55 on the fly

Hey folks - I know summer is coming when the shop has me tying 30 dozen flying Cinnamon Ants. That's a lot of ants.... but hey, they work and the fish love them. If a hopper is the cheeseburger in a Happy Meal then Cinnamon Ants are the french fries...... Fished as a dropper off the hopper it's a great combo for those dog days of summer. Here is the PFS version. side view bottom view - what the fish see... PATTERN:  Hook: #16 MFC 7000 Thread: 8/0 Uni Rusty Brown  Front hump: small ball rusty brown DK dub  Rear hump: rusty brown DK dub  Wing: white MFC Widow Web, fairly thick, split.  Hackle: 5-6 turns brown or furnace Whiting saddle.  Use high-end hackle, we want this sucker to float on the Yellowstone!

Hi folks - turned this turpin style trumpet today. Ebony horn with an ivory spacer, copper ferrule and Delrin mouth piece. thanks for checking it out, Doug.

I made this call today..... Osage with stacked leather mid section and a Delrin mouth piece... thanks Doug.

I went for a scout today to check out a new piece of land to turkey hunt. I took along some toys to play with,  from top to bottom: Richard Hudson Hen Box Snakewood over Spalted Pecan and my own Osage Trumpet and crow call... What a great morning I had. Sunny and almost 65 degrees.... I was scouting a new area and slowly worked along the edges of it, lots of glassing the fields and looking for sign, but not seeing much.... I got to a likely looking corner of the field and woods and crow called into the woods.... nothing.... So, I sat down and had a snack and a cup of coffee, just enjoying the day. I had been sitting there about 30 minutes or so and decided to give my Hudson box a run and sent out a series of sweet old hen yelps.... A couple of clucks was my reward, from a hen not very far away..... I sent out a second series of yelps and got a reply yelp and then spotted the hen coming down the edge of the field coming right to me. I froze with no mask or gloves and a steam...

This is my first crack at making a crow call..... I used some beechnut and a plastic reed assembly. I'm not sure I like the shape of the call, but it sure sounds great...