Burrowing Mayfly Nymph
Burrowing Mayfly Nymph
Hook Mustad R73 9671 # 8-12
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Olive ostrich herl
Body Olive brown Antron dubbing
Rib Olive Ostrich herl
Thorax Olive brown Antron dubbing
Wing case Floss or Antron body wool
Legs Olive CdC
Although many nymph patterns today are intended to imitate a much greater spectrum of aquatic foods, rather than the nymphal stage of one specific, this pattern imitates the final nymphal stage of the largest burrowing mayflies Ephemera guttulata (Green Drake) and Ephemera simulans (Brown Drake) and the European relatives Ephemera danica and vulgate.. These nymphs prefer soft organic or sandy and muddy bottoms, where they can live more or less buried for up to several years, only appearing occasionally to feed on decomposing vegetable and plant matter. They have been known to burrow as deep as fifty feet. These large nymphs that range from 12-32 mm in length, can be easily recognised by the breathing gills along the sides of the rear body, and over sized fore legs that are adapted for burrowing. The gills however are not only used for breathing but also function as a ventilation system for the tunnel they burrow keeping water flowing through it, which in turn keeps it open. If the nymph leaves its burrow or stops the undulating movement of the gills, the burrow collapses shortly afterwards. These nymphs, are for most of their life, unavailable for the trout, but one of these on your leader at the correct time can make the difference between great sport and no sport. When the time is right and they leave the safety of their burrows, swimming quickly with an undulating body movement, (something that ostrich herl and CdC imitate beautifully) towards the surface, trout can feed on this ascending nymphal stage for several hours before turning on to the subimago winged stage. The weight that is placed under the thorax of the nymph helps emulate this undulating swimming action when pulled through the water with short pauses.
When it comes to tying these large nymphs your hook choice should reflect the natural body length, so a 3XL or a 4XL hook in a size 8-12 works well. The dubbing used for the rear body and the thorax should be one that absorbs water and not a water repellant dry fly dubbing. Another trick that helps to get the nymph down is after you have tied it on your leader give it a few seconds in the water and then squeeze it hard between your finger and thumb to press out any trapped air that may be caught in the dubbing and CdC. I also like to use a UV treated dubbing and Ostrich herl. Although I have not had the same marked results that show trout prefer the UV patterns in fresh water, unlike the results I have had in salt water, it does no harm in giving the pattern that extra edge that may make a difference. Previously I have used golden pheasant centre tail fibres for the wing case but these have proved to be a little too fragile for the small sharp teeth of trout, so I have substituted it with Antron body wool.
1
Secure your 3 XL or 4XL nymph hook in the vice making sure that its horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread and cover the whole shank until the thread is hanging between the hook barb and point.
3
When it comes to weighting flies I like to use a lead free alternative.
4
Wind on a short length of lead free wire under the thorax, covering approximately one third of the hook shank.
5
Once the lead free wire is wound and packed tight trim off the surplus.
6
For the tails of the nymph you will need some olive ostrich herl, here I like to use a UV treated herl to the the nymph an extra edge.
7
Select three herl’s with even tips. Tie inn the first herl on top centre of the hook shank. Again this should be about one third of the hook shanks length.
8
Now tie in the other two herl’s one each side of the centre tail.
9
Tie down the remaining herl along the whole hook shank and cut away the excess herl.
10
Now select another long herl with nice long fibres for the ribbing that will represent the nymphs gills.
11
Now spin some Antron dubbing tightly onto the tying thread. Make sure that this is tight so the finished body is dense.
12
Continue with the Antron dubbing and build up a tapered rear body along 2/3 of the hook shank.
13
Wind on the ostrich herl as a rib over the rear body part, making sure that the herl fibres stand out at 90 degrees from the hook shank. About 6-7 tight even turns, and tie off at the thorax.
14
Remove the excess herl and carefully trim off the herl fibres, only on top of the body as shown. This is not necessary but gives a little more realistic look to the nymph.
15
The trimmed rear body should now look like this from the side.
16
And like this from above with the gills prominent along each side of the body.
17
Now cut four lengths of floss or Antron body wool and tie these is as shown along the the top of the thorax these will form the wing case later.
18
Trim off the ends of the floss behind the hook eye and tie down. Wind the tying thread back towards the rear body.
19
Dub the whole thorax quite heavily and return the tying thread once again to the junction between the thorax and the rear body. Take care that you leave about 2-3 mm space behind the hook eye to tie off the wing case later.
20
Place a large CdC hackle in a magic tool clip, notice how the CdC fibres taper in length from long on the left side getting shorter to the right.
21
Transfer the CdC to the second Magic tool clip ready for use.
22
Now spin the CdC with the longest fibres at the top of the dubbing loop, these are to be wound in the thorax first for the longest legs.
23
Wind on the CdC dubbing brush in open even turns through the thorax to form the leg hackle.
24
Taking hold off all four pieces of floss, fold them over the thorax and secure with a couple of turns of tying thread. Once the floss is correctly placed pull once again to tighten up the wing case and secure properly with a few more turns of tying thread.
