"Guy Thornberg" wrote in
:

Whether it costs $50 or $100 it is worth the price when trying to
remember some obscure tying method used in the past, how you did it,
and in most cases gives you options and other methods to accomplish a
similar task. I tried it for bed time reading which doesn't work so
well as it gives me nightmares of how i get intertwined into the
materials being tied to the hook with no other possibility but being
eaten by a large trout. Well, time for my nightly medication so...
Bring On ther Trout!! Nightmares with trout are better than other
fantacy dream I can think of. Eggnog Anyone?
Guy


Biggest lessons learned so far--

1) It's all in the underbody. Even when you don't think you're tying an
underbody, you often are. A little extra effort here (which seems to be
becoming second nature) will result in a better fly, and will probably
save time f-ing around with top layers.

2)(And this goes along with 1, above) Control of thread diameter-- the
hows and whens of when you need it tightly wound, and when you need it
flat.

3) The book has a remarkable section on handling floss, and within a
dozen practice shots, and liberal use of a razor blade, I think I've got
it almost down. I've mostly switched to unifloss and unistretch (God's
gift to those who choose not to use real floss), but I think I might be
switching back to good old 4-strand for quite a few patterns.

4) How to REALLY handle peacock herl. I've always thought you just tied
it on and wrapped it, and if it wasn't fuzzy enough, use more herls-- and
if it still wasn't fuzzy enough, tough. Now, just one herl gives me
fuzzier bodies than I've ever had before.

5) The many alternatives to rooster hackle.

6) The different types of hairs, between solid and hollow, and what you
should look for to best serve each method.

And this list doesn't even get to split tail methods, parachute methods,
amazing things to do with dubbing loops, and the nifty things you can do
with beads.

Scott