Stuffs and Thangs

Well, it's been a busy week. We finally welcomed our daughter, Alice, into the world last Friday morning at 11:43AM. After watching my wife go through two loooong natural labors I am sure that she could kick my ass any day of the week and my admiration and respect grows for her even more every day. Everybody is happy and healthy and home. We're settling into new routines and re-arranging furniture.


I somehow managed to make it to the tie-one-on-athon Sunday. I have no idea how that happened, but I'm grateful it did. I had a blast and got to sit at the time out table with the trouble makers. I took almost no photos, so I've been stealin' 'em when I see 'em. Please and thank you.


I somehow managed to pull off winning the big fly contest. I have no idea how that happened either, although the jar of strawberry preserves may have had something to do with it. I won a really nice raft/drift boat anchor and promptly traded it to Brad for a lovely handful of dinosaur feathers and some swag.



Tying time has been minimal for me the last few days, but I will be posting some more of those feathers tied on hooks directly. Gotta go. Doodie calls!

Chuck....Vice Chuck......DIY

Back in December I took a tying class with Brad Bohen, and one of the many things that I left needing to have was a granite vice base. I remember thinking, why the hell didn't I think of that? When I was back in Charlotte during the boom days I could have bought a truckload of granite scraps for what it cost me to get the truck there. The thing that's kept me from doing it since the class is the base to vise connection. There's a machined brass part available that's really nice, but a little pricey, and the fabricated bases are really nice, but I'm broke, so even though 70 bucks is reasonable for something of that quality, it's just not an option. And, I absolutely hate spending money on stuff that I know I can do myself for pennies and minutes. I just don't usually get around to actually doing it. This time I did. I stopped by a surplus place in Asheville for work related things that I somehow didn't manage to procure....Anyway, they have mountains of granite scraps, so I picked one up. 5 bucks is kinda getting robbed for an otherwise worthless piece of rock, but it was the only money I spent on the project, so I guess I'm ok with it. I had in mind a somewhat complicated assortment of tubing and plumbing parts and thumbscrews and taps, and so on.....until I had a rare moment of clarity. Old drill chucks. I have many! Epoxy the thing to the rock and boom, done! So, that's what I did, and so far....it's awesome!

I need to cut the standrod down a few inches since it's a clamp vice, but that's easy enough. Here's a very simple and helpful video that explains how to remove a chuck from a drill. I took a slightly different approach....although equally effective

Friendly Reminder

click me

Egg Bitters

Thanks to Gregg Martin, my brother in carp Ryan Dunne, and the US Carp Pro forum my eyes have been opened. I feel free. No longer do I need to look upon egg yarn as a derelict, lunch hole, I give up so I’ll throw this, impurity of a fly tying material and way of life. I have seen the light; and carps can see egg yarn; and so can the angler. In certain ways egg yarn is the perfect carp fly material. In other ways, it’s still awful and an abomination. I try to walk that line and live a fly tying life of balance, so I offer you the egg bitters. Put it in Carp!

Shack Nasties

The weather has been sucking. Thank Jeebus that our bun in the oven decided to cook just a little longer. We wouldn't have made it down the driveway last night, much less the 30 mile twisty drive to the hospital. I'm hoping for Tuesday, which will be 65 and sunny.

In between watching Shaun the Sheep and playing Paper Jamz I've been googling up black drum... for some reason I'm obsessed with catching one right now. I've never seen one in the daylight of reality. I've never had the opportunity to cast to one. I've never caught a redfish for the same reason. But, it's just gotten into me that I have to catch a humongoid black drum. Once I can cast to some carp it will likely subside, although that's still at least a couple months away. South Carolina/Florida/Lousiana/Texas trip is being planned for sometime within the rest of my life, although probably not very soon.....cause of the baby and all....and the 2 year old....and I'm impoverished.....and I'd probably just blow it anyway. At least I'll have one fly that probably won't work for whenever that trip happens.

Look at how big this damn thing is. Don't you want to catch one too? That's Murphy. I stole his photo since he gets to catch big ugly fish and I don't.

3rd Annual Scof Tie One On A-thon

I'm very excited to be tying(and eating, and drinking, and socializing) at the Third Annual Southern Culture on the Fly tie-one-on-a-thon. I had a great time last year...No, really. I had a great time. There are some heavy hitters on the roster, so I'm humbled and honored to waste a space at the table. Big fun for the taking. Come have some. It's all for a good cause.

