Shove,Shave,Singe and Sand Technique
My Shove, Shave, Singe and Sand technique for the tightest deer hair bodies.
Probably the most frequent question I am asked at shows and demos is how do I get my small deer hair bodies so tight. Well heres my secret in full step by step tuition.
This is one of my very early patterns the deer hair pupa that was inspired by a meeting with the late Gary LaFontaine many years ago and his own deep sparkle pupa pattern. The first requirement for tight bodies is the correct deer hair.
Although I acquire most of my own spinning hair from late season hunting here in Norway the best hair I can recommend is the spinning hair from Natures Spirit and the natural roe deer hair from Veniard’s. The hair should be dense, straight with little under fur and fine well marked tips. Although the tips are not required for this pattern they are useful to have for sculpting nicely marked wings on others.
You will also need a hair stacker, a good hair comb, a Wilkinson razor blade, I specify Wilkinson because I have tried many cheaper blades over the years but it’s a false economy, I have found none that are as sharp and last as long. You will need a lighter and some fine sand paper.
1
Secure your dry fly hook in the vice with the hook shank horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread and cover the whole hook shank.
3
Cut and clean a small bunch of deer hair by combing out all the under fur and shorter hairs. Stack this bunch not by the tips as usual but by the butt ends as shown.
4
Tie this bunch in just a little down the hook bend. Make sure that each wrap of tying thread is tight and doesn’t trap any hairs unevenly.
5
Repeat this technique with another bunch of hair.
6
Take a hair packer, the one I am using hear is a Brassie on larger patterns I use Pat Cohen’s Fugly packer. Place this over the hook shank and push and twist at the same time, you may need to hold your thumb and finger of your left hand at the rear of the hair so you don’t push it along the hook shank. This will pack the hairs tight into each other.
7
Once the required amount of body is covered with tightly packed deer hair, whip finish and remove your tying thread. Now comb the hair to release and free any hairs that may not be standing 90 degrees from the hook shank, this is important for perfect results.
8
Take a razor blade between your finger and thumb and bend it to the shape of the body and slowly push it through the deer hair from the front towards the rear of the hook. If you haven’t done this before take your time it takes a little practice.
9
The body at this stage doesn’t have to be perfect, just sculpt it to a basic body shape. You can use your scissors here too if you feel more comfortable using them.
10
Now take your lighter and carefully ‘singe’ the deer hair body, take your time or the whole thing will go up in smoke if you get too close and burn it! This will even out the whole body.
11
Take a piece of sand paper and carefully sand off the soot and smooth out any un-even parts.
12
The result should look something like this, and feel rather like a cork.
13
To imitate the gas bubble of the hatching pupa’s shuck I like to use Spirit Rivers UV2 Sparkle Yarn.
14
You only need a small amount of the yarn.
15
Split your tying thread and spin the yarn into a dubbing brush.
16
Wind the yarn to form a vail over the whole surface of the deer hair body.
17
Sin a little hares hear hair into another dubbing brush.
18
Wrap this on as a collar make sure that its spiky and buggy.
19
Take a natural beige CdC hackle and place in a magic tool clip. Spin this into another dubbing loop and wind at the head of the fly again as a vail over the body.
20
Whip finish and your deer hair pupa is finished.
PS.
As a note on fishing this pattern I find the most effective methods is in combination with a floating line and a heavy sinking leader. When pulled it will dive and float slowly up to the surface when you stop the retrieve, creating the desired affect of a ascending pupa.
The royal member of the Wulff pack
The Royal Wulff
As the name says, the man behind the famous series of patterns was Lee Wulff and the most famous of all is the Wulff that is Royal!
The fattest pattern of the Wulff family is just as good fished as a searching pattern as it is as a adult may fly. It just presses all the right buttons, It floats high, its visible even at a great distance in rough water and looks like a mouthful of whatever trout are eating. Although a great pattern, I hardly ever see people tying it!
Why is that? It’s a cracking looking fly. Don’t they think it works? or do they find it too difficult to tie? It is a fly that proportions are everything, get one of them wrong and the whole fly looks like the victim of a cruel medical experiment. So take your time in choosing and preparing your materials before starting and preserver to get the wing size and shape right first. Once you have these right the rest is easier to measure and tie correctly.
Hook: Mustad http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/na/product.php?id=175
Thread: Black
Wing: Whit calf tail hair
Tail: Moose body hair http://www.funkyflytying.co.uk/shop/categories/moose/138/
Body: Bright red silk floss and peacock herl
Hackle: Red brown cock hackle
Head: Black
1
Secure your 1XF (1 extra fine ) dry fly hook in the vice with the hook shank horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread just behind the hook eye and wrap it about half way along the hook shank.
3
Take a white calf tail and separate a large bunch of hair. Tease the bunch out from the rest of the tail at 90 degrees from the tail bone as shown. This will even the tips of the hair. Cut off taking care not to damage the rest of the tail.
4
For stacking calf tail I like to use a super large stacker. This keeps the hair loose which evens the tips better.
5
Stack the tips. Remove from the stacker and brush out any short hair and under fur. Stack once more.
6
You should now have a nice bunch of even tipped tail hair for the wings.
7
The wing should be a little longer than the hook shank.
8
Tie the wing in on top of the hook shank about a quarter of the way behind the hook eye as shown.
9
Once tied in trim off the excess at an angle tapering back towards the hook bend. Lift the hair and make a few tight turns of tying thread under the front of the hair.
