Flyfishing, flytying and hooks

2/0 10xl red & black streamers

2014.10.25.dryfly.me.red_black_streamer

Hook: Partridge Carrie Stevens Streamer #2/0 10xl
Thread: Sheer 14/0
Tag: Uni-Mylar
Tail: Golden Pheasant
Butt: Black Ostrich
Body: 3 layers of UNI-Floss White, Red/Black UNI-Floss
Rib: UNI-French, UNI Red/Black Floss
Wing: Whiting Cape – Black, Foxtail Cock Neck – Red
Shoulder: Harline Strung Guinea Natural, Jungle Cock feather, Veniard Red Crow Substitute, Jungle Cock

I really enjoy pushing the boundaries when it comes to tying flies, and this one is one of the bigger ones that I’ve tied! The 10xl Carrie Stevens streamer hook is massive to tie on and can give some challenges when it comes to planning the layout and finding the material that will stretch all the way to the end. The plan from the start was to mount these in a frame and put them on the wall, I didn’t have a pattern to go from, but was rather inspired from various images on google and some Carrie Stevens patterns to draw some knowledge from, besides that these two are a creation from my own mind, so what should I call them?

2014.10.25.dryfly.me.red_black_streamer2

I wanted to create something that popped out and had clean lines to look at, that’s where the two main feathers came from, the original plan was to have a read feather as the first feather on the second one but I didn’t have large enough to stretch to the end of the hook so I ended up with just changing the colors on the body for the second one. I like the lines it has and mounted together in a frame these two will be a good match to each other

2014.10.25.dryfly.me.red_black_streamer_togetherI do see some issues with the execution: the body floss is not as smooth as I would like, the guinea should have been pulled a little bit further towards the hook and the lines from the JC to the black feather is not in line. But this will be a exercise for the winter to get better on, I just need to get some more of these hooks since I’m almost out.

 

Black Rabbit

2014.10.25.dryfly.me.black_rabbit_baitfish

Hook: TMC777SP #6
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tail: Rabbit Strip, Foxtail
Body: A.Jensen Saltwater dub ll White, Rabbit strip in dubbing loop
Eyes: Gold bead chain, large

A pattern that follows the spaykutling but in all-black colors. This comes from the rabbit skin I bought earlier and that I have cut strips from. The hair is really long and makes for some meaty flies that will create a lot of good movement in the water.

2014.10.25.dryfly.me.black_rabbit_strip

My seatrout box is slowly filling up:

2014.10.25.dryfly.me.black_rabbit_baitfishes

Mickey Streamer

2014.10.24.dryfly.me.mickey_streamer

Hook: TMC777SP #6
Thread: UNI 6/0
Tail: Turkey
Body: UNI-Mylar
Rib: Lagartun Varnished French Tinsel
Wing: Turkey
Throat: The Fly Co. Rooster Neck
Sides: JC

After doing the hairwing mickey finn the other day I browsed alternative versions to see how this pattern has been interpreted in different versions (I enjoy exploring a pattern to see how it turns out in different versions, not just the original). The Mickey Streamer I found over at globalflyfisher.com together with some other variants that I will tie up later. The mickey streamer version is a married wing wet-fly style pattern in the color scheme of the original mickey finn, tied on a longer streamer hook than a classic wet would be done on.

Hairwing Mickey Finn

2014.10.21.dryfly.me.mickey_finn_hairwing

Hook: TMC 777SP #6
Thread: Red/Black UNI 6/0
Body: UNI-Mylar
Rib: Lagartun French Tinsel
Wing: Red/Yellow hair

A hairwing version of the classic Mickey Finn streamer. Normally you would see this in bucktail, but I wanted to have a smoother wing that flowed even more than bucktail (and I have alot of templedog/fox/raccoon), so a hairwing version it is. I might go over and varnish the body to strengthen it, but I used a fairly thick and solid rib, so I don’t think I will need to do that.