“The foil speaks, the wise man listens”
After many requests regarding my Gammarus pattern and where to obtain the foils heres a up dated re post with a little more info.
This photo was taken last week, while on a fishing trip to Shetland. Some of the small Lochs had huge amounts of gammarus and the fish refused everything else! Every fish we took in such Lochs where full to the gills with these small fresh water shrimp. Having a good imitative pattern proved to be seriously effective!
The fish that where feeding on Gammarus where in exceptional condition!
Some of you may have seen, that a couple of weeks ago I received some shrimp foils from ‘the fly people’ in Germany to test, they where very successful. After playing a little with them I reversed one and tied a gammarus pattern as this is one of my post productive for salt water sea trout. When Lutz, from the fly people saw my pattern, he asked what I would change on the shrimp foil to make it a gammarus foil ? I went straight to the drawing board and made him a sketch. Yesterday these prototypes arrived.
This is a photo I took while fishing of the contents of a sea trout’s stomach, need I say more !
There where only six foils on the sheet so I haven’t had so much practice or opportunity to play around with the design but this is the result so far. If you would like more info about the foils or to order some, you can send an e mail to: theflypeople@web.de
Hook: Mustad C67SNP-BR # 12-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=326
Tying thread: Olive
Feelers: Pheasant tail fibers
Rib: Fine copper wire
Shell back: Gammarus foil http://www.theflypeople.com/
Shell back coating: Bug Bond http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/
Under body: Virtual nymph Seals fur http://www.virtual-nymph.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=26
Legs: Pheasant tail fibers
1
Secure your hook in the vice, make sure its horizontal.
2
Run tying thread along the whole hook shank and down into the bend.
3
Make a small dubbing loop at the tail of the hook.
4
Load a Petitjean magic tool with pheasant tail fibers, you only need a few for the beard so use the smallest tool.
5
Wax your tying thread, and run your tying thread to the hook eye. Spin the pheasant tail fibers in the dubbing loop.
6
Wind on the dubbing brush, making sure that you brush all the peasant tail fibers out with each turn so you dont tie them down wrongly. Tie off the dubbing brush.
7
Select the right size foil for your hook size.
8
Remove the foil from the sheet.
9
Tie in the foil by the small tag at the base of the feelers.
10
Make another dubbing loop a little larger this time and hang out of the way on your vices material clip.
11
Tie in a length of fine copper wire. This should be a few mm up from the dubbing loop as shown. This is so your first turn of rib will be in the correct position in respect to the foil later.
12
Dubb the whole body with seals fur. First a couple of turns under the copper wire and the over. The gammarus body should taper from thick to thin as you approach the hook eye.
13
Spin a larger amount than before of peasant tail fibers in the rear dubbing loop. Remember to keep them short. Wind in an open spiral to form the legs.
14
Tie of the dubbing brush at the head of the fly and brush down the legs each side of the body.
15
Now fold over the foil and tie down so it sits tight over the whole body of the shrimp.
16
Now wrap the copper wire rib in between each plate segment on the foil. But as you go brush out the leg fibers with each turn so you dont trap them and tie the down flat. Tie off the copper wire at the head of the fly.
17
You can now colour your shell back if required with a waterproof felt pen.
18
Give the whole shell back foil a coat with Bug Bond. If your careful you can do each segment at a time to give it a more three dimensional effect. Rough up the fibers in the feelers and legs with a tooth brush.
The finished Gammarus.
Large dark olive trio
Large dark olive
The large dark olive (Baetis rhodani) are probably the most widespread of all the European may flies, being Multivoltine, where water temperature allows, having two or more generation cycles per year, makes it even more important to the trout and fly fishermen alike! When designing fishing flies its not the very small details that count, although aesthetically pleasing to the fly tyer, and an important part of our craft! its a combination of several that will be the deciding factor for the fish. Size, colour, silhouette, footprint, behavior.
One of the earliest hatches here in Norway that I tend to fish is on the Trysil river with my good friend Espen Eilertsen owner and head guide of Call of the wild Drift boat fishing.
Although the weather was warm, a light shower that lasted an hour or so had just tapered off and there where Rodanis mayflies hatching everywhere, and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere, but this being the first day of the hatch, the famous Trysil grayling were not as eager as the gulls to take advantage of the a la carte menu. I couldn’t believe that fish where not rising! The whole river surface was covered with duns, popping up and floating like regatta of small sail boats down river. Espen reassured me that this was normal and it always takes a little time for them to start feeding on the surface when the hatch first begins. The first few hours of the hatch, they generally concentrate where the food is most plentiful and thats below the surface. Taking nymphs and emergers as they rise to the surface.
For the next three hours we had only been in contact with a few fish and drifted just about every type of river condition from shallow rapids to fast flowing channels to flat calm slow drifts, and the Clacka drift boat in combination with Espen´s expert handling of the craft is impressive, performing perfectly as a sturdy fishing and casting platform at all times. We drifted through breath taking Alaskan type landscape, with steep rising pine and spruce covered mountains on each side of us, that you only get full wide screen effect of from mid-river, the speed of the boat slowing down as we could see in the distance where the river opens out and widens into a large basin.
Fishing a LDO nymph on the point and an emerger on a dropper that was easy to see on the dark water, drifted perfectly 7-8 meters from the boat, quickly approaching two rolling grayling in the next pool, that we had had our eyes on for the last 80 meters or so, drift. When without warning another, previously unseen fish rose from the depths of a dark pool and enthusiastically disappeared with my dropper. Espen lowered the oars and began pulling, to slow our decent and dropped the anchor. I lifted my rod and it immediately assumed the golden arch position with the grayling diving deep into the pool. After a short battle my first grayling of the season was released.
After a little fly and leader attention, Espen was holding the boat steady and suddenly says ” nine o clock, 15 meters ” I lift my rod and make a couple of false casts to shake of the dry fly floatant and lie my line down in the nine o clock position, “perfect” says Espen. The fly drifts perfectly along with several naturals, one of which is 60 cm or so ahead of mine, when it slowly enters the steady risers feeding window and “sup” its gone. Mine is next in line ! and like a text book account of how it should be, the fish obliges and leaves only small rings in the surface where my fly once was. If there was only a slight breeze these rises would be impossible to see. I automatically lift the rod and my line tightens, I can feel immediately that this fish is of another class from the ones I have had contact with so far. The fish dives and enters the strong under current using his majestic dorsal fin to his advantage and holding his position deep on the bottom. After 2 or 3 minutes he succumbed to the overwhelming power of space age carbon. What a beautiful fish, 38 cm of grayling, a new personal record on dry fly.
Normally the style of rise observed, will give a good indication to what stage of the insects life is being taken! With emergers the fish almost seem to be anesthetized slowly and repeatedly sucking in the water under the target, or the surface film is pushed up in a small mound without the fish actually breaking the surface. When rising to dun’s the rise is more enthusiastic, slashy and splashy. When rises are sparse or the fish are playing hard to get, just taking one or another emerger. You can search pocket water or fish dead drift with an appropriate single nymph or even combined with a emerger dropper. This ribbed abdomen technique is an old one that I have revitalized with the help of Bug Bond and spirit based felt pens. Moose mane hair is not from the beard that hangs on the neck but the longest hair that can be found on the back of the upper neck. Being a elk hunter I have access to a huge amount of select material each autumn, but the skins being the size they are I only take smaller patches of the best and most useful hair for curing. These hairs are remarkably strong, practically unbreakable when pulled between the fingers!
Hook: Mustad R72 nymph
Tying thread: Dyneema
Tail: Fine deer hair
Body: Moose mane hair two dark and one light coated with Bug Bond
Wing case: Virtual nymph Felxibody
Thorax: Virtual nymph medium olive and black seal fur mix
Legs: Bronze mallard
1
Secure your 2 X long nymph hook in the vice, so the hook shaft is horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread a few mm behind the hook eye and run all the way back to the rear of the shank.
3
Select 3 fine and quite stiff deer hairs. The ones I have used here are from a roe deer mask. Tie them in as shown in the form of a trident.
4
Take a tiny drop of Bug Bond and place on the three deer hair bases. Give this a zap with the UV torch. This will keep the three tails in place.
5
Take a patch of moose mane. The natural mane is a mixture of what they call salt and pepper coloured hair. If you can get hold of un treated (washed or tanned) moose mane this has much more durable hair.
6
Select two long dark hairs and one long light.
7
Tie in the hairs. Tie in the light one first at the base of the hook shank and then the dark hair.
8
Now take both hairs at once, make sure that they are parallel with each other and not twisted. Wind them on tight and even over the whole body of the nymph. Make sure they dont cross each other while winding on!
9
Tie off at the thorax.
10
Once you have cut away the excess give the whole body a fine coat of Bug Bond UV resin.
11
When you have cured the first coat colour the body with a olive waterproof felt pen.
12
Give the whole body a final coat of Bug Bond. This time you can apply a little more to give the nymph body a taper .
13
Now wind your tying thread a little back over the rear body as shown and tie in a small strip of olive flexibody for the wing case. Make sure this is central to the body and on top of the hook shank.