10
Separate the bunch into two even bunches and make a few figure of eight wraps of tying thread to separate them.
11
Now make a few circular wrap of tying thread at the base of each wing as you would on a parachute post. This will stiffen the wings and hold them in place.
12
Once the wings are secure and in the correct position (90 degrees ) from the hook shank, apply a drop of varnish to the wing base wrappings.
13
Now tie down the remaining calf tail hair towards the tail.
14
Select some nice moose body hair, preferably straight, dark, and stiff with nice tapers.
15
Cut a bunch of about 20 hairs. Remove the under fur, short hairs and any hairs that are not black.
16
Stack these in a small hair stacker so the tips are nice and even.
17
The tail should be the same length as the hook shank tie the tail in and try to keep the body relatively even. The wraps of tying thread at the tail base should not be too tight, this will over flair the tail making it fan out.
18
Select three long strands of peacock herl. These should be tied in at the base of the tail by the tips of the herl.
19 Run your tying thread up the hook shank. You can if wished keep your tying thread at the tail base and twist it with the herl before wrapping to make it stronger and more durable.
20
Make a few turns of peacock herl, the amount can vary after what size hook you are using. And tie off.
21
Wrap the remaining herl with tying thread along the hook shank to the forward position of the next herl segment, this should be just over half way along the hook shank.
22
Select some bright red silk floss.Real silk floss is much easier to use than a synthetic floss!
23
Tie in a length of floss as shown.
24
Carefully wrap the floss over the abdomen taking care not to twist it, this is worth taking time over if you haven’t done much floss work before. Once you have built a nice even tapered abdomen tie off the floss at the base of the peacock herl.
25
Again make a few wraps of peacock herl a little thicker this time and tie off.
26
Select and prepare a couple of red/brown hackles. One hackle unless a saddle hackle will not be enough to give the dense sense of hackle. The hackles should be a little longer than the hook gape but a little shorter than the wing hight.
27
Tie in your hackles tight into the peacock herl at 90 degrees from the hook shank.
28
Now wrap your hackles one at a time taking care not to cross them. try and keep the hackle fibres 90 degrees from the shank, both above and below. Tie off the hackles and whip finish.
29
Finally give the head of the fly a drop of varnish.
Tying the willow fly
Giving em the Needle
One of the late autumns highlights is great hatches of needle flies Leuctra, especially here on the big grayling rivers of mid Norway. Although the hatches begin as early as June and run until November the climax is in august- september. These small stoneflies can be difficult to see on the best of days, especially amongst the autumns fall of floating foliage, and remember they crawl onto land to hatch, so you will always find more on the bank, than on the water. Because they hatch and mate on land its the females that are of the greatest interest, when they return to the water to lay eggs. Earlier this year in late august we experienced great grayling fishing on the river Glomma here in Norway. Although we quickly realized what was on the graylings menu, the greatest challenge was making a clean drift without any drag through the many differing surface currents between the rod and the feeding fish. Each differing current pulling and holding the line at different speeds This we overcome with, when possible by presenting the fly directly into the feeding window of rising fish, keeping the drift short but effective! The other was to fish directly up-stream while wading and using a parachute cast ( a simple cast that is made by quickly dipping the tip of the rod fast down towards the water at the end of the cast before the line hits the water) this causes the line to fall in a wavy snake like form, making mending the line as it drifts back towards you easier without drag.
I developed this pattern using a Marc Petitjean technique that he calls twist and wrap. This simple but effective CdC technique can be used for most dry fly bodies, for larger bodies you can use two or more CdC hackles. But care must be taken that only one twist is made for each wrap of hackle, if more twists are made, it over stresses the delicate CdC hackle stem and may cause it to break. Making one twists after each wrap distributes the stress along the whole length of the hackle and not concentrated at the thinest point as when twisted whole. You should also brush the fibers of the hackle down the stem with your finger and thumb with each wrap, so they are caught against the hook shank and give the segmented body volume.
The wing should lie tight to the body and flat, it should also extend a little further than the rear of the body. The wings on the natural are a dark brown but the blue dun wing makes this pattern more visible when fishing. This is important when fishing for grayling as the rises can be extremely difficult to see if at all, especially when fishing a ripple, so keeping your eye on the fly is paramount. You can also tie this pattern spent by adding more wings at 90 degrees to the hook shank. When spinning the CdC for the thorax and legs it should be a light open dubbing brush, too much CdC here will make the fly fish too high. Stoneflies lie much deeper in the surface than may and caddis flies.
Hook Mustad R50 # 16
Thread Black
Body Dark brown or black CdC hackle
Wing Blue dun CdC hackle
Thorax Dark brown or black CdC hackle
1
Secure your hook in the vice with the shank horizontal.
2
Lay a foundation of tying thread over the whole hook shank.
3
Select a large CdC hackle and strip off the down fibers at the base of the stem.
4
Attach the hackle stem to the hook shank with two loose turns of tying thread.
5
Pull the hackle through the tying thread loops and tighten the tying thread just as you get to the end to catch and secure the hackle tip.
6
Wind your tying thread forward towards the hook eye and twist the CdC hackle twice so that the fibers twist around the hackle stem. DONT try and twist any more than twice or the hackle will break!
7
With each turn of hackle make one twist to form the segmented body. When the whole hook shank is covered forward to the thorax tie off and remove the excess hackle.
8
With straight scissors trim off all the fibers.
9
Your segmented needle fly body should now look like this.
10
Select a blue dun CdC hackle and trim off the point end of the hackle as shown.