25
Trim off the excess floss and tie down the ends. If you are using Dyneema or another GSP thread you can colour it black with a permanent felt marker.
26
Whip finish and remove the tying thread. Finish off with a drop of varnish.
27
The finished olive mayfly nymph.
28
The finished brown mayfly nymph.
29
The finished grey mayfly nymph.
Tying the Detatched body mayfly
This is a simple but but effective mayfly pattern that fly tyers of any level can tie with a little practice. Once you have masterd this technique all you have to do is change the size and colour to match most mayfly hatches.
The chioce of colours and sizes of fly to be used when tying this pattern is determined by what mayfly you intend to imitate and under what conditions. In still water fishing, trout can be extremly sellective when feeding on mayflies, they have good time to check them out before sucking them in.
Body form: Upholsterers needle
Hook: Standard dry Mustad 94840 # 16-10
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Peccary or moose hair
Body: Flyrite dubbing
Wing: CDC fibres
1
Place the upholsterers needle in the vice. You can use a regular straight needle for this if you would like to make a body that lies flat in the surface like a spinner. The upholsterers needle can be bought from most good hardware stores.
2
Apply a little fly tyers wax to the area of the needle that you will use to make the body. This will make removing the body later much easier.
3
Attatch your tying thread and run a foundation of thread the full length of the intended body on the needle. I only use Dyneema tying thread, this is a multi filament thread that if spun in the bobbin anti clockwise will open the filaments and lie flat on the hook shank. If spun clockwise the filaments twist together and reduce the size of the thread down to 16/0. This thread comes in only one colour, white, but can be coloured with waterproof felt pens.
4
Sellect 3 long peccary fibres. I like to use Peccary fibres for the larger mayflies and moose hair for the smaller patterns. Tie in the peccary fibers as shown. Its a good idea to choose fibres that are long enough to run the full length of the body, and then some, this will make it stronger and more durable.
5
The dubbing that I use is flyrite, but you can use any synthetic dubbing that has long fine fibres. The long fibres help you wrap the dubbing around the needle and again make the body strong. If you use a straight needle, once you have tied in the tail fibers you can attatch the dubbing material and remove the needle from the vice. You can now roll the needle between finger and thumb of one hand while you feed on the dubbing with your other hand, this makes super fine and even bodies.
6
Attatch your dubbing to your tying thread and begin at the base of the body. Make sure that the dubbing is applied firm and even but not too tight, this will make it difficult to remove when finished.
7
Once you have made a couple of turns of dubbing you can now apply a little glue to the foundation of tying thread Copydex or super glue are best. The wax that you applied earlier will stop it being glued to the needle.
8
Now you can dubb the whole body. Make sure that you get the taper correct, and the right size for the speices you aim to imitate.
9
When you have finished your body tie it off at the base and make 2 or 3 half hitch finishing knots. You now place thumb and index finger each side of the body and carefully loosen the body from the needle by rolling it between your fingers and eas it off the needle. You will now see that the dubbing, tying thread and glue have merged into one hollowbody tube, that should have retained it’s shape.
10
Secure your hook in the vise and attatch your tying thread.
11
Half way down the hook shank you can now tie on your detached mayfly body.
12
Once your body is secure apply a little dubbing on your tying thread, and dubb the rest of the rear of the body. Again make sure that you take your time and get proportions correct.
13
Select a good bunch of long cdc fibres and tie these in almost paradun style to form the wing.
14
Once the wing is secure proceed with dubbing the rest of the mayfly body.
15
When the body is finished taper off the dubbing to form the head.
16
Whip finish and remove the tying thread. And there you have it, the finished cdc mayfly.
17
Front view.
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.
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
Pseudo Spinner
The Pseudo Spinner.
Fishing, or even identifying a mayfly spinner fall can be one of the most challenging situations a fly fisherman can experience! Its all about breaking codes and learning to read the signs. With the larger mayflies its somewhat easier to recognize the spinner fall, danica and vulgata are so large that they can be seen at a greater distance floating in a crucifix posture and lifeless in the surface, sometimes with such a high mortality rate they cover the whole surface of the river. But smaller darker and sometimes almost transparent species can be difficult to see even at close quarters.
Mayflies are known for their short lived life, with some species having less than an hour to find a mate and deposit eggs before they die. The first sign to look for, after the initial hatch, is high above you, the swarming dancing, mating mayflies high above the tree tops. After mating and this swarming becomes sparser the males are drained of energy and are fighting to keep themselves airborne but gradually floating down closer to the water, where they die and lie with wings and tails spread out on the surface. The females, who hatch later than the males have a little more energy left to fly upstream to lay their eggs so the current will carry them back down to be deposited in the same stretch of river bed where she lived her nymphal stage of life. After which she dies and becomes spent.
High above the tree tops.
