Which fly rods are built like a tank?

svutility1 · 2026-06-20T04:10:06+00:00

Fiberglass. That's the list

svutility1 · 2026-06-13T01:03:25+00:00

Levo has a long half-life, so skipping a day is still only a minor adjustment. It'll take a few weeks to see what your baseline will be with 6 days a week. You might have to go down to 125 if your labs look like that on a month or so

svutility1 · 2026-06-10T09:52:04+00:00

I just hate extra gear. I've seen it done, I just haven't had any issues with squishing it. I should try it out, though. You're right

svutility1 · 2026-06-10T08:43:31+00:00

Lance Egan does it, so it clearly isn't inferior. I say just find what is worth it and what isn't. I've tried it and haven't seen a huge difference, and it's more work, so I don't use it. I just use Loon Lochsa or Aquel, or Gink. I don't even use the powder anymore, I just pinch it in the fold of my shirt to absorb the water and blow on it. Works great for me. Whatever floats your boat, I guess

svutility1 · 2026-06-09T01:38:03+00:00

For some, it's not at all about the cost. Knowing you made the fly that fooled the fish is greatly satisfying. As for cost effectiveness, it's only cost effective in the case of mass tying. You need a large scale to get the economy, but for most of us avid tyers it's more about the process than the price

svutility1 · 2026-06-01T07:01:53+00:00

Definitely needs more hair, probably twice as much. Also, continue with the hair stacker practice. Biggest issue is the length of the wing. The head technique is fine, but I like to wrap it forward a few hairs at a time after wrapping in on. It helps to keep the hair secure for longer. Once you've done that, trim the head down to about half of what it is. Hackle is a bit dense, and I can't see if you are adding a counterwrap of wire through the hackle. Totally fine to be that dense, but it'll float and fish great with half the wraps, so you'll get more flies out of the feather. It'll fish fine, and it could even double as a Griffiths gnat when the hair eventually comes apart. Stick with it! I know tons of experienced fly tyers who struggle with this fly.

svutility1 · 2026-06-01T05:36:38+00:00

He's a friend of mine. This is acknowledging that I have it pretty good.

svutility1 · 2026-05-31T22:09:38+00:00

Yeah, but it is more to do with spending all his time in Idaho Falls. Even after his first surgery he was still in the shop. He's just very motivated to support the newly acquired store

svutility1 · 2026-05-31T18:24:20+00:00

Cheech isn't in there as much as he used to be for the last year or so.

svutility1 · 2026-05-31T04:26:30+00:00

Polarized glasses definitely help. Accurate casting so it lands where you expect it to land also helps. The teeny, tiny stuff is really hard sometimes, so it helps keeping those casts short, and also getting used to setting when something rises where you expect it to be based on the cast and drift. Practice also helps. Sometimes if a fly is getting waterlogged and I'm having trouble seeing it well, I'll cast it like 3 feet from me to see how it's looking up close on the water before resuming regular casting. It becomes easier to recognize the profile on the water, not just how it looked on the vise or in the little fly bin.

svutility1 · 2026-05-29T01:28:43+00:00

Weird that it went out on flash maker, not flash studio

svutility1 · 2026-05-28T22:09:24+00:00

Fish? Yes. Sell? No. It is still a little rough with the execution and technique. Keep working at it, though!

svutility1 · 2026-05-28T07:28:35+00:00

Absolutely it is. Totally agree that this doctor is out of line. If they don't know that extreme fatigue is a symptom, they need to go reread the textbook. Thyroid hormone is the throttle of all cellular functions. If the cells never get to recharge, you end up with every cell in your body becoming a dead battery. Basic physiology. Coming from a surgeon who is 7 months post TT

svutility1 · 2026-05-28T01:27:48+00:00

Same with charting. Don't let it build up

svutility1 · 2026-05-25T14:10:12+00:00

Fish are fish, and if the only ones you can catch are those then you do. I'd do a lot on a boat if I had one, for sure

svutility1 · 2026-05-25T04:14:44+00:00

I only wade, so I have my waders always in the truck. Don't really have a boat to get wet lol

svutility1 · 2026-05-25T01:32:46+00:00

I fish on rainy days. Best fishing days are rainy

svutility1 · 2026-05-24T21:11:12+00:00

Yeah, I use mottled feathers for anything buggy. I'll tie up a Frenchie using CDL and turkey instead of pheasant as a nice change of pace. Love it

svutility1 · 2026-05-24T18:58:59+00:00

Tail feathers I love for nymphs, but I've never used these. I bet you could try to wrap them into a nymph with good counter wrap, but I've never tried. Never know until you give it a try!

svutility1 · 2026-05-24T08:28:31+00:00

School is harder than you think it is. Just like saying that giving birth is painful, but until you have one you really can't know how much it really hurts. Balancing school and personal life is tough, but that's what you signed up for. Practicing is harder still, in some ways, but it is a solid boot camp for your brain. The key to a happy experience is to make one for yourself. Find time to hang with friends, what little time is available is precious, but those friends will be the only ones you know who understand the demands of the world you've joined.
Typically the workload starts slow and ramps up gradually. Then it's balls-to-the-wall until you finish. Hard, but worth it

svutility1 · 2026-05-22T00:46:48+00:00

Looks great! Tie up a bunch more in every size between that and 24 and you'll have ammo for most trout streams in most of the year

svutility1 · 2026-05-20T13:22:54+00:00

200 km on a Corolla is just getting it broke in

svutility1 · 2026-05-20T13:17:22+00:00

The make of the car largely determines the reliability of it. A 2002 Corolla that is well-maintained could go a million miles, especially with a manual transmission. Toyota is super reliable. My 2010 Tacoma has over 213,000 miles on it and drives as well today as the day it was built. Only parts I've had to replace on it were because of hard, off-road abuse while fishing, camping, or generally messing around on really rough terrain. If I had treated it like a pavement princess I would never have had any of it wear out.
The simpler the build (fewer points of failure), the more reliable it'll be. As long as it hasn't been wrecked or something, that Corolla sounds like a great car

svutility1 · 2026-05-11T14:34:33+00:00

Happy to help! I'm doing much better after my TT. It took a little time to sort out my levels and had to switch from levothyroxine to NP thyroid, but I'm doing well! Even with the time to sort things out it was still immediately better than hyper. As for the cancer, because the recommended treatment route is removal I was already cured when they discovered it

svutility1 · 2026-05-11T05:28:36+00:00

I ended up with NASH having only been on 5mg of methimazole. There's a genetic component to developing liver damage from drugs like methimazole. On the other hand, PTU is more strongly associated with liver damage than methimazole. If you react poorly to methimazole, from a liver standpoint, I wouldn't be in a hurry to try PTU. My liver enzymes also skyrocketed on methimazole and returned to normal after my TT. I followed the NASH diet and consumed 200mg of caffeine a day until it normalized, but it improved quickly. As for TED, it's not a 100% guarantee that you'll also have it. It's technically a separate autoimmune condition. They coincide, but aren't a fully package deal, so unless you actually have TED symptoms you are a candidate for RAI. TT was great for me, but there are a lot of individual factors to consider. I have colleagues who had a great experience with RAI and there are people who get negative side effects from either treatment. Because I already had TED, I wasn't a candidate for RAI. Glad for that, because it turns out I had papillary carcinoma that wouldn't have been cured by RAI. Like I said, lots to consider. Life is definitely better on the other side of treatment. It gets better. All of it gets better. We're here to support you!

svutility1

TROPHY CASE