14
If you wish to add a little weight to the fly, now is the time before you dub the thorax. Spin a little olive seals fir dubbing and wind on over the base of the flexibody.
15
Select a small bronze mallard hackle and cut out the central stem and remove the down, as illustrated.
16
Place the bronzed mallard over the body so the fibers cover each side of the nymph body. Make a couple of loose turns of tying thread to hold these in place. Then you can pull on the hackle stem to adjust the length of the legs before tying down.
17
Once the legs are tied in remove the excess and make a couple more turns of tying thread tight into the dubbing so the legs flare out at an angle.
18
Take a little more olive seal fur and mix with a little black seals fur then dub the remaining thorax. Make sure that you leave enough room for the wing case and head.
19
Fold over the flexibody strip for the wing case and secure with 2 or 3 tight turns of tying thread tight back towards the thorax. Make sure the wing case is nice and tight over the thorax.
20
Carefully trim off the remaining flexibody and tie down. Whip finish and varnish.
Large dark olive emerger
Hook: Mustad C49S
Tying thread: Dyneema
Tail: Fine deer hair
Body: Moose mane hair one dark one light coated with Bug Bond
Wing: Bronze mallard, CdC and deer hair
Legs: Coq de Leon fibers
1
Secure your emerger hook in the vice, so the hook shaft is horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread a few mm behind the hook eye and run all the way back to the rear of the shank.
Select 3 fine and quite stiff deer hairs. The ones I have used here are from a roe deer mask. Tie them in as shown in the form of a trident.
3
Take a patch of moose mane. The natural mane is a mixture of what they call salt and pepper coloured hair. If you can get hold of un treated (washed or tanned) moose mane this has much more durable hair.
4
Select two long hairs one dark and one light.
Tie in the hairs. Tie in the dark one first at the base of the hook shank and then the light one.
5
Now take both hairs at once, make sure that they are parallel with each other and not twisted. Wind them on tight and even over the whole body of the fly. Make sure they dont cross each other while winding on! Tie off at the thorax.
6
Trim off the excess and give the whole body a coat with Bug Bond.
7
Colour the body with a waterproof felt pen.
8
Tie in a small bunch of bronze mallard for the wing.
9
Spin a small amount of Olive CdC in a dubbing loop.
10
Wind on the dubbing loop to form the thorax making sure that most of the dubbing sits on top of the hook shank.
11
Now a small bunch of fine deer hair for the over wing. Try and use deer hair with nice markings.
12
Now take a few fibers of olive or yellow Coq de Leon and tie these in for the legs on the underside of the thorax.
13
Spin another small amount of CdC and wind on to form the head.
14
Whip finish and varnish.
Large dark olive dry
Hook: Mustad R30
Tying thread: Dyneema
Tail: Coq de Leon
Body: Moose mane hair one dark one light coated with bug Bond
Wing: Grey duck wing quill sections
Hackle: Golden Badger
Bug Bond Thunder Creek.
Bug Bond Thunder Creek, a great salt water sea trout pattern.
The original Thunder creek streamer series came from the vice of American, Keith Fulsher. In the early sixties, not satisfied with the regular head and eye size of streamers, he began experimenting and chose the reverse buck tail technique for his Thunder creek patterns. This technique involves tying the buck tail, as the technique suggests, the opposite way and then folding it back over the hook shank and tying down to form the head. The simplicity of this pattern and the minimal materials needed to tie it, is fly design at its very best! He achieved his goal, a slim two toned body with a large minnow head that allowed for larger eyes, the main attack point for predatory fish and through changing only the buck tail colour and hook size, could imitate numerous baitfish. Streamers generally fall into two categories, baitfish imitations and attractors! I am in no doubt that the Thunder creek covers both. You can try a whole load of colour combinations, and if you would like a little flash in the pattern tie this in at the rear of the head before folding the wings back. Also if you would like a heavier pattern use lead under the head dubbing. If you are looking for a slimmer pattern to imitate a sand eel, replace the buck tail with a synthetic material like fish hair or DNA, but dont build up the head with dubbing, this will keep the pattern slim and streamline.
1
Secure your straight eye streamer hook securely fixed in the vice.
Attatch your tying thread and cover the first third of the hook shank.
3
Now cut a small bunch of buck tail and even the ends in a hair stacker. measure the hair bunch to the correct length required and tie in as shown, on top of the hook shank.
4
Turn your hook up side down in the vice.
5
Tie in another bunch of lighter buck tail on the underside of the hook shank. This should be just a little shorter than the first. Make sure that the forward whippings of tying thread are tight into the hook eye.
6
Now apply a little dubbing to the tying thread and build up a tight dense base for the head of the baitfish. Make sure that the head is not larger than the initial butts of buck tail. Finish with the tying thread hanging at the base of the head.
7
This stage can be done free hand, but you can achieve much better results using a transparent plastic tube. Place the tube over the eye of the hook pushing the buck tail back to form the wing.
8
Make a few tight turns of tying thread to form the head. The Bucktail wing will flare outwards.
9
Carefully remove the tube, by twisting it from side to side while carefully pulling off the head. Make a few more secure tight turns of tying thread and whip finish. Apply the tape eyes one each side. To set the wing flat wet your fingers and stroke the wing.
10
The only thing remaining now is to coat the head with Bug Bond. The first coat is just to secure the tape eyes. Make sure that when applying the next two coats that you cover the band of tying thread. When the wing dry’s it will remain flat.
Cottus Gobio
Hook: Mustad R 74 # 2
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Siberian squirrel tail hair
Body : Squirrel tron dark hares ear dubbing
Rib: Fine copper wire
Wing: Pine squirrel zonker strip
Collar: Natural red fox body hair spun in dubbing loop
Gill covers: 2 Ring neck pheasant “church window” feathers coated with Bug Bond
Head: Natural kangaroo body hair spun in dubbing loop and clipped to shape
Eyes : Epoxy eyes
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognized the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet a realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc, the combination possibilities are endless. Another advantage with the zonker, unlike buck tail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by attaching the eyes with super glue and coating them with Bug Bond or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead, and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
1
Secure your Mustad R 74 # 2 hook horizontal in the vice.
- 3
Cut a good bunch of Siberian squirrel tail with clear markings. Stack the hair and tie in for the tail. The tail should be approximately the same length as the hook shank. If you would like to add weight to your fly, this is the time to do it.
4
Now tie in a length of medium copper wire, at the tail base for the rib.
5
Dubb your tying thread with dark hares ear Antron dubbing and start making the body of the minnow.
6
Once you have wound the dubbing forward in a tapered body, about one cm from the hook eye, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush. This will give more body and movement to the finished streamer.
7
Cut a zonker strip from a pine squirrel hide. Make sure that the strip is tapered to a point at the tail of the strip.
8
Again try and choose a squirrel strip that has nice markings and a good taper.
9
Place the zonker strip up on top of the body of the fly so that it´s the same length as the tail. Now wind on the copper wire rib.
10
Take care not to trap the fibers of the squirrel as you go. There should be no more that six turns of copper wire between the tail base and the end of the body.
11
Once you have reached the end of the body tie off the copper wire and the zonker strip. Remove the excess and tie down.
12
Now place a strip of natural red fox body hair still on the hide in a paper clip or the Marc Petitjean magic tool as used here.
13
Make a dubbing loop an spin the fox hair into a dubbing brush.
14
Wind on the fox dubbing brush making sure that you comb the hair back and up with each turn, this will form the over wing of the streamer. If you have some fox hair that has accumulated on the underside of the throat trim this away, this same depth as the body.
15
Now select two ring neck pheasant church window feathers, the same size. Coat these with Bug Bond.
16
Now tie these in, concave out, as shown. One each side to form the fins. These also give a wobbler effect on the streamer when fished.
17
Make another dubbing loop. Here I have used natural kangaroo body hair. If you dont have kangaroo you can use another coarse natural hair.
18
Now wind on the dubbing brush forward tight into the rear of the hook eye. Again taking care not to trap and tie down the hair as you go.
19
Whip finish. Before you begin to trim and form your streamer head, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush to open the hair and give more volume. Trim the head to shape.
20
Select two epoxy fly eyes, these should be a little larger than the natural for the size of the streamer. This will give a slightly more efficient attractor factor.
21
The finished streamer.
Pseudo Spinner
The Pseudo Spinner.
Fishing, or even identifying a mayfly spinner fall can be one of the most challenging situations a fly fisherman can experience! Its all about breaking codes and learning to read the signs. With the larger mayflies its somewhat easier to recognize the spinner fall, danica and vulgata are so large that they can be seen at a greater distance floating in a crucifix posture and lifeless in the surface, sometimes with such a high mortality rate they cover the whole surface of the river. But smaller darker and sometimes almost transparent species can be difficult to see even at close quarters.
Mayflies are known for their short lived life, with some species having less than an hour to find a mate and deposit eggs before they die. The first sign to look for, after the initial hatch, is high above you, the swarming dancing, mating mayflies high above the tree tops. After mating and this swarming becomes sparser the males are drained of energy and are fighting to keep themselves airborne but gradually floating down closer to the water, where they die and lie with wings and tails spread out on the surface. The females, who hatch later than the males have a little more energy left to fly upstream to lay their eggs so the current will carry them back down to be deposited in the same stretch of river bed where she lived her nymphal stage of life. After which she dies and becomes spent.
