This made me laugh really hard

This video made me laugh really hard!  When I was growing up in Idaho we had deer in our yard all the time, well our dog got out and chased about a dozen deer for almost a mile and took us forever to find him and this really reminded me of that moment lol.  Enjoy

New book on classic 19th century fly patterns (mirror)

I mirrored this from Anglers Choice Flies blog  (with his permission of course) cause I was really excited to see this happen. Some amazing tiers are involved in this and I emailed to reserve a copy as you will read the email address below.  The original release is on Don Bastian's site . I normally don't get too excited about books but this is going to be a good one!  Even my pups is excited, can't you tell lol

While I was at the International Fly Tying Symposium over the weekend I got a chance to catch up with fellow wet fly enthusiast Don Bastian. Quite frankly Don was one of the driving forces behind me tying classic winged wet flies, so I was super stoked when he asked that I be a part of a project he was putting together. That excitement grew as he told me who and what was to be involved...this book is going to be a world class reference!

New book on classic 19th century fly patterns in the works!!

Here is the press release as taken from Don's site:

Don Bastian

and

The Whitefish Press
Have entered into a contract to publish a book on 19th Century Fly Patterns titled:

The Favorite Flies of
Mary Orvis Marbury
All 291 of the fly patterns from Marbury’s 1892 book will be replicated in a fly tier friendly volume including tying recipes.

Featuring:Hackles, Salmon Flies, Lake Flies, Trout Flies, and Bass Flies
Dressed by:Eric Austin, Tom Baltz, Don Bastian, Dave Benoit, Scott Bleiler, John “CJ” Bonasera, Austin Clayton, Matt Crompton, Chris Del Plato, Ronn Lucas, Mike Martinek, Stanley Miller, Ed Muzeroll, Ted Patlen, Bob Petti, Roger Plourde, Paul Rossman, Dave Schmezer, Mike Schmidt, Bill Shuck, Leigh Shuman, Royce Stearns, Kat Rollin, Rick Whorwood, and Sharon Wright.

I would like to personally thank each of these contributing fly tiers. Their individual and diverse fly tying talents will enrich and enhance this project.

This book will present high-resolution photographs of the actual antique flies from all 32 of the original 1892 Orvis Fly Plates used for the painted lithographs in Marbury’s book, Favorite Flies and Their Histories, plus close to 100 additional 19th Century fly pattern recipes. For this privilege, a special acknowledgement and huge thank-you goes out to Catherine Comar, Executive Director, and Yoshi Akiyama, Deputy Director of the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont, for their permission, assistance, and cooperation of The Museum.

This book will include an instructional chapter and notes on pattern origins.

The Favorite Flies of Mary Orvis Marbury
by
Don Bastian

The Whitefish Press
Publisher
The Favorite Flies of Mary Orvis Marbury will present replications of all 291 of the historic 19th Century fly patterns from Mary Orvis Marbury’s 1892 book, including written and in some instances, updated dressings in a fly tier-friendly format. This combination of photographs and tying recipes will be available to the public for the first time since the publication of Forgotten Flies in 1999.

Exact publication date for The Favorite Flies of Mary Orvis Marbury is not yet determined. However, to reserve your copy of the Limited Edition, please contact:
The Whitefish Press
whitefishpress@yahoo.com

or by writing:

The Whitefish Press,
4240 Minmor Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45217

If I am able I will post some shots of the patterns I will be contributing to the project. As more details become available concerning the completion and release dates I will keep you all apprised.

-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com

New house project and a cool fly order :)

I'll keep this short, I am redoing the tile in one of my upstairs bathroom so that has been taking up a lot of my tying time so that is why I have not posted any step by steps the last couple days.  Here is what I have so far.

Here is the original flooring ripped out

I had to put down tile board cause it was just particle board under the flooring

This is what it will look like. I did a test run to find out if I had enough tile.

and to find out I didn't :(

I am going to be bold with this job since the walls are dark green the grout is going to be green as well. Hopefully it won't be too much.

I got a cool fly order today which needed 6 dozen bead body scuds, 4 dozen foam hoopers, and 8 dozen mix of golden and black Kaufmann stones.  Sadly I got a new medication I can not drink for a week so I did the 2nd best thing. I have a beer can chicken in the oven.  I poured half a can of coors in the bottom of the pan and emptied the can. I then pour in the can halfway of fat tire.  Should be tasty!

Thanks for viewing!  Oh and something funny haha I was google searching my blog and I guess from my last post I am on OCD news website lol

I guess I'm OCD when I tie?? Who knew

It is a rare occasion I have someone come over and tie with me and yesterday was one of those days. I sat down at the desk with my buddy there and went through my whole routine I normally do and he just sat back and started laughing. I was confused and he explained I just sat down and did my normal stuff and started tying but as he watched me it started to sink in....  Wow I'm weird.  Let me explain

1st I always have a nice cold beer next to me as I am tying but my beer is determined by what I am tying. I like the normal stuff like Coors or Budlight when I am tying simple patterns but if I get into anything technical I switch to a mexican or more flavorful beer such as Corona, Land Shark, or Blue Moon.  I might have maybe gotten only a couple sips in and I change patterns, so does my beer. Luckly I am always stocked.

