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Saturday, January 22, 2011

More snow, so more fly tying...

More snow is possibly on the way Tuesday/Wednesday, so I've been doing more fly tying. Here's a few patterns I've been cranking out. Still digging the Nymph Skin. Excellent stuff. Easy to use and produces very realistic bodies. Highly recommend it!

The Parachute Extended Body Inchworm. A variation of my standard EBI.

Grub w/ Nymph Skin

Cranefly larvae w/ Nymph Skin.

Thread Midge. A coating of super glue gives it a glassy appearance.

Quill Gordon. It's a sparse fly. Not much of a body, but the footprint on the water's surface is fantastic.
Thursday, January 6, 2011

Realistic Flies...

I've been doing a lot of realistic tying as of late. It's a fun and unique type of tying for sure. It's also a bit confusing and mind boggling, especially for beginners, as you have to have at least some knowledge in entomology. If you think standard tying is addictive, try realistic tying. I highly recommend giving it a try. You can find a list of great realistic tying materials here. Realistic flies are usually not meant to be fished. They take too long and require too much effort (and sometimes money). Losing one would be a nightmare!

So, without further ado, here's some of the most recent realistic patterns I've cranked out. Planning on doing a lot more tying, given the potential big snowstorm knocking on the door here in Charlotte, NC Sunday night through Tuesday. Again. Snow really likes NC this year. Stay tuned!

Tying in the tail. The base of the tail is a material created by the great realistic tyer, Andrés Touceda. The tip is a stripped rooster hackle.

Nymph Skin is some seriously good stuff. Buy it in white, color it bright green, and you have an unbelievable subsurface inchworm pattern. Not limited to inchworms though!
Using Andrés Touceda's realistic legs.








Finished product.

Hook: Nymph hook.
Thread: Black 6/0
Tail: Base of tail, Andrés Touceda's Realistic Legs. Tip is stripped hackle stem.
Body: Nymph Skin on top of a base of dubbing for bulk. No weight is added to the fly.
Wing buds: Realistic stonefly wingbuds.
Thorax: Gray ostrich herl
Legs: Andrés Touceda's Realistic Legs. Tip is stripped hackle stem.
Eyes: Burnt 20Ib mono.
Antennae: Andrés Touceda's Realistic Legs for base. Tip is stripped hackle stem.



Realistic Golden Stonefly Adult








Hook: Any straight shanked dry fly hook. Because it won't be fished, a nymph hook is also fine.
Thread: 6/0 tan or yellow
Tail: Base of tail, Andrés Touceda's Realistic Legs. Tip is stripped hackle stem.
Body: 2mm foam. I like to use white and then color in with prismacolor markers. 
Underwings: Plastic bag cut to shape of stonefly. Color with waterproof marker and then use your fingerprints to create veins on the wings.
Overwing: Heavier duty plastic from bag. same technique as underwing.
Legs: Andrés Touceda's Realistic Legs. Tips are stripped hackle stems.
Eyes: 20Ib mono burnt at tips to create eyes.
Antennae: Rooster stem stripped of hackle.



Cranefly Larvae

Hook: Orvis curved shank hook.
Thread: 6/0 or 8/0 black thread.
Body: Nymph Skin. Dubbing for base in order to give the fly bulk. 

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