Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Profile Plate

A profile plate helps to reduces glare, eyestrain and blocks out the busy background on the tying bench. The plate is also perfect for providing a plain background for photographing your flies.

But they can cost $$$ depending on the vise manufacturer

So here is my cheaper alternative

I bought a typists document holder for $5 + free shipping



Insert a 39 cent piece of your favorite color craft/scrapbooking paper in the holder



Then place it behind your vise to block out the mess and clutter on your bench and you'll see what youre tying much better


Please note: this is just one way of making a profile plate. There are many more clever and elaborate ways of making one

Thanks for looking

Norm

Friday, December 4, 2015

Alexandra


Alexandra

Winged Wet Fly

Tag - Dark red floss*

Tail - Peacock sword

Ribbing - Oval silver tinsel*

Body - Silver tinsel

Hackle - Deep wine, dark claret or black

Wing - Peacock sword - may have a dash of scarlet on each side

Trout - Ray Bergman

Forgotten Flies - Schmookler and Sils

*The recipe in Bergman's book lists the ribbing and tag as optional

The Alexandra exists in numerous variations. It is a fly of English origin that was supposedly banned in fishing competitions at one time because of its killing effectiveness.




Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Trout Fishing and the Color of Wet Dubbing




http://www.scribd.com/doc/142144696/Trout-Fishing-and-the-Color-of-Wet-Dubbing#scribd

Folding Feathers

Every now and then there is a need to to have that swept back look with hackles and other feathers

Here is one way out of many to achieve that look

This is a simple fly tying technique someone might want to learn

Yes it adds time to tying your fly but who cares!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Alpine Emerger


Alpine Emerger

Hook - Mustad S80-3906, S82-3906B, size 16-18
Thread - Gray
Tail - Dyed blue dun barred mallard fibers tied sparse
Body - Dubbed blue dun synthetic
Legs - Same as tail fibers

Reference: Popular Fly Patterns by Terry Hellekson

With a lifetimes supply of teal feathers, 
I substituted these of what's called for in the original recipe

Monday, November 9, 2015

Body Glass Caddis


Body Glass Caddis

Hook - Straight or curved
Thread - Black
Ribbing - Copper wire
Body - Olive body glass or equivalent*
Thorax - Peacock herl
Legs - Optional

*Equivalent = V rib, d rib, liqui lace, larva lace, swannundaze (if you still have it) etc.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Careless Coachman



Careless Coachman

Hook - Mustad 3665A
Thread - Fluorescent red
Tail -
 Golden pheasant tippet
Butt -
 Peacock herl
Body -
 Red floss or uni stretch
Rib -
 Flat silver tinsel, wound closer than usual
Wing -
 Brown calf tail

How to adjust your bobbin holder


Saturday, October 31, 2015

Stump Lake Damsel




Stump Lake Damsel

Hook: your favorite
Thread: olive
Eyes: see below
Tail: marabou
Body: swannundaze or d-rib etc
Wing case: olive magic foil, scud back etc
Thorax: SLF damsel olive dubbing


 Thread 2 fringe beads onto a short length of wire and twist until tight. I added a drop uv resin to help spread them apart. Tie them onto the hook and make some figure eight wraps between the beads.



Example of fringe beads. Note the offset hole.



If you're lazy and don't want to twist up any eyes just use peanut beads.


Thanks for looking & happy tying.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Lopez Minnow




Lopez Minnow

Hook - Streamer style
Thread - White
Under body - Lead Wire
Tail And Back - Buck tail (Brown, black, green etc)
Over body - Silver mylar braid piping
Eyes - Painted yellow over black
 UV Resin

Reference: Streamers & Bucktails The Big Fish Flies by Joseph D Bates Jr

Friday, October 9, 2015

Thumb Tack Eyes

I had an idea regarding eyes for larger flies like those used for pike, musky, saltwater fish etc and thought about using thumb tacks for eyes. I had a box of white thumb tacks and a variety of lacquer craft paint and married the two together as shown below




You can start making the eyes using gold, silver, white, multi colored thumb tacks





When ready to install in your fly, just snip off the tack to the desired length and use epoxy to adhere the eyes to your fly.

I used the Wasatch eye painting tools to help make the eyes



Monday, October 5, 2015

Sinfoil's Fry


Sinfoil's Fry

Minnow Imitation

Ken Sinfoil

Hook - Dai Riki 700 or equivalent, size 10-12
Thread- Black
Underbody -Silver mylar tinsel
Body - Clear plastic wrap cut into 1/8-inch strip and wrapped
Collar - Fluorescent red Body Stretch
Wing - Sparse widgeon flank or mallard flank fibers
Head - Black thread
Eyes - Painted black over yellow

Awesome Lake Brookie



Awesome Lake Brookie

Hook: Streamer style
Thread: Light color for under body and then black
Tail: Olive marabou
Ribbing: Red holographic tinsel
Body: orange floss, orange Uni Stretch or equivalent
Topping: Peacock herl from an eye stick
Throat: White buck tail followed by orange hackle fibers
Eyes: Painted yellow and black

Tying Note: Light colored thread is used to help maintain the body color of the fly. 

Thanks for looking.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Slade's Secret



Slade's Secret

Hook - Mustad 3399, 3906 or equivalent
Thread - Black
Tag - Flat gold tinsel & gold floss
Tail - Bronze mallard
Butt - Peacock sword
Rib - Gold oval tinsel
Body - Rear half lime green wool, front half peacock herl
Wing - Brown bear
Throat - Teal flank, sparse

Reference - Charles DeFeo section of Forgotten Flies

In this pattern I made a couple of substitutions

1. I colored white floss with a gold marker to achieve the gold floss

2. I used peacock herl for the butt. I didn't feel the peacock sword herls I had were long enough.

3. I used moose body hair for the wing. I have no brown bear.

I hope you like it.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

How Does a Trout Catch a Fly?


http://www.flyfishingdevon.co.uk/how-does-a-trout-catch-a-fly02.shtml

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Preserving And Storing Material

Feathers are composed of about 91% protein, 8% water, and 1% lipids.  The type of protein in feathers is called keratin, a sulphurous, fibrous protein.  Fur and hair have a similar composition so use this information for storing all natural materials.

Read the rest of the article here

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Oval Tinsel Substitute

So you want to tie a streamer body of flat tinsel and ribbed with oval tinsel and you search and search for the oval tinsel and you come up empty. Do not fear! Here is a simple trick for making your own. It wont replace the real thing but it will serve as a substitute.


Tie in the flat tinsel and wrap the tinsel in touching 
turns to the bend of the hook. 
(I like to attach hackle pliers to the tinsel at this point)



Begin twisting the tinsel from the flat ribbon to a rope 
configuration. Pay attention to the twisting of the tinsel so that you get a 
silver rib on a silver body.


Wrap the tinsel into a tight rope.


Wrap the ribbing forward and tie off.


You now have a smoothly wrapped tinsel body with a rib of 
twisted tinsel that substituted for the real oval tinsel.

Continue to finish the fly.

Thanks for looking.




Monday, January 19, 2015

Imitation Jungle Cock

Here is an easy and inexpensive way to make a jungle cock substitute by Dick Talleur

Tt wont actually replace the real thing but for fishing flies who cares! 

Keep the real jungle cock for your museum quality flies



You don't really have to use the brass template to make the imitation.

All you need is a feather that has a white spot in the center of the stem as shown in the first photo and a pair of scissors. 

Just strip away any waste barbs and trim the guinea feather to the approximate shape shown in the third photo on the left.