What have you been tying lately?

[Ic3wind]

ah ok the reason I asked is the fly angler seemed a bit tapped out on the big fly stuff the last time I was there

[ted4887]

No desire to tie small stuff right now. One thing I did realize as I was working on this fly was that I screwed myself when it came time to spin the deer hair for the head. I'd covered the entire hook shank with thread when I started this fly, making it hard to spin the deer hair properly. So instead of being able to build an even tri-colored head like I wanted to, it got a little bulky since I was forced to stack instead of spin. Might not look as good to my eye, but it will push a ton of water, and that's all I really wanted out of it.

[ted4887]

[ted4887]

Last night after posting the craw, I realized that I tied the eyes in on the wrong side of the hook. I blame the Surly

Here's the re-do without the rubber legs.

[itchmesir]

What are you using for the shell back?

[ted4887]

Swiss straw

[Ic3wind]

Hey, you asked about those fish skull articulated shanks. I got my hands on some. Will be great for trout and bass streamers. Not quite gonna hack it for the musky and pike. They just arent stout enough

[ted4887]

Thanks man, that's good to know. What length did you order for your bass flies? I was leaning towards the medium sized ones (35mm I think) to tie up a few articulated smallmouth patterns.

[Ic3wind]

I got the big ones 55mm to play around with. I think I'll try tying a few Hog snares with em and see how they turn out

[Slabasaurus]

Nice crawdad Ted. Givin me some ideas for the Mississippi smallies.

Filled up the barbless nymph box during football time saturday (Ok... some of these were from sunday too). You can tell there was a point when I stopped caring about the consistency in biot...

Probably going to add some pink squirrels and hare's ears to this over the week.

[ted4887]

Anyone play around much with EP fiber or Congo hair? Any patterns that have worked well for you in the past that you'd like to share (so that I can steal)?

I've been playing with some CH tonight just tying up some very basic baitfish patterns. But it would be nice to hear or see other peoples experience with the stuff.

[Slabasaurus]

I attempted 2 ep minnows and then decided that I need more practice... and some of them post eye deals... but mostly practice.

The second minnow I trimmed actually took the shape I had in mind... kind of.

Definitely have a long way to go on these... but I'll keep it up. I really like the action these things have in the water (thanks youtube)

Probably won't be tryin these too much for a week or two... I still haven't tied up any dries yet. heh.

[Slabasaurus]

my EP minnows are getting better. Still not photoworthy yet though. That said, at least I have 2-3 of them that will fish...

Decided since I am out of dry flies, and the last one i tied up was in July, I should probably practice a little.

Adams. Not 100% satisfied with it, but I doubt the trouts are going to mind too much. The point of this tie was really just to make sure I was able to get the griz wings set right.

It's too bad I didn't taper it better. Oh well. Probably could have used 4-8 less tail fibers too.

[mainbutter]

I have a whole bunch of congo hair and tied up a good dozen and a half or so spending probably 15 minutes per fly.

Most came out not looking great, but I got better.

Some I tied and they didn't fish well, I needed to have less hair and add some weight. It's still a work in progress. As with almost everyone, I'm still trying to get the process down for making a full bodied fly with less material overall.

Flies with CH as the sole material are still tricky for me, and I haven't caught any fish yet on them, but I have tied great flies that caught fish using CH as one of the three or four materials in a streamer. It's my go to for bellies, throats, and backs (partially because I have a lot of it).

[ted4887]

Slab - One thing I'll say about the Adams is that you will probably want to add more hackle. Generally 2 stems; one grizzly, and one brown are what you'll use if sticking with the original. I think you may have just inspired me to start tying a few dries. Otherwise, I'm impressed with you using doing the grizzly wings like that. I NEVER do that. Mostly because I get frustrated, and I'm lazy when it comes to extra steps.

To give you an idea of the amount of hackle, check this one out.

[Slabasaurus]

Slab - One thing I'll say about the Adams is that you will probably want to add more hackle. Generally 2 stems; one grizzly, and one brown are what you'll use if sticking with the original. I think you may have just inspired me to start tying a few dries. Otherwise, I'm impressed with you using doing the grizzly wings like that. I NEVER do that. Mostly because I get frustrated, and I'm lazy when it comes to extra steps.