High above the tree tops.
If after examining the waters surface and no spent spinners are visible, look for fish that are steady risers. This is a normal rise form for fish selectively feeding on spent spinners. That being said, smaller fish can become wild in the beginning of a spinner fall making small splashy rises and even leaping clear of the water to take them as they fall. As day turns into night and the spent spinners begin to drown and are trapped in the surface film slightly sinking, the larger fish begin to feed on them, rising every few seconds, not big splashy rises but sipping or slow head and tailing as the spent spinners float over them, as with all predators maximizing energy intake and minimizing energy consumption. Larger ‘Experienced’ fish seam to know that there is no escape for these dead and drowning flies.
This was taken under a spinner fall, although they where still hatching the trout wouldn’t touch them.
This is a mayfly pattern shown here represents NO specific species, but with just a tiny alteration in size and colour can be a good representation for most hatches of smaller to medium sized mayflies. The most time consuming part of this pattern is stripping the peacock herl of its fibers. There are a few ways that you can do this. One is with a regular pencil erasure, just lie the herl down on a flat surface and rub the herl away from you. The other is to pull the herl through your finger and thumb nail as shown here. It takes a little time to master this technique but once you have done it a few times its plain sailing!
Hook Mustad R50 # 18-12
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Coq de leon
Body Stripped peacock herl
Over body Bug Bond
Wings CDC hackles
Thorax CDC spun into dubbing loop
1
Place your hook in the vice as shown.
2
Select some nice Coq de Leon hackle fibers.
3
Run the tying thread along the hook shank until you come to the hook bend. Tie in the center tail first, then the two side tails, making sure that they are all about the same length.
4
If you want to make the fly a little more robust, put a tiny drop of super glue right on the tail bases. This will make everything stronger and help keep the tails in place.
5
Now run the tying thread forward and build a slightly tapered under body to shape the quill over body.
6
Choose a good strong herl from a peacock tail feather and strip off the fibers.
7
Tie in the stripped quill on the underside of the hook shank at the tail base.
8
Wind on the quill the right way! One side of the quill has better markings than the other. Tie off at the wing base.
9
Remove the surplus quill and give the body a coat with Bug bond.
10
Give the quill body a blast with the UV light, if you are using varnish you will have to wait for the body to dry before you continue.
11
The dry coated quill body.
12
Select two small well fibered CDC hackles. Trim them both down with curved scissors as shown.
13
Tie in your two CDC wings pointing slightly forward.
14
Spin a little CDC in a dubbing loop behind the wings.
15
Wind on the CDC, firstly behind the wings and then between and forward finishing behind the hook eye.
16
View from above of the finished thorax.
18
Whip finish and you have a fine mayfly spinner that floats like a cork.
The Midas touch, confessions of a nymph-omaniac.
Bling, bling, Midas nymphs are the right way to go for winter grayling.
The Midas nymph is my rendition on a more common pattern called the copper John, which uses copper wire instead of gold oval tinsel amongst other things. The interesting thing about the copper John, according to Bruce Olsen sales manager for Umpqua Feather Merchants, The worlds largest manufacturer of commercially tied flies, the copper John is the best selling trout fly in the world. “We sell them by the tens of thousands” Bruce says, and thats just the original copper version. When you add in all the colour variant of that pattern, the numbers get to be absolutely staggering.”
Thousands of anglers around the world cant be wrong. If you haven’t tied and fished with the copper John, its probably time you did!
Head: Gold brass bead head
Hook: Mustad S6ONP-BR # 16-10
Tying thread: Dyneema
Tail: Golden pheasant topping
Body: Medium gold oval tinsel coated with Bug Bond http://www.veniard.com/section188/ http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/
Thorax: Peacock herl
Legs: Goose biots
Wing case: Medium oval gold tinsel
After having great success with bead head nymphs for both trout and grayling, over a period of time a pattern began to develop. Since the introduction of bead heads in the early eighties, we all know how well they fish, but if I was fishing with exactly the same weighted nymph, but tied with a black bead head instead of a gold one, the amount of takes where not dramatic, but noticeably reduced! So my natural chain of thought is that its the gold head which was the main attractor factor. Why not try a nymph that is totally gold ! After my initial attempts, I quickly discovered that the tinsel body and thorax where extremely venerable to small sharp teeth, and had a very short lifespan. But a coat or two with Bug Bond or Epoxy sorted that out. This is a relatively new pattern and I have only fished it seriously last season, although the results where good, its still too early to say how good! Tie some up and try for yourself, you won’t be disappointed! This spring it will also be tested on sea trout…
1
Place your bead head on the hook and secure in the vice.
2
Run the tying thread over the whole length of the hook shank.
3
Tie in one or two small golden pheasant toppings as the tail.
4
On the underside of the hook shank tie in a good length of medium gold oval tinsel. The oval is better, round tinsel has a tendency to slip down the body.
5
You can now dub a tapered underbody. If you would like to add extra weight you could build up the under body with lead wire.
6
Now wind on the tinsel in tight even turns to form a segmented nymph body. Stop with good room for the thorax.
7
You can now give the body a good coat with Bug Bond. This not only protects the tinsel but also gives it extra “bling”. Cut four lengths of gold oval tinsel and tie these in to form the wing case, tight into the body.
8
Now apply a little more dubbing to bring the thorax up-to the required diameter.
9
At the base of the body tie in a good long peacock herl and move your tying thread froward to the bead head.
10
Make four or five turns with the herl and tie off. But dont trim off the remainder of the herl
you will need this later.
11
Take two goose biots and tie these in one each side of the thorax for the legs.
12
Cover the rest of the thorax with a few turns of peacock herl and tie off behind the bead head.
13
Now fold over the tinsel wing case and secure with a couple of loose turns of tying thread, trim off the tinsel wing case about three mm above the two loose turns of tying thread. This is so when you tighten the loose turns, the trimmed ends will disappear under and into the bead head.
14
carefully give the wing case a coat of Bug Bond, making sure that it doesn’t get onto the peacock herl thorax.
Helter Skelter Pike Fly jig.
My Helter Skelter pike jig works on all the pikes attractor senses!
Hook Mustad S74SZ # 2/0-4/0
Thread Dyneema
Body E-Z Body XL filled with 3-5 beads
Under wing White buck tail
Wing Chartreuse and white Icelandic sheep
Over wing Lime green Big fish fiber
Sides Grizzle cock hackles coloured yellow
Eyes Large mobile eyes and bug bond or epoxy
I developed the Heltor skeltor to maximize all the attractor elements possible in one fly.
The Icelandic sheep and big fly fiber are extremely mobile in water, but their effect is enhanced by the weight of the brass beads that roll back and forth in the body tube giving not only a sporadic jerky swimming action but also rattle against each other sending out an audial signal to predators. Not forgetting the eyes which are an attack point, are oversized for additional predator impact. If you keep all these factors in mind when designing predatory patterns you wont go wrong.
- 1
Secure your hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread at the bend of the hook as shown.
2
Cut a length of E-Z body XL and singe the fibers at one end with a lighter. This is important as it will give purchase for the tying thread and stop it slipping off the tube.
3
Thread the E-Z body over the hook shank until you come to the tying thread.
4
Tie the end of the E-Z body down. Make sure this is secure.
5
Whip finish and remove your tying thread. You must now apply varnish or bug bond to the tying whippings. Trim the E-Z body down to about 4 mm longer than the hook eye and seal the fibers again.
6
Draw back the E-Z body tube and attach your tying thread 4-5 mm behind the hook eye.
Now insert 3-5 large beads inside the E-Z body cavity. These have several purposes. They not only give weight and sound by rattling against each other while fishing, but they also influence the swimming action of the fly. As you retrieve, the beads roll back and forth in the belly of the streamer making it tip up and down and extremely attractive.
7
Tie down the E-Z body tube to seal the the body.
8
Tie inn a under wing of white buck tail, this will support the finer more mobile over wing material.
9
Now tie in a length of white Icelandic sheep, the wrong way as shown. This will give a little volume to the head section. This should be a little longer than the buck tail under wing.
10
Now fold over the white Icelandic sheep. You will see that the head of the fly will be lifted, like a pompadour.
11
Cut a length of chartreuse or yellow Icelandic sheep and tie this in the correct way over the white wing.
12
Cut a smaller bunch of lime green big fish fiber keeping the crimped ends, these again will give volume just above the head of the streamer.
13
Colour two large grizzle hackles yellow with a waterproof felt pen.
14
Tie these in as the sides.
15
Using a drop of super glue attach two large mobile or dolls eyes, one each side and central to the hook eye. Once the eyes are attached you can then fill the opening between both eyes over and under the hook eye with Bug Bond or Epoxy.
16
The finished Helter skelter pike streamer.
Fender Parachute
My good friends hunting dog, Fender and just one of the many animals and huge amounts of materials he secures for my fly tying every year.
Fender secures more meat wrapped in materials for the winter.
