was almost certainly a fish in the two-foot class, and I wanted to be there to help him land it in the dark. That’s when it happened. There was a sharp slap to the back of my left calf, and I felt the pain as the fangs dug in. If you don’t believe that Peter walked on the water to meet Jesus, let me tell you right now that you can, in fact, walk on water for about 30 feet before you begin to sink—at least if you get an instantaneous and very high-velocity start.

I got the light on, to the shouts of the guides to “Shut off the #&@*%# torch,” and discovered a stick with a sharp, pointed end that had flipped up and caught in my waders. There was an instantaneous and very much appreciated flood of relief that swept over me. I was now a solidly repentant believer, and I kept tightly ahold of my precious stick for the remainder of the journey.

A big brown that was feeding on Tasmanian Dragons by Night.

The Fly Fishing Show is headed to Pleasanton, CA, this coming weekend (February 25-27), and I’ll be there to sign books and give casting demos, fly tying instruction, and presentations on “Fishing the Film” and  “Nymphing.” And as I always do, I will offer a non-denominational Bible teaching on Sunday morning. If you’re in the area, come to the Show for hours of enjoyable seminars and demonstrations by many of the best teachers in fly fishing.