Thanks GlassJet. Please keep us posted on anything your research turns up. I'm still curious about the origins of the bumble. Bye the bye, like your flies,they look eminantly fishable.

Thanks for the replies, although I'm still somewhat confused. I vaugely remember Bumbles being mentioned in one of Halford's books, Dry Fly Entomology I think, but I may be mistaken. If that is the case, then it has also been used as a dry fly(not that there's anything wrong with that!)

"Almost a bumble"... as an ignorant west side of the ponder, just what makes a bumble a bumble and not just a palmered fly?

I often fish micro spiders, usually as a dry/dropper combo. Two favorites are BWO parachute with a PT spider dropper and a black deerhair caddis and black spider dropper, usually in 20's. The dropper is usually 4 to 8 inches behind the dry. These are good spring creek combos. Interestingly enough, d...

Thanks Mike. I tend to agree with you. Although I have no empiracle evidence, I do believe the properties of the dye are attractive to fish. Of course that creates confidence in the flies, and as we all know that affects your fishing with them. Until fish learn to talk, it will be pretty tough to fi...

Thanks Mike, thats what I thought. As I said,I used it quite a bit, and never had any problems. Just have to take the proper precautions, like many thing in life. I have a question. Have you ever found anything else that produces that kind of yellow?

I love the yellow that picric acid produces. Used it quite a bit back in the 70's when I was working for a small fly shop. Not so color conscious these days and don't do any of my own dying anymore. Mike, you seem to have an extensive knowledge of dying, have you ever heard of any flytyer ever blowi...

New here, was reading through the posts and came across the use of picric acid in dying materials. Some individuals were adament about its dangerous explosive qualities. Just curious, does anyone have any documentation of any fly tyers blowing themselves up in the past hundred years or so when using...

I've always liked the halo effect of a litely dubbed fly. It offers the suggestion of a translucent body and may provide some micro movement to suggest life. I'm particularly fond of using two colours(generally lighter over darker or brighter). One color seems to glow thru another. I've enjoyed view...