Many dry fly patterns have a ‘wing’ comprised of upright feather or synthetic fibers. Poly yarns, mallard, hackle tips etc. In this instance, I tied what I have most often tied, a very simple pattern with no upright wing. Is this good? Yes it is. But, as a beginning fly tier, you should try to perfect certain skills (such as an upright wing?). So, as much as I offer up this perfect fly that catches fish!, try to at least try the upright wing, but note…..this fly if a simply wound hackle (with no upright wing) catches trout (river/stillwater). Medium Blue Dun hackle fibers for the tail; sparsely dubbed medium olive Super Fine dubbing; one medium blue dun (dry fly quality) wound tight and tied off. The bottom hackle fibers of the wound hackle can be cut on the bottom to create a fly that rides lower in the film or water surface. I rarely think to trim the bottom hackle fibers. I offer it as an option.
Archive for April, 2011
Fly Tying: Comparadun How To
Came upon a good pattern tutorial for beginner/intermediate tiers: the Comparadun dry fly, in the Salt Lake Tribune. The tier, Curtis Fry, gives an excellent written S-B-S.
It is important in tying this pattern to choose a light wire hook, as Fry say, minimal dubbing (‘dirty the thread’) and not too much deer hair. As in many pattern: ‘less is better’. I mention this because, as you may know by now I share my mistakes. I tied up quite a few of these several years ago: wrong hook, way too much dubbing, too much Coastal Deer hair. The flies didn’t even humor me by riding low in the film…they sunk.
I especially like Fry’s take on why he ties flies, something that many of us would agree with: “for pure necessity and as a creative outlet. I don’t fool myself into thinking it is a cheaper alternative to buying flies. It’s an addiction I am forced to abide.”
Fly Tying & Fishing Instruction
I was stuck in beautiful Eugene, Oregon and ended up in a Borders book store. There were, surprisingly, a scant dozen or so books of fishing. Surprising because Eugene sets amongst several excellent fishing venues within minutes of town.
I came upon a nice book by John Barr entitled Barr Flies. It is a glossy, large sized book with great visuals and a bit spendy. I liked the S-B-S tutorials on several nymph patterns and I bought the book. I couldn’t fish, so I perused the Barr book and planned my tying to incorporate some of Barr’s patterns.
Another excellent book is Rick Hafele’s Nymph Fishing Rivers & Streams. Hafele provides a gazillion interesting facts about insects that trout eat and how to fish them.
You most often see color/shade contrast in fly tying in the round on the pattern….a contrast of materials wrapped up the shank and by virtue of a contrasting ribbing of some sort the fly appears segmented and/or of different colors.
Another technique is to over lay the body (abdomen and thorax) with a darker material. This is seen in the Skip (Morris) Nymph, the Czech Nymphs and in this instance (my pic) a bead head pupa pattern. I didn’t tie the fly (not sure how I came by the few I found in a box’s compartment) but I noticed the backstrap and found the material (dark biot) interesting, if too sparse.
There is a backstrap, but it is minimal and does not aggressively provide a top/bottom contrast in colors (although this is likely a Caddis pattern, and the contrast is important for mayfly nymphs).
From this view, the biot backstrap provides a nice contrast
This is an example of pheasant tail fibers being used as backstrap (SwittersB)
Similar concept for Stonefly nymph (less contrast) SwittersB
You get the idea of the overlay of material creating a contrast (darker on top/lighter on bottom). Ribbing for the suggestion of segmentation is usually tied in at the same time as the backstrap material. The ribbing binds the material down atop the body material. This darker over light idea is frequently used for the wingcase over the thorax. Pic of Callebaetis Nymphs, Upper Left
BIOT BODIES HOW TO’s
This is my effort at a Pale Morning Dun, size 16. The tail is a few barbs from a grizzly hackle feather. The body (abdomen) is a yellow goose biot. There is a notch in every individual biot near the butt section. That notch is your guide to whether your body will be smooth (as I did here) or ridged. (Notch up = ridged body) (Notch down = smooth body). The wing is a clump of CDC that I tied in and raised up into a vertical position with thread wraps around the base. I tied in one medium blue dun feather and wrapped it behind the CDC post and then wrapped the hackle forward, to the front.
As a beginning fly tier, it can be a bit confusing. So many patterns. Fly tying is a lot like cooking. There are elementary preparations to learn and learn well before venturing off in all manner of more adventurous presentations. Fly tying is the same. Learn the basic techniques of preparing the materials and attaching the materials to the hook. Sounds simple, but it is the essence of tying that never changes.
Frankly, the beginning tier can be steered by shops, friends, magazines, blogs, the internet in general toward what is considered most important for the tier. My .02 cents worth of advice: tie simple patterns that are proven to catch the fish you are most likely to fish for: trout, steelhead, bass, pike etc. Every species has some basic, proven patterns that are well established. Tie these patterns, while carefully perfecting the basic tying techniques.
Historically, the beginning tier concentrates on trout/grayling patterns and progresses to more complicated patterns for different species. Probably this is not a bad idea. Don’t get pulled afar with all manner of patterns to soon. Keep in mind why you are tying a pattern. What does it imitate? The study of bugs and other food sources for fish is in order.
So: perfect the basic techniques of fly tying; tying basic patterns, study the food sources for the fish and understand how your patterns match those food sources…then study how and when to present those flies to catch fish. Keep it simple. You will often return to basics and simplicity in tying.
Here is an interesting analogy between music (mashing) & fly tying.
You will soon realize there are a gazillion pattern opportunities. Don’t go willy nilly tying this and that. Again, basics techniques and patterns and asking the why’s and how’s. Then venture off into new areas, creativity and traditions. Always have fun!
I was reading up on Buster’s blog and trying to figure out how he strings together so many unique phrases (with the occasional profane exclamation) when I came upon a post of his re mining in Montana near Rock Creek. The Dutch Gold Resources plans to start drilling this month. Down at the bottom of the article was a quick mention of a proposed operation at the Gold Bug Mine in Oregon.
I did a little digging and found the Gold Bug Mine was a well developed mine in the 1800′s on Galice Creek.
“The Old Channel hydraulic pit on the high terrace was started in 1860 and ultimately became almost 2,000 feet wide and 100 feet deep, the largest such pit in the State of Oregon. It is reported that over 50,000 ounces of gold were produced from the pit. The gravels averaged about .007 ounce of gold per cubic yard and a lot of good ground remains to be mined.”
I find it interesting and not surprising that these operations continue regardless of State or Federal administrations. The dig goes on. Now, I am a frequent, unapologetic copy/paste (discover/share) never steal/adopt blogger so I am mindful of a recent post by Buster (dare I share it?):
“Not a biggiant fan of the ubiquitous borrowed creativity/identity, link-and-go horseshite so prevalent in the FaceBlogger copycat tutorial on Narcissism for Virgins 101 these days, but fuck it: some shit’s actually that good…” ( How does he string those phrases together; I still marvel…?)
So, I am linking to Buster and his posts about the Dutch Gold Resources’ mining ops that seem to continue in or near pristine places. Dare I mention Harry Reid? Selective indignity? Not by Buster. He is consistently indignant….refreshingly so. I still don’t know how he writes like that.
