Coley,

Nice work there Coley, as per usual. You know me, never to proud to accept free bait. If you wanna' tie 'em, I love to fish 'em. Makes me appear far more classier on the river than I really am.

I should report that of the shank flies you last sent me, the loops pulled free on 3 of them. Fortunately I discovered it while knotting the fly to tippet and then giving the fly a tug, rather than while fishing it and getting a grab. After the first one, I tested the rest, discovering the other 2. Mind you, I'm not complaining, but you might want to test any that you plan to fish.

A friend of mine secures his hook loops to shanks just with tying thread and super glue and never has them pull free. I've always run the loop through the hook eye and fold it over, giving it a double wrap, which seems to work. But I don't tie all that many in that style, so my sample size is small.

Sg