Craft Store Gems

Officially, my wife and I were shopping for my daughter, picking up art supplies from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. The fur and feathers that caught my eye wouldn't go into Sarah's art. To me, they looked like bodies and tails for flies and jigs.

Actually, the packages looked a lot like the ones that hang from hooks in fly shops, with the main differences being that the packages were bigger and the price tags were smaller. I understand that not all marabou or craft hair is created equal. Given my unrefined tying skills, though, the craft store stuff should work just fine, and I'm eager to start tying.

Considering the fact that it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow and spit a mix of rain and snow the next day, I might be trying out the new fur and feathers really soon. And then soon after, I hope to introduce some trout to a few buggy new creations.

Bugs in My Head

I've been designing some really cool hand-tied jigs lately. So far, the good ones remain in my head because I lack the materials and tying skills to create the bugs that I'm envisioning.

I have pulled out my vice and tying tools and materials (which are pretty limited) and have experimented a bit. I've also watched a few fly-tying videos that show some of the skills I'll need to acquire and have ordered a few specific kinds of materials.

So far my hand-tied bugs, which are micro jigs or custom Road Runners, not flies) have all been ugly, but I have gotten fish to at least swipe at them. When I start actually creating lures that look even kind of like what I'm picturing (or maybe if I can fools a fish with an ugly one) I'll start posting pictures. For now, they're just bugs in my head.