THANK!! you Bullets and Biscuits -- I won a contest

Bullets and Biscuits had a contest where you stated your weirdest food combination to win a jar of strawberry and banana jam. I eat a lot of normal stuff but the only thing I could think of was toast with butter and ketchup.  Granted I eat ketchup with EVERYTHING it didn't seem to weird with me.  It started with breakfast making toast normally and my eggs. I always ate ketchup with my egg whites and used the toast to soak up the yokes.  Well I got too excited when I was squeezing the ketchup and made a huge mound that I would have ended up throwing half of it away.  So......  I decided to use the rest of my toast and I was hooked.  Needless to say I won along with a couple others and I am a HUGE jam fan.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't sitting at the mailbox every time the mailman came crossing my fingers it came.  Sitting at the mailbox for literally 30 minutes in  109 degree weather paid off today!!  I got a priority package in a small box and became very excited!!  I would not let the mailman leave until he tasted it!  So I literally ripped the box open and the pretty red padding went everywhere..  I cracked the bottle open and broke the seal with my key.  I booked into my house to grab a knife so the mailman could taste it. He got the first taste and a huge smile came to his face.  I couldn't wait so the white trash in me dipped my most likely dirty finger in and took my first taste hmmmmmmmmmmmmm......  Is all I could say!  It was amazing and just wanted to thank him for sending it to me.  Now for the real taste test.

I tried to put everything back together since I already opened it to show how it came.

Doesn't that look amazing!!  Chunks of banana greatness mixed perfectly.

Here is the start to my weirdness!  Toasted me a nice piece and cut it in half.  On the left, butter and Jam.  On the right, butter and ketchup.

To do it right I took a bite out of each one. I already knew I was expecting with the ketchup so after I took the bite with the Jam......
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The ketchup went into the trash :)  Thanks again for bullets and biscuits for holding this and the Jam is AMAZING!!  I will be cooking some pork chops and use this as a sauce.

F - Midge ---- Step by Step

I have been playing around with midges lately and found this pattern online. I changed the colors a little and added deer hair for the hackle.  Also just a side note I tied these in a thin wire scud hook but when I wanted to do the step by step I found I ran out of them so for this I had to use the thicker wire which is wrong for the pattern and could sink it. This is a real cool pattern that dumps the hook below the surface replicating the midge coming to the surface.  I found this pattern at http://www.barbosconmosca.com/

F - Midge

Hook:  Any light wire scud hook size 12-20

Thread: Olive 8/0

Tail: Callibaetis colored CDC

Rear Body: Black Floss

Rib: Chartreuse UTC 140

Wing: Callibaetis colored CDC

Upper Body: Peacock Black Dazzle Dubbing

Spinning Wire: Small wire

Hackle: Natural deer hair

Start your thread and take it to the middle of the hook.

Your tail should be about half the length of the shank.  Tie that in and make sure it is secure. I just use the tip of the feather.

Tie in your black floss and then tie in the UTC chartreuse thread. 

Wrap your floss leaving a little under 1/3 of the shank. Now rib your chartreuse thread making 5-6 ribs. This thread tends to spread out as you wrap it but I like it cause it makes the black kinda show through.

Now tie in the copper wire at the front of the hook. You may do this as your first step in the fly but it tends to get in the way.

Tie in 3 CDC feathers from the tip and wrap to the end of the floss.

Making a ball with the CDC by folding it over itself and tie it off.

Now dub your dazzle dubbing thicker at the tie off point of the CDC and taper it smaller towards the eye.  From here you can tie off your thread. You can bunch the wire up to make it easier to whip finish.

Cut your deer hair and stack it. I use a semi small clump.  A pencil size clump should do. It you do use too much hair it can be clipped off from the top after it is spun.

Using anything with a hook spin the wire. The hair will start to spin and flare out. Make sure not to over spin the wire of you could break it off.  Clip the wire however close you want.  Now add some super glue to the top of the wire and you are now done. Bend the wire forward a little like shown.

This is how the fly will sit in the water.

THANKS EVERYONE FOR LOOKING AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK AND IF YOU GIVE IT A TRY

Some recent home improvements - Another reason I love garage sales!!

This is not fishing related but I felt I needed to show why I have not been posting lately :)  I went to a garage sale looking for tying stuff and found hundreds and hundreds of tile for $10.  I always wanted to get rid of all my vinyl flooring and this was my kick in the pants to do it.  My house is a cookie cutter house where every 4th house is the same and want mine to stand out. It was a foreclosed house and the people before took EVERYTHING out!  Ceiling fans, vanities, and even down to the light switch covers.  It was a deal I could not pass up and knew I had my work cut out for me. I purchased it when I had an amazing job and was VERY affordable at the time. Not being able to work now has really slowed it down since I am doing everything to keep the house!  It is my first house and quite attached to it.  But I have been able to keep up with payments as of now so that is one less thing to worry about. I love working on my house cause it gets my mind off other stuff and that feeling of accomplishment.  I will be able to do my kitchen and also the upstairs bathroom as well with this tile. Here is what I got done so far.

These are the tiles I picked up.

This has been the biggest project. My father for my birthday bought my bricks for me and then it was on! I have been working on this for a couple weeks.  110 degree weather has made it quite rough!!  This RV side was just dirt and needed a make over.

