Mike G

The problem is that the guy who takes the pictures doesn't get his picture took. It was a good event worth risking my life on US 20 to get there.

And here's the picture. I think you can see the full flex.

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS. Especially Don't do it with your daddy's Sage or even Grampa' s Wonderod. Yes that looks like the classic full flex action AKA parabolic action much touted in early fiberglass days. Under casting load the entire rod flexes right down to the grip. Now IOU a picture from the 1940 Knight classic.

What did you get?

Here' a video I saw on Hatches. Besides featuring an articulated fly it shows a lot of other innovative techniques. The use of the small hair clip to control wing materials is brilliant. rich will have to sent his daughter to the cosmetic section again. It struck me that this fly could be tied with anywhere from one to three hooks-fore, middle, and/or aft on the fly. My thought is that the one at the back should be enough. After you watch the vid, let me know what you think. http://player.vimeo.com/video/83302519

Colt, I am glad to hear that that trait is not completely bred out of the line. You covered the tradeoffs well so no one will think glass is the silver bullet. I have some pictures in a book written by John Alden Knight (the Solunar Guru) in 1940. He published widely on fly fishing. BW Pictures show him casting a 7.5 ft bamboo IEI weight rod that has the flex you may be referring too. I may wait till you get your pictures together before I scan them or maybe I won't.

Colt, you do a great job. Setting aside the color, the spiral markings on the blank remind me of my Wonderods. I am so glad I kept them seeing the glass revival that is ongoing. The old glass rods had pretty much the same weight and action as the bamboos they replaced. Their contribution to evolution was in strength and durability. Bamboo and glass had a self loading characteristic that I missed a lot when I switched to graphite. I swear they gave a little tug when the rod was fully loaded on the back cast. Unfortunately, when you felt the tug, it was a little late to start the forecast. But after a few casts, you could anticipate the tug. It was great for getting timing back in order after you changed to a bulkier or skimpier fly. Who wouldn't like that? So do these neoglass rods have that characteristic?

Another BTW, I was glad to see that the one piece concept has achieved enough credibility to become available in production models. If mixed in with the standard 4 piece models, the one piecers would have tied for first and fourth respctively. Of course a one piece is impracticle, for the average Joe. But it really raises the bar in the wow category: "Wow! You pay the extra cost of transporting a one piece rod just to get the extra edge in performance." "Wow! You can use one piece rods and just leave them at your lodge because transport and storage are not an issue when you own the lodge." Wow, huh?

Rob, I am going to send 12 too. Can I have something extra too?

This was the first time I saw a reviewer mention the wow factor as something to consider seriously when buying a rod suggesting that your companions might snicker when you uncased a BVK. But it probably is true. BTW the wow in spinning and casting gear is in the reels. You start with a $600 Loomis stick and add $700+ Stella spinning reel or a similarly priced Calais DC baitcaster to have a wow outfit off the shelf. It is no different than wow shopping fly gear. Does anyone know where the 8/9 wt Shakespeare Big Water (ugly stik) came in?

Fly fishers are lucky they don't get hurt more quickly and severely. Bait casters and spinners know that lines like Fireline cut deeply without warning if you make a mistake. Then there's KD's old story about a friend who used Fireline for backing on his fly reel. He hooked a Musky. The Sky's first run took the guy into the backing and sliced up his index finger. Bleeding profusely friend held on and brought the fish to hand. The Lunge' s first lunge transfered the hook to the hand he brung it to. Hook in hand friend watched the victorious Musky tumble down the bank and swim away.

Those look great Tim. The blue one with legs becomes a great Damsel Fly while the green one if it had legs would be a good dragon fly which is to say please put legs on mine.

This topic comes back so often that we should make it a sticky. This time around, I am going to recommend a book you should buy before you even buy a vise. Listen to what Joe Cornwall said about it,"Anyone who owns, or plans to own, a rotary fly tying vise of any kind owes it to themselves to get this book. In fact, I believe this book is one which should be included in even a modest fly tying library." The full review is here: http://www.flyfishohio.com/Rotary_Tying_Techniques.htm Amazon and many other dealers carry the book. The FFO shootout article is good as far as it goes toping out at $150. Just beyond that horizon there are rotary numbers like the Traveler and a wicked looking Thompson Barracuda which come in under $200. And so on up... The book will give you a better idea of what is out there. For instance, If you already have the 150, you might consider saving up a little more to get the Norvise System. The Beattys' wisdom will also confirm or challenge your reason for wanting to buy a true rotary vise in the first place. I would say I lucked out picking the Danvise. For me the thing that puts it ahead of others is the way it is easily reconfigured for specialty applications like midges and clousers. So here is a link to my post on that: http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8185

I think Peyton will get another ring. The new Orange Chrush bottled up the Brady bunch in the end. So we have A Manning offense at its peak with a top flight defense.

Count von Count

My two cents is that variations is fine since my flies vary a bit anyway. But I should defer to the swapmeister for an ofishal reling.

I bet if they had grits, you would get more.

Rob, Take the plunge yourself. rich has a lot on his plate for between now and the Blowout. The swapmeister job is easy. I have even done it. (Can't do it this time.) There are some good tips on FAOL. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?12466-Important-Swap-Items&p=131257&mode=linear#post131257 As rich noted, the deadline for having flies in should be Feb 20 so they should be mailed by the 17th. That assures that you have them for the Blowout; you can do the mailing to tiers later. To be on the safe side, I would put the signup deadline on Feb 3 so tiers know how many flies they have to make and can have time to get more materials if they need to. I have seen it before where the pattern the person is going to tie is listed after the tier's name on the signup. For the record put Stealth Bomber after my name.

Sounds interesting. Swaps I have been in had a max number of tyers like 10 so that I was not looking at having to commit to producing 20 or more flies. 10 for the swap with 2 spares for the ISA sounds good to me. OK so we might not even get 10. Let's just have a safety valve where it splits into 2 groups if tyers exceed 10. Then too there has to be a deadline to sign up so one knows how many to tie. Can you squeeze all that in before the Blowout?

Join me on the other thread

Yes. Something below the surface can emit IR and/or heat. Maybe we should talk about the heat signature of a bait rather than whether it reflects say sunlight.

Rob, I will start a new thread on IR to splain what I mean. What you say may be true about reflected IR.

It occurred to me that our Fishing industry has not even begun to explore the other end of the light spectrum, IR. Though we cannot see it, that too comes in two basic forms-reflected and radiated. The military takes advantage of the radiated form using special optics to detect and target warm bodies. So I think a "hot" material might be used to make some IR lures and flies. Whether fish like or not, we would buy it.

If you have any Xmas Money or Hanukkah gelt left, you can polish it off with one of these confidence lures. http://www.rapidmedia.com/kayak-fishing/categories/departments/item/2224-5-confidence-lures-of-the-pros.html?utm_source=newsletter_137&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=video-shasta-spotted-bass-video-essential-rescue-skills-10-fishing-tunes-5-confidence-lures-inside-johnson-s-factory-kats-decker-lake-results-ron-swanson-vs-dwight-schrute-feelfree-lure-11-5-winter-fishing-life-like-lures&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

There's even more. Some of you noticed that I loaned Jonn my reading glasses when he tied at the end of the session. At the time I thought nothing of it. Then Sunday I wore those same glasses to tie up a pattern I have tied many times. Since it is hard to put in words, I will show some pictures. First, this old picture shows a Red and White (bottom fly) as I have tied it many times. This is what I can't explain, the same fly tied wearing those glasses. My glasses seem to have been touched by a master. Hallelujah!