I finally managed a little work on my vice - fly tying - the other night. School and life just have been tough on the "habit" this winter...
I tried a few new patterns to me. One I got off Don Bastian's blog last fall. It's a modification of the Picket Pin which is my favorite wet fly. This one uses a silver tinsel body, no hackle palmering and Don's version uses red squirrel tail for the wing... I didnt have any so I used gray squirrel. As soon as I saw this last fall I thought: That's a killer on little streams... Seeing them in person sure adds to that notion. they will get down fairly quick with the slim, dense body, and will swim great with the tail and wing materials... plus they have that awesome peacock "sheen". Looking forward to swinging these soon.
These are on Size 12's. the top one is a 2XL long wet fly/streamer hook and the bottom is a 1XL long size 12.
The amazing thing, is the smoothness, or lack there of, of the tinsel body. With the "sun lamp" on the flies, the bodies look so bumpy in the pic. It's amazing to me... to my eye's they look smoooooth. I guess, that's what age will do to you - fuzzy eyes :) ha ha ha! The truth, is in the film!
The next one is a fly I saw last week on the excellent vimeo.com channel of Tim Flager and tightline productions. You can link to them on the right in my blog roll if you have not been before. I believe the name is Hilga SOS. It's a small (that's a #20) nymph, all black, with black pheasant tail tail, thread body, silver wire rib, red flashabou (2 strands) wing case, black possom dubbing thorax and black crystal flash legs with a tungsten bead. Some flies "scream" about a certain tail water here in central MA to me. Typically small flies, that are simple, and could be a lot of things - suggestive vs imitative. This one did that to me, so I did these on a whim and hope to test em out soon.
Back to work, Q and A seminar tonight on run training, and sports nutrition with a PT colleague of mine... I need to review my notes... thinking about fishing was a nice break!
Will
Will when I first started fly fishing I fished the Natchaug River quite a bit. I would often run into an angler who lived close to the river and knew it quite well. He tied a streamer very similar to the one you have pictured here. It had a silver tinsel body and sparse squirrel tail for a wing. He gave me one and told me when nothing worked give this fly a whirl. I have carried that fly to this day.
ReplyDeleteNice ties buddy.
Alan that's good to know. Things that work have a way of matriculating through generations and environments... I'm excited to give them a go!
DeleteI hope all is well with you!
Will
I happened upon tightline productions last week and the "save or skin" caught my eye also. Gonna make a few and try them on my local TW.
ReplyDeleteDrew it will be fun for you. Great stuff on their channel. The "Caribou Caddis" became a go to for me a few years ago due to their handy work!
Delete