If after examining the waters surface and no spent spinners are visible, look for fish that are steady risers. This is a normal rise form for fish selectively feeding on spent spinners. That being said, smaller fish can become wild in the beginning of a spinner fall making small splashy rises and even leaping clear of the water to take them as they fall. As day turns into night and the spent spinners begin to drown and are trapped in the surface film slightly sinking, the larger fish begin to feed on them, rising every few seconds, not big splashy rises but sipping or slow head and tailing as the spent spinners float over them, as with all predators maximizing energy intake and minimizing energy consumption. Larger ‘Experienced’ fish seam to know that there is no escape for these dead and drowning flies.
This was taken under a spinner fall, although they where still hatching the trout wouldn’t touch them.
This is a mayfly pattern shown here represents NO specific species, but with just a tiny alteration in size and colour can be a good representation for most hatches of smaller to medium sized mayflies. The most time consuming part of this pattern is stripping the peacock herl of its fibers. There are a few ways that you can do this. One is with a regular pencil erasure, just lie the herl down on a flat surface and rub the herl away from you. The other is to pull the herl through your finger and thumb nail as shown here. It takes a little time to master this technique but once you have done it a few times its plain sailing!
Hook Mustad R50 # 18-12
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Coq de leon
Body Stripped peacock herl
Over body Bug Bond
Wings CDC hackles
Thorax CDC spun into dubbing loop
1
Place your hook in the vice as shown.
2
Select some nice Coq de Leon hackle fibers.
3
Run the tying thread along the hook shank until you come to the hook bend. Tie in the center tail first, then the two side tails, making sure that they are all about the same length.
4
If you want to make the fly a little more robust, put a tiny drop of super glue right on the tail bases. This will make everything stronger and help keep the tails in place.
5
Now run the tying thread forward and build a slightly tapered under body to shape the quill over body.
6
Choose a good strong herl from a peacock tail feather and strip off the fibers.
7
Tie in the stripped quill on the underside of the hook shank at the tail base.
8
Wind on the quill the right way! One side of the quill has better markings than the other. Tie off at the wing base.
9
Remove the surplus quill and give the body a coat with Bug bond.
10
Give the quill body a blast with the UV light, if you are using varnish you will have to wait for the body to dry before you continue.
11
The dry coated quill body.
12
Select two small well fibered CDC hackles. Trim them both down with curved scissors as shown.
13
Tie in your two CDC wings pointing slightly forward.
14
Spin a little CDC in a dubbing loop behind the wings.
15
Wind on the CDC, firstly behind the wings and then between and forward finishing behind the hook eye.
16
View from above of the finished thorax.
18
Whip finish and you have a fine mayfly spinner that floats like a cork.
Fender Parachute
My good friends hunting dog, Fender and just one of the many animals and huge amounts of materials he secures for my fly tying every year.
Fender secures more meat wrapped in materials for the winter.
This is a quick and simple parachute technique that requires only deer hair and Bug Bond.
Hook: Mustad C49
Tying thread: Dyneema
Body: Moose mane hair
Hackle: Roe deer hair and Bug Bond
Thorax: Underfur from deer or moose winter coat.
- 1.
Secure your emerger hook in the vice with as much of the bend clear of the jaws.
2.
Run your tying thread from just behind the hook eye down deep into the bend.
3.
Select some long Moose mane hairs.
4.
You will need two long hairs from the moose mane, one white and one black.
5.
Tie in the moose hairs by the points at the base of the hook bend.
6.
Build up a slight forward taper on the fly body with tying thread.
7.
Take both hair at once, with the black hair at the bottom and begin to wind on in even tight turns.
8.
Continue over the whole hook shank until you come to the thorax. Tie off.
9.
Trim off the surplus hair and tie down ends. Although these moose mane hairs are remarkably strong you can give the body a coat with Bug Bond.
10.
Cut and stack a small bunch of deer hair. Tie this in as a parachute post.
11.
At the base of the hairs from a winter coat of a moose or deer there is a dense under fur. Remove enough to dub the thorax.
12.
Dub the thorax behind and forward of the post.
13.
Place your finger tip in the centre of the deer hair post and press down until the deer hair flattens out.
14.
Place a small drop of Bug Bond in the center of the deer hair parachute hackle.
15.
Give the Bug Bond a zap with the UV light.
16.
The finished Fender emerger, made only from deer hair and Bug Bond.
17.
The view from below. Its a perfect quick and simple parachute hackle.
Deer Hair Immerger.
The deer hair Immerger.
Presentation is alfa and omega when fishing emergers.
This incredibly simple pattern, truly, it only takes a few minutes to tie! makes emergers into immergers. This technique places your pattern right below the surface film (immersed) as if the insect is actually climbing out of the shuck onto the surface.
Taking my Fender emerger one step further by extending the deer hair parachute post which places the entire hook, and tippet point entirely under the surface…
All you need:
Hook: Mustad C49S http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=177
Tying Thread: Dyneema
Body: Moose hair coated with Bug Bond for Bug Bond see links: http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/ http://www.veniard.com/section188/
Post: Deer hair wrapped in moose hair coated with Bug Bond
Parachute hackle: Deer hair
1.
Tie your bicolored moose hair body. You can see the full step by step for this in my earlier post ‘Fender parachute’.
2.
Cut and stack a small bunch of deer hair central in the thorax.
3.
