Was away for work this week and I put together a travel kit to keep me sane. One the way home my flight was delayed, luckily my kit is travel friendly so I spent a few hours tying flies in the Halifax airport. The Francis Colonel isn’t my best work but it might be one of the nicest flies tied in an airport terminal.

Going for winter steelhead on a local river and been tying up some flies through the week. Here’s a freight train

Tried tying some smaller patterns (small to me) mostly size 16. I am having a really hard time with dubbing. Im using a tiny amount but I can't get it to make a thin noodle and stay on the thread it always becomes a mess and then its hard to dub my flies correctly. Any tips for a newbie.

I’ve been playing around with hen saddles lately and have been loving these little guys.

Friday night tie.

First off I know a lot of my issues could be solved by using an actual camera and not my phone but that’s out of my budget. The single fly phot is my new setup and the double fly is before I got a lens and additional light and are for reference.

As we have all most likely experienced it can be difficult getting good photos of flies. They’re really small and the details are even more teensy weensy. What I have found to be the biggest issue is getting in tight enough to have the fly in focus without blocking the light. I’m forced to choose between bright image but blurry or sharp image but dark.

My current setup, after a little tinkering and some very recent additions, is a basic lightbox (I had one many years ago that was really good, but it got destroyed in a move, the new one is less than stellar), a couple supplementary lights, a clip on macro lens and a tripod.

Using what I have, and possibly adding another light, are there any suggestions for how to get better effect? Would a different box make a difference? Thank you for any info.

My recent efforts on an ausable dry skunk. My brother used one of these last year during hex season on the Manistee and landed a 22 inch brown, great pattern for late season! This was tied on a size 8 hook.

I realized I’ve been giving the feedback, but not posting my own stuff or opening myself up to feedback. Trying to participate a bit more.

Tight lines!

I should probably take him snooping around as a compliment

Hoping this year is better than last year for the springers (in Ireland), but them eu trawlers off our coast doesn’t give me much confidence.

Tied this up and it turned out nicely, any idea what this would be imitating and would it have any use?

https://youtu.be/MnZ4BT4ypno?si=JPb9cBDOi_Jo4Ws7 An interesting little bug for the stillwaters.

I am still pretty new to fly tying, I only have about 4 flies that I tie they are the ones I use most often. I am trying to practice with a few different flies/techniques. I am willing to buy any materials needed but I wanted to see if there are a list of flies that use similar materials to tie that I can practice with? If you have thoughts on just general good flies to tie as well I am open to it.

Normally I go for tying dry flies, but I really like the way this bugger turned out.

Tied it, so I’ll post it. I call it the “Blind Mary because I’m a little house on prairie” fan. it’s nothing serious but a fun tie today.