On Oct 12, 6:12*pm, Frank Reid wrote:
Uh, guys, I think we need an intervention here. *I just counted up the
total amount of different dubbing and colors I have on my desk. *I've
become an addict. *If you count the special "frank blends" that are in
little packets, I have a total of 142 differing color/texture
combinations. *I'm afraid to go into the cabinets cause I know that
there's a crap load more.
Frank Reid

You got me curious so I looked. That's right at 100 more than I have
( even if you count the marabou that I dub some nymphs with for extra
'internal motion') and I could ashcan at least 15 of what I have and
still be able to tie all the patterns I actually use. For instance,
I have several of the flashy 'Ice" colors but have never tied a fly
with any of them that fish really liked

But, I admit I don't tie for the fun of tying anymore ... indeed, I
commented late in the year as I tried to restock some tiny #22 baetis
patterns that it sometimes feels too much like work.


UM, you've got me thinking ... what do I imitate each year ( or carry
imitations of even if I don't need them a given season )

baetis
March Browns
Salmon Flies
Golden Stones
Little Yellow Stones
damsel nymphs and adults
caddis ( many species, but all either olive, tan, black or creamy
adult bodies .. even less color variation as pupa )
PMDs
Green Drakes
Flavs
Brown Drakes
Gray Drakes
calibaetis
tricos
ants
beetles
water wasps ( a Ranch bug of great importance I've never seen even
mentioned anywhere else )
the very bright green fall baetis, aka pseudos
midges ( several colors but thread, no dubbing )
mahogany duns



I carry a hopper or two but think of them as bobbers not flies ( I
once herded about 50 real, juicy, wiggling, hoppers onto the water on
a windy day and followed the lot downstream 150 yards on one of the
west's best streams before seeing the first one eaten ... 50 X 150
yards of drag free drift per strike ... I've never had faith in blind
fishing hoppers since .... if I'm to fish a terrestrial it will be to
a fish I've seen work, or can actually see on his lie, and it's most
likely to be with an ant, maybe a beetle

I don't think of anything else I consistently imitate, at the moment
( well the pre-emergent stage of the woolybugger bug but chenile, not
dubbing ;-)

Even with a couple color variations of fine dry dubbing and courser
nymph dubbing per bug I can't get to much over 40 .... you really DO
have a problem, Frank G