I have covered the UTC Vinyl Rib MDG earlier, this time it is the larger Nymph version that is wrapped on two of the same hooks and in addition on the TMC 2457 #8 hook to show how this size will appear on the different hook sizes.
The Vinyl Rib is great for segmented bodies on midges, stoneflies, nymphs, emergers and much more. This is the UTC MDG in chartreuse that I have tied on 3 different sizes to show how the segmentation will appear on different hook sizes. The Rib is slightly see-through and you get a nice effect if you wrap the hook with a different color to get a effect.
Here the Knapek is tied with a body of red UNI 8/0 body before wrapping the rib
When I first started tying flies I went and bought a little bit of everything, testing out material and figuring out their properties is easy when you can go into a store and feel it, but it is harder when you are trying to order online – you never quite know what you get. So: this is the first post for looking at dubbing: this material that you can find in so many variants (and not to talk about blending your own…). For now I will try to look at different types of dubbing as they appear directly from the package.
Hare’s Ear Plus from Hareline consists of rabbit fur combined with Antron, making it a very good blend for wetflies and buggy nymphs (but also emergers that needs a bit of life)
A little bit of dubbing: you can see the roughness of it, this is a nice and coarse blend.
Tying in on a Mustad 9480 #14
A lightly dubbed hook – will generate a lot of life in the water:
Wrapped a wire around the hook and lightly brushed the dubbing. With so little dubbing you can see it doesn’t add much to the version above:
A trimmed version of the one above: the colors makes a roughness to the body that I like. This is how I apply this to emergers:
Applied a very generous amount to a D-R 135 #14 hook with wire twisted around the hook and brushed it a lot to show how it can come out for nymphs:
Tying very small flies (down to #32) one of the first thing to consider is what kind of thread to use to avoid building up too much. So far I have tested out 3 different threads that I use for sub #20 hooks:
Here I have wound up the different threads on a TMC 100 #24 hook to give you an idea on how it looks like.
I normally don’t take this out until I hit #30 or #32, but for these very small flies this thread is the absolute best: the build-up is hard to notice! But, this of course comes at a cost, it can be a most frustrating thread to work with compared to anything else: it feels like thin silk between your fingers and it will break as easy!
This thread is pre-waxed and is easier to work with than the UNI 17/0 thread. Since the UNI only comes in white this is the other #30/#32 thread that I use. The TMC is stronger than the UNI thread so it is “easier” to work with on the small hooks.
The Sheer 14/0 is my default thread for anything sub #18 – this thread is strong compared to its minimal buildup and is very easy to work with. It also comes in a wide variety of colors that makes it ideal to build bodies for small emergers/nymphs. This is also one of the threads I can use for large atlantic salmon flies when building up lots of material to avoid buildup of thread.
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