Post by tnt on Dec 11, 2011 1:26:32 GMT -5
I was getting creative tonight and took a lot of pictures of a fly I was making... it shares some similarity with a hare's ear nymph, but is different. Looks good to me, should catch fish!
Alright, here's a picture of all the stuff you'll need...
Hook: TMC 2457, size 12 here, you could probably go bigger to size 8 or so, and on the other end as small as you care to tie
Thread: UNI thread 8/0 in black, could use 6/0 for the larger sizes but I try and use the smallest diameter thread that I can... makes tying easier
Tail: Rabbit fur guard hairs
Abdomen: Rabbit underfur mixed with some pearl ice dub
Rib: Flat gold tinsel (I used MED. would look better with small)
Thorax: Rabbit fur guard hairs with some olive ice dub mixed in
Shellback and legs: Pheasant tail fibers
First thing's first, start your thread...
and then, take it to where it's about even with the barb
Cut a small bunch of rabbit fur from a hide and remove as much underfur as possible, leaving the guard hairs. The length of the tail should be somewhere between the length of the shank and the size of the hook gap. You'll want to cut the waste end about 2/3 the way up the shank.
Then you'll want to tie in the rib, cutting the tag end about even with the tag ends of the tail fibers.
Next, you're going to want to make and mix your dubbing for the abdomen...
I used a bit of pearl ice dub for a slight bit of sparkle and to lighten the color up a bit. Your rabbit underfur should be as free of guard hairs as possible for this one...
After pinching and pulling the two different materials together, it should look something like this...
Spin your dubbing onto your thread fairly tight and thin, keeping the dubbing "rope" pretty even and avoiding any lumps and bumps...
Dub the abdomen, tapering so that it's slightly larger towards the front...
Next, you'll want to tie in your rib, this one took only about 3 turns. If I had used the proper size (small instead of medium, it would have taken 4 to 5 and probably been a bit better proportioned)
The next thing you'll need to do is get your shellback and legs ready. You'll be using pheasant tail fibers for both. You want the tips to be even, so pull the fibers so that they're 90 degrees from the feather stem and then either tear them off or cut them.
The "legs" of the fly come from the fine tips of the fibers and you want them to end up being about 2/3 the length of the hook shank or just to where they stretch from the head of the fly to around the hook point. with the tie in point for the shell back being about 1/3 the way back from the eye, it ended up that the length of the tag ends that form the legs was about a hook shank length long where you tie them in.
You'll want to tie the ends down all the way to the eye, and you'll need to keep them on the top side of the hook.
Then you're going to want to mix dubbing up similar to how you did for the abdomen, but instead of mixing ice dub with underfur, you'll want to mix the olive ice dub with guard hairs, trying to eliminate as much underfur as possible... this helps make this area "leggy" and "buggy"
The mix should look kinda like this...
The guard hair mix is much more "crispy" and not as easy to dub, but it's not too bad... should look about like this...
Here's another view
Now, dub the thorax, make it nice and chunky, thicker than the abdomen...
After you dub the thorax, you need to split the "legs" that are sticking out at the front of the fly. You want about half of what's there on each side. I use a dubbing needle or bodkin to help with this.
Now this part can be a bit tricky, but is really not bad after you do it a couple times. When you bring the shellback up and over the thorax, you tie it down with a couple wraps and pull the legs towards the back of the fly.
After you have the fibers properly secured, you should be able to single out the waste fibers and actually break them off instead of cutting them (it makes for a much cleaner looking fly, and yes those are feather fibers and not a daddy long legs massacre)
The next step is to make a nice head and then whip finish and some head cement. You can also put some head cement or laquer thinner on the shellback too. In addition, I pull the legs down and hold them against the sides of the fly and while doing so I push back up towards the front of the fly. It creates a crease or bend in them that just looks good to me.
This is what you're left with...
Thanks, hopefully I can post some more flies sometime soon.
TNT ;D
Alright, here's a picture of all the stuff you'll need...
Hook: TMC 2457, size 12 here, you could probably go bigger to size 8 or so, and on the other end as small as you care to tie
Thread: UNI thread 8/0 in black, could use 6/0 for the larger sizes but I try and use the smallest diameter thread that I can... makes tying easier
Tail: Rabbit fur guard hairs
Abdomen: Rabbit underfur mixed with some pearl ice dub
Rib: Flat gold tinsel (I used MED. would look better with small)
Thorax: Rabbit fur guard hairs with some olive ice dub mixed in
Shellback and legs: Pheasant tail fibers
First thing's first, start your thread...
and then, take it to where it's about even with the barb
Cut a small bunch of rabbit fur from a hide and remove as much underfur as possible, leaving the guard hairs. The length of the tail should be somewhere between the length of the shank and the size of the hook gap. You'll want to cut the waste end about 2/3 the way up the shank.
Then you'll want to tie in the rib, cutting the tag end about even with the tag ends of the tail fibers.
Next, you're going to want to make and mix your dubbing for the abdomen...
I used a bit of pearl ice dub for a slight bit of sparkle and to lighten the color up a bit. Your rabbit underfur should be as free of guard hairs as possible for this one...
After pinching and pulling the two different materials together, it should look something like this...
Spin your dubbing onto your thread fairly tight and thin, keeping the dubbing "rope" pretty even and avoiding any lumps and bumps...
Dub the abdomen, tapering so that it's slightly larger towards the front...
Next, you'll want to tie in your rib, this one took only about 3 turns. If I had used the proper size (small instead of medium, it would have taken 4 to 5 and probably been a bit better proportioned)
The next thing you'll need to do is get your shellback and legs ready. You'll be using pheasant tail fibers for both. You want the tips to be even, so pull the fibers so that they're 90 degrees from the feather stem and then either tear them off or cut them.
The "legs" of the fly come from the fine tips of the fibers and you want them to end up being about 2/3 the length of the hook shank or just to where they stretch from the head of the fly to around the hook point. with the tie in point for the shell back being about 1/3 the way back from the eye, it ended up that the length of the tag ends that form the legs was about a hook shank length long where you tie them in.
You'll want to tie the ends down all the way to the eye, and you'll need to keep them on the top side of the hook.
Then you're going to want to mix dubbing up similar to how you did for the abdomen, but instead of mixing ice dub with underfur, you'll want to mix the olive ice dub with guard hairs, trying to eliminate as much underfur as possible... this helps make this area "leggy" and "buggy"
The mix should look kinda like this...
The guard hair mix is much more "crispy" and not as easy to dub, but it's not too bad... should look about like this...
Here's another view
Now, dub the thorax, make it nice and chunky, thicker than the abdomen...
After you dub the thorax, you need to split the "legs" that are sticking out at the front of the fly. You want about half of what's there on each side. I use a dubbing needle or bodkin to help with this.
Now this part can be a bit tricky, but is really not bad after you do it a couple times. When you bring the shellback up and over the thorax, you tie it down with a couple wraps and pull the legs towards the back of the fly.
After you have the fibers properly secured, you should be able to single out the waste fibers and actually break them off instead of cutting them (it makes for a much cleaner looking fly, and yes those are feather fibers and not a daddy long legs massacre)
The next step is to make a nice head and then whip finish and some head cement. You can also put some head cement or laquer thinner on the shellback too. In addition, I pull the legs down and hold them against the sides of the fly and while doing so I push back up towards the front of the fly. It creates a crease or bend in them that just looks good to me.
This is what you're left with...
Thanks, hopefully I can post some more flies sometime soon.
TNT ;D