Oh but it goes even further, this is not so weird I think cause I assume a lot of you do this. I set out all my materials for the flies I am tying. I am doing a dozen foam hoppers so I will cut the foam for a dozen, lay out my hooks, and a dozen of the other materials as well.  The weird part is I usually will play music and I play a certain band for certain flies.  I am very religious about this, I change my music and I struggle tying the flies. Here is an example of my fly playlist.

Hoppers : Kansas

Caddis : Pink Floyd

PMD's : Jack Johnson

Stoneflies : We the Kings

Parachutes : Senses Fail

Bead flies : Moody Blues

and the list goes on lol..  The most important thing I do and will or can not tie unless I have a Woodwick candle burning. My most favorite part of growing up was camping with my family and sitting in front of the fire. The Woodwick candles crackles as it is burning and puts me in a happy place and ready to tie.

My question to you is --  Do you do anything weird or special when you are tying?  What kind of music do you tie to?

Let me know what you do

Blog shout out and wohoo 200+ followers also what is in the works

First off YEAH!!  I reached 200 followers yesterday and yes it is only a number but cool to see that many people are interested in my blog.

As many of you know I have been missing in action for the last little while and have not done a blog shout out for awhile. I have found some great blogs recently and wanted to share them with you.  Again in no real order.

Driftless Creations Fly Tying --  This is trout magees fly tying blog.  If you have not seen any of his blogs you have been missing out. He is a great tier and an amazing person!  He is an inspiration for any father as well.  Here are is other 2 blog if you are interested.

http://fishing-catchingchronicles-troutmagee.blogspot.com/

http://jobes-photo-blog-rasta.blogspot.com/

Catching Shadows Blog -- Rich is a great blogger!  He just announced he will no longer be guiding but still blogging. I was very interested in his kitchen remodel and his flies are amazing!  He does do videos as well which are very informative.  Give him a look over.

Fly Tying Team -- This blog is in German but very informative. He posts videos of other tiers and his pictures of flies are AMAZING! 

I know I have blog shouted Erin's blog before but I have a lot of new followers that might have never seen it. 

Mysteries Internal blog is from a aspiring tier and an AMAZING writer.  Every fly fisherman should be following her blog.

Another side note is I finally ordered a new Scott rod the other day and I am stocked to get it in.  http://cofisher.blogspot.com/ at Windknots & Tangled Lines blog gave me an Orvis rod last spring and told me if I ever get another rod to donate it to another fisherman. I meet this 13 year old kid at a fly tying class and has tied for almost a year but never been fly fishing. His parents lost their job and their house about 4 months ago and his birthday is next week.  His family is down and out and because of this he has missed out on a lot of stuff. I have given him materials and such to keep his head up and tying to keep his mind off of life. I am going to give him that rod that Howard gave me and also my Orvis Rocky Mountain reel with a sinking line and take him fishing next weekend.  I wanted to thank Howard for helping me out and giving me the chance to do the same!

Finally -- What is coming up?  I have a Cicada pattern that I am working on and should post a step by step tomorrow and a pretty sweet hopper pattern but I need to wait for my material to come in so hopefully I can do a step by step on Monday or Tuesday on that one.

Again Thanks everyone for following and I promise to be more active than I have been lately

Sofa Pillows and My list of favorite Youtube tier channels

I wanted first to say THANKS!!  Thank you for sticking with me while I was not tying, and really not doing anything. I gained almost 10 followers while I was not posting which baffles me.  I did go back to Idaho for a couple weeks to visit family and just hang out. I have not tied anything for about a month and a half and I wanted to hit it hard today. This weekend I went to Bass Pro Shops and got some materials and for the life of me I can not find the bag of materials I purchased?????  While that is MIA I tied some sofa pillows to ease back into tying.  Let me know what you think.  This week I will do a step by step of something which I don't know you. I did finally get my UV light so I will be doing some epoxy flies I bet.  These are by far not my best work but each one got better than the last.

Also I wanted to post my list of favorite tiers I am subscribed to on Youtube which was a great resource for me when I was learning and also to learn new flies. It seems like everyone wants to make instructional videos on youtube.  Some are amazing and some are just HORRIBLE.  Not the tying per-say but the video quality. I weeded a lot of these out and here are my go toos.

These are in no particular order.

Hansrcsd -  Hans from www.flyfishsd.com is a great tier and does a lot of really cool patterns that are explained amazingly well!

Carlp5351 - Although he does not have that many patterns on his channel the ones he does have are great

Caddisflyshop - A great bunch of guys! I have purchased materials from them and on this channel they tie flies, show you new materials, and also how to pick the right materials. 

