(Tom Littleton) wrote in
:

I have to rant for a moment!! I just got the current issue of Fly Tyer
in the mail yesterday, and one of the features is an AK Best design of
a "hovering cranefly".
Now, old A.K. claims he sweated over this one for a couple years, but
there is ABSOLUTELY no functional difference from a classic Catskill
Variant. See Flick's
instructions for the Grey Fox Variant, and the final fly. All A.K.
does is make use of, and liberally plug, Whiting's Coq de Leon
feathers. A similar type of article/
advertisement trend seems to be creeping into Fly Tyer as a
whole....The result is a lot of re-inventing the Wheel, wrapping it in
some tyer's ego and foisting on the public. Rant mode off......
Tom


I got ya, Tom. I've been feeling that way about the mag for a long time
(but of course I still buy it!).

When its your living to crank out articles on tying new flies, you come up
with some outrageous **** that simply won't help anyone fish. There's few
new flies in there that excite me. I did like their recent article on
realistic immitation, though, and the review of the Magic Tool talked me
into buying one (and I hope you'll soon see the results). Of course, you
can pretty much do the same stuff with a slit piece of closed cell foam and
a bulldog clamp, but I don't regret the purchase.

So, I guess I like the mag for the features and new product reviews, but
many of the new flies presented just miss with me.

I do like them Coq de Leon feathers. They make damn good tails. You need
to use more fibers than you would w/ fibbets, but I like the idea of losing
an artificial material for a natural that works better. Of course, if I
had a stash of spade feathers like yours, I wouldn't spend nine bucks a
pack for tail fibers

Scott