11
Take a 1 cm length of a fine plastic tube-fly, tube and thread it over the end of the hackle. When pulled down over the hackle this will form the wonder wing and hold it in the correct position ready for tying in.
12
Place the wing on top of the hook shank and secure with a few wraps of tying thread close to the tube.
13
Trim off the stripped point of the hackle and remove the tube.
14
Trim off the excess hackle and tie down over the thorax.
15
Load a magic tool with only one side of a CdC hackle. You dont need much CdC for this!
16
Split your tying thread or spin the hackle in a dubbing loop keeping the fibers as long as possible, they can always be trimmed down. Wrap the CdC hackle forward covering the thorax.
17
Holding the fibers back make a few turns of tying thread to form the head.
18
Now pull two long CdC fibers forward and tie down. Whip finish.
19
Remove the tying thread. Spin your fly up side down and trim off the CdC fibers level with the rear body on the underside. Make sure that you keep some of the side fibers for the legs and antennae
20
Your finished CdC needle fly.
21
Underside with the segmented CdC body and the correct profile.
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
Fly tying course # 1 Getting started
If you know anyone who is starting to tie flies or wishes too, please send them a link to this course or at least let them know about it. My aim is to get as many people, especially youngsters tying flies. Thanks in advance.
This on line fly tying course will be dedicated to showing those of you who are new to fly tying all the correct moves and techniques for successful tying. Once learned, these techniques will not only make tying more fun, but you will also find with time and practice that each stage will become quicker and more natural for you, resulting in more and better flies.
The correct way to secure a hook in the vice.
This may sound like we are truly beginning at the basics, but all these small tips will help you to learn the right way. If you make a habit of following them every time you tie, you will succeed as a proficient fly tyer. I will be posting 4 or 5 new fly tying lessons each week, so try and practice so you are ready for the next one. If you hit a wall, dont give up! Try again and if you really get stuck, send me a message and I will try and help you out. GOOD LUCK!
Most modern fly tying vices have a tension screw and lever. Although some models have the tension screw mounted as a collar just in front of the lever or behind the jaws.
This is the correct way to insert and secure a hook.
If you would like to receive a message when the next stage of the course is published, just add your e mail address at the top right of this page. Thanks, The feather bender.
1.
Firstly you must open the tension lever on the jaws and offer the hook being used, up into the open jaws. If the opening between the jaws is not wide enough, open the the jaws tension screw until the hook fits snugly.
2.
Once you have positioned the hook correctly, at the base of the hook bend and just behind the barb in the vice jaws, adjust the jaw tension screw again but this time tightening it until it holds the hook firmly in position.
3.
Now with your right hand carefully adjust the hook shank until horizontal. You can now apply full pressure to the jaws by tightening the tension lever.
4.
You can check if the hook is secured correctly by plucking it, like a jews harp, with your thumb nail. If it makes a “ping” sound you have done everything right. If it moves in the jaws, start again until secure.
5.
Wrong:
In many older fly tying books they recommend that you secure the hook so the point is hidden in the jaws. This was to avoid catching and damaging your tying thread, but this also restricts tying access to the rear of the hook shank. Once you have learned to avoid catching your thread on the hook point it’s not an issue.
If you have any questions about fly tying, techniques, hooks or materials please post them here and I will do my very best to answer them quickly.
Edson Tiger
The modifide Edson Tiger with the Brass Eyes.
I have had some questions about the Edson brass eyes and where they can be obtained. All the info is in this article alone with contact and purchase details.
One of the great classic American streamers, developed by the well know fly tier Bill Edson in 1929. The Edson Tiger dark & light where influenced by a streamer called “Dick´s Killer” that Edson received from fellow fly tier Dick Eastman of New Hampshire in 1928. The original patterns tied and sold by Edson where with jungle cock cheeks, but later he replaced the jungle cock with small teardrop brass plates which was apparently done, not only because of the increasing price of the already expensive jungle cock but also difficulty in obtaining a regular supply of it. But soon after the introduction of the metal cheeks they became so popular with his customers that they replaced the jungle cock on all his streamer patterns. But truth be told, the metal cheeks added a whole new dimension to how the patterns fished. With extra flash and weight in his streamers, there where few other patterns at this time that offered this. Although this pattern is almost a century old it still accounts for many a trout and has proven an excellent late season pattern for salt water sea trout fishing here in Scandinavia. A couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Helm, who had for sale, the Edson Brass eyes.
Chris Helm doing his thing at the Dutch fly fair
If you contact Chris and purchase these eyes to add that extra dimension to you Tigers they do need a little work doing to them before they are ready to tie in. Using a pair of sharp wire cutters, these are not difficult to cut, they are made from brass after all, but sharp cutters make for a neater finish. You need to trim the side of the eye that is square into a point. Once this is done I use emery paper to sand the edges of the point to a fine taper, otherwise you will get a distinct mark under the tying thread where the the eye is secured.
Hook: Standard streamer # 6
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Tail: Barred wood duck
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Yellow buck tail
Topping: Red hackle fibers
Cheeks: Jungle cock or Edson Brass Eyes
Head: Yellow varnish
Secure your streamer hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread and run this along the hook shank. Tie in a length of flat gold tinsel for the tag, this should be just three or four turns.
Once you have tied off your tag and removed the surplus you can tie in three or four long strands of peacock herl at the base of the tag.
Select a wood duck flank feather with good barring and cut out a slip, line up all the bars if uneven and fold in half. This will give barring on each side of the tail. Tie off.