Turn your hook so the deer hair post is at 90 degrees and make some wraps of tying thread to reinforce the post base.
4.
Tie in two moose mane hairs, one black one white, along the length of the post finishing under the parachute hair.
5.
Once you have wrapped the moose hair emerger post, tie off the moose hair, remove the excess and return your hook to the regular position.
6.
Coat the post with Bug Bond and tie in two long peacock herl’s, by the points at the rear of the thorax.
7.
Wrap the peacock herl over the whole thorax and tie off. Remove the excess.
8.
Using your index finger press the deer hair post down to form the parachute hackle.
9.
Carefully place a small drop of Bug Bond in the center of the deer hair hackle. Make sure it penetrates the deer hair.
10.
Give the Bug Bond a zap with the UV light to cure.
11.
You may wish to add one more drop to hold the deer hair hackle in place.
12.
The finished deer hair immerger, in the correct posture.
13.
Front view.
14.
View from underneath.
Only deer hair and Bug Bond…
CdC tutorial with Marc Petitjean part 2 The May fly
Heres the second part of the MP CdC tutorial. Where Marc is tying one of his great CdC may flies. This is not only an extremely quick and easy pattern to tie but also a very effective fishing pattern, as Marc proved to me while fishing the river Trysil here in Norway. In the first part of the course that I published earlier, I flipped all the images for right hand tyers, but with Marc being left handed I thought I would keep this tutorial as tied by Marc for all you left handed tyers out there.
The vice, tools and all materials used are Marc’s own and are available from http://www.petitjean.com/shop/
1
Secure your dry fly hook in the vice, making sure the hook shank is horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread and cover the hook shank back towards the hook bend.
3
Chose a nicely marked Coq de Leon hackle for the may fly tail.
4
Remove a small bunch of Coq de Leon fibers and tie in for the tail. The tail should be about the same length as the hook shaft.
5
Now tie in the tip of a CdC hackle. You can see the technique for this in the MP CdC tutorial # 1. Twist the hackle once.
6
With every wrap of the hackle on the hook shaft make one twist of the hackle. If you twist too much without wrapping the hackle will break.
7
Continue wrapping and twisting as you cover the hook shank with the mayfly body.
9
Once you have covered the whole body of the may fly tie off the CdC hackle, about 5 mm behind the hook eye.
10
Once the hackle is tied off, trim off the excess hackle.
11
Your may fly body should now look like this!
12
With a pair of fine straight scissors trim off the CdC fibers from around the body.
13
Once trimmed you should have a fine tapered segmented may fly body as shown.
14
Now take three CdC hackles of similar length. The colour is up-to you but mixing three different makes a very nice subtle wing colour effect. Place them in a MP magic tool. You can see the technique for this in the MP CdC tutorial # 1.
15
Split your tying thread to make a dubbing loop.
16
Now place the CdC in the dubbing loop. You can see the technique for this in the MP CdC tutorial # 1.
17
Spin the bobbin to form the CdC dubbing brush.
18
With every wrap of the dubbing brush collect all the fibers and hold them up on top of the hook shank.
19
Once you have wound on the whole dubbing brush tie off behind the hook eye.
20
Make a whip finish.
21
Once you have whip finished remove the tying thread.
22
Turn the vice up side down and trim away the CdC fibers on the underside of the body, while holding the whole wing collected.
23
Return the vice to the original position and trim the very top of the wing fibers horizontally.
24
Now turning your vice up side down again, brush all the wing fibers downwards and trim as shown diagonally towards the tail base.
25
And there you have it! The finished MP may fly dun.
Tying the Detatched body mayfly
This is a simple but but effective mayfly pattern that fly tyers of any level can tie with a little practice. Once you have masterd this technique all you have to do is change the size and colour to match most mayfly hatches.
The chioce of colours and sizes of fly to be used when tying this pattern is determined by what mayfly you intend to imitate and under what conditions. In still water fishing, trout can be extremly sellective when feeding on mayflies, they have good time to check them out before sucking them in.
Body form: Upholsterers needle
Hook: Standard dry Mustad 94840 # 16-10
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Peccary or moose hair
Body: Flyrite dubbing
Wing: CDC fibres
1
Place the upholsterers needle in the vice. You can use a regular straight needle for this if you would like to make a body that lies flat in the surface like a spinner. The upholsterers needle can be bought from most good hardware stores.
2
Apply a little fly tyers wax to the area of the needle that you will use to make the body. This will make removing the body later much easier.
3
Attatch your tying thread and run a foundation of thread the full length of the intended body on the needle. I only use Dyneema tying thread, this is a multi filament thread that if spun in the bobbin anti clockwise will open the filaments and lie flat on the hook shank. If spun clockwise the filaments twist together and reduce the size of the thread down to 16/0. This thread comes in only one colour, white, but can be coloured with waterproof felt pens.
4
Sellect 3 long peccary fibres. I like to use Peccary fibres for the larger mayflies and moose hair for the smaller patterns. Tie in the peccary fibers as shown. Its a good idea to choose fibres that are long enough to run the full length of the body, and then some, this will make it stronger and more durable.