This is a quick and simple parachute technique that requires only deer hair and Bug Bond.
Hook: Mustad C49
Tying thread: Dyneema
Body: Moose mane hair
Hackle: Roe deer hair and Bug Bond
Thorax: Underfur from deer or moose winter coat.
- 1.
Secure your emerger hook in the vice with as much of the bend clear of the jaws.
2.
Run your tying thread from just behind the hook eye down deep into the bend.
3.
Select some long Moose mane hairs.
4.
You will need two long hairs from the moose mane, one white and one black.
5.
Tie in the moose hairs by the points at the base of the hook bend.
6.
Build up a slight forward taper on the fly body with tying thread.
7.
Take both hair at once, with the black hair at the bottom and begin to wind on in even tight turns.
8.
Continue over the whole hook shank until you come to the thorax. Tie off.
9.
Trim off the surplus hair and tie down ends. Although these moose mane hairs are remarkably strong you can give the body a coat with Bug Bond.
10.
Cut and stack a small bunch of deer hair. Tie this in as a parachute post.
11.
At the base of the hairs from a winter coat of a moose or deer there is a dense under fur. Remove enough to dub the thorax.
12.
Dub the thorax behind and forward of the post.
13.
Place your finger tip in the centre of the deer hair post and press down until the deer hair flattens out.
14.
Place a small drop of Bug Bond in the center of the deer hair parachute hackle.
15.
Give the Bug Bond a zap with the UV light.
16.
The finished Fender emerger, made only from deer hair and Bug Bond.
17.
The view from below. Its a perfect quick and simple parachute hackle.
Deer Hair Immerger.
The deer hair Immerger.
Presentation is alfa and omega when fishing emergers.
This incredibly simple pattern, truly, it only takes a few minutes to tie! makes emergers into immergers. This technique places your pattern right below the surface film (immersed) as if the insect is actually climbing out of the shuck onto the surface.
Taking my Fender emerger one step further by extending the deer hair parachute post which places the entire hook, and tippet point entirely under the surface…
All you need:
Hook: Mustad C49S http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=177
Tying Thread: Dyneema
Body: Moose hair coated with Bug Bond for Bug Bond see links: http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/ http://www.veniard.com/section188/
Post: Deer hair wrapped in moose hair coated with Bug Bond
Parachute hackle: Deer hair
1.
Tie your bicolored moose hair body. You can see the full step by step for this in my earlier post ‘Fender parachute’.
2.
Cut and stack a small bunch of deer hair central in the thorax.
3.
Turn your hook so the deer hair post is at 90 degrees and make some wraps of tying thread to reinforce the post base.
4.
Tie in two moose mane hairs, one black one white, along the length of the post finishing under the parachute hair.
5.
Once you have wrapped the moose hair emerger post, tie off the moose hair, remove the excess and return your hook to the regular position.
6.
Coat the post with Bug Bond and tie in two long peacock herl’s, by the points at the rear of the thorax.
7.
Wrap the peacock herl over the whole thorax and tie off. Remove the excess.
8.
Using your index finger press the deer hair post down to form the parachute hackle.
9.
Carefully place a small drop of Bug Bond in the center of the deer hair hackle. Make sure it penetrates the deer hair.
10.
Give the Bug Bond a zap with the UV light to cure.
11.
You may wish to add one more drop to hold the deer hair hackle in place.
12.
The finished deer hair immerger, in the correct posture.
13.
Front view.
14.
View from underneath.
Only deer hair and Bug Bond…
E-Z Sand Eel
A great pattern for salt water sea trout and Sea Bass.
I am currently working with salt water patterns for Northern Europe so I will be publishing a good selection of modern patterns for sea trout and bass in the coming week.
Hook Mustad S70SNP-DT Big Game Light # 4-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=191
Thread Dyneema
Body E-Z body tube http://www.e-zbody.com/
Tail 15 strands of Flashabou
Eyes Fleye Foils http://www.theflypeople.com/
Head Bug Bond http://www.veniard.com/section188/
The original pattern this is based on is form the vice of my late, old friend Jack Gartside. This is not only an extremely effective pattern but also requires the minimum materials and once you have mastered the technique is very quick to tie.
Like the most effective coast wobblers that represent Tobis this pattern is a darter, and has next to no movement in the materials, but like a fleeing sand eel it “darts” in a short fast “zig zag” movement. Another “problem” for many fly fishermen is that the hook on this pattern is mounted at the head of the fly, leaving a good length of body for the sea trout, sea bass to bite at without being hooked. This can be the case with smaller fish but larger fish tend to take this pattern contant. Also a interesting little experiment that I have undertaken a few times is, if you are cleaning a fish that you see has been feeding on sand eels just have a look at which way the head of the sand eel is facing in the stomach of the fish, nearly always, has the sand eel been swallowed head first! The attach point for pradatory fish is the eyes and these new Fleye foils from Bob Popovics make very realistic sand eel and bait fish patterns.
Sand eels shoal in very large numbers, but are seldom seen during the day in the shallows as they lie buried in the sand, away from predators. They first appear during the evening, when they come out to feed through the night. But despite there nocturnal habits sand eel patterns can be fished around the clock the whole year.
You can also try other colour combinations, but keep in mind the general rule of the lightest colour on the stomach and the darkest colour on the back.
Secure your salt water hook in the vice. I like to use a Mustad C70SNP Big game light for this patter beacause of its wide gape and short shank.
Take a length of medium E-Z Body tubing about 6-7-cm long. Measure the the tubing along the hook shank, so that you know where to insert the hook eye into the tube.
Make a opening in the tube where you are going to thread it onto the hook shank.
Thread the tube onto your hook as shown.
Slide the tube back and attach your tying thread behind the hook eye.
Thread a long loop of mono through the E-Z body tube towards the tail.
Thread the bunch of Flashabou through the mono loop and pull this through the tube and out at the hook eye.
Tie down the Flashabou just behind the hook eye.
Tie in the end of the tube and make a neat tight head.
Select your chosen Fleye Foil product. I have used small 25 mm. sand eel foils.
Remove the Fleye Foils from there card and stick them in place, one each side of the eel head and tie down using the small attachment on the foils.
Once you have whip finished and removed your tying thread, turn your fly in the vice so you can tie down the tail at the base of the E-Z body tube. Once secure give it a small drop of Bug Bond just to hold it in place. Remove tying thread and reset hook the correct way in the vice.
The sand eel should now look like this. You can trim the Flashabou tail down to your required size and shape.
You can now colour your sand eel if wished with water proof felt markers.
Carefully coat the foils and head of the eel with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light as you go.
If you want a more three dimentional effect make small colour ajustments with felt pens after every coat of Bug Bond. This builds up layers and gives more depth.
If you ‘open’ the tail of Flashabou and place a tiny drop of Bug Bond at the base and cure! the tail will remain flaired and open.
One of the great things about E-Z body tube is that it remains flexible.
Fleye Foils. Orders and info at: http://www.theflypeople.com/
Bug Bond. Orders and info at: http://www.veniard.com/section188/
E-Z Body Orders and info at: http://www.e-zbody.com/
Cottus Gobio
Hook: Mustad R 74 # 2
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Siberian squirrel tail hair
Body : Squirrel tron dark hares ear dubbing
Rib: Fine copper wire
Wing: Pine squirrel zonker strip
Collar: Natural red fox body hair spun in dubbing loop
Gill covers: 2 Ring neck pheasant “church window” feathers coated with Bug Bond
Head: Natural kangaroo body hair spun in dubbing loop and clipped to shape
Eyes : Epoxy eyes
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognized the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet a realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc, the combination possibilities are endless. Another advantage with the zonker, unlike buck tail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by attaching the eyes with super glue and coating them with Bug Bond or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead, and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
1
Secure your Mustad R 74 # 2 hook horizontal in the vice.
- 3
Cut a good bunch of Siberian squirrel tail with clear markings. Stack the hair and tie in for the tail. The tail should be approximately the same length as the hook shank. If you would like to add weight to your fly, this is the time to do it.
4
Now tie in a length of medium copper wire, at the tail base for the rib.
5
Dubb your tying thread with dark hares ear Antron dubbing and start making the body of the minnow.
6
Once you have wound the dubbing forward in a tapered body, about one cm from the hook eye, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush. This will give more body and movement to the finished streamer.
7
Cut a zonker strip from a pine squirrel hide. Make sure that the strip is tapered to a point at the tail of the strip.
8
Again try and choose a squirrel strip that has nice markings and a good taper.
9
Place the zonker strip up on top of the body of the fly so that it´s the same length as the tail. Now wind on the copper wire rib.
10
Take care not to trap the fibers of the squirrel as you go. There should be no more that six turns of copper wire between the tail base and the end of the body.
11
Once you have reached the end of the body tie off the copper wire and the zonker strip. Remove the excess and tie down.
12
Now place a strip of natural red fox body hair still on the hide in a paper clip or the Marc Petitjean magic tool as used here.
13
Make a dubbing loop an spin the fox hair into a dubbing brush.
14
Wind on the fox dubbing brush making sure that you comb the hair back and up with each turn, this will form the over wing of the streamer. If you have some fox hair that has accumulated on the underside of the throat trim this away, this same depth as the body.