Run the tying thread back to the tail and twist together the peacock herl and tying thread to strengthen it and wind on to form the body. Tie off the peacock herl.
Select and clean a small bunch of yellow buck tailf or the wing. Stack the hair in a hair stacker. This should be no longer than the tail end.
The topping is a small bunch of red hackle fibers tied in on top of the wing as shown. It should be approximately one-third of the total wing length.
Now tie in the jungle cock cheeks, one each side. Make sure that both jungle cock eye´s are equal in size and well balanced. Whip finish.
All that is left to be done now to finish your EdsonnTiger is varnish the head yellow.
The Eyes are available along with a good
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.
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.
Edson Tiger
The modifide Edson Tiger with the Brass Eyes.
One of the great classic American streamers, developed by the well know fly tier Bill Edson in 1929. The Edson Tiger dark & light where influenced by a streamer called “Dick´s Killer” that Edson received from fellow fly tier Dick Eastman of New Hampshire in 1928. The original patterns tied and sold by Edson where with jungle cock cheeks, but later he replaced the jungle cock with small teardrop brass plates which was apparently done, not only because of the increasing price of the already expensive jungle cock but also difficulty in obtaining a regular supply of it. But soon after the introduction of the metal cheeks they became so popular with his customers that they replaced the jungle cock on all his streamer patterns. But truth be told, the metal cheeks added a whole new dimension to how the patterns fished. With extra flash and weight in his streamers, there where few other patterns at this time that offered this. Although this pattern is almost a century old it still accounts for many a trout and has proven an excellent late season pattern for salt water sea trout fishing here in Scandinavia. A couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Helm, who had for sale, the Edson Brass eyes.
Chris Helm doing his thing at the Dutch fly fair
If you contact Chris and purchase these eyes to add that extra dimension to you Tigers they do need a little work doing to them before they are ready to tie in. Using a pair of sharp wire cutters, these are not difficult to cut, they are made from brass after all, but sharp cutters make for a neater finish. You need to trim the side of the eye that is square into a point. Once this is done I use emery paper to sand the edges of the point to a fine taper, otherwise you will get a distinct mark under the tying thread where the the eye is secured.
Hook: Standard streamer # 6
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Tail: Barred wood duck
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Yellow buck tail
Topping: Red hackle fibers
Cheeks: Jungle cock or Edson Brass Eyes
Head: Yellow varnish
Secure your streamer hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread and run this along the hook shank. Tie in a length of flat gold tinsel for the tag, this should be just three or four turns.
Once you have tied off your tag and removed the surplus you can tie in three or four long strands of peacock herl at the base of the tag.
Select a wood duck flank feather with good barring and cut out a slip, line up all the bars if uneven and fold in half. This will give barring on each side of the tail. Tie off.
Run the tying thread back to the tail and twist together the peacock herl and tying thread to strengthen it and wind on to form the body. Tie off the peacock herl.
Select and clean a small bunch of yellow buck tailf or the wing. Stack the hair in a hair stacker. This should be no longer than the tail end.
The topping is a small bunch of red hackle fibers tied in on top of the wing as shown. It should be approximately one-third of the total wing length.
Now tie in the jungle cock cheeks, one each side. Make sure that both jungle cock eye´s are equal in size and well balanced. Whip finish.
All that is left to be done now to finish your EdsonnTiger is varnish the head yellow.
The Eyes are available along with a good
The word has it, that the worm is 14 days early this year!
The rag worm fly is without doubt one of the most difficult patterns to tie, but the rewards can be great!
The ragworms wedding as it is known, is called the springs most exciting adventure for the sea trout fisherman. And if you are lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time, there is no danger for you not connecting with fish. Although ragworms are on the sea trouts menu the whole year round, its in the spring under the annual swarming that the sea trout will go on a feeding frenzy and gorge themselves on the worms.
The real deal.
There are many patterns known to sea trout fishermen to imitate the worm, some better than others, some simple to tie and some, not so simple to tie. I believe the original pattern from the tying bench of innovative Swedish fly tyer Robert Lai is still for me, without a doubt the best. Robert´s pattern is probably one of the most challenging patterns, many fly tyers will ever learn to tie, but the rewards are great. No other worm pattern swims and pulsates in the water like his, imitating the natural swimming worm as closely as humanly possible with feather and steel.
Although we are not 100% sure, and thats not for lack of theories! But the spring swarming is due to the worms spawning season and seems to be triggered by two main factors. A rise in water temperature 6-7 degrees, and the arrival of a new lunar phase, (full moon) from anywhere around mid March and into April. The female ragworm broods her eggs within her long flattened body and as the eggs develop her body becomes brittle and eventually splits, releasing the eggs. The male ragworms are attracted to the egg laying by following pheromones, that are also released by the females. After spawning, both male and female ragworms die.
Ragg worm swarming can be very local in most situations, and it’s not easy to know where. Then you should look to the sky, beacause the greedy and forever hungry sea gulls can show you the way. If you can see that screaming sea gulls are flocking and circle around a area of coast, this shows you where to fish – just like the pelicans when tarpon fishing. Consider also when the strong spring sun has been high in the sky all day and warming up the shallow’s, especially with dark muddy bottoms. Most sea trout fishermen, including myself, prefer sight fishing during the day looking for rises as you fish systematically, possible holding spots in small bays and inlets as the tide rises and falls. But if you are, as most sea trout fishermen, hoping to connect with larger fish that are normally wiser and more sceptical about entering the shallower coastal waters during the hours of daylight. These shallow areas retain the days heat during the first couple of hours of darkness. It’s during this period that larger sea trout dare to venture into the shallows to feed. You should fish at least a couple of hours into the night.
