Fly Tying (Live a Little…Sloppy~Fuzzy is OK Sometimes)

A small piece of flashabou in the wing

Couple things to note: Now this is under the macro lens’ ability to capture details not very visible to the human eye….the starling feather has the nice, visible barbules; the Kudra The Cat dubbing is so buggy..both will assist in capturing air bubbles or disturbing the strata. The thread, I used was 8/0, but I sure didn’t contain the dubbing and feather material at the head did I? This the quandary when advising a beginner: strive to form a neat thread head. Too sloppy detracts, BUT…a little sloppy (unintentional here) may just add to the bugginess of some patterns. Some patterns (Atlantic Salmon Flies for example) are art forms and not meant to suggest a bug form. They necessarily require perfect, unbroken lines for the artistic requirements of humans, if not fish.

Matuka Style Streamers

Matuka Style Streamer Pattern (Overlayed Feather Wing)

Matuka’s, Zonker’s, Streamers in general. I will get to it…    Rabbit Overwing     Matuka Feather Overwing      Streamers

Hypothermia and Fly Fishing

“A warm hat can help significantly, especially since 50% of body heat is lost through the head.” (COLD)

Conserve Head Heat

Man’s Climate Change Absurdity (Fool’s Gold On and On…..EcoPaw Prints)

“Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat,” Barrett said. Other animals aren’t much better for the environment, the Vales say. Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.”   (Horseshit Gazette) My Tundra, my dogs, my guns, or all, given the BS emanating from social planners and/or vegans these days. Pushing your F..ing luck!

Fly Fishing’s Stage (The Surface and other things)

SURFACE, IN THE FILM, TENSION

“Actually penetrating the meniscus is not easy for small insects like most caddis. In LaFontaine’s book he quotes aquatic biologist, Ken Thompson, who equates the emerging process from pupa to adult in a way that we can all understand. “An example, in human terms, would be the amount of energy required for a full-grown person to escape if he were covered with three feet of dirt”. After swimming all the way to the surface you can see why the caddis must rest before attempting to break through the meniscus.”(GVFF re Caddis Emerging)

Fly Tying Feathers (Some Interesting Design Considerations and Some Basics)

FEATHERS & POSSIBILITIES

Fly Line Developments (Clearly Changes Are Coming…Can You See Them)

CLEAR FLOATING FLY LINES

Fly Fishing Insects (The Common Taxa)

THE COMMON TAXA

“In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.”
Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895), lecture 1854

~Bugs~

Fly Tying (Marabou Plume for Tail and Body of Fly)

Emerger or Damsel Pattern (Wrapped Marabou Body w/ Tail) SB

So many fly tying materials bring a special something to fly tying..be it peacock, ostrich, hare’s mask, partridge etc. One such material is marabou . It provides the suggestion of life whether you think to impart motion or not through your presentations. In the above photo, you can see that I pinched off a dozen fibers (more or less) from the plume’s stem. I had already tied in a burnished copper rib. I tied in the tail over the hook barb (my frequent tie in reference point). It is important to tightly secure that tail with minimal thread wraps. Because once it is secured the remaining material (marabou fibers) are wrapped up the shank toward the eye to form the abdomen of the fly. If the tail is not secured then as you begin to wrap the remaining marabou up the shank, the torque of the initial wraps will cause the tail to rotate away from you out of alignment.

Once the body is tied off up near the thorax region, the wire ribbing is wrapped up to form a segmented body/abdomen. Can you see how the marabou provides a suggestion of gills that are typical of some mayfly nymphs? (Ostrich does this as well) A small thorax was dubbed on using a synthetic dubbing material with copper highlights. This pattern is suggestive of mayfly nymphs, emergers (fished high) and could be a small damsel fly. As you look at these patterns, and the simplicity is in your face, it is possible to discount the pattern as not sophisticated or complex enough. Seriously, simple is better more often than not. More complex patterns are ok for the tier that requires more challenge in tying and creativity. For the fish, refusals may not be due to simplicity but more than likely to your presentation. Make it more complex if you must….but, you will come back to where you started sooner or later….simplicity.

Wet Fly (Old Faithful…Large or Small)

Wet Fly (Because It Feels Good to Tie) SwittersB

I mean how many little bead head gems can you have? 100, 2oo? Who knows. There is absolutely no need to tie any more bead head wet flies for years to come, yet I do. Why? The lines suggest more to me than any other fly. It is simple, buggy, moving, suggestive of life, seducing through the air bubble highway below. It just feels right. So, I tie them. I give them away. I forget about boxes of them. But, two things emerge….I am satisfied and content to tie them and they always work. This is all devoid of maybe’s, might’s and should’s.

The fly was tied on a size 14 pupa hook. A bead is strung up over the barb and forced around the bend of the hook to the eye. 8/0 black thread is attached to the shank and wrapped back toward the rear of the shank. A copper wire rib was tied in at the point where the shank rounds down toward the rear.  The tail is from a Hare’s Mask; the guard hairs cut from the mask and tied in as a clump  at the rear pretty much in line with the barb of the hook (I often seem to use the barb as a reference point for the tie in). The abdomen/thorax is dubbed Hare’s Mask with few guard hairs. The wing is from a Partridge  feather tied in by the tip and wound forward. A couple things re aesthetics: when I tied in the feather, I did not cut off the tip. No harm, I believe, but you can see it as a stubby little wing of sorts. The thread finish is to wide and a gap presents itself between the bead and the wing. The camera sees this…I couldn’t.

In times of uncertainty or demands upon my tying time, I don’t wobble about experimenting too far. I stay with the proven and dependable.