5
The dubbing that I use is flyrite, but you can use any synthetic dubbing that has long fine fibres. The long fibres help you wrap the dubbing around the needle and again make the body strong. If you use a straight needle, once you have tied in the tail fibers you can attatch the dubbing material and remove the needle from the vice. You can now roll the needle between finger and thumb of one hand while you feed on the dubbing with your other hand, this makes super fine and even bodies.
6
Attatch your dubbing to your tying thread and begin at the base of the body. Make sure that the dubbing is applied firm and even but not too tight, this will make it difficult to remove when finished.
7
Once you have made a couple of turns of dubbing you can now apply a little glue to the foundation of tying thread Copydex or super glue are best. The wax that you applied earlier will stop it being glued to the needle.
8
Now you can dubb the whole body. Make sure that you get the taper correct, and the right size for the speices you aim to imitate.
9
When you have finished your body tie it off at the base and make 2 or 3 half hitch finishing knots. You now place thumb and index finger each side of the body and carefully loosen the body from the needle by rolling it between your fingers and eas it off the needle. You will now see that the dubbing, tying thread and glue have merged into one hollowbody tube, that should have retained it’s shape.
10
Secure your hook in the vise and attatch your tying thread.
11
Half way down the hook shank you can now tie on your detached mayfly body.
12
Once your body is secure apply a little dubbing on your tying thread, and dubb the rest of the rear of the body. Again make sure that you take your time and get proportions correct.
13
Select a good bunch of long cdc fibres and tie these in almost paradun style to form the wing.
14
Once the wing is secure proceed with dubbing the rest of the mayfly body.
15
When the body is finished taper off the dubbing to form the head.
16
Whip finish and remove the tying thread. And there you have it, the finished cdc mayfly.
17
Front view.
CdC tutorial with Marc Petitjean part 2 The May fly
Heres the second part of the MP CdC tutorial. Where Marc is tying one of his great CdC may flies. This is not only an extremely quick and easy pattern to tie but also a very effective fishing pattern, as Marc proved to me while fishing the river Trysil here in Norway. In the first part of the course that I published earlier, I flipped all the images for right hand tyers, but with Marc being left handed I thought I would keep this tutorial as tied by Marc for all you left handed tyers out there.
The vice, tools and all materials used are Marc’s own and are available from http://www.petitjean.com/shop/
1
Secure your dry fly hook in the vice, making sure the hook shank is horizontal.
2
Attach your tying thread and cover the hook shank back towards the hook bend.
3
Chose a nicely marked Coq de Leon hackle for the may fly tail.
4
Remove a small bunch of Coq de Leon fibers and tie in for the tail. The tail should be about the same length as the hook shaft.
5
Now tie in the tip of a CdC hackle. You can see the technique for this in the MP CdC tutorial # 1. Twist the hackle once.
6
With every wrap of the hackle on the hook shaft make one twist of the hackle. If you twist too much without wrapping the hackle will break.
7
Continue wrapping and twisting as you cover the hook shank with the mayfly body.
9
Once you have covered the whole body of the may fly tie off the CdC hackle, about 5 mm behind the hook eye.
10
Once the hackle is tied off, trim off the excess hackle.
11
Your may fly body should now look like this!
12
With a pair of fine straight scissors trim off the CdC fibers from around the body.
13
Once trimmed you should have a fine tapered segmented may fly body as shown.
14
Now take three CdC hackles of similar length. The colour is up-to you but mixing three different makes a very nice subtle wing colour effect. Place them in a MP magic tool. You can see the technique for this in the MP CdC tutorial # 1.
15
Split your tying thread to make a dubbing loop.
16
Now place the CdC in the dubbing loop. You can see the technique for this in the MP CdC tutorial # 1.
17
Spin the bobbin to form the CdC dubbing brush.
18
With every wrap of the dubbing brush collect all the fibers and hold them up on top of the hook shank.
19
Once you have wound on the whole dubbing brush tie off behind the hook eye.
20
Make a whip finish.
21
Once you have whip finished remove the tying thread.
22
Turn the vice up side down and trim away the CdC fibers on the underside of the body, while holding the whole wing collected.
23
Return the vice to the original position and trim the very top of the wing fibers horizontally.
24
Now turning your vice up side down again, brush all the wing fibers downwards and trim as shown diagonally towards the tail base.
25
And there you have it! The finished MP may fly dun.
Pseudo Spinner
The Pseudo Spinner.
Fishing, or even identifying a mayfly spinner fall can be one of the most challenging situations a fly fisherman can experience! Its all about breaking codes and learning to read the signs. With the larger mayflies its somewhat easier to recognize the spinner fall, danica and vulgata are so large that they can be seen at a greater distance floating in a crucifix posture and lifeless in the surface, sometimes with such a high mortality rate they cover the whole surface of the river. But smaller darker and sometimes almost transparent species can be difficult to see even at close quarters.