The pattern I have tied here started off, 15 years ago, as a direct copy of Robert´s original pattern, but over the years it has changed a little, but this had more to do with receding memory on my part, than anything to do with developing the pattern. But the basic original principal is still there and the pattern still works. There are a few rules one must follow when tying this pattern. The tail hook should be small and light in weight. Because the worm has an extremely flexible body, a larger and heavier tail hook has a tendency to “Hang-up” on the body under casting, which results in you fishing a ball of marabou with the hook out of-line. A heavier tail hook also reduces the animation and swimming motion of the worm by restricting the tail from lifting when the bead head sinks. Another point is the central core of the fly, not the loop that you spun the marabou onto but the Dyneema spine that holds the front hook to the tail hook. This is Alfa and Omega regarding the success of tying this pattern. If the spine is not securely attached to the front hook, you can risk loosing, not only the business end of your worm but also fish. So make sure that you tie this in as well as you can and don´t be afraid to use super glue. The Latin name for the common ragworm is Nereis diversicolor, meaning they are quite variable in colour, but typically reddish brown and turning more on the green side during the spawning season. So the rule for colour is that there is no rule, you can tie the worm in any colour you like! Personally I have found the two most successful colours for me are the one shown here and bright orange. And don´t forget that ragworms are on the sea trout menu the whole year, so don´t restrict your fishing with it just to the spring, it´s also a deadly pattern for regular trout fishing.
Hook Tail: Mustad Shrimp C47SD # 8
Hook Head: Mustad Shrimp C47SD # 6
Tying Thread: Dyneema
Central Core: Dyneema
Tail: Black and Olive brown marabou
Body: Black and Olive brown marabou
Head: Brass or Tungsten bead
1
Secure your salt water # 8 tail hook in the vice.
2
Cover the hook with a foundation of Dyneema tying thread. I use Dyneema because it is salt water resistant and weight for weight stronger than quality steel.
3
Select some fine tapered olive and black marabou and tie in the tail. Colour your Dyneema with a black waterproof felt pen.
4
Load two paper clips or a Marc Petitjean magic tool, one with black marabou and one with olive. Make sure that the marabou fibres are not too long.
5
Once you have loaded your paper clips make a dubbing loop that is 2.5 times the length of your paper clips. Make sure that you dubbing loop begins tight against the tail of the fly. Colour the dubbing loop black with a waterproof felt pen.
6
Holding the loop open with your left hand place in the black marabou.
7
Now you have to take care! Once the black marabou is trapped in between the dubbing loop make sure you dont release the tension. Otherwise all the marabou will fall out.
8
Whilst keeping the tension in the first marabou by holding the dyneema loop with your left forefinger and thumb place in the olive marabou approximately 1 cm further down the loop. Now retain the tension in the loop and let the bottom half hang over your forefinger. Spin the bottom half of the loop tight.
9
Once you have spun the bottom half, while keeping the tension in the loop, lift and pull your dubbing spinner off your finger and the upper half of the loop will spin automatically, catching the black marabou. You can now spin the whole loop to tighten the marabou securely.
10
While holding the loop out stretched and tight use an old tooth brush (not a metal dubbing brush! this will fray and weaken your Dyneema) to open out any trapped marabou fibres.
11
Hang your dubbing loop in a material spring or clip, so that it doesn´t unwind while you are working on the rest of the fly. Using a even stronger Dyneema, cut a 30 cm length and double it. Place the looped end through the tail hook eye as shown.
12
Now thread the two ends of the core Dyneema through the loop in the hook eye.
13
And pull tight. You can now place a little drop of super glue on the knot.
14
Colour the core Dyneema with a black waterproof felt pen and then lie it down on top of the spun dubbing loop.
15
While holding the Dyneema core and the dubbing loop in your right hand, catch the centre of the dubbing loop with the hook end of a whip finish tool.
16
Fold the dubbing loop over as shown towards the tail hook.
17
While holding the dubbing spinner in place with your left hand remove the whip finish tool from the loop. You will now see the loop spin automatically together. Secure the dubbing loop to the tail hook by tying down a small section, and then folding over the dyneema and tying down again (see stage 23). Repeat this until you are sure it is secure. Remove the access dyneema tying thread and carefully apply a drop of super glue to the whippings . Taking care not to get it on the marabou.
18
Find the core loop again and attach your whip finish tool. Now you should be able to slide the marabou dubbing loop down the core a little. Remove the hook from your vice.
19
Place a bead onto the # 6 shrimp hook and secure in the vice. Once in the vice place a few wrapping of lead wire behind the bead head. This extra weight gives a much better swimming action.
20
Using your thumb nail push the lead wire into the bead head.
21
Attach your tying thread and secure the lead wire and bead head.
22
Tie in the core of the fly as shown.
23
Once the first part of the core is attached apply a drop of super glue.
24
Fold over the core and tie down again. Apply another small drop of super glue.
25
Once you have secured the core slide the dubbing loop up and tie this down. Once you are happy that everything is in place apply another small drop of super glue.
26
Move your tying thread to the rear of the hook shaft and make another dubbing loop. Don´t forget to colour the dyneema black. Spin in some olive marabou.
27
Wind on the last dubbing loop, making sure that you stroke the marabou fibres back with each turn.
