Mike Flyrodder Miller

I use a similar pattern but with an irridescent green back, smaller round rubber legs (more lively), and instead of just peacock for the body I add an additional herl of black ostrich which has more action even when at rest. I use bright orange for the indicator. I've been using that pattern for well over 10 years.

I'd suggest a thin under water wicking undergarment like under armor or one of the cheaper knock-offs. They are very comfortable, easy to maneuver in, and extremely warm. I wear them from early fall until mid-winter when I go duck and pheasant hunting. The only thing that changes is what I may wear as outerwear. A jacket was too much on Monday when I went pheasant hunting and had to discard it and just use my long sleeve shirt. It's really a great way to go. Rich, All boats are sexier when their nekked. Makes one drool. By the way, if anyone is thinking of getting rid of a Jonn boat (>14' but <18'), I might be in the market. I may be getting rid of my 14' V-hull in favor of a Jonn boat so I can use it for hunting. The V-hull would have too high of a profile and I'd need to camo paint it. I'm still on the fence with this one.

I went to a private pond near where I work. I found out about it through contacts at an industry meeting. The VP gave me his card and said to come by anytime, but call so security didn't chase me off. He warned me no one fishes it but the fish are big. Was he right! In two hours I caught 6 huge, fat 9-10" bluegills, a dozen 1-2# LM Bass. The surprise was the 4 Smallies near an aeration waterfall. They weren't big but a very nice surprise. My little secret honey hole close to work all to myself....who could ask for a nicer find?

Aquaseal is actually the preferred way to repair neoprene for small leaks. If you stretch the neoprene a little over the tip of your finger many times you can easily find the leak. Use a small dab of the Aquaseal since you don't want to create a bump that can irritate your foot. I've repaired many waders this way and the repair lasts for years.

The choice of line depends on how you plan to fish it. A full sinking line is a bit more difficult to pick up, but if you do one or two aerialized mends or a simple roll of the line to get the line to the surface and make your backcast while the line is still moving you will have the general idea of how to cast the line. If you have difficulty with this concept the sink tip line makes the most sense since it gets the line down but you don't have to get the whole line to the surface before you make you backcast. It's actually a good line if you aren't fishing below about 5 foot deep. And it's easier to manipulate, mend, etc. Personally unless I'm fishing real deep all of the time I prefer a RIO Clouser line. It handles the "Big Nasties" real nicely and if I chose I can always still use a popper. You could also use a floating line and pick up a sink tip that can be loop to loop connected to the front of the line between the line and the leader. Or you can use a sink tip leader. I've used all of them and they all work fine. The sink tip adapter that a lot of companies make (i.e. Orvis, Cortland, etc.) are nice since you have the floating line and if you find you need a sink tip you can just put it on right on the stream. It's fairly compact and fits in a chest pack or vest nicely. The Cortland tip is about 12' and comes in 3 ips (inches/sec) sink rate, 6 ips, and 9 ips. I cut it so that I have two pieces of 4' and 8' so that I can vary the amount of sinking line I want depending on the depth and flow rate of the water. I hope that helps.

If you love flyfishing and have ever fished Michigan waters than you might like a CD I picked up many years ago called "River Songs". I think it was by Charlie Weaver (river guide from Michigan) and another local from Michigan. It's a collection of songs accompanied by either banjo or guitar or both.

Ryan, Put a wisp of dubbing under the thread with your index finger under it. The thread should be positioned so it is parallel to the joint of the index finger (finger perpendicular to the thread). The dubbing should start at the 1/2 point of the joint. Place your thumb tip over the thread and the index finger joint with the thread and dubbing between your two fingers. Hold the thread tight and spin the dubbing and thread between your fingers tightly by moving the thumb tip toward the index finger tip. Repeat this as you work your thumb and index finger down the thread making sure to keep the dubbing under the thread as you do so. If you don't you will end up with a noodle of dubbing next to the thread instead of wrapped behind it. If you keep everything tight as you do this the thread/dubbing noodle will be tight and thin. Less pressure on the fingers will create a looser noodle. I hope this helps.

A picture might help. It's hard to say without a better description.

Hmmm, I noticed the pecular absence of the selection of dynamite fishing and bait fishing... I guess that falls into "Other".

To clean the hide all you need to remove is all of the meat and fat. You don't want to remove any of the hide. The best way is to scrape the hide with the edge of a knife, preferably one with a slightly curved blade so that the point doesn't contact the hide and cut it. You just want to scrape it clean not cut into the hide. If you nail it down or put a weight on it to keep it flat it will make it easier to work with the hair when it's dry. If you need more info PM me because I don't check the site every day, but PM's show up as notifications in my regular e-mail.

I typically split the tail from the base to the tip, remove the bone, scrape the hide clean of any fat and meat. Cover the hide in borax (NOT to be confused with boric acid). If you can't find or don't have borax than use plain salt. The borax may absorb moisture from the hide. Allow it to sit overnight, shake off the wet borax and apply a fresh coating of dry borax and allow the hide to cure. Befor you use it, make sure to put it in a plastic bag into the freezer for a few days to kill any ticks, etc. or you can zap it in the microwave for a short time. Either way, make sure that the hide is allowed to cure until it's dry or you're going to have hair coming out of the hide in short order. And don't forget the rest of the hide! It makes for great deer hair poppers, mice, etc. The white belly fur is ideal for use as is or dyed. Every deer has different hair consistency, length, coarseness, etc. depending on where it was harvested, the time of year, the age of the deer, and the harshness of the weather. If you do the rest of the hide, you'll need to do the same thing as described for the tail except you should anchor it to a board with the hair side down. I hope this helps. Chris Helm is a good source for deer hair information. A.K. Best is also a good source of preserving and dying flytying material.

I use a camera and the same hand counter that Mike uses. My problem is the counter resets itself everytime I pick up my flyrod. So I'm perpetually at zero no matter how may fish I catch. Since I practice CPR it makes sense that my tally always ends up zero.

IM me and I'll send you a electronic copy of a program I've put on regarding knots. It lists the pros and cons of each knot and photos (some step by step) of how to tie the knots. My personal preference is to use a loop to loop connection from the fly line to the leader, a double uni-knot for line to line connections, and an Orvis knot to tie the fly on. I use a non-slip mono loop if I want a loop connection to the fly. These knots have never failed me. As for Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon... I'd run as far and fast as possible from that line. When I worked at Bass Pro we had nothing but problems with that line breaking too easily especially at knots and that was using ANY knot including the knots recommended by Berkley. I think the line may be too brittle and not ductile enough, but that would require some quantitative testing, possibly Instron. If you want a good fluorocarbon use either P-Line or Seaguar.

A pattern that people forget but has been around for decades is the Muddler Minnow.

A URL would help so we know where to go.