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Red Claret Spey

2015.02.15.dryfly.me.red_claret_speyHook: Daiichi 2052 #1.5
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Body: Underbody UNI-Floss white, Lagartun Red Claret French Silk Floss
Rib: No-brand gold
Hackle: Heron
Wing: Veniard Mallard Bronze Large

A freestyle spey where I wanted to have as few materials as possible, work on the body profile and try to not overload the fly with too much of the materials I used.

The lagartun silk floss with the gold rib really stands out on this one, the taper of the body is also one that I’m very happy with – it goes smoothly from start to finish. The one thing I could work on is the wing, I did it high over the body (and not really low-set) with purpose, and I’m quite happy with that, but the smoothness of the wing from some angles are not the best, so I’ll put another version up later.

 

Rusty Rat

2015.02.08.dryfly.me.rusty_rat

Hook: TMC7999 #1/0
Thread: UNI 6/0 Red
Tag: UNI-French Medium
Body: first half Lagartun Silk Floss, second half peacock herl
Rib: UNI-French Medium
Wing: Squirrel Tail
Hackle: Whiting  Rooster Saddle Grizzly

The Rat series are classic salmon patterns that many variations and adaptations, this rusty rat I haven’t done before because I haven’t had the peacock sword, but with some in house I have to do a series of this as well. The whiting hackle is long and vibrant and will generate just the right movement in the water. A pattern that I should take down to some trout-size hooks as well, not just these big irons!

Blue Charm Spey

2015.01.01.dryfly.me.blue_charm_speyHook: Alec Jackson Spey #1.5 Bronze
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tag: UNI-French Oval Medium, Lagartun French Silk Floss
Body: UNI-Floss Black
Rib: UNI-French Oval Medium
Hackle: Spirit River Spey Hackle Bright Blue
Wing: Squirrel tail as underwing, 2 layers of Mallard bronze shoulder over

A fresh start of the new year brings a large variant of the Blue Charm to this great spey hook from Alec Jackson! The squirrel underwing on this is generous to make the wing layer of Mallard sit nicely, that is also why the head became rather large, but not much one can do about that. I chose to not have a topping over it all, but for the next tie-up I’ll add that as well. I would also need some more of the blue spey hackle soon, or get a heron substitute to make some more of this for my box.

Happy New Year to all the readers I have here on dryfly.me!

Blue Charm

2014.12.19.dryfly.me.blue_charm_rabbitHook: TMC 7999 #2
Thread: UNI 6/0
Tag: UTC French Tinsel Medium, Lagartun Silk Floss
Tail: GP
Body: Lagartun French Silk Floss
Rib: UTC French Tinsel Medium
Throat: Keough Hen Saddle Blue
Wing: Wapsi Squirrel Tail Blue/Tan

The blue charm with squirrel tail is one that shows up a lot of places when you start looking at salmon patterns, I have done some of them earlier, but then with a rather stiff cock hackle. This week I got some hen saddle and two different colors of squirrel tail, so I tied up these to go in my salmon box.

The blue charm is a great pattern that can work for both salmon and seatrout,  it is not a very hard pattern to tackle, but make sure that the squirrel is tied in well: it has quite the slick surface on the hairs – use a waxed thread or ensure that it is well locked in before tying off!

Durham Ranger

2014.12.62.kvitre.no.durham_ranger_single

Hook: TMC7999 #1/0
Thread: Sheer 14/0
Tag: Lagartun Oval X-Strong Fine, Lagartun French Silk Floss
Tail: GP, Veniard Red Crow Substitute
Butt: Black Ostrich
Body: Yellow/Claret/Black Seals Fur
Rib: UNI-Mylar #10, Lagartun Oval X-Strong Large
Hackle: The Fly. Co Rooster Neck
Throat: Veniard Chinese Cock Doctor Blue
Wing:Pair of Jungle Cock, 2 pair of GP tippets, 2 GP toppings
Sides: Jungle Cock
Head: Black Ostrich

Another classic salmon for my fishing box: the Durham Ranger. I have a JC that really isn’t that good for display flies, but for these fishing flies they are great! The durham ranger is one that I haven’t tied before but is in almost every book about the classics, and it shows up on many sites describing this pattern that was made by William Henderson in the 1840’s. I didn’t have all the material to be true to the original pattern, but I made due with what I had.

I always tie up a couple of each when I start a pattern to get a feel on how the pattern is, this time the second time around did come out better:

2014.12.62.kvitre.no.durham_ranger

The seals fur body in three different colors:

2014.12.62.kvitre.no.durham_ranger_close