March 2019 – BugCrafters.com

March 31, 20190 Comments

Sowbug Roundup

Dewey Freeman

The Sowbug was a big success. There were over one hundred fly tiers and hundreds of visitors. Saturday was by far the busiest day. It was an opportunity to visit old friends such as Captain Unk Smith, Fishy Fullum and others. But just as important to a make new friends. However, as I looked around, I could not help but notice the vast the majority of the tiers were grey headed, if they had any hair at all. I thought I would take this opportunity to profile some of the younger tiers and vendors.

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Fly Fishing/Fly Tying

March 25, 20190 Comments

22 Annual Sowbug Round Up

Mike George Fly Tying

The 22 Annual Sowbug Round Up will be held in Mountain Home, Arkansas on March 28th, 29th, and 30th. The Sowbug is basically a fly tying show. There will be over 100 tiers. Last year there were over 1000 attendees.

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Fly Tying

March 17, 20190 Comments

Gurgle Pop

I posted this fly in 2010. Since then the video has been viewed 10,243 times.

The Gurgle Pop is a foam popper that is deadly on Bream and Bass. I have caught hundreds of Bass on this fly in the Boundary Waters. The fly is easy to tie.

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Fly Tying

March 8, 20190 Comments

Soft Hackle Flies

Green Lantern

At the Sowbug two years ago, I was tying a Green Lantern Soft Hackle fly. This fly is described in Allen McGee’s excellent book Fly Fishing Soft-Hackles. When I had finished the fly, a spectator said, “Do you want me to show you the correct way to tie a soft hackle?”

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Fly Fishing

March 1, 20190 Comments

Building a Bamboo Fly Rod

In 2016, David Weingold and I drove to Winnsboro, Louisiana to attend Harry Boyd’s 2 1/2 day rod making class. In 2 1//2 days you make a bamboo rod blank from scratch and leave with the finished blank with ferrules attached ready to complete at home.

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