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Short casts: Fly tying Zen; women in fly fishing; Salalah, and more
Photo by Becca Skinner, New York Times. I read this piece the other day in the online edition of Sierra Magazine, and immediately identified with author Christopher Schaberg, a professor of Englis and Environmental Studies at Loyola University in New Orleans. The gist is this: the intense pressures being put on our environment by a…
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Fly tying: Why use a rotary vise?
I've been tying (well, some would call it that, anyway) for a good 20 years, and while I tie generally for necessity and a bit of the pleasure that keeps me connected to fly fishing on days like today, when it's all of 9 degrees outside, I'm not terribly accomplished at the vise. But I…
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Fly Tying: The Yellow Humpy
My favorite backcountry attractor dry fly might be the venerable humpy. Tied in yellow or red (or even "royal" fashion), the Humpy is a high-floating dry fly that imitates a host of bugs, from larger mayflies to caddis, but doesn't exactly resemble anything in particular. It just looks buggy. Video of Yellow HumpyAnd backcountry trout…
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Fly tying: Jig hooks and slotted beads
I'm seeing more jig hooks on shelves in fly shops than I ever have before. For a while, I thought maybe it was just a fad ... a passing trend. But it appears, because of the effectiveness of jig hooks used in nymph patterns, the hooks and the slotted beads that go with them are…
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Fly tying: Micro Egg
Here's one for you patient fly tiers who don't mind small hooks and like the minutia that goes into some of these tiny patterns. For me, the term "tiny" starts at about size 18. The size 22 hook used in the pattern below? That falls into the "impossilbe" category for this ham-handed tier. Oh, and…
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Fly tying: Micro Caddis Larva
Tiny flies are the bane of my fly-tying existence, so when I come across a small pattern that is actually easy to tie, I tend to pay attention. And, this time of year on the West's wild rivers and tailwaters, tiny flies are often the name of the game. Video of Micro Caddis LarvaAbove, Tim…
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Fly tying: Zelon Musk Midge
If you're like me, any pattern that calls for a size 24 hook is a pattern best left to the experts. Tim Flagler's Zelon Musk Midge is a prime example. Video of Zelon Musk MidgeThis might be the simplest midge pattern I've ever seen. It consists of two ingredients in addition to the thread, as…
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