Nice tie as usual. Back in 1988 I designed a hopper fly that used rubber legs with a knot in them for the back legs. The Rubber legs back then were square and made placement much easier than with round rubber legs. The round rubber legs tend to roll as you tie them in and even if you get the straight, the next wrap can roll them a bit. If you find that yours has rolled, you can usually get it back in place without the need to unwrap your thread and re-set it. Just grab the part of the rubber legs in front of the tie and twist it in the direction that you want the back section to go. The holding onto both pieces, pull on the back section (one with the knot in it) and it will move slightly to the back. Don't pull too hard or it will really twist and then you'll have to reverse the process pulling int he front instead of the back. What happens when you twist that section is that it makes it thinner, which allows you to move it slightly as long as you haven't glued it in place. It's a bit of a Goldilocks effect - if you pull too much it will twist it too much, if you don't pull it far enough it will twist too little. But you'll quickly get the knack of it. If you want to avoid that problem all together, tie the knot in the legs after you've tied them in place. Every once in a while I would pull the knot too tight and it wouldn't put the angle in it that a looser knot did - again Goldilocks effect. Using the zap-a-gap on the knot like you see in the video is an easy solution instead of accidentally drawing it too tight. Just pull it until you get the bent angle that you want and then hit it with a dot of that super glue. I actually worked with Kenny Morrish back in 1987/88 at the Orvis San Francisco store when it was still on Maiden Lane in San Francisco. He was a young fellow who had been traveling all over the country in his VW Vanagon and living out of it. He was the consummate Trout Bum at the time traveling all across the country just fishing. We fished together a few times on the McCloud River in CA, but our days off didn't often coincide so I didn't fish with him a lot. One of the things I remember was that at the time he had a pair of wading boots that were way too big for him so he wore three pairs of socks and used them because that's what he had and he could make it work. He was a very upbeat, practical, and intense fly-fisher when I knew him and was already an accomplished fly-tier.
Nice tie as usual.
Back in 1988 I designed a hopper fly that used rubber legs with a knot in them for the back legs. The Rubber legs back then were square and made placement much easier than with round rubber legs. The round rubber legs tend to roll as you tie them in and even if you get the straight, the next wrap can roll them a bit. If you find that yours has rolled, you can usually get it back in place without the need to unwrap your thread and re-set it. Just grab the part of the rubber legs in front of the tie and twist it in the direction that you want the back section to go. The holding onto both pieces, pull on the back section (one with the knot in it) and it will move slightly to the back. Don't pull too hard or it will really twist and then you'll have to reverse the process pulling int he front instead of the back.
What happens when you twist that section is that it makes it thinner, which allows you to move it slightly as long as you haven't glued it in place. It's a bit of a Goldilocks effect - if you pull too much it will twist it too much, if you don't pull it far enough it will twist too little. But you'll quickly get the knack of it. If you want to avoid that problem all together, tie the knot in the legs after you've tied them in place. Every once in a while I would pull the knot too tight and it wouldn't put the angle in it that a looser knot did - again Goldilocks effect. Using the zap-a-gap on the knot like you see in the video is an easy solution instead of accidentally drawing it too tight. Just pull it until you get the bent angle that you want and then hit it with a dot of that super glue.
I actually worked with Kenny Morrish back in 1987/88 at the Orvis San Francisco store when it was still on Maiden Lane in San Francisco. He was a young fellow who had been traveling all over the country in his VW Vanagon and living out of it. He was the consummate Trout Bum at the time traveling all across the country just fishing. We fished together a few times on the McCloud River in CA, but our days off didn't often coincide so I didn't fish with him a lot. One of the things I remember was that at the time he had a pair of wading boots that were way too big for him so he wore three pairs of socks and used them because that's what he had and he could make it work. He was a very upbeat, practical, and intense fly-fisher when I knew him and was already an accomplished fly-tier.
I haven't used the foam legs, but I do love this fly. Definitely my favorite to tie.
And it's a blast to fish!
Where did you find the cutter and leg cutter?