15
Now select two ring neck pheasant church window feathers, the same size. Coat these with Bug Bond.
16
Now tie these in, concave out, as shown. One each side to form the fins. These also give a wobbler effect on the streamer when fished.
17
Make another dubbing loop. Here I have used natural kangaroo body hair. If you dont have kangaroo you can use another coarse natural hair.
18
Now wind on the dubbing brush forward tight into the rear of the hook eye. Again taking care not to trap and tie down the hair as you go.
19
Whip finish. Before you begin to trim and form your streamer head, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush to open the hair and give more volume. Trim the head to shape.
20
Select two epoxy fly eyes, these should be a little larger than the natural for the size of the streamer. This will give a slightly more efficient attractor factor.
21
The finished streamer.
Pedal power for Bug Bond is now available!
The ultimate UV tool is now available!
If you use Bug Bond, the new professional curing light is now available! One of the main advantages with this new mains operated foot pedal adapter is that you have full power constantly for optimal curing.
You can order your Bug Bond mains adapter now from: http://www.fishingmegastore.com/bugbond-mains-professional-uv-light~18838.html It will also be available from all Veniard stockist soon!
So what’s new… For those of you that have seen me tie at any of the shows this year, you may have seen me using, the Professional UV light. A new attachment for the Bug Bond light, that when the on/off switch cap is disconnected, the main light unit can accept a remote foot switch that can be powered by both mains via an AC/DC adapter, or separate rechargeable battery unit. This gives the user the convenience of mains power with foot operated curing and the portability demanded by the traveling tyer… keep the foot operated switch at home under the tying bench and while on the fishing trip return the light to AA battery operation. I believe this is another first for light cured resins in fly tying…
This is the Bug Bond mains adapter in action. photo: With thanks by Tore Litlere Rydgren taken at the Nordic fly fair earlier this year.
The Bug Bond pedal and connecting power cable are of a simple but elegant light weight design. When I first tried this new addition to the UV light, surprisingly, it took a few days to get use to it! Its not normal to tie with your feet. Mastering the hand, eye, foot coordination took some getting use to! But like anything its just a matter of time.
The pedal is also supplied with a AC/DC mains adapter that should work anywhere.
Along with the Bug Bond Original-Lite and Original-Clear the new pedal switch mains attachment, is another step forward in fly tying with UV resins.
For release date and availability see: http://deesox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/bug-bond-fly-tying-first-again-at-sim.html
Foils rush in where angels fear to tread
Keeping on the salt water theme for sea trout, heres another sand eel pattern that mixes the new with the old.
When designing bait fish patterns, a few things I consider are the shape and silhouette of the fish to be imitated. This is important as you never know if the fish will see it, when fished, in a reflected or backlight situation. The size and colour, and last but not least movement. All these can be achieved with a careful selection of materials. I sometimes also like to give the patterns a three dimensional effect. I achieve this through building layers. This is made much easier with Bug Bond.
Observe the bait fish that you wish to imitate, take a close look at it, there are many great websites that have fantastic photography, illustrations and films of these bait fish. Try and decide the most distinguishing features and characteristics of them. Once you have done this choose materials that best represent these features in colour and movement. After a while you better understand the materials you work with and the choices become easier.
Hook Mustad Big Game light # 6-4 http://mustad.no/catalog/na/product.php?id=191
Thread Dyneema http://www.whitetailflytieing.com/index.htm
Underbody Craft fur
Body Buck tail topped with peacock herl
Sides Green and blue grizzle cock hackles
Cheeks Fleye foils http://www.theflypeople.com/index.php/24-popflyes/29-bob-popovics-fleye-foils-de.html
Head tube E-Z Body http://www.e-zbody.com/
Head Bug Bond http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/ http://www.veniard.com/
Eyes Tape eyes
1
Place you Big Game light hook in the vice, keeping the hook shank horizontal.
2
Attach you tying thread to the front third of the hook shank.
3
Tie in a length of tapered craft fur. Its important that you brush out the fibers of the craft fur before you tie it in. The craft fur will give a little movement to the body of the fly when fished.
4
Now a nice bunch of straight whit buck tail under the craft fur. The generic name for deer tails has become ‘buck tails’ even if they have come from a doe deer which generally have a little shorter fibers, so be sure when buying buck tail choose the ones with nice long straight hair. The buck tail tied in this way will help support the craft fur and keep it in position.
5
Now cover the craft fur with a bunch of brown buck tail. Once this is done you can place a drop of varnish on the whippings just to strengthen them.
6
On top of the buck tail tie in four or five lengths of peacock herl. The best herl for this is found just under the eye of the peacock tail feather. Make these a little longer than the buck tail.
7
Select two green cock hackles and tie in on the sides.
8
Vail the green hackles with two blue dyed grizzle hackles a little shorter than the the green ones.
9
Whip finish and remove your tying thread. Take a short length of E-Z Body and thread this over the head of the fly.
10
Re attach your tying thread and tie down the E-Z Body behind the hook eye.
11
Take another three or four strands of peacock herl and tie in for the topping.
12
Select the correct size of Fleye foil for the hook size.
13
Using the short tab on the foil, tie them in, one each side.
14
Whip finish and remove the tying thread. Holding down the peacock herl topping apply a little bug bond to the head.
15
Cure the Bug Bond with the UV light. You can then build a few thin layers of Bug Bond over the whole head until you achieve the correct size and shape.
16
Apply the tape eyes and give one last coat of Bug Bond. Once the fly is finished, wet your fingers and soak the wing, while stroking it backwards. This will hold the wing in the correct shape and dry this way ready for use.
“The foil speaks, the wise man listens”
After many requests regarding my Gammarus pattern and where to obtain the foils heres a up dated re post with a little more info.
This photo was taken last week, while on a fishing trip to Shetland. Some of the small Lochs had huge amounts of gammarus and the fish refused everything else! Every fish we took in such Lochs where full to the gills with these small fresh water shrimp. Having a good imitative pattern proved to be seriously effective!
The fish that where feeding on Gammarus where in exceptional condition!
Some of you may have seen, that a couple of weeks ago I received some shrimp foils from ‘the fly people’ in Germany to test, they where very successful. After playing a little with them I reversed one and tied a gammarus pattern as this is one of my post productive for salt water sea trout. When Lutz, from the fly people saw my pattern, he asked what I would change on the shrimp foil to make it a gammarus foil ? I went straight to the drawing board and made him a sketch. Yesterday these prototypes arrived.
This is a photo I took while fishing of the contents of a sea trout’s stomach, need I say more !
There where only six foils on the sheet so I haven’t had so much practice or opportunity to play around with the design but this is the result so far. If you would like more info about the foils or to order some, you can send an e mail to: theflypeople@web.de
Hook: Mustad C67SNP-BR # 12-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=326
Tying thread: Olive
Feelers: Pheasant tail fibers
Rib: Fine copper wire
Shell back: Gammarus foil http://www.theflypeople.com/
Shell back coating: Bug Bond http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/
Under body: Virtual nymph Seals fur http://www.virtual-nymph.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=26
Legs: Pheasant tail fibers
1
Secure your hook in the vice, make sure its horizontal.
2
Run tying thread along the whole hook shank and down into the bend.
3
Make a small dubbing loop at the tail of the hook.
4
Load a Petitjean magic tool with pheasant tail fibers, you only need a few for the beard so use the smallest tool.
5
Wax your tying thread, and run your tying thread to the hook eye. Spin the pheasant tail fibers in the dubbing loop.
6
Wind on the dubbing brush, making sure that you brush all the peasant tail fibers out with each turn so you dont tie them down wrongly. Tie off the dubbing brush.
7
Select the right size foil for your hook size.
8
Remove the foil from the sheet.
9
Tie in the foil by the small tag at the base of the feelers.
10
Make another dubbing loop a little larger this time and hang out of the way on your vices material clip.
11
Tie in a length of fine copper wire. This should be a few mm up from the dubbing loop as shown. This is so your first turn of rib will be in the correct position in respect to the foil later.
12
Dubb the whole body with seals fur. First a couple of turns under the copper wire and the over. The gammarus body should taper from thick to thin as you approach the hook eye.
13
Spin a larger amount than before of peasant tail fibers in the rear dubbing loop. Remember to keep them short. Wind in an open spiral to form the legs.
14
Tie of the dubbing brush at the head of the fly and brush down the legs each side of the body.
15
Now fold over the foil and tie down so it sits tight over the whole body of the shrimp.
16
Now wrap the copper wire rib in between each plate segment on the foil. But as you go brush out the leg fibers with each turn so you dont trap them and tie the down flat. Tie off the copper wire at the head of the fly.
17
You can now colour your shell back if required with a waterproof felt pen.
18
Give the whole shell back foil a coat with Bug Bond. If your careful you can do each segment at a time to give it a more three dimensional effect. Rough up the fibers in the feelers and legs with a tooth brush.
The finished Gammarus.
Pedal power for Bug Bond is now available!
The ultimate UV tool is now available!
If you use Bug Bond, the new professional curing light is now available! One of the main advantages with this new mains operated foot pedal adapter is that you have full power constantly for optimal curing.