Mayflies are known for their short lived life, with some species having less than an hour to find a mate and deposit eggs before they die. The first sign to look for, after the initial hatch, is high above you, the swarming dancing, mating mayflies high above the tree tops. After mating and this swarming becomes sparser the males are drained of energy and are fighting to keep themselves airborne but gradually floating down closer to the water, where they die and lie with wings and tails spread out on the surface. The females, who hatch later than the males have a little more energy left to fly upstream to lay their eggs so the current will carry them back down to be deposited in the same stretch of river bed where she lived her nymphal stage of life. After which she dies and becomes spent.
High above the tree tops.
If after examining the waters surface and no spent spinners are visible, look for fish that are steady risers. This is a normal rise form for fish selectively feeding on spent spinners. That being said, smaller fish can become wild in the beginning of a spinner fall making small splashy rises and even leaping clear of the water to take them as they fall. As day turns into night and the spent spinners begin to drown and are trapped in the surface film slightly sinking, the larger fish begin to feed on them, rising every few seconds, not big splashy rises but sipping or slow head and tailing as the spent spinners float over them, as with all predators maximizing energy intake and minimizing energy consumption. Larger ‘Experienced’ fish seam to know that there is no escape for these dead and drowning flies.
This was taken under a spinner fall, although they where still hatching the trout wouldn’t touch them.
This is a mayfly pattern shown here represents NO specific species, but with just a tiny alteration in size and colour can be a good representation for most hatches of smaller to medium sized mayflies. The most time consuming part of this pattern is stripping the peacock herl of its fibers. There are a few ways that you can do this. One is with a regular pencil erasure, just lie the herl down on a flat surface and rub the herl away from you. The other is to pull the herl through your finger and thumb nail as shown here. It takes a little time to master this technique but once you have done it a few times its plain sailing!
Hook Mustad R50 # 18-12
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Coq de leon
Body Stripped peacock herl
Over body Bug Bond
Wings CDC hackles
Thorax CDC spun into dubbing loop
1
Place your hook in the vice as shown.
2
Select some nice Coq de Leon hackle fibers.
3
Run the tying thread along the hook shank until you come to the hook bend. Tie in the center tail first, then the two side tails, making sure that they are all about the same length.
4
If you want to make the fly a little more robust, put a tiny drop of super glue right on the tail bases. This will make everything stronger and help keep the tails in place.
5
Now run the tying thread forward and build a slightly tapered under body to shape the quill over body.
6
Choose a good strong herl from a peacock tail feather and strip off the fibers.
7
Tie in the stripped quill on the underside of the hook shank at the tail base.
8
Wind on the quill the right way! One side of the quill has better markings than the other. Tie off at the wing base.
9
Remove the surplus quill and give the body a coat with Bug bond.
10
Give the quill body a blast with the UV light, if you are using varnish you will have to wait for the body to dry before you continue.
11
The dry coated quill body.
12
Select two small well fibered CDC hackles. Trim them both down with curved scissors as shown.
13
Tie in your two CDC wings pointing slightly forward.
14
Spin a little CDC in a dubbing loop behind the wings.
15
Wind on the CDC, firstly behind the wings and then between and forward finishing behind the hook eye.
16
View from above of the finished thorax.
18
Whip finish and you have a fine mayfly spinner that floats like a cork.
Deer Hair Immerger.
The deer hair Immerger.
Presentation is alfa and omega when fishing emergers.
This incredibly simple pattern, truly, it only takes a few minutes to tie! makes emergers into immergers. This technique places your pattern right below the surface film (immersed) as if the insect is actually climbing out of the shuck onto the surface.
Taking my Fender emerger one step further by extending the deer hair parachute post which places the entire hook, and tippet point entirely under the surface…
All you need:
Hook: Mustad C49S http://www.mustad.no/productcatalog/product.php?id=177
Tying Thread: Dyneema
Body: Moose hair coated with Bug Bond for Bug Bond see links: http://www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com/ http://www.veniard.com/section188/
Post: Deer hair wrapped in moose hair coated with Bug Bond
Parachute hackle: Deer hair
1.
Tie your bicolored moose hair body. You can see the full step by step for this in my earlier post ‘Fender parachute’.
2.
Cut and stack a small bunch of deer hair central in the thorax.
3.
Turn your hook so the deer hair post is at 90 degrees and make some wraps of tying thread to reinforce the post base.
4.
Tie in two moose mane hairs, one black one white, along the length of the post finishing under the parachute hair.
5.
Once you have wrapped the moose hair emerger post, tie off the moose hair, remove the excess and return your hook to the regular position.
6.
Coat the post with Bug Bond and tie in two long peacock herl’s, by the points at the rear of the thorax.
7.
Wrap the peacock herl over the whole thorax and tie off. Remove the excess.
8.
Using your index finger press the deer hair post down to form the parachute hackle.
9.
Carefully place a small drop of Bug Bond in the center of the deer hair hackle. Make sure it penetrates the deer hair.
10.
Give the Bug Bond a zap with the UV light to cure.
11.
You may wish to add one more drop to hold the deer hair hackle in place.
12.
The finished deer hair immerger, in the correct posture.
13.
Front view.
14.
View from underneath.
