Tuesday, November 8, 2011

M.I.A. missing in action

Howdy,

Sorry I have been missing in action. It has been sometime since my last post. Have had a very busy fall. Wish I could say I have been fishing and tying flies like crazy and taking a ton of pictures, but neither has happened for some time. Hopefully going to get some river time here very soon.

With the kids back in school and my social director keeping us pretty busy, I have found very little time at the bench and on the river. I how ever did escape to Jamaica for a nice relaxing vacation with the wife and several good friends which was very very groovy. Good times. Thought we would deep sea fish while there, but we opted for laying on the beach, swimming in the ocean and being served cocktails all day long. We did manage to get into the hills, up to Negril, out to see some local music and try the local eats. All good, mon!!!

Well now, I am back and eager to get cranking on things again. A few updates for you all.

Hend's flytying materials out of Czech Republic has landed stateside over at Performance Flies. Hend's offers some really good products and one of my favorites that Kevin is stocking is their line of Lacquers. Great stuff. Check it out. He also has Hooks, Body Quills, CDC, Threads and dubbings to offer. Also he has a special going on right now. Spend a $100.00 and get this, Flyfishing and Fly tying, The second, English edition was written by Jaromir Karafiat and Miroslav Machacek, two exceptional fly tiers and anglers from the Czech Republic. The work includes 150+ pages of step-by-step fly tying instructions and photo galleries of Mayfly and Caddis Dry Fly patterns, Czech Nymphs, Wet Flies, Beadhead and Jig Nymphs, Tungsten Thorax Nymphs, Bloodworms, Buzzers (Chironomids), Fry Flies, and Streamers. It is truly one of the finest European fly tying books to emerge in recent years. The set also includes a DVD which provides interesting angling footage as well as tying instruction. Check it out!!!!

Getting back to the dungeon. Since it was a few weeks since I tied some flies, and left for vacation, I finally made it down to the dungeon this weekend to twist up a few bugs, had two styles I was going to do and as I was getting the material set up and ready to go. I had left the hare pelt and the wet winged mallard wings out, from my previous tying session and some little nasty pest got into those and went to town eating them and leaving a neat looking outline of wing. As for the hare pelt, that was pretty much dust. Oh well lesson learned. New pelt on the way for tying and good thing I had back up mallard wings. Just got to remember to put the feathers, pelts, skins, ect... away when done tying.

Ill be tying at the Denver Flyfishing Show this January. As for my flytying demos this winter, there will be a couple, but not many. I hope to spend more time snowboarding and fishing this winter with friends and family.

Anyhow, I am back and working on getting into the fold again of twisting up some bugs.