You can order your Bug Bond mains adapter now from: http://www.fishingmegastore.com/bugbond-mains-professional-uv-light~18838.html It will also be available from all Veniard stockist soon!
So what’s new… For those of you that have seen me tie at any of the shows this year, you may have seen me using, the Professional UV light. A new attachment for the Bug Bond light, that when the on/off switch cap is disconnected, the main light unit can accept a remote foot switch that can be powered by both mains via an AC/DC adapter, or separate rechargeable battery unit. This gives the user the convenience of mains power with foot operated curing and the portability demanded by the traveling tyer… keep the foot operated switch at home under the tying bench and while on the fishing trip return the light to AA battery operation. I believe this is another first for light cured resins in fly tying…
This is the Bug Bond mains adapter in action. photo: With thanks by Tore Litlere Rydgren taken at the Nordic fly fair earlier this year.
The Bug Bond pedal and connecting power cable are of a simple but elegant light weight design. When I first tried this new addition to the UV light, surprisingly, it took a few days to get use to it! Its not normal to tie with your feet. Mastering the hand, eye, foot coordination took some getting use to! But like anything its just a matter of time.
The pedal is also supplied with a AC/DC mains adapter that should work anywhere.
Along with the Bug Bond Original-Lite and Original-Clear the new pedal switch mains attachment, is another step forward in fly tying with UV resins.
For release date and availability see: http://deesox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/bug-bond-fly-tying-first-again-at-sim.html
E-Z Sand Eel
A great pattern for salt water sea trout and Sea Bass.
Hook Mustad S70SNP-DT Big Game Light # 4-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=191
Thread Dyneema
Body E-Z body tube http://www.e-zbody.com/
Tail 15 strands of Flashabou
Eyes Fleye Foils http://www.theflypeople.com/
Head Bug Bondhttp://www.veniard.com/section188/
The original pattern this is based on is form the vice of my late, old friend Jack Gartside. This is not only an extremely effective pattern but also requires the minimum materials and once you have mastered the technique is very quick to tie.
Like the most effective coast wobblers that represent Tobis this pattern is a darter, and has next to no movement in the materials, but like a fleeing sand eel it “darts” in a short fast “zig zag” movement. Another “problem” for many fly fishermen is that the hook on this pattern is mounted at the head of the fly, leaving a good length of body for the sea trout, sea bass to bite at without being hooked. This can be the case with smaller fish but larger fish tend to take this pattern contant. Also a interesting little experiment that I have undertaken a few times is, if you are cleaning a fish that you see has been feeding on sand eels just have a look at which way the head of the sand eel is facing in the stomach of the fish, nearly always, has the sand eel been swallowed head first! The attach point for pradatory fish is the eyes and these new Fleye foils from Bob Popovics make very realistic sand eel and bait fish patterns.
Sand eels shoal in very large numbers, but are seldom seen during the day in the shallows as they lie buried in the sand, away from predators. They first appear during the evening, when they come out to feed through the night. But despite there nocturnal habits sand eel patterns can be fished around the clock the whole year.
You can also try other colour combinations, but keep in mind the general rule of the lightest colour on the stomach and the darkest colour on the back.
Secure your salt water hook in the vice. I like to use a Mustad C70SNP Big game light for this patter beacause of its wide gape and short shank.
Take a length of medium E-Z Body tubing about 6-7-cm long. Measure the the tubing along the hook shank, so that you know where to insert the hook eye into the tube.
Make a opening in the tube where you are going to thread it onto the hook shank.
Thread the tube onto your hook as shown.
Slide the tube back and attach your tying thread behind the hook eye.
Thread a long loop of mono through the E-Z body tube towards the tail.
Thread the bunch of Flashabou through the mono loop and pull this through the tube and out at the hook eye.
Tie down the Flashabou just behind the hook eye.
Tie in the end of the tube and make a neat tight head.
Select your chosen Fleye Foil product. I have used small 25 mm. sand eel foils.
Remove the Fleye Foils from there card and stick them in place, one each side of the eel head and tie down using the small attachment on the foils.
Once you have whip finished and removed your tying thread, turn your fly in the vice so you can tie down the tail at the base of the E-Z body tube. Once secure give it a small drop of Bug Bond just to hold it in place. Remove tying thread and reset hook the correct way in the vice.
The sand eel should now look like this. You can trim the Flashabou tail down to your required size and shape.
You can now colour your sand eel if wished with water proof felt markers.
Carefully coat the foils and head of the eel with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light as you go.
If you want a more three dimentional effect make small colour ajustments with felt pens after every coat of Bug Bond. This builds up layers and gives more depth.
If you ‘open’ the tail of Flashabou and place a tiny drop of Bug Bond at the base and cure! the tail will remain flaired and open.
One of the great things about E-Z body tube is that it remains flexible.
Fleye Foils. Orders and info at: http://www.theflypeople.com/
Bug Bond. Orders and info at: http://www.veniard.com/section188/
E-Z Body Orders and info at: http://www.e-zbody.com/
“The foil speaks, the wise man listens”
After many requests regarding my Gammarus pattern and where to obtain the foils heres a up dated re post with a little more info.
This photo was taken last week, while on a fishing trip to Shetland. Some of the small Lochs had huge amounts of gammarus and the fish refused everything else! Every fish we took in such Lochs where full to the gills with these small fresh water shrimp. Having a good imitative pattern proved to be seriously effective!
The fish that where feeding on Gammarus where in exceptional condition!
Some of you may have seen, that a couple of weeks ago I received some shrimp foils from ‘the fly people’ in Germany to test, they where very successful. After playing a little with them I reversed one and tied a gammarus pattern as this is one of my post productive for salt water sea trout. When Lutz, from the fly people saw my pattern, he asked what I would change on the shrimp foil to make it a gammarus foil ? I went straight to the drawing board and made him a sketch. Yesterday these prototypes arrived.
This is a photo I took while fishing of the contents of a sea trout’s stomach, need I say more !
There where only six foils on the sheet so I haven’t had so much practice or opportunity to play around with the design but this is the result so far. If you would like more info about the foils or to order some, you can send an e mail to: theflypeople@web.de
Hook: Mustad C67SNP-BR # 12-6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=326
Tying thread: Olive
Feelers: Pheasant tail fibers
Rib: Fine copper wire
Shell back: Gammarus foil http://www.theflypeople.com/
Shell back coating: Bug Bond http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/
Under body: Virtual nymph Seals fur http://www.virtual-nymph.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=26
Legs: Pheasant tail fibers
1
Secure your hook in the vice, make sure its horizontal.
2
Run tying thread along the whole hook shank and down into the bend.
3
Make a small dubbing loop at the tail of the hook.
4
Load a Petitjean magic tool with pheasant tail fibers, you only need a few for the beard so use the smallest tool.
5
Wax your tying thread, and run your tying thread to the hook eye. Spin the pheasant tail fibers in the dubbing loop.
6
Wind on the dubbing brush, making sure that you brush all the peasant tail fibers out with each turn so you dont tie them down wrongly. Tie off the dubbing brush.
7
Select the right size foil for your hook size.
8
Remove the foil from the sheet.
9
Tie in the foil by the small tag at the base of the feelers.
10
Make another dubbing loop a little larger this time and hang out of the way on your vices material clip.
11
Tie in a length of fine copper wire. This should be a few mm up from the dubbing loop as shown. This is so your first turn of rib will be in the correct position in respect to the foil later.
12
Dubb the whole body with seals fur. First a couple of turns under the copper wire and the over. The gammarus body should taper from thick to thin as you approach the hook eye.
13
Spin a larger amount than before of peasant tail fibers in the rear dubbing loop. Remember to keep them short. Wind in an open spiral to form the legs.
14
Tie of the dubbing brush at the head of the fly and brush down the legs each side of the body.
15
Now fold over the foil and tie down so it sits tight over the whole body of the shrimp.
16
Now wrap the copper wire rib in between each plate segment on the foil. But as you go brush out the leg fibers with each turn so you dont trap them and tie the down flat. Tie off the copper wire at the head of the fly.
17
You can now colour your shell back if required with a waterproof felt pen.
18
Give the whole shell back foil a coat with Bug Bond. If your careful you can do each segment at a time to give it a more three dimensional effect. Rough up the fibers in the feelers and legs with a tooth brush.
The finished Gammarus.
FisHeadz Mackerel
Back to the tying bench again, this time with a salt water pattern. I must say, Its nice to see that salt water materials being made in smaller sizes, not just for the monster warm water fish across the pond. These FisHeadz from Deer creek in the UK , are perfect in the two smallest sizes for salt water fishing in Europe, for both bass in the south and sea trout here in the North.
I still haven’t had much time to play with these, I’v only tied half a dozen flies with them, but they are that easy to use, that I’v been relatively pleased with all of them, which is unusual ! Anyway if you are tying salt water patterns you have just got to give these a go they give the flies a real edge. But beware, one of the flies I tied wasn’t up to par, and when I came to attach the fisHeadz, it was like putting lipstick on a gorilla! Without doubt it would still catch fish, but if you want flies tied with fisheadz to look good, the rest of the fly has to be as good as the headz.
