Hook sense

During this very long Winter I have been filling my fly boxes up to the top of each section and while doing it have noticed some mistakes that I have made for over 60 years! I have been tying foam ants on Tiemco 100's some 14's but mostly 16's and up but I have never been a fan of how they looked, yes they catch fish but I think they just look odd. Well the other night I used a new Fulling Mill hook, FM 50 25 Grab Gape Sprout Bend 3x short and the #16 Cinn., Red & Black ants look really good, you can also use Tiemco 921's and get the same result. With the FM hooks, I like the black finish but they are a bit slippery so you will need ZapaGap on the threads and on the last few turns on the foam (just put the glue on the thread and wind a few times. Now the shank is not so apparent, just need a few good days this summer to test them out.
  It is also very apparent that we have way too many hooks available to us and size is a big mystery, nothing makes any sense a 16 is not a 16 from manufacture to manufacture! As Steve from Fly Fishers Paradise said the other evening, most of us old guys grew up with Mustad then Tiemco and know and understand their size, the moral is read the item description before you buy them and understand the size you want to imitate. All bets are off when it comes to big streamers Arex and Gamma. are hands down the best hooks for that.
  Next up on the tying bench is gorilla bodied terrestrials with "8" legs on them, can't wait to chuck them at the banks on a really hot and windy day this summer.
  Note the "Fly Out" is on the agenda on March 21 9:00 AM @ The Union County Sportsman's Club 50 Sportsman's Club Lane, Millmont, PA 17845, come and spent the morning tying flies, trading materials or just watching and learning something new, IT IS A BLAST.

Trying to get out

Was in State College last week for a few days helping out with the granddaughter, did not get a chance to fish either Thursday or Friday (this was miserable). I did stop in to TCO and of course had to get a few more tying supplies as usual and of course take a ride along Spring and Bald Eagle. Spring was at a really fine level for this time of year but Bald Eagle was just running to high, there are a few spots where you could fish but the bigger browns that are there are spaced far apart and it's just to hard to get to them now. Spring had a few guys fishing from Paradise downstream and it looked as if all of them were nymphing, did not see anyone catching. Look for a window to get out a fish a few hours to take the dust of your casting.
  Still tying a ton of flies for this year and going thru all my boxes and cleaning out crap that I though would be the wonder fly-NOT! Rearranging my small boxes to reflect the season and specific hatchs and stages of them and applying labels to them so I can be more organized than ever. I have been carrying a back pack along to have some additional patterns so I can feel more secure. Our need to carry more crap than we need must be a carry over from our need to have a blanky when we were young. Have completed 50 new Trico spinners using a short shank hook with a large gap, I gave them a really good test to make sure they do not open up when a good fish pulls, never us Vavris hooks in small sizes because they are just to soft. Partridge hooks also have the same problem.This tendency seems to come to our attention with the use of newer tippet material, the stuff is just stronger than ever. Beetles are done and boxes are full of #12 & 14's , there is no need for smaller sizes unless your fishing to really picky fish in smaller waters then a #16 might be a wise choice to have but my choice would be a ant. Speaking of ants they are next on the list for drys, Black #16 & 18, Red (cinnamon) #16,18,20 & 22 will get the job done. I use the foam cylinders and the same colored hackle, two turns and trimmed flat on the bottom.
Happy tying or fishing!