Faruk Ekich, who manufactures the Ekich bobbin (see http://www.garyborger.com/2011/03/30/bobbins-the-ekich-ultimate/), also manufactures a very limited edition, Damascus vise. It is a gorgeous piece of equipment that is also very functional. Pete Gray sent me a couple of photos of the vise holding flies that he had tied. If you are interested in discussing the purchase of [...]

Are you a fly tier? Frankenfly has something for every tier, be they a traditional, dyed in the wool tier, or a experimentalist. In fly tying, as in fly fishing, there’s always something new that one can learn. God have a look here .

At every Show. I get questions about the loop spinning tools that I use. There are variety of tools out there, most readily available from the fly shops. But the one I get the most questions about is the Turbo Dubbing Twister. This is a Czech product, complete with ball bearing that allow the head [...]

At every Show, I get questions concerning the materials I use to dress the Down and Dirty series of minnows and sculpins. This material is available from Feather-Craft of St. Louis, MO. It is called Extra Select Craft Fur and can be found at on line at: Extra Fine Craft Fur  They offer 29 great [...]

Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26, I attended the Western Canadian Fly Fishing Expo in Calgary, Alberta. It was a great show. On Saturday I offered workshops on “Equipment is the Only Thing” and “The Perfect Cast,” and presented a PowerPoint program on “Nymphing from Top to Bottom.” The crowd was quite good for [...]

Our friend Theo Baakelar sent a photo of a striper that ate his Eel Skin imitation of a Sand Eel while we were fishing in the fall of 2011. There is no doubt that big fish want to eat big bait. And eat they do. The striper definitely has the fly well in its mouth [...]

Theo Baakelar, a good friend from Holland, has been using his winter hours to tie flies for next season. Here are a couple of great looking stonefly  nymphs made with flexie body or thin skin material. They look good enough to eat, don’t they? He says they are particularly tasty with a little garlic. Notice the [...]

Today was day one at the International fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ. The crowd was very good and there was much going on all day long. I gave a casting class this morning, a Power Point presentation on The Angler as Predator at noon, and then a casting demonstration. All were well attended. Then [...]

My friend, Henry Kanemoto, sent me a photo of 3 size 16 hooks laid out on a scale with 1/16 inch hash marks. It is most revealing. I was reminded again about the importance of knowing the hooks that one ties on. When we were shooting “Nymphing” in the summer of 1982, I noticed that [...]

I asked Theo to please send along some shots of the long flies that they use for pike in Holland. He was kind enough to send them right back to me, along with some more pike photos. Note that these flies are big, as in really big, and have to be tied with plenty of [...]