28
Take a few black marabou fibres and tie these in over the olive ones. Whip finish and apply a tiny drop of super glue through the eye of the bead.
29
Cut off the point of the front hook with a strong pair of pliers. Be careful with your eyes when doing this as the point comes off like a bullet.
Proof of the pudding!
Another video tutorial for the Melt Glue Zonker or Virtual Minnow
Tomorrow, a good freind who works as a camera man for NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Company) will help me rig a perminent fly tying Video set-up in my studio, so as soon as its finished I will start producing fly tying Video tutorials several times a week. In the meantime, heres one of my old ones.
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognised the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet 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. This melt glue body technique gives the zonker a new life. If viewed by a fish in reflected light the shine and flashing of the maylar mixed with the animation of the pulsating fur strip, makes it a first class bait fish attractor pattern. But when viewed by a fish in a back-lit situation ( in silhouette ) this pattern really comes to life, with the light penetrating through the transparent melt glue / maylar body and fur guard hairs.
Hook: Mustad S74S SS Salt water R74 freshwater # 6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=195
Under body: Melt glue
Over Body: Mylar tubeing
Thread: Dyneema
Wing/tail: Fur zonker strip
Eyes: Prizma tape eyes.
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/
Fly tying course # 1 Getting started
Hi, due to the popularity of the fly tying course I have decided to publish all 20 courses again, so if you know anyone who would like to learn to tie flies or is just getting started please let them know about the course and share the link with your fly tying forums and other fly tying friends. I will be posting one course each day until the 5th January.
This on line fly tying course will be dedicated to showing those of you who are new to fly tying all the correct moves and techniques for successful tying. Once learned, these techniques will not only make tying more fun, but you will also find with time and practice that each stage will become quicker and more natural for you, resulting in more and better flies.
The correct way to secure a hook in the vice.
This may sound like we are truly beginning at the basics, but all these small tips will help you to learn the right way. If you make a habit of following them every time you tie, you will succeed as a proficient fly tyer. I will be posting 4 or 5 new fly tying lessons each week, so try and practice so you are ready for the next one. If you hit a wall, dont give up! Try again and if you really get stuck, send me a message and I will try and help you out. GOOD LUCK!
Most modern fly tying vices have a tension screw and lever. Although some models have the tension screw mounted as a collar just in front of the lever or behind the jaws.
This is the correct way to insert and secure a hook.
If you would like to receive a message when the next stage of the course is published, just add your e mail address at the top right of this page. Thanks, The feather bender.
1.
Firstly you must open the tension lever on the jaws and offer the hook being used, up into the open jaws. If the opening between the jaws is not wide enough, open the the jaws tension screw until the hook fits snugly.
2.
Once you have positioned the hook correctly, at the base of the hook bend and just behind the barb in the vice jaws, adjust the jaw tension screw again but this time tightening it until it holds the hook firmly in position.
3.
Now with your right hand carefully adjust the hook shank until horizontal. You can now apply full pressure to the jaws by tightening the tension lever.
4.
You can check if the hook is secured correctly by plucking it, like a jews harp, with your thumb nail. If it makes a “ping” sound you have done everything right. If it moves in the jaws, start again until secure.
5.
Wrong:
In many older fly tying books they recommend that you secure the hook so the point is hidden in the jaws. This was to avoid catching and damaging your tying thread, but this also restricts tying access to the rear of the hook shank. Once you have learned to avoid catching your thread on the hook point it’s not an issue.
If you have any questions about fly tying, techniques, hooks or materials please post them here and I will do my very best to answer them quickly.
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.
Deer hair daddy
Many daddy patterns are somewhat delicate and easily damaged, be it by fish, or even prolonged casting, and general ware and tare. Here’s a pattern that show you how to make your daddy’s not only more resillient, but also with added float ability.
Tipulidae or Daddy long legs as they are more commonly known, are a familiar sight both on and off the water more or less the whole summer. There are in fact several hundred species of daddy’s from just a couple of mm to over 40mm long. Although most species of daddy are terrestrial there are a few that are aquatic. Daddy’s are remarkably poor fliers and once airbourne are largely at the mercy of the wind and where it takes them, being forced to crash land on the water, blowing across the waters surface surface like tumble weed. Trailing their legs behind them, in some cases even making a bow wave as they blow and skate across the surface.
The extended body method that is illustrated here is a good way of creating suitable sized bodies that can also represent other larger bodied insects such as dragon flies, mayflies and of course daddy long legs, without using larger hooks, that will in turn introduce more weight, which is inaapropriate for patterns that are intended to float.
As for the deer hair make sure that it is the best spinning hair from the winter coat. Dont just try the natural colours for the bodies of daddy’s try bright attractor colours such as bright green and yellow, these will make the difference when there are lots of daddy’s on the water and add an attractor element.
Deer hair daddy
Hook: Mustad C53SNP-BR # 12-6
Tying thread: Dyneema waxed with Veniards PFTW http://www.veniard.com/product2977/section9/
Body: Spun and clipped deer hair (winter coat)
Legs: Pheasant tail fibers
Wing & Head: Spun and clipped deer hair
1
Secure your curved nymph / terrestrial hook in the vice.
2
Cover the hook shank with tying thread a little down into the bend.
3
At the tail of the fly make a dubbing loop. Its important that you make this loop with doubling your tying thread and not splitting it. The deer hair is quite dense and needs the strength of a double loop to spin it correctly! Wrap your tying thread out of the way behind the hook eye.
