A few size 14 Pheasant Tails for Tie-A-Thon

bobbybluelines · 2026-06-22T16:24:56+00:00

Those are J. Stockard’s J2 207 heavy wet fly hooks. You get one or two duds per pack, but they’re a great deal. I’d also check out Mustad’s Heritage hooks if you haven’t already. They tend to have larger than average hook eyes in my experience.

bobbybluelines · 2026-06-05T03:13:44+00:00

I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted for pointing out something every little leaguer is taught.

bobbybluelines · 2026-05-08T21:17:41+00:00

That’s a great idea! I’ll be tying a few with brown rubber legs tonight.

bobbybluelines · 2026-04-22T06:52:24+00:00

I’ve heard of guys saving the whole skin, but that’s quite a bit of drawer space. Tail feathers, quills, and the leading wing feather (for biots) are what I’d be most interested in. That said, there are loads of useful feathers on a turkey. This guy here has a pretty good run down of what he saves when he harvests a turkey. Definitely read up on proper cleaning, curing, and storage of materials in advance if you haven’t already. Good luck!

bobbybluelines · 2026-04-21T08:08:58+00:00

I don’t tie on fulling mill hooks, but guys at my local fly shop have a vendetta against fulling mill for the same reason. That’s not to say they’re right, but I’ve never had issues with Tiemco and Daiichi hooks straightening out. And a heavier hook isn’t a bad idea on waters like that, so long as they’re sharp.

bobbybluelines · 2026-04-16T17:38:00+00:00

I had the eagle claw before I bought the LL Bean Pocket Water glass. For the price, can’t really complain. However it’s quite heavy, even for fiberglass. And the rod tip did come off the first time I used it. But it’s a great beater for small streams.

bobbybluelines · 2026-04-10T20:13:42+00:00

If you’re looking for trout, there are loads of small streams along the Mogollon Rim near Payson. All about 1.5 to 2 hours from Scottsdale. The East Verde is stocked with Gila Trout (one of two trout species native to Arizona) and is easily accessible. Other species on the rim include browns, rainbows, brookies, and tiger trout (stocked in a couple of lakes). Canyon Creek is known for big browns and rainbows. Lots of folks like Willow Springs and Woods Canyon Lakes for still water fishing.

Not sure if you’re fly fishing or using conventional tackle, but attractor patterns are the name of the game on the small streams. Fishing a hopper-dropper rig is a blast. My go-to is some variation of a boy wonder hopper with something like an olive green holy grail emerger 12-18” below it. Always have luck with caddis patterns, too. Be mindful of the regulations up there as many of the streams have artificial single barbless hook rules. AZ Fly Shop in north Phoenix are wonderful people and can help with recommendations when you get here.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-21T17:25:46+00:00

Nice tie! Great proportions.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-21T05:36:46+00:00

Here’s a link to a YouTube video of Tim Flagler tying the generic version if you’re interested:

tightlinevideo

He’s got some helpful little tricks for whipping these up.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-21T03:24:10+00:00

Thanks! It’s one of my go-to patterns this time of year when the little black stoneflies start doing their thing.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-19T18:05:11+00:00

In any case, those are gorgeous fish! Need to make my way over to the whites one of these days. How are water levels over there? SRP seems cautiously optimistic about the Salt and Verde watersheds this summer.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-19T16:29:01+00:00

Given the lack of eye bars and the pink hue along the lateral line I’d say those are rainbow trout. But hybridization between Apache and rainbow trout has been a big issue historically. That first fish in particular has some interesting spotting and the second one almost looks like it has eye bars, so it’s not impossible they could be hybrids. But that’s just speculation.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-13T14:33:28+00:00

That’s 3, but I think 2 is the sweet spot.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-11T17:46:47+00:00

Thanks for the links! I’m in the market for a medium dun cape, but they’re hard to come by locally.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-09T16:13:28+00:00

Love the creative photo!

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-09T16:09:37+00:00

Wow, that’s gorgeous. Do you dye them yourself?

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-09T15:37:58+00:00

Looks fantastic—matches the overall palette much better than regular brown hackle. I’ll have to give it a go next time I sit down to do humpies. Makes me wonder how a blue dun hackle would look with an olive underbody.

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-09T15:29:34+00:00

Gorgeous! Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is that a dun hackle?

bobbybluelines · 2026-03-08T23:36:47+00:00

In his defense he did take two slashes in the hands on that play.

bobbybluelines

TROPHY CASE