[Piscator]

How many flies do you lose on the average during your outings to your favorite trout stream or river? Whether by lost from the trout that break your tippet or lost in trees, brush, etc.? Please provide any details that you wish.

[gregorykicks]

well, if i'm wading i usually only loose one or two, but if not wading or fishing in a lake i might loose 5. My biggest qualm is not that they get stuck in a tree or on a rock or a fish breaks my line (i've not been that lucky yet) it's that they fall apart. I buy my flys from a reputable fly store in Nashville and it seems like they're always coming unwound. It's mostly the small nymphs I find that do this.

[Piscator]

gregorykicks,
You might try to use some head cement where they whip finish the fly off. It might help the fly hold up longer.
Laterz,
Terry

[gregorykicks]

ahh that would work wonders. Would my fly shop have that?
edit* i just read a article about not using head cement, and realized that it is usually the tail or the hackles or whatever else is sticking out that falls off or gets mangled. Would that cement help those parts? (and i also discovered it'd be in the fly tying area.. which i've not been in that part yet.. i'm a little intimidated)

[Piscator]

gregorykicks,
First of all please don't feel intimidated when it comes to this forum. You will quickly find out that you may know more than you thought.

I'm not sure if the head cement would help the tail or not but I would think that it wouldn't hurt. Your fly shop may carry it so you might check with them first. If they don't check out The Full Creel Fly Shop on what they have to offer http://thefullcreel.com/index.php?cPath=29_162.

Hope this helps. If not Big Cliff ties a lot he may have a suggestion.

Later,
Terry

[gregorykicks]

thanks sorry for hijacking your thread

[freeze69]

one other thing that you might want to try and you probally have some laying around your house and don't realize it. try some fingernail hardner. check with your mom, girlfriend, or wife. a couple of fly tying videos i've seen are using this. i've started using it on my own flies.

gregorykicks might have to contact you the next time i'm down your way. planning a trip down to fayetville, tn. to visit a friend and look at a couple of horses. good luck and tightlines to all.

as far as the post goes. on a good day maybe one or two a bad day dang it time to go home and have a cold beer.

[Piscator]

thanks sorry for hijacking your thread

gregorykicks, your welcome. Freezy Mans advice is great as well. Also, there is no need to apologize.

Freezy Man, put your vote in when you get a chance.
Thanks,
Terry

[gregorykicks]

Originally Posted by freeze69

one other thing that you might want to try and you probally have some laying around your house and don't realize it. try some fingernail hardner. check with your mom, girlfriend, or wife. a couple of fly tying videos i've seen are using this. i've started using it on my own flies.gregorykicks might have to contact you the next time i'm down your way. planning a trip down to fayetville, tn. to visit a friend and look at a couple of horses. good luck and tightlines to all.as far as the post goes. on a good day maybe one or two a bad day dang it time to go home and have a cold beer.

yeah i'm pretty sure we have some of that in my house. That probably will work well. Let me know when you're coming to fayetville, that's about an hour from where I live, and if we travel about 30min further to lynchburg (where they make jack daniels of course) there's a pretty good fishing spot on the Elk river just off of Tims Ford dam. I've only fished their once and my friend and we were skunked (along with everyone else) but there is usually good fishing there from what i've heard. I'd be glad to go fishing, as long as i'm not working

[BigCliff]

Freeze69 is right, as I was reading down the posts above his, I was about to suggest clear fingernail polish. I would recommend Sally Hansen's "Hard as Nails" if you're buying some new for this purpose.

Here's a trick to make it easier to use. When you pull it out of the bottle, you will find that the brush is cut off at a right angle to the stem. Use your hands or a paper towel to get most of the polish off of the brush, and then use a pair of scissors to cut it off at an angle. This will give you a point that will make it easier to precisely apply the polish to the tie off point of those flies.

I would also recommend using your hemostats to hold the fly by the bend of the hook while you are applying the polish, and then use them to stick the point of the hook into a piece of foam to allow the fly to dry before you put it in your box.