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I have seen a number of professional fly tiers that use a half hitch tool to finish their flies. I have seen some professional fly tiers use their hands to do the half hitch.
I have watched one expert fly tier who has develop several fly tying materials tie the entire fly in his hands without a vise. That is interesting thing to see done. But that is off topic
Al and Gretchen Beatty use a half hitch tool a lot though I have seen them use their hands some. It seems like AK Best uses his hands mostly for finishing his flies. At the fly tying clinics most of the tiers use a materelli whip finisher or something similar.
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For small mountain streams the fish tend to be extremely opportunistic. They don't seem to be very fussy. For turbulent water I like something that floats very well. Orange or red or yellow Humpies work well. Royal wulffs is one of the best for that type of fishing.
A rule of thumb I have read a number of times is bright colors work better on bright days and dull colors work better on over cast days.
For visibility I like to have Hot orange, or dark red, or black posts or wings for turbulent water. Having said that though I tie my Royal wulffs with the traditional white wings. Maybe I should venture afar on them this year.
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Another way to approach learning to use the materelli tool is to first do a half hitch by hand or using a half hitch tool. This way your materials are tied in then you can take your time working with the materelli tool to lay down more wraps.
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[font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]I like to tie in a half hitch while I'm preparing other materials. Keeps things nice and neat until my return. Sometimes I will even use a small plastic/neoprene tube to push back the hackle and then get a few half hitches tied in.[/size][/green][/font]
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Funny. I talked to a guy at the creek one day who said the same thing about the fish being opportunist, and not worry about trying to match any kind off hatch. "Use something visible" he said. and stay as low as you can.
I did go cast yesterday, I was throwing a scud. got tapped a couple times wich was encouraging enough. But spent alot of time picking ice out of the guides. I can't wait for the weather to break.
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Fishing small streams with lots of brush and trees on the edges I stick with 4x or bigger tippet and no second fly. I use a dry fly. With two flies I can be guaranteed that when I cast to the tree fish I will have to stumble over and untangle flies in the branches. Using one dry fly and 4x or larger tippet the fly has a lot less tendancy to wrap around the branches. A lot of the time I can gently tease the fly out of the bushes without needing to go to the fly.
Using nymphs in a small stream means you are constantly hanging up on the rocks moss, leaves and twigs in the water. So if I must nymph then I will use a dry fly with dropper nymph. I don't put any weight on. I tend to grease the tippet part way to the nymph to keep the nymph just below the surface. All this to try to minimize the snagging in the water.
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wasnt it you who posted the use of a piece of straw to hold back the hackle.. or was that part of a post that you started??
MacFly [cool]
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Scruffy, I tie most of mine with white post also, but I carry a RED and a Black waterproof marker and color the post or wings.
I also agree with bright colors on sunny days and dark on cloudy. Black at night works killer.
I like Orange. Try a Sunset Sow Bug Killer.
Purple on the high Uinta lakes works killer also.
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FG writes: ----- [size 1]Scruffy, I tie most of mine with white post also, but I carry a RED and a Black waterproof marker and color the post or wings. [/size]
......
I have carried water proof markers with me also. But I have never used them. I forget I have them with me.
I have some white round rubber for legs on my flies. I use water proof markers to add the color I want to the legs instead of having many different colored legs. I have problems with Pantene Red Markers not completely drying or adhering well though and slowly rubs off the legs while fishing.
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I hear you Scruffy. I went to LOWES and bought 18 Sharpies in a lot of great colors and the set was on sale for like $8. (darn near the price of two Pantene's)
They work great! and no biggie if you lose one.
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Duct tape, WD-40, and sharpies
Things that I always have around.
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Don't forget Zap-A-Gap and Bungies[laugh]
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[center][font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]And a 357 if you are going fishing in the Everglades.[/size][/green][/font][/center]
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Yes, I always have clogged up bottle of Zap A Gap around.
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Get serious Bro! Have you ever fired a Bazooka from a Float Tube??? You need to make sure that you have at least a 1/2 mile of recoil space behind you and a GPS to find your way back to where you fired the last round. hee hee[laugh]
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...hey Im only talking about a bazooka.. not an sm-3.. [sly]
MacFly [cool]
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Oh![shocked] My bad[blush]
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...okay you win.. but I wont have anything less than a .44 (are ya feeling lucky....??) [sly]
MacFly [cool]
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