rich mc

wish i could watch but have a knights and church meeting at 6pm and 8pm

got the spring sale paper from bass pro  starts march 11. has the double bladed popper reduced to 7.19.  has anyone ever tried that one?

actually its by googan squad   several u tubes  under googan squad revolver

just saw another version by googan baits   the revolver. unlike the choppo and original plopper    it has the revolving fin in the middle with a tail in a manatee shape .   just something to look up while we get more snow.

for another fly try a foam gurgler     and tie them with the foam going each way one is popper like ,reversed its a diver   rich

nice and sparse   hard to tell if a few strands of crystal flash is in there  .

if you like the shenk streamer  its very similar to my shannon streamer just google it for a video by flyfishohio. use bernat blanket yarn as bohemian chenille is not available and gets too heavy

nice work jim   how well do the eyes hold up?

i am running a fly swap on flytyingforum.com  the fly is an extra large woolly bugger size 2 or larger.   we are planning on 12 tyers and they should be in the mail to me by feb 22  if interested post up what you are tying such as color, lead eye, bead head, floating, flash, shanked[game changer ].  rich

very possible but the boot would have to be glued or melted .  but have found the silicone not to be durable in wider pieces.   i did buy a 4x6 patch of cohens material and just found where i put it. will try cutting some for a prototype. rich

nice tools. dont worry about getting the best bang for the buck as you will win on one fly and lose on others. find the fly pattern you want to fish and then buy materials for that fly. bob clousers book[clousers] is great for newbies  and covers topwater mid depth and bottom flies with great photos

Merry Christmas  to all 

around 2006 or 07  we attended a dupage forest preserve meeting and asked for and got wading approv ed  in forest preserve waters. brad manning mentioned that most of the time the other forest preserves follow what dupage does.   dont know if they ever did

 ive seen the promo for the movie bait shop with billy ray cyrus.is that worth watching  or just better than the hallmark movies my wife has on all the time

best info on illinois smallmouth has been in our bronzeback bulletin  we have had great articles by jonn graham on the float n fly, paul trybul on jerkbaits.as well as local fly patterns .

the fly fishing badger open in feb has been cancelled as well as the iowa hawkeye fly show in march.   last i heard the tinley park show was not cancelled yet but that was a month ago.

after seeing that photo  got the idea of a twister style long suade   then wrap some chenille around it for a action tail worm

we all know how well swimbaits work for smallies .   just saw on a crappie site of cohens swimbait tails  for fly fishing. they are made of his  suade material like his reaper and twister tails.

 i predict it will be the next hot fly for 2021  

i should have one done on the boat launch repair.  work at shabbona   just have to have my daughter get my photos off my phone to email     rich

 i think the tail is craft fur[hair],  deer hair in the middle and  the muddler head.        tom is the master of this fly which  may have been  in a past newsletter

 lots of topwater strikes   but no fish to hand          grandson outfished me again using plastic worm and craws

started playing with wire shanks. used a few double barreled popper heads.   i add my worm or frogfly   to the front wire. add lot of thread to the shank and super glue it in the slot.  now the rear fly will move freely and sink down a little. will be testing them today on a nearby pond

i read that the mining effort was not permitted to go forward    but no one posted this good news

tried a large black one,black silicone legs tied in the middle. black n green squirrel for the tail. not a fan of the tail but a 19 inch bass took it right away.i think a few silicone legs may be better

exactly use white thread and tie on silicone skirt materialfor a spider effect. squirrelmakes agood tail .just build up a ball  to splay the tail