This is an extremely quick pattern to tie, the only thing you really have to be careful with is the proportions and quantities of materials.
Hook: Mustad 60004NP-NZ # 12 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog
Tying thread: Dyneema http://www.virtual-nymph.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=26
Wing: Ultra hair and buck tail
Sides: Blue grizzle hackle
Head: Deer Creek Blue jay sand eel headz http://www.deercreek.co.uk/FISHEADZ-tm.html coated with Bug Bond http://www.veniard.com/section188/
1
Secure your salt water hook in the vice.
2
Take about 10 strands of transparent Ultra hair and tie in, about three times the length of the hook shaft. This stiffer synthetic hair will give the wing of the fly support and structure.
3.
Now cut a small bunch of straight white buck tail, you only need about 15 strands, this will give the wing a little more volume but keep it light and mobil when it swims. Remove all the underfur and shorter hairs from the bunch. I didn’t stack this hair because I wanted the very tail of the pattern to be broken up, and not too uniform. Tie this in on top of the Ultra hair.
4.
Now select two dyed blue grizzle hackles and prepare by stripping off the base of the stems and cutting both down to the correct length. Tie in one each side over the under wing.
5.
Place your Fisheadz one each side in the correct position, they are sticky backed so they will stay there. Once right just make a couple of turns of tying thread to hold them steady.
6.
Whip finish and remove the tying thread. Give the whole head a coat with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light.
7.
For the last stage I have added additional hi-viz tape eyes, just to give the head a little more three dimensional feel, if thats possible?
Heres a sand eel tied with FisHeadz.
Just foiling around!
The Awesome opossum
Yesterday I received in the post a few samples of Shrimp foils from the fly people in Germany. One sheet with coated foils and a second with uncoated. The coated foils really look the business but unfortunately after three attempts to tie them on and failing miserably in all three, I went over to the uncoated and and had no problems at all. Although the coated ones seemed flexible enough and relatively easy to position, every time I attached the thread and applied the slightest pressure they snapped! Its not as if I was being heavy handed or over tightening the thread. They just would not tolerate much pressure.
After succeeding on my first try with the uncoated I can only presume that the coating, which gives them a three dimensional appearance has somehow effected the the durability of the foil.
From what I can gather the foils are available in two sizes, the one used here is the smallest, and seemed to be tailored for my # 6 Mustad stinger hook. But if I am honest I would like to see even smaller foils for hooks down to size 8 and 10, for salt water sea trout fishing here in Europe.
All that being said the uncoated foils worked great and they give the shrimp an impressive finish. As I mentioned earlier this is only my first tie with the foils and I haven’t even scratched the surface of testing them, I dont even know if the will withstand the teeth of a fish or will take colour from waterproof felt pens… As soon as I know I will update this post and let you know.
In the meantime you can see they look great, so if you would like to give them a go the contact info for dealers is below.
As a foot note: I was just contacted by Lutz, at the fly people and informed that the coated shrimp foils I received are a prototype and that they have experienced the same problems with them breaking. As a result they are only going to produce the un coated foils for sale.
Hook: Mustad CS52 # 6 Stinger http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=182
Tying Thread: Dyneema http://www.virtual-nymph.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=26
Beard/Feelers: Natural Opossum and Whiting pink spey hackle mixed
Rib: Clear mono
Eyes: EP Crab eyes
Underbody: Opossum dubbing
Shell back: Shrimp foil coated with Bug Bond http://www.theflypeople.com/ to order foils:theflypeople@web.de Bug Bond http://www.veniard.com/section188/
1
Place your stinger hook in the vice.
2
Cut a short strip from a piece of opossum fur, keeping a small strip of hide on.
3
Holding the strip as shown place a Whiting spey hackle over the opossum .
4
Place the hair and the hackle in a magic tool clip and trim off the hide and hackle stem.
5
Spin the mixed hackle and hair in a dubbing loop and wind on the hook shaft to form the beard of the shrimp.
6
On the underside of the hook tie in two strips of lead wire and on the top of the hook shaft a length of clear mono for the rib.
7
Tie in two EP crab eyes slightly elevated over the beard.
8
Take some under fur from the opossum patch and dub the whole shrimp body as shown.
9
Make a dubbing loop in between the beard and the dubbed body. Run your tying thread forward to the hook eye.
10
Now make the same mix as the first dubbing loop but in the largest magic tool. So you have enough to cover the whole body.
11
Spin this in the dubbing loop. Make sure that you brush out the fibers with a tooth brush before you begin winding it on.
12
Once the dubbing brush is wound the full hook shank length tie it off just behind the hook eye.
13
Now place your shrimp foil on top of the hook shank and tie in at the tail. Make one whip finish.
14
Wind your mono rib carefully along the body of the shrimp making each turn on the marked ribs of the foil. Tie off at the tail.
15
Whip finish and remove your tying thread.
16
Give each shell back segment a coat with Bug Bond and cure with the UV light.
17
The finished Foil back shrimp.
Cottus Gobio
Hook: Mustad R 74 # 2
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Siberian squirrel tail hair
Body : Squirrel tron dark hares ear dubbing
Rib: Fine copper wire
Wing: Pine squirrel zonker strip
Collar: Natural red fox body hair spun in dubbing loop
Gill covers: 2 Ring neck pheasant “church window” feathers coated with Bug Bond
Head: Natural kangaroo body hair spun in dubbing loop and clipped to shape
Eyes : Epoxy eyes
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognized the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet a realistic imitation for most smaller bait fish. The original pattern used a lead or tin sheet that was folded and glued over the hook shank and then cut to shape to make the underbody. The flexibility of the Zonker as a bait fish imitation pattern is only limited to your own imagination. There are a huge amount of rabbit fur strip materials on the market in just about every colour imaginable, not to mention fox, squirrel, mink etc, the combination possibilities are endless. Another advantage with the zonker, unlike buck tail and feather wing streamers, is that it is an extremely robust pattern. If tied correctly the fly will normally outlive the hook, although the eyes are somewhat vulnerable to the small sharp teeth of trout. This can be improved by attaching the eyes with super glue and coating them with Bug Bond or head cement.
When fishing this pattern or any long tailed streamers in general for that matter. Many fly fishermen are of the thought, that when fishing a long tailed streamer the fish tend to “Nap” at the tail and won´t take the fly properly! This can be the case for smaller trout but generally speaking a large trout will take this pattern hard and fast. If you do experience napping at the tail when fishing, stop the retrieve dead, and let the fly sink a little for two or three seconds, nine times out of ten the attacking fish will pick it up on the drop.
1
Secure your Mustad R 74 # 2 hook horizontal in the vice.
- 3
Cut a good bunch of Siberian squirrel tail with clear markings. Stack the hair and tie in for the tail. The tail should be approximately the same length as the hook shank. If you would like to add weight to your fly, this is the time to do it.
4
Now tie in a length of medium copper wire, at the tail base for the rib.
5
Dubb your tying thread with dark hares ear Antron dubbing and start making the body of the minnow.
6
Once you have wound the dubbing forward in a tapered body, about one cm from the hook eye, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush. This will give more body and movement to the finished streamer.
7
Cut a zonker strip from a pine squirrel hide. Make sure that the strip is tapered to a point at the tail of the strip.
8
Again try and choose a squirrel strip that has nice markings and a good taper.
9
Place the zonker strip up on top of the body of the fly so that it´s the same length as the tail. Now wind on the copper wire rib.
10
Take care not to trap the fibers of the squirrel as you go. There should be no more that six turns of copper wire between the tail base and the end of the body.
11
Once you have reached the end of the body tie off the copper wire and the zonker strip. Remove the excess and tie down.
12
Now place a strip of natural red fox body hair still on the hide in a paper clip or the Marc Petitjean magic tool as used here.
13
Make a dubbing loop an spin the fox hair into a dubbing brush.
14
Wind on the fox dubbing brush making sure that you comb the hair back and up with each turn, this will form the over wing of the streamer. If you have some fox hair that has accumulated on the underside of the throat trim this away, this same depth as the body.
15
Now select two ring neck pheasant church window feathers, the same size. Coat these with Bug Bond.
16
Now tie these in, concave out, as shown. One each side to form the fins. These also give a wobbler effect on the streamer when fished.
17
Make another dubbing loop. Here I have used natural kangaroo body hair. If you dont have kangaroo you can use another coarse natural hair.
18
Now wind on the dubbing brush forward tight into the rear of the hook eye. Again taking care not to trap and tie down the hair as you go.
19
Whip finish. Before you begin to trim and form your streamer head, brush out the fibers with a tooth brush to open the hair and give more volume. Trim the head to shape.
20
Select two epoxy fly eyes, these should be a little larger than the natural for the size of the streamer. This will give a slightly more efficient attractor factor.
21
The finished streamer.
Virtual Nymph
My first attempt with some of the great Virtual Nymph products I received at the weekend and Bug Bond. Not 100% happy with the results, but when I have played a little more, I will be making the full step by step for this Stone fly nymph.
