Looks good! In the future you might want to subsititue the hook for a wider gap hook. Gammagatsu BS10 is a great hook. If you cant get Hi Viz you can substitute with wool, EP fiber or Senyo laser dub.

Sounds like wookie problems to me...

My trips in 2016 will be limited.. lots and lots of trips to the local bass/carp pond because its about three to four blocks from my apartment. Hope to do a Great Lakes trip in March for steelhead which is about the worst time to go... but that's when I have off from work and you have to go when...

Moosekid Keep me posted on how you make out on the Straight river. I have fished it about a half dozen times but have never done well. Be sure to do some musky/Pike fishing when back in Minn.

Matt Those photos were taken with my iPhone 6

Sun I hope to have my flies done by the end of this week. I apologize for the delay but I was trying catch one more steelhead before 2015 ended.

If you are going to the fly fishing show hold off on getting the materials till the show. While at the show pick some of the tiers brains as to what good qualities are for the materials your looking to purchase.

I am getting tired of reading the reports of how losey the fishing is. When I was up the first week of November swinging flies I was happy. Ended up getting into at least a fish or a grab each day with the exception of the first day. I also had a friend up fri-monday who got into atleast a fish...

Key to great flies are great materials then technique. If you can have someone help you pick out the best quality materials the flies will be much easier to tie and look better. If I can help out feel free to pm me. Congratulations!

Jealous to hear about getting into them without the canoe. Almost makes it an option for me... I have some pike flies(hint-hint)

Fished for four days on the Slammin. Decent action despite the difficult conditions (low water bright sun). A size 3 lady caroline produced one fish for me along with some tugs. With that said I would say that I have caught close to 90 % of my fish in November on Slammin in the past six years on...

Sunsign Those ties look really nice! I especially like the shank and am sure it would work on the slammin. Now that I am back from my trip I plan to tie the swap flies. Are we still tying the same pattern for everyone or are we alternating patterns for individual due to their personal...

Slowly cranking out a few more patterns before my trip...

Tomfly Sorry to hear about your injury. A few years back my right index finger got clipped by the blade on a a john deer mower. At first I didn't think I would be able to get the mobility back in my finger but after Physical Therapy it's now almost as good as new. Get well soon!

Fin I think the stiffer wire on the shanks that secures the hook might get a better hook set then the junction tubing on tubes. I have noticed a better landing ratio on shanks than tubes... But not too much.

Been slowly trying to round out the steelhead box before the up coming season. Decided to tie some of my staple tube flies on shanks with a little extra flash. Still trying to decide if the hanks hold better then tubes on these styles of patterns. Although some purists look down on...

Extra time is great for me as I am tying steelhead flies and have an upcoming trip planned.

I have seen this video before but it was worth watching again. Thanks for sharing it Fin! The Russians and Norwegians have some beautiful rivers and flies. Like those big flies tied on tubes and bottles they work great on their rivers and ours.

Fin looking forward to seeing the ties. Once I have finished stocking my steelhead box I plan to transition over to the swap flies. Tying a lot of these in various weights and with various amounts of flash...

Nice love these pike reports! Are you still fishing Shanked flies? If I remember correctly you used to use tubes but switch over to articulated flies. I have a friend in upstate NY who started with shanks but now fishes tubes because he thinks they get a better action. Sure its just a matter...