4
If you are using Dyneema or another gel spun thread, you will need to wax it. This will give better purchase on the deer hair when spun.
5
Place a length of deer hair, from the winter coat in a magic tool or a bull dog clip and cut off the hide. Place the hair in the dubbing loop.
6
The deer hair should have at least 1 cm. through the loop on the cut side.
7
Spin your dubbing loop until the deer hair becomes an even dubbing brush.
8
Wind on the deer hair brush as you would a regular hackle, making sure to brush the hair back with each turn. Tie off the dubbing loop about 1 cm. behind the hook eye.
9
Before you start trimming the deer hair brush out and trapped hairs with a stiff tooth brush.
10
Now make a few initial trimming cuts with the scissors too form the basic body shape.
11
Trim the remaining body hair.
12
With a pair of finer scissors trim the body to the required body shape. Now with a lighter singe the trimmed body, DO NOT BURN!
13
After singeing the clipped deer hair body will tighten and become very even.
14
Turn your fly up side down in the vice.
15
Tie the joints in six or seven pheasant tail fibers for the legs while still on the tail feather.
16
Place the finished legs in a magic clip and trim off the tail feather shaft.
17
For this dubbing loop you need only split your thread. Place the pheasant tail legs in the loop and spin the bobbin. The legs will flare in all directions.
18
Wind on the legs.
19
Cut a medium bunch of deer hair and remove the underfur. Stack the deer hair if wished in a hair stacker and tie in as a wing on top of the body as shown. Its important that you use enough deer hair in the wing too little and the fly will not fish the correct way, so more is better.
20
The buts of the deer hair will flare and form a muddler type head.
21
Turn the fly the correct way again in the vice, whip finish and trim the underside of the muddler head, taking care not to remove too much wing.
22
Once the head is trimmed you have your finished deer hair daddy. Taking care you can also singe the head of the fly as with the body. With a balanced wing and head this pattern will land up side down every time.
23
The fished deer hair daddy with a singed head. This pattern floats like a cork and can be stripped through the surface if wished like a muddler.
Edson Tiger
The modifide Edson Tiger with the Brass Eyes.
One of the great classic American streamers, developed by the well know fly tier Bill Edson in 1929. The Edson Tiger dark & light where influenced by a streamer called “Dick´s Killer” that Edson received from fellow fly tier Dick Eastman of New Hampshire in 1928. The original patterns tied and sold by Edson where with jungle cock cheeks, but later he replaced the jungle cock with small teardrop brass plates which was apparently done, not only because of the increasing price of the already expensive jungle cock but also difficulty in obtaining a regular supply of it. But soon after the introduction of the metal cheeks they became so popular with his customers that they replaced the jungle cock on all his streamer patterns. But truth be told, the metal cheeks added a whole new dimension to how the patterns fished. With extra flash and weight in his streamers, there where few other patterns at this time that offered this. Although this pattern is almost a century old it still accounts for many a trout and has proven an excellent late season pattern for salt water sea trout fishing here in Scandinavia. A couple of years ago while tying at the Dutch fly fair, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Helm, who had for sale, the Edson Brass eyes.
Chris Helm doing his thing at the Dutch fly fair
If you contact Chris and purchase these eyes to add that extra dimension to you Tigers they do need a little work doing to them before they are ready to tie in. Using a pair of sharp wire cutters, these are not difficult to cut, they are made from brass after all, but sharp cutters make for a neater finish. You need to trim the side of the eye that is square into a point. Once this is done I use emery paper to sand the edges of the point to a fine taper, otherwise you will get a distinct mark under the tying thread where the the eye is secured.
Hook: Standard streamer # 6
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Tail: Barred wood duck
Body: Peacock herl
Wing: Yellow buck tail
Topping: Red hackle fibers
Cheeks: Jungle cock or Edson Brass Eyes
Head: Yellow varnish
Secure your streamer hook in the vice. Attach your tying thread and run this along the hook shank. Tie in a length of flat gold tinsel for the tag, this should be just three or four turns.
Once you have tied off your tag and removed the surplus you can tie in three or four long strands of peacock herl at the base of the tag.
Select a wood duck flank feather with good barring and cut out a slip, line up all the bars if uneven and fold in half. This will give barring on each side of the tail. Tie off.
Run the tying thread back to the tail and twist together the peacock herl and tying thread to strengthen it and wind on to form the body. Tie off the peacock herl.
Select and clean a small bunch of yellow buck tailf or the wing. Stack the hair in a hair stacker. This should be no longer than the tail end.
The topping is a small bunch of red hackle fibers tied in on top of the wing as shown. It should be approximately one-third of the total wing length.
Now tie in the jungle cock cheeks, one each side. Make sure that both jungle cock eye´s are equal in size and well balanced. Whip finish.
All that is left to be done now to finish your EdsonnTiger is varnish the head yellow.
The Eyes are available along with a good
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/
Fly tying course # 1 Getting started
This on line fly tying course will be dedicated to showing those of you who are new to fly tying all the correct moves and techniques for successful tying. Once learned, these techniques will not only make tying more fun, but you will also find with time and practice that each stage will become quicker and more natural for you, resulting in more and better flies.
The correct way to secure a hook in the vice.
This may sound like we are truly beginning at the basics, but all these small tips will help you to learn the right way. If you make a habit of following them every time you tie, you will succeed as a proficient fly tyer. I will be posting 4 or 5 new fly tying lessons each week, so try and practice so you are ready for the next one. If you hit a wall, dont give up! Try again and if you really get stuck, send me a message and I will try and help you out. GOOD LUCK!
