Ben Lubchansky

So what would you say IS clear with respect to access in Illinois and what would be a practical rule of thumb for accessing water/ moving up and downstream once legal access is made?

There are 3 remaining seats for the December Tie, so please PM me to reserve yours if you can make. Very excited about the good response !

Awesome. Just Awsome. I've seen these before. Pretty sure 'Bob' in the beacground is Bob Clouser!?! For my money getting to learn how to tie a Lefty's Deciever from Lefty himself is just about the best thing on the Internet. Gospel straight from the horses mouth. There are so many things these guys do to make better flies and to make you a better tier. Just invaluable. Tapering hair tips before tieing in and staggering flash ends are two of my favs.

Ahh dubbing. One of the things that reps have figured they can never sell us enough of. Admittedly it is very cool stuff, and will wiggle dub flies work - of course. But if you are new to this invest in the basics. I'd say several packs of rubber legs in various colors and sizes plus a dispenser box of natural dubbing material and one of synthetic ( for trout dries), in addition to hares masks in natural, black, and olive are a good starting place. Stand alone, these are all good, solid, useful materials. And my mantra is "Quality pays" so get good matrials. I also like red squirrel, red fox, muskrat, and woodchuck. The real key to that video, good as it is, is the dubbing loop! not necessarily the material in the loop. The dubbing loop is a great technique useful with all kinds of materials. Next, I'd say start messing with blending your own dubbing mixes. You can for example mix some olive rabbit dubbing with some guard hair from an olive mask and add your own sections of fine rubber legs, rather than buying a separate material that can only be used as is. As for wollybuggers, the sky's the limit. As i'm sure you know this is one of the most successful and varied patterns out there. Do with it whatever makes you happy and works for you. I personally am a huge fan of making the body from mohair yarn or angora dubbing (same parent material) after Mike's Mohair Leech. The mohair/angora takes the role of dubbing and hackle all in one and is killer. Search the pattern. It looks too simple to be true. Also, if you can, come to the tying event on the 12th. PM me for info.

Why not tie the eyes on the opposite side of the shank? You could probably get them pretty well in line with hook eye. Yes? No?

Ron, I've never needed a toothpick with these. As you attach them by looping your tippet through and over its loop at the base, the beauty to me is that they can be added or removed without cutting off your fly to thread the thing on. I am lazy that way, but it allows me to present the same subsurface fly a coupple of different ways without rerigging. For example, that EP1 fly I posted, I could stand in the right spot and high stick it through a deep hole in front of me, then swing it down and across the tail of the pool, then add the thingamabobber in a flash and dead drift the slot coming in, and then fnf the far bank while mending to prevent drag. I'm not a salesman, so please pardon the pitch, but they work for me and my fly inertia. As for setting depth, they can slip down the leader a bit, although this has not happened much lately for me, so setting them above a knot can be helpful. I tie my own leaders, so I've usually got a couple convenient ones to use.

Alright I stand corrected...of course I would't say you have to always dead drift any most any presentation, I like to keep things animated too. Perhaps drag free is what I was looking for. Nonetheless, the two keys here A) making a fnf fly that works for this presentation that is, it suspends horizontally and B ) nymphing for bass is versatile and perhaps underrated technique.

Sure thing. Assuming its for ISA members, you are welcome to include my e-mail address.

Just to be clear - in Illinois, unlike Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, the stream/ streambed does belong to the landowner, right?

I've been dead drifting for bass a fair bit lately and think it might make a good bulletin article. Anyway, I have yet to tie up some jig hook style flies, but as we know the fnf principle is the same as our dead drift, only with a streamer type pattern. I think you can use a regular clouser if you like, althought a sparse jig fly would be optimal as a minnow immitation. Otherwise I have had success with hellgrammites, my cassius cray, a juvenile cray pattern consisting of bead chain ( tied clouser style) cactus chenille body and squirrel tail claws - thats it, size 8 or so. I think the Whitlock fox squirrel nymph is a good choice too and the Foxee Red Clouser found in this forum is a good one too. In summer try damselfly nymphs and caddis larvae. Tandem rigs are fair game! I find this technique effective not only for sluggish winter fish but also for dog day fish or fish in deep, relatively fast slots that have a lot of food brought to them and dont need to chase, or can afford to be selective. Alternatively I like it casting up into a spillway, or below somekind of water fall where fish see things like crays tumbling in suspension in the water column and not just on the bed. I also like this tactic as a changeup on a hole that has already produced fish and the response to my initial, more aggressive presentaion has slowed. Dead drifting a hellgrammite can be just the ticket to pick up another, more discerning fish or two out of the spot. For indicators I am sold on the Thingamabobber. They work, cast like a breeze, are super easy on/ off and last till you lose them. They are affordable and this year I only lost 1 of the 5 in a pack. I really like nymphing for bass. There is something about getting a big fish on a small, subtly presented fly that I get a kick out of. I look forward to hearing more about this topic, and I'll try to post some of my flies.

Its alright - I have hardwood floors and I won't feel bad about spinning and clipping deerhair onto the library or firehouse carpet! Anyone interested in tying at my house on the 12th please send me an e-mail through my ISA profile and I will give you my address etc. Lets say 1pm-4pm and I will have to limit it, if necessary to 8 spots. First come first served. Looking forward to it.

I'd be in for a December session, and am free the 12th. Any other interest? I'd even be happy to host it, informally if necessary, at my home. I can easily accomodate 8 including myself. BYOB!

The recipe is in the post. The body is cactus chenille or dubbing /chennille of your choice witha somewhat webby saddle hackle palmered forward over the underbody.

