In my last post on the Gray Ghost, I showed the labor that I undertook in the days before I knew Carrie Stevens’ tying tactics. She greatly reduced the efforts that are required to tie the fly well, and also to increase its durability. Here’s another paragraph from Long Flies that explains her tying strategies […]
As I continue to tie flies for our third book, Long Flies, I am amazed at the richness of all the long fly designs. Probably, no not probably, simply the most brilliant early development of streamers (long flies with feather wings) came from the vise of Ms. Carrie Stevens. Here’s a two paragraph excerpt from […]
My apologies for abandoning all of you for the last 10 days or so. Jason and I have been working rather intensely to get book # 2 press ready. Reading Waters will be going to the printer this week. As soon as we have a release date we will, of course, post that on our […]
Our second book, Reading Waters will be off to the printers next week. Expect it out by the third week in May. Watch this blog for updates along the way. In the meantime, I’m cranking away on books three and four. Our third volume is entitled. Long Flies and covers the development of long fly […]
As I’ve given tying demos around the US this spring, I’ve had numerous requests from the audience to show them the Double Hitch knot that I use to tie off the thread at the head. It’s a very easy knot to learn (it had to be for an 11 yyear old who knew nothing of […]
Volume 3, Long Flies, in our series, Fly Fishing, is reaching its final writing destination. Here’s a short excerpt from Long Flies on a design I call the Hen Matuka, It harkens back to the original fly tied with the feathers of the matuku bittern. The Matuka, a New Zealand imitation, solves the wing/hook-bend tangling […]
I’m just back from the Great Waters Expo in Minneapolis to find a nice email from Jane Grivna asking for more details on the Marabou Damsel Nymph. Damsel nymphs are very strong swimmers, moving through the water with a strong side to side sweeping motion of the abdomen and tails. They don’t rip along like […]
Well now, what does my friend Marc Petitjean offer us in a bobbin with a name like “The Bobbin of Bobbins?” One thing that no one else has ever done, make a bobbin that really has no tube, and which can be threaded and ready for tying with only a couple of quick hand movements. […]
I sat down for breakfast on the first day of Chuck Furimsky’s International Fly Tying Expo last fall with Faruk Ekich, whom I had just met on the elevator. As we talked, I learned that Faruk was not just a fly tyer, but a creative bobbin designer as well. I spent a while with Faruk […]
This bobbin was designed by Norm Norlander as a complement to his Nor-Vise, a true rotary tool. It allows the rotary tier much greater control of the thread than any standard bobbin because it will retract the thread that has been pulled out. The bobbin kit comes with 3 extra spools and a winding hub […]