Flyfishing, flytying and hooks

Hends Superfine Dubbing

The Hends Superfine is one I have a few colors of and use if I need to create a thin body for dryflies, or for slender nymphs/wetfiles that needs a bit of body.

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As you can see: lot of thin, long fibers that makes it easy to apply to the thread

2013.05.dryfly.me.dubbing_hends_superfine_fingerMaybe not the best of pictures, but you can see that you don’t need much to cover the thread

2013.05.dryfly.me.dubbing_hends_superfine_on_threadDubbing a Mustad 9480 #14: it makes a slender body that doesn’t take much space

2013.05.dryfly.me.dubbing_hends_superfine_on_hookOne of the good properties of the Superfine is the ability to create bodies on very small hooks: here is a TMC 518 #30 with only a few strands of the dubbing to create a tiny body

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Wapsi SLF Squirrel Spikey Dubbing

This is the Squirrel Spikey Dubbing SLFS-11: Fox, Natural

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As you can see: a lot of long fibers in this one2013.04.dryfly.me.dubbing_wapsi_squirrel_bundle

Tying in on a Mustad 9480 #14

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The coarse blend really shows up once you get it on the hook:

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Here I have wrapped ultra wire around the hook and brushed it to show how it will drag out:

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Finally trimmed down with scissors:

2013.04.dryfly.me.dubbing_wapsi_squirrel_cutThe dubbing is easy to work with on the thread – it dubs easily and doesn’t give much resistant when applying to the hook. It does, however, have a lot of long fibers, so this is not for the smallest dry-flies, but can give a nice scruffiness to your fly.

 

Klinkhamer

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Hook: Partridge Klinkhamer X-treme #14
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Brown
Body:  Wapsi SLF Squirrel – Natual Fox
Thorax: Peacock
Wing-post: Poly-yarn
Hackle: Whiting

Up to when it is time to tie in the hackle this pattern is very simple, but once  you get the tie-in of the hackle around the wing-post it comes down to avoiding trapping too much hackle beneath the thread.

The poly-yarn gives good visual aid to the fly and if you look from underneath it you can see the footprint it will give on the surface. A great pattern that can be varied with colors and scruffiness to achive different behaviour.

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Tying Small Flies

tying-small-flies-ed-engle-hardcover-cover-artTitle:  Tying Small Flies
Author: Ed Engle
ISBN-10: 0811700828
ISBN-13: 978-0811700825
Published: 2003
Pages: 240

When I started tying flies the smallest I could comfortably was around a hook 18/20, smaller than that and I could not get my hands around it. The challenge quickly came when I started to replicate a pattern from a #12 down to the smallest I had – the better controll I got on the smaller helped me tie the larger patterns, and I had a large set of sizes to choose from when it came to fishing them. Tying really small ( down to #32 ) was a good challenge to have, but there are not may sites that have patterns or are dedicated to the art of tying small flies.

This book have short, but very well presented, starting chapters with a comparison of different hooks, threads and material. The notes on threads early on gives a good indication on the research done that I really appreciate. The rest of the book is divided into various chapters on midge larvae, olives, tiny parachutes, tricos, floating nymphs and even a chapter dedicated to #32 flies in the end. There are SBS on different patterns, but also discussions and notes on different material, experience with the different patterns and methods in-between. A book that can be read straight through, or just as a lookup for when you need inspiration on a specific pattern when you start tying those sub #20 flies.