Busy as I want to be!

It's been a busy time here at HOTF, but I love it! I finally got steps going towards a program I have been wanting to debut. I call it "First Time Fliers" and it's putting fly rods in the hands of kids along with casting instruction and some time behind the vise. I am so excited to get this rolling and share my passion with our future anglers and river stewards. I have also been busy on the tying front and getting orders out all over the U.S. I truly am having a ball and loving every minute of it. If you have any old fly rods, reels, fly lines and you don't need them let me know, I have got a few donated already but anything at all fly fishing related is appreciated. I have been in contact with some great people and the support has been outstanding. Thanks to all who have helped so far!!

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Jeff

An old classic.

I sat down at the vise and instead of tying the latest and greatest "Nuke Nymph Dyno Classic flashabou", I dove back to an old classic that I forgot that I ever tied. The Deer Hair Caddis is one of (in my opinion) most versatile dry flies around. Many a day has this fly scored high marks on the end of my leader, and to this day is my go to dry at the head of my box. What an easy tie and enjoyable one at that. The classics are classics for a reason, they have stood the test of time and the corner of many Trout mouths. If you have been wrapped up in trying the latest greatest, take a step back and tie on the DHC, and hold on to your rod, cause its gonna get dunked!!

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Jeff

Deer Hair Caddis, classic pattern and easy tie.

Congratulations!!

Congrats to James Dillard of Searcy AR, for correctly answering the question. BTW the answer is "Salmo Trutta". Yeah I looked it up too!! LOL

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Jeff

Wanna win a half dozen Micros?

Give me the scientific name for the Brown Trout and the half dozen are yours. First correct response on the blog, gets em'.
Please leave your name and address so i can send em'.....Good Luck!

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Jeff

Thank you all!

Just a quick note to thank all of my followers on my Blog, Facebook and Twitter. I enjoy reading all of your comments and seeing all of your pictures. It's funny how much we all share just because we like the same thing and share the same passion. I love the fact that we can share around the world and how respectful (in my experience) that we all have been. I hope to continue to grow readership and followers by doing exactly what I started out to do.... and that is to share my passion and my experiences with all of you and in turn become enlightened by all of your knowledge and experiences. So anywhooooo.... THANK YOU ALL!!!

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Jeff

Testing Day on the river.

My Son and I took a morning and afternoon today testing new patterns of flies I've been tying on the river. All the patterns we tested did very well, but the hands down winner was the fly below. This little fellow out fished all of the others without question and hit the biggest fish of the day at 16". I call it the "Micro" and it's an awesome catcher. As you can see it's an easy tie with herl being the only material...LOL, on a #18 nymph hook and a 5/32 bead head. Give it a try and let me know how it fishes.

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Jeff

Accepting new orders.

Finally got caught up with my orders and ready to accept new ones. Let me know if you are interested and I'll get ya "hooked " up ASAP. Just let me know what patterns and sizes and any other customizations such as colors, hackles, eye positions etc.

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Jeff

Too funny!!

Wow, where did they hear my stories??

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Jeff

Does size matter?...Uh Oh!!

Relax guy's this is a fly discussion.....lol.
Through my years of fly fishing and tying I seem to have a inner debate on the size of my flies. As you may have read I am an Isonychia fan and I tie them in size 10 and 12, but the other day while fishing I looked in my box and realized I have a ton of other flies in there that are very small, #22's and #26's that I seem to always overlook. Now granted on day's where the fish are a bit finicky I will dive in and tie on a french fry if I think it would work, but I always am in that size 10, 12 and sometimes even 8's. So today as I sit with my coffee and watch the rain fall and probably diminish any chance of a cast on my day off, I sit pondering why I tend to shy away from the smaller flies. You can say that I always have good luck on the larger size and in the past I have caught smaller fish on smaller sizes, but I know this thought process is void because I've seen tons of very nice fish caught on a teeny tiny lil fly! It's just changing my mindset and having the "confidence" in any fly I tie on like I do with my go to group of what I call my "Lineman flies". Change is something I find as I get older that I'm not a big fan of, but also know it is vital to my growing as a man and a fly fisherman. Maybe on this rain soaked day I will go sit at the vise and blow the dust off those size 18's and work my mind around the fact that I can change my mindset, I can grow as a fisherman....I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it ,people like me!!...

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Jeff

A night at the vise.

I have been really slacking on the vise lately, so tonight I sat down and tried a new fly that I have only seen in my mind, but it may be in someones box. I posted a pic of it on Facebook and asked you all to name it and a Facebook follower aptly named it and quickly I might add.."Jerry Garcia". I love the name and it is certainly fitting as I found out, today would have been the guitarists 70th birthday.
Take a look and tell me what you think. It's simple and is made up of only dubbing, copper wire and ginger hackle, easy tie and I know in my waters I fish it's gonna bust some trout,( that's the plan at least).

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Jeff

"Jerry Garcia"