Thanks to everyone for another well-attended Zoom. It’s refreshing and encouraging to see so much interest in flatwings! I know Ken was pleased to hear about it.
As far as future Zooms go: this has been great. But now that summer is unofficially here, I’d rather we all spend our Tuesday evenings fishing. So we’ll take a summer hiatus after next week’s Zoom. Depending on how things shake out, this is something we may resume (get it?!?) in the winter. Stay safe, be well, go fishing!
More flatwing/bucktail hybrid secret sauce. This one’s on a Crazy Menhaden: 70 hairs, 6 colors.
currentseams.com 
So, I didn’t have any questions last night but after a tough morning on the water a couple of things came to mind: – do you tie in anti-fouling loops on the longer flies? I didn’t, but feel like the 5″ fly I was using this am might have benefited. – do you fish these with loop knots? seems like the right thing to do.
You mentioned grass shrimp last night, AND on my way out in the kayak terns were working over shallow water with the gulls ignoring them (a key indicator of small bait) AND I kept rolling fish that wouldn’t eat the flatwing or a Gurgler – but somehow the idea that the fish were eating grass shrimp didn’t occur to me until very late into the morning. Fishing is such a humbling experience. Have a totally great summer. As a retired emergency doc, I support your caution in opening up guiding gradually. best, DD
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Sorry for the delay. No anti-fouling loops for me. A properly tied (and cast — no high-line-speed gymnastics or excessive false casting) flatwing is not prone to fouling. The support (used on a three-feather or more flatwing) — that’s the concave side up neck hackle — takes the place of that loop. A proper hook (Eagle Claw 253, 1x short shank) also helps.
No loop knots for me. A properly tied flatwing has plenty of built-in swimming energy. I played around with loop knots many years ago and found no increase in hookups with one. Of course, if you want to fish your flatwings with a loop knot, have at it. 🙂
I appreciate your enthusiasm and your support. Thanks for reading, thanks for attending, and thanks for the great questions.
P.S. Try my suspension rig on a dead drift for those grass shrimp snackers….