Hare's Lug and Plover

[chase creek]

OH, great looking flies, too. Love Plover.

[letumgo]

I grew up hunting and trapping, so I was used to skinning and stretching hides. I've skinned deer, bear, foxes, racoons, mink, bobcat, otter, beaver, muskrats, coyotes and many birds, but never rabbits. My Dad used to raise LOTS of rabbits when I was a kid, but they were pets. Seeing my first hares mask was just kinda creepy. Go figure.

- Confessions of a fly tyer

PS: I've gotten over the creep factor and now have a half dozen different colored hares masks, for just these sorts of flies.

[Kelly L.]

Yes, that Jeff is a special guy to go to all that trouble for me. Several people have sent me material gifts, I have been very blessed. (some are right here on this forum too!) Ray, I am glad to know I am not the only one. Mataura Mayfly I probably would not want to see your freezer....lol. But I would love to see the materials when they are ready for use...lol. Seriously though, I hope to be able to tie some more of these flies tomorrow, and have something special. I was very pleased with them when I first did them. But I hope to do better. I am also gonna be trying different hooks with this pattern too. I wonder...would a Daiichi 1640 be too light for this pattern? I don't have a Kamasan B160, and could not see what it compared to. For some reason it is not on my comparison list charts. I think I made two on a Daiichi 1550 this morning. But I am drawn to a shorter hook for some reason.
Chase Creek, that is hysterical. Believe me, I know the feeling. One of these days I am going to get a full red fox pelt, and hang it on my wall. I wanted it to do it before my daughter finally moved out, but haven't been able to afford it. I know, that is kinda mean. But I have always loved those skins, and I do plan to get one, one of these days. The bottom of my freezer is where the materials go. My kids (well they are grown now, but I still call them that), they know better than to go around digging around in that part of the freezer. My son is 18, and he doesn't care. He thinks my tying is cool, but too much obsession, and clutter for him. He prefers conventional fishing. I snipped hair off two of the cats for a Cat's Whisker fly. When my daughter came home one day, I asked her what she thought the fur was. She got mad when I told her I took it from the cats....lol. She thinks I have totally lost my mind. (wait till she gives me grandkids, and I get them into fly tying too....lol) I will send the grandkids home with goodies for the freezer...rotfl. My daughter will freak.
Ray we had a couple of rabbits for pets here too. So I can relate to that. The pelts don't bother me. It is those creepy eye holes that sends bad chills down my spine. I've never skinned an animal in my life. I don't imagine I could do that, unless I was starving.

[Mataura mayfly]

Kelly,
Kamasan B175 is a nice hook to look for in a wet fly shortish shank.
We have four freezers, you just have to make sure you lift the lid on the right one.

A red fox is on my list to get as well, might set up an exchange from Australia. They have foxes. I took an Australian fisher out a couple of weeks ago and took him on a night-shoot for hares of his own, I skin tan and cure the hides and send them back over. Perhaps I could persuade a fox skin coming this way in return.

That night shoot does mean there is plaenty of Hare in reserve here though again Kelly.

[Kelly L.]

I don't have any of those hooks either. I will look to see what it compares to. My hook collection has grown by leaps and bounds since I came to this forum. LOL. But there are still more varieties I want. Some women want a hundred pair of shoes. I want a ton of fly tying materials and LOTS of hook varieties. I don't know anyone who hunts here, or I'd be in good shape. I saw a red fox pelt at Trade's Days in Canton, TX. It was a reasonable price, I just didn't have the money. I think it was 60 dollars or so. This was a complete skin, head to tail. I thought about tying up a bunch of flies, and offering a trade....hehehe. What kind of fox is there in Australia? You have been very kind. Thank you.

[Mataura mayfly]

The same kind of red fox they have in England. You see the British were very kind to us in the colonies and bought over all kinds of goodies to remind them of home and provide some sport, meat and fur trade for these newly conquored islands in the South Pacific. Australia got pretty much the same as we did, but foxes did not come here, they got rabbits and hares, we got those as well as all the nasty mustelids lile ferret stoat and weasel.
All these introductios did not behave at all well and typically not "British" at all, they either proceeded to eat the countryside bare or eat the native animals and birds.
Hense the fox is as big of a pest in Australia as their possum is on this side of the Tasman!

[Kelly L.]

OH. That is a bummer for the native populations, but a literal BOON for the fly tyer.....hehehe. We have fire ants, and wild hogs. I can't stand either one of them. The wild hogs are mean as little demons too. It is a shame English House Sparrows didn't have better feathers. I'd sure enough be in business if they did. They are a nuisance and pest here. So it sounds like you are able to get some great materials, LOCAL... Yes, the English loved the hunt. (as do Americans)

[Mataura mayfly]

Kelly, they love to hunt, just a bit more polite than we Kiwi's when they go about it. No "Talley Ho" nor Tweed involved here, more eradicate as many pest animals in as short of a time and economic frame as you can. Heck we even shoot direct from helicopters to control some of the larger animals in hard to get places.

But yes, we do have a wide and varied choice of legally obtainable tying materials on the hoof here, as I told you the Hare is but a drop in the ocean. Along with the four legged furry's there are quite a few different gamebirds as well. Never a dull moment in Kiwi land!

[daringduffer]

Kelly,
Check this:http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 539#p35539

dd

[Kelly L.]

Mataura Mayfly, it sounds like Australia is over run with non-natives. One would never run out of tying material there, it seems! I like hearing about kiwi land.

DD, I forgot all about that, and you reminded me of it. The B175 is very similar to a Daiichi 1530. I have 1550 and 1560, but no 1530. I will put them on my TO BUY list now. Thank you.