DavieMcPhail - What can I say about this guy that has not already been said?  By far the BEST tier on Youtube and the most known. Every week he comes out with one or two patterns and everyone is a gem!  They are all different styles from simple brassie patterns to fully dressed salmon flies.  If you subscribe to only one on this list I would choose this one!

Mcfluffchucker - This guy is a blogger as well and does videos of huge pike flies. It is very interesting to watch since I have yet to tie and pike flies. He does have some cool tricks and tips in his videos.

Frycdf - Another great tier and also explains everything very well. He has a ton of flies on his channel.

JsonSweden -  Realistic tying at its best here. You want to learn to make bodies or wings, here is the place to go!  Give his videos a chance. Most of the videos are showing how to use his products.  They are still fun to watch.

TotallyFlyTying - This is a younger kid that has some really neat patterns. Listen to Davie McPhail and then this kid and it sounds like it could have been Davie as a youngster lol. 

Bigrflyshop - Another great source for new patterns and materials.

If you have some favorites let me know. I love checking out new channels and new and fresh patterns to try.

Thanks again for taking a look and it is great to be BACK!

If you build it, rain will come

Hey guys!! Life has been really crazy lately and pulled out the vise and started cranking some new stuff out. I have several patterns I want to share and a spin on a couple classics.  Those will be coming up this week.  This post is to share a small dream of mine that came true.  Yes it was very small but made my day. I always dreamed of having a creek or river running through my property and with this in mind I made a small creek bed in my front yard thinking one day it will be a real creek. Well......  Yesterday we got a freak 30 minute storm which dropped an inch and a half of rain and hail in that short amount of time. The craziest thing was it was still kinda sunny out and 90 degrees.  Our street looked like a river and I got my dream of a small creek :)

Look at the above picture and the road!!  Little Crimson street was a mighty river

It cause havoc on some of my landscaping, These were 6 feet tall. I made a little oasis and that is the start of my creek bed fully stocked

My pretty little creek looking towards the house

Bubbling water from my drainage in the back yard

My pretty little creek looking towards the road

Really??? A month since a post??

Just wanted to follow up with everyone and let you know I still have been tying and working on several patterns. This weekend will be a new foam cicada and hopefully a new hopper pattern since trout magee was asking for one.  So hang tight for a couple days and I will be back to my normal posting and hopefully some patterns you will enjoy. Also I hope you don't mind I have some cool cooking posts and more home improvement posts I want to share. Yes...  I know this is a tying blog but I like posting what is going on in my life since I consider you all friends and it is like a mini conversation with all of you. To hold you at bay here is a cute picture of my favorite fish :)

Puffer says hi!  (Picture found on the internet) -- Wish I had a salt water tank

My excuse for not posting lately -- Part 2

I got all the cabinets raised and the kick boards put in. The top valences put in place and most of the doors and hardware. As a side business I am repairing boats and working with a granite supplier and cutter to get my counter tops. Been fixing 2 of his boats for payment of that and will only have to pay for delivery.

In the below picture there will be more cabinets going over the window but need to figure out how I will be doing that still.

There are shelves that go here just have not put them in yet.

Floor ripped up ready for tile. I still have a ton of tiles left over and will be starting this today

My excuse for not posting lately -- Part 1

Well...  As some of you might have noticed I have not posted for a little while.  I at least have a valid excuse per say.  I am doing a full kitchen remodel which has been a blast yet a pain in the ARSE! I will give you a little back log of what is going on.  My aunt has a big interior design firm in California and has a lot of people owe her money due to the economy.  She sometimes will take product to pay down people bills and she took some a full kitchen remodel as a payment on a clients bill.  She found out that no one would buy them due to the fact that they are designed for a specific kitchen and no one would take the time to make them work. 3 years later they sat in her warehouse and needed to get rid of them. She knew I was fixing my house up and offered me if I can pic them up I can have them!  WHAT???  I said but the offer was valid. I could not get my shoes on fast enough to hit the road.  I knew it was going to be a huge challenge but I was up for it!!  So my cousin and I went to Cali and snagged it up.  I found out they were designed for a kitchen that was double my size but also meant I can mix and match and more to work with.  So here are some pictures of my original kitchen and the work in progress. With my cousin paying rent and a side business I started last month I had a little money to throw into the project.  I will have to make this in several posts so I don't have too many pics in just one post.

Above is what I had before the project started. They are cheap laminate wood and I was very happy to get rid of it.  

Here is all the new stuff sitting in my garage waiting to be put in.

Kitchen gutted and ready for the install. I had to extend one wall out 8 inches so I could fit the new stuff in.

This has been a huge jig saw puzzle and has been a big challenge but has been working for me "knocks on wood"  I found out one of the doors had a broken glass and have to replace.  $600 for the door and glass and I maybe I need to wait a little before I can replace.  I will post more pics tomorrow and show more progress.  Thanks for viewing!!!