Hook: Mustad Slow death 33862NP-BR http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=2196
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Porcupine guard hairs
Underbody: Natural seal fur Dubbing
Body: Natural nymph skin
Wing cases Virtual nymph stone clinger wing-buds and heads coated with Bug Bond
Legs: Turkey biots coated with Bug Bond
Antenna: Porcupine guard hairs
Check out the products on: http://www.virtual-nymph.com/ and http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/ http://www.veniard.com/section188/
Confessions of a glue user…
Confessions of a glue user…
Bug Bond revolutionizing fly tying
For over two decades I have been a serious user of various types and brands of two component bonding agents and epoxy in my fly tying and rod building, all of which have their (highs and lows) advantages and disadvantages!
Although epoxy is available at most corner shops and relatively simple to use, it does take some experience working out the correct amount to mix for the specific job at hand, so there is minimum waste but also mixing the correct amount of both components to advance or reduce curing time as required. Also when mixing, you have to use a slow figure of eight motion with the mixing tool! this greatly reduces the possibility for air bubbles and results in a clear cure! In addition to this you also need to use a rotating dryer if you are tying several patterns with epoxy at the same time, or applying rod rings, to achieve an aesthetic and uniform application.
This all changed a couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair!
Mr Bond David Edwards
From my tying station, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a somewhat, suspicious character standing on the corner of the tyers podium selling small baggies to passers by. Unlike comparable US cop TV show characters, that are dressed like rap gangsters, this guy resembled a fly fishermen! But what he was selling is just as addictive. Once you have started using, you can’t stop!
The man in question was David Edwards and his baggies contained the first production batch of Bug Bond UV fly tying resin.
Being a professional photographer my entire working life I spent hours every assignment waiting to see the results back from the processors, but with the onslaught of the digital revolution, the results where instantly available. This I believe, is Bug Bond’s greatest advantage!
Unlike Epoxy, Bug Bond requires no mixing and for most applications, only a ten second cure, with the correct frequency UV light. Fixed finished and dried in just a few seconds.
Do’s and don’ts from a user:
When using Bug Bond there are still a few things to consider.
If you require only a thin protective coating over a material, apply your BB and cure with the UV light, simple! But take note, that if you are applying BB to a porous material, especially one that has several layers, like the untreated tying thread on the head of a fly, any BB that is absorbed into the thread will not be exposed to the UV light, and wont cure. For this reason, I still prefer to use head cement on the heads of my flies.
If you need a thicker coat, or lets say, a larger transparent head or body on a salt water pattern, then you have to build this up layer by layer, if you apply too thick a coat, the UV light has difficulty penetrating and will cure the surface layer and can leave the center somewhat viscous, although I haven’t found one yet, I am sure that this may also have an application ? I have also found that if you are curing a larger area, like a whole hackle, its an advantage to start by applying a coat of BB on one side first and then curing with the UV light a distance from the material (30 cm), but slowly moving it closer as the curing process advances, then repeat this on the rear of the hackle. This I have found, slows the curing process a little, but gives optimal results. A hard clear, glossy and tack free finish.
You may also experience, that if you start with the UV light too close to the material to be cured, it cures too quickly, greatly increasing in temperature as the photo-activators cure the resin. This should be avoided, as a cure that is too fast and too intense can shrink the material being coated and result in distortion, as I have experienced through trial and error. Also on a safety point, avoid getting BB on your fingers! If you are unlucky enough to do this and accidentally cure it while holding a fly, the heat is intense.
Stronger and better hardening is achieved through using the resin at 37 F degrees (2.6 C degrees) and first with an intermittent exposure to the LED UV light and finishing with a constant exposure for 10 seconds or more. You will also discover that BB may not adhere as well to all materials. I have experienced a couple of foam types and materials coloured with some spirit based waterproof felt pens. You should also remember that this is a UV cure product, so using it in daylight will cure the bonding agent as it comes out of the tube.
Also if your curing time seems to be getting longer, remember to change the batteries in the UV lamp!
BB has many applications
Top Tips:
With regard to production tying and hands free curing I have made a simple fly curing station. Using an old fly reel box I have covered the inside and lid with silver foil. On one corner of the lid, I use the corner so that the box can accommodate larger flies diagonally. I cut a hole a little smaller that the diameter of the light head and built up a short tube of black card to hold the light in position.
Attaching rod rings with only BB
Inside the box I have glued a foam popper head for securing the fly while drying. Just place the hook of your fly in the foam place on the lid and switch on the light. You can then get on with another fly…
If you dont intend to use your Bug Bond for some time, keep it in a cool dark place. David recommends the refrigerator, this keeps it fresh and prolongs life, but then you should remember to remove it and let it reach room temperature at least an hour before you are going to use it.
If you would like to add a little more flash to your BB, try mixing it with regular hobby glitter before applying or just sprinkling it onto the fly before curing! These are available in an amazing amount of colours and only cost a few pence.
On a safety note, UV lights are dangerous if miss used. They should never be pointed at the eyes and kept out of the reach of children at all times.
Curing BB with the UV light
You will quickly discover that BB and its uses within fly tying and rod building are infinite.
But like all new materials, it takes a little time and experimenting to be familiar with the boundaries, possibilities and applications.
Bug-Bond has been designed to be optically perfect and when cured correctly to have a tack free surface. Other benefits are that it is also resistant to tainting or yellowing when exposed to sunlight and also has a degree of flexibility when cured.
For Bug Bond see links: http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/ http://www.veniard.com/section188/
Pseudo Spinner
The Pseudo Spinner.
Fishing, or even identifying a mayfly spinner fall can be one of the most challenging situations a fly fisherman can experience! Its all about breaking codes and learning to read the signs. With the larger mayflies its somewhat easier to recognize the spinner fall, danica and vulgata are so large that they can be seen at a greater distance floating in a crucifix posture and lifeless in the surface, sometimes with such a high mortality rate they cover the whole surface of the river. But smaller darker and sometimes almost transparent species can be difficult to see even at close quarters.
Mayflies are known for their short lived life, with some species having less than an hour to find a mate and deposit eggs before they die. The first sign to look for, after the initial hatch, is high above you, the swarming dancing, mating mayflies high above the tree tops. After mating and this swarming becomes sparser the males are drained of energy and are fighting to keep themselves airborne but gradually floating down closer to the water, where they die and lie with wings and tails spread out on the surface. The females, who hatch later than the males have a little more energy left to fly upstream to lay their eggs so the current will carry them back down to be deposited in the same stretch of river bed where she lived her nymphal stage of life. After which she dies and becomes spent.
High above the tree tops.
If after examining the waters surface and no spent spinners are visible, look for fish that are steady risers. This is a normal rise form for fish selectively feeding on spent spinners. That being said, smaller fish can become wild in the beginning of a spinner fall making small splashy rises and even leaping clear of the water to take them as they fall. As day turns into night and the spent spinners begin to drown and are trapped in the surface film slightly sinking, the larger fish begin to feed on them, rising every few seconds, not big splashy rises but sipping or slow head and tailing as the spent spinners float over them, as with all predators maximizing energy intake and minimizing energy consumption. Larger ‘Experienced’ fish seam to know that there is no escape for these dead and drowning flies.
This was taken under a spinner fall, although they where still hatching the trout wouldn’t touch them.
This is a mayfly pattern shown here represents NO specific species, but with just a tiny alteration in size and colour can be a good representation for most hatches of smaller to medium sized mayflies. The most time consuming part of this pattern is stripping the peacock herl of its fibers. There are a few ways that you can do this. One is with a regular pencil erasure, just lie the herl down on a flat surface and rub the herl away from you. The other is to pull the herl through your finger and thumb nail as shown here. It takes a little time to master this technique but once you have done it a few times its plain sailing!
Hook Mustad R50 # 18-12
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Coq de leon
Body Stripped peacock herl
Over body Bug Bond
Wings CDC hackles
Thorax CDC spun into dubbing loop
1
Place your hook in the vice as shown.
2
Select some nice Coq de Leon hackle fibers.
3
Run the tying thread along the hook shank until you come to the hook bend. Tie in the center tail first, then the two side tails, making sure that they are all about the same length.
4
If you want to make the fly a little more robust, put a tiny drop of super glue right on the tail bases. This will make everything stronger and help keep the tails in place.
5
Now run the tying thread forward and build a slightly tapered under body to shape the quill over body.
6
Choose a good strong herl from a peacock tail feather and strip off the fibers.
7
Tie in the stripped quill on the underside of the hook shank at the tail base.
8
Wind on the quill the right way! One side of the quill has better markings than the other. Tie off at the wing base.
9
Remove the surplus quill and give the body a coat with Bug bond.
10
Give the quill body a blast with the UV light, if you are using varnish you will have to wait for the body to dry before you continue.
11
The dry coated quill body.
12
Select two small well fibered CDC hackles. Trim them both down with curved scissors as shown.
13
Tie in your two CDC wings pointing slightly forward.
14
Spin a little CDC in a dubbing loop behind the wings.
15
Wind on the CDC, firstly behind the wings and then between and forward finishing behind the hook eye.
16
View from above of the finished thorax.
18
Whip finish and you have a fine mayfly spinner that floats like a cork.