This pattern just clicked in my head when I saw it in the Winter 2010 Fly Tyer, p.10. Where else have I seen this? Have I really not? It looks like the perfect fly. Infinitely varied by color and size, it is like the threeway love child of the Wolly Bugger, the Zonker, and Clouser Deep. I have made one adjustment over the fly pictured in the mag - with the Clouser's weighted eyes, this fly rides hook up. So I tie in the Zonker strip tail in " upside down" so the hair side rides up. The rest is obvious as a wolly bugger. Today, fished smacked it left and right. It really looks and acts like those little pointy nosed sculpins I see around here, though my flies were darker than the real ones. I can't wait to get my hands on some purple schlappen so I can tie some up for lake run trout in the Milwaukee river. Recipe: Fly credited to Peter Harrison Hook: Dealer's Choice. ditto on thread. Weight: Dumbell eyes. Tail: Rabbit strip with sparse flash Body: Cactus chenille or dubbed Hackle: Palmered saddle hackle. Webby is OK. Tie this in hot colors, tie it to fish as a cray, tie whites and sand and crab colores for saltwater denziens. I can't wait to swing this at some big browns that live in little waters. And, yes. Tie it for smallies, those Adonis of the branch. The gamest fish that swims. I think I'm in love.

I'd like to chime in here, and pardon me for being way out of the conversation for a while. So, please pardon me for being redundant, if I re-invent the wheel here. Also I don't mean to be contradictory but I want to state that actually we do indeed have tremendous ammount of power for deealing with CAFO's already in existence. It's called consumer advocacy and it means voting with every dollar you spend. If you don't agree with CAFO's (and I , for one, do not) then start doing everything you can to not buy their products. Though massive institutions that broker billions of dollars, their real viability hinges on relatively slim annumal growth margins, because for them just a few percentage points translates into millions if not tens of millions of dollars and powerfully affects the ability to attract the coveted dollars of investors. So, if you disagree with it, don't buy it. I know that's damn hard, but it's rewarding too. And let tell you I am no vegetarian. I make my own bacon and proscuitto. I own three chest freezers and buy animals by the whole and half. I raise and butcher 30 chickens a year for my family, plus the 6 laying hens i 'retire' every other year. I eat them and in some cases skin/ cure their pelts for use in tying my bass flies. For milk I recommend seeking out Kilgus Dairy of Fairbury, Illinois. I also run a personal chef business featuring local, seasonal foods for about $13.00/ person/meal - delivered. I never buy factory farmed meat for my family or customers and I have a modest, blue collar income. I do this on a tiny corner lot in the City of Urbana, Illinois. So there are many steps you can take. Start somewhere. There is pleasure and pride to be taken in making real relationships at the farmer's market and making a comittment to their business, and your own health as well as the health of our places. Believe me the power to speak with your purchasing dollars is evidenced by the the fear that Tyson has of the small, 'free range' poultry flock versus, say its scale competitor Swanson or whomever. I don't mean to diatribe, but while real regulation is also necessary, truly, the power here is ours to exercise. Once these places cease to be enormously profitable, they will cease to be.

Very funny. About 2 weeks after my last post on this topic i figured this above idea out on my own - it works great and is a cinch. I now keep one of those fat black paper clips permanently on the stem of my vise for this purpose it is easy and very cost effective. I'll demonstrate it at the Tie-In this Sunday. Over all I'll bet you get $60 worth of strips out of one $7.50 skin.

This schedule sounds great to me I should be at the first one...see you!

I am looking for a spool or reel to match the one I have already. I am interested in the most previously outdated version of this simple little reel. Thanks.

Steve,definitely an intriguing fly. I know it looks straightforward but, do you use only red fox tail for the under and over wing? would you mind posting a recipe for this fly?

Thats a pretty little streamer Rob! Mike, I am looking to use the epoxy to coat heads for Bob's Bangers that I made by rolling round, foam caulk backing in self adhesive prismatic paper from the craft store. I get 1' of cool looking head material at a time and cut the heads to fit. I'd attach a photo but my camer's images are too large - sorry. The backer rod is more accessable, easier, and cheaper than buying 1" closed cell foam heads and cutting the paper to fit - but I think durability will be a factor. Although an instant classic saltwater fly by Bob Popovics, ( I go home to the East Coast annually and get in the salt) the Banger looks like a winner for freshwater bass too. It is easy to tie, darts and splutters in the water, and casts like a bullet for its size. Anyway, I am coating the heads after assembling them and I think that will give me the needed durability. However - I do not like toxic materials in my home near my kids ( or near my brain for that matter), epoxy is messy, and moreover the fused syringe type seems to have fused itself between uses. Any recommendation on specific brands? Have you used Loon Hard Head? There is also an intriguing product called tuffleye - but it is expensive to get into ($80+) and I'm not that interested. Ditto for a rotator. Perhaps working in batches, outside, is the way to go. Thanks guys.

Jonn, does the body fur behave like rams wool or even egg-yarn type materials at the vise and in the water?

I am just beginning to meddle with epoxy and have no intention of becoming anything other than an itinerant user. Any recommendations on styles, brands etc. that best suit a fly tyers needs? For example the syringe type seems to not respond well to small batch use, sitting, and then using at a later date. Thanks for the input.

Sorry gentlemen but I will miss this one...I am up in Milwaukee with family and have done a little steelhead fishing for the first time( missed a few)and got to meet Pat Ehelrs (http://www.theflyfishers.com/)and pick his brain a little. He offered a mini tutorial on his Foam Tail Super Worm which is a rockin' pattern tied on a Texas rig style hook, and as is his trademark offers a fly fishing answer to conventional tackle successes. He was very personable. Anyway, I intend on tying some and perhaps can share my trials and tribulations at the next Central state Tie-In. I have greatly enjoyed these, appreciate the efforts of Rob, Brian and Tim to make them happen and regret missing this one. Have a great time.

Hey! NIce Rob thanks so much. Whats your trick?