A couple of days before the International Fly Tying Symposium (held Nov. 23, 24) Theo Bakellar, Ben Furimski, and I spent a day fishing for stripers. Theo fished with a variety of his eelskin flies. These are tied with a strip of freshwater eelskin. The skin is very thin and flexible, and so, swims very […]
I just had a note from Jay Smit of South Africa, noted designer and builder of the Jvise. This is a unique vise with many great features. He has donated one of his Damasteel Jaw vises for an auction being held to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital Trust (CHT), the fundraising arm of the […]
I added this fly to the end of my last post on the International Fly Tying Symposium, but I wanted to do a separate post on it just to call everyone’s attention to this novel, and very effective technique. Rattle flies always rattled me a bit as a tier because they required a rattle chamber […]
The EZ extended body is simple to make and highly effective. It is hollow and uses a silicon base, so it repels water and is air filled—a great combo for tying floating flies. Roger Duckworth has an easy to understand video on making the bodies. Check it out here.
I had a nice note from Claes Johansson of the J:son Sweden company to let me know that they have their site up in English. It’s well worth a look. J:son in the company that produces the amazingly realistic winging materials and legging materials that Theo Bakelaar has been tying with (see past blog posts […]
Give a man a set of rubber legs and he will go wild. Theo is at it again. If anyone wants to watch him tie some of these easily done, and highly creative imitations, come to the International Fly Tying Symposium, November 23-24, at the Garden State Convention Center in Somerset New Jersey. I’ll be […]
I’ve been traveling the last few weeks, and my good friend, Theo Bakelaar, has been feeding me information for my blog about tying and fishing. When this came, I got very excited. Talk about simple and fast to tie—and good looking! You be the judge. These legs and the winging material that Theo has been […]
Our friend, Theo Bakelaar, from Holland continues to experiment with foam bodies and the new winging material. Here’s a dragonfly. The winging material is exceptional, and will be brought into the US and available soon. Watch for it. When I get a hint that it’s available here, I will post the news immediately.
Our friend, Theo Baakalar, in Holland, has been dressing flies with some new foam body material and new veined winging material. This adult cranefly is his latest creation. Even though it looks delicate, the materials in the fly are very tough and make it a real fishing fly, not just an artistic creation.
In a couple of posts back I mentioned Crystal UV Coat head cement that my friend Henry sells. I love this stuff, especially when I need a lacquered head on a bucktail, streamer, or other long fly. It sets in a few seconds under UV light and gives a hard finish. Before UV coat, I’d […]