Flyfishing, flytying and hooks

Blue Charm Doubles

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.blue_charmMore Blue Charm today,  but this time on a Partridge Patriot #8 double hook. The more I tie on these small patriot hooks, the more I like them. I haven’t fished with them so I don’t have any experience on the hooking capability and durability if a larger fish is on, but the hook itself feels light but strong.

This late autumn and early winter has seen a lot of salmon patterns from my side: I tend to focus on one side of the fly tying at a time, and this time it is salmon. The thing with this is that you get to focus on one particular aspect of tying that later can be adapted to different styles or patterns. With the amount of salmon flies I put out here you would think I have done more salmon fishing than the 1 time I was after salmon this autumn, but I haven’t! I want to do more of this next year, and focusing on salmon flies this winter is one of those things I do to prepare myself for the river.

2014.12.21.dryfly.me.blue_charm_close

 

Durham Ranger Variant

2014.12.20.dryfly.me.durham_rangerI started reading “Tied in the hand” by Sven-Olov Hård yesterday (review and more about that book later) and was inspired when I got up this morning to do a variant of the Durham Ranger (not tied in hand though!). The Ranger pattern is one I will start out with when I start tying in hand: not that complex, doesn’t require that many materials and is general not that hard to tie once you get a couple of flies tied up.

This one is tied for fishing, so I’m not that worried about the rather large head, or the fact that the GP doesn’t sit 100%, but tying these variants up for fishing is a very good exercise for tying up presentation-class flies later on, so I’ll just keep at it until I get it right. I tied this one up with red sealwool and orange tippet in the wing instead of the original pattern, but I think the colors came together well for this fly.

2014.12.20.dryfly.me.durham_ranger_close

 

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!

Spey – first heron

2014.12.13.dryfly.me.spey_heron

I have been searching for some good spey hooks for a while, the flow and look of a good spey pattern is something that really appeals to me. This weekend I was out shopping for something else at www.midgarflyfish.com when I found a package of good heron and then Alec Jackson’s Spey fly hooks size 1 1/2 heavy! I had to tie up a couple on this hook straight away to get a feel on how they are to work on. The hook itself is very solid and have that profile you are after when tying spey patterns, these are for fishing and looking back at them they was a bit rushed, but overall I’m very happy with getting these hooks (and knowing that I have a steady supply here in town). Now I need to swing these to see how they behave – I have a feeling they are a bit overdressed so I will tie them slimmer next time.

2014.12.16.dryfly.me.spey_two

Cascade

2014.12.13.dryfly.me.cascade_singl

Hook: Partridge Patriot #8
Thread: UNI 6/0 Red
Tag: UTC French Tinsel
Tail: Red & Yellow bucktail, Gold flash
Body: UNI Floss Black
Rib: UTC French Tinsel
Wing: Black Hair
Hackle: Yellow & Red

I got 50 Partridge Patriot yesterday and had to test it out by tying up some cascade. I haven’t tied on this hook before or fished this pattern, but the hook looks and feels solid and the pattern should be good for both salmon and seatrout.

2014.12.43.dryfly.me.cascade