Tag Archives: Tutorial

Favorite Patterns

Mohair Leech

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Hot Fly For Opening Day

When fishing lakes, ponds, slow moving backwaters and other placid water fishing you cannot go wrong with a leech pattern. Leeches are one of the reasons that pond fish have the potential to grow larger than their cousins in the river. For a hungry trout, a single leech packs some serious protein. The pattern I am about to tie was taught to me at the Sparse Grey Matter – Fly Tying Fest. It will work great on opening day, fresh stocked Brook Trout love the color red. A few weeks later when the Rainbow are stocked, they will lust after the same fly. Fish the Mohair Leech similar to a Wooly Bugger.

Materials

  1. Mustad Size 12 STD Dry
  2. Cyclops Beads 7/64” Brown Olive
  3. Lead Wire .015
  4. Uni Thread 8/0 Red
  5. ¼ OZ. Dyed Red Marabou
  6. Krystal Flash Pearl Red
  7. Mohair Yarn Roe Red
  8. Rabbit Dubbing Red

Steps

  1. Take the hook and place the Cyclops Bead on the point, smaller opening will face the eye of the hook. Push the bead along the shank, forward to the eye. Secure the hook and bead into the vice.
  2. Using the lead wire, wrap ten turns on the shank of the hook. Cut off excess wire and push coil forward along the shank until snug inside the larger opening in the bead.
  3. Start the Red thread behind the lead coil on the shank. Create mound to hold lead coil snugly in place. Now wrap the thread over the lead coil to bead, then wrap back along the shank until you stop directly above the barb.
  4. Select a nice piece of Marabou, there should be a thick tail area, lacking stem.  Using your thumb and forefinger starting at the stem, smooth the feather back to the end. Repeat this action a few times until the feather is all aligned in the same direction. Using thumb and forefinger pinch a section 2/3 of the shank length. Tie in at the pinch with four wraps. Remember to start holding the pinch in front of the shank and use the force of the thread to align the Marabou to the top of the shank.
  5. Now hold the Marabou up and slightly out of your way. Wrap the thread forward along the shank to the beginning of the lead coil. Do not attempt to build up body, this is unnecessary and will be completed in the future with Mohair Yarn. Cut off excess feather and return thread to tail at tie in position.
  6. Select two pieces of Crystal Flash Pearl Red. Tie in at the 2/3 length on the front side with two wraps of thread.
  7. Now loop the remaining Flash material out towards the eye back along the far side of the shank. Tie in with two additional wraps. Cut the four pieces even with the tail.
  8. Cut off six inches of Mohair Yarn, tie in with four wraps on the top of the shank where you tied all other pieces in. Wrap thread forward to the bead.
  9. Now wrap the Mohair Yarn forward up the shank in the same direction as the thread. Continue to the bead head and then tie in, cut off excess.
  10. Select a pinch of Red Rabbit Dubbing, Dub onto thread, creating enough for about three turns of dubbing behind the bead.  Dub the three turns, this creates a nice presentation and hides the thread wrapping.
  11. Whip finish and it is complete.Purchase One Here
Firearms

Cleaning The Glock

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Firearms especially those of higher caliber should be cleaned after each use or at least wiped of any finger prints, oils or moisture after each use if there is an interval between storage and cleaning. Moisture is extremely corrosive on the precision metals used in modern firearms. As and added benefit clean firearms are more accurate and will jam infrequently. Today we will clean my Glock 23, a .40 caliber, medium size handgun; due to its aggressive styling this firearm is considered by some to be a tactical weapon. Below you will find an abbreviated 9-step process to cleaning a Glock Handgun.

1. Gather the Materials

  1. Hoppe’s No. 9 Solvent
  2. Hoppe’s Gun Cleaner
  3. Hoppe’s Gun Oil
  4. Clean Patches
  5. Q-tips
  6. Cleaning Rod

Note that I prefer to lay down an old shop towel this protects the surface underneath the firearm. The solvents used in this process should not be allowed to touch plastics, wood or carpeted surfaces. In addition I have used Hoppe’s products, there are other fine chemicals available for cleaning firearms; I prefer Hoppe’s as it works well and is a good American company.

2. Disassemble the Firearm

The Glock is relatively simple to disassemble; first remove the clip, then check that the handgun is unloaded by pulling back the slide, next point in safe direction and pull the trigger, finally pull back on the slide slightly and push down on the slide release (button must be depressed on both sides). Noe move the slide down its track to the front of the gun. Remember to use enough pressure while never forcing anything.

The handgun will break down into five pieces the barrel, clip, slide, spring and chassis. Each of these will be cleaned separately with methods that vary slightly.

3. The Barrel

I like to begin here with a clean patch dipped in the No. 9 solvent and attached to the cleaning rod. The rod with patch is gently twisted down the barrel from the breach end, never insert rod and patch down the front. Run the solvent laden patch up and down the barrel, you may need to switch out if it becomes too dirty. Next run a clean patch in a similar manner, repeat this step until the patch comes out clean. Finally take a drop of gun oil on a clean patch and rub any soot off the external portion of the barrel.

4. The Slide

With this component you should use a clean patch with gun oil and a Q-tip with a drop of gun oil. Remove all the soot out from the underside using a patch and then the Q-tip in the technical areas. Use a light coating of oil to cover the top of the slide as well. If the slide is exceptionally dirty I spray gun cleaner on the underside before using the oil. Finally using a Q-tip with a dab of gun oil to clean around the hammer well.

5. The Chassis

This component of the handgun will be treated similar to the slide for cleaning purposes. Use the gun oil on a patch and Q-tip; clean the soot and brass filings from the surfaces, leave a light film of oil.

6. The Spring

To address this part simply use the gun oil on a patch and spiral up the spring removing the soot along the way.

7. The Clip

Using the gun oil on a patch clean the outside and the surface where bullets eject. Some people may disassemble the clip to clean completely. This is not necessary except in situations where the gun is very dirty.

8. Reassembly

Start by slipping the barrel upright into the slide and then re-securing the spring. The apparatus will only go together the correct way. Now secure the slide to the chassis in the exact opposite manner of how you removed it. In short gently push the butt end of the slide over the front of the chassis and pull back to cock the gun. I reiterate do not force anything.

9. Safely Store the Handgun

At this point I like to use my Wally’s gun cloth to wipe fingerprints and excess oil off of the handgun. Then I secure it safely in a locking case and store it at my bedside. This insures that I have a fully functioning handgun in case of home invasion.

Remember to always consult your firearm owner’s manual before attempting to clean. Further note that it is extremely important to verify that a firearm is unloaded and pointed in a safe direction while cleaning. Finally in regards to possessing and using a firearm in self-defense always understand the laws in your local jurisdiction. Firearms should be locked and safely stored when not in use.

Thanks for enjoying your second amendment rights responsibly! ‘Merica!