It's Gettin Squirrely

My Uncle Steve gave me a couple dozen squirrel tails and some bucktail from the great and powerful Illinois north a while back(quite a while back), that I put in the freezer. I never actually forgot about them, I just never could get everything together to get them cleaned and treated. I cleaned out the freezer a few weeks ago and decided it was time...way past time. For the last few weeks they've just been enjoying the natural freeze/thaw cycle of nature and taking in the views as they've hung in bags, soaking up salt. Non-iodized salt is pretty amazing stuff when it comes to dead animal parts. We had a few really warm days since I hung them up and i was expecting at least some rank funkiness, but there was none. They're all dry and relatively clean. I washed a few select tails today, and may experiment with some dying in the near future, but for now just used the fox squirrel as is. A cranking wood furnace will dry anything out in a matter of minutes, but I did add some more salt just to make sure.

Some of these squirrelies must have been monsters. The biggest tail has hair that's almost 3 inches long.

I've got smallies on the brain, so some squirrley clousers were in order.

Step right up....step right up

As soon as I finished my carp swap flies I joined another one. I try not to get involved in too many due to my penchant for burnout and procrastination, but these are two awesome swaps, and I'm lucky to be participating. It's not like I'm doing much else anyway. It's wet, cold, and we're waiting on a baby....so, I tie. This one is a smallie swap from the Drake. There will be some badass flies sent my way, so I'm a little nervous. It's my first Drake swap and I don't want it to be my last. Besides fouling, rabbit strips are the perfect bass fly material as far as I'm concerned. The little bit of bucktail tied before the rabbit strip should help that, but it will still foul. They always foul. "No biggie" and "it'll be worth it", says the guy who's sending you unfished rabbit strip flies and getting some proven patterns in return.

Swap is a wrap

I finished up my Fly Carpin 2nd Annual International Almost Famous Carp Swap Extravaganza flies in record time. I generally haven't even rolled out of fly swap bed this early on... but the weather has helped the motivation, and gave me some time to tie as well as organize my space a little better. We've had nonstop rain since Sunday-ish. The creeks are swollen, the rivers are raging, and roofs are leaking. No need to load the kids and farm animals into the boat just yet since we're expecting several inches of snow tonight, so we've got that going for us.

I ended up tying 3 sets of ten. Orange Egg Bitters

Olive Egg Bitters

And I'm calling this one 'The Yiman', cause that's the guys internet handle that I stole the pattern from.

The gang's all here

They'll be in the mail sometime soon....before the deadline at least.

SCOF #6

Fresh new issue.....http://southerncultureonthefly.com/

2nd Annual International Fly Carpin' Carp Swap

I'm really excited that this is happening again. McTage at Fly Carpin' is graciously hosting this amazing and completely unique swap once again. Last years was pretty incredible and I got flies from Barry Reynolds, John Montana, Pat Cohen, JP Lipton aka the roughfisher, Gregg Martin, the host with the most Trevor Tanner, and several other talented and creative tyers. Last years wrap up is here. I got a head start on my flies because my wife's due date is rapidly approaching, and since we live 45 minutes from the hospital, on curvy mountain roads, it's nearly guaranteed that the next significant low pressure system(blizzard) we get will send us slipping and sliding to the baby factory at 3am....Although it's 70 today, so I'm drinking beer and tying flies. I started tying these a few weeks ago after I finally got some Clear Cure Goo, thanks to my good bud, Kyle. This shit is amazing. I realize that I'm one of the last people on earth to discover it, but in case you're more in the dark than I am....check it out. It's expensive, but it is totally worth it. These flies are basically bitters, but instead of setting up several, epoxying the heads and letting them dry....i just tie the flies, and then use some brushable goo to form the head. Put the light to it for a few seconds and they're done. I'll never turn back. Enough with the pimpin'..... Easy like Sunday morning.

That fulfills my swap requirement of 10 flies per tyer, but I'd like to contribute more, so I'm tying 2 more sets of 10. Not sure what yet, so I'm experimenting.

Check the Fly Carpin site or Facebook page for updates.

Hair, Flash , Feather

carp flies are always in season....

even if carp aren't...necessarily....always....maybe? I've been hearing a lot about cold weather carping, and personally saw a ton of mud a few weeks ago while out hunting for a musky follow. If I can get myself away for a few hours one day(not likely), then I'll go see for myself. And take some of these along wit me.

optic hawk

After the class with Brad, I came home and was laid out for a couple days with a bug. I did a little tying.....but was pretty deflated when I remembered that my puny saddle hackle feathers are 6 inches long at best. That long hackle can change your life. Anyway....Poor Man's Optic Minnow...looks a little like a hawk when you have the flu