You can't really tell from this picture but it goes all the way to the sidewalk.  I am quite proud of this addition since I really am not the biggest handy man.

Thanks for viewing!  

Owl Jones spotted in VEGAS

www.owljones.com was nice enough to send me some stickers and I had to put them on my cars.  Now I need to contact Christian at the The tailing loop to send me a couple more so I can do the same. I LOVE being able to support our fly fishing friends cause it is people like these that make our sport fun and the ability to network with these guys is AMAZING!!   Now if I can get Cofisher and Mysteries Internal to make some stickers than the offer is up to them as well for my window space :)  oh and of course Trout Magee!!  As far as the header, Thanks to everyone that responded!!  I will contact you within the day. I had some medical stuff I had to take care of over last weekend so sorry for the lack of response!

Can anyone make me a new header

I won't make this a ploy to get some web design for free because I will strait out say it will be lol.. I do not advertise on my blog nor do I want to make money from it, since I do it for my followers and mostly for myself to document my tying and soon to be fishing life. My extent of computer knowledge is turning it on and punching stuff on my keyboard and hopefully not my screen. I wanted to update my blog as far as background and I used to be known for always changing my header but they always seem generic cause of the font and writing. I do REALLY appreciate Trout Magee for letting me use his photos but it is time for a change. So if any of you get bored and want to help a guy out in getting a new header please let me know :)

What are your 5 favorite bloggers?

Ok....  First off, no one get butt hurt cause you were not mentioned.  My intention of this post is to introduce others to your favorite bloggers and support others.  I will not number them in mine cause they all deserve respect and I can not name my favorite.  Mine are bloggers that are always blogging and have very interesting and entertaining content. Plus they have touched me in a not perverted way, but emotionally and made me always smile.   Please put the link to their blog in your response so we can copy and paste in our browser.  Or as www.owljones.com and http://waterfloggin.blogspot.com/  , and  http://myleakywaders.blogspot.com/ have done so far, you can make your own posts about it.

Here are my top 5

http://cofisher.blogspot.com/ --  Howard --  Oh Howard, such an amazing person!
www.owljones.com -- Our fly fishing community needs humor that he delivers
http://mysteriesinternal.blogspot.com/ -- Erin is an amazing writer and has a zest for life I can only wish to have
http://thetailingloop.blogspot.com/ --  Another amazing person that has a heart of gold
http://fishing-catchingchronicles-troutmagee.blogspot.com/ -- If I ever had kids I can only wish to be as good as a dad as this man is!!

So lets hear your top five so we can support and view other bloggers!

Quick update -- Yup it is hot

I made a commitment to make a step by step everyday this week but I have been ill for the last almost 3 days.  This heat usually does me in the first real hot day and this did it.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get back on the horse and get these up.

Amy's Ant -- By Jack Dennis -- Step by step

This week is going to be step by step week. Everyday this week I will post a step by step of some of my favorite flies I tie. This fly was designed by Jack Dennis.  Named after his daughter and is a slayer on the Teton river and the South Fork of the Snake river. It is not a technical fly but has a lot of steps.

Amy's Ant

Hook:  Mustad 9672 size 6-12
Thread:  Tan 6/0
Under foam:  Tan 2mm
Top Foam:  Brown 2mm
Body: Lt. brown ice chenille
Hackle:  Brown saddle
Under wing:  Back krystal flash
Upper wing:  Elk body hair
Front body:  Peacock black dazzle dubbing
Legs:  Black round rubber legs

First step of course is to start your thread.

The first piece of foam needs to be cut like a tipless arrow. The foam should be a little smaller that the gap of the hook.

The brown foam needs a slit cut and the same size as the tan foam above.

Now tie in the tan foam with about 1/8th of an inch hanging out back. Then tie it down all the way to the eye of the hook.

Next tie in the brown foam the same length as the tan.

Side view of the tie in.

Now tie in one set of legs on each side.

Like a lot of my foam flies I need to hold back the materials that are hanging. I use a piece of scrap lead wire and wrap it around the hook tip and materials.

Tie in the hackle and then the ice chenille.

Wrap the brown chenille.  Leave about 1/4th of the shank bare.

Wrap the hackle and tie off at the same point.

Now clip the hackle close to the body.

Here is a public service announcement.  Ever have problems getting your krystal flash out?  Just make a slit in it and use your whip finisher hooks and pull a couple pieces out a time.

Pull the brown strip of foam over and tie it to the eye of the hook.  Cover the remainder shank with thread. Tie in about 10 pieces of your black krystal flash. Make sure it splays out a little.

splayed out krystal flash.

Take a generous amount of elk hair and tie it in a little longer than the tail. This shows shorter but try and hold that and the camera and having the shakes.  It is rough lol

Tie that wing in and make sure o wrap a little into the butts to anchor it down.

Cut the tips and make sure you cover all the tips with your thread.

Now with your dazzle dubbing, dub the empty spot. Dub to the end of the elk hair towards the back of the fly.

Now fold back the brown foam where the thread lays and tie the foam down.

Tie in your last set of rubber legs at that point. Tie off your thread and the tying is done. 

This is the bottom of the fly

Cut the brown and tan foam in the front as below. Of course this serves no purpose but I like to do it.






Thanks everyone for viewing