Most modern fly tying vices have a tension screw and lever. Although some models have the tension screw mounted as a collar just in front of the lever or behind the jaws.
This is the correct way to insert and secure a hook.
If you would like to receive a message when the next stage of the course is published, just add your e mail address at the top right of this page. Thanks, The feather bender.
1.
Firstly you must open the tension lever on the jaws and offer the hook being used, up into the open jaws. If the opening between the jaws is not wide enough, open the the jaws tension screw until the hook fits snugly.
2.
Once you have positioned the hook correctly, at the base of the hook bend and just behind the barb in the vice jaws, adjust the jaw tension screw again but this time tightening it until it holds the hook firmly in position.
3.
Now with your right hand carefully adjust the hook shank until horizontal. You can now apply full pressure to the jaws by tightening the tension lever.
4.
You can check if the hook is secured correctly by plucking it, like a jews harp, with your thumb nail. If it makes a “ping” sound you have done everything right. If it moves in the jaws, start again until secure.
5.
Wrong:
In many older fly tying books they recommend that you secure the hook so the point is hidden in the jaws. This was to avoid catching and damaging your tying thread, but this also restricts tying access to the rear of the hook shank. Once you have learned to avoid catching your thread on the hook point it’s not an issue.
If you have any questions about fly tying, techniques, hooks or materials please post them here and I will do my very best to answer them quickly.
Another video tutorial for the Melt Glue Zonker or Virtual Minnow
The original zonker pattern was tied by the American fly tyer Dan Byford in the 1970s and was quickly recognised the world over, as a big fish fly and extremely easy to tie, yet 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. This melt glue body technique gives the zonker a new life. If viewed by a fish in reflected light the shine and flashing of the maylar mixed with the animation of the pulsating fur strip, makes it a first class bait fish attractor pattern. But when viewed by a fish in a back-lit situation ( in silhouette ) this pattern really comes to life, with the light penetrating through the transparent melt glue / maylar body and fur guard hairs.
This is another great baitfish imitation in both reflected and backlight situations.
Hook: Mustad S74S SS Salt water R74 freshwater # 6 http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=195
Under body: Melt glue
Over Body: Mylar tubeing
Thread: Dyneema
Wing/tail: Fur zonker strip
Eyes: Prizma tape eyes.
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.
Dyna King Ultimate Indexer
The Dyna King Ultimate Indexer review:
It all started with the thought of purchasing a new vise for the photography of salt water flies for my new book. I needed one that had full rotation in all directions, horizontally, vertically, up and down and in and out. But I also needed a vice that would look the business with a salt water hook in it in front of the camera. After much research and the exchanging of e mails with fellow tyers around the world, with, I must say mixed responses! I ordered the Dyna King Ultimate Indexer. Dyna King have an excellent reputation in the fly tying world and although I am no stranger to their products, for some strange reason, I have never owned a DK vice. On arrival a few days later I couldn’t wait to try it. This is one good looking vice! After a short while of adjusting and getting use to UI, I was quick to realize that the jaws supplied with the vice where faulty! Could this be right ? I tried and played some more with adjustments but, I couldn’t get a single hook of any size to ‘hold fast’ in the jaws. I am sure you can imagine my disappointment! I contacted Dyna King and relayed my observations, they where quick to respond. New jaws arrived just a few days later.
After tying now for a few weeks with the DKUI, I feel the majority of my initial concerns have been resolved, but there are still a couple of, I feel eliminatory design faults that remain.
1. When adjusting the critical hight of the vice through raising the shaft in the set collar the overall stability of the vise is compromised, thats is to say it ‘rocks’ ever so slightly but annoyingly about 0.5 mm from side to side. Its only when the shaft is entirely inserted into the set collar that it retains stability. Dyna King informed me that this can be resolved by purchasing a extension for the shaft.
2. The base lock screw even when tightened fully isn’t tight enough to secure the vice shaft from swinging slightly if extra pressure is placed on a jawed hook through pulling the tying thread towards or away from you. They also commented on this point and said : To secure the shaft 100% they would have to place a notch in the shaft to accompany the base lock screw.
These two points being noted, the vice is becoming more of a pleasure to work with as I slowly get use to adapting my tying style to using it. Hand crafted out of high grade stainless steel, brass and aluminum the Ultimate indexer is a fine piece of quality engineering.
Dyna King Ultimate Indexer specifications:
Hook range: 22 – 8/0
Jaw tip to end 21.6 cm
Height, Jaw tip to desk 17.8 cm (fully inserted in base collar)
Weight, with Pedestal 3176 g.
Weight, with Clamp 1360 g.
Also included with your vise is simple but precise plastic snap on Centering gauge which allows you to center your hook shank to the axis of vice body rotation.
Instructional DVD featuring Al Beatty demonstrating tying techniques, as well as the features of this vise.
RRP. $ 499.00 http://www.dyna-king.com/
- 360 Rotation and Indexing Feature:
This allows the spindle and jaws to be rotated a full 360 degrees to one of eight stopping points, so the fly can be viewed and tied from every position. The indexer can be released by simply unscrewing the brass indexing knob under the bearing housing.
The bobbin cradle can be positioned into any possible angle required by the tyer.
The upper third of the shaft has a angle adaptor fitted that allows the jaws to be raised and lowered.
The distance of the jaws from the vise body can be adjusted and rotated by loosening and tightening the body friction screw.
