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Benjamin,

It's been a while since I have heard from Jim, and it's probably unlikely that he sees your comment. He has never submitted the pattern description for the foam emerger in the picture, so you might have to look elsewhere for such a pattern.

Martin

Submitted by Benjamin on

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Hello! I saw the picture of your hex foam emerger, but have not seen the recipe anywhere. Would you please email it to me?

Thanks!

Benjamin
West Bend, WI

because Striped predators "NEVER" eat crabs... [well, maybe sometimes]
[img:11b3e6382b]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa176/Phracas/P6041030.jpg[/img:11b3…]
'sparsely applied over porous mylar tubing... 'slightly negative ballast for a slow sinking sensation...
[img:11b3e6382b]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa176/Phracas/P6061045.jpg[/img:11b3…]
[img:11b3e6382b]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa176/Phracas/P6061052.jpg[/img:11b3…]

Submitted by Mike Snyder on

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Forty years ago the oldtimers in the Harman, WV area used three wets at a time on short leaders. Favorites were gray hackle peacock, gray hackle yellow, queen of the waters, cowdung, and hare's ear. My dad's was the royal coachman and mine, the coachman which I've taken browns of three pounds on.

Submitted by Ken on

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They a super indicator. They are fun and easy to make.They are very good to use for bluegill fishing as well.
Thank you so much.

Eddie,

You ask:
1. How do I store my (9 foot, 2-piece) fly rod once I have tied all my knots - leader, tippet, etc?

What most fly anglers do is: cut off the fly close to the hook eye and put it in your fly box, wind the whole line, leader and tippet through the guides onto the reel leaving a small tag to grab the next time you use it and then take off the reel and break down the rod. Store the reel with the line on it in its pouch and the rod in a rod bag and maybe a tube.

2. If I take my fly rod apart, how do you suggest that I keep the lines from tangling (again, leader, tippet, etc)?

Unless you are moving a short distance from fishing spot to fishing spot, I strongly urge you to do as described above. A rod with all line mounted is difficult to handle and even though you only have one line, you can easily tangle anyway. For transport you might leave the line in the guides and the fly in a hook rest or one of the guides, and take the rod apart in two halves, "fold" them and lay them side by side. If you are careful and maybe tighten the line you might avoid tangles and can transport the rod in a trunk or on the back seat. Personally I prefer transporting the rod on the outside of the car in a rod holder, but that's another story.

Hope this helps.

Martin

Submitted by Robin van der Woude on

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I have just tied this fly, I am not the best fly tier in the world but it was pretty easy.
I would expect this fly to do well on a tailing bonefish.

Submitted by Larry Warner on

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thanks for the recipe. Apparently, no one here has had to make things for themselves in order to save costs! You can buy a small aluminium pan for less than a dollar at the grocery store to heat things in. I use old Old Spice stick deodardant tubes that were ready to be tossed in the garbage. I keep them all now, since they clean up nicely with hot soapy water, cost $0.00 . You can buy in bulk on the internet for the bees wax and bow rosin. My total cost was about $4.00 per tube which provides about 5 times the volume of tacky wax. I made enough for 4 tubes and gave three of them out to fly tying friends. That was 4 years ago and I still have about 60% in my tube, and I ty about 600 dubbed bodies per years. The friends I gave them to still have about 3/4 of their tubes left. Making your own wax may seem like overkill, but so does tying your own flies if that is the way you look at things!

Submitted by N. Eddie P. on

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Martin,
Great article. very informative. I will bookmark this page for future reference.
2 questions that I can't seem to find answers for -

1. How do I store my (9 foot, 2-piece) fly rod once I have tied all my knots - leader, tippet, etc?
2. If I take my fly rod apart, how do you suggest that I keep the lines from tangling (again, leader, tippet, etc)?

Thanks for a most valuable article! I will go forward with a lot less apprehension (this will be my first time fly fishing).

Submitted by craig on

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I saw a similar pattern in a book about Irish sea trout fishing back in the seventies. the first year or two i tied in the tail and body, however just winding a hackle tied by the butt forward to the eye (over the thread base) gives the same profile. i've tried several colors, my favorite is a dark dun, though white and black work well also. i tie them on #12 dry fly hooks. if i was restricted to a single pattern this would be it. the pattern has taken just about every species of fish i've run into. without weight it fishes dry or wet. it really is an amazing pattern.

Submitted by Hans Berghmans… on

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Tight Lines Frank. Good job, and it seems too me a trophy trout!

There's now another one called "Bug-Bond" I haven't tried it yet but from various reports it seems very good.

Submitted by Tom on

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This was the only pattern which caught fish. Tie in with Olive, Black, Natural hares ear, and Grey to match your local waters.

Submitted by steve on

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I made a house fly pattern also but it was a little different. For the eyes I melted the end of monofilament and put on two red seed beads, then melted the other end to form sort of a dumbell. Same body and I just tied a thick parachute style hackle with a white post of calf tail. I tried this pattern yesterday in the native brook stream in front of my house. Landed a 10" brook and a 12 1/4 brook in about 15 minutes! They sure do love the house fly!!!

Submitted by Walter McFarlane on

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For martin fisher.
Hello,
Just try and keep it simple at the start. A good, rod, reel, fly line, some dry and wet flies and some buzzers, landing net and good leaders. It all comes with practice, practice and practice. Mix fullers earth with dish washing liquid to make a paste, rub this lightly on the leader between your finger and thumb before you cast - this sinks the leader.
Hope that his helps. Tight Lines all.

Submitted by Walter McFarlane on

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You could tie this in different sizes to suit the location and the shy fish refusing a larger version. Just go down a size a size and see what happens. Start with Say a size 12 or 10 to start with. I am in Ireland. It would be great lake fly to fish for Brown Trout as it has a bushy appearance like the Irish Lake flies. I would fish it on a sunk leader or tippet.and retrieve it slow and steady.

Submitted by jan normandale… on

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It's been 10 years since I got a note / email from Martin asking if I had anything at all to put up on GFF's website. Somewhere I think I still have that original correspondence!

I wrote a book column for about a year then like everyone life came at me fast and hard for a few years and the writing was put on a shelf. I see my 'columns' are still here!

Congratulations gentlemen on almost 15 years. You should be proud.

best regards, Jan Normandale / aka "the old fly fisher"

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