Yeah... I was surprised that the griz wings of all things were what I was happy with.

Good point on the hackle. there's one brown and one griz feather in that fly... though definitely not executed very well.

We'll see if I can't figure this out tonight.

[ted4887]

LOL! That's a pretty good pic man. Legit photochopping skills.

I just spent the last 20 minutes tying up a few of those adams myself. I do mine minus the griz wings though. Too much work for this lazy bum.

[itchmesir]

yeah i never have tied in the wings eitehr.. i should tie in hi-vis posts though... would help with being able to see them easier

[ted4887]

yeah i never have tied in the wings eitehr.. i should tie in hi-vis posts though... would help with being able to see them easier

One of these days I am going to invest in a parachute tool for my vise. If there is one fly that I just absolutely cannot tie, it's a parachute. Hi-vis parachutes sure would be nice.

[Slabasaurus]

I had the day off yesterday. Would have been nice to get out to the driftless, or even some ice fishing. But -30 means I don't leave my house for anything aside from 50% sales on whiting hackle capes at cabelas, and some BBQ from dixie blue... Got some time at the vise though.

BWO (tied sizes 16-18)

Here's a shot of the antron post wing

A Better Adams (McKayla is a little less unimpressed)

hares nymph dealie (tied em in size 12 and 14 barbless)

partiridge n peacock

Pass Lake Classic-Style Wet

The book I found this pattern in said it is a march dun.. but I have found about 6 other similar patterns with not so similar names. It's some classic wet deal with partridge and turkey quil wings.

*Remove the tail fibers on this one and you have a nice little caddis pattern...

[ted4887]

Very nice ties. That BWO is a definte fish catcher. Give it another month or so, and you will be putting that thing to work.

[Slabasaurus]

Yep. That first beatis hatch can't come soon enough!

Took me a bit to figure out what kind of wing I liked best.... Mike over at the fly angler suggested an antron post wing. I use dun or white color, with no real rhyme or reason to which.

I have tied a few in with dun hackle tip wings instead of the antron post, they look really nice when you if you ever manage to get it right.

too much effort for me though. If i want to spend time on flies, I'll tie a spey or dee pattern for a week.

[gooty]

The cold weather seems to bring on the urge to tie. A small mayfly pattern that has yet to be named. Size 16

Brown

Black

The flock

Nice ties slab, like the Pass Lake. Old school

[itchmesir]

nice looking flies guys...

Really like those rubber legged nymphs

[Slabasaurus]

nice looking flies guys...

Really like those rubber legged nymphs

Yeah dude. Those rubber leg nymphs should fish real nice.

received this caddis emerger in a swap with a coworker. I think I need to tie up a few of these...

[ted4887]

The wing case on that caddis emerger... what's in it besides krystal flash?

[Slabasaurus]

The wing case on that caddis emerger... what's in it besides krystal flash?

It's a secret....

ok. Just kidding.

Here's what the pattern looks like to me (My coworkers friend tied this one, not her, so I'm not 100% on the pattern):

Hook: Scud/Caddis size 16

Body: Green Wire - Brassie size

Wing Case: krystal flash (4 strands)

Wing case top: 2 goose biot tips

Thorax: small amount of fine black dubbin

Head: 2mm silever bead

I'd use black thread... 14/0 but that's just me.

[itchmesir]

Yeah I'm definitely gonna have to tie up a couple of those here in a month or two...

I'm stuck on thoughts of warm water action.. Didn't even hit a stream on the 2 nice days we had last week... I'm almost contemplating driving 15+hrs or whatever it would take to get me into something other than trout!

Here is a little bit of what I've been tying..

From left to right: Carp K.R.A.P.(made from FTDs K.R.A.P. dubbin).. Roughfisher's Darth Clam.. and my first crawdad pattern

[Slabasaurus]

Carpy lookin. Diggin it.

That clam pattern is pretty neat, I've not tried that one yet.

If you don't catch carp with any of the flies on the left, I'd be shocked.

Looks like they could imitate pretty much anything carps would eat... dragonfly nymphs, helgramites, friggin crawdads...

Oh. Looks like it's time to renew the MO license. ya hrrrrrr?

[itchmesir]

If I plan on going down there at all... That license caught me one $64 green sunfish..