Only deer hair and Bug Bond…
Fender Parachute
My good friends hunting dog, Fender and just one of the many animals and huge amounts of materials he secures for my fly tying every year.
Fender secures more meat wrapped in materials for the winter.
This is a quick and simple parachute technique that requires only deer hair and Bug Bond.
Hook: Mustad C49
Tying thread: Dyneema
Body: Moose mane hair
Hackle: Roe deer hair and Bug Bond
Thorax: Underfur from deer or moose winter coat.
- 1.
Secure your emerger hook in the vice with as much of the bend clear of the jaws.
2.
Run your tying thread from just behind the hook eye down deep into the bend.
3.
Select some long Moose mane hairs.
4.
You will need two long hairs from the moose mane, one white and one black.
5.
Tie in the moose hairs by the points at the base of the hook bend.
6.
Build up a slight forward taper on the fly body with tying thread.
7.
Take both hair at once, with the black hair at the bottom and begin to wind on in even tight turns.
8.
Continue over the whole hook shank until you come to the thorax. Tie off.
9.
Trim off the surplus hair and tie down ends. Although these moose mane hairs are remarkably strong you can give the body a coat with Bug Bond.
10.
Cut and stack a small bunch of deer hair. Tie this in as a parachute post.
11.
At the base of the hairs from a winter coat of a moose or deer there is a dense under fur. Remove enough to dub the thorax.
12.
Dub the thorax behind and forward of the post.
13.
Place your finger tip in the centre of the deer hair post and press down until the deer hair flattens out.
14.
Place a small drop of Bug Bond in the center of the deer hair parachute hackle.
15.
Give the Bug Bond a zap with the UV light.
16.
The finished Fender emerger, made only from deer hair and Bug Bond.
17.
The view from below. Its a perfect quick and simple parachute hackle.
Nymph-omaniac
Mayfly Nymph
A general pattern for most large mayfly nymphs
Hook Mustad R73 9671 # 8-12
Tying thread Dyneema
Tail Olive ostrich herl
Body Olive brown Antron dubbing
Rib Olive Ostrich herl
Thorax Olive brown Antron dubbing
Wing case Golden pheasant tail
Legs Peasant tail
This pattern imitates the nymph stage of our two largest mayflies, Ephemera
vulgata, that is most common in lakes, and Ephemera danica, that is most common in slow flowing rivers and streams. These nymphs prefer sandy or muddy bottoms, where they live more or less buried for two to three years. These large nymphs can be recognized by the breathing gills along the sides of the rear body. Nymph patterns like this one should be weighted, so that they don´t swim up side down in the water, this should be done by tying in two strips of lead wire on the underside of the hook shank. The R73 hook from Mustad that I have used here is so heavy in the bend that it will swim the right way even if you use extra weight under the thorax. On these large nymphs I prefer to use Golden pheasant as the wing case. These tail feather fibers are tougher than normal ring neck pheasant tails fibers and have a little more shine.
- 1
Secure your hook in the vice and attach your tying thread.
2
Wind on a short length of lead free wire under the thorax.
3
Tie in three long ostrich herl fibers for the tail. These should be tied in like the legs on a photo tripod.
4
Cut away two of the ostrich herls. The remaining one will be used for ribbing.
5
Spin the Antron dubbing onto the tying thread and dubb a tapered body along 2/3 of the hook shank.
6
Wind on the ostrich herl as a rib over the rear body part. About 6-7 even turns. Remove the access herl.
7
Cut off the small ostrich herl fibers on the top and bottom of the rear body.
8
The rear body should now look like this.
9
Clip a large bunch of golden pheasant tail fibers and tie them in close to the rear body end.
10
Cover the thorax with dubbing, finishing about 2-3 mm behind the hook eye.
11
Cut two smaller bunches with normal pheasant tail fibers and tie in on both sides of the thorax as shown.
12
Spin a little more dubbing and dubb in front of the legs.
13
Pull the fibers over the thorax to form the wing case.
14
Tie down the fibers behind the hook eye.
15
Trim off the access pheasant fibers and whip finish. Apply a little varnish and your large mayfly nymph is finished.
16
The nymph seen from above.
All in one… a three minute dun mayfly pattern.
This pattern I developed out of necessity during a unexpected Vulgata hatch.
To find a simpler dun mayfly imitation will be difficult. All you need in the way of materials is one long fibered CdC feather and a short foam cylinder and a hook.
I named the fly “All In One” as the whole fly is tied with the same one CdC feather. You need to practice a little if the techniques I us are unfamiliar too you, but with a little practice or after you have tied a half dozen or so, it only takes about two minutes to tie this simple but effective pattern. All in one floats fantastic as the whole fly is made from CdC and foam.
1
Secure your hook in the vice so the jaws of the vice hold the hook at the bottom of the bend, and that the straight part of the Klinkhamer hook is horizontal.
2
Choose a long fibered CdC feather and comb all the fibres back as illustrated about 1 cm from the feather tip.
3
Tie in the CdC feather at the rear of the horizontal part of the hook shaft.
4
Cut a short length of foam cylinder and tie this in as a regular parachute post.
5
Attach your hackle pliers to the stem of the CdC feather and carefully wind this around the foam post as you would a regular parachute hackle.
6
Comb the CdC fibres that cover the hook eye back so they are not in the way and tie down the CdC feather.
7
Trim off the points of the CdC parachute hackle and use the surpluss to dub the thorax. You dont need much.
8
Finish with a couple of whip finishes and your All in One is finished.
Mayflies and More
A Fly tyers’ Guide to the Chalkstreams
Mayflies and More
A fly tyers Guide to the Chalkstreams
Chris Sandford
Chris is better known in the UK for his many years work as an actor and his numerous appearances on TV and in Film. More recently for his international angling TV series, Just Fishin’ on the Discovery channel.
Mayflies and More, is an elegant, well presented little book and DVD combo, that covers the tying techniques for ten modern patterns, that Chris recommends for the English chalk-streams. Although these patterns will work just about anywhere else as well!
If you are relatively new to fly tying and wish to try something a little more challenging than a red tag, or even a well seasoned tyer for that matter, Mayflies and More, is a joy.
The DVD reflects Chris’s background in TV and film, through a clearly professional production and execution, unlike the majority of the fly tying DVD’s produced to date! Chris, also has the on-screen charisma, to make these ten patterns, not only fun to tie, but also to keep you entertained throughout. It also gives extra clarity to the already clear and well presented step by step images and text in the book. These are simple but extremely worthy patterns to tie and include in your fly box.
Booklet & DVD £19.80
Copies: Unlimited
Extent: 32 pages plus DVD
Size: 210mm x 148mm
Binding: Booklet with inset DVD
Illustrations: Photographs throughout
DVD Running Time: 70 minutes
To order:
Chris Sandford Mayflies & More
Check out a preview of the DVD on the link below:
Tying the Detatched body mayfly
This is a simple but but effective mayfly pattern that fly tyers of any level can tie with a little practice. Once you have masterd this technique all you have to do is change the size and colour to match most mayfly hatches.
The chioce of colours and sizes of fly to be used when tying this pattern is determined by what mayfly you intend to imitate and under what conditions. In still water fishing, trout can be extremly sellective when feeding on mayflies, they have good time to check them out before sucking them in.
Body form: Upholsterers needle
Hook: Standard dry Mustad 94840 # 16-10
Thread: Dyneema
Tail: Peccary or moose hair
Body: Flyrite dubbing
Wing: CDC fibres
1
Place the upholsterers needle in the vice. You can use a regular straight needle for this if you would like to make a body that lies flat in the surface like a spinner. The upholsterers needle can be bought from most good hardware stores.
2
Apply a little fly tyers wax to the area of the needle that you will use to make the body. This will make removing the body later much easier.
3
Attatch your tying thread and run a foundation of thread the full length of the intended body on the needle. I only use Dyneema tying thread, this is a multi filament thread that if spun in the bobbin anti clockwise will open the filaments and lie flat on the hook shank. If spun clockwise the filaments twist together and reduce the size of the thread down to 16/0. This thread comes in only one colour, white, but can be coloured with waterproof felt pens.
4
Sellect 3 long peccary fibres. I like to use Peccary fibres for the larger mayflies and moose hair for the smaller patterns. Tie in the peccary fibers as shown. Its a good idea to choose fibres that are long enough to run the full length of the body, and then some, this will make it stronger and more durable.
5
The dubbing that I use is flyrite, but you can use any synthetic dubbing that has long fine fibres. The long fibres help you wrap the dubbing around the needle and again make the body strong. If you use a straight needle, once you have tied in the tail fibers you can attatch the dubbing material and remove the needle from the vice. You can now roll the needle between finger and thumb of one hand while you feed on the dubbing with your other hand, this makes super fine and even bodies.
6
Attatch your dubbing to your tying thread and begin at the base of the body. Make sure that the dubbing is applied firm and even but not too tight, this will make it difficult to remove when finished.
7
Once you have made a couple of turns of dubbing you can now apply a little glue to the foundation of tying thread Copydex or super glue are best. The wax that you applied earlier will stop it being glued to the needle.
8
Now you can dubb the whole body. Make sure that you get the taper correct, and the right size for the speices you aim to imitate.
9
When you have finished your body tie it off at the base and make 2 or 3 half hitch finishing knots. You now place thumb and index finger each side of the body and carefully loosen the body from the needle by rolling it between your fingers and eas it off the needle. You will now see that the dubbing, tying thread and glue have merged into one hollowbody tube, that should have retained it’s shape.
10
Secure your hook in the vise and attatch your tying thread.
11
Half way down the hook shank you can now tie on your detached mayfly body.
12
Once your body is secure apply a little dubbing on your tying thread, and dubb the rest of the rear of the body. Again make sure that you take your time and get proportions correct.
13
Select a good bunch of long cdc fibres and tie these in almost paradun style to form the wing.
14
Once the wing is secure proceed with dubbing the rest of the mayfly body.
15
When the body is finished taper off the dubbing to form the head.
16
Whip finish and remove the tying thread. And there you have it, the finished